Wish You Were Here

Reunited At Last

"I don't know if I can do this." I took a few steps back from the vent and started sweating. Branch placed his hands on my shoulders and spoke to me in a soothing voice.

"Hey, you can do this. Remember that it's not only you who has to face him again." He makes a good point, he's going through the same thing I am. I took a deep breath and marched the same few steps forward this time.

– – – – – – –

I heard people talking and I couldn't figure out where it was coming from. I stood up and eventually, my attention was directed to the golden vent cover when it flew open to reveal... sticky hands? I watched 3 trolls jump down and use the sticky hands as a rope to rappel themselves downwards. One troll was a bright pink color with her hair in a ponytail, one was more on the grayscale, and one was white with bright green hair.

As they got closer, I was able to make out one of them. Oh my god, It's Branch! He looks so different. I didn't know who the pink one was and the one with green hair wasn't facing my direction, so I couldn't get a good look.

The three of them landed on the vanity with Branch coming straight to the bottle. I placed my hands on the glass, "Branch? Is it really you?"

"Yeah, it's really me." He had a huge smile on his face and I felt so relieved. He appeared to be relatively okay physically, wow he's grown.

"You've really grown into that vest, you're a man now." His face pressed against the bottle and he hugged the entire thing. He looked really silly, but I could care less.

"Finally! Somebody gets me!" I giggled and looked behind him to see that pink troll smiling at his actions, and that green haired troll still not facing me, hiding his identity.

Suddenly it clicked in my head. White fur, green hair, and he's with Branch.

"...Veneer?" He slowly turned around and my heart was racing faster than a hungry puffalo. His eyes that were a gorgeous sapphire blue framed by dark lashes had me staring into them. I could feel a blush consuming my face from his presence.

– – – – – – –

"Uhh.. hey." That was all I could think of. The way Floyd's hair was styled was the only other thing on my brain and it had me feeling some type of way. Both of his hands were placed on the bottle so I walked over and placed my hands on the opposite side of the diamond wall.

"I didn't think you'd come." Honestly, neither did I. I didn't think I'd ever be in a situation like this where I had to face my best friend 15 years later while he was being held captive. Yet, here I am, and it's accompanied by my rapidly beating heart.

"I couldn't let you die." I smiled at him and he started to sniffle while rubbing his eyes. While he was occupied on trying to wipe the tears from his face, I glanced over and saw Poppy pull a piece of paper out from her dress pocket.

When she unfolded it, she pointed at the paper and then pointed at Floyd. I was so confused until she gave me a good look at the paper. It was the checklist she made after picking up Bruce and it was titled 'Veneer's Man'.

My jaw dropped and a fierce blush covered my face. No, there's no way. Well, I guess what I told her is somewhat what's happening now. I shook away the 'Veneer's Man' thought and focused on Floyd.

"Thank you so much!" I tilted my head at what he spat out. Thank you? What?

"For what?" I was really curious. What did I even do in the span of 2 minutes?

"For not hating me. I was convinced you would hate my guts." I grew worried at what he said but also relieved. At least that gives me some confirmation about my worry.

"Honestly, I thought you wouldn't care about me either." His eyes shot open and he placed his hands back onto the diamond.

"I could never! I've been apart from you longer than I've known you but I never once forgot a single moment with you." He softly smiled at me which I returned but not without that blush returning. We remained silent for a few seconds until the door of the dressing room flew open.

It made me jump and Floyd panicked. "Get out of here, go!" Walking into the room was Mount Rageon with white vinyl skin and lime green hair that was in a high ponytail. The three of us quickly grabbed the sticky hands and flew back up to the vent.

Once we got back, I looked around and only saw Poppy and Tiny. Where's Branch? There were 3 sticky hands we left attached to the vent, why is there only 2 now. I quickly looked through the vent and saw the third sticky hand on the vanity.

His detached from the vent.

I started heavily shaking and aggressively breathed in and out. Poppy wasn't doing too good either. I watched in horror as I saw the Rageon scoop up Branch and throw him into a purple compartment on her outfit. Once I got a clearer view, I could see John, Clay and Bruce all in the opposite one. She removed Floyd from the perfume bottle and forced him into the same compartment as Branch.

"Shit!" I couldn't watch anymore. I gripped my hair and started pulling while tears streamed down my face. My ears were ringing and my vision was blurry. I could see Poppy trying to calm me down but I couldn't hear her.

Without even thinking, I started running in the direction we came from to make my way back to the exit. With my hearing coming back, I heard Poppy and Tiny's footsteps not far behind me.

Once outside, I saw Rhonda parked in a spot that said 'Reserved for BroZone'. Fucking hell these guys are idiots! I opened the door to Rhonda and waited for Poppy and Tiny to catch up. When they got in, I accelerated at max speed on the road to leave Mount Rageous.

"Veneer! What are you doing?!" Poppy had no idea what I was doing and frankly, I didn't fully understand either. I just knew I had one plan. Through my rage and frustration, I managed to reply to her.

"We're getting Viva to help us. I don't care what it takes, she's coming back with us."