Disclaimer: I don't own any characters from the Trolls franchise, I just own Melody.
A mystic melody.
Branch was shaking from the adrenaline rush that he was experiencing.
After facing off with that Moonstalker, he found that he couldn't stop shaking but his mind was also racing with the speed and ferocity; this monster came very close to taking his child from him and all because he didn't check his traps more thoroughly —he felt a severe tremor quiver down his spine at the thought of Melody being taken in an eerily similar fashion to his own grandmother.
Branch's face turned into a resolute one.
He refused to let that happen to him again...
It felt like forever as he made his weary way homewards and he reached the door of the underground survival bunker. Upon finding it, he crouched down to the ground and slid the wooden door open with his hand. Without wasting another second, he lowered himself down into the hole and then yanked on the lever that activated the lift that proceeded to slide down with him stood on the platform.
The platform took the king all the way down through multiple jars, berries and other necessities being stored away just encase.
Branch felt a pang of nostalgia hit him right in the heart.
How long had it been since he'd last been down here (with the exception of bringing the cake)? Days? Months? Years? He'd lost track long ago but he was almost glad that nothing had changed since the last time he'd been down in the bunker. He wanted to meander through the hallways that was like a labyrinth but he knew that now wasn't the time as he had more things to worry about other than a literal trip down memory lane.
When the lift finally finished its descent, Branch stepped off and made his way to the bunker kitchen.
He stopped for a moment, though.
He raised his hands up to remove his leafy crown momentarily, split his cobalt blue hair open, reached inside and then pried a small violet ball of fluff out and held it delicately in both hands. Whenever Melody got frightened she would basically hide in her hair...just like her mother...and shake and shiver; she rarely did this, though, since she was just so happy and cheerful all the time.
Branch's face softened considerably as he looked at the fuzzy violet lump.
Poor thing was probably still traumatised...
"It's alright, Melody. You can come out now," He coaxed in a soft and gentle voice.
Melody hesitated but retracted her hair, uncovering herself completely as she clutched her hurt arm.
Branch felt his heart break into tiny pieces at the sight. He'd never seen such a sad and scared look on any trolls face, let alone on the face of his own daughter, and he had never wanted to keep his girl close more than he had right now. He had been more terrified when he saw Mel in the clutches of a Moonstalker but he was also confused since this predator only lurked at night —hence the name— but this one decided to approach the village during the day and, as far as he knew, him being well educated about predators, Moonstalkers only emerged during the twilight hours.
Branch shushed his daughter as he tried to ease her anxieties.
He gingerly brushed the side of her face with one of his thumbs as he stared deeply into her eyes, those eyes that reminded him of Poppy so very much, and he spoke in a tone of voice that was like a gentle caress made of velvet intertwining with a delicate whisper.
"...It's okay, sweetie...I've got you..."
Melody was still wide-eyed and terrified.
Branch then put on a half-hearted (and rather goofy) smile in an attempt to raise Melody's spirits.
"Heeeey, maybe I might have a little bit of birthday cake for a good brave girl."
Mel perked up at the mention of cake.
"...After he not only sang to lift the spirits of the entire population of pop trolls but also saved me from turning into a rock zombie, the brave troll, Branch, soon proposed and married the queen, me, and became her King. Then they lived happily ever after!"
Poppy exclaimed rather proudly while closing the scrapbook she held in her hands.
Watching the pleased faces of the small trollings that sat around her in a circle as they cheered happily. Every time she'd read a story to the small trolls, the next generation, it would make her heart swell with glee; this was one of her favourite pastimes and she always felt happy to read the story of her and her husband's victories and how they brought two kingdoms together —the Bergens and the other troll tribes.
However, there was a bit of a hint of concern tinging the moment.
She had to wonder where the other younglings were, her daughter included?
Surely they should have been here by now?
Poppy didn't like to show the worry on her face to the little ones, or anyone in general, so she just bucked up and kept her smile on her face; she hoped that nobody could catch that it was less than genuine and she also tried her best not to get too worried —they were children and children did arrive to places late sometimes, it happened.
Her ears twitched when she heard a faint sound that became louder with each passing second.
When it got loud enough, she managed to decipher it as screaming.
Alarmed, the queen and the other young trolls present all turned to face the entrance of the pod and watched in disgruntled shock as Clampers charged right into the pod yelling and carrying a bunch of fearful-looking young trollings on her back and in her arms. Clampers galloped into the pod, quickly depositing the trollings on to the ground as they all ran straight over to Poppy and crowded around her. The newly-arrived youngsters immediately made a mad dash to Poppy.
The younglings crowded around her, crying out in distress and fright but talking over each other as they all tried to get heard individually.
Poppy frowned.
Something was wrong here, she could feel it.
"Miss Poppy!" Clampers cried, a look of hurried urgency on her face.
Poppy was disturbed and alarmed.
"Clampers! What's the matter?"
Clampers instantly broke off into a tangent as she explained what happened, her story intermingling with the combined cries and yells from the other trollings.
"W-We were attacked b'ah this monster...! Ah' managed to git the young'ns to safety b-but I had no clue that ah' l-left Mel! Ah' didn't mean to, m'ah brains were scrambled! B-But M-Mister Branch got there an' managed to stare 'em down with a glare that coulda' peeled the hide of a rattlesnake an—"
By now, the rest of Clampers story fell on deaf ears as Poppy had zoned out while she still tried to pick out the bits and pieces of the story.
Her heart had stopped when she heard the words "attacked", "monster", "Mel" and "Branch" and she felt her heart skip a beat when she started to realise exactly what had happened and her jaw dropped to the floor. She almost wanted to yell at Clampers for totally forgetting Melody but her cheery nature had prevented her from doing so and, not to mention, she could not blame the pre-teen country troll for getting lost in the heat of the moment.
Nevertheless, the queen of pop felt the colour drain from her face.
Did she hear that right?
She was sure that her brain had stalled.
"Wh-What...?"
Melody nommed away at the slice of sponge cake, unknowingly slathering pink and white icing all over her face. She was entirely focused on eating her treat while she was being treated with an ice pack being pressed against the scratch on her forearm. Her eyes were overflowing with delight and she
Branch decided to
"Sweetie...I think we should go to Dr Plum and get that cut looked at."
Mel froze mid-chomp, put her small bit of cake down next to her, and frowned disbelievingly.
"But I wanna go to the ceremony...!" She whined, screwing her face as much as she could so she could focus her eyes into the best glare she could. To be honest, though, her scowl didn't look nearly as threatening as it could have been thanks to the icing smeared across her face.
Plus her face was just adorable...
Branch set Mel on the counter next to the sink and proceeded to gingerly dab a wet cloth over the small scratch on her small arm, Melody winced at the stinging sensation but tried to power through it and not complain. Even still, she could see the worry and concern written plainly across her dad's face and it made her heart ache when she saw him look so worried.
Melody watched with mild intrigue as her father went back and forth to retrieve all the medical supplies that he had gathered and hid over the years just encase this sort of situation had arisen.
Branch knew that something like this would happen so he made sure to be prepared.
Crazy prepared.
He had been stocking up on emergency medical supplies just encase Melody hurt herself or something; he stocked up on bandages, plasters, bits and pieces of moss gauze, medicine and herbal cures for different kinds of ailments like Polka-dotted spring fever, the troll pox or even a cold or flu and he even kept slings for broken legs, broken arms, ect.
After tenderly dabbing the wound, Branch stepped back as he reached forwards to rest the back of his hand on his daughter's forehead, making sure to sweep aside the violet tufts of a fringe she had. He felt a tad worried as he took his hand away from Mel's forehead as he realised that she was running a slight temperature.
He just hoped it wouldn't climb.
"I know, Melody, I know. But we gotta get all this wrapped up and taken care of."
Melody scowled up at her father, her face tight with aggravated annoyance.
"Errrrngh..." She groaned.
Branch was pretty shocked that Mel had recovered so quickly after being attacked by a vicious, blood-thirsty predator earlier...but then again he supposed that children were quite resilient, just that trolls were a little more resilient to traumatic events like that because they were so happy all the time.
He finally stopped fretting over her for a second and stooped down to meet her on eye level.
Branch raised a brow at the small trolling.
Sure, Melody was known to be a bit sassy at times (he swore that sometimes she had inherited so much from Poppy that it was kind of scary) but his attitude to that was just as blunted as the edge of an over-worked sword.
"Go ahead and 'Errrngh' all you want but I'm not budging on this."
Melody's scowl was so fierce that Branch could feel her intense gaze scorch itself into his soul. He could understand her being upset, it was her birthday and she just wanted to enjoy it like any child would; she wanted to play and have fun but was facing the prospect of not being allowed to.
Branch heaved a heavy sigh as he tried to reason with his stubborn daughter.
"Mel, sweetheart, you got attacked by a Moonstalker. I am really worried that going to the ceremony will exhaust you or make you sick or something!"
"But I feel absolutely fine, daddy." The princess protested.
"Yeah but that can change quickly. I can't risk you getting sick!" Branch countered.
Melody looked up at her father with the biggest eyes imaginable as she forced her frown down so much that it physically hurt her cheekbones.
There could have been sad violin music to back up her sympathy-garnering puppy dog face.
"I-It's my birthday!" She exclaimed, clasping her hands together imploringly. "I can just sit down, daddy, and watch...w-we can get my cut looked at tomorrow but p-please..l-I don't wanna miss out on the party."
Branch's resolve came crumbling down when he noted the thick tremble in his daughter's voice.
She had neversounded so desperate before and it made him feel awful; while he was trying to think of what was best for Melody's well-being in the long run, he knew he had to also consider how this decision could shatter her sweet little heart.
His face softened and his ears dropped down even more than normal.
He supposed that if she didn't exert herself too much...maybe she could go but his mind was a mess of worry and panic that he tried to reign in. He worried about deeply regretting this later on and he deeply fretted about Mel's wellbeing, hoping beyond hope that he wasn't about to make a serious and terrible mistake; he couldn't bare the thought of his darling daughter aggravating this fever (or whatever it may develop into) just for the sake of going to a party...her birthday party...
The survivalist king troll closed his eyes and hung his head, he continued wrapping up Melody's arm in a bandage as he pondered on this decision. He didn't want to be seen as a bully and just wanted to get Mel's arm looked at but he knew that his daughter's birthday party meant a lot to her.
"...Well..." He hesitated for a long few moments before he finally relented. "Okay, okay, you can go."
Melody was about to leap off the counter and tackle her father in a massive hug yet was promptly stopped when he added a big "but" into the sentence —this usually meant that she was about to hear something that would dampen her successful negotiating skills. All of a sudden there was this subtle foreboding chill that coated the atmosphere with this thick yet cold frost that encouraged a severe tremor to climb up every trolls back.
The air had turned dark and it cast the usual cheery atmosphere into its electrifying atmosphere.
Mel flinched beneath the shadow of her father.
"BUT you gotta keep yourself sat down, don't get too excited or worked up and, most importantly, if you feel the slightest bit ill then you gotta tell me or your mother so we can rush you straight to Dr Plum."
Branch stood over his daughter while crossing his arms across his chest and glaring at her with the worlds sternest brow. His mouth formed a thin line and his eyes scrunched up as he spared a serious look to his and Poppy's little five (or rather six) year old. He wanted to get the point across that he was severely serious about what he was asking of her.
"...Do you understand?"
The small princess of pop didn't even seem to hesitate as she nodded her head vehemently.
She refused to miss out on all the festivities!
Sick or not, she was going to be at that party if it killed her.
Branch finished bandaging up her arm and when he did so, he stepped back to admire his handiwork. The bandage was wrapped in a way that wasn't so tight that it suffocated her arm and cut off blood supply but it wasn't loose enough that it could slip off either. The bandage was even completed by a nice and neat little bow.
He smirked a hint.
He had felt very proud of himself.
His smirk dropped immediately, however, when he noticed a hint of sadness in Melody's face.
He didn't need to ask what the matter was, he already knew what was upsetting her. His heart sunk and his eyes softened as he reached forwards with one hand and cradled her cheek in the palm of his hand in a gentle brush of said hand.
"Melody. I'm not doing this to be mean or as a punishment for anything, I promise. I just...get worried when I see you hurt. You do understand that, don't you?"
Melody gave a small nod of her head, her face much more calmer than before as she seemed to realise that her dad was just worried about her...like always...and wasn't trying to be harsh or anything. Her frown morphed itself into a small sincere grin and her ears perked when she heard a small duet that considered of a pair of "dings" and she extended her arms out towards him.
It was hug time.
Branch matched Mel's smile and lifted her off the counter before pulling her in close for a hug, letting her bury her face into the crook of his neck and he felt his heart light up as though her snuggling had ignited the soft flame of love in his heart; he had felt it many a time before, especially when he was in the company of Poppy, and being with Melody only increased the size and strength of the flame.
After the attack that happened on the boarder of Troll village, Branch knew that he had to immediately investigate all of the other traps he'd set for predators and he felt his heart sink with dread on what he'd find.
But he had to look...even if that meant missing out on a bit of his daughter's birthday party. He hated the idea of missing even an instant of Melody's birthday party and keeping an eye on her but he took his duty as king very seriously and he knew he had to check the traps in order to make sure no more predators had slipped into the village under the radar.
He planned on talking to Poppy about the situation alas he had to do it...
The king of the pop trolls held his daughter just a bit tighter at the thought and squeezed his eyes shut.
He had a bad feeling about what was about to happen.
A/N: Here is the new chapter and Branch and Melody have a father/daughter moment, it's the big party next chapter but what will happen with Melody? Will she be okay or will Branch's fears be very well justified?
Btw, I also have an idea with Delta and Clampers (I might or might not make a fic about this all on its own) where Delta's sister (Clampers' mother) was the original mayor of Lonesome flats and, after passing away, Delta took over and made Clampers her heir due to her not really being the kind of troll who wanted to settle down.
Anyway, I hope you lot have a nice evening.
Don't forget to review and fave!
-Chloemcg