Timeline: Takes place a couple weeks before TBT! (So Bridget & Gristle's wedding hasn't yet happened, and it's only been about two weeks roughly since the Rock Apocalypse. Because of this… I decided John hasn't heard about it yet, making it so he still believes his younger brother(s) to be dead [as it takes a little while for info like that to spread] )

Summary: Clay receives a hostage note from his long-lost brother, Floyd, and sets out to rescue him. Except, it turns out getting him out of Mount Rageous is the easy part. Breaking the diamond bottle to free him properly, on the other hand, requires Clay to face his brothers and some memories he's spent twenty years trying to prove he hasn't needed, as well as finally track down a tribe of trolls that his community had written off as dead.

Or …

An AU where Clay's in charge of the rescue/reunion mission and there's no life-or-death urgency, leaving a lot more time for these guys to actually face their issues.

Author's Note: Hi everyone! I'm back with a whole other fic focusing on my favorite things: family issues and sibling relationships! Yay! Also, because I love Clay to death, he is one of my favorite brothers, and I really really wanted to write a fic on him.

Some things to note for this story are that Clay and John are probably the most important brothers in this. The other three have their moments to shine, but Clay and John's beef with each other and perception of themselves in regards to their family is everything to me and they are my favorites (apart from Branch of course). I just really wanted to explore these two relationships. And yes, Clay and Viva are dating in this fic (because I said so).

Also, I am doing a different spin on the brothers for this story than I did with my first two fics. This is mostly because I wanted to play around a bit more on the brothers not getting along very well during their reunion, and I really wanted to dive more into abandonment issues and the family problems that they all have and not just the problems that John and Branch have.

I really want to write a story from each brother's POV at some point, and I already did Branch and John Dory in my first two fics, so now here's Clay! And kinda Viva too, so, bonus! I'm still brainstorming ideas for Bruce and Floyd's fics, but after this fic I actually might begin another story from Branch's perspective. I know I already did one on him, but I've been thinking a lot about writing one based on the 'what if it was all a dream?' premise. I really want to give it a shot, and I think True Colors Branch stuck in a Gray Branch body would lead to a very interesting plot and HUGE changes in how Poppy sees him. But anyway, let me know what you all think!

Alright alright, I've talked enough. Now onto the story! Hope you enjoy!

Inspired by the song 'Toy Soldier' by Livingston

The Letter - Which Definitely Doesn't Spell 'Trap'

Clay perked up from his work at the sound of a whistle, listening as a short sequence of notes called out. Two short, one long, another two short. Not an emergency, but something needed their attention.

Sliding the plans he'd been working on into a folder, Clay left the admin building, grabbing his sticky hand he left by the side. It took a minute to jog to the front gate where the whistle had sounded, by which time a considerable group had already gathered.

It wasn't often a whistle alert came from the gate, and there definitely hadn't been any kind of drill planned today, so whatever was going on was for real. A few trolls had already climbed up the chains to open the gate, anticipation rippling through the crowd.

"Is Viva here yet?" Clay asked the closest troll, who pointed up to the top of the gate where the lookout was stationed.

Sure enough, Clay could see Viva up on top with the lookout, peering over the side to the outside of Hole N' Fun. Clay couldn't see Viva's face, but she seemed tense. She always was when something happened outside the gate, but since they were opening it up, it mustn't have been dangerous.

When the gate had been lifted about three troll heads high, Viva signaled down to a few trolls on the ground, who slipped under the gate. Clay watched as two monitored the surrounding area while the third seemed focused on something on the other side of the gate, tilting his head at it for a moment before reaching up with a sticky hand.

The item that came back stuck to the hand looked like… a piece of paper?

The three scouts darted back under the gate, which was already beginning to close again, Viva jumping down and accepting the paper from the other troll, turning it over in her hand and examining it. By this time, Clay had made his way through the crowd to be by her side, and just as he got there, Viva looked up at him.

"It's… it's for you," she said, eyebrows knitted together in confusion.

"What?"

Viva held the paper out, and Clay took it, finding sparkly, loopy handwriting and his name at the top with the message underneath.

Dear Clay,

I'm being held against my will by superstars Velvet and Veneer. Come to Mount Rageous at once, and bring our brothers.

Love, Floyd (The sensitive one)

Clay stared down at the paper in complete shock. Yes, that was his name. Yes, that was his brother's name. Yes, it really claimed he was being held hostage.

"Clay?" Viva's voice snapped him back to reality, and he looked up to see her watching him nervously, the rest of the tribe all crowded around. "What is it?"

Clay looked back down at the note, then up at Viva again. "…it's a letter from my brother."

Gasps rippled through the Putt Putt trolls gathered, and Viva's eyes widened slightly. "Which one?"

Clay opened his mouth to say it, but the word seemed to die in his throat. He closed his mouth, swallowing deeply, before trying again. "Floyd. It says he's being held captive and… and he needs rescue." Clay folded up the paper, backing up through a crowd that parted around him.

"What are we going to do?" Someone asked.

"If Clay's brother sent us a message, that means there's other trolls out there!" Someone else called out, starting a chain reaction. "There's people alive!"

"They must know where we are!"

"How do we know it's real?"

"Why aren't they here?"

"Who sent the letter?"

Now everyone was starting to get excited, looking to Clay and Viva for answers and further direction. Clay just kept backing up, the contents of the letter echoing in his head. Floyd. Floyd.

It's been over twenty years since he last saw or heard from any of his brothers, and he'd thought the worst that they were all dead. That Floyd was dead.

This didn't add up. It didn't add up. He needed to check something.

"Clay, wait!" He heard Viva's voice call out as he spun on his heel and started marching back towards the admin building.

Once inside, he began digging through drawers, pulling out the most used folders and going straight to the bottom. The note remained crumpled in his hand. A few moments later the door opened again, and he didn't even need to look to know it was Viva.

"What's going on? That note–"

"It's my brother," Clay said. "I have to go find him."

"What?"

"He's in trouble, he needs my help."

"No, no, Clay, wait a moment." A hand fell on his shoulder, but he kept digging. Nearly there, he knew it was in here somewhere…

"Viva, if he's in trouble I have to do something."

"What if it's a trap?" Clay paused, shoulders stiffening. He straightened up, half-turning to look at Viva.

She still had a hand on his shoulder, biting her lip with her other hand fidgeting with the edges of her cape. "Clay… it doesn't make sense."

Clay looked down at the crumpled note in his hand. Now that he had stopped for a few seconds, all the inconsistencies were becoming more obvious.

"If he was being held hostage, how would he get a letter out?" Viva asked, trying to reason with him. "If he knew where to send a letter, why… why wouldn't he come before? In person?" She lifted her hand from his shoulder, pulling it back to fidget with the other.

It didn't make sense, and Clay knew it. It wasn't even Floyd's handwriting.

"But someone knows about me. Someone knows about Floyd." Clay looked back at the drawer, finally bringing out the paper he'd been looking for. "Contingency 1b: Discovery of evidence of other trolls."

He passed it over to Viva, who read it in anxious silence.

"Clay…" she said after a few moments.

"In the event that evidence of the survival of other trolls is discovered," Clay repeated from memory, dropping the note on his desk and smoothing it out, "a team of capable trolls should go out and investigate."

"We've never…" Viva hesitated, wringing her hands together.

"It's one the first contingencies I wrote. We've never used it."

"No one's left the Hole N' Fun in years."

"We've never needed to before, but this is different. Viva, this is real."

"It could be the Bergens trying to trick us to leave! T-they could know we're ready for them, they could know we've got traps–"

"It has my brother's name and it's addressed to me. Only trolls could know that–"

"I don't trust it, Clay!"

"It's my brother." Clay turned to face her fully, hands clutching at the fabric of his romper. "I have to, Viva. If there's even a chance it's him, that he's alive…"

His voice drops off. "If Floyd's alive, that means Branch could be alive. Your dad could be alive. Your sister. Everyone."

Clay hears Viva breathe in sharply, her head dropped so that he can't properly see her face. She had gone very still, except for one hand rubbing up and down her forearm.

"I'll be careful, Viva, but I have to try. I just… I just need to find out where Mount Rageous is."

"…there's a map on the other side," Viva barely whispered, and for a moment Clay just looked at her, before turning back to his desk and flipping the note over. Sure enough, the other side contained a map with a carefully labeled path through the forest and valleys to Mount Rageous.

"Oh," Clay said softly. Well that made it easy.

This was absolutely a trap, wasn't it?

"You can't go by yourself." Viva looked up again, her eyes shimmering but with a renewed determination. A flash of hope. "The contingency said a team, so…"

A smile began to break across Clay's face. "Of course. We'll investigate first, and rescue Floyd if we find him… Will you be okay running things solo for a bit?"

Viva nodded, straightening her posture. "The note said to bring BroZone. Do you need to find Branch first?"

Clay hesitated, before shaking his head. "If anyone even knows where Branch is, it would be Floyd."

"Okay." Viva nodded again, seemingly just to reassure herself. After a few more moments, she grinned widely at him. "Let's go choose a team."

Author's Note: How did Velvet and Veneer know where Clay was when literally no one else does? Idk, how did they know where John was in the actual movie? So shhhhhh, don't worry about it…

Anyway, some important context from my other fics: Clay didn't know that Floyd left the Tree, so he just assumed Floyd was still with Branch and Grandma when the escape happened.