Chapter Text
Branch took a deep breath as walked to river. Letting it out slowly, he let himself relax for the first time in a while. His life, formerly quiet and simple, had gone through some major changes recently. He'd helped make peace with the Bergens, arguably the trolls worst enemy. He'd saved his entire village when they went grey. He'd (mostly) made his peace with his grandma's death. (Maybe? He wasn't totally sure about that just yet.) He was (sort of?) on better terms with both the Snack Pack, and the village in general. (Kind of? He wasn't too sure about that either. Social skills weren't exactly his strong suit. Probably had something to do with spending most of his life alone.)
There were other changes too. He had his colors back. (Mostly. They'd come back as strong and bold as when he was a child, but had faded over time. He still wasn't sure why. Or how he felt about having them back at all. It was.....confusing.) Speaking of confusing, there was another change in his life. One that confused him more than every other change combined.
Queen Poppy.
Everything related to her was confusing to Branch. At first, things were simple. She was loud, pushy, naive, and a nuisance. She was immature, and was going to get everyone killed with her wild parties and her total disregard for common sense and caution. But now, things were different. She'd been brave, determined, and compassionate. More than he ever would have expected from her. She'd gone into enemy territory, without hesitation, purely on the merest hope her friends could be saved. She'd kept trying to save everyone, and had kept going, no matter how awful it was. It'd taken all of them being seemingly minutes from and unavoidable, painful death for her to give in. And she'd been so compassionate too. Both to the Bergens, who'd eaten so many of their people, and to Branch personally. He'd told her what had happened to his grandma, and she'd still been kind to him. He couldn't understand it. She should hate him, he got his grandma killed because he wasn't paying attention. But....she was kind to him. Comforting even. Even now, she was still kind to him. She was willing to spend her valuable time trying to help him reintegrate into society, instead focusing on being the Queen. Or even just her own life. He couldn't understand it. He really couldn't.
His thoughts were interrupted by voices coming from the riverbank. Four male voices, all around his age. They were laughing at something one of them was saying. Branch crept closer, trying to figure out who the voices belonged to.
"....all over the place!"
"That sounds hilarious!" A second voice laughed.
A third voice, laughing so hard he was both breathless and near tears added, "Right? I totally wish I could've seen it!"
"Thanks, Trickee." A fourth, slightly younger voice spoke up. "I know you did that for me, so seriously, thank you."
"Anytime, Boom!" The first voice (Trickee?), cheerfully replied.
Branch was close enough to see some of the trolls the voices belonged to. One was a green glitter troll with blue hair. There was also a purple troll with red hair, and he could see part of a third troll. He was a yellow glitter troll with what looked like rainbow hair. Though he didn't immediately recognize them, they did look vaguely familiar. He'd probably seen them around the village before, but had never interacted with them. As he watched, the four of them were still chuckling over the story. Branch couldn't help but feel jealous at their bond. He'd never had that before. Not growing up, when he was grey and in pain. And not before then, before his grandma died. He'd never really had anyone. Branch was so lost in his lost in his increasingly dark thoughts, he didn't notice when one of the trolls saw him. And he didn't notice until he heard a voice call out to him.
"Hey! You in the grass! What are you doing here?"
Branch startled at the voice. Then, he saw that the trolls were all heading straight for him. And promptly panicked. He had NO IDEA what to do. Should he leave? No, they were too close. Where they angry? He didn't think so, but he couldn't tell for sure. It wasn't until the green glitter troll spoke to him that he was able to focus again.
"What were you watch....wait. I know who you are. You're Branch, right?" The glitter troll asked, sounding suspicious at first, but then just curious once he recognized Branch.
"I--Yeah. Yeah, I-I'm Branch." Branch stammered. He got worried. Were they going to make fun of him? Not everyone was so nice to him as Poppy and the Snack Pack were all trying to be these days. There were still plenty of people who still bullied him, even after he'd literally SAVED ALL THEIR LIVES. Branch forced himself to focus on the four trolls in front of him. He could get angry later. This was more important.
"Wait, Branch? 'Built your own Bergen-proof survival bunker' Branch?" One of the other trolls, a dark orange young man with purple and white streaked hair, asked. To Branch's surprise, he genuinely sounded excited and hopeful.
"...Yeah."
"AWESOME!" He exclaimed. The other three trolls looked thrilled too, to Branch's intense confusion and shock. Nobody had ever been so excited to meet him before. The closest had been when Poppy asked him to go to Bergen Town with her. And that was only was because he happen to be useful to her right then. What possible reason could they have to be so happy to see him? They must have seen the confusion on his face, because they started trying to explain their reactions to him.
"Sorry, this must be really confusing for you." The green glitter troll started. "We're just really excited to meet you."
Nodding, the yellow glitter troll continued, "You're one of the only trolls in the village we'd actually WANT to hang out with! You're one of the coolest trolls in the village!"
"Not to mention, you're probably the smartest." The orange troll agreed. "Building a whole bunker? In the woods? By yourself? That's pretty freaking amazing! And it's Bergen-proof too? That's even cooler!"
The purple redhead added, "You're one of the few trolls here with any amount of common sense. You're also probably the bravest. I mean, going straight into Bergen Town? Standing up to the Bergen King, while literally surrounded by hungry Bergens? That takes some SERIOUS backbone. Not just anybody could have done that!"
THe green glitter troll motioned to the other three. "See? Why WOULDN'T we want to meet you?"
Branch was started to feel a little overwhelmed by all the praise. He honestly couldn't remember the last time he'd gotten a real complement. He was also starting to feel something else. A warm, pleasant feeling in his chest. Something like....hope. Hope he could be accepted. Hope for friends. Hope for something more than the misery he'd been living in for most of his life. He was back out of his thoughts by the green glitter troll's voice, again.
"Do...do you want to hang out with us?" He hopefully asked.
Branch became both stunned, and more hopeful. They....they WANTED to hang out? With HIM? REALLY??? Branch was about ready to fall over from shock. He couldn't believe this was happening.
The green glitter troll must have taken his silence the wrong way, because he quickly assured Branch, "You don't have to! It's okay if you don't want to!"
"Oh, no, I do!" Branch quickly assured him. "I do! I was just surprised, that's all!"
The entire group relaxed at that, relieved. "Great!" The green glitter troll motioned towards where they'd previously been sitting by the river. "Our stuff's over here..."
Branch started to follow them, but then realized something. "Um, I don't know your names."
The others stopped for a moment, looking embarrassed. "Yeaaah, we should probably introduce ourselves." The yellow glitter troll agreed.
"I'm Hype." The green glitter troll introduced himself, as they settled in the grass.
"Ablaze, nice to meet you." The purple redhead greeted.
Waving, the yellow glitter troll informed him, "I'm Boom!"
"And I'm Trickee." The orange troll finished.
Branch smiled shyly. "Nice to meet you all."
Ablaze raised a water bottle in toast. "Great to meet you too, Branch. Welcome to the Island of Misfit Toys."