Chapter Text
This had to be a lie. John Dory would never just disappear into thin air. He wouldn’t leave Branch again .
Yet, no matter how hard the blue troll searched, he couldn’t find his brother anywhere in Volcano Rock City or in Rhonda. His older brother really had just vanished with no warning. No goodbye. JD always told Branch where he was going or any plans he had for the day. It was his way of reassuring him, even after all these years, that he was not going to leave him behind.
That left one option left: something had happened to him. The thought alone sent Branch spiraling. He had already let his grandmother get eaten. If John Dory also suffered a similar fate just because Branch was too distracted with his job as Queen’s Barb right hand and spending time with his girlfriend, you know, being happy? Well, Branch wouldn’t know what to do with himself. Especially because, for the longest time, John Dory was his entire world. It was just the two of them against the world.
He couldn’t stop shaking—whether it was from the blood loss or emotion he couldn’t tell. His muscles and bones ached to both crash to the floor and keep running around in breathless search for someone who was no longer there. It was just hard for his brain to accept. He had been with John until he couldn’t remember anymore.
Rhonda hit something, she had to. All Branch could recall was the feeling of being in the air and fumbling around as Rhonda tumbled.
When he came to, he had hit his head and Rhonda had brought him back to Rock City. The armadillo RV didn’t have a single scratch on her, though. She was essentially perfectly fine other than being spooked. Well, that and that she’d chirp for John Dory only for the caretaker to never come.
Just as Branch resolved to take Rhonda to go look for him, sliding into the RV’s driver seat with the intensity of a troll on a mission much like Poppy when she was anticipating facing Barb during the Rock World Tour, his red-haired best friend of a Rock Troll came forcing her way in. “Demo told me you were bleeding!” she angrily spat as she searched until her eyes fell on him, “Dude, what happened to you? Did you even notice your head slowly pooling out glitter red?”
He had. He just didn’t realize how badly until he looked at it in the rearview mirror. The look on his face as he went to touch the side of his head she gestured to was enough to clarify so. “Didn’t feel much of anything,” he insisted in disbelief. He hadn’t, but now that he was aware of the length of the wound, a pounding headache came flooding over him.
“Just started hitting you now, huh, dummy?” Bard muttered and she rummaged through the cabinet John Dory kept his first aid kits. It was taking her longer than usual to pull the box out or maybe the grating sounds of cups and pans being rubbed against each other made the time linger in his head.
When his childhood friend finally shimmied the kit out of its hiding spot, she frustratingly uttered, “It's messier here than how John keeps it. Where is he?” She faltered as she placed the first aid down on the stove. Her eyes lingered over something Branch had failed to notice before. Dried red on the bottom of the stove corner. “Found what gave you your wound, but how did you manage to hit your head down there? Did you have another meltdown? It’s been years since your last.”
Branch hadn’t really heard the last bit over the sounds of his own thoughts and rager headache. He was going to have to tell her that John was missing and considering her history of reactions, the blue troll was worried she would overreact, calling on unnecessary means to locate the older brother.
A cold towel pressed against his skull, and he flinched away to find that Barb had made it over to Branch and began to clean up his wound. “No answer? Branch, what’s going on. I think we should get JD because something’s clearly up with you,” she suggested, rubbing at the half-dry blood meekly. It was strange because ‘gentle’ wasn’t a word in Barb’s dictionary, yet here she was being so.
It made him feel guilty for not wanting to tell her that John’s missing. He wanted to when he understood more about what happened, but he understood that she needed to know now. The words just didn’t want to leave his throat. They clung like phlegm to his esophagus, a swelling knot that made him tongue-tied.
Barb had just started to forgive herself for the failure and disaster of the tour. She managed to reconstruct and expand almost all of Pop Village in a record time, and thanks to that, she carried herself lighter the past few days. Now, Branch had to ruin her improved mood.
He swallowed and took a deep breath in, willing the words to make it past his teeth. It took a couple tries and the entirety of Barb treating the wound. “John’s gone,” he spat out quickly, watching confusion settle in his friend’s expression.
The Queen of Rock just scoffed. “Yeah, right. John leaving? Impossible. He’d never go anywhere without you and Rhonda,” she assured herself more than him, adding, “Plus, there’s nothing to run from. Everything is great. You guys even have that band with the Popstar and her sister.”
Branch wanted her to be right. He desired for her words to be the truth, but something was terribly wrong. He shouldn’t have blanked out for half the journey back and considering his injury, John Dory would’ve taken care of it and waited by his side until he awoke. So why hadn’t he?
“No, like he’s missing. Vanished,” Branch managed to elaborate, “I woke up about an hour and a half ago alone.” Her hand faltered from where she was placing the kit back in the cabinet.
As the confident smirk fell off Barb’s face, her eyes went dead, and she snapped her head to gaze at him blankly. Then air rapidly filled her lungs as panic hit her like a blind moth. “What? We have to call the Rock Army back together. You go send a message to Poppy while I send Debra to the other lead-,” she began a tangent, but Branch quickly shut it down.
He shook his head and placed his hands on her shoulders, shushing her. He tried to hold back his own frustration and desperation to find John Dory. “First off, if I show up like this Poppy will freak out. Second, we don’t even know what happened. There’s nothing but his goggles left,” he insisted and nodded to where they were lying on the dashboard. He’d given them back just half a month ago and now they were the only thing that remained of him.
Barb didn’t say a thing. She just shrugged him off and scowled. “I’m not doing nothing while you play detective. We both know John and the longer we wait, the quicker we better learn to say goodbye,” she gritted out, fists clenching. Within seconds, she had high-tailed it out of the RV, leaving the door swinging open. Branch couldn't even call out after her. He felt small, a child lost without his guardian. Truth is, unlike Barb, he didn't even know how to start finding JD.
A part of him was scared that if they did, he would have to say goodbye forever.
Rhonda grunted and shifted. Then she called her signature ‘John Dory’ cry as she woke up from her nap. Branch clicked his teeth twice and popped his tongue back to her in response. The tensing told him that she understood and fell silent. Then she slumped down, causing him to almost topple into the steering wheel. Branch knew exactly how she felt.
Like a gaping hole was burning in his gut. No John.
Branch did what he knew would comfort him. He curled up on John’s bunk with a notebook and began to jot down what he already knew.