Chapter Text
Floyd wandered through the house looking for his brother, Branch, the two of them had arrived in Rock Troll territory a couple of days ago. He had spent most of that time sleeping and recovering from Velvet and Veneer, along with the journey which took a lot more out of him than he expected. So as such he hadn’t received a full tour.
The house wasn’t that big so Floyd didn’t know why he was struggling so much to find his way around. Eventually he found his way to the living room and saw that Queen Barb was lounging on the couch, playing a video game.
Floyd didn’t grow up with modern technology like movies and video games, he had only been exposed to it when he left the Tree and even then he didn’t have much experience with it.
Queen Barb glanced up “hey Pink, glad to see you’re up and about.”
“Queen Barb” Floyd said respectfully, he attempted to bow but almost fell over. Thankfully he prevented himself from falling flat on his face.
“There’s no need to do that” she said “you can just call me ‘Barb.’ Seems fitting since we share a brother and all that.”
“Oh, okay” Floyd said “speaking of Branch, do you know where he is?”
“Totally” she said “he’s in his hideout.”
“His… Hideout?” Floyd repeated, he and Branch had planned an underground hideout (complete with a ten story waterslide) when they were kids and Floyd knew Branch had started back in Pop Village before his adoption and that Poppy finished it. But he didn’t know that Branch had built a second one.
“Yeah,” Barb stood up, “I’ll show you.”
She led him to a pair of double doors and opened them to show what looked like your typical recording studio. At least, that’s what it was on one side. The window that showed the other half was covered with a curtain and there was a sign on the glass door reading ‘Branch’s Hideout.’
“Did anyone ever tell you about Branch’s gray thing?” Barb asked.
“Yeah, he told me.”
“Okay,” Barb said, “so basically, when Branch first got here he hated anything to do with music so we turned part of the studio into the perfect sound-proof space for him. Even now he still uses it when he gets overwhelmed.”
“If it’s sound proof then how do you get his attention?” Floyd asked.
“Normally we just go in” Barb shrugged “but we usually don’t unless there’s an emergency or it’s time to eat or something.”
“Got it.”
Barb left and Floyd hesitated before slowly opening the door a crack. “Branch?”
“Hey Floyd” he opened the door wider.
Taking up most of the small space was a couch but there was also a small table and a mini-fridge sitting in the corner. The table had a stack of books and notebooks and there were several shelves with more. There was also a bulletin board full of pictures, most were of Branch, Barb, and King Thresh and some of other rock trolls who must be his brothers’ friends. But Floyd noticed there were also some of him and his brothers, they must have been added recently for they were all taken after their reunion.
Branch was sprawled on the couch with a book, his boots laying on the floor. He raised an eyebrow “did you need something?”
“Yeah…” Floyd said “can I talk to you?”
“Sure,” Branch moved his feet to make space and gestured to the couch.
Floyd closed the door behind him and saw down, pulling his feet up onto the cushion he took off his own boots. Unlike Branch’s (black with silver buckles) his were a plain brown. They were more meant to protect his feet from the hot volcanic rock versus a style choice.
He wiggled his bare feet content before turning back to his baby brother. “What are you reading?”
“One of the books Clay gave me for his book club” Branch said “not the best thing I’ve ever read but I can see why he likes it. So what’d you want to talk about?”
Floyd hesitated before just deciding to rip the band-aid off. “I was wondering if you would help me write a rock song.”
Branch fully sat up and looked at him with shock. “Really?” He nodded “oh gosh you’re serious… Um, not that I’m saying no but…. Why?”
“Well… You mentioned that rock music is supposed to be filled with emotions other than happiness, right?” Floyd said and Branch nodded “Well, I got a lot of feelings about the whole ‘being kidnaped and nearly dying’ thing.” He explained “and yeah sure, I guess I could write a pop song about it but… I don’t think it will have the same effect.”
Branch considered his answer, thinking it over. “Okay.”
“Really?”
“Sure,” Branch shrugged, “why not? Could be fun.”
—------------
“No.”
“Come on,” Brab said, leaning over the back of the living room couch. “If you’re going to sing a rock song you might as well look the part.”
“I mean,” Branch said from his place sprawled out on the floor, writing the instrumentals for his song. “She’s not wrong, you already have the right vibe going on. The one earring, the tattered pants, the two-toned hair…”
Floyd ran a hand through his hair, the roots still white from his time with Velveet and Veneer. He had gotten used to it but he still felt strange when people pointed it out. “Thanks but I’m good.”
Barb shrugged, “suit yourself.”
—----------
With Branch’s help Floyd had successfully written a rock song, he wrote the lyrics while his brother handed the instrumentals. He sang it with Branch and Barb doing back up, and Brab was the one to insist they record it.
“So,” Floyd looked down at the CD case “what do we do with it now?”
“We could make copies and sell it,” Barb suggested. “Or send them to the rest of your brothers.”
“I don’t know about selling it,” Floyd said, “but the second idea sounds good.”
“Oh!” Branch said, grinning “I have an even better idea.”
—---------
Velvet lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling over her cell. Her brother was out interacting with the other prisoners. For some reason they all hated her for being a ‘massive fraud’ but didn’t have a problem with Veneer. So whenever she stepped outside her cell she got name-called and insulted, several people even tried to fight her!
“Velvet!” Speaking of her brother…
“What?!”
“We got mail” looking over she saw that Venner was holding up a plain CD case. “The guards said we could use the TV to watch it.”
She grumbled but stood “fine, at least it will give me something to do.”
Veneer led her over to the TV and she ignored the insults with her head held high. The two siblings sat down and Venner got it set up. Clicking ‘play’ Velvet could see the troll she had captured in front of a microphone with the two emo trolls that had broken the diamonds holding BroZone.
The two emo trolls began to play and after a moment the pink one (she couldn’t remember his name) started to sing. It sounded like a rock song.
“There's a fire burning inside me”
“Cold steel calls out my name.”
“Tempted to give in to the rage”
“Torn apart by this affliction”
“Locked up inside myself”
“This life is much too young to fade”
Floyd had decided instead of writing about the kidnaping itself it would be about his feelings of the aftermath. More like a promise to himself that he would move past it and become stronger because of it.
“I ran away from the pain”
“Always breaking down inside.”
“Incomplete”
“But now I see”
“This won't be the end of me”
“The world around me”
“Sells an empty promise”
“They built you up just to watch you fall”
“It's time to meet this face to face”
“I ran away from the pain”
“Always breaking down inside”
“Incomplete”
“But now I see”
“This won't be the end of me.”
“Black and white melt into gray”
“'Till every truth is stripped away”
“When nothing's wrong, nothing's okay”
“Everyone has been betrayed"
Velvet practically glared at the screen, the stupid troll had ruined her life! And now he was off singing as if nothing she did affected him.
“I ran away from the pain”
“Always breaking down inside”
“Incomplete”
“But now I see”
“This won't be the end"
Venner smiled softly, glad that the trolls he and his crazy sister had kidnaped were doing okay. He had felt so much relief that he hadn’t died, that he hadn’t led to someone’s death.
“I ran away from the pain”
“Always breaking down inside”
“Incomplete”
“But now I see”
“This won't be the end of me!”