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Getting through the forest wasn’t hard. They had the four years of experience to avoid anything they could fight, find food, and make shelter. It was a grand adventure. The only issue was…
“Do you even know where the Neverglades are?” Spruce asked, jogging to the front.
John Dory was leading the way, the largest pack on his back and his eyes lit up with suppressed excitement to finally be doing what he had wanted to since he was a trolling.
Clay walked a little behind him, notebook open as he took notes, though the two oldest had no idea what he was doing exactly, they knew better than to say anything. The middle child is more than happy to make them feel like idiots. As the self proclaimed ‘smartest’ of the brothers.
Floyd was walking side by side with Branch, making sure the youngest could keep up and letting him talk about the last story Clay had told him. Branch had insisted he could carry something so he had been given the smallest pack that held some blankets.
John Dory eyed his brother out of the corner of his eye, keeping his smile on his face as he kept marching on.
“John.” Spruce whined, “Please tell me you're not leading us in circles.”
He snorted, “Nah, we are not going in circles.” assuring him, “We’re heading west, see.” he said, fishing out an old compass from his pocket.
“West until we reach the river, then he follows the opposite of the water flow. The river is supposed to lead straight to the mountains, the water flow coming from the melting snow.”
“Woah, damn JD sounding smart over here.”
Clay suddenly spoke up, looking up from his book to shoot Spruce a sharp glare, “Impossible.”
“Don’t be mean.”
“I’m not, just telling the truth.”
“I can be smart sometimes.” John muttered, crossing his arms.
“Sometimes?”
The three oldest hadn’t realized they stopped walking, too busy bickering lightly between themselves. John Dory pouted at his younger brothers while they laughed. Rolling his eyes he reached over and shoved wild green and yellow hair down, rubbing his head furiously while Clay tried to kick him and scramble back.
“I’m not the one that set fire to water or has yet to make a piece of toast that isn’t charred.”
“That doesn’t count!” Clay yelled, stomping his foot, “It’s pretty cool I set water on fire, you said so yourself.”
“Just saying, book smarts isn't everything.”
Spruce watched them with a smile basking in the lighthearted teasing as they poked fun of eachother, so different from the heated words at the troll tree. He was just about to join in, never one to stay out of good hearted fun when his ear twitched and he looked around them. Letting his eyes dart around the forest floor, form the shadows left by the trees to the swaying grass.
“Guys,” he voice rose with unconcealed panic, “Where’s Floyd and Branch?”
The two others whipped around, hair flying into their faces while they scanned the path they came from frantically. John Dory felt his heart pounding in a familiar way, a spike of fear and urgency made him bounce forward with a shout.
“FLOYD! BRANCH!” he shouted, inhaling deeply to throw his voice out like he used to do for concerts.
They didn’t get anywhere though before the bush next to them rustled and the two youngest brothers came out looking innocently confused.
“Oh thank the tree.” he muttered, running forward to check them over, “Twice now, twice in one day. You’re going to give me a heart attack.”
“Only old people get heart attacks.” Branch said innocently, letting him squash his cheeks and check his head for any bumps or bruises.
“What were you doing?” Spruce asked, striding over with a much more calm and steady pace.
Ignoring the snort from Clay, he muttered, “Even Bitty thinks you're old.”
Floyd tilted his, scrunching his brow up in an exaggerated confusion- that fooled none of the older brothers. Floyd had always been horrible at lying.
“I thought since you stopped we were taking a break.”
“So you decided to take Bitty into a bush?” Spruce asked, unimpressed.
Floyd shrugged, “He wanted to explore.”
Floyd and Branch stopped walking several paces behind their brothers. Shooting each other amused and exasperated looks equally. Shaking his head, Branch let go of Floyd’s hand, his ear twitching slightly when something rustled in the bush. Sliding down to the ground he waited for Floyd to copy him before they both headed to the bush. It was large with dark green leaves and a few berries not ripe enough to pick. Slinking into the center of it Branch grinned widely when he found an egg. It was tucked into a nest with lots of broken eggshells around it. Poking the sharp and thick shells, Branch couldn’t help but move closer and touch the last egg. It was a large that was cool to the touch but whatever was inside seemed to rock towards his touch.
“Mhm it’s siblings probably hatched, might be a dud Lil B.” he muttered, racing forward to pull Branch away from the nest, nearly jumping when he saw it rock slightly.
Branch was suddenly thankful it was Floyd with him.
Floyd swallowed thickly, trying to list all the reasons this would be a bad idea, mainly that they didn’t know what it was. But Bitty’s eyes were so big and filled with tears and he puffed his cheeks out like a chipmunk and he added the wobbly lip! Blasphemy, Floyd taught him that trick!
Tiny blue arms reached forward and hugged the egg close.
“It’s all alone.” he whispered heartbrokenly.
Floyd groaned, glancing between him and the egg before swinging his bag forward.
“Okay but you’re going to have to carry more than just blankets, and no complaining. And when they find out it’s all on you okay?” he demanded, even though he knew as the ‘responsible’ older brother he’d still take the blame. No one blamed Bitty. Ever. The little demon, Floyd thought fondly.
“JD and Spruce are going to kill me.” he whispered mostly to himself, kneeling onto the dirt.
They quickly unpacked and repacked the bags, laying the egg nestled between Floyd’s clothes and some blankets before the sound of their names ripped through the forest and made them wince.
“Uh oh.” Branch whispered meekly, “They're going to be mad.”
“JD might actually put that bell on you.” Floyd teased, hoisting the bag up with a small grunt and urging Branch to make his way out of the bush.
Wincing slightly at the pure relief that flooded their older brothers’ faces and the way John Dory slammed his knees into the ground to reach Branch faster.