"Why are you acting like this?"

The question came out in a combination of frustration and exasperation, the teal Trolling in sunglasses who had uttered it flinging his arms out at his brothers. To him, they were being entirely unreasonable out of nowhere. To the others, this was not the case.

"Because I'm tired of it, JD!" Spruce exclaimed. "You're always mentioning that you're the leader - "

"Uh, that's because I am," John Dory cut in. He shut his mouth when Spruce held up a finger.

"SHH! I'm not finished," the purple Trolling said harshly. "Like I said, you're always mentioning that you're the leader. Well, you know what? A 'leader' listens. A 'leader' lets the group make decisions to-ge-ther." He enunciated each syllable of the last word. "You're just one Troll, and you're not the boss of everything!"

"Yeah?" JD said, getting annoyed. "Well, someone has to be the boss. Somebody's gotta remind you guys why we're in this band. Somebody's gotta show you the ropes!"

"Yeah, well, if ya ask me, you're showing us more of your uptightropes," Clay said, snickering at his own joke and nudging Spruce so that he could laugh along with him.

The purple Trolling did not find the joke funny, however, and whirled on the yellow Trolling. "You pick the worst times to joke about stuff, you know?" he grumbled. "Can't you take something serious for once?"

Clay frowned, not appreciating his dismissal. "Wow, okay. As if you're Mr. Perfect. The guy who's more concerned about what girl's heart he's gonna break next!"

Spruce glared at him. "No, I'm the guy who's more concerned about what the future of our band is. Maybe if you're not so busy with your silly pranks and actually got your head in the game, you'd see that!"

Clay shook his head and crossed his arms, not liking how his usually chill brother was behaving. "Like you haven't laughed at some of them," he muttered, making note to get back at Spruce with one of his so-called 'silly pranks.'

Unable to help himself, Floyd spoke up. "Well, some of them aren't really that funny. I hated that time you did what you did with my eyeliner." The magenta Troll shuddered to even recollect the horrible, bright neon green that had been on his eyelids.

Clay rolled his eyes. "Whatever! It was funny to me. And as long as it's funny to someone is what counts."

JD ignored the little scuffle between the Trollings, wanting to get clarification. "Why is it that you're backing out of the dream, bro?"

"Dude, he never said that," Floyd piped up, trying to show support.

It wasn't met positively however. "I can answer my own questions, thanks," Spruce said, a little annoyed at his brother's interference.

"I'm just trying to help," Floyd said.

"Well it's best you don't," Spruce snapped.

Floyd frowned. "This involves me just as much as you guys. I write a lot of the songs here, in case you forgot! Like you always like to forget about me," he said spitefully and crossing his arms. "Just because you're older doesn't mean you can think that you're better!"

"We don't think we're better," Clay said, "we know we're better!" Not at all meaning it, he laughed, hoping Floyd would laugh at this joke too, but the magenta Trolling shot him a dirty look. Clay rolled his eyes. When did his brothers become such party-poopers?

"Cry me a river, Floyd! You seem to be real good at that, too!" JD snapped, annoyed. "And if you're talking about that one song you showed me the other day, I already told ya we can't do it. Not all of us have that vocal range!"

"You mean you don't have that vocal range," Floyd muttered, knowing very well that he could hit the required notes, and knowing that JD likely didn't want to feel like he was being upstaged.

"What does it matter if we're all singing songs and everyone likes them, anyway?" JD challenged. "As long as my band is popular, why does it really matter?"

Spruce gawked at him. "YOUR band, huh?" The purple Trolling shook his head. "I knew it."

"I mean our band, ours!" JD quickly tried to correct himself. "OURS. Geez, Spruce, I thought Floyd was the sensitive one here!"

"It has nothing to do with being sensitive," Spruce said. "It has to with the fact that I feel like I can't trust you anymore, JD!" he blurted before he could help himself. He instantly regretted it, however, noting how crushed the aquamarine Trolling looked as a result of his words. It felt like a harsh thing to say. But, the more he thought about it, the more the regret began to dwindle away. This really was the way that Spruce felt, and seeing that Clay and Floyd were not quick to jump in and protest, he knew that they likely felt the same way, too.

"Actions speak louder than words do, JD," Spruce said. "And so far, you've been doing a lot of talk and not coming through with any of the promises you've said."

JD swallowed, thinking hard. Had he... had he really been as blind to his brothers as Spruce was making it seem?

NO! His conscience nearly screamed at him. You're doing what is best for the band. And if Spruce, and Clay, and Floyd can't see that, well, then... then...

JD's face hardened. "All right then. Problem solved." He clapped his hands together once and plastered an insincere smile on his face. "I'm going to be removing myself from the equation, then. I say it's about time the world gets introduced to John Dory, the solo artist, anyhow, without anyone else holding me back. Don't you think?"

A part of Spruce wanted to stop his brother's train of thought. He did not like where the situation was heading, but at the same time the purple Trolling was angry. It wasn't an emotion he usually felt, his demeanor usually that of good vibes, but even he had his limits. This was one of those times that it couldn't be helped. He really had had enough of JD's controlling ways. And right now, he wasn't about to move over to stop his brother – his closest brother in bond amongst the bunch, admittedly – from walking out the door that he was making his way towards. "Agreed," he simply said. He knew the anger he felt would go away eventually. He wasn't the kind to hold much of a grudge, and perhaps one day he might even be happy to see JD again. But he also knew that it would likely not be for a long, long time.

JD glared at Spruce, his hard gaze drifting over to Clay and Floyd, too. He shook his head, that small part of him not really wanting to leave. But they had a lesson to learn. "Who knows," he said, his anger getting the best of him. "Maybe I'll even find better brothers than you guys."

"So you can treat them the same way you've been treating us?" Spruce asked, but JD didn't hear. The aquamarine Troll was already gone, sunglasses, teal vest and all.

A silence hung in the air for a moment.

Then, Floyd spoke.

"Guys, we can still make this work out," he said, hopefully, peering at his brothers. "Look, we can maybe be a quartet until JD decides to come back, and then we can be BroZone again, right?"

Clay scoffed. "And I thought I was the funny one," he muttered, starting to walk off.

"Yeah, who put you in charge now?" Spruce said, frowning at the magenta Trolling.

"I'm not trying to be in charge," Floyd said defensively. "I just don't want things to end like this for us." He sighed and rubbed an arm, unable to look his brother in the eyes.

Something flashed across Spruce's face. Perhaps regret? Floyd couldn't be sure, as it was gone the very next second and the purple Trolling frowned. "Cut the sap, Floyd. Can't you see it's over? Save your breath for your solo career."

With that, Spruce rolled his eyes and waved a dismissive hand at them as he walked off, muttering something under his breath about needing a vacation as he too walked out the door. Left alone in the silent pod were only Floyd and Branch now.

Branch had so far been a silent witness to everything, standing to the side and hovering by the magenta Trolling's legs. The baby stared wide-eyed after Clay and Spruce, not quite understanding things completely but knowing something was very, very wrong. Why were his brothers leaving? Why weren't they singing and dancing and hugging like they all usually did? Distress starting to prick at him, Branch peered up at Floyd, confiding in the magenta Trolling for some kind of answer.

Floyd stared down pitifully at his baby brother for a long moment and then sighed. "Branch," he began, trying to sound as gentle as he possibly could. "We're... out of sync."

Branch cocked his head, as if to say "Huh?"

Floyd nodded slowly. "You see, we've gone from boys to men, and now there's only one direction for us to go." He gestured out the front door. "The backstreets."

Branch blinked at him. What was Floyd talking about? Branch knew Floyd was poetic, but he wished that his brother wasn't talking in these confusing riddles right now.

Floyd seemed to get this vibe off of the little one and he kneeled down, putting a hand on his small blue shoulder. "It's time for us all to move on, Branch."

Branch whimpered at this, and Floyd patted him on the back. "I know it sounds a little scary. But it's really not. We all have to move on sometime. You'll understand someday." With that he stood up and began to make his way over to the door. But suddenly, he paused. The magenta Trolling then whirled around and knelt at Branch again, scooping the baby into a tight hug. Branch liked hugs from his brothers, but this one was a different kind of hug. He didn't know what exactly it was that made it different, but Floyd did, and it was tearing the magenta Trolling's heart apart. This was a goodbye hug.

"I'm going to miss you," Floyd whispered, his voice on the verge of breaking and the familiar sting of tears starting to pool in his eyes. "Please don't forget me." He held on a moment longer, his grip tightening slightly before it finally went slack and he released the baby. Then he shuffled off and began to move to the door. Branch began to toddle after him, but Floyd put a hand up and shook his head. "No, Branch. You have to stay. Someone has to be the man of the house." He forced a chuckle, but wasn't really feeling all that into it. "Take care of Grandma for us, okay?"

Branch glanced worriedly up at his brother, but did not put force any resistance. He stepped back, watching as Floyd shot him one last sad smile and then turned to leave.

It was only after he'd made sure that the pod was far behindhim that Floyd allowed his tears to fall.

                            __________________________________________________

A/N: I think there were multiple factors at play when it came to BroZone's disbanding. This is just my wild guess 🤷