Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from the Trolls franchise, I just own Melody.
A mystic melody.
"Branch, is this...!?"
Branch nodded his head, a look of immense urgency on his face.
"Yeah! I think it's coming!"
Every single troll around gasped and started to gather around the couple.
Branch and Poppy looked at one another.
While they were still anxious about this, Poppy felt a huge amount of joy flow through her bloodstream and she almost felt like dying on the spot due to the purest form of excitement for this momentous occasion while Branch was still more on the worried spectrum then his wife was but he, too, felt this overwhelming sense of excitement that pumped through him. Their brains stalled for a moment until they gained the sense of mind and their legs kicked into high gear as they stood up and began to run with practically the entirety of Pop Troll village hot on their heels.
Branch nor Poppy even thought once about stopping, not even for a second, as they quickly climbed up the vines and even the odd outcropping while they tried to get to the nursery pod as quickly as their feet could carry them because they each knew that something amazing was about to happen.
They were about to become parents.
Their minds were racing, their heart were pounding hard in their chests, their feet were beating the mossy grass beneath as they were desperately trying to reach the nursery pod and reach Dr Plum before their precious egg hatched. Branch tried not to break down into a hyperventilating mess as he felt the egg in his hair tremble and shake but he pulled himself together as best as he could as he saw that Poppy was looking equally as squirrelled as he was.
But, as they ran, all of a sudden, the egg shot out of Branch's hair like a cannon ball and started to soar off into the distance. Nothing could explain the absolute horror the two felt when they saw their egg —their baby— soaring high in the air and Poppy and Branch's hearts exploded when they saw that the egg was airborne and about to fall towards the ground.
"SWEET GLITTER AND MUFFINS...!" Poppy shrieked out in terror, "BRANCH, WE GOTTA CATCH IT!"
Without wasting another second, the royal troll couple made a mad dash to catch their precious egg.
Every pop troll in the village wanted to make a mad scramble to catch their potential prince or princess but were too stunned to be able to do anything since their brains were still trying to process what was going on right now. The Snack pack tried to move into motion but the egg was falling too fast for them to even make a movement.
Poppy and Branch were becoming breathless as they rushed to catch their falling egg.
"C-C-C'mon, Branch! We gotta hurry!" She cried.
Poppy tried to stretch her hair out to grab the egg but missed it.
As the hatching troll egg started to plummet towards the ground below, Branch darted forwards and tumbled towards the ground, only just catching the egg in his arms before it could hit the ground, skidding for a few feet and he was pretty sure that he was now covered in grass stains.
"Gotcha...!" He huffed.
That didn't matter to him, though, as he quickly checked the egg over to see if it was hurt in anyway.
There were still the initial hatching cracks but, otherwise, it appeared to be unharmed.
The egg was now glowing with a near-blinding radiance.
This meant that it was about to hatch.
The egg pulsated softly against the air, the sharp glow still intense.
The second Dr. Plum had everything ready, she hurried over towards the couple, blanket in hand to wrap up the new troll in.
Branch had fallen to the ground at this point as he huffed and puffed.
The glow died down when the doctor stepped back a bit, watching as the egg shuddered and cracked away until a tiny ball of tufty fluff that came in vibrant shades of pink, blue and dark purple was unveiled; it was only when the Doctor reached in and took the newborn into her arms that the ball of fuzz shook itself a bit and revealed its true form.
The teeny newborn troll had periwinkle blue skin (except for a pink patched area around its left eye) that had been adorned with glitter on its sparkly chubby cheeks, it had fuzzy violet purple hair that stuck upwards and the tiny troll had been blessed with huge pinkish eyes (which were barely opened) that it undoubtedly inherited from its mother.
A series of whimpers came from the newborn whom squirmed in the doctor's arms as she cradled the new baby in her arms as she walked slowly towards the new parents, wrapping the sobbing infant up in the blanket she'd grabbed a minute ago.
Branch and Poppy both wore equal expressions of awe and wonder as they saw their new son or daughter for the very first time, their eyes were huge and filled with an equal amount of tears, their mouthes were agape and their sights were very much trained on the now-crying infant troll.
Dr. Plum Plimsy carefully strolled over towards the two and handed the bundle straight to Poppy.
The pink queen troll rocked it back and forth as she held the sobbing infant in her arms, staring down at it with all the love she could muster in one look as she started singing a soothing lullaby to it, calming it down almost instantly, and she looked as though she was the happiest troll in the whole entire universe and given Poppy's normally upbeat and positive outlook on life...she probably was at this very moment. Her heart was swelling to the size of a grapefruit and she was taking to motherhood like a duck to water as she bounced the tiny troll up and down in her arms.
"Shhh...there, there, sweetie, mama's right here~"
As the doctor watched the heart-warming exchange, she spoke up whilst that same gentle grin she had been wearing had widened considerably so her teeth were showing, she found the exchange between the new mother and her child to have been so precious that she couldn't suppress a slight chuckle.
"I think I should tell you that the baby is a beautiful healthy little girl..."
Poppy hardly seemed to hear her as she was far too entranced with her new daughter. She spoke to the baby troll in a light, quiet tone of voice as she smiled widely, "Aw, look at you..." The queen crooned sweetly, readjusting the baby troll in her arms so she could lean down and press her own nose against the baby's. "Aren't you just beautiful?"
"Phew...you really gave us a scare didn't you, sweetie?"
Branch, meanwhile, smiled warmly at the troll doctor and walked up to her and shook her hand in a grateful gesture with tears of his own filling up inside his pale blue eyes. Even though he still felt rather anxious about all the trials that were to come he knew that he and Poppy were more than capable and were up to the task...they had already been through a lot together as a couple, after all.
"Thanks a lot for this, Doctor Plum."
The doctor troll with the green hair and purple skin took Branch's hand into her own and shook it vigorously.
"It was my pleasure, King Branch,"
Dr. Plum started to make her exit as she quickly gathered up her bag, just like before, and she couldn't help but feel so glad to witness this joyous occasion with her own two eyes. She could hardly believe that the troll village was now welcoming a new princess into their community and she couldn't help but feel so happy about it.
The doctor smiled as she spared one last smile towards the happy family before she made her exit, bidding them a sincere "And congratulations..." before she departed and left for her infirmary pod.
And everything was quite nice and relatively peaceful after the doctor left as the new parents marvelled at their new little girl whom just babbled and cooed curiously as she adjusted to being outside of her flower. Poppy and Branch had never before seen such a lovely little baby troll and she was all theirs and they couldn't be more thrilled over that fact.
"Branch...?" Poppy asked, tears of joy cascading down her face as she turned to face the azure blue troll, "W-Would you like to hold her?"
Branch stiffened when he was asked this and he knew that he had to admit something and he glanced down at his own two feet, "Um, er, well...Poppy, dear, I never actually held a baby before..."
Branch was just a ball of nerves right now and it was totally obvious to Poppy as she just smiled at her husband. The pink troll queen walked up to Branch and shuffled the baby troll girl into the crook of her left arm so she could use both of her hands for a minute, she took Branch's hands into her own and started to reposition them.
"Oh come on, it's easy."
Branch froze completely as Poppy placed the baby troll into his arms.
He could hardly comprehend this:
He was a father now.
The new father couldn't keep a smile suppressed and the baby girl gurgled happily as he held his daughter into his own arms for the first time. Sure he felt so strangely out of place but he found himself smirking warmly down at the newborn, in the meantime said tiny troll just lay there. The King couldn't deny the fact that the baby was extremely adorable and he felt truly lucky that this adorable bundle belonged to both Poppy and himself -this precious little baby was just about the most cutest thing that either he and Poppy ever laid their eyes on and she was born to them.
How lucky could one be?
Branch had started to feel more comfortable and tried to keep his own tears at bay as he let the baby girl settle down in his embrace and he started to rock her lovingly in his arms, swaying her delicately to and fro. Yet the king's icy blue eyes watered with tears of happiness as he very gingerly stuck his finger out towards his daughter and then proceeded to tickle her tiny chubby cheek -the King felt his heart swell in his chest when the tiny troll made the cutest little cooing sounds, which could be interpreted as giggles, in response to the large blue finger tickling her chubby glittery cheek.
"Oh my gosh, shes laughing!" Poppy gasped in delight, "And what an adorable laugh she's got!"
Her husband couldn't disagree with her for their daughter was undeniably cute.
He could hardly even talk as he tried hard to gain control of his emotions and he was so happy that he couldn't stop assuming a very tender smile that actually made his facial muscles ache in protest. His voice trembled and shook as he softened his voice into a hushed whisper.
"H-Hey there, sweetheart...I'm your dad...aww, look at you -you're so tiny and perfect and b-beautiful!" He couldn't help but carefully raise his daughter up and plant a very gentle kiss atop her head, he closed his eyes and proceeded to bring her close to his face as he nuzzled her gently and lovingly.
Branch reopened his eyes to glance over to Poppy, only just able to peel his gaze away from his daughter, even though it was very hard, and smiled oh-so warmly at her with the most emotional of expressions ever. It was then that a question had popped into his head and it was a very important question that he very almost forgot about which wouldn't have done in the very least...
"What're we gonna name her?" He asked and his wife seemed to freeze when her husband asked that inquiry.
Branch quirked his brow and cocked his head slightly; according to that reaction, Poppy hadn't really thought much on that either yet that was perfectly understandable since the two new parents were mainly thinking about whether their child would be completely healthy or not and they weren't really thinking about names, they maybe thought of a name or two once or twice in the past few months but that was it.
The queen scratched her chin thoughtfully as she pondered deeply on that question, thinking hard on a name that they could give to their new daughter. She knew that her daughter deserved a special name and it needed to mean something to both Branch and Poppy...it needed to be a brilliant name to boot...a good, proper name indeed...
Poppy's eyes lit up suddenly when she remembered the day when everyone's lives changed; everyone was just about to be eaten by a bunch of happy-hungry Bergens, Creak had betrayed them, and Poppy had just about lost so much hope that it made her lose all her colour and, to make things even bleaker, every other troll followed suit and turned a miserable grey colour themselves...but then Branch (a downright miserable grump at the time) found the happiness buried deep inside of him and sung Poppy's spirits back up, thus lifting the hope of every other troll in turn.
The queen broke into (somehow) an even bigger smile when such a name popped into her head and she knew that it was a perfect name!
"I've got it! How about Princess Melody Rosiepuff Peppy?"
Branch blinked his eyes in surprise, tilting his head to one side in confusion. He recognised his grandmother Rosiepuff's name in there and that made his heart swell like a balloon but it was the first name that caught him by surprise and he couldn't help but question it as he looked at Poppy with an incredulous expression on his face.
"Melody?"
Poppy reassumed a loving look, explaining her reasoning for the name she'd come up with.
"Branch, you saved us when you broke through your own sadness and sang for the first time in years just to lift everybody's spirits when we were at our lowest point. You saved us all with that beautiful song and I can't think of anything better to honour that with then naming our daughter after something that associated with that occasion. Not to mention that it's the first time you told me you loved me..."
Poppy smiled down warmly at the little one and stroked her tufts of hair with her finger.
"Besides, I think it fits her like a glove."
Poppy smiled happily as she used her own forearm to rub at her own eyes, wiping away any lingering tears, and she gave a cheerful nod to her husband. She started to bounce up and down on the spot as she spun on her heels and made her cape "swish" dramatically.
"Okay, you stay with her and I'll tell everybody outside the great news!"
Branch hardly had time to respond properly before the excitable pink troll hurried out of the area to fetch the rest of the other pop trolls and every other trolls present ooed and awwed and their new princess.
Branch quickly found himself (mostly) all alone with the baby troll, he fought the urge to roll his eyes because he knew that when he married Poppy that she'd become excited over almost every occasion where she felt that every troll in the universe had to know every single detail about why she was happy to begin with.
The survivalist troll glanced down at the infant in his arms and chuckled softly.
"Guess it's just you an' me, pipsqueak...Ow!"
Branch winced painfully when the tiny hand gripped a fistful of his bright blue bushy hair and started to yank on it.
Hard.
He couldn't hold back a smirk when he looked at his tiny little girl and noticed that she was making some gurgling sounds that he could've swore sounded like mischievous giggling and the blue troll readjusted Melody in his arms and proceeded to hold her by the underarms, at arm's length and he raised her up so she could be right in front of his face, there was a playful gleam in his eye as he scowled playfully at the infant troll with that same wry smirk on his face.
"Think that's funny? Something tells me when you grow up you are going to be quite the cute little trouble maker. You're not even five minutes old yet and you already have some of your mother's personality and undeniable sweetness..."
Melody made another cooing noise as she yanked Branch's hair a second time before letting it go. Then she raised a floppily unpracticed arm and proceeded to reach forwards, causing her father a bit of confusion as to what she was doing, and then the tiny hand landed right on top of his pudgy lavender nose; the tiny periwinkle blue hand rested atop his nose, Branch noticed that his three-minute old daughter had what he could assume was adoration in her barely-opened eyes and he instantly felt his heart melt into a puddle from how cute Melody was.
Branch quickly found that he simply couldn't stay angry at her (even if he was joking).
He chuckled softly, again, brought the infant troll closer and cradled her gently against his chest. He watched as she completely closed her eyes and started to snore softly and sleepily —thus signalling that she'd fallen fast asleep.
He couldn't help but feel his heart swell with love for this new little troll whom was now dependant on both himself and Poppy to take care of her. He had to wonder what this little princess would be like when she grew up? Would she take completely after Poppy in her ever-lasting optimism and enthusiasm? What would she inherit from him, aside from the shade of blue that coloured her skin?
Branch slowed the rocking of his daughter to a gentle halt his and smiled down at her lovingly while he made a promise to her, a promise that he intended to keep for as long as he was breathing.
"I promise that I won't let anything hurt you...my little Melody."
A/N: Melody is born in this chapter, and it's quite dramatic! I hope you guys enjoyed it and I'm going to work on the final part of the prologue and then we shall move to the main story. I hope you lot are enjoying yourselves so far because I'm loving writing this for you guys.
I hope you lot are enjoying this fic so far.
Oh and we may see Cooper, the funk trolls and the other kinds of trolls next chapter.
-Chloemcg