Trolls 3.0

Reactive

A/N: A small rewrite of the scene in my oneshot "The Trade" as requested by webslingerofthegalaxy on Tumblr, who suggested the possibility of Poppy having a different reaction to learning of Branch being captured :)

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"This I promise you..."

As Branch held on to the last note of the song, the doll-like siblings' full attention had gone to him. They faced him, a look of astonishment clear on their faces. Clearly, they hadn't expected Branch to confront them by breaking out singing at random. Nor did they expect him to sound that... good.

Velvet looked at Veneer. Veneer looked at Velvet.

Branch glanced at the two of them.

"Once again, I've come here to ask that you release my brother, Floyd."

The twins grew a malicious smile on each of their faces. "Well," Veneer said.

"Perhaps we can work out a compromise," Velvet said, finishing the thought.

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In the meantime, Poppy had made her way back to John Dory, Spruce, and Clay, having explained with much distress of what had occurred when she'd spoken to Branch after he and his brothers argued.

"I tried," she said, nearly on the verge of tears. "I really did try. And I know he can change his mind. But it doesn't look like it's going to happen right now..."

The brothers hung their heads. They figured Branch would not be easily convinced to come back, but they could not be mad about it. It was understood why.

"I guess we'll just have to wait," Spruce said, a bit defeated.

John Dory gave a shrug of agreement, unable to think of anything else, and hoping that the wait for their brother to come back around wouldn't be too long.

"Or maybe you don't have to," Clay said, suddenly perking up and pointing behind them. "Look!"

The Trolls turned to look in the direction he was pointing and, sure enough, running towards them was the figure of a Troll.

Poppy gasped. "Branch!" She began to run towards him, trying to meet him halfway, when she started to slow her pace after getting a better look. Wait a second. This Troll was not her boyfriend. This nearly-out-of-breath Troll who was sprinting towards them did share some slight similarities to him, though instead of a crop of rich blue hair on his head, it was a vibrant magenta, styled to where part of the bangs obscured his left eye. A single black earring was embedded into his right ear. She reared back in surprise, recognizing him at once. "Floyd?"

Floyd panted, trying to catch his breath. "Yes, yes, it's me." He gave a small wave when the other brothers instantly flanked Poppy's sides, also as surprised to see Floyd before them now.

"Yo bro, it's good to see you're okay!" John Dory exclaimed. "You are okay, right?"

Floyd quickly checked himself, ensuring that he was uninjured. "Um, yeah, I think so." Though he said it, the Trolls could still see that something still wasn't quite right. He looked very shaken... and extremely worried.

"Dude, how did you escape?" Spruce asked.

"Yeah, those weirdos were something fierce and nasty!" Clay added.

Floyd said nothing at first, looking as though he was recalling something painful. He averted his gaze and looked down at the ground, looking almost ashamed. Poppy felt worry start to prick at her now. Something's not right here... but I need to find out WHAT. She moved closer to Floyd, putting a hand on his shoulder. He flinched at the unexpected touch, but welcomed it. He really needed the comfort right now.