[i had a few requests for a chapter along the lines of you being the younger sister, and so i decided to combine some of the requests. typically i will only do x readers, but i'll make an except because this request is adorable.]

"come on guys!" spouts john dory, your eldest brother. you trail behind him, exasperated and ready for a water break.

also accompanying you on your voyage are spru—bruce, second oldest to john dory, a barrel of laughs with incredible hair. on his stomach, sitting in a baby holster, is effervescent tiny diamond. next to you stand poppy, queen of the pop trolls and your close confidant, and branch, your brother closest in age. usually, he is sarcastic, brimming with irony, but today, he is relentless. you hadn't seen him this serious since the bergens used to attack.

"hey," you nudge him, "you okay?"

he startles for a moment, but quickly regains his composure, rolling his shoulders back. "yeah, don't worry, y/n. i'm just..."

"nervous?" you cut in.

he smiles. "yeah. i haven't seen clay since... well, you were a newborn. you won't remember."

"i've heard the stories."

"i know," his gaze lands at his feet as you trudge further down the path, "i'm just worried."

"about clay?"

shaking his head, he looks back at you. "about floyd. what if by the time we get there..."

before he can finish his sentence, poppy tunes back into the conversation, slinging her pink arms around the two of you. she notices your fallen expressions and adjusts hers accordingly.

"hey," she scolds, but not in an overly serious manner, "no sad faces. everything's gonna be fine. we're gonna grab clay, make him do the rusty robot, and then go save floyd."

though there are no certainties in her promises, poppy has a way of making you trust in her optimism. you and your brother nod slowly, soft smiles creeping up onto your face.

"you're right," branch says softly, "this is gonna be fine."

she gleams. "that's the spirit!"

branch continues. "it's just crazy to me," his eyes search yours, "that you don't remember the others at all. that you were only a baby when all this went down. i mean, i was little too, but i could at least form sentences and form memories. you don't even know what they look like except for photos of them in picture frames."

you chuckle, not because you find his statements particularly amusing, but because you don't know how else to react. in his words lay your truest fears, the fears you didn't want coming to fruition, or at the very least, surfacing, because you didn't want branch to worry about you more than he already is. it's true that john dory and bruce had been happy to see you, hugged you tight and promised never to leave their baby sister again, but that doesn't mean it isn't hard. being the sibling that knew nobody. being the sibling that nobody knew.

"i just," branch sighs, snapping you from your turbulent thoughts, "i always wonder what would happen if we were separated, too. because if i was old enough to leave, and i'd have to take grandma, look after her... you never would've known you had brothers in the first place..."

suddenly, you launch yourself at branch, giving him a firm hug. poppy has, at this point, soldiered ahead to converse with john dory, bruce, and tiny diamond, and so the two of you are sharing a moment so special that nobody else knows about.

"branch." you pull away, offering him a reassuring smile. his face is forlorn and almost queasy, which makes you realise that he needs your help more than ever. "you're a great brother. there's no use dwelling on the if's, but's, and maybe's. you were there, and that's all that matters."

his expression is lifted, and a glaze of relief washes over his eyes. "sorry."

"no sense in apologising. now, let's go find clay!"

and so the two of you rejoin the rest of the team, where pressing conversational subjects such as "was the fruit or the colour orange named first?" are being discussed with great importance.

the rest of the trek is easy. not on the knees, no, there are a few hills, but on the soul. you spend your time joking with bruce, laughing with branch, talking with john dory, and everything in life starts to feel right. the pieces that you've always felt devoid of are finally reattaching themselves. this is the way it was always meant to be, and you're glad that things are being restored.

"guys, what's that?" poppy pipes up, motioning to some sort of clown decor. at least, you thought it was decor, until branch started conversing with it.

at this point, you tune out. not out of disinterest, but anticipation. if clay is here, then you're that much closer to rebuilding your family. to being whole.

during this time, a pink, unruly blonde-headed trolls rolls from the clown's gaping mouth. she is peppy, optimistic, and inviting, and reminds you a lot of poppy. she squeals in delight and picks you up to spin you around, and you laugh at her antics.

"is this how people feel when they meet me?" asks poppy, and you and branch nod simultaneously.

in an instant, viva notices your hungry disposition and lack of energy and orders some classic fast food down to your feet. the put put trolls (who had sprouted from their spherical disguises while you were preoccupied in your own thought) got to work and sent down milkshakes and fries. viva, as poppy's double has revealed herself to be called, slides down a comically large straw as she sucks the entire milkshake down immediately.

"you know, these would really go great with a burger."

bruce words prove to hit too close to home as the swarming trolls retreat back into their hair and roll away in fright. viva apologises for the misunderstanding and explains that the word burger has been abandoned at their post for its similarities to their deepest fear, bergens. you realise that they are so isolated that they haven't even heard of the troubles between the two species being fixed.

"we call burgers... meat circles."

despite the hilarity of the remark, the deep voice that boomed it is stern, it is harsh, and it beckons to be taken seriously. in fact, something about the voice tickles a memory in the back of your brain.

"clay!" screams john dory, elated, though he is left with a glum sourness on his lips when clay skips right past him to branch and bruce. he wastes no time getting reacquainted with them, performing elaborate handshakes and face-mushing galore until his eyes land on you, at last.

"you look..." he scans your face, perplexed but hopeful. "y/n?"

nodding, you smile at him. like it was with the last two brothers you became recently familiar with, you aren't sure where to start. or how to start.

luckily, you don't have to, because clay jumps forward and pulls you into a loving embrace. his untamed hair brushes your ears and tickles you, making you giggle against his romper.

when he releases you, his face is tentative, his front buckteeth nibbling his lower lip. "i'm sorry. i know that's not enough, but i don't know what else to say."

"it's fine—"

"and don't you dare say it's fine, 'cause it's not." his fingers outstretch and clamp shut, grasping for the words he cannot find. "i mean, i never even got to have a conversation with you. i always think about you and branch. i mean, i think of all of you guys, but you two? you never leave my mind. i'm sorry. i'm sorry."

he goes to apologise again, but you rope him into another hug instead, and then stretch your arm to invite branch to join. branch may not be much of a hugger, but he seems to find an exception in this moment as the tension in his shoulders drop.

"i'm gonna be the greatest, coolest, most fun but still serious and respectable older brother ever," clay grins, "trust."

"we believe you!" branch says with a hint of snark lacing his voice, excusing himself from the embrace. you wiggle out too, stepping back.

suddenly, clay's eyebrows furrow. "but wait, where's floyd?"

john dory sighs. "we need your help."

[end.]

A.N.
sorry this one is shorter and sort of poorly written, i realised i hadn't updated for a while and needed to churn something out. this is a combination of a few family requests, a few "finding-floyd" requests, and a clay's sister request from REALSPIFFY .
hope you enjoyed regardless!