("Mona Lisa" – Dominic Fike)
A large banquet was held in honor of Poppy and Peony. Everybody dug in, and it eventually devolved into an eating competition for many of the denizens. Specifically, having worked up a huge appetite beforehand, the combined forces of Sunset, Mirabel, Alberto, Mei, Miles, Ruby, and Camilo practically tore through the food, all of them trying to one-up each other and surpass each other. The more sensible people like Poppy, Twilight, Raya, Flash, Satin, Marinette, Sofia, Esteban, Shinobu, Peach, Mr. Wolf, and Peony could only look on in amusement and bemusement.
Poppy seemed more focused on the holographic map than her food, however. Prioritizing her knowledge of the Multiverse over her hunger and energy, she took it upon herself to make a list of the universes her new friends came from, ordering them from the first meeting onward. She began to multitask between making said list and observing the various dimensions that comprised the overall Multiverse.
1. Mirabel = Earth-212411B
2. Raya = Earth-210503B
3. Mei = Earth-221103B
4. Lady Bone Demon = Earth-053020B
5. Miles = Earth-1610B
6. Alberto = Earth-061821B
7. Ruby = Earth-230630B
8. Shinobu = Earth-190604B
9. Twilight, Sunset, Flash = Earth-101010B
10. Camilo = Earth-210503B
11. Marinette = Earth-101915B
12. Peach = Earth-230504B
13. Sofia, Esteban = Earth-121811B
14. Angella = Earth-181311B
15. Catra = Earth-181311B
16. Adora = Earth-181311B
17. Mr. Wolf = Earth-22422316B
As it turns out, in a similar case to the rest of her newfound friends, her Troll Kingdom belonged to Earth-160411B, the parallel universe to the main Earth-160411. As she delved deeper into the heart of the Multiverse, she noticed a different Earth preceding her own. It was labeled Earth-050811B.
Her eyebrows knitting together in confusion, Poppy's growling stomach overwhelmed her growing curiosity as she placed the dimension diagnosis on hold to grab a snack or two.
"You know, Your Majesty," Mr. Wolf turned to Peony, "I don't know why you even bothered with utensils."
"Courtesy is always customary wherever one goes, Mr. Wolf," Esteban took a fork to hold down his asado while using a knife to cut it into pieces, as if to prove his point.
"It never really occurred to me when I arrived," Mr. Wolf could only shrug.
"Esteban and I can help you with that," Sofia excitedly perked up, much to Esteban's apprehension, "We've helped each other with the fine art of prim, proper politeness."
"Miss Sofia may have a point, Mr. Wolf," Miss Shinobu organized her dish, consisting of a plethora of traditional and modern food including tempura, tonkatsu, imagawayaki, gyudon, gohan, gyoza, karaage, oyakodon, and mochi to name a few.
Some of these items were stolen by a fellow Kitstune Troll, one who was quite curvaceous, average-heighted, and fairly muscular for her age. She had a slightly pale complexion; round, pale green eyes with long eyelashes (a small beauty mark beneath each of them); long, light pink hair that fades into a lime green color at the halfway point (which she wears in three thick braids); and five shorter, choppy clumps hanging over her face as voluminous bangs (the tips lime green as well).
She wore a heavily modified pink-tinted straight-lined jacket with golden buttons along with a plain white haori. The chest area of her uniform was left unbottoned presumably because of its rather tight fit, and she wore a short pleated skirt in place of the usual tattsuke-hakama pants. Additionally, she wore a pair of navy blue thigh-high socks layered with a pair of vertically striped lime-green socks and a pair of white zōri with pink straps.
"You never know, Mr. Wolf!" Mitsuri giggled quite flirtatiously, "Common courtesy may have help you find a new spouse!"
Mr. Wolf would not display it directly, but he actually concurred with the Kitsune Troll. He just never imagined how hard the words would hit him. Instead, he opted for a chuckle of accordance.
"I bet it would...but right now we have to focus on Poppy."
"Hmm?"
The Pop Queen herself was chomping down on a pizza when she heard her name being called, causing Mr. Wolf to groan and pinch his nose bridge.
"Never mind."
"Wait, I wasn't listening!" Poppy protested as she hastily finished her pizza, "I was too busy eating my food!"
"Less like eating and more like savoring, maybe?" Mirabel smirked, causing Poppy to scowl at her.
"Hey, you're in no position to criticize me! You and the others are practically mowing down your food!"
"Because we're not just hungry, Popsqueak!" Mirabel jokingly shot back, "We don't wanna be wasteful!"
As Poppy and Mirabel continued their petty squabble, the others momentarily paused to eavesdrop on their conversation, beginning to consider whether or not it was suitable to savor one's food or speed through it. Some were joking, others were serious. Either way, many of them knew that it was a rather...important matter to discuss.
Satin, Raya, Mr. Wolf, Miles, Mei, and Twilight caught each other's eyes and shook their heads at the absurdity of it all.
Upon exchanging looks, Camilo and Mitsuri merely exchanged goodhearted laughter, the both of them knowing what a huge appetite could do to a person.
Watching the majority of her friends slowly unwind while they prepared for the final showdown, cordially interacting with the inhabitants of the Folk Rock Kingdom's orphanage, Chenille could only linger in the background and load four shells into the magazine tube of her Remington 870 MCS Masterkey before chambering it. She then turned her attention to Branch, Blue, Sun Lien, Diogo, and Dulce working out a plan to confront their enemies before sharing it with the rest of the group.
The memory of her sister's death still fresh on her mind, Chenille kept her shotgun close as she left the orphanage, deciding to patrol the area and clear her head for now. She had received several condolences that the death of Satin was not her fault, and frankly, she was sick of it. Not just because of the abundant moment of sympathy for an incident she herself knew played a prominent part, but also because they were (in her mind) sugarcoating it. They were sprinkling solaces and solicitudes without complete consideration to her momentarily feelings. Yes, Chenille would admit that she herself was rather inconsiderate towards the commiserations they gave, but she believed (again, in her mind) it would made her look weak.
Even so, Chenille missed Satin.
She really did.
Suddenly, a series of bright blue lights flickered from the corner of her right eye, prompting her to turn in that direction. What she saw were a series of flames of the same color dancing around in circles without a care in the world. Tilting her head in confusion, the bright blue flames eventually caught notice of the uninvited guest staring on with intrigue and momentarily halted their dance.
Chenille and the flames exchanged bewildered blinks before the latter group continued their dancing while moving further away from the former, prompting her to follow them. Slinging her shotgun over her shoulder, the Maker Troll huffed and puffed and clung onto her jacket a little tighter, the cold weather doing nothing to deter her from her new goal.
"Chenille?"
Tensing up, Chenille raised up her shotgun and took aim at the stalker, who raised his hands...no, legs up in surrender.
"Whoa, whoa! Chenille, it's just me! Prince D? Darnell?"
Her eyes widening in shock, Chenille calmed down and lowered her firearm, mentally cursing to herself.
"Hey, Prince D. Sorry about that."
"No worries. But I just happen to be one of the people worried about you since you suddenly took off."
"They shouldn't worry, and neither should you. I was just...taking a walk."
"A very long walk, it would seem."
Looking up again, Chenille cursed herself again as she discovered she had travelled to the outskirts of the Folk Rock Kingdom, dangerously close to the Hinterlands.
"Again, sorry about that."
"Again, no worries. But do you mind if I ask you...?"
"I don't. But to answer your question, I was just...following...a group of bright blue flames...?"
Saying that particular sentence out loud made Chenille wonder if she was a little crazy. Fortunately for her, that awkward silence seemed to never come to fruition, as Prince D was somewhat amused by her response.
"Okay then. Did you happen to see where they went before I...?"
"Snuck up behind me?"
Chenille and Prince D exchanged a bout of equally awkward laughter before the former replied to the latter, "No. The last thing I remember was chasing them toward the outskirts of the Folk Rock Kingdom. It's probably nothing important, though."
"You don't know unless you see for yourself," Prince D shrugged as he took the lead that time.
"Wait, you're helping me?"
"Why not?"
After a moment of genuine awkward silence, Chenille and Prince D exchanged a bout of genuinely heartfelt smiles before they took off running in the direction of the bright blue flames.
From the watchtower, Zoe and Annabeth watched as the couple laughed and whooped all the way.
"You think they saw them?" The former asked as she cleaned her Winchester Model 70.
"I know they did," The latter answered as she loaded shells into her Mossberg 500 Persuader, "Let's just hope they don't show them a world-ending prophecy like the last Troll did..."
"Just hope?" Zoe's eyebrows shot up, causing Annabeth to shrug.
"You will never quite know what fate has in store for us...or what horrible fate our luck—both good and bad—can end up saving us from..."
While the banquet was still going strong, Poppy convinced Mirabel to place their petty squabble on hold while she went back to work. Unfortunately for her, the Pop Queen primarily used her convincing as an excuse to get in the last word in that particular argument. This meant that where one argument ended, another began...except it did not.
Expecting the petty squabbles to return full force, Poppy was a little happy that she had the cooperation of her new best friend when she ended up joining her in a new session of her parallel universe perusal...followed by her third, fourth, fifth, and sixth-to-twentieth(?) new best friends. Being the little mischief maniac she tended to play the role of, Mirabel had instructed Raya, Mei, and the others to be on their best behavior when overlooking the world.
Whether it was genuine consideration or general flattery, she did not know.
Speaking of which, the Latin Troll was staring intently at a holographic globe located to her universe with the label Earth-220510.
"Apparently, I run away from my home following my primo Antonio's gift ceremony," Mirabel whispered to herself, "I meet a new family...and fall in love with the couple's son..."
A small fire of jealousy burned within Raya for some inexplicable reason, but one small glance at the man who courted Mirabel elicited a chuckle of slight admiration from the Dragon Troll.
"And I'm head over heels for him..." Mirabel giggled in amusement.
"Matías? Hmm. I can only imagine why," Raya shook her head, herself amused by the sheer audacity on display.
Meanwhile, Mei examined one of her universes one of which was labeled Earth-230807. A more recently formed alternate dimension, it depicted her as Panda-less. To be exact, her Red Panda form was taken away from her under mysterious circumstances, forcing to embark a mission to retrieve it while being on the run from a sinister government organization. It was pretty standard stuff, but she did feel bad about the fate of one poor unfortunate soul, a villain who recognized his mistakes far too late.
Let's just say that being bisected by a high-speed train was not a fun way to go. Adding insult to injury, the guy had actually intended to help her save the day and take down the other villain. The cherry on top, though? She apparently did not know or forgot about him.
Turning her attention to another universe to distract herself, Mei chose poorly as she came face to face with her kissing the one and only Tyler Nguyen-Baker. And it was neither on the cheek nor the forehead, but full-on lip-to-lip contact. She even sighed in the embrace. Judging by the presence of a nearby movie theater, they were just watching one or had just finished one as their choice of dating activity.
Her eyes twitched as she spared a glance at that Earth's label (Earth-223415) before turning back to shoot it a scowl.
A fit of laughter interrupted Mei, who turned around to find her current boyfriend wiping away a tear as he approached.
"You have an...interesting taste in boys, Mei-Mei," Alberto joked, causing Mei to smile at the lighthearted jab despite herself.
"Well, in some universes, I end up with him or Miriam," Mei stated with mirth, "And personally, I prefer her over him."
"Because she's your friend?" Alberto raised an eyebrow, "Because she's far more appealing? Because she reminds you of me so much? Because...it's your hidden preference?"
"Yes," Mei replied a little too quickly, not knowing how to do so.
"Which one?"
"Yes!" Mei repeated with a laugh, causing Alberto to laugh again, this time along with her.
A few feet away, Miles was holding the shattered globe that was Earth-1610B in the palm of his right hand, using his left to spin it in reverse. This allowed him to restore his home in its former glory, if only for a few, fleeting moments. Those few, fleeting moments were more than enough to keep his rather nonexistent hope alive.
Eventually, Miles came across the hologram of a dark-skinned woman with amber brown eyes and dark brown hair tied in a ponytail; she wore a red flutter sleeve blouse, blue wide leg pants, red wedge shoes that tied around her ankles, and a single gold hoop earring on her left ear. Just the mere sight of her made Miles choke back tears, causing everyone to look up from the map and towards him in concern.
Poppy and Ruby were the first to approach Miles and look at the hologram of the woman.
"Who is that?" Ruby asked first.
"My mamá," Miles sniffled as he wiped away the tears with a smile, "I...I would've loved to introduced you to her."
"She sounds like a really nice woman," Poppy offered some comfort.
"She was. She and my papá."
Rewinding a little farther, Miles eventually found a hologram of his father. A tall, muscular man who towered over his wife, his father had donned a purple-and-white short-sleeve polo shirt with grey pants, presumably for a celebratory party.
"They were the best parents a kid could've asked for: calm, caring, and supportive...if somewhat a little strict. And sometimes, I took it for granted. Their love, their kindness. My uncle Aaron...he told me that I was the best out of us all before he died. I never knew if he was right. Being the best meant that you had to be smarter. Stronger. Better than your previous self. The way I see it...I was the worst. I wasn't smart enough. Strong enough. Better enough to save my familia or my universe."
Fast-forwarding to the spot where Miles was talking to his mother, the Hip-Hop Troll let the memory play out:
"For years, I've been taking care of this little boy. Making sure he is loved. That he feels like he belongs wherever he wants to be. He wants to go on to the world and do great big things. And what i worry about most...is they won't look out for you like us. They won't root for you like us."
. . .
"So, here's the deal: wherever you go from here, you have to promise to take care of that little boy for me. Make sure he never forgets where he came from. And...he never doubts that he is loved. And he never lets anyone at those big, fancy places he's gonna be in tell him that he doesn't there."
. . .
"And when he comes home—and he better come home—you're gonna be early, and you're gonna be holding a normal, nice cake."
. . .
"Yeah, okay."
. . .
"You got to promise, Miles."
. . .
"I promise."
. . .
"Just don't get lost."
. . .
"Mm-hmm. Yeah."
. . .
"Me oyes?"
. . .
"Alright."
. . .
"Cool."
. . .
"Bendicin, mami?"
. . .
"Que Dios te bendiga. Now go. Get out of here."
With that, the memory fizzled out and faded away, everyone in attendance having heard it properly play out in full.
As his adoptive older sister, Poppy could sympathize with Miles, if not fully. The relationship between her own parents was largely positive, even though there was the occasional dilemma that ultimately did not require much turmoil. However, she had reached the certain age where her father—the only living guardian at that point—had trusted her enough to make her decisions and pass the mantle of ruler to her. While Miles was no genuine member of royalty, that did not mean he had his own responsibilities to fulfill, and his younger age meant that his future was not yet set in stone, not quite helped by the presence of a radioactive spider.
On the other hand, Ruby could. Being a family who often held high expectations of her, she could relate to Miles on such a personal level. She did not feel the urge to inherit the throne from her grandmother (whom she did not know even existed until that point), but she did feel the need to do out of security and selfishness. Hiding her true self for so long led her to forget all about it until she really needed it, and she ended up paying the price for her perceived mistake.
As Miles continued to silently weep and mourn, Poppy was the first to approach him and grasp his left hand.
"Miles...it's not your fault, and you're not alone in this either."
Miles shook his head, but he refused to let go of Poppy's hand.
"I feel it is...and I feel like I am."
Now Ruby's turn to shake her head, the Techno Troll hugged her boyfriend from behind, resting her head around his neck.
"It's not just Queen Poppy, Miles," Ruby murmured, "You've got me. And Raya and Mirabel and Camilo and Mei and Marinette and Twilight and everyone else here. We'll stand by you...no matter what."
Miles rested his head on top of his girlfriend's as he melted into the embrace, which gradually grew to include Raya, Mirabel, Camilo, Mei, Marinette, Twilight, Sunset, Flash, Sofia, Peach, and Satin among others.
Peony, Esteban, Shinobu, Mitsuri, and Mr. Wolf looked on before the former turned her attention now to Earth-050811B, her smile slightly faltering at the mere sight of it. She knew Poppy had to be told about it, but it was too soon. Her daughter needed to figure it out...or she would have to tell her about it.
Another mistake she had to reveal...
Traveling deeper into the heart of the forest, Chenille and Prince D slowed down as they watched the flames continue to dance the night away, blissfully unaware of the troubles and hardships the heroes had endured for the past month. The couple were careful to approach to get a closer look at the wonderous sight before them, clasping each other's hands as they did so.
A quintet of bright blue flames eventually broke away from the spinning circle and presented themselves to the couple. With the exception of a single flame, four of the five stowaways she reverted to a different color: pink, red, purple, and yellow. Chenille and Prince D immediately assumed that they now represented the Six Strings of the six main Troll Tribes, but there was one thing they did not understand.
If these flames now represented the Six Strings, then...where is the one that represents Country?
Somehow able to read their thoughts, the flames (while somewhat vexed by their misinterpretation) slowly circled round the couple a couple of times before each separated to form different images neither of them either recognized but understood, if just barely. The silhouettes of the people conjured before them did not give too much away, so there was little room to hypothesize their true appearance. However, their auras each glowed with the color associated the flame representing them: pink, red, blue, purple, and yellow.
But where is the orange element?
. . .
Where is the Country String?
Still vexed by their misinterpretation, the flames nonetheless had refused to elaborate on their own explanation beyond vague displays. Needing to explain without giving too much away, they mustered up the necessary strength to expand their images even further. With that, Chenille and Prince D stood back and shielded their eyes for a moment, only lowering their arms when the brightness itself was lowered.
The people who stood before them were undoubtedly Trolls, but...at the same time, they were not. The people who stood before them bore an uncanny resemblance to the Trolls, but they were far from the Trolls they were accustomed to.
Are these our Ancestors?
Are they the ones who created the Six Strings?
The flames gently hummed in a tone of approval, hinting they were both finally on the right track. They then morphed into five more Trolls, who carried a good amount of familiarity with them. One was Poppy, the second was DJ Suki, and the third and fourth were Agatha and Melody, respectively. The fifth person was a part of the previous line-up and shared a pink aura with the Pop Queen, one shade that was considerably more darker then that of their friend.
Who is that?
And why were they that important?
The flames morphed now into the Siren Trolls first, then Chenille and...
Satin?
Chenille and Prince D exchanged looks of shock and confusion before turning back to the flames, which morphed now into the Apex Headset that was in DJ's current possession, the Rainbow Wand that was in Melody's current possession, and finally the Six Strings with the orange element. The image of the Six Strings in particular were downright distorted...and basically any and all adjectives associated.
Jumbled...
. . .
Rattled...
. . .
Tainted...
. . .
Muddled...
. . .
. . .
. . .
Wait...
. . .
Was this what the flames were trying to tell us?
The Siren Trolls are after the Six Strings, which they plan to corrupt and control the kingdom with...and the Six Strings, the Apex Headset, and the Rainbow Wand are the only objects capable of stopping them?
But the Six Strings were destroyed. Why would they continue to persist?
. . .
. . .
. . .
Because in a strange, roundabout way...they too were being used as expendable pawns.
They worked for a person far higher, far worse than Serina and Kiri.
A person with an ulterior motive.
At last understanding the majority of the information relayed to them (even if the act of misinterpretation was lingering), Chenille and Prince D nodded and bid the flames goodbye before racing back to the castle to pass the information on. If it was true about the Siren Trolls working for a villain far greater than the Chanty Trolls or the Party Crashers, then they needed to inform their allies as soon as possible.
For some reason, the flames continued to follow them on their way back, prompting Chenille to screech to a halt and Prince D nearly slamming into her from behind. Exchanging glances with the Hip-Hop Troll, the Pop Troll huffed and faced the flames directly.
"Okay, what is it now?" Chenille narrowed her eyes at the flames, "I thought you "told" us what you needed to "tell" us. Is there something else you wanted to get off your chest?"
The flames suddenly whined a high-pitched whine (if that was humanly possible) in stress—
As if they're trying to warn me...
. . .
Of something in the way...
Suddenly stiffening and turning up back to Prince D, who regarded her with equally abrupt concern, Chenille shook her head before drawing her attention to her Remington 870 MCS Masterkey. Now understanding her apprehensive body language, Prince D stood still as he reached for a hunting knife in his right leg holster.
It was then that she made eye contact with the figure. From the shadows of the forest...were a pair of pink eyes.
A pair of dark pink eyes.
. . .
. . .
. . .
Poppy...?
. . .
. . .
. . .
TWANG!
The eyes of both Chenille and Prince D widened in fear as a very sharp arrow flew out of the shadows and into the moonlight, its tip gleaming with lethal intent. The former was stuck in a standstill before the latter regained enough motor control to pull her and himself down out of the line of fire. The arrow pierced a tree that stood behind them and was as thick as a Bergen.
Not Poppy, not Poppy, not Poppy!
Chenille frantically pulled herself and Prince D up to their feet and rushed themselves away from the hail of raining arrows. The person responsible for firing them upon the couple was undeterred, pursuing them both on foot and quickly catching up to them. As more and more arrows were shot their way, Chenille hastily drew her Remington 870 and returned fire, causing the figure to retreat back into the shadows.
Prince D drew his hunting knife and stood behind Chenille, his back against hers as she scouted the area. Briefly exchanging nervous glances, the couple heard a quick rustle in the surrounding environment, making them high on alert once again.
A moment of silence...
. . .
. . .
. . .
Before...
. . .
. . .
. . .
CRACK!
Glancing up, Chenille and Prince D gasped to find the figure—concealed with a dark green hood—soaring down as they opened fire once more and caused them to leap out of the way. The former opened fire with her shotgun, narrowly missing her face when she ducked behind a tree. The latter kept his distance, but he found himself rushing forward while the figure attempted to rush Chenille in the midst of a reload. Prince D slashed away before the figure produced a knife of their own, engaging in a brief duel with him. Stabs, slashes, and slices were abound in the dance of the knives.
As Chenille took careful aim at her shotgun, she was starting to suspect something. Watching the duel a little more closely, it was clear that the figure was toying with him. Unlike herself, whom the figure wasted no time in attempting to take out, they seemed content on working Prince D up and misleading him into believing they were performing one attack before genuinely acting with another.
Eventually, Prince D managed to grab ahold of the hood and yank it off the figure, whom he (and Chenille) gasped in shock at upon regaining his footing.
The figure was a female Troll who—what with a few discernible differences—almost was the spitting image of Poppy. She had a light pink complexion with rosy cheeks and a darker pair of eyes, but whereas the Pop Queen had a darker shade of pink hair, this Troll had blond curly hair and matching makeup. Her black leather dress was rather...racy, compared to the many females of the Troll Tribes. For one, it exposed her midriff (and very nearly exposed her nipples and lower area) and came with fishnet stockings.
Prince D kept his distance as he gawked at a familiar face he thought was lost forever.
"V-Viva?"
Still entranced with the ensuing events of Earth-220510, Mirabel giggled lightly at the sight of her dancing with Matías and giggled harder at the sight of sharing a soft, tender kiss with him. She had previously wandered off to another universe labeled Earth-220215, in which Mirabel basically relived her life and death over and over again following her supposedly rescuing the Miracle. Every victory she achieved in doing so was more Pyhrric than the last.
In one particular time loop, her alternate variant was driven by jealousy and vengeance over the pain and suffering she endured with her lack of a Gift, so the Candle punished her by tainting her with burns and scars. Her former family shunned her, and an ultimate loss came with the triumph over said former family. The angry townspeople blamed her for their downfall and drove her out of the town and into the forest, where she met her end at the paws of some ravenous predators.
It undoubtedly unnerved her to no end, especially when the last note made on Earth-220215 was that the time loop caused the planet to supposedly collapse on in itself and create a black hole, consuming it and destroying it permanently. It also failed to give her any ideas, as she was too frightened by the possibility of her becoming a villain had she been consumed by envy. The many false accusations of being a villain driving her to become an actual one was just too much for her to handle. The disrespect, the abandonment, the lies...they had genuine truth, but it was no excuse for her to recklessly seek revenge, especially on the wrong people.
The kicker? She had lost count on her lives and deaths after the first hundred.
With that, Mirabel opted to travel back to Earth-220510 and swoon over Matías more, finding herself back in bliss mode once again.
A few feet from her, Raya shook her head in amusement as she watched Mirabel gush over the admittedly well-built man for a second time. Her mood then slightly soured after she involuntarily remembered what caused her to do just that.
Raya had strayed to Earth-210509, a universe where she succeeded at banishing the Druun and bringing everyone (including Namaari, her father, her newfound friends, and the fated dragons) back to life...at the cost of her own. It was depressing enough that her alternate variant had died saving her world, but the fact that she herself actually felt glad that the backstabbing binturi who supposedly broke the world felt sad about her apparent death was greatly guilt-inducing.
She sought to distract herself by latching on to different universes, and her grief eventually faded away before being replaced by relief. Relief for the other universes that managed to avoid such a grim fate and had Kumandra rebuild their foundation through a newfound sense of trust and loyalty.
Of course, that relief eventually paved the way for confusion, for Raya discovered to her bewilderment that many (if not all) of the vast alternate universes seemed incredibly insistent on pairing her and Namaari together...romantically. Utterly baffled by the very idea of her initial best friend becoming her ultimate love interest, Raya ultimately conceded that it was (for the most part) a welcome distraction...if not a completely welcome one.
Across from her, Miles was exploring his personal Multiverse with Ruby, her personal Multiverse side by side with his. He was currently focused on Earth-230729, where—upon escaping his captors in Earth-42—he immediately ran in an alternate variant of Margo Kess, aka "Spider-Byte". It turned out that not only was she the girlfriend of that dimension's Prowler (his evil counterpart), but also that dimension's Mary Jane Watson.
Ruby did know either of them personally, but she could sympathize with the romantic drama he supposedly endured in addition to his psychological drama. Most of the 20-plus universes she observed mainly involved her hooking up with her friend turned rival Chelsea Van Der Zee while her former love interest Connor was practically nonexistent. He would either play the loyal and supportive wingman, the dismissive heteronormative crusader, or even (in some extreme cases) the satellite love interest who was unexpectedly killed off to give her—the main character—motivation and an excuse to leap into Chelsea's arms.
Ruby was flustered and offended by her universes basically hounding Connor for having a perceived flat, nonexistent personality. When venting to Miles about this, an eavesdropping Flash Sentry conceded with her, saying that he "understood the feeling". Twilight's romantic pairing with Sunset vastly overwhelmed her pairing with himself, something that even he could not but personally agree with.
Next to Mirabel was Poppy, who was overseeing her Multiverse with her mother. When she asked about the universe where Branch was the villain and Barb was his slave, Peony had Prince James personally pinpoint the universe in question: Earth-200426. A dark and sinister version of the world they thought they once knew, that universe's Branch realized that if he could just find Barb before she could take their String, he would be able to end her World Tour before anyone he loved got hurt.
Too bad Queen Barb was not someone he loved in that alternate timeline.
Afterwards, Poppy and Barb were currently attempting to navigate it in a quest to find love, redemption, and—above all else—a reason to be happy. With friends suddenly turning to enemies and nightmares around every turn, they would need all the help they could get. As far as she knew, Poppy and Barb (along with their new lovers Riff and Sid Fret) managed to get away from the hellish depths of Pop Village with the help of a few remaining friends. The group managed to get aboard Vibe City and get smuggled back to Volcano Rock City. However, not only was Branch still a loose cannon cult leader with many a Pop Troll to call his loyal acolytes, but Chenille was one such Pop Troll to pledge her allegiance to him in the very false hopes of the Pop Tribe reigning supreme over all the other Troll Tribes.
It served as no surprise, then, that Satin preferred to literally cut all ties with her former sibling.
The hearts of Poppy and Satin were undoubtedly shattered by this revelation. Poppy was heartbroken because she never quite knew that her own people were capable of such violent, such nasty, and such prejudiced behavior. The former was absolutely appalled to find that she was even initially against Barb's claims that Branch was a rapist, no matter how much the story progressed to show vehemently on her side later on. She would never forgive herself.
Satin was heartbroken because she never suspected that her sister was one of the pure loyalists towards that cult leader of their former friend. The latter was especially reminded too much of their sudden separation, but in that case, it was involuntary and an actual villain responsible for their suffering. It was her here who willingly cut the hair that binded them both and fed her sister to the wolves, however good a reason she might have had.
"It is not your fault," Peony said as she placed a hand of comfort on both of their shoulders, "You both had little control over the events that transpired, let alone more awareness of the situation."
"Still though..." Satin murmured, "Imagine what would have been if we had much of it..."
With a small nod, Peony concurred as she helped her daughter and her friend examine the Multiverse with the rest of the group.
"If you didn't know now, now you know..."
As they did, a young Funk Troll strolled onto the scene...or skated, in this case.
She had black eyes with small eyebrows, brown hair tied into a single puff, and blue-and-yellow-striped fur. Resting atop her hair and in front of her eyes were a pair of cyan blue glasses with hot-pink lenses and a pair of periwinkle-blue framed glasses.
Her main outfit was a white lab coat above a short-sleeved black T-shirt with red and light pink accents and a long-sleeved greyish-white shirt. and a purplish-gray belt with a circular-shaped, light pink buckle, which holds her simple pink mini skirt. Under her skirt, she wore baggy blue jeans with a circular-shaped cyan patch sewn on the right knee, and she completes her look with a pair of large black tennis shoes with red, pink, and grayish-white accents.
It was a noted sharp contrast to the leather jacket Miles fashioned himself with during the first half of the honorary banquet. Approaching the Funk Troll in question, the young Funk Troll skated over to his side and caught his attention as she produced a clipboard out of thin air.
"Hey, L.E.S.," Miles perked up with a smile as he ruffled her hair, causing her to return the smile despite her swatting him away.
"Hey, Brooklyn," The Funk Troll returned the greeting, "How are you and your girlfriend holding up?"
Getting a kick of Ruby's blush after catching a glimpse of it from the corner of his eye, Miles responded with a chuckle.
"Me and Ruby are holding up pretty good so far. What about you?"
Taking a good, close look at the Multiversal Map, the Funk Troll rubbed her chin in contemplation.
"Well...I would say that time has helped me cope, but keeping track of time in a place such as this is...rather pointless."
She then faced Miles again.
"So I'll just say this: I've had my days, both good and bad."
"Just making sure, Nella," Miles nodded in understanding.
"Any news from Queens?" The Funk Troll asked as she laid eyes on a universe labeled Earth-199999.
"Not much," Miles shook his head before adding, "But aside from stopping an attempting bike-jacking and helping an elderly citizen who gave him a churro as a token of gratitude, he's been getting reports of a vigilante operating in the more rotten cracks and crevices."
"You mean The Devil of Hell's Kitchen?" The Funk Troll crossed her arms.
"Nah, this is a new guy. A different breed of law enforcer. He's waging a one-man war against the criminal underworld using guns, knives, his bare hands, and basically everything and anything he can get his hands on. This guy...whoever he is...he is pretty scary."
"Scarier than..."
Having been taking notes, the Funk Troll paused before she turned to face Miles.
"You-Know-Who?"
"Maybe," Miles huffed, "I don't think he would be crossing paths or lines with him, either."
"I honestly don't know who or what you guys are talking about," Sunset spoke up, "but the guy you're talking about sounds like my type of guy."
Miles and the Funk Troll shared a groan and grimace as Poppy continued to observe her world. It never ceased to amaze and frighten her, the fact that there were multiple alternate universes that stemmed from her own. Her wonder slightly overwhelming her fear for them, however, she could not help but stray further and further to examine what fate befell her friends and people.
Eventually, Poppy came across a Pop Troll that, upon second glance, seemed all too familiar to her. With pink eyes and skin complexion, she seemed to be the spitting image of herself. The only discernible differences were the curly blond hair and matching makeup.
Tilting her head as she watched the lookalike through what appeared to be various flashbacks, Poppy decided she needed a second opinion.
"Mom? Who is this?"
Focusing her vision on the Pop Troll her daughter was inquiring about, Peony's calm facial expression visibly faltered as she hesitated to answer. It was a subtle change of attitude that Poppy noticed away, making her worry for her mother and the answer she would give...if she would give one.
"Poppy...that Pop Troll...is your sister."
A deafening silence immediately followed and ringed in the ears of the Pop Queen, whose heart stopped and breath hitched upon being struck with the revelation. Many of her friends wore facial expressions of concern for Poppy as she wore a facial expression of shock. Not horror as one would assume, but the implications were immensely implicit.
"W-What?"
"I should have been more honest with you and told you from the beginning," Peony confessed with shame.
"Why didn't you?"
"Because I did not know how you handle the revelation," Peony explained, "I don't exist in the main universe as you and your sister do, and I was surprised myself when I found out about her presence. And..."
"And what?" Poppy pressed.
"And..." Peony took a deep breath, "I did not wish for you to lose faith in me...or your father."
At that, Poppy gasped softly.
"What are you saying? Dad knew about her?"
"And he kept it a secret from me as well," Peony sighed, "Prior to your birth, I confronted your father about this and he asked me to forgive him. Your father had developed an unfortunate habit of keeping secrets from others for their safety. Before I passed, I made him promise to make sure that you would reunite with her, even if he chose not to tell you."
Poppy gave the relentless revelations a thought or two and conceded just a little bit. Her father had kept the existence of the other Troll Tribes a secret from her and the others until the secret was just too big for them to ignore. She went to unite said Troll Tribes, but not without much trials and tribulations. He even said so himself that she was far more brave than him to see change.
But still...
She could not help but wonder...
"Did my Dad...abandon her?"
"Of course not, my dear," Peony shook her head as she took her daughter's hand, "Your father also said that she loved you both equally, and it broke his heart that she was sent away for her own safety."
"Then...did he forget about her?" Poppy wiped away any tears she may have conjured up, "And that's why he didn't tell me?"
"I'm not sure," Peony admitted as she held her daughter close, "I'm not sure at all..."
A moment of silence followed as Poppy's friends looked on as the Pop Queen leaned into her mother's warm embrace, laying her head against her chest. Specifically, Satin was troubled by the revelation as well, as King Peppy never mentioned anything about Poppy having a sister. If he had given off slight hints that indicate anything of the sort, then she would have cursed herself for missing them.
Approaching Peony as she continued comforting Poppy, Satin cleared her throat.
"Your Majesty, if you don't mind me asking..."
"Not at all."
"What was her name? Poppy's sister?"
"V-Viva?"
"Oh My Gosh! Hello!"
The Pop Troll squeed in delight and pulled in the two confused Trolls for a very tight embrace, much to their visible confusion. Chenille was confused because one moment this "Pop" Troll was attempting to murder them both and the next moment she was hugging them as if they were old friends. Prince D was confused because he did not know if it was all an act to get the drop on them both or his old friend genuinely failed to recognize him in the midst of battle.
The one thing Chenille and Prince D could agree on, however?
It was a very strange turn of events.
The Pop Troll named Viva continued to lay her greetings on them thick. She began to canoodle Prince D specifically, placing a soft peck on his lips and sprinkling a couple little more on his cheeks...much to the visible chagrin of Chenille, who frowned and tilted her head in equal parts intrigue and vexation.
Before she could voice her displeasure regarding Viva's rather outlandish behavior, the Pop Troll turned her attention to her, kissing her on the cheeks as well before wrapping her and Prince D in another tight hug.
"It is so fantasimazing to finally meet other Trolls!" Viva squeed once again, ignoring the heavy blushes on the faces of both Chenille and Prince D, "For the record, "fantasimazing" is my own personal word. It means "fantastic" and "amazing". I used to say "amastic" but I was like "Hmm...that's not as good"."
Chenille exchanged weirded-out glances with Prince D as Viva continued to ramble before she decided to pitch in.
"How about "fantasim...awesome"?"
Prince D held back a fit of laughter as Chenille elbowed him for the audacity.
"That's...different," Viva rubbed her chin before she perked up again, "But that works too! Way to make it your own, cutie."
"Uh, thanks?" Chenille blushed again before she shook her head and Prince D intervened.
"Viva? Viva, it's me. Prince D? We've...met before."
Taking a moment to contemplate the perceived stranger's appearance, Viva gasped and perked up once more.
"Dominic! I knew it was you I was fighting earlier!"
As Viva hugged him once again, Prince D did his best to ignore Chenille's questioning glance while returning the hug.
"Yeah, it was me. Why were you fighting me and Chenille earlier?"
Viva opened her mouth to respond, but she closed it upon processing the presence of the second Pop Troll.
"Chenille? Gasp! Is she your girlfriend? Wait, don't answer that! I bet she is! Did you guys kiss? Did you guys consummerate? Did you guys hold hands? Although Funk Trolls don't have hands, they have...paws? Wait, when I kissed her, did that mean I gave her her first kiss?! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean it! I just thought she was a cutie and she deserved a kiss—!"
"VIVA!" Prince D held her by the shoulders and slowly inhaled before exhaling, "Breathe, Viva."
Viva mimicked his actions and considerably cooled down, patiently waiting for him to reply and give her the answers to her questions.
"First of all..." Prince D spared a brief glance at a concerned Chenille, "Yes, Chenille is my girlfriend, but no, we didn't kiss...yet."
Chenille blinked and blushed again as Prince D continued.
"And no, just because you kissed Chenille on the cheeks, it doesn't mean you gave her her official first kiss. And quite frankly, I personally consider our hands to be our feet as well."
A moment later, and Viva relaxed a little more.
"Feel better?"
"Much better," Viva nodded.
"Alright. Now back to the topic at hand. Why were attacking me and Chenille earlier?"
"Well, in fairness, I would say fighting an opponent is not too beneficial for you, but it's rarely an excuse," Viva shrugged, "But it's also the truth in my case."
"Is it the complete one too?" Chenille's eyebrows knitted together.
"Well," Viva then giggled nervously, "I also may or may not have accept a deal with the devil and their part-time mistress to seek revenge."
"Revenge?" Prince D exchanged a shocked glance with Chenille, "On whom?"
"Whoever was responsible for sending me away from my tribe, of course," Viva stated as if it was the most obvious statement made, "The closest culprit I suspected was the Bergens, but I suspected that they all died off."
"Well, some did," Chenille laughed nervously herself, causing Viva to shoot her a shocked look in return.
"What? Is that why you and Dominic are here? To seek refuge from the Bergens that survived?"
"Not exactly," Chenille hastily explained, "We are seeking refuge from an enemy, but it isn't the Bergens. In fact, we made peace with them almost a year ago."
"Really?" Viva was taken aback by the news before giving it a thought, "Huh. Talk about a late-arrival spoiler. Then who exactly are you seeking refuge from?"
"A combination of three different adversaries," Prince D elaborated, "The Party Crashers, the distant relatives of the Bergens; the Chanty Trolls, a notorious band of sky-roaming scoundrels; and the Siren Trolls, a group of Subgenre Trolls who can manipulate others by feeding off their negative emotions."
"Uh-huh," Viva nodded before shaking her head, "I believe I have heard of them in passing, but they're not the ones who hired me. But they do seem like the kind of Trolls who aren't to be meddled with. Is there anything I can do to help?"
"It's gonna get dangerous," Chenille said with great reluctance.
"I ate dangerous for breakfast," Viva waved her concerns away, "As in, I take dangerous and mash it into jelly that spread over my burnt toast and eat it with cheese and crackers. Oh, and wash it all down with tea with cream and sugar!"
Chenille and Prince D exchanged weirded-out glances once more before ultimately shrugging.
"Alright then," Chenille huffed, "In a few days, the three groups we mentioned are going to arrive here in the Folk Rock Kingdom to retrieve a Troll named Agatha whom we are supposed to protect. However..."
"We are going to lead them into a trap," Prince D continued, which made Viva squee again.
"Ooh! Traps! Don't worry, I'm very trap-happy! In fact, you can call me a trap queen."
"Uhh..." Chenille cringed along with Prince D, "I prefer not to, but that works too, I guess. We'll fill you in on the details, but in the meantime, I suggest you...stay hidden?"
"What? You're not gonna tell the others you're with about me?" Viva tilted her head, "I figured they would be happy to hear they have another ally on their side."
"Because," Prince D caught on to what Chenille was implying, "Like you said earlier, neither of the three groups we mentioned know about you, let alone hired you, so we can use that fact to our advantage."
"Ohh!" Viva gasped in pleasant acknowledgement, "So I'm your secret weapon! Oh, Dominic, you were always so smart!"
Checking her quivers of arrows and the bows used for firing them, Viva faced the couple one more time and smiled proudly.
"I won't let you down, then! Ta-ta!"
Waving them goodbye, Viva bounced towards the trees and disappeared into the night, Chenille and Prince D looking on with amused but uncertain looks.
"I'm guessing this is what happens when someone outside the tribes meets Poppy?" Prince D frowned.
"Yeah, that's pretty much it," Chenille nodded absentmindedly.
Poppy could not help but spare a laugh or two at the antics of her sister and the reactions of the couple towards them. Somehow, though, the antics of the Pop Troll named Viva were hyper, energetic, and overloaded with manic ecstasy. In essence, the Pop Troll named Viva was quite the spitting image of the Pop Queen herself...only if ten times were dialed up to eleven.
Taking that simple fact into consideration, perhaps that was why her father never told her about Viva: perhaps two overjoyed, over-exuberant daughters was more than enough.
"Why didn't King Peppy tell you that you had a sister?" Satin frowned slightly at the display.
Poppy sighed, "The sooner I get to training, the sooner I can get back to the living world and ask him myself. She needs to know about me sooner or later."
"Well, maybe you can introduce yourself after the big battle?" Mirabel suggested, "Like Chenille and Prince D said, the Big Bads don't know about your sister, so they're more likely to use her as a secret weapon against them."
"And Poppy's sudden presence could throw her off track?" Raya caught on to Mirabel's implication, which Poppy gave some thought before nodding.
"Maybe. In any case, she and the other Tribes need all the help they can get."
At that moment, Volpina nudged her owner's leg to capture her attention. When she did, the young kit growled and took a battle-ready stance, which amused Poppy enough to pick her up and hug her.
"Yes, that help can include you too, Volpina."
"Ohh," Satin began gushing over the ridiculously cute critter, "She's so adorable!"
"I adopted Volpina just a few weeks ago," Poppy noted proudly, "And I love her as much as she loves me. Isn't that right?"
Volpina yipped in delight as she affectionatedly rubbed her head against her owner's chest before spoting Satin. In response, she leaped out of Poppy's arms and into hers, cuddling with the new friend as she immediately doted on her.
"It reminds me of that time when I had a pet," Mirabel chuckled to herself, "And let me tell you, that toucan was a clueless little fella."
"Are you talking about Pico?" Camilo winced, "Because if you are, I think he was less of your pet and more of Antonio's."
"Doesn't it make you wonder why he happens to be one of the few animals that Antonio relies on the most?"
"Actually, yes. But I never let it progress any further than that that simple wonder."
"That's why I prefer cats," Mr. Wolf interjected, much to Sunset's visible amusement.
"You, the Big Bad Wolf, owns a cat as a pet?"
"Don't make any jokes, kid. I heard too much of them already to even know what those jokes entail, let alone keep count."
"I bet..." Flash muttered to himself.
"Regardless..."
Mirabel then passed Volpina (who had since leapt out of Satin's arms and into her own) to Mei as she approached Poppy.
"You need all the help you can get, Poppy, and that help happens to be standing in front of you."
"Thank you, Mirabel," Poppy smiled.
"Whatever you need, I'm your woman."
Poppy embraced Mirabel tightly, prompting the latter to return the hug the former gave her. Satin, Raya, Mei, Miles, Ruby, and the others joined in for another group hug before they eventually separated.
"So...what's the play, Your Majesty?"
"We need a plan...and the right Trolls for the job."
"I believe we can help you with that," Sofia interjected.
"Has anyone seen Chenille?" Branch looked up from his nightly headcount.
"Or our son?" Queen Essence and King Quincy approached his side.
Having been caught up in the midnight mayhem regarding the optimistic occupants of the Folk Rock Kingdom orphanage, many of the main players were understandably worn out. Of course, that did not stop Branch—being the crazy-prepared survivalist that he was—from performing a headcount or two to ensure everyone was accounted for. And when a Troll or two went unaccounted for, a suspicion or two would be understandably raised.
Queen Barb was one of the few who remained calm regarding the disappearances of two particular Trolls.
"Relax, Your Majesties. Being that it's two Trolls missing, they're probably fussing and fighting and—"
"Do not finish that sentence," Marimba and Tambora shook their heads as they glared at Barb.
"Actually, do finish it," Delta Dawn chuckled darkly, "I dare you."
"What?" Barb began acting defensive, "You're telling that your kids haven't been exposed to sex, orgies, and coitus?"
"Of course not," Trollzart maintained his composure, "Because we have much more larger dilemmas to deal with at the time. In addition, if one member of our tribe courted another, then we prefer to keep the relationship building between the two a private affair."
"No, no," Laguna muttered to herself, "Please, we are not having this conversation now. It's far too late for this type of conversation now."
Laguna was eyeing both Guy Diamond and Meadow Spriggs specifically, the couple raising an eyebrow at her as she groaned into her hands.
"I agree with Miss Tidepool," Minuet hovered by her side, "Branch, perhaps we can divide our search parties into groups of six to increase our chances of finding the two?"
"I don't see what's the issue here," Barb rolled her eyes, "As far as we know, Chenille and Prince D are still here in the kingdom and couldn't have gotten that far. If anything..."
She then jabbed her thumb in the direction of the front door.
"The lovebirds probably burst through that door right now—"
CRASH!
And indeed, they did.
The commotion caused by the front door crashing open caused many a Troll to wake up and turn their attention to the source. Branch, Barb, Queen Essence, King Quincy, Cooper, and the others were among the select few to get up from their seated positions and truly investigate the noise. What they found were the two missing Trolls and the subjects of their convoluted converation laying on the ground, rubbing their heads in a dazed and confused state.
When they fully came to and processed their surroundings, Chenille and Prince D could only exchange guilty grins with each other.
"Huh. I guess you were right," Cooper tilted his head, impressed with Barb's perceived clairvoyance.
"Darnell!" Essence began smothering her second son and planted several little kisses all over his face...before doing the same with Chenille.
"Are you okay?" Quincy approached, "Where did you and Chenille go?"
"We went for a walk," Chenille replied, "And we talked about Captain Blue's plan, which got us thinking..."
The Captain of the Chanty Trolls herself peered up from a map of the kingdom, standing up and walking over to Chenille and Prince D.
"It got you thinking that it could work?"
"It could," Chenille nodded as she nodded her head to her worktable, "Is that a map of the Folk Rock Kingdom?"
"It is."
Chenille and Prince D walked over and spared it a glance before Blue placed a device on top of the map to make it project a three-dimensional outlook of the kingdom.
"This better?"
"Much better," Chenille nodded as she moved to the front of the map, "Okay, the plan is a combination of yours and the simple divide-and-conquer strategy. What I'm thinking...is that we get the Party Crashers, the Chanty Trolls, and the Siren Trolls to separate so that we can attack from three fronts."
"We need to take out the heavy hitters first," Prince D stood by her side, "That way, we can deprive them of a significant advantage. Then...there's a chance that we can cut the head of a snake or two."
"The snake or two being the perfidy Party Crasher prince or those smug, slick-quick Siren Trolls in disguise," Blue chuckled in acknowledgement, "I like your thinking, C and D."
"The question is," King Peppy rubbed his chin, "Do we have enough time to prepare before their arrival?"
"Yes, we do," Chenille nodded, followed by Prince D.
"How do you know that?" Cooper knitted his eyebrows together in intrigue.
"Just a hunch," Chenille shrugged before heading over to the bag of weapons Suzi brought with her, pulling out a vast selection of firearms that she planned to use. Specifically, she took out a trio of FN M249-E2 SAW machine guns and loaded them with ammunition.
"I also have a hunch," Chenille stated as she held two of the machine guns by the carrying handles, "that we may need these later."
"I got you, C," Prince D approached and took one, followed by Branch and Cooper a minute later.
"I suppose we should inform King Eric that we have made some progress regarding the plan?" Delta Dawn crossed her arms.
"You suppose correctly," Queen Essence nodded as she and King Quincy went to help Branch, Chenille, and their sons prepare the booby traps required for the plan of attack to succeed. Blue, Diogo, Dulce, Sun Lien, and Vivace followed them afterward while Delta Dawn, Hickory, and Holly planned an early-morning trip to King Eric's castle.
Meanwhile, inside the citadel itself, Tresillo somehow found himself strolling the halls while Marimba and Tambora were attending a sleepover with the K-Pop Gang and two of Queen Barb's male groupies. A flurry of emotions had been circling around his head for some time, not helped by the extremely unfamiliar environment that surrounded him at the current moment. He had grown accustomed to leaving his home on more than one occasion, narrowly missing important milestones in the lives of his friends due to his devotion to the missions that his bounty-hunting lifestyle assigned him.
But this? This was literally too far.
Not even the time where a pre-reformed Queen Barb hired him and his friends to locate and capture a Pop Queen was enough to unnerve him, but that time came pretty damn close. Part of the reason was the presence of competing Bounty Hunters, a factor that added a lot more danger to the usual monotonous manner of the missions even if they did become close friends in the end...or, in Chaz's case, close acquaintances.
Another reason was the objective: essentially kidnap an innocent Troll or risk the chance of their Tribe dying out. Never before had he and his friends encountered such an aggressively determined employer in their line of work or even their entire life thus far, but Queen Barb was pretty scary no matter how one attempted to downplay the most notorious of her dastardly deeds. Sure, she did learn the error of her ways, mellowed out, and make friends with her former enemies, but that was the issue.
What if she had not?
Shaking his head, Tresillo continued walking down the halls, but he slowly picked up his pace in the process. Many a worst case scenario began popping up here and there in his head as he tried to make sense of them or, better yet, make them disappear if only for a brief moment. One thought would be replaced with another, and the fear would come with it.
"Tracy...?"
He would never admit it, but Tresillo harbored quite a crush on the Pop Queen the moment when he caught a glimpse of her photo during the mission recap. He had never seen her up until that point, but when he did, it was the first time he truly believed in love at first sight. Marimba and Tambora were among the few who noticed right away, and they were tellingly the only ones who confronted him about the fact.
"Tracy...?"
Given his reputation as a charming womanizer who play with the hearts of his desires, Marimba and Tambora did not take his infatuation with the Pop Queen too seriously, but they did warn him from genuinely but accidentally falling in love with their target at the time. One reason was that a Bounty Hunter who fell in love with their target rarely succeeded in establishing a relationship with them, romantic or otherwise. There was a startling amount of incidents of Bounty Hunters being killed off due to their targets manipulating their feelings against them or killing themselves out of guilt for their actions.
"Tracy..."
Another reason was that the Pop Queen's heart was already stolen by a fellow Pop Troll. He had gotten to know Branch a lot more following the events of Queen Barb's World Tour, and he understood why Poppy had fallen in love with him over time. Simultaneously, he understood why he could never compete with him in terms of winning over the girl of their dreams. Compared to himself, Branch had a significantly more tragic backstory, and he only had picked up the pieces due to the Pop Troll's reluctance on going into full detail.
"Tracy...!"
And when Poppy...
When Poppy "died" on that fateful night, so did a part of him as well. He could vividly hear the Pop Tribe crying for their beloved Queen mixed with Branch's screams of agony for his beloved. It was the first thing he had awoken to after being turned into a Rock Zombie and forced to attack his friends and own familia.
All because he was not strong enough.
He would never forgive himself.
"Tresillo!"
Suddenly, having been caught in literally running away from the nonexistent voices in his head, an existent voice called out for him and caused him to screech to a complete halt. Breathing in and out heavily, Tresillo turned around and came face-to-face with her.
The one who had stolen his heart.
The one who had got away.
The one...who loved him first instead of vice versa.
"Wani?"
"Yes, that's my name," The K-Pop Troll in question nodded as her eyes met his, "What's your name?"
"T...Tresillo?"
"Do you know where you are?"
"Yeah. The...The Folk Rock Kingdom..."
"Did you happen to black out or...get caught in a deep, dark train of thought?"
. . .
"Yeah..."
With that, Tresillo attempted to bolt away from Wani and the crucial conversation.
Emphasis on the word "try".
"Wait!" Wani grabbed him by the arm, "I wasn't finished!"
"Well, I am," Tresillo harshly tugged it away before catching Wani, having pulled her along.
"Tresillo, wait! Please," Wani pleaded more gently, "Don't go..."
Tresillo knew exactly what Wani was doing, and he hated it. A classic and a cliché configuration of convincing one's companion, the puppy-dog eyes were commonly called upon by anyone and everyone who wished a dear friend or loved one to perform a deed for them, no matter what said deed involved. Poppy was one of the firmest believers of this trope, weaponizing it to great effect whenever she truly desired. Of course, given her responsibilities as a Queen (Pop or otherwise) and the simple fact she promised to fulfill her share of the debt later on, even the grumpiest and frumpiest of Trolls could not help but lend a helping hand or two at the behest of quite possibly the most kindhearted girl of the entire kingdom.
Wani was not Poppy, however.
"Why? Why should I wait you and not go?"
"Because I just want to talk to you," Wani replied, "Because I'm worried for you. Everyone else is."
"You? Worried about me?" Tresillo elicited a bitter chuckle, "And tonight of all nights? I shouldn't be surprised, and yet...I am."
Wani briefly glanced away from Tresillo's harsh chastising before continuing, "I know you're mad for me for leaving you that night...and you have every right to be mad. But you have to believe me when I say that...there was a last-minute mission that came up. I would never leave you on purpose."
After a moment, Tresillo sighed, "I understand that part now. But this part? I'm not even mad that you left for a mission; I'm more mad that you left without saying anything. No note, no heirloom, nothing. And...this isn't even the first time that's happened. I...I don't even know why I'm the one getting angry when I'm not perfect myself."
"Then why are you angry?" Wani tilted her head.
"I... I don't know," Tresillo admitted as he simmered down, "It's just...a lot to process the past few months. We were rivals first, friends second, lovers next, then rivals again, then friends again after the death of another..."
Hearing that last part of his rant made Wani realize something about Tresillo.
"Tresillo...are you having nightmares about Poppy's death?"
The leader of the Reggaeton Gang desperately wanted to refute the claim the leader of the K-Pop Gang made, but he knew it would prove fruitless, especially since he kept dropping hints (direct or indirect).
"Not just about her...death," Tresillo reluctantly confessed, "But about us...and the others...turning into Rock Zombies."
If Wani had suspicions regarding the true cause of Tresillo's antsy behavior, then they were confirmed at that moment. The unpleasant memories of a certain rock concert hosted by a certain rock queen came rushing back to her at full force, vividly recalling the events leading up to their forced transformation into Rock Zombies. Much like the six other friends they made over the course of their bogus journey, she remembered her K-Pop heart and soul being ruthlessly replaced by the hard-hitting heathen that was Hard Rock. She remembered her outward appearance autocratically altered to resemble the Rock Trolls: their fashion, their accessories, their materials. She remembered...
She remembered subconsciously attacking her frends and allies with such violent intent. She could see herself fighting them, she could hear herself fighting them, and she could think about herself fighting them. She was unable to stop herself from fighting them, however, let alone break free from the control the Six Strings had on her. It was a relief when Queen Poppy managed to destroy them, but it also came as a bittersweet victory no matter how short it was.
No matter how temporary it was...
Queen Poppy died that night...
All because she was not strong enough...
She would never forgive herself.
"Yeah...me too."
"I bet you do."
"I'm telling the truth, Tresillo. I know you don't want to admit it, but...Poppy's death affected us all."
"But she's not dead... She...she's not dead!"
Wani cursed herself for not only choosing the wrong words, but a blunt delivery to accompany it. She knew that the message needed to be delivered straight to the point, however, and continued nonetheless.
"I know she's not dead now...but she was dead then. Even if it was a temporary one, we had no idea if she was coming back."
"Well, she's back now," Tresillo huffed, "Your point?"
Wani hesitated for a brief moment before ripping the band-aid off.
"Tresillo...are you in love with Poppy?"
The Reggaeton Troll tensed up and tried to think of many different ways to dance around the uncomfortable subject, but then he realized his tensing up probably gave his act away. As such, like before, he gave a quick and straight-to-the-point answer to avoid the inevitability of a futile cover-up.
"I was. But...her heart belongs to someone else."
Wani should not have been surprised by the revelation, and yet she was...and she was hurt.
Why?
She did not know.
"I'm... I'm sorry..."
"Don't be," Tresillo shook his head, "It's...just been a rough few months. All of this is happening really fast. Too fast for my liking. First, I get turned into a Rock Zombie by my own employer. Then, the Troll Tribes have come together after all those years of isolation...after the death of our new friend. Then, those Party Crashers attack Pop Village and force the rest of us into hiding underground. And my Tribe...my people have been taken by those Chanty Trolls. And someone in our group dies..."
Tresillo choked up, causing Wani to carefully approach and gently clasp her hand with his.
"All those nightmares I've been having...they were all too real."
He then dared to face Wani, whose eyes were tearing up as well.
"You were telling the truth too? About Poppy's death?"
"I was," Wani nodded as she wiped away her tears, "The months following the World Tour, I got to know our new friend a little better. She really is the sweet, compassionate, optimistic, and altruistic Queen of Pop Queen Barb hyped her up as. With hindsight, I should've known something was wrong, but my desire to save my Tribe overwhelmed my common sense."
"Well..." Tresillo managed a small smile, "You deserve a little bit of credit for coming to your senses and teaming up with her."
"You did, too."
"Were you gonna say the same thing?"
"I was," Wani giggled, "But still though..."
"But still nothing," Tresillo shook his head, "You said so yourself: your desire to save your Tribe overwhelmed your common sense before you regained it. The exact same thing happened to me and the girls. We...we all over overcame our self-interests to get the job done. This one shouldn't be any different."
With that, Tresillo's grip on Wani's hand tightened.
"Me and the girls...we'll be there with your girls no matter what."
Wani managed a smile of her own, "Thanks, Tracy."
"Anytime, Wani..." Tresillo returned her smile as a moment of silence commenced, after which he gently planted a kiss on Wani's cheek.
Blinking for a brief moment, the K-Pop Troll turned to face the Reggaeton Troll, who turned to faced her in return before shrugging. Scoffing in amusement, Wani grabbed Tresillo by the collar, pulled him in, and crashed his lips against her own.
Surprising him as much as even herself (she was the one who initiated the kiss, for crying out loud!), Wani froze in place when she realized Tresillo was kissing her back. Eventually, she decided to melt into his embrace and embrace the blissful feeling. A good thing too, because said embrace lasted about half a minute before he slowly pulled away and managed the best smile he could muster. She tried to return it, but because she grasped the realization that her crush had reciprocated her feelings and went straight for a kiss, Wani could only giggle in delight like a young schoolgirl would after successfully wooing their crush.
"You...know I love you, right?" Tresillo awkwardly asked afterwards.
"Yes, I do," Wani's smile grew wider as she rested her arms on his shoulders, "But I loved you first, you know that?"
"I do now," Tresillo bumped his head against hers, the couple enjoying another moment to themselves...
"AW! That was so cute!"
...which happened to be interrupted by a third party at the worst possible time.
Tresillo and Wani yelped in fright and held each other tight as the third party revealed themselves in the moonlight. Jumping onto the balcony ledge, it was a Pop Troll who bore an uncanny resemblance to Queen Poppy...if Poppy were slightly taller, had blond curly hair with matching makeup, and dressed up far more risque.
"Hello!" The Poppy Look-Alike introduced herself, "I don't mean to intrude, but I wanted to go over the battleplan you and your friends will need against the Party Crashers, the Chanty Trolls, and the Siren Trolls! I already discuss most of the plan with your friends earlier and went here to tell you in person so you guys could pass it on, but...I couldn't help but gush over your love confessions to each other! You guys are so adorable together!"
Still wrapping their arms around each other, Tresillo and Wani exchanged weirded-out looks before regaining their composures.
"Um...¿muchas gracias?" Tresillo replied with gratitude before he processed the important information, "Wait, what battleplan?"
"And which friends did you specifically go to?" Wani asked after him.
"Prince Dominic and his new girlfriend Chenille, of course," The Poppy Look-Alike replied as if it was the most obvious of statements ever, "I believe they'll catch you up to speed. You just need to pass the plan to the others. Well, look at the time. I guess I'll be going now! Toodles!"
With that, the Poppy Look-Alike leapt off the balcony, but not before shooting Tresillo and Wani both a flirtatious wink that made them both blush in embarrassment before blanching in panic and rushing to the edge. The couple glanced down, but no traces of evidence remained that hinted to her presence at the entire kingdom tonight, let alone the single castle.
"What do you think the plan involves?" Wani glanced at Tresillo, who merely shrugged in response.
"I don't know...but I think Chenille and...Prince D have some explaining to do..."