Chapter Text
Roses are flowers so fragile and sweet.
One prick of a thorn – and you'll bleed.
Fragile but not weak, they stand in deceit,
Their beauty a lie, indeed.
(Maria.)*
---
"Hey dude, heard that Poppy's throwing a party for her sixteenth hatching day?"
"No kidding. She's been blasting that news for six months now. Ha-ha! I think the whole village knows. I mean, it's obvious. Poppy gave everyone an invitation! It's a pretty important day in every troll's life."
"Yeah, exactly. But what I was asking is: are you going, or does our guru-master have more important things to do?" Guy Diamond looked questioningly at his friend.
"Whoa! You're making me out to be some kind of monster, buddy!" The two trolls laughed merrily. "Of course I'm going. What a stupid question? Poppy's our friend; not going to her hatching day would be a crime of the highest order. Besides, it's not like I have a choice... You know yourself, if Poppy wants something, she always gets it."
"Well, I wouldn't say that." Guy Diamond reached into his bag and after a few seconds pulled out a large berry. "Want some?"
"Thanks, I'm not hungry."
"Suit yourself," the troll said, then opened his mouth and took a bite of the treat. Seeing Creek's surprised expression and sensing a brewing question, Guy Diamond answered before it could be voiced: "Today, when I was leaving, I spotted this berry right above my house! And I'd just eaten, plus I was running late, but this round thing is huge, you can see for yourself!" — on these words, the glittering troll shoved the berry into Creek's face. — "And I felt bad leaving it — the poor thing would get snatched. So I emptied my bag and stashed the berry for a better time."
"So that's why I've never seen you pull anything out of your bag?"
"Right on track, dude. You're getting smarter every day!"
More laughter followed.
"And... about that 'I wouldn't say that'... could you elaborate?"
"What?"
"Well, I said that Poppy always finds a way to get what she wants, and you said you don't think so. Remember?" Creek looked at the troll walking beside him, who had already finished the berry.
"Yeah, yeah, right. I remember. Well, it's just, you know, maybe Poppy really can get what she wants, I won't deny that, but clearly not always." Guy Diamond glanced at his friend. "For example: one troll, who's well known to both you and me, hasn't gone to a single party Poppy's thrown for ten years straight. She's tried every possible way! No dice."
The lilac troll fell into thought.
"I wonder if he'll show up this time?"
Guy Diamond gave Creek a questioning look.
"What's it to you?"
The aspiring guru looked down thoughtfully, then turned and gave a nervous smile.
"I don't want any conflicts at Poppy's hatching day... You know what that Branch guy is like... He doesn't like me."
"Eh, screw him! Just don't go looking for trouble yourself, and everything will be fine, you'll see!"
Creek remained silent.
They slowly approached one of the trees.
"Well, I'm almost home." Guy Diamond climbed onto a low mushroom. "Anyway, see you at Poppy's tonight! Don't die on the way home," and he jumped sharply. The mushroom propelled him to a considerable height, and Guy Diamond caught a nearby branch with his hair. Once he climbed onto it, he turned back, waved goodbye to his friend, and then disappeared.
"Don't worry, buddy. I'll show up at Poppy's place." He turned around. "Still, I wonder..."
---
From several buds woven together with various bridges and branches, thus creating something like "passages" between them, loud music blared. Bright light poured from almost every one, and fireflies flew around the buds. Unlike all her past hatching days, this one was the most important. Sixteen years of life — that's the age when you're officially considered independent in decision-making, when your hair strengthens, allowing it to stretch further than before, when your voice becomes even more melodic, when you're considered an adult.**
Trolls of various ages stood and danced here and there. For the party, some residents had temporarily given up their homes, receiving certain privileges for the evening. It wasn't as significant a day as the Escape from the Bergens, but they had prepared for it just as diligently. How else could it be? It was the hatching day of the king's daughter, the future leader!
A grey troll walked gloomily across the bridges between buds, trying to find his main headache, who was constantly in different places. The music pounded painfully at his temples, his ears were clogging, the constantly changing light blinded his eyes, and trolls kept bumping into him. Branch wasn't enjoying this. He would never have ended up here if it weren't for one thing.
Cursing Poppy for the hundredth time, the poor grey fellow headed to the last place he'd been directed when he asked, "Do you know where that hyperactive bomb is?" After bumping into several more trolls in a row, cursing each one out along the way, Branch crashed at full speed into his second walking disaster.
"Branch? What are you doing here? I thought you didn't like parties."
Looking up, the grey troll clicked his tongue grimly.
"You think right, you half-baked guru." Branch dusted himself off and glared viciously at the speaker. "Listen, I'd be very grateful," — he waved his arms — "if you'd tell me where your very arrogant pink friend is right now," the troll squeezed out in the sweetest possible tone.
"Well, first of all, I'm perfectly baked, and secondly, I'm looking for her myself." Creek crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the troll just as gloomily as Branch.
"Great, no help from you lot, you selfish cretins." Branch gave a menacing look at all the trolls dancing around, then stepped forward sharply. "Move aside and get away from me. I don't want to see you today."
Creek's eyes widened in surprise. He rarely saw the grey troll this angry, which made him wonder: what had Poppy done that Branch was already ready to wring someone's neck?
The guru didn't have time to say something caustic in reply. Branch was apparently in a real hurry, because without waiting for a reaction to his own words, he pushed Creek aside and walked off at a fast pace downhill.
The angrier Branch got with each step, the more interested Creek became, watching him go. And now the guru wanted to find Poppy not so much to congratulate her on her hatching day, but to ask how she'd managed to drag Branch to the party.
"Hmm, what's he so mad about? Must be a really important picture?" came a sharp voice from the side.
Creek jumped, startled, and turned towards the noise. Seeing the princess next to him, he sighed with relief, but a second later gave her a stern look.
"Poppy! What the fuzz?! How many times have I asked you not to sneak up on me?! You're really scary!"
The troll, barely twitching an ear, laughed merrily.
"Yeah, yeah, sorry. You just always get so funny when you're scared! With that kind of reaction, it's impossible to just walk up to you normally," and she laughed again.
"Ha-ha, very funny," Creek replied gloomily.
"Ahem... Actually, to tell the truth, I approached you pretty loudly this time. I don't know why you didn't notice," the princess said, finishing her laughter. "And by the way, don't you have anything to say?.."
A few seconds of silence and a look of incomprehension, followed by a slap.
"Right... You knocked me off my train of thought!" Creek removed his hand from his face. "Yeah, that's... Happy hatching day!"
"Hee-hee! Well, thanks!"
Apparently deciding that the conversation could end there, Poppy turned and was about to leave. Only she wasn't allowed to.
Creek abruptly grabbed her hand and pulled her towards him.
"Wait a minute. What picture?"
"What?"
"Poppy, don't be dense. How did you manage to drag Branch here?"
The pink troll blinked in confusion, then, understanding the gist of the question and reconstructing the entire conversation from the beginning, gasped loudly.
"Oh, so that's what you mean. Ha-ha! Well, it's actually a really funny story."
Poppy fell silent, but feeling a questioning gaze on her, she continued:
"Well, basically, I'm over by Branch's house a lot. And I really wanted him to be at the party, even if just for a minute. I hammered on his door all morning, and I guess his patience ran out. He opened it, about to tell me to get lost. I figured that much. But I wasn't about to leave empty-handed. So I slipped inside, and while he was processing what had happened, I ran deeper into his 'bunker'." — She made air quotes with her fingers. — "And basically, while he was chasing me, I managed to snag one of the photos from his shelf. He didn't notice and just kicked me out, and now he's here. I guess the photo is important."
Poppy glanced at her interlocutor, who had long since let go of her hand. His face showed displeasure.
"Listen, I can forgive you a lot, but I think this is over the line. That's a personal item."
"Personal, schpersonal... Who cares? It worked! He's here," the princess puffed out her chest triumphantly.
Creek just rolled his eyes. He knew arguing was useless.
"So what's the photo of?"
"I don't know. Some guys." She pulled the snapshot out of her hair.
Looking at it, Creek saw five trolls with the same skin color.
"Hmm... This one... looks familiar," he pointed a finger at the guy with red hair. "Like I've seen him before..."
"I showed this photo to DJ Suki, and she said it's some popular band. I think... 'BroZone'?.. I'll have to listen to a few songs, find out what Branch likes." She chuckled.
"BroZone... That rings a bell too... I just can't remember, must have been a long time ago."
Poppy looked lazily at her friend.
"Yeah, yeah, uh-huh, familiar, right. Listen... Biggie and I are discussing the benefits of children. Can you believe it, he thinks they're needed for something besides procreation!" Creek was about to say something, but the princess interrupted him. "So yeah, I did a bad thing, la-la, blah-blah, and so on. But I really need to prove Biggie wrong, so I can't give Branch this photo right now, and he'll be really upset if he doesn't get it back," Poppy pretended to be upset. "But I'm entrusting this mission to you!" she shoved the photo into Creek's hands. "You, my most loyal friend, will help me give the photo back to Branch!" the princess ordered, and before the lilac troll could realize he'd just been saddled with hard labor, she turned and waved her hand. "So go on, have fun. See you later, mwah-mwah, bye!" And she ran off.
The music got louder, the trolls moved more actively, and bakka*** was being brought out of the houses.
"Damn."
---
"No, Poppy! You're wrong!" a voice cut through the shouts and loud music.
"You can't prove otherwise!"
"How can you not understand?" Biggie looked like he was about to cry from his friend's worldview. "When you have your own kids, you'll understand!"
"That's way off! Plus, I'm not planning on doing that myself, I'll give them to someone close to raise. I'll have more important things to do, I'm going to be queen!" the girl said just as loudly over the music. "And besides, if I do plan on making an heir, it certainly won't be at the beginning of my reign, maybe when I'm old."
"But..."
"Biggie, you can see it's useless. Why are you trying?" Guy Diamond suddenly cut into the conversation sharply. Hearing these words, Poppy crossed her arms triumphantly over her chest. "She's still little, only sixteen. She'll grow up and understand," the troll finished slyly, as if delivering an ultimatum.
At such a statement, the future ruler's hair stood on end, foreshadowing a furious tirade about her maturity and knowing how to live.
"Poppy!"
Out of nowhere, an enraged Branch appeared and immediately grabbed Poppy's shoulders in a death grip.
"Where's the photo?!"
Startled by the sudden appearance of an angry face in front of her, the princess tried to push the troll away. When that didn't work, she squinted at the guy:
"Oh, Branchy, what are you doing here? Come to congratulate me, by any chance?"
"Not in this lifetime. Stop playing dumb and tell me where the photo is!"
"Photo? What photo? I have no idea what you're talking about," Poppy said in an offended tone, then turned away.
Dissatisfied with this turn of events, Branch looked at the two trolls behind him, expecting to see something on their faces that would hint at the princess's obvious lie. But they only looked in bewilderment at the scene unfolding before them, clearly not understanding what photo was being discussed.
There was almost no reason to believe Poppy, yet many circumstances pointed to her innocence. Knowing the pink troll's love for revealing anything she'd learned just a second ago, the whole village should have known about Branch's relatives, yet none of the residents showed even a drop of interest in Branch's never-before-seen brothers. And no one answered the question about the photo.
The grey troll gloomily released the princess. Turning away, Branch began to recall everyone who might have been in the forest near his bunker.
"You know what... If you need a photo..." Branch whipped around, "...you could ask Creek. I'm sure he'll help you."
"Are we talking about the same photo? With the members of 'BroZone'?" Hearing the rather loud conversation, some trolls stopped dancing and turned around.
"Uh-huh. Creek will give it to you, just ask nicely."
Filled with rage, Branch quickly ran in the direction where he'd last seen Creek.
"Wasn't Creek going the opposite way... I personally poured him some bakka," Guy Diamond said quietly.
"Well, that way... not that way... He doesn't need to know that. Dad says a hero must go through a difficult path before reaching his goal. Ha-ha!"
"Eh... Like my grandpa used to say: 'Any smart hero takes the detour!'"
"What's 'BroZone'?.."
---
The music was indeed getting louder. The bass became so unbearably noisy that his eardrums started to ache. Perhaps the alcohol, which he'd consumed in a reasonable amount, also played a role.
The music made his head hurt, the smells made him nauseous, the bakka churned his stomach, and the bright, constantly changing colors made his eyes feel like they were about to jump out of their sockets. Creek was too tired; he needed a little time to rest, then he could have fun again. He needed silence.
What also bothered him was that besides the dancing, the photo Poppy had given him still wouldn't leave his head. Creek tried to find Branch, but deciding that they'd run into each other sooner or later anyway, he finally decided to start enjoying the party.
It became stuffy. Even though most of the party was happening outside, on the bridges between houses, the guru was no less hot. He felt bad. He needed to get some "fresh" air.
Saying he'd be back in a minute, Creek approached a bud that was the least illuminated. He walked around it and stood on the back side of the porch, leaning against the wall. It got quieter. This flower was probably used as some kind of storage for party supplies, so the light and music barely reached here. Why would they, since the main action wasn't happening here? There was a view of a small pond. It became easier to breathe.
Due to the newfound harmony, Creek wanted to meditate. He would have, if he hadn't felt the photo in his pocket again.
Even though he'd looked at the picture a hundred times, the troll decided to look at it for the hundred-and-first time. All previous times, he'd focused quite strongly on the guy with red hair, so this time he decided to look at other details.
The photo showed five trolls. All had the same skin color. One troll had purple hair and incredibly prominent abs. Another, with yellow hair, was somehow wearing only underwear. The guy with red hair – Creek had definitely seen him somewhere, and something about his attire was familiar. The troll who looked older than the rest had an almost square face and swamp-colored hair. He radiated the aura of some kind of leader. And finally the fifth, with blue hair. He was the youngest, a little troll still in diapers, but his eyes for some reason expressed anxiety and... sadness?.. No, probably imagined it.
Staring intently at the photo, Creek felt his finger touch a "roughness" on the back. The troll turned the snapshot over and saw a barely visible inscription. It was quite worn away. It looked like someone had tried to erase it deliberately, but the ink was sturdy and the inscription, not without effort, could still be read:
*"BroZone on tour! Tearing up the stage with family harmony!"*
And below, an even more faded inscription:
*"John Dory, Spruce, Clay, Floyd and little Branch. Inseparable brothers!"*
Seeing Branch's name and then the following sentence, Creek, with his mouth open and eyes full of surprise, quickly turned the photo back over and stared again at the youngest of the trolls.
"No... It can't be... They don't look anything alike! This can't be Branch!"
Looking again at the guy with red hair, Creek finally realized what had seemed familiar to him all along about his clothing. The vest. Branch's vest.
Fully understanding why the grey troll was actually so angry about the missing photo, Creek nearly fell over, forgetting how to stand.
His head was full of questions. Who were these people? Why didn't anyone know about Branch's brothers? Why had no one ever seen them in the village?
"Why did Branch turn so grey?.."
"That's something you'll find out when you see my fist an inch from your face!"
Creek spun around and barely ducked his head in time before Branch's fist passed through where it had been.
"B-Branch?! How did you?.."
"Now shut your mouth and tell me fast how you broke into my bunker?!"
"What? Why would you even think that I—"
Creek didn't get to finish. The next second, he was holding his nose, from which bright pink blood was streaming.
"Have you completely lost your mind?! Why would I want you?!" the guru shouted angrily.
"How should I know what's going on in your two-faced idiot head! Maybe you do! Give back the photo!"
The lilac troll looked gloomily at his assailant, then suddenly smiled and squinted his eyes slyly.
"Oh... you need the photo? Then try and take it, vandal."
"That's it. You're dead."
Preparing his hand for another blow, Branch drew back forcefully.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk," Creek waggled his index finger. "You know, I have a feeling Poppy wouldn't be too happy to see her best friend looking like a squashed bug." Branch slowly lowered his fist. "And besides, I think the guys would be extremely interested to learn about some never-before-seen relatives..."
The grey troll's patience snapped. He swung harder than before. Creek barely managed to turn his head, and the fist flew millimeters from his eye. But that didn't save him from the next blows. Branch went berserk.
Not losing his composure, the guru started hitting Branch back. The grey troll doubled over from punches to the gut and constant pain from the other's kicks. Creek didn't leave Branch's hair alone either. He kept pulling it back, trying to move Branch's head, and with it his body, away from himself.
A couple of bruises and a little glittering blood later, both trolls were pressing each other against the wall, trying to pummel the opponent's face harder. During certain maneuvers, the guru was irreversibly pinned to the wall, meaning his inevitable defeat and subsequent stay in the hospital bud.
But Creek didn't want to give up. Deciding to use his last chance, the troll tried to pull Branch towards him, so as to then bash his head and buy some time. The gloomy one had other plans. Quickly hitting Creek in the stomach, he aimed at the wall, foreshadowing a subsequent blow straight to the jaw.
Lifting his head from the blow to his stomach, Creek was still pulling him forward, and due to the hit against the wall, Branch suddenly lurched forward, resulting in both trolls unexpectedly pressing their lips together.
They both stopped resisting.
After standing in that pose for a while, the trolls quickly pulled apart when their hair began to intertwine.
Now, two guys, both bruised and bloody, simply stood in silence and looked at each other.
"You..."
"Guys! There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you." Poppy suddenly appeared from around the corner. "Oh, and what are you two up to?"
Because of the poorly lit spot and the shadow of the bud, the trolls' battered faces weren't visible. Branch slowly turned to Creek.
"N-nothing much... Just talking, you know..." the guru smiled nervously.
"Oh... Well, okay. Creek, Guy Diamond is looking for you, basically." Poppy glanced at Branch and took a deep breath. "Hey, Branchy!... You know... sorry for taking the photo. I just really needed to see you at my hatching day!"
Poppy started slowly approaching the trolls.
"Stop!" both guys shouted.
"Y-yeah, I forgive you, I guess. And, uh, happy hatching day, yeah! Now, if you'll be so kind, we're talking about... um..."
"Meditation poses!"
"What?.. I mean, yes! Exactly. You're interrupting."
"Okay?.. You guys are acting weird. Anyway, sorry again. Bye, lovebirds! I won't interrupt your... poses."
Poppy disappeared around the corner.
"Listen... I'm sorry, I just..." Branch started as soon as the footsteps faded. But apparently wanting to do something a little different, Branch found his mouth covered.
Suddenly and abruptly, Creek moved towards the grey troll, then latched onto his neck.
At this turn of events, Branch tensed, but nonetheless hugged the guru back. Probably more to keep from falling off the porch. They were literally hanging on the shaky railing, which was about to give way.
"What the fuzz are you doing, you idiot?!"
"Just shut up."
Creek abruptly pressed his lips to Branch's. Branch, despite showing clear displeasure, returned the kiss, opening his mouth and letting the other's tongue in. This probably happened more out of surprise and not knowing what to do. After all, Branch found himself in such a strange situation for the first time.
Now, their beginning-to-intertwine hair didn't stop the trolls. At some point, the hair didn't just intertwine, but began to shamelessly rub against each other and press together fiercely. From these actions, both guys, continuing their tongue battle, sighed softly.
Finally, Branch's hair menacingly wrapped around the other's and, squeezing hard, pulled apart. The lilac troll quietly stepped away from his companion.
"Here's your photo." After digging a bit in his pocket, Creek pulled out the snapshot.
Branch, remembering why he'd come here, happily grabbed the photo. Quietly thanking the guru, he walked around him.
"So, first of all, what happened here was actually a drunken dream and it didn't happen," the grey troll turned slightly. "And second of all, if you breathe a word about 'relatives' to anyone — you'll spend the rest of your life without a tongue. Got it?"
Creek nodded slightly, and Branch quickly turned the corner.
A few minutes later, Guy Diamond would find the troll, having heard from Poppy where her friend was and having waited in vain for him to come on his own. Without really getting a good look at Creek, he would lead him to the hospital bud. Along the way, a flood of questions would be asked. "What happened to you?", "How do you feel?", "Was it Branch?", "Why are you so red?.."
---
Seven years later...
Outside, it was an impossibly hot and sunny day. Birds chirped melodiously, somewhere the sound of a river not far from the village could be heard.
But few managed to enjoy the beautiful day. Trolls were running and bustling here and there, each carrying out a specific task assigned to them. Today was an important day. Pop City had been preparing for it for just over a week, which was certainly short for such a cumbersome event, but there was no time to delay.
"B-Bran..."
"Sir!"
"Y-yes, exactly!.. Sir! Please, tell me one more time, where am I supposed to take this?.." came a voice from under a huge pile of boxes. There were so many that the speaker himself couldn't be seen.
"For the thousandth time: all items with a butterfly sticker go behind the mushroom! Why is that so hard to remember?!"
"S-sorry, Bran... I mean, sir!" the pile of boxes, hearing the poorly concealed reproach in the voice, headed in the opposite direction from the one Branch had indicated.
"What an idiot... Hey, Lucius! Come here!" Branch waited a moment for the troll to run up to him. "Could you have been any slower? Go find Fluff and finally show him where those damn boxes are supposed to go." The troll gave a distracted smile and blinked in incomprehension. "The mushroom! Lucius! Behind the mushroom!"
"Right, got it, sorry!" the guy cried out anxiously, then ran off after the pile of boxes that had disappeared around the corner.
"And why couldn't they give us more time?.. I don't know, a month maybe? It would have been easier..." Branch tiredly rubbed the bridge of his nose.
---
"DJ Suki! DJ Su-ki-i!"
The magenta troll turned sharply at the sound. Poppy was racing towards her at lightning speed.
"Poppy, what's wrong?" She made a displeased face. "Again..."
"How's the music? Ready?"
"It's..."
"It needs to be ready by evening!"
"I—"
"No! By the start!"
"Poppy, I—"
"We have only minutes left!"
"Enough!" DJ Suki barked, quickly putting her hand over her friend's mouth. "First of all, not minutes, but a few more hours. And the music is fine, just a little more time and it'll be completely ready."
Removing the other's hand from her face, Poppy turned sharply to Guy Diamond standing nearby.
"What about the lights? There—"
"Everything's fine! I'm already done!" the troll interrupted the queen, not wanting to have the same verbal spat.
Looking around nervously, she turned her head slightly to the right.
"Cree-e-e-k" — She grabbed him by the shoulders and started shaking him frantically. — "You and Biggie..."
"Poppy! Calm down!" the guru stopped her. "At this rate, you won't even make it to evening. Inhale-exhale, remember? You've been bouncing all over Pop City all week. You need to rest..."
"I don't want to hear it! I'll be back to check on you!" Poppy waggled her finger warningly and ran off.
"Oh dear..."
"At times like this, she starts to remind me of Branch..." Guy Diamond said quietly.
"Tch... That's just what we need, a second paranoid. Two peas in a pod, damn it," DJ Suki replied irritably. "One suffering sociopath, the other a crazy perfectionist... That's a sitcom script right there!" She turned to the control panel. "Hey, Creek, remind me, what are you needed for again? What request did she latch onto you with?"
The troll sighed wearily.
"She said I have to help Biggie with the decorations."
"You? Sorry, dude, but I don't recall you ever being interested in that sort of thing," Guy Diamond looked at Creek in surprise.
"I told her that myself! And Biggie would have managed without me, I'm sure. But she claimed that I know more about such... what did she call them... ceremonial events?.."
DJ Suki laughed lightly: "Well, you can't argue with that... I think her mission was simply: put everyone to work."
"Well, to be fair, I am useful. Biggie is very nervous, and sometimes he needs encouragement."
"If I were tasked with encouraging someone, I'd need encouragement myself. With Poppy around!" DJ Suki continued. "Honestly, in this situation, I feel more sorry for Branch. This is all a huge stress for him as it is, and they put him in charge of the whole process. No, I understand, the queen's right-hand man and all that, but damn! I would have just cried in his place."
"I don't like this whole alliance idea to begin with," Guy Diamond joined the conversation. "Why? What's the point of uniting territories? For greater strength in resistance? Against whom? We've all made up, it seems, so what's this for? And besides, whether pop trolls or rock trolls, we're all completely different! Finding common topics for conversation will be extremely difficult. Not to mention the music."
"Yeah... Agreed. And I don't like this Barb. She definitely has her own plans for this. It can't be that all this is for the unification of kingdoms and nature! That's nonsense."
"Well, one way or another, if Barb does have her own goals, we also have certain benefits," Creek decided to participate in the conversation too. "After all, Poppy isn't stupid, she wouldn't have agreed to all this just like that, and she wouldn't have wasted her nerves over a trinket. She has her own goal too. All we have to do is wait."
"Eh... Why only a week? I'm tired as hell! Barely slept!" Guy Diamond whined pitifully. "Creek, let's go to your place, at least have a proper meal."
"Ha-ha, sorry, buddy. My place isn't very tidy right now. Let's go to Cybil's****, she's got lots of tea."
"Hey! Don't forget me! I'm done here," DJ Suki shouted, running away from the records.