Trolls 3.0

Snapped

A/N: Based on an idea that I really liked by pixarchan and taking place right before the oneshot "By Your Side" :)

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"You LEFT me. I was ALONE. How can I call you my brothers?"

Branch's voice was hard and unforgiving as he spoke, his blue eyes cold. He glared at John Dory, Spruce, and Clay, the guys who were supposed to be, as Poppy described it, "friends who could never leave you." "Why would ANYONE do something awful like that to their 'family'?" he demanded to know.

"How could you have been alone, Branch?" John Dory asked, frowning in confusion. "Grandma was with you!"

"Grandma DIED!"

This made JD go stiff. "Wh...what?"

"Branch," Spruce piped up uncertainly, "when did - "

"When did it happen? Pfft. A couple of years after you left. She waited EVERY DAY hoping you guys would come back, and she suffered a miserable death at the hands of a bloodthirsty Bergen with that hope NEVER fulfilled. And I had NOBODY after that..." Branch felt pain crawl into him remembering those nights that he could hear his Grandma cry, missing her other grandsons, dying still wondering what had become of them. Did his brothers even think about her? Or about what would've become of him for that matter, if something bad was to happen... as it had?

At that moment, the three brothers were speechless, horrified to hear what had happened to their youngest of the bunch. JD looked confused, as though he couldn't comprehend that there was anything bad that possibly could've happened to him after the band had broken up and gone their separate ways. Spruce looked down at the ground in shame, feeling his heart clench for his late grandparent. Clay rubbed his arm, his ears drooping slightly in the sadness of it all.

"Branch, I - I mean..." Clay had begun to stutter.

"We didn't know!" JD blurted.

"Yeah, I can see that. That's pretty obvious," Branch spat. "In fact, you guys don't know a LOT of things. Like what it does to your baby brother when you go off and do something like ABANDON him!"

"But we didn't mean - " Spruce tried to defend, but had been cut off.

"Oh, what, you didn't mean it? Yeah right. All you did was think about nobody but yourselves..."

Spruce grimaced, knowing that Branch was right. As a teen, he wasn't thinking about the long-run of things. Clay wasn't either. And neither was John Dory. All they'd seen was the present, what had been happening to them right there and then on the night they broke up. They'd focused on the failure, breaking the code that they'd kept among themselves in the process by putting 'shows before bros' instead of the other way around. And it in turn had caused them lots of hurt and regret.

"Branch! Where are you going?" John Dory called out, noticing that Branch had turned from them and was walking away.

"Far, far away... from YOU!" he called back.

JD suddenly felt frustrated. He frowned and spoke out at Branch again. "Y'know, I'm here trying to get this to work out, and here you are making things more difficult. I know what we did wasn't cool, what else do you want me to do or say? Huh? Look, I'm sorry for what we did and for whatever else got your diaper in a knot, all right!" He huffed and crossed his arms, not understanding why Branch couldn't just get over something that happened a long time ago... and also not noticing the way his younger brother had tensed - fists clenching, a slight tremble running through him - as he slowly turned around to face JD, an eye slightly twitching.

"It's not enough," Branch hissed. In it was an undertone of warning that clearly rang out Now leave me alone! Spruce and Clay got it, and they exchanged a nervous glance with one another, wishing their oldest brother would stop playing with fire. Though John Dory, clueless to social cues, did not heed the warning.

"Now you're really acting like a baby! JD snapped, unable to believe how uncooperative his brother was being. "And not to mention crazy," he added as a mutter under his breath. The way he saw it, he'd already apologized and Branch still didn't forgive them? If that wasn't crazy, he didn't know what was!

But it seemed that he would quickly be informed.

"You wanna see CRAZY?!"

JD had hardly processed Branch's words, when the Troll had already charged at him, a fist colliding with a resounding crack! against his jaw.

He reeled back in shock, losing his balance and falling backwards with an "OW!"

"How's THAT for crazy?" Branch screamed at him, jumping on top of him and finally allowing the two-decades worth of pent-up anger release.

"It's crazy that you think I'd actually be happy to see you again! It's crazy that we're on this dangerous trip! It's crazy that you think ONE apology is going to fix everything! It's crazy that you guys left thinking that I'd be okay! It's crazy that you NEVER CAME BACK!!"

Branch tussled with his oldest brother, the two of them rolling around on the ground in a messy heap, each trying to overpower the other, fists and kicks flying from every direction, with Branch intent on landing another blow, while JD fought back in defense, trying to break free from his little brother's surprisingly strong hold. Clearly, it wasn't easy, and Branch managed to gain the upper hand.

"Stop it, Branch! You're hurting me!" JD protested, desperately flailing his hands and trying to pry Branch of. But Branch wouldn't budge.

"Then maybe you should've thought about how you hurt ME!" He grabbed JD by the shoulders, lifting him up and slamming him down. He'd just managed to slink his hands around his neck and was prepared to strangle him, when Branch felt a tight grip on the back of his vest yank him back roughly.

"Bro, that's ENOUGH! Calm down!" Spruce clutched Branch tightly, stepping back and holding him in place from attacking anymore, while Clay hurried over to JD and began to help him get off the ground.

But Branch wasn't done. Shooting his hair out, he whipped it around JD's neck and choked him. A loud sound came from between JD's lips as he tried and failed to get air into his throat, before gasping and coughing hard, sputtering ineffectively in a panic. The fury on Branch's face only served to make that panic even worse.

"I said that's ENOUGH!" Spruce shouted out again, using all his strength to tear Branch away again. The blue Troll struggled fiercely, not satisfied with his restraint and making animalistic noises. His fists were still flying out, trying to land a hit. When he realized he wasn't going to, he stopped, but continued to glare murderously at JD who stood by Clay's side in utter surprise for what had happened.

Spruce waited another minute after Branch had stopped struggling to let go of him. As soon as he did, Branch turned and stormed off without another word.

"Branch..."

The whisper of his name had come from Poppy. She'd stayed clear of the fight but had witnessed it all unfold, horrified to see how things had turned out. Branch needed her support now more than ever. She hurried off after him, while Spruce and Clay tended to JD.

"Ugghhh, I think he broke it," JD moaned, grabbing at the side of his face where Branch's fist had collided.

Clay sighed, letting JD lean against him as they began to walk over to the caterbus. "Come on, bro. Let's get you fixed up."

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A/N: My working title for this was "Branch vs JD mortal combat" asdoasjgmaiodfugnsdih