Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from the Trolls franchise, I just own Melody.
A mystic melody.
5 years later...
Sleep was serene and absolutely peaceful.
Branch and Poppy most certainly treasured their sleep, especially as their roles as king and queen of the pop trolls bestowed upon them a lot of responsibilities. They saw their sleep as a break from their responsibilities and they were always so run down that they tended to fall asleep as soon as their heads hit their respective pillows —Poppy, the ever joyful optimist, always managed to hide her exhaustion but Branch sucked at concealing how tired he was; as a matter of fact, over these few years, he had even developed bags beneath his eyes but nobody could tell whether they were from exhaustion or ageing.
Regardless, Poppy nor Branch had lost their spark as they ruled.
They were just as loving to each other as they always had been.
Not much has changed since the last eight years, everyone in pop troll village was hunky dory and were going on with their lives. However, after Barb's world tour, the other troll tribes would occasionally pop in for a visit every now and then and would even take some ideas back to their homes with them. The leader trolls also often came to visit and Poppy was no different as she would visit the other places while Branch stayed behind with Melody and the rest of the trolls.
But, as their love grew, so did the list of responsibilities that came with their titles...and so did their daughter.
"Daddy! Mama! Wake up, wake up, wake up, wake up!" A teeny excited voice echoed through the darkness of slumber.
Branch and Poppy both groaned simultaneously in response to the chirpy voice of their daughter and tried their best to ignore it and go back to their sweet blessed sleep. They both wanted to burrow further beneath their blanket to drown out the incessant chattering and nagging of the young princess of a lump leaping on top of them.
Melody had quite literally pounced on the top of her parents bed and started trying to awaken them, giggling mischievously as she squirmed on top of them.
Her magenta eyes were narrowed into a squint as she smirked rather evilly.
Poppy dragged her tired eyeballs open as she peaked out from beneath her duvet covers and grunted as she tried to sweep her extremely messy fringe from her face. She had a horrific case of bed head and her hair was sticking out all over the place, and her face felt as though it was dragging down to the floor as she wiped away some dribble that accumulated around her lips.
She opened her eyes a fraction and decided to check what time it was.
"Princess Melody Rosiepuff Peppy, what time is it?" The queen of the trolls asked drowsily, her voice a rasp thanks to fatigue and exhaustion, dragging open the eyelids of her left eye so she could eye the naughty little pop princess currently jumping on top of her and disturbing her blessed sleep.
Young Melody's eyes grew adorably wide as she squeed with a gigantic toothy smile.
"Its the day before my birthday!"
Melody's birthday was also known as the troll festival of harmony. It was the one day of the year where a troll celebrates the fact that they've been happy for as long as they have, it was kind of similar to the Bergens when their "Trollstice" was still a thing —before the trolls and the Bergens had become firm allies that is, and this so happened to have been the eighth festival of harmony plus Mel's fifth birthday.
A very special kind of celebration, indeed.
Branch sat up gingerly in the bed.
Did his daughter seriously wake the both of them up for this...?!
Why couldn't she have done this and waited on her actual birthday!?
It was like this every morning —Melody would wake up nice and early, at the crack of dawn, then she'd go and annoy both her parents until they were forced to wake up and get ready to sing their morning song. The little pop troll princess loved to sing, just like a lot of trolls, but it was a known fact that nobody loved it more then she did and she did have a very pretty voice.
The king and queen of the pop trolls took a quick glance out the window and noticed that it was still dark outside, the sun was only starting to peak out from the hills on the horizon; the sun was just beginning to rise into the sky.
Neither one of them could help the tired moan as they both flopped backwards simultaneously.
Branch threw the moss blankets back over his head.
"Uuuuuugh...Melody, please go back to sleep..." He groaned.
Alas the little girl wasn't going to give up easily.
She refused to give up now that she had gotten her mother and father to wake up a bit!
She wasn't giving in, not by a long shot!
Melody reached down and jabbed a small chubby finger at the lump of big adult troll underneath her, poking repeatedly at the bumpy lump she knelt on top of. She could feel it shifting and stiffening beneath her as she continued to poke at it relentlessly and without stopping at all. She knew that she was getting so close to getting her parents out of bed!
She just needed to wait a bit more...
It didn't take long for the King to have enough of it and he promptly gave up trying to go back to sleep.
"Okay, okay, okay! I'm up!" He said, throwing the blankets off and sitting up just as the princess leapt off of him and then trotted out the room as fast as he little feet would go. The King could hear her little feet tap quietly against the floor as she ran out whilst letting out cheeky little giggles of excitement.
As he sat up, the blue troll looked down at his wife and smiled down at her still sleepy form.
"Wow, she really is a little firework of excitement; she's a little clone of you."
Poppy peeled her eyes open yet again and gazed sleepily up at her husband. "Oh shush you grump, you know that she's too adorable to resist..."
Branch chuckled as he leaned down and planted a gentle kiss on her temple. "Just like you."
Poppy sat at the main table of the kitchen, munching away at some breakfast gumdrops that she had procured for herself. She had also gathered a bowl that awaited Melody for when she came down for breakfast after she got herself dressed upstairs and a third bowl for Branch for when he got back from checking over some traps he'd set for predators.
Branch had become super paranoid for a few months and was more vigilant then ever, especially after a new threat had come.
Poppy planned on taking Mel with her to Bergen town later to visit Bridget, Gristle and their son Angus and she couldn't wait to see them. Bridget and Gristle would often set up play dates with little Angus and Melody and they became best friends fairly quickly.
It was a treat watching the children play.
The queen of pop loved visiting her friend and Melody loved to play with Angus; the two younglings had become very good friends ever since they met. Her mind was overflowing with plans and ideas for her daughter's fifth birthday party, she had always loved planning Melody's parties and it was one of the highlights of her year. She could hardly wait until she saw the huge smile on her baby's face.
For the queen, that (as well as decorating and singing and dancing) was the highlight of it all.
She was interrupted from her thoughts when she heard the front door of the house pod open up and Branch stepped into the kitchen.
A huge smile spread across her face when she saw the royal blue troll enter the kitchen.
Her smile fell into a 50% drop when she saw the state her husband was in.
Branch gave an exasperated huff as he lumbered into the dining area and parked himself into a nearby stool next to the table. His eyes were downcast and he appeared as though he was struggling to subdue a migraine that was pounding against his skull. His eyebrows knitted together and his frown was so low that it physically strained his facial muscles.
Poppy frowned even harder. She knew this look on her husband's face, it was the one he wore when something was going wrong but was trying to burden said goings wrong all by himself to avoid worrying everyone...
"B-Branch?" She spoke up, cocking her head to one side and staring worriedly at her husband. "What's the matter?"
Branch glanced over at the pink pop troll as he pondered on his response for a moment. He didn't want to worry her but, at the same time, he knew that he couldn't lie to her either. He was not only thinking this because he was never that great at lying to Poppy but also because she had a right to know as queen.
"The Moon stalkers are keep getting passed my traps and they are also getting dangerously close to the village!"
Poppy's brow creased.
Moon stalkers.
They were the most recent scourge of the Trolls (or pop trolls, rather, as nobody knew if they terrorised the other troll tribes) and were a huge threat. They looked mostly like wolves but were tall and slender and stood on their hind legs 24/7; the beasts were also scarily cunning and were so terrifying that even the Bergens were scared of them. They had razor-sharp daggers on the ends of each fingers acting for claws, with matching venomous fangs, and they also had markings on their bodies that colours range from ruddy red to pitch black.
"How close are they getting?"
Branch hung his head and sighed.
"They're getting a bit too close for comfort, but I won't let 'em come any closer."
Poppy noted the fear in Branch's voice and she decided to just go and comfort the love of her life and she stood up from the table, shoving her bowl of gumdrops away from herself.
When she was on her feet, Poppy didn't say a word as she went over to Branch and wrapped her arms around him. Branch stiffened when he felt his wife's arms curl around him but relaxed almost instantly. He wanted to point out that it wasn't even hug time yet but he decided against it and just decided to enjoy this loving and tender moment with the troll he adored. He closed his eyes and relished being embraced by Poppy.
"I know you won't, Branch," She said soothingly. "You are the bravest troll I know. I believe in you."
Branch felt a heartfelt smile grow on his face.
How did he get so lucky to be married to Poppy? He always had a crush on her but they were together with a daughter and he couldn't have imagined he'd be happier. He felt like the most infinitely luckiest troll in the entire world.
"Thank you, Poppy..."
He puckered his lips and they connected with Poppy's own puckered lips; the king and queen kissed passionately as they shared in this moment. He cherished every second he was with the pink troll and, while he did find being king a very hard task, being with Poppy and Melody at the end of the day made it all worth it.
"Mama! Daddy!" The tiny troll cried out happily, causing both Branch and Poppy to abruptly pull away from their romantic embrace and look towards their daughter.
The little troll had dressed herself in a leaf-made cardigan that was similar in fashion to her father's vest that was clipped on the front with a little brass clip. She also wore a skirt that was made from a few upturned lush green leaves that looked similar to flower petals. She had a large purple flower tucked into her violet tuft of hair.
This was her signature outfit and she preferred it over her other outfits.
Little Melody hardly even hesitated before running towards her mother with her teeny arms outstretched towards her whom giggled warmly as she bent over and scooped the little troll up into her arms and planted a small kiss on her nose, causing her to giggle and squeal joyfully.
"I love you, mama!" Cried Melody.
Poppy grinned merrily.
"I love you too, my sweet little sparkle..."
"Sparkle" had been Melody's nickname ever since she was a little trolling.
"Okay, Mel." Smiled Branch as he raised a brow at his daughter. "Go eat your breakfast and then we'll go out and sing our morning song!"
Melody didn't need to be asked twice as she let her mother release her from her tight hug and bounced on to a seat to eat away at her morning breakfast; her whole body practically buzzing with excitement as she gobbled up at her sweets.
Poppy and Branch smiled at one another with amusement at the scene.
It wasn't too long after that when the trio of royal trolls left the pod to join all the other trolls outside for their morning song. Nobody but Branch and Poppy knew what their child's birthday would hold in store but they couldn't wait to find out.
Something they also had no clue about was that life for them was about to turn upside down.
A/N: Here's a new chapter of my trolls fic, and we see Melody!
What will happen next? what are these Moon stalkers?
Stay tuned to find out!
-Chloemcg
