Archive of Our Own ^beta

Floyd's heart pounds violently against his rib cage and even that makes him feel like he's about to tip off the giant, ugly thing outside.

It's neon orange hair, and pale purple skin with little yellow warts.

Daqavion. A horrific ear-rape of a name for a scummy, troll-eating Bergen.

The footsteps thump so near to him that he feels like the vibrations are going to shake him out from between to gap of the branch he's nestled next to.

The burgan makes a snorting laugh, a disgusting sound.

Floyd nearly gags at how horrible it is being this close to such a beast.

He didn't know where he was, he could hardly walk.

He was almost certain that he'd broken at least one bone, and his vision was blurry.

His eyes were bloodshot.

He felt like he was going to fall into the forest below.

He was surprised this stupid Bergen had even followed him up here, with how unfit and obese it was.

The thing was wheezing and for as injured as Floyd was he was only panicking because of the imminent threat of death.

Not because he was tired.

“Thupid Throll” the thimg grumbled, looking aggravated. “Like a bug."

Floyd inhaled sharply as the Bergen looked up at his tree. “Why does the thing run? It's not like it'll escape.“

“That's not true you bumbling oaf." He murmured to himself.

He must've been a touch too loud though because there was a pause before the thing turned its ugly mug to face him.

“Gotcha." It rasped, reaching its grubby hands up towards him.

Floyd scrabbled higher, launching himself from branch to branch and through so many trees he couldn't even tell where he was going anymore.

Leaves slapped his face and he was cut all over.

He was only stopped when he accidentally slammed his leg into a particularly sharp branch and fell into the next, really oddly textured tree.

Or at least he thought it was a tree.

Until a pale hand came up to scoop his little form up and he was met with two striking blue eyes.

Which just those alone were at the very least twice his size.

"Oh my God, Vels look!" The one he'd fallen on gasped, watching the little troll squirm from where he was upside down.

The other thing came over, grumbling to herself as she raised an eyebrow at Floyd's little struggling form as he tried to reach for the foot that the boy was holding him by. "Huh. Weird little thing. What is it?"

The boy let out a small "hey" as if he took the weird comment personally and lowered the troll into his other hand, cupping his palms to hold him better. "I... I dunno...? It kind of looks like some sort of... Leprechaun?"

Floyd audibly snorted, though it was more of a wheeze, and this brought the green-haired boy's attention back to him. "Oh, I think it's hurt!"

"Then throw it away!" His apparent sister exclaimed, waving her hand dismissively. "It's going to bleed everywhere!"

Floyd glowered at his bad leg, looking at the considerably large gash in its side, and sighed. Well from what he was gathering this boy was gonna throw him back into the brush, which looking at it now was all synthetic, and he was gonna have to fend for himself.

He was already bleeding though... Which was... A big problem, especially if these... Tall things were as cruel as they seemed.

“But look at him, he's... He's hurt." The boy says, much to the pink-haired Troll's surprise, holding Floyd in one hand like he was a delicate little leaf about to crumble in the fall.

Velvet looks at her brother with what seems to be some sort of potential contempt and groans in frustration. “Okay? And? We don't care about that thing Veneer. Unless it's gonna make us Superstars faster, I don't want it.“

Floyd lets out a small "oof” as he is pulled into the warm chest of the bigger being. “But he smells like a scented marker..."

"Oh my God you're so immature! I don't care how good or bad that thing smells, I don't care if it's a magical painter or a demon from hell, I don't want it in our house! It's just another expense! “

Floyd snorts, he's not a goldfish. He's a sentient being! And one that could sing at that! He was famous! This was blatant belittling!

He should have just taken it.

“Okay first of all lady-" he yelled, squirming in the soft grip the boy had on him, “I'd like to have you know I can talk! And that I'm not some toy or a pet that you're deciding to adopt! I'm a Troll!“

Her eyes, previously uninterested and looking at her nails, snapped to him in an instant. “What?"

He was re-grasped by the brother, Veneer? And he felt the boy stiffen. “Vel-"

“A Troll?" She asked, leaning in closely, her eyes scanning every inch of his skin, roving over his form like a hawk scanning for a rabbit.

He shivered under her gaze.

“A Troll as in those peppy little music things?" She murmurs, retreating a bit before snapping her eyes to her brother. “You know what Ven? I like this little guy. Let's keep him."

Veneer tilted his head, chewing on his lip, “Wait but isn't he intelligent though? He literally just talked we can't-”

“I said we're going to keep it." She snapped, blue eyes narrowed into a fixing glare.

Floyd felt the boy shift him so that he was lying down in the larger creature's palm. His bad leg sprawled out across the boy's wrist as he was cradled sort of like a baby.

“Oh... Okay then." The rageon mumbled to himself, looking conflicted as he avoided making eye contact with the little blue troll in his hand.

Floyd tried his best to force himself back up but it did nothing. Even his hair wasn't listening to him.

He was helplessly trapped with these horrid belittling strangers.

These... Teenagers. Ugh.

...

"How badly does it hurt on a scale of one to ten?"

Floyd doesn't even acknowledge the question, turning up his nose and crossing his arms defiantly at the asker. Hoping to the Lord above that acting like his eldest brother would in this situation give his leg enough time to heal.

The Rageon mumbled something under his breath and slumped back in his chair, a rolling studio chair that looked relatively comfortable aside from the duct-taped back of the seat.

Floyd eyes him through a small slit between his eyelids. This one, Veneer, seemed to be the more compassionate one, although he definitely still seemed to be a diva in some ways.

"Okay then..." Veneer grumbles, peaking back at Floyd who immediately closes his curious eye and reset his position back into a strong, oppositional stance.

"Then, I guess I'll just have to assume it's around a five." The pale-skinned thing breathed, taking what looked to be a fluff on a stick and moving it carefully towards him after dipping it in a liquid Floyd identified as water from the lack of a scent. "Hold still little guy..."

Under any other circumstances, he would have thrashed around just to spite his captor, but in this situation, it would probably only make things worse.

The fluff was soft, even though it was wet and he actually found himself relaxing a bit as it was carefully dragged along his arms and legs. It felt like he was getting special treatment or something.

Eventually, though, the bloody thing was retracted and placed on the table not too far from him. Which was both a relief and an annoyance Because that really had felt nice.

The boy sighed again, rubbing his arms as though he were cold as he slowly took his hands away so as not to startle the Troll. "Okay then, now will you talk to me...?"

Floyd glowered at him with all the hate he could.

"Awe, alright." He grumbled, looking less threatened or displeased and more just disappointed. "Well, I guess I'll have to work with the fact you've suddenly decided to go non-verbal in mind."

The next thing to happen was Floyd was slid across the desk and a towel was put down where he was.

He was then carefully lifted onto it and the surprisingly cloud-like towel was put over him fully. He couldn't see anything much but he could feel himself being sort of rolled around in the thing. Or dried off he assumed, by Veneer. Which was as humiliating as it was oddly comfortable.

By the time he was dry, and not being swallowed up by a washcloth, he was nearly back to walking. His leg healing faster due to the infections being cleaned out with the help of the water.

Now it was just a game of fake it till you make it.

"Alright. You're probably hungry." Veneer thought aloud, scooping up Floyd into his palms again, his preferred method of transportation it seemed, and, stood.

The two walked in silence for a while, until Floyd peaked through Veneer's fingers to be met with an oversized modernized kitchen. Or at at the very least, it bore a resemblance to a kitchen in Floyd's eyes. And Veneer brought him up close to a large metal box. Shifting the troll into one hand so he could open it.

A burst of freezing air caught the Troll and he shivered, prompting the hand under him to come up a bit to shield him from the cold. "Sorry about that." Its owner hummed, picking something from their fridge and bumping it closed with his hip as he turned to leave. "I keep forgetting you're so small."

Floyd nearly bit the boy but refrained, solely because he would most likely be dropped as a result.

The teen hummed as he rooted through the fridge, and at one point Floyd sucked up his pride and nestled into the Rageons shirt, attempting not to freeze.

The boy's grip softened and he assumed that somehow the action had put him at ease.

Good. He could use that.

He was taken back into the original room he was in and placed back at the desk, this time on a different washcloth.

He gazes up at the big thing, what was the point of going to the metal box anyway? It didn't seem he'd brought anything back-

Words interrupt his train of thought. "Okay, I think this should suffice?"

A singular raspberry is put in front of him.

Floyd eyes it, unamused.

Okay, to be fair the thing is about half his size, including the hair, but it's still not going to be enough to feed him. After all, he's still healing! Any and all food will be all but absorbed and churned out into every before it can even sit in his stomach for more than a second.

But he sucks it up and takes it. Taking a few steps towards the thing as he weighed the possibility of it being drugged. (Although he had been with Veneer the whole time and no one just has a carton of drugged raspberries on hand, right?)

He shoves a hand unceremoniously into the flesh of the fruit and eats it. Telling the juices drip down his arm just to spite his current "caretaker" ripping into it again and again until he's eaten the whole thing without chewing more than ten times. Like a feral animal or something.

Veneer laughs to himself, much to Floyd's dismay, at the spectacle. Eyes softening from their originally shocked look into a slight amusement. "Wow. Okay. Do... Do you want another one?"

Floyd wipes his mouth off on his now cut and nick-free arm and nods without making eye contact.

...

He is three raspberries in when his leg finally heals enough to be manageable.

The boy has let his guard down.

This is the perfect time to leave.

So why isn't he...?

Floyd looks up at the thing- a Mount Rageon he's learned - who is now resting his elbows on the very corner of the desk edge, head resting on his intertwined fingers, looking at him with half-lidded eyes. Half a smile sitting on his face that complements the deeply seated guilt him his cobalt eyes.

The Rageon had yet to try and pet him, which is... Surprising to say the least, considering he seems to think of Floyd as some sort of... Sentient pet that was able to talk to him. Not that Floyd had let another word slip since he'd first accidentally gotten himself captured.

"You've gotta have a name right?" Veneer sighs, the warm bit of air just barely reaching Floyd and putting his hair on end. "Can I know what it is so I can stop calling you Troll?"

"It's Floyd." He grumbles without thinking, wanting to kick himself for cracking.

"Floyd..." The Rageon breathes, running his tongue over his lips absentmindedly as he stares off into the wall behind where the troll sits. "That's... Really normal actually."

Floyd shrugs, deciding it's best to just be quiet, and scoots himself a little bit further back on the table, not enough to tip the Rageon off, but enough to allow enough room to avoid a swinging hand if his captor catches on.

The boy watched him through half-lidded eyes, eyelids fluttering as they sat in an oddly warm silence.

Or at least they were sitting in silence until the door slammed open on its hinges, and the sister stormed in. "Veneer! What are you doing? Have you even cleaned the troll off yet?!"

The boy jolted, looking mildly alarmed for a moment before easing himself backward so that she could see the small form of Floyd on the desk. "Yeah, uh, but I think he's still kind of hurt, he's limping and-"

"I don't care if it's hurt, just bring it to me! I found what I need to test that online theory we saw on Rollur!"

Floyd's eyes went wide when he saw the glint of a perfume bottle in her hand that she wasn't overdramatically flailing about.

Before he can blink he's being hoisted up by the back of his shorts, his still injured leg dangling limp as he flailed in the girl Rageons grip.

"Wait- Vels what are you doing?" Veneer asks, voice slightly wobbly as he watches just how carelessly his sister is handling the troll. "He's still hurt! You have to be careful!"

Velvet rolled her eyes and snarled a quick warning that Floyd didn't listen in on before placing the troll over the lip of the bottle and pressing down on his abdomen to try and shove him in.

Floyd hissed as he felt his ribs aching.

What was with this horrible being?! She knew he so very obviously he had bones, what was she missing? Did she just expect them not to break because it'd be inconvenient for her?!

"VELVET!" Her brother gasped, grabbing the Troll rather roughly from her hands, though to his credit he did immediately cup his hand and let Floyd fall limp so that he was lying comfortably against the Rageon hoodie and out of Velvet's view. "What the heck! He's alive you know, you've gotta be gentle with him!"

"Oh my God, you're such a baby!" She shouted at him, rubbing her temples, an annoyed grimace spreading across her face. "Okay then genius, how are we gonna get it in the bottle? Ask it nicely?"

Floyd felt the hand under him shift slightly before he was being maneuvered to lay in the crease between both hands. "I... Oh, come on we don't even have to use the bottle! I- I still have sparkles bowl! We could use that instead! Then he can at least have some room to move around-"

His sister glowered at him, "You're seriously empathizing with a Troll? Please! How else are we supposed to extract its essence huh? Are we going to pull a The Dark Jewel and build some contraption? No! So just give me the stupid thing and I'll get it in the bottle!"

Floyd's heart stopped.

They were planning to trap him and use his essence???

What was with these kids man?! When he was a teenager he was...

Actually, he was touring.

Touring with BroZone.

Huh.

"No!" The voice brought him straight back out of his thoughts. "This- I'm not done with him! You've got to at least let him heal!" The fingers around him curl, covering almost completely but not so much that he can't move or breathe. It's relatively comfortable even. Or it it until he feels himself being lifted up.

The other Rageon huffs "Veneer you can't be serious! He's fine! "

Yet again he's being jolted backward, presumably away from Velvet like a toy the two were fighting over. "No! He's- How do we even know if h- it's gonna work properly if it's injured?!"

So the boy WAS just as bad as his sister? Great.

So he was just an item to the siblings? Splendid.

Now if he left he wouldn't feel any remorse at all. As long as nothing

"Oh my God you're so soft Veneer! The troll is FINE. He's completely fine! So hand. It. OVER!"

"NO! You know what? For once in my life, I'm telling you no. I'm not giving him to you until he's healed! It's not right!"

That's implying killing him for profit was right in some sense originally, which Floyd strongly disagrees with.

There's a moment of silence, which he takes to scramble onto his hands and knees, preparing to bite the tip of one of his current carrier's pinkies.

"You know what? Fine, you asked for this."

Before he can even fully register what's going on he's being thrashed into Veneer's chest again, so fast he nearly gets whiplash, and he feels the whole world slam backward, a thick thud being heard before the hands covering him fall away and he heard a barely there exhale.

there's a blissful second of dizzying freedom and then he's being engulfed by yet another hand. Velvet's grip is so tight he actually has to push at her fingers to get even a little breathing room. Even then it's just enough to not pass out.

"This is the humane way of doing it Veneer! We can't just take little pieces of him off when we need his essence, that'd kill him in a month! So, you idiot, this is the right thing to do!" The girl gestures with him in her hand so violently he thinks he's about to dislocate something due to all the jerk movements. "The only other possible way to do this would be-"

Floyd maneuvers himself so he can see where he'd been before, looking to see what had happened to the uncharacteristically silent boy. (Not that he cared. Because he didn't. At all.)

Veneer was up on his feet, though he looked like he was in some sort of stunned haze. His eyes were glassy, and from what Floyd could gather, he looked like he was holding back tears. There was a little line of sage green trailing from one of his nostrils down to his upper lip, and the troll watched with the slightest bit of sympathy as he brought a finger up to swipe the apparent blood away, eyes falling onto his sister's after a long moment of staring at the liquid on his index finger.

"To extract it." Velvet murmured to herself, "I'm a genius! We can extract it!"

Floyd is again nearly snapped in half as she trashes him once more against the bottle, getting the same result as the last time and glaring at him before tossing him through the air at her brother, who literally had to dive to catch him. "Veneer you keep him here, I have to go get something."

It is with that she leaves them. Her brother sprawled out across the floor, clutching the disoriented little guy in his fist, and the mentioned little guy was nearly paralyzed.

Veneer is still bleeding when he lifts Floyd up back onto the table. His eyes are still wet and his eyelashes are bunching up.

So his captor is a pretty crier. Huh.

"I'm so sorry."

Floyd nearly misses it, a whisper, an exhalation of words, hardly audible.

His eyes travel up to the green-haired teen, though his head is still waterlogged with static he can just make the connection that it's Veneer's voice.

"I didn't... I didn't think she'd do that." The boy continued, pausing as needed to fight off tears. (Which Floyd was thankful for solely because this, being's tears would probably swallow him whole if they fell on him.)

"I didn't know she was gonna hurt you." He breathed, looking... Genuinely upset, much to Floyd's dismay.

"She hurt you too." Floyd blurted, his stupid tongue unable to resist the urge to voice his thoughts.

Veneer's eyes widened for a moment before he let out a little nervous laugh, "Oh yeah... I mean I guess, it's... It's just a nosebleed. It'll go away. She didn't mean to.“

Floyd blinks.

"But... She still hurt you. Accident or not, you still got hurt."

The teen shrugs, wiping his nose again, more sage coming away. “I guess."

Floyd feels himself burning.

For a moment he can see Jhon Dory, standing over him with a glare.

Hands in a fist and form heaving with internalized rage.

The shimmering red on his fingers as he pulled them away from the back of his own head.

“But... Are you okay?" The Rageon murmurs, using his pinkie to brush Floyd's bang aside.

The troll instinctively bats the appendage away, glaring up at its owner for a split second before sighing and averting his eyes. “I think I pulled something." He admitted, watching the Rageon's eyes scrunch up again in concern.

“Ah... Okay... Can- can you walk?" Veneer asks, still looming over the troll's small form.

"Probably." Floyd huffs, getting to his feet. “Not well though.“

For a moment the teen goes quiet, words obviously dancing on his tongue.

Then there's another slam of the door.

Velvet stands in the doorway with what Floyd can only describe as a trypanophobic's worst nightmare. A needle and chamber big enough to suck every last drop of blood from his form.

“I'm back Ven." She smirks, “Remember how I told you I had an idea? Well, here it is!"

Veneer blinks, paling a bit at the implication, "You're joking.'

"No, I'm not! Think about it! We can suck as much as we need, let him recuperate, and do it all over again!“

Floyd wouldn't have noticed it if he wasn't staying up at the Rageon but Veneer shifts his body to cover his small form. “Oh yeah sure, let's just shoot up with troll blood before every show! “ He grumbles, "We- we don't even know the consequences of using Troll blood! It could be deadly or somethi-”

Velvet approaches so fast it has even Floyd scrambling back and the crisp noise of a well-executed slap fills the room.

Veneer's eyes are wide as his head is whipped to the opposite side, away from his sister.

He and Floyd lock eyes for half a second but it's enough for Floyd to see the shock on his face.

Sage green splatters onto his own skin and he's being faced with the cobalt blue eyes of the female half of his two captors.

She grabs him just before he can even think to move.

The needle stings his skin and it feels like his soul is being reduced to slush and draining out through his arm.

He endures this for a full ten seconds before the needle is ripped out and he's transferred into another hand not-so-carefully.

Veneer shoves his sister to the side, and without stopping, shoves Floyd out the window. “Go!" He whisper-hisses just before his sister staggers to her feet.

He hears Velvet screech at her brother and a series of hollow thuds, one after the other.

He runs as fast as he can towards the woods, the bushes and trees a release.

Hearing the pounding of footsteps chasing him, the yelling of that psycho Rageon.

Hunted once again.