Haven't You Ever Been In Love Before?

Part V

John Dory kept running until the loss of blood got the better of him and he collapsed in the deepest part of the forest. Unfortunately, Rhonda was nowhere in his sight, so he had no choice but to go through this alone. As his head throbbed in pain, all John Dory could think of to distract himself was every other baby he murdered...

Mikey

Leaving his brothers hurt, John Dory hated to admit it. He kept telling himself, “You don't need them and they don't need you," but it still hurt. With no one to help him, he had no choice but to raise this baby alone. At least it was just one child and not four little brothers, he thought. It wouldn't be too much work, he thought. Though, to be honest, he had no idea how he planned to raise his child. After all, he was almost still at kid, himself.

Three days later came the blood and yellow gunk. John Dory screamed in anguish as he held the broken eggshells close to his chest. He knew he wasn't ready, but never wanted this to happen.

But it did.

He killed his baby.

Betsy

This time, John Dory wasn't alone. After a few years of traveling, he came across another young runaway named Eliza Haystack. She wasn't like any Troll he'd seen before, with an extra pair of legs, hooves instead of toes, and a light blonde tail identical to her braided hair.

“What's the matter, Skippy?" she said when they first met. “Ain't y'all never seen a Country girl before?"

What brought them together exactly, John Dory had no clue. All he remembered was being so in love with Eliza, wanting to do better to her than he did to Fallon. She said, “Jump," he said, “How high?"

After only two months together, he found another egg in his hair. Eliza wasn't nearly as excited as he was, but seemed happy nonetheless. However, she refused to let him leave the old tree hollow they shared. He trusted her enough to tell her about his past life with his brothers (though not about his dead child), but she didn't trust him enough to not leave her alone with their child once the egg detached. After all, since he abandoned his little brothers, who was he to say he wouldn't abandon his new family?

It detached prematurely. The shell was so thin, it broke the moment it landed in his hands.

He didn't remember Eliza's exact words to him. Only the screams and how it was his fault. He felt so guilty, he snuck out as she slept and never saw the Country girl again. He wasn't worthy of her love.

Ken and Kurt

Rhonda grew fast. Not as fast as the two eggs that were budding in his hair, but at just two years old, the orphaned armadillo was already fully grown and livable.

The twins weren't exactly conceived under the most romantic of circumstances. While gathering wild onions, John Dory heard the alluring sound of Spanish guitar, met a guy named Emil de la Vista, shared a drink with him, and fell asleep. Or, at least, he thought he fell asleep. He woke up sore all over, his face pressed to the forest floor, and his hair a mess. Emil was nowhere to be seen. When Rhonda found him, the first thing she did was lick him clean, removing the stranger's scent from his body.

Despite what happened to him, he decided to give his twins a chance. He thought maybe, just maybe, this time would be different.

It wasn't.

Rhonda watched John Dory sob as blood and loose tissue poured from his head. She tried to comfort him, to ease the pain. While she couldn't heal his scars completely, she was able to prevent him from hurting himself too bad.

“Thank you, Rhonda," he muttered as she licked away his tears and the blood on his left hand.

Maybe he just wasn't meant to be a father.

💔🪺💔🪺💔

“I'm sorry..." John Dory sobbed as he rested on his side. He was too numb to feel the pain, but could still sense his egg slowly ripping itself off his scarred scalp. He closed his teary eyes as he kept bleeding, waiting for death to claim him with his egg. He didn't want to live in a world without any of his children.

“John Dory!" a voice shouted. John Dory weakly opened his eyes to find a group of Trolls running up to him. His blurry vision couldn't make out their faces, but he recognized the various shades of blue, purple, and pink on their bodies and hair.

“Branch?"

“It's okay, John Dory," Branch said quietly, turning his eldest brother over to lie on his back as Poppy, Willow, and Floyd caught up to him. “Willow told us everything. We're gonna help you get through this."

“No..." he groaned. “This wasn't supposed to happen... No one was supposed to see this..."

Poppy delicately pulled off John Dory's goggles and parted the front of his hair to find the detaching egg. It was still in one piece, but a bit smaller than most eggs and she could see a faint pink heartbeat glowing through the thin shell.

“We can't wait for Clay," she said. “We'll have to do it here. Branch, you got a first-aid kit?"

Branch nodded and pulled it out from his hair. He felt the urge to say, “Always, sugar," but knew this wasn't the time or place for flirting.

“You're doing good, John," Floyd said softly, holding his hand. “Just keep breathing. You're doing just fine."

“I never meant for any of this to happen..." John Dory cried, shaking uncontrollably. “I never meant to kill my babies..."

“JD, I need you to hold still," Poppy said as the egg detached more and more. “It might break if you don't."

“Please, John Dory," Branch begged, but he wouldn't listen. John Dory's body just kept convulsing in panic.

With no other option, Willow pressed a hand against his cheek and muttered, “Relax," letting her magic put his mind at ease. Well, a false sense of ease, but it was better than a panic attack.

“I'm a monster..." John Dory mumbled as his muscles loosened up. Even under Willow's spell, he still felt hopeless.

“John, no one's calling you a monster," Floyd insisted.

“Branch, it's off!" Poppy alerted, carefully holding the egg. Branch quickly pressed a cotton pad against the bleeding wound and wrapped his head in gauze.

“How is it?" Floyd asked with worry.

“Alive," Poppy confirmed. “The shell's thin, but it's alive."

“That's impossible," John Dory muttered as Willow pulled her hand away.

“Should I cast a healing spell?" she asked the rest of the group.

“We don't know the full damage yet," Branch said as he cleaned up the last of the blood on John Dory's head before it could stain his hair and skin. “For now, let's just get him back to the village."

“We got you," Floyd whispered as he and Branch helped their brother up. “We'll meet up with Clay. Hopefully, he's found a doctor by now."

John Dory was too weak from blood loss to walk on his own, so he wrapped his arms around his two little brothers' shoulders and they grabbed him by the underarms to keep him upright. As they slowly made their way back to the village, with the egg in Poppy's arms, John Dory quietly sang to himself before losing consciousness.

Haven't you... ever... been in... love before...?

You heard em say... “It takes the... pain away...

And it's a... feeling that... you can't ignore..."

But it's... more like a... knife to me...

Than a... high to me...

And my heart can't... fall apart anymore

If you knew... what I...

Knew, you'd... be terrified...

Haven't... you ever... been in... love before...?

So, um... Happy Valentine's Day? 😕