Poppy tried to be optimistic. She tried so hard to look on the bright side of things. It was usually so easy, but sometimes the darkness of the world was unavoidable, and trying to block it out just made her oblivious to the very real pain that her friends were going through.

Floyd and Branch were brothers. They were reunited. Things were supposed to be happy and cheerful now. This was supposed to be where things picked up and got better, but instead everything just seemed to get worse.

Floyd hadn't stepped foot outside of the bunker over the past several days, and no coaxing could get him out. He was cautious to even leave his room, only stepping out when it was absolutely necessary, and when he knew for sure that he wouldn't run into Branch.

The two of them were avoiding each other, and Poppy didn't understand why. She knew they had missed each other. She knew they cared about each other. Why were they so scared to sit down and talk? Why couldn't they just hug things out?

Branch didn't hide in his room to the extent that Floyd did, but he still spent a concerning amount of time in there. He claimed he was busy working on his projects, but Poppy knew he was just making himself busy so he didn't have to think about things. She just didn't understand why.

"Branch?" She poked her head into his bedroom. "Is everything okay?"

Branch wasn't working on anything. He was just sitting on his bed, notebook in his hand. He wasn't reading, writing, or drawing. He was just holding it.

"Nothing's okay." Branch said. She was used to him being pessimistic, but this tone of his was frightening. It wasn't annoyed and cold. It was numb.

Poppy fiddled with her fingers. She tried to think of what she could, or should, say. "Floyd's okay."

Branch put his notebook down. "He is a lot of things, but he's not okay."

Poppy sighed. "I know." Neither of the brothers were. She came closer to him and sat on the bed next to Branch. She put her hand near his. She didn't force him to take it. She thought it would be better to wait for him to accept her hand if he wanted that comfort.

Branch was still for a long moment before he placed his hand on hers. Not quite holding her hand, but making the contact.

"Maybe talking to him will help." Poppy said.

Branch sighed tiredly. "Poppy."

"No." She adjusted herself so she was kneeling and facing him. "Branch, you're miserable. He's miserable. I-I hate seeing you like this. I just want you to be okay."

"How am I supposed to face him?" Branch asked. "After everything I-" He trailed off and just laid back. He curled in on himself. Poppy laid down next to him and let him curl up against her.

She knew he carried a lot of guilt. She didn't ask just what he was guilty about right now. It could be any number of things. This could be more guilt about his grandmother, which Poppy didn't think would ever go away. He could be feeling guilty about Floyd ending up with the rock trolls in the first place, even though it wasn't his fault. Maybe he was carrying guilt about something else entirely. Something that Poppy would never be able to understand.

"I'm sure he doesn't blame you." Poppy said. She had no doubt about that.

"I know." Branch said. "That's the problem." He shuddered and his voice shook with emotion. "He would never blame me, because he never blamed any of us for everything. As far as he was concerned everything was always his fault."

"So we'll just convince him it's not." Poppy said. They had encouraged Floyd so far. She didn't know why that had to change now.

"I don't know if I can do that." Branch said. Poppy looked at him, not understanding. "I'm scared. I-If he starts blaming himself it's going to be way too easy to agree with him. I-I'm going to end up saying things I don't mean, and he'll just stand there and let me say it."

Branch whimpered and held onto Poppy's hand. "I'm going to tell him that if he hadn't left then none of this would have happened. If he had come back sooner then he wouldn't have gone to the rock trolls, and he would be just fine."

Poppy felt slightly ill at Branch's words. Tears came to her eyes. All she could do was hold onto Branch.

"I don't want to." Branch sounded weak, and hurt, and far too frightened. "I don't want to blame him, but the stupid voice in my head is still so mad about being left behind. It wants to make him hurt for hurting me, and it's not right or fair, because he's been hurt enough." He leaned against Poppy so much, it was as though he was trying to hide himself in her embrace. "What kind of a brother am I, to want my brother to hurt?"

Poppy held Branch close. "I don't think you want him to hurt. You wouldn't be so upset like this if you did. I think…I think you're hurting, and that can make people do bad things because they're scared of being hurt more."

"I don't want to hurt him." Branch said. "But I will if I talk to him. I-I can't. Please, don't make me."

"I won't." Poppy said. She couldn't force him to do anything, even if she thought he and Floyd would be better off for it. "But…Branch, Floyd is getting worse. He can't go on like this." He was just going to get lost in his own mind.

"I know." Branch said. He looked at her. "But I can't…I can't help him. I'm not good enough to give him what he needs."

"So what do you want to do?" Poppy asked.

"...He needs his big brother." Branch said. "Honestly, right now I think we both do."

Branch had told Poppy about Bruce. She had been too happy for him to know that he had an older brother that he had reconciled with to stop to think too deeply about it. If Branch and Floyd were brothers, then Bruce back on Vacay Island was Floyd's family too.

She had been wanting their reunion to be happy. Not full of tears, anger, and far too much guilt.

"You want to go back to Vacay Island." Poppy said. It wasn't a question.

"I don't know what else to do." Branch said. "I can't do this alone."

"You're not alone." Poppy said. She would be with him no matter what. "If you want to go to the island, then that's where we'll go."

Branch shook his head. "You can't keep abandoning the village just to take care of my broken family. You're the queen. You have responsibilities here."

"I'll take care of my responsibilities." Poppy said. "But I won't leave you guys now. Not when you need me." She was sure they would be okay eventually, but they hadn't gotten to that point yet. Branch and Floyd still needed her.

"We'll figure it out." Poppy said. "You're going to be okay, and Floyd's going to get better."

Branch sighed. "I hope so." He was always so afraid of speaking his hopes out loud. She would do anything to keep his hopes alive.

She wanted to lay there at his side all day and give him strength and company. She thought he might want that too, but eventually he rolled over and looked at her. "Can you check on Floyd? I-I can't be with him, but he can't be alone."

Poppy gave Branch a tight squeeze before she got up out of the bed. "Don't stay in here for too long." She said. "I know you feel guilty, but please don't punish yourself. You deserve so much better than that."

"I'll try." Branch promised. It was all she could ask from him. She gave him a reassuring smile and left the room. She took a deep breath and made her way into the kitchen. She had meant to get some water for Floyd, but she froze when she saw Floyd sitting on the floor under the table.

"H-hey, Bud." Poppy said. She sat on the floor to be closer to his level. "Floyd. Are you okay?"

Floyd's ears twitched. He let out a breathless laugh, and then another, and soon he was laughing soundlessly, and it was a frightening sound. Tears soon came to Floyd's eyes. His laughter turned to choked sobs as he started crying.

"Floyd?" Poppy said quietly. She was scared of being heard. "Are you-"

"Stop it." He growled almost inaudibly. He pressed his hands tightly against his eyes, as though to stop his tears. He let out another laughing sob, and then growled and slammed his foot on the ground in frustration. "Stop it."

Poppy was a little frightened. She didn't know what she had done wrong, and Floyd's posture was far too tense. She was afraid he was going to hurt himself, and she didn't know how to make him stop.

"So stupid." Floyd pressed harder against his eyes. "Stupid, selfish, bad brother. Stop crying!"

Poppy saw it coming. She was expecting it, so when Floyd suddenly jolted forward she was ready for it. She reached her hair out and caught Floyd's head before he could slam it against the ground and hurt himself. He let out a wail and kicked his feet. Poppy just blinked back her own tears and scooted closer to Floyd, pulling him into her arms and holding him close as he cried against her.

"You're not a bad brother." She said. "You're not."

"I am." Floyd said with a whine. "I'm a liar." He suddenly grew still, and Poppy became alarmed when his sob turned into a laugh again. She would almost prefer him to be crying. She didn't like this damaged laughter.

"I lied." Floyd said with a weak giggle. "Branch said…he said even if my brothers are mad at me then they wouldn't want me to be hurt. So…so he lied too." He let out a weak laugh and said in a sing-song voice. "He's a liar."

Poppy felt shivers go down her spine. She suddenly realized how close the kitchen was to Branch's room. Sound could carry very easily in this place. "Floyd, did you hear-?"

"And Clay's a liar." Floyd's laugh sounded more forced now. "He said no matter how much we fought we would always be brothers. But we were never brothers, because we're not family. Not to him."

Floyd's laugh finally turned to another sob. "And John Dory lied too. He promised that he would always be there for us. He told me that no matter how often he went camping, and how long he was gone for, he would always come back, and he would never leave us for good. But he did leave. He was the first to leave."

He whined and leaned against her. "We're just a family of liars."

"You're not liars." Poppy said. "You just…you…" She didn't have the words. What was she supposed to say to this? She thought there was a big difference between lying maliciously, and making promises that were a little out of your control, but she didn't think Floyd was in a good mind-set to understand that. She wasn't prepared for this.

Poppy took a deep breath and just ran her hand through Floyd's hair. It wasn't normally a gesture shared between friends, but Floyd thrived on the contact. He whined and leaned against her.

"W-what about Spruce?" Poppy asked. She grimaced. "Bruce. Has he lied?"

Floyd grew still. He seemed to think about it for a long minute before he shook his head.

"You liked Vacay Island, didn't you? Poppy said. "Branch thought it might be good for you to go back there. Maybe Bruce can help." He knew Floyd better than Poppy did. He had experience dealing with him.

Floyd whimpered. "Clay found a new family. He doesn't want us anymore. Branch has you. He doesn't need me. Bruce…he has a family. He has kids. He doesn't need a broken little brother to pull him down."

"You're not broken." Poppy said.

"I am." Floyd said. "I'm broken. I thought I could be fixed, but now…now I don't think so." He sounded so certain, and Poppy didn't know what words she could say to convince him otherwise.

"W-well, even if that's true Bruce will probably still want to help you." Poppy said. He had seemed really nice. He'd helped Floyd, even when he didn't know who he was. "He's your brother. You're family. You're supposed to take care of each other, even if you're maybe a little broken." She didn't think Floyd was broken, but she didn't know how to convince him otherwise.

Floyd was still and quiet for a long moment before he sighed. "It's a big brother's job to take care of his little bro. I'm supposed to be taking care of Branch, and I can't. I-I'm making him take care of me instead. Big bros aren't supposed to do that."

Poppy didn't think that was how having siblings worked, but what did she know? She had a sister, but she knew very little about Viva. She hadn't seen or talked to her besides their one meeting. Maybe Floyd was right about sibling dynamics. She honestly didn't know.

Floyd drew his legs close to his chest and leaned closer to Poppy. She held him tight, just as she had done with Branch before. He felt far too small in her hold. She couldn't believe he was more than ten years older than her.

"Branch needs a real big brother." Floyd said quietly. "If he needs Sp-Sp-Bruce, then we'll go."

Poppy had thought her heart couldn't hurt any more, but it did. Floyd was in so much pain, and all he cared about was that Branch was okay. He needed to learn how to be nice to himself, and that being a little selfish didn't make him a bad person or a bad brother. She hated that he didn't seem to see himself as a real big brother, just because he was struggling. But Poppy couldn't fix Floyd. She'd been trying, but her latest attempt had gone so wrong.

She had thought that hearing Barb's apology would help. That Floyd would be able to find closure and be able to move on. She had considered that it might backfire, but never in a thousand years would she think it would go nearly this bad. Now Floyd was falling, Branch wasn't doing much better, and Poppy was scared to do anything to help them because what if she just made things worse again?

This whole time she had thought that the key to Floyd's recovery was his family, and she didn't know if that was true or not. She thought his brothers could help him, but they seemed to make him so much more vulnerable and raise problems that she hadn't even realized were there. Would they just make Floyd worse, or was this one of those things where somebody needed to be a little hurt to be able to get even stronger?

She wished she knew. She wished she could just sing a song, know the answer, and make everything right again. She couldn't do anything. All she could do was hold Floyd as he cried and hope that his brothers could actually do more for him than she could, because she had never felt so helpless.

She had saved her friends. She had saved her people. She had saved their music. But she couldn't save her boyfriend and his brother from themselves and each other. She just wasn't strong enough for that.