Chapter Text
At first, Branch was pretty excited to get to spend more time with his brothers. John Dory, Clay, and Floyd were living in TrollsTopia while Bruce had scheduled visits. It was the one thing that child he had always wished for.
If only he had that same attitude now.
Branch thought they'd get their own pods, and that Bruce would go back home after a day. Which he did, until he came right back saying that his wife was perfectly okay with him staying for a few more days to make sure that Branch was well enough on his own. And his other three brothers denied having pods because they wanted to live in Branch's bunker.
Oh. And they keep babying him. They won't let him do anything around his bunker. Every time Branch walks Floyd has a heart attack, and grabs onto his baby brother's arm and forced him to sit back down.
They won't even let him out of the bunker.
Branch tried to sneak away to go to the hot springs. He had to go see Synth. He needed to talk to him and apologize. He'd rather have all the Rock Troll's be angry and plot revenge against him rather than have Synth to be mad at him.
He was right by the elevator when Clay caught him. "Branch? What are you doing?" He was eating something. A handful of berries maybe?...Oh, he was hoping that wasn't from his POISONOUS FRUITS DO NOT EAT jar.
"Huh? Oh uh just, y'know." He fumbled with his words, leaning his arm against the wall and awkwardly laughing.
Clay doused the fruit in his hand before he yelled: "BRANCH IS TRYING TO LEAVE!"
Note to self, ruin something of Clay's.
John Dory was the one in the room first, followed by Floyd and Bruce. "What!? Branch, sit back down!" John Dory grabbed his arm and started to pull him back towards the living room. "You can't be moving around in your condition."
There wasn't really a condition. He felt weak, yeah, but they made it seem like he would collapse and die at any minute. Branch just felt light headed sometimes and it hurt to move a little, but that didn't matter. They treated him like he was a vase. One that at the slightest touch would fall to the ground and shatter at any minute.
He was the vase once, but not anymore. Why didn't they understand that?
John Dory shoved him down onto the couch. "Do you need anything?" Bruce quickly asked, putting a hand on Branch's chest to check his heart.
He was going to answer but Floyd cut him off. "No, just sleep for now. We have to leave and talk to Poppy about something." Bruce nodded and shoved a blanket over Branch's face.
Okay it was definitely not one of his blankets. It felt like a weighted balloon was crushing down on him, and when he finally tore it away from him his brothers had already left.
"But where would we even hide them? There's no guarantee that a Troll won't find them and fix them." Poppy said, holding the shattered necklaces in her hands. "We can't risk anyone else getting this kind of power."
She stood in a meeting room with her father, sister, and the brothers. It was the most uncomfortable meeting that she had ever been in before, especially because the other ambassadors were up to her neck in trying to understand what had happened.
The lie was working for the most part, but they were still questioning things. Especially Cooper and Prince D. They were close with Branch, and Poppy could tell that they missed him.
"But what about the other members?" Viva asked skeptically. "Are we sure that none of them will come back for the necklace?" She was specifically referring to the Ablaze guy, who seemed upset and angry that Branch let himself fall so carelessly.
She could tell in the way that Clay had described the events for her, and how he had reacted when Branch's necklace broke. He was scared for his friend, but mostly he was angry that his leader had lost so easily. "And, although I don't want to say it, what if Branch finds it again?"
Floyd tensed his fists. "What do you mean?"
"Do you think he'd do this all over again?"
Nobody knew what to say. They hadn't been bringing up the incident to Branch. They were ignoring it, planning to let him talk his through it instead of them forcing it out. They were trying to be careful with his emotions.
King Peppy sighed. "Poppy, the best thing would be that you hide the necklaces in a safe place. We'll find a way to dispose of them soon."
"How? We shattered them, but it's not like they aren't still threats." Bruce shrugged. "I mean, Branch's necklace keeps blinking. What does that even mean?"
Right. The ominous and constant blinking.
"It's still alive-?" John Dory questionably said.
"Maybe it means that Branch still wants it?" Clay jumped in. Soon his brothers and sister-in-law were all giving him glares of disbelief.
Floyd looked like he might jump across the table. "You think Branch wants to become that again!?"
The two older siblings rolled their eyes. Just like old times. "Okay, let's all just calm down." Bruce said. Becoming a father really had made him more mature in arguments. It was something that he wished he had when he was younger, when he would fight with John Dory over the stupidest things. "Were just trying to come up with a reasonable solution, there's no need to get angry."
"Anyway," Poppy cleared her throat. "Where do we hide them?"
They chose a small jewelry box that Poppy owned to hide them in. John Dory was the one that took it however, and hid it inside Rhonda to make sure that Branch never accidently stumbled onto it. John Dory was hoping that Branch would just forget about them overtime, that way he'd never have to bring up the incident to his baby brother's face either.
None of them wanted to bring it up to Branch's face. Their baby brother didn't utter a word about what had happened. Bruce had tried to get him to open up once, but Branch just stared at him. "I don't wanna talk about it right now". After that, they dropped the subject.
John Dory hoped that they'd never have to talk about.
At least not for a while
Branch never imagined that he'd be sneaking around TrollsTopia, trying to go unseen.
He was afraid of running into anyone besides Synth. He just- he needed to talk to him.
When he reached the hot springs he saw Synth sitting in the same spot as always. The same spot that Branch had cried and screamed beside for days. Would he even want to talk to him? Or did he still hate him?
He took a few steps towards the Techno Troll, who didn't seem to realize he was there. "Synth?"
Synth turned his head around so fast Branch was afraid he might have gotten whiplash. "Dubstep?"
"Hey." Branch waved. "Can I sit there?" He pointed to the ground beside him.
Synth looked down at the seat before turning back to the water. Without another word Branch sat beside him.
What was he supposed to say? 'Hey, sorry I traumatized you and almost destroyed the entire village, my pent up rage just kind of came out and I felt I needed to get revenge for what happened to me for what the Pop Troll's and my brothers did, sorry the Techno Troll's got involved'. That wasn't the answer anyone would want. It didn't explain anything, it was just a stupid excuse.
"Are you...feeling any better?" Synth asked. Did he believe in the lie Poppy told? Or was he just not satisfied with it and suspected there was more? How much did Branch need to tell him about how he was feeling when he put that necklace on? Prideful? Angry? Vengeful?
Branch nodded. "That's good." Synth nodded, his eyes never looking away from the water. "Laguna was really worried. She visited you a few times."
Would Branch want to know that he went to see him? That he already whispered to him that he forgave him for what happened?....Synth kept his mouth shut.
"Why didn't you?" The words left his mouth before he thought through them. Of course he wouldn't, he was angry at him.
Synth was quiet. Of course he was going to be quiet, why wouldn't he be quiet.
"Are you mad at me?" Branch cleared his voice, trying to sound more confident then he was. "I mean- are you mad about what happened to the Techno Troll's?"
He thought before shaking his head. "I'm- annoyed, but...not mad."
Branch looked at him. He wasn't mad? Everyone else seemed to be mad in Branch's eyes, they should have been mad. "Why?"
Synth finally looked at him. "Because I remember it."
"What do you mean?"
"You would come sit here everyday and talk to me. You begged me to say something to you. Sometimes you'd grab shake me, cry on my shoulder, but most of the time you just begged me to talk before you'd sob." Synth said it while staring straight at the water. "I don't...I can't hate you for that. Not when I remember every single thing that happened."
Why it was he remembered everything Synth didn't know, but blaming it on Branch seemed to work well for him. "I'm...I'm not mad at you. I could never be mad at you."
He was waiting for Branch to say something, but he was deathly silent. Synth took a deep breath before looking up at the Pop Troll. Branch was crying. Crying, crying. "Branch..?"
It was the same type of cry that he had when he was under that necklace.
Synth would never admit how he quickly glanced around Branch's body to see if the necklace was anywhere in sight.
"I-I'm sorry." Branch wiped his eyes. "Sorry, I shouldn't be crying right now."
What right did he have to cry? He wasn't the one that was forcefully turned grey. "What-" Synth gently raised a hand to help Branch wipe away his tears. "Dubstep, it's okay."
"But its not-"
"It is okay." Synth said, hugging him. "I know your upset at yourself for what happened. It's okay, you can let it out."
Branch clutched onto Synth's back and sobbed.