Chapter Text
It was a late night for Poppy, which wasn't unusual, really. The concert had been fun. To the max! With her beautiful crystalline boyfriend proposing during the encore! After the concert, they moved to a beach party with all the tribes, the other leaders congratulating her on the engagement. It was midnight before she and Branch stumbled away from the beach.
Poppy opted to stay with Branch in one of Bruce's guest pods, cuddling up with him. The pods were cozy and simple, set up for Troll guests at the Hostel, and not the only Troll sized accommodation at the resort. She was impressed with Bruce's foresight on the preferences of Troll guests. And she wondered if they were new to Bruce and Brandy's ownership, or something they'd built on. She'd have to ask her future brother-in-law about it at some point while they were helping with the transition for Brandy's retreat.
"Did you know?" She asked as they were winding down, settling into their cuddle time.
"Know what?" Branch smiled at her, running a hand through her hair in that gentle way he had that almost lulled her to sleep right there. He'd be such a good father when they were ready for kids.
"That…a concert proposal was one of my dreams?"
"I didn't. But I knew you'd like it," he told her and she hummed a little, snuggling against his chest. He hummed a few bars of Paradise, and she found herself slowly drifting off. "Hey Poppy?"
"Mm…yeah?" she mumbled, whining a little at the loss of the song.
"If…you could go back? Knowing what you know now…would you change anything?"
"Maybe?" she sighed. "Maybe I'd stop myself from forcing you into anything? I've…always felt bad about how pushy I was…and how sometimes it felt like we were only friends because you got tired of saying 'no'…"
"Hm…," he hummed in consideration before he went back to humming the song and filtering his fingers through her hair. "And it's just what I imagined…," Branch sang softly. "I imagined it would feel like…in paradise…," he kissed her softly and she was floating.
Poppy jerked awake. Her bed was cold. She frowned and searched the room blearily. No sign of Branch…had he gone to Bruce and Brandy's main kitchen for coffee? Or maybe he'd gone to check on Floyd.
She yawned and crawled out of bed. Turning automatically to make the bed, fluffing the pillows and pulling the bright pink comforter back into place.
Wait. Her hands froze over the familiar comforter. Satin and Chenille made this for her twentieth birthday. What was it doing on the bed in their hostel pod? She'd long replaced it with a bigger comforter that she and Branch could properly share…since she tended to burrito them and he was a surprising cuddle monster. But that was at home in the bunker.
"Branch?" she called warily. Had he woken up in the night and replaced the bland blue quilt in the hostel pod with something more familiar? She usually travelled with it, so that could explain why it was here. There was no response and she turned.
This…wasn't the pod in the Vacay Island Hostel. It almost looked like her old pod. She blinked and flicked on the lights so she could really look around. On the bedside table was her little friend photo slider. With Creek at the centre of the bottom row.
It was all wrong…she'd long replaced that with a new one and a photo of Branch, all crystalline and wet from a swim…practically glowing sapphire with his soft turquoise patterning…as they were cuddling in a field of flowers. Worried, she put the slider face down and took another look around.
How was she here? And how was that slider there when she'd made a new one? Even more confusing was the calendar on the wall. They'd adopted the same calendar as the other tribes…but this was the old calendar she'd grown up with…that started on Trollstice. She frowned at it, especially the huge sun drawn over the first day on the calendar with a big 20 in the centre of it.
Poppy went to her bedside table, where she kept her most recent diaries. She found the last one and opened it to her last entry. She scowled at the entry. It was a colourful lament about finally settling on the speech for the party. Instead of the entry she'd made before the concert knowing that she wouldn't get to bed until late.
She sighed and thought about it. Had it all been a dream? But it felt so real…
Poppy shook her head and grabbed a pen, quickly writing it all down before it faded. It took a few pages, but she got it. From the disastrous party to meeting Barb and the other tribes to…helping Branch's brother and finding her sister. She worried her lip and got dressed, reaching automatically for one of her crowns only to find her plain old headbands.
"Come on Poppy," she patted her cheeks. "Wake up!"
Because this had to be the dream! That was the only thing she could think of. It was just a nightmare…back at the beginning. No experiences…no Branch.
She pinched herself but nothing changed. She was still alone in her pod with no crown…just a princess with no actual skills besides singing, dancing, hugging and scrapbooking.
She looked at her Hug Time Bracelet, thinking of its significance. It was Viva's…the big sister her dad never told her about to what…save her from the grief? He'd claimed it was entirely because she would have gone out to find her…but she knew how they dealt with grief…ignore it and put on a happy face, act like the ones you lost never existed.
Had Branch…known something was coming when he asked her that question about going back…? Was it all just some crazy fantasy she'd cooked up from stress?
There was one way to find out if any of it was true. She didn't have a proper clock anymore, but she was in the habit of waking up at the same time as Branch when they spent the night together. And he'd sung her to sleep at the end of that dream. He woke up at around five.
She finished getting ready for the day and left her pod, heading straight for the little alcove where her father hid the Pop String. Or at least…where it had been in the dream. There it was, sitting in that lyre. And there was the scroll with the story. She wanted to laugh at the irony of it. Glued and glittered by the winners…when every tribe had a different version of the story.
"Poppy?" her dad called and she didn't look at him. "How did you find this place…?"
"I…was just…," she paused. She didn't want to say she knew where it was because of a crazy dream she had. "I couldn't sleep so I went on a walk and stumbled on it. What is this, Dad?"
"The source of our music," he answered with a bit of a sad tone. Had he told Viva? She held up the scroll.
"And this? Are there…really other Trolls with different music and everything out there?"
"Yes…," he mumbled after a long moment.
"Is…there anything else you've been hiding from me?" she asked, watching him.
"N-no?"
"I'm going to be Queen soon," she reminded him. "I think I need to know these things…," she sighed. Poppy remembered how upset she was in the dream by all her father's secrets. But she also remembered how to tell when he was being secretive and lying to her.
"There's nothing else," he insisted, already twiddling his fingers.
"Not even…how we really managed to escape? How were the Root Tunnels even there? Did…we really get everyone out?" she looked at him. If her dream was right, she knew the answers. He shifted his gaze, avoiding eye contact.
"I…had them dug when I started hearing about the Bergens' plan for that last Trollstice…they were going to eat you, Poppy! I couldn't let my little girl get hurt…not after your mother…," he trailed off, still not looking at her. She could tell…he was lying. "And of course everyone got out of the tunnels! No Troll left behind. Just like the scrapbooks say."
Poppy sighed and saw the sun rising through the waterfall hiding the alcove. Morning Song was soon. First, she had story time with the Trollings. So, she left the alcove.
She got to the pod where she hosted morning story time, before any of the kids. She ran her fingers along the spine of the scrapbook she read every year on the anniversary. Just how much of it was actually true? Viva and Clay…and their part of the tribe…they were out there…thinking they were all that was left…
"Morning Princess Poppy," the kids greeted, joining her in the pod. Poppy took a deep breath and turned to them with a bright smile. The kids didn't need to know she was worried about anything. Especially a crazy dream that may or may not have a few grains of truth.
"Morning kids!" she greeted with her usual cheer. They all got in their circle as she picked up the book and settled in to read it. She finished and put the scrapbook back on its stand. She couldn't say that every Troll could live in harmony, like she'd told the kids in her dream. Not when she knew better.
"Princess Poppy?" one of the girls asked nervously. "Do the Bergens still want to eat us…?"
"Absolutely," she said solemnly. "But only because that's the only way they know to be happy."
The kids started rattling off party ideas and she smiled a little. Even little Keith's creepy suggestions were amusing.
"I don't wanna be food!" one of them whined.
"Don't worry," she assured, patting his head gently. "No Troll ever will be," she promised. "That's why we're celebrating tonight. Everyone's gonna be there."
"Everybody?" Keith questioned, suddenly in her hair. She honestly never liked how he would do that. He was just a little kid and still small enough to time in his caretaker's hair, even if he was almost too old, but she never liked how he would just…hide in the nearest adult's hair without warning. And this morning she wasn't in the mood to entertain him. So, she gently put him on the ground and shook her head at him.
"Everybody," she sighed. "But Keith…you need to start asking before you go in someone's hair, okay? This really isn't a good habit to have," she told him and he nodded slowly. Satisfied, she pulled out her cowbell. The kids cheered in excitement as she started clanging out the Morning Song.
Without urging, they just kept getting louder. She would have hushed them if she hadn't spread the word the night before all this to make it loud enough to be heard at a distance. She'd been convinced that there was no danger. This morning, if her crazy dream was to be believed…there was so much danger. Branch was right and she never listened.
The song ended with the impressive tower and she heard the slow, sarcastic clapping. Branch! She searched the brush eagerly and her breath caught. Oh right…he was still Grey. She'd almost forgotten what he looked like…he'd had his colours for the vast majority of her dream. And she loved his sparkling crystal skin towards the end of it.
He was making his sarcastic reprimands and all she could hear was static. All she wanted was to hear him sing…parts of the dream were fading to a niggling feeling in the back of her mind, but that wasn't going away. Voice of an angel indeed.
"You always ruin everything!" Satin groaned and Poppy snapped back to reality.
"Guys, can we not?" she said without thinking. Everyone went silent and stared at her, even Branch. "He--" she broke off and cleared her throat. "Sure, his panic attacks are poorly timed, but it's no reason to bully him."
She was met with silence and she glanced around her shocked friend group and then she looked at Branch. She knew what he went through. Constantly bullied for his habits and frequent panic attacks that he had no control over…that they sometimes triggered. Bullied by some people just for being Grey. He looked like he was just as shocked at her defence of him as her friends. It brought tears pricking at her eyes and she stepped away from her friends, glancing at her Hug Time Bracelet getting ready to announce the first Hug Time of the day.
"Poppy?" Guy Diamond asked carefully. She shook her head a little. She didn't feel up for a hug…not from anyone who would willingly give her one.
"Excuse me," she mumbled before running off. She stopped near a large boulder and sat down in the lee of the stone. Her tears broke through and she pulled her knees up to her chest.
She felt kind of stupid, getting so emotional over a dream that may or may not have had any truth. Well, she knew that Branch confiding in her about his experiences being bullied by almost the whole village for almost his whole life had a grain of truth. She'd seen it herself…and done nothing because she hadn't realized that was what it was. She never realized until he'd gotten his colours back and they'd become friends, and he had to spell it out for her.
Branch was a little taken aback by Poppy's reaction to him at the end of that obnoxiously loud Morning Song. She was just staring at him, her eyes watering. Had…he been too harsh?
No…it seemed like she was searching his face for something that wasn't there. He almost shuffled uncomfortably. She'd never looked at him like that and it was unnerving.
"Here we go again…," Cooper groaned.
"Oh, Branch…," Biggie sighed.
"You always ruin everything!" Satin groaned and he braced himself for a round of demeaning remarks about his panic attacks. He knew he 'ruined everything'…they never let him forget. And it got worse with every party or loud thing that they did that triggered him blindly running through the village screaming about the Bergens.
"Guys can we not?" Poppy said suddenly and he almost stepped back. She reprimanded her friends for bullying him.
And he wasn't the only one shocked. And she was looking at him with such a weird look…a mix of pity and sorrow and…maybe anger that was somehow not directed at him? Guy Diamond finally spoke up, but she excused herself and left.
He blinked after her. She hadn't shoved an invitation to some stupid party at him.
"Should we go after her…?" DJ mumbled.
And with perfect timing Creek showed up. He wasn't in the mood to deal with him, so Branch headed home. Without Poppy trying to force anything on him, they didn't notice his exit.
He got to the bunker and started to lift the trapdoor entrance when he heard quiet crying. Frowning, he went to investigate. Poppy was sitting behind the boulder, crying her eyes out. What was she doing at the bunker?
Persistent as she was, she never came to the bunker. She at least let him have that bit of space.
What was wrong with her today?
And it only got stranger as she apologized to him. Still crying. But now she was avoiding looking at him. Like…everyone else who couldn't look at him because of his Greyness. That was the weirdest thing about her behaviour so far. She was usually meeting his gaze and eagerly pushing her friendship. Looking at him like his lack of colours didn't matter.
"It uh…it's fine," he sighed finally, looking at the ground. "If you need to get…whatever this is…," he made a gesture to indicate her crying with half-hearted sarcasm in his tone. "Out of your system…I guess it's fine. Just don't try to come inside."
Poppy smiled a little, wiping her face again.
"Of course not," she assured. "But Branch…?"
"What?" he groaned, shuffling awkwardly. She was finally looking at him with that weird look again.
"I'm sorry," she said sincerely. He quirked an eyebrow. This was really sudden. "For not saying anything sooner. I never realized just how badly they were treating you. How…I've treated you…"
"It's uh…not a big deal…," he mumbled, taken aback by the apology. It's not like he didn't bring it on himself.
Stubbornly miserable and pushing everyone away before he could get them hurt…
"No. It is a big deal! You--" she broke off and turned away. "No one deserves to be treated like you have…," she sighed.
"Are you…feeling, okay?" he asked carefully and she gave him an answer when her Hug Time Bracelet chimed and she closed the flower without even attempting to force him into a hug.
It…kind of made him want to force the hug. She certainly looked like she could use it.
"I should go…," she sighed. "Big--wait. Maybe you can help me with something!" She whirled around, eyes bright.
"I'm not helping with your stupid party."
"No, not that! I need some of your traps. But…bigger."
"What do you mean?"
"Do you have any traps that would actually do more than annoy a giant?" she asked eagerly.
"Maybe…? Why the sudden interest?" Branch was wary. He didn't…but he could make something out of the traps he had. But…she'd never shown interest in any of his security stuff. Tolerance and understanding, but never interest. Part of him wondered if she was really Poppy.
"I…," she trailed off. "I think you're right. But I can't just call off the party when it's mostly ready."
That was the most shocking thing that came out of her mouth. But she'd led that stupidly loud Morning Song…