Floyd didn't think he'd ever get away from Velvet and Veneer's clutches. After two months he had become convinced that he would be here for the rest of his sorry life, and the only end in sight was when they finally sucked the life out of him along with all his talent.
He'd been scared at first, but after two months of being confined to his diamond prison, with barely any room to even stand, let alone move around, he felt more resigned than anything. He just wanted the pain and suffering to end.
Now for the first time he was faced with the possibility of freedom, and he didn't know what to do with it. He was happy that John Dory had come, and ecstatic that he'd gotten him out of there, but he couldn't forget the very real possibility of Velvet and Veneer catching up to them and making them both suffer. He was terrified, but he also trusted his older brother. John Dory could always make everything right. Floyd just had to follow his lead, and even after all these years that came like second nature to him.
The further they got from Mount Rageous, the more Floyd felt like he could actually breathe. Maybe this was going to work after all. He would happily keep running until they were on the other side of the world, but Floyd had his limitations, which were made all too clear when he'd tried to roll the bottle along.
He'd gone as long as he could, but his legs gave out on him and he physically couldn't do more. Floyd just didn't know if his legs were weak because he'd barely been able to use them for so long and he needed to rebuild the strength to even just walk for longer periods of time, or if the crystallization was more than just something that affected his physical appearance. He was scared that he didn't know. One meant that he could get better with time and practice. The other, he was pretty sure, meant he'd be dealing with it for the rest of his life, and nothing could really fix it.
He didn't want to think about his legs. He forced himself to look on the bright side. Now that he was away from his captors he could actually afford to worry about the long-term. Now his life could be more than just waiting for his body to finally give out on him.
Things weren't perfect. He wasn't truly free. He was still stuck in this diamond prison, which meant that he couldn't hug his brother. He couldn't feel the dirt and grass beneath his feet. He couldn't feel the wind blowing through his hair as the armadillo bus ran along, taking them away from Mount Rageous. And he couldn't hold onto anything to try to balance himself, which meant that even this relatively smooth ride was making his stomach churn after a while.
Floyd tried to ignore it. He told himself that getting a little sick was not worth stopping and risking getting caught. But he was starting to feel like he was actually going to throw up. As horrible as it was to be stuck in the diamond prison for the foreseeable future, he really didn't want to be trapped in here with his own sick.
"John." Floyd forced himself to speak. It somehow made him feel more nauseous. "I'm going to be sick."
John Dory glanced towards him. He looked like he was about to tell Floyd to go just a little longer, but he looked at the diamond prison and realized the same thing that Floyd had.
"Okay, okay, hold on." John Dory gave the armadillo bus an urgent pat. "Rhonda, pull over as gently as you can, okay?" The bus eased to a stop. John Dory slowly lowered the diamond bottle to the ground, and then he jumped down to stand by Floyd.
"Just take some deep breaths, okay?" John Dory stood next to him, putting his hands against the diamond. "Nice and slow."
Floyd felt like he should resent being condescended to. It had been twenty years since he'd even seen his brother, and John Dory was talking to him like he was still a little kid who needed to be talked through his breakdowns when he just couldn't stop crying. But Floyd actually found this comforting. He'd been trapped and alone for so long, helpless to do anything to save himself. Having someone step up and take charge like this, to save and comfort him, it was incredibly reassuring.
Floyd spent several minutes curled up at the bottom of the bottle, focusing on nothing but his breathing. John Dory talked to him the whole time. Floyd didn't pay attention to what he was saying. It didn't really matter. It was just nice to hear a friendly voice. Eventually his stomach settled enough that he didn't feel like he had to watch himself. He took a deep breath and sat up.
"Better?" John Dory asked.
"Yeah." Floyd gave his brother a grateful look. "Thank you."
"No problem. We were probably due for a break soon anyway." John Dory looked around, surveying their surroundings. "I think we've got enough distance between us for now." Floyd didn't know if that was true or not, but at least they couldn't see the blinding lights of Mount Rageous. He didn't even know what direction they'd come from. That had to be a good sign.
John Dory sat on the ground next to him. "Now that we have some room to breathe, why don't you tell me what happened. How'd you end up with those freaks? And what have they been doing to you?"
"Stealing my talent because they have none of their own." Floyd looked at his hands. Sometimes they felt weird, as though they were asleep. Trying to move them when they were like that just made the pins and needles feeling sharper and more intense. Sometimes though his hands felt numb, and he could barely make his fingers twitch at all. Right now they felt fine, and Floyd hoped that now that he wasn't getting his essence drained that the worst of it was gone.
"It made me feel exhausted." Floyd said. "Sometimes after they drained me I couldn't even move for a while." He'd just been slumped in the bottle, tired and having no reason to fight the fatigue. Getting drained didn't knock him unconscious, but more than once he would stay alert just long enough for Velvet and Veneer to leave him again, and then he would embrace the darkness and give in to the temptation to just sleep, even if he'd only just woken up.
"It got worse a few days ago." Floyd curled his knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them. "They found a way to be more efficient. Before, when they took my talent I felt like I was losing a part of me. When they started taking more from me at once, I actually felt like they were sucking out my soul."
John didn't say anything for a long moment. Floyd fidgeted slightly. "John Dory?"
"I want to kill those sadistic succubi." John Dory growled, and Floyd had never heard him like this before. His brother actually sounded frightening. Floyd had thought he had been a little intimidating when they were children and he'd been obsessed with perfection.
Floyd reached his hand out and put it on the diamond, mirroring John Dory's. "I'm fine. You got me out."
John Dory took a deep breath and the fury and hate eased out of his eyes. He looked back to his normal self, but it wasn't as reassuring as Floyd wanted it to be. He'd seen the genuine anger in his brother's eyes. John Dory shouldn't be able to mask how he was feeling so easily. How often had he been wearing this mask and putting on a show for them when he was a child?
"What kind of brother would I be if I left you behind?" John Dory asked. "And I'm just getting started. I'm not going to rest until you're out of that diamond."
Floyd blinked. "How? I told you, it's diamond. It's unbreakable."
"Except through the Perfect Family Harmony." John Dory said. "So we're just going to have to find our brothers and finally make some magic happen."
Floyd felt his stomach sink. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. "The Perfect Family Harmony? We can't do that now." Did John Dory not understand the impossibility of what he was suggesting?
"Sure we can." John Dory said. Maybe it'll take a little time to get everyone together, and we'll be a little rusty and out of practice at first, but we can do it. There's no reason why we can't."
Floyd could think of a pretty good reason why. "It'll only work if all of us reach the perfect vocals." John Dory had drilled into them the theory behind the Perfect Family Harmony. It took a strong familial relationship between everybody involved. Everybody singing didn't have to be part of the harmony, but everybody that they considered to be in the Perfect Family Harmony had to sing. It was why Branch had been dragged into performing so young, because John Dory realized that even when he wasn't performing with them, they considered him to be part of their band, so they could only hit the Perfect Family Harmony if he was there with them. If any of them were missing, it wouldn't work.
Finally, and most critically for their situation, the Perfect Family Harmony needed to contain a perfect harmony. If just a single person was out of tune or out of sync, it wouldn't work.
"Look, I know what you're worried about." John Dory said. Floyd had heard that from his older brother before, and he was rarely ever right. "We didn't really leave on the best of terms, and it'll take some time to figure things out, but they can't possibly be mad still after twenty years." Floyd thought that the very fact that it had been that long was the very reason why their brothers would still be very mad.
Floyd didn't like upsetting his brothers, but he had never been very good at hiding what he was feeling. John Dory took one look in his eyes and could see the doubt. His expression softened and the mask that he tried so hard to keep up slipped away a little.
"Even if they're mad at me, they're not going to let you suffer for it." John Dory said quietly. "They'll help. We'll work together at least long enough to get the Perfect Family Harmony, and you'll get out of there."
Floyd knew he should speak up and mention his biggest concerns. He should tell John Dory that he was scared that this whole thing would be a waste of time. But John Dory's plan was to get their brothers back together. They could all be a family again. That was all Floyd had ever wanted. Maybe he was selfish, but he wanted his brothers.
He wanted to see if Bruce had finally found someone to share that big heart of his with. He wanted to know if Clay had found people who respected him in the way that he deserved. And Floyd was desperate to see Branch all grown up and get to know the man that he'd become.
"Okay." Floyd said. John Dory looked so relieved and excited that Floyd had agreed with his plan. Floyd couldn't remember the last time any of them had followed John Dory's plans with minimal argument. He suspected that John Dory couldn't remember either.
"Where do we start?" Floyd asked. He didn't know about John Dory, but he had no idea where any of his brothers were.
"Pop Village." John Dory said. "I heard about a month ago that Bitty B has settled down there."
"Branch." Floyd's voice cracked with longing. He missed his baby brother so much. For so long he'd thought about going back, and he'd tried, but there had been some complications that were out of Floyd's control. There was nothing he could have done, but he still felt unbearably guilty for breaking his promise.
They were going to find Branch now, but what if it was too late?
"What if he hates us and doesn't want anything to do with us?" Floyd didn't hesitate to voice his fear to John Dory. He'd never felt the need to hide how he was feeling from his brothers. They were the reason why he had felt safe enough to let himself be so sensitive and emotional in the first place.
"But what if he just wants his family again, and he's too scared of what might happen to say so?" John Dory said. His eyes had a rare vulnerability in them. He wasn't just saying what Branch might be feeling, but what he was feeling. It was how Floyd had been feeling for years, and a big reason why it had taken him a while to even try to go back to Branch. He'd been scared to find out that his baby brother wanted nothing to do with him. By the time he was able to push past that fear, he'd been too late.
"It might go wrong, but what if it goes really well?" John Dory asked. "We have to give him the chance to give us a chance."
Maybe John Dory was wrong and this would blow up in their faces, but Floyd had never had a hard time trusting his older brother, even when John Dory had proven that he wasn't always right. He was Floyd's older brother, and when push came to shove he had always been there for them.
That is, until the day he left and everything fell apart, but Floyd tried hard not to think about that day. There was too much guilt, sadness, and frustration associated with it. He would spiral if he let his thoughts linger on the mistakes of that night.
John Dory knocked on the diamond, and Floyd jumped as two conflicting memories hit him at once. He remembered the way that Velvet would tap mercilessly on the bottle, making his world shake. But Floyd also remembered when John Dory would come into their room at bedtime, knocking on the wood of their beds one by one when it was time for them to go to sleep.
Floyd didn't know when John Dory had started doing that. It had just always been there. They'd all slept in the same room, but had different bedtimes. Quiet time started as soon as the youngest went to bed, and the rest of them just sat in their own beds quietly doing their own thing until John Dory knocked on their bed, silently telling them that it was time to sleep.
They didn't like it, but none of them dared to fight him on it, because if they started an argument then they would risk waking up the others, and the deal was that if they woke someone up, it was their job to get them back to sleep, and as frustrated with John Dory as Spruce and Clay could get, they didn't want to be responsible to get an upset Floyd and Branch back to sleep.
Floyd tried to hold onto that memory. Thinking of John Dory telling him it was time to go to bed was a lot better than thinking of Velvet treating him like a pet.
"Get some sleep, bro." John Dory said. "We'll start heading to the Pop Village tomorrow."
It took a few minutes for the two of them to get situated. John Dory refused to sleep inside the armadillo bus. He insisted on sleeping as close to Floyd as he could. Floyd felt like he should put up a harder fight, but it really did feel better to know his brother was within his sights. John Dory pushed the diamond prison to the side so Floyd could lay down just a little more comfortably, and then he laid on the ground right next to it.
John Dory fell asleep quickly, and Floyd was left awake on his own. He stared up at the sky, appreciating the stars, even if he was still looking at them through the purple diamond. It was pretty, but it was a reminder that he wasn't truly free, and he didn't know if he ever could be.
Floyd felt tears gather in his eyes. He sat up, looking at his brother. "John?" He didn't shift at all. "John Dory?" His voice cracked with slight desperation, and his brother still didn't move. He was fast asleep. Good.
Floyd took a deep breath and started humming. He hadn't used his voice a lot these past few months, either for talking or singing. He was out of practice. It had never mattered much before, but things were different now.
Even just warming up felt like he was pushing things. His voice cracked. He didn't know that humming could make a voice crack. And he couldn't go anywhere near as high or low as he could before.
Maybe it was just a limitation from humming. Floyd rolled his shoulders and sat up as straight as he could. He knew that posture could do wonders to improve singing, and he needed all the help he could get.
Floyd didn't sing a song. He didn't know how it would go, and he couldn't take it if he messed it up. Instead he just did some basic scales and vocal exercises, and no matter how much he focused it only went as well as he thought it would.
His voice cracked like he was going through puberty all over again. He tried to sing as high as he could, and his voice gave out three whole notes below what he knew he was capable of. It didn't even squeak and start sounding a little pitchy like high notes could get sometimes if someone pushed themself too far. It wouldn't come out at all.
And all of his notes were out of key. He knew what he wanted to hit, and it didn't come out that way. He didn't think he sounded completely horrible. It was worse than he'd ever been, but with practice he could be decent again. But he didn't think he'd ever be as good as he had once been.
He would never be perfect.
The tears of frustration and despair that had been gathering were finally falling, and Floyd just let them. He sat down and buried his face in his knees. Velvet and Veneer had been sucking the talent out of him for months, and Floyd had always known what that meant, but only now did he see what else that involved.
John Dory wanted to achieve the Perfect Family Harmony. He'd always thought that it was indicative of them being the perfect family. He'd pushed himself so hard during their childhood. When Floyd was younger he hadn't quite believed Spruce and Clay's words about him just getting a thrill out of being bossy, because he could see how upset his oldest brother always was. Now that Floyd was older he understood that John Dory had been expected to raise the four of them, and everybody around them demanded he succeed, but expected him to fail.
It was too much pressure of a kid, and Floyd thought it was no wonder that John Dory had been obsessed with all of them being perfect. If they were perfect, then it was proof that he was a good older brother. And them hitting the Perfect Family Harmony was proof that they were perfect.
But Floyd couldn't do it. Not anymore. He knew he should tell John Dory the truth, but he was scared of how he'd react. Maybe John Dory would blame himself. As though it was his fault that the talent had been sucked out of him.
But a voice in his head that sounded a lot like Clay was saying that now that John Dory had got the idea in his head about the Perfect Family Harmony, that the obsession would sneak back in and take over and blind him to his priorities the way it had that night.
What if John Dory, after knowing that Floyd couldn't give him the perfect family he was so desperate for, just got rid of him? Left him behind, and decided that he wasn't worth it?
Floyd knew he wouldn't, but after twenty years he couldn't help a doubt or two, and it made him sick with guilt. John Dory had saved him, and Floyd was repaying him by questioning him. What kind of brother was he?
Sniffling to himself Floyd curled up. He was drained, and frightened, and getting some sleep always made him feel more refreshed when he woke up. With a promise to himself to trust John Dory more, and practice his singing to at least try to get better, Floyd fell into a restless sleep. He just hoped that tomorrow would be better.