Welcome back!

I want to thank Wildkat25 for helping me with this chapter! She helped me a lot with the speech in the chapter, and I can't thank her enough for helping me with it!

I hope you all enjoy this chapter! The song used in this chapter is Welcome To My Life by Simple Plan. Thank you for reading it! I don't own trolls, but Rose is my OC.

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All eyes turned to Branch. He slowly handed out the letters to the leaders, sitting back down once everyone had a few. After a few minutes of reading the letters they all looked back up at him. Branch looked around, feeling his hands getting warmer as they stared. "Well?" Barb said impatiently.

"Right." Branch said, pulling a notebook out of his hair. "Most of the letters are about how she will gain her colours back, if it has happened in the past, what will happen to her. Most of them are common questions like that. They are easier to answer. She won't be grey forever, she went through something tragic. It takes time for her to get used to what the new normal will be for her. It will be hard, but she has trolls to support her. Easy questions. There are questions that I was surprised to read, from other pop trolls. There was a bunch asking if Rose would turn out like me. If she will grey for years like I was. There were some asking why I did certain things when I was grey."

Branch stopped talking for a moment, looking down at the papers in front of him. "Are you going to be the one to talk about it? Answer questions if anyone has any?" Delta asked.

Branch stopped moving his papers around. "I don't know. I don't think they would listen to me, not like they would you all."

"That may be true." King Quincy spoke. "But I think it would be more meaningful if it came from you. You are the only one who can truly make them understand. If we tell them, they may take it as some sort of command to be nicer to Rose."

"No one can truly understand what she is going through. I can't…" Branch stopped when he felt a warm hand on his arm. He looked over to see Poppy giving him a soft smile.

Poppy reached into her hair and pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to him. Branch raised an eyebrow, confused as he looked at the words on the paper. His eyes widened in surprise as he realized what it was. "When I was reading your older works last night, I came across this. I thought you could sing this, it may help them understand."

Branch was silent for a minute. "What does it say?" Prince D asked, getting a nudge from his mother. "What? I'm just curious." He frowned slightly before looking at Branch.

"It's something I wrote when I was about sixteen, after another one of my episodes." He stared down at the paper, before looking over at Poppy. "Poppy, you know I only let you read certain stuff and I don't like others looking at my stuff. Why did you bring it?" He whispered to her.

"I read it last night, and I saw how stressed you were about the letters. I thought this would help, and since you let me read it I thought I could bring it and give it to you. I'm not going to show anyone unless you're okay with it. I think this will really help the others understand." She whispered back. "I'm sorry, I thought it would be okay since you let me read it. I won't bring any of your work out of the bunker without asking." She placed her hand on his, giving him a soft smile.

"I just don't want anyone reading my stuff without me knowing." He muttered. "I don't want anyone's view of me changing, even though I know once they find out it will change." He sighed, a hand going through his hair.

Poppy gave his hand a squeeze, causing him to look over at her. "I'd never change my view of you Branch. No matter what you did in the past isn't going to change how much I love you. Even if I read all of your works, nothing will change about how I feel about you." She leaned forward and kissed his cheek, smiling.

Branch gave her a soft smile, squeezing her hand in return. "Just wait till you read it all. " He teased, kissing her hand. "It is a good idea though. I originally thought of it as a poem, but it could work for a song." His voice a bit louder now.

Prince D leaned his head over. "Can I read it?" He asked.

"Darnell." Queen Essence warned.

"It's alright. You can read it." He slid the paper over to Prince D. "If I'm going to be singing it in front of everyone, you all might as well know what the lyrics are." Branch shrugged.

"So you have the song, is there anything else that we can prepare for?" King Quincy asked, looking at Branch.

"I normally like to be prepared, but I don't think there is much to do to prepare something like this." He said, hearing Poppy gasp dramatically.

"You? Not prepared? I'm shocked." She teased, a grin on her lips. She placed her hand on his forehead. "Are you getting sick?"

Branch reached up and took her hand off his forehead. "I am not sick, and you say that every time." He saw her giggled as he intertwined their fingers together.

"Alright then. Let's answer those questions." Trollzart said, writing down the answers as Branch spoke.

As the meeting continued, everyone was given a part to speak. "Now that it's settled, are there any other matters that need to be discussed while we're here?" Queen Essence asked.

Branch picked up Rose's books and markers and placed them in his back, causing Poppy to look over at him. "Why are you packing up?" She asked.

"I thought I was done? If we're done talking about the letters, I should probably go." He said, reaching towards Rose but she quickly moved closer to Poppy.

"You can stay, if you would like." Essence gave him a smile. "It looks like Rose doesn't want to leave, and I think it's good to have your input."

"You have a unique look on things. You have helped us a lot." Delta commented.

"I have?" Branch asked,

"Of course you have. You have helped us with the expansion of this place." Trollzart replies.

"And you help with any arguments between trolls. You're always there when we need you." Trollex added as he grinned.

Branched blushed slightly at the comments. "Thanks, I guess. I'll stay then." He said, feeling Poppys hand on his arm. He looked over to see her grinning widely. "What?"

She shook her head, her arm linking with his. "Nothing. Just admiring my view." She winked, causing him to blush more when he heard Prince D chuckled beside him.

"Just pay attention." He muttered, looking down to avoid the eyes looking at him. Poppy grinned and took his hand on hers as the meeting continued.

~

The meeting came to a close as King Trollex and Trollzart flew off to gather the trolls to the main mushroom. "When does it start?" Branch asked, gathering his bag from under the table.

"Right after we're done here." Poppy answered. "Rose, do you feel comfortable coming with us as well? Or would you rather stay here and wait for us to finish?" She asked. Rose frowned slightly, looking at Branch. "Branch will be with us during the speech. There will be a lot of trolls there." She warned, before seeing Rose point to Branch's hair. "Alright. You can stay in his hair." She smiled, seeing Roses eyes lit up slightly.

She turned to face Branch, smiling at him. "You sure you're ready for this? I know talking about it in front of us is hard enough, but this is almost all the trolls." She placed a hand on his upper arm and rubbed it gently.

He nodded. "I am nervous about it, but it will help Rose. I will do it." He looked over at Rose who stared at them. "You ready? If you have anything you want to say, just tap my head and I'll get your book ." He gently picked her and placed her in his hair. "This is still so weird." He said, seeing Poppy hide her laugh. "Not funny." He muttered, before kissing her softly for a moment. "Okay. Now I'm ready." He smiled at her.

She grinned at him and took his hand, leading him off down the tree. Branch looked up to see King Trollex flying off to gather all the trolls. He felt his stomach turn, the nerves starting to get to him but he ignored it. He was going to do this so no one had to go through what he went through.

As all the trolls gathered in the centre of the village, Branch could hear the voices of some of the louder trolls talking about if there really was another grey troll before Rose. He let out a sigh, some of the trolls already spread news about his past. He turned to see most of the leaders start walking on top of the main mushroom, he remained off to the side in the shadows. He was nervous, but he knew he had to do this. Branch saw Poppy hesitate to join the others. She turned to him and kissed him softly. "You got this Branch." She said to him before she walked into the mushroom.

"Hello everyone." Poppy greeted, standing tall as she took a step forward. "I knew there had been a lot of rumours going around the past couple of days, and we want to address them to the best of our abilities."

"Is it true?!" Questions rained out from the crowd.

"There have been other grey trolls here?" Another voice called out.

"Why were we not told about this before?!"

"If it happened before, what if it happens again?!"

King Quincy took a step forward. "We are all safe here. What happened earlier this week will not happen again."

"Rose has gone through so much, but she is going to need all of our help. She needs everyone to show that she is not alone." Poppy spoke.

Suddenly a lot of trolls started blurting out questions about Rose and the past grey trolls. The leaders tried to settle the crowd down, but didn't get far. Barb was the only one not doing helping, instead she turned to Branch. "You ready?" She asked him.

He nodded. "Yeah, I guess." He tossed her a guitar that was next to him.

He watched as Barb walked to the edge of the mushroom. A couple of the rock trolls took a step back, knowing what was coming next. Barb smirked widely before she strung her guitar, the volume overpowered the crowd causing everyone to go silent. "Finally! You all need to shut your mouths and listen to what we have to say! If you have questions wait till the end and we will answer then then! I do not want to hear another word out of any of you until we are finished!" She yelled loudly. She waited a minute, not hearing anyone speak. "Good! You all understand." She smirked before walking back to her spot.

"Was that really necessary?" Branch asked, seeing her grin as she nodded. Branch walked up to where the leaders were standing. A couple of the trolls up front gave him a confused looked on why he was there, but he ignored them. He glanced at the leaders who nodded to him.

Queen Essence spoke first. "Branch will now speak, and I want you all to listen to him closely." She told them, before the leaders took a step to the side so Branch could have the stage.

"Thank you." Branch said to Essence before he turned to the crowd. "Everyone here has been grey once, but that was only for a little while. What you felt then, and what Rose is feeling now is completely different from that. What she is feeling is a thousand times worse than that. She has lost everything she ever knew, she lost the most important people to her. She is feeling lost and alone." He spoke, before he started hearing trolls question why he was there.

"How do you know how she feels?" He heard a voice call out from the crowd.

Barb raised her arms as if she was get ready to strum her guitar, but the crowd again went silent again. "Do you have to act like that?" Delta muttered under her breath, getting a wide smirk from Barb in return.

"Rose has not spoken since the incident, so she uses a book to write down what she has to say." He did his best to avoid talking about how he was grey, but he could hear the trolls start to question why he was there. "There have been other grey trolls in the past, that is true. Until now it was not something anyone needed to know. Right now, we all need to focus on Rose."

Before Branch could continue more trolls started asking questions. As the trolls kept talking, Branch's ears lowered slightly as he tried to think of what to say. He heard a hoof step towards him and looked behind him, seeing a mic flying towards him. He looked up to see Delta giving him an encouraging smile. She tilted her head beside her as Barb was giving him a smirk, her guitar in hand as she started playing. He looked back at the crowd who had quieted down and was staring at him. Branch took a deep breath before he started singing.

Do you ever feel like breaking down?

Do you ever feel out of place

Like somehow you just don't belong

And no one understands you?

Do you ever wanna run away?

Do you lock yourself in your room

With the radio on turned up so loud

That no one hears you're screaming?

No, you don't know what it's like

When nothing feels alright

You don't know what it's like

To be like me

As Branch sang, the crowd went silent as all eyes were on him. He saw a few of the pop trolls look away as he sang.

To be hurt, to feel lost

To be left out in the dark

To be kicked when you're down

To feel like you've been pushed around

To be on the edge of breaking down

And no one's there to save you

No, you don't know what it's like

Welcome to my life

Do you wanna be somebody else?

Are you sick of feeling so left out?

Are you desperate to find something more

Before your life is over?

Are you stuck inside a world you hate?

Are you sick of everyone around?

With their big fake smiles and stupid lies

While deep inside you're bleeding

No, you don't know what it's like

When nothing feels alright

You don't know what it's like

To be like me

To be hurt, to feel lost

To be left out in the dark

To be kicked when you're down

To feel like you've been pushed around

To be on the edge of breaking down

And no one's there to save you

No, you don't know what it's like

Welcome to my life

No one ever lied straight to your face

And no one ever stabbed you in the back

You might think I'm happy, but I'm not gonna be okay

Everybody always gave you what you wanted

You never had to work, it was always there

You don't know what it's like, what it's like

Pity? Confusion? Branch saw so many different expressions he wasn't sure what the other trolls were thinking. He saw the K-pop trolls watching him with wide eyes. He couldn't help but look away as he continued to sing. Branch felt guilty for not telling his newer friends. At the same time the more he sang, the more the confidence grew.

To be hurt, to feel lost

To be left out in the dark

To be kicked when you're down

To feel like you've been pushed around

To be on the edge of breaking down

And no one's there to save you

No, you don't know what it's like (What it's like)

To be hurt, to feel lost

To be left out in the dark

To be kicked when you're down

To feel like you've been pushed around

To be on the edge of breaking down

And no one's there to save you

No, you don't know what it's like

Welcome to my life

Welcome to my life

Welcome to my life

Everyone was silent after the song ended. Branch panted slightly as he caught his breath. "Do any of you know what it's like to truly be alone? To be in the middle of a crowd, but to feel completely invisible? To have everyone around you smiling as bright as the sun, but you feel like you're in complete darkness? I do. I know what it's like to be absolutely alone." He paused for a moment. "For twenty years, I was grey."

Branch could hear the trolls gasp. He saw many of the pop trolls lowered their ears as he talked. "Back when the pop trolls were caged by the Bergen's, my grandmother was the last one to be taken. She was taken because I was singing, and it caught their chefs attention. She was the only family I had. She was my entire world, I lost everything that day. A week later, we had to leave. That meant I had to leave my pod we shared, and we escaped here. At that point I believed it was my fault, that because of my singing she sacrificed herself to save me. Everything was so new to everyone, I got lost in everything. There was so much work to be done, that no one was able to take care of me for long. Back then, I got it. I was grey. No one wanted a troll who was grey. Everyone wanted to forget about the Bergen's, but I was just a reminder of what everyone went through. I knew that, even at the age of five I knew that. Over the years I learned to do everything for myself, and I feared the Bergen's finding us that I built my heavily fortified Bergen proof survival bunker."

Branch took a moment, looking around as he saw every troll was listening patiently. He couldn't help but smile slightly before he continued. "I was bullied, because I was grey. Rumors spread saying that I was contagious, that if they got near me they would turn grey. It's not true, but I believed it. I started staying away from other trolls, thinking I was protecting them from myself. There were some who did try and take me in, but I pushed everyone away. I believed that if anyone got close to me, that they would somehow die because of me. I couldn't take that again. I couldn't take the loss of someone else I loved. I couldn't take the loss of anyone. Over the first few years I became very depressed and paranoid because of being grey. For days I wouldn't eat. It became hard to sleep, because the nightmares felt so real. My paranoia grew so bad that I started hallucinating that Bergen's found us. When I hallucinated, I would run to the village to warn everyone. Every time I ruined a party because of my alerts, they were all real to me even though no one else believed me."

Branch stopped. He saw a few of the troll's eyes widened as the pop trolls remembered his alerts. "I wasn't trying to scare, or try to ruin any parties because of my alerts. I felt that my village was in trouble, and I wanted to try and warn everyone so no one got hurt. All I ever wanted was for everyone to be safe. I know now that a lot of what I did was extreme, but back then I couldn't stop it. Being grey for twenty years still effects me to this day. My ears are permanently pointed down. There are nights that I still have nightmares and can't sleep. There are days that I can't handle anything, and hide away in my bunker so I don't ruin anyone's day. I'm still very paranoid. Even though I know it's crazy, I still think the worst will happen. I still think that at times I'm a burden, and that someone is going to get hurt because of me. That will never go away, but I can handle it better now. It's become a part of me to always worry, to always be on the lookout for whatever may happen. There was a reason no one talked about until now. I was a terrible troll. I was very mean and rude to many of the others. It was never important for anyone to know about, until now. Now, there is a child who is lost and needs help from everyone."

Branch looked around as he saw many expressions change from pity, to determination. "Rose is not me. Rose will not turn out like I did. I may have been grey before, but they were under different circumstances. I don't want anyone's perspective of Rose to change because of how I acted in the past. She is a great kid. She may be grey, but she is still a child. She is scared, lost, and alone."

Queen Essence took a step towards Branch, causing him to turn to her. "What can we do to help her?"

"Well, she is only comfortable with me and Queen Poppy right now. If you ever find her alone and look scared, come find one of us. It would be a rare chance if that happens, but it could. She startled easily because of what happened, so absolutely no surprises when she's around. She got scared of the thunder the other night, so any loud noises that can be prevented would be appreciated. If a situation is too much for her to handle she will want to leave, so let her. Don't feel bad that she wants to leave, and don't make her feel bad for leaving. If she's had enough, then she's had enough. Let her have her space if she needs it."

Branch stopped talking and looked up at his hair. He put his mic down and reached into his hair and pulled out a piece of paper. "Oh, right. Rose is still a kid, no matter what colour she is. She wants to go and play with others. If you have children, try and help them understand that she is no different than them. She still wants to play. She wants to bake cupcakes, colour in books, and read stories. She loves stories. She doesn't want the other kids to ignore her or bully her. She also can't talk, so she has a harder time trying to communicate. She has her book with her that she writes in, but it takes her some time to write in it. If you by chance are talking to her, be patient with her and let her write her response. This isn't something that will be gone in a day. It will take time. I don't know how long it will take, maybe a few months, or years. She is going to need everyone's support, and I hope she has."

Branch looked around, slowly putting the mic down as he finished. After a minute of silence, soft clapping and hoof steps came from a few country trolls. As more of the country trolls clapped, the rock trolls started joining in with the funk trolls not far behind. The techno trolls soon starred clapping along with the others. Branch looked around, confused on why it looked like almost everyone was clapping. He soon felt a hand on his shoulder, looking over to see Delta was next to him. He looked beside her to see Trollex, Trollzart, and Barb. He looked on the other side of him to see Poppy, Essence, and Quincy. He looked back out to the crowd, seeing only a handful of pop trolls not clapping. He couldn't help but feel warm inside, he finally had other trolls that supported him.