After the whole Creek incident... Branch had brought Poppy down to his bunker, letting her stay the night to make sure she was safe. He couldn't leave her alone after what had just happened. What if Creek came back? What if he hurt her? Or worse... that just wasn't an option...

After Poppy had fully settled in to her temporary home, Branch slowly pushed open his bedroom door just to check on her and make sure she was ok. She had had a tough day, but now seemed to be sleeping peacefully as the little blue troll looked into the room, smiling slightly at the love of his life, happy to see she was safe, and no longer terrified.

     He had let her take his bed so she could sleep comfortably through the night, insisting that he would be the one to sleep on couch.

     His couch was rather uncomfortable, being hand made from rocks he had dug up when building his bunker, but he was willing to take the month of back problems that came with sleeping on the uncomfortable heap, as long as it meant Poppy could be happy...

     Although the young queen had refused his generous offer at first, telling him that he should sleep in his own bed, he insisted on it, finally wearing her down to the point where she agreed. It was only for one night after all...

Seeing the love of his life was safe and sleeping soundly in his bed, Branch slowly closed the door as silently as possible so he wouldn't accidentally wake her, before heading to the couch to get some rest. He was pretty tired, feeling kind of weak from the day he had just had, and just wanted to get some sleep so he could make sure he was strong enough to protect Poppy in the morning.

As he approached the couch however, a sharp pain suddenly shot through his chest, feeling as if someone had just grabbed hold of his heart, and was now squeezing it as tightly as they possibly could.

"Ahh!" he couldn't help but scream out in pain, suddenly falling to his knees as he clutched tightly at his chest to try and rid himself of the horrible pain he was suddenly feeling. It was so intense, the little blue troll panting heavily as he knelt on the floor, barely even able to breath. What was happening?

Slowly, he looked down at his watch, seeing it still hanging around his neck as the hands began to slow down, now almost at a complete stop...

"N... no..." he managed to mutter through gritted teeth.

Another sharp pain suddenly shot through his chest, this one even stronger than the first, causing the little blue troll to scream yet again as he fell roughly onto his back.

"Ugh..." he groaned loudly in pure pain, struggling to sit back up. "Gotta... fix... gotta fix it..." he panted heavily, barely able to keep his eyes open as he grabbed hold of his watch, quickly beginning to wind it up.

He tried so hard to get the watch ticking again... to stop the pain... to save his life... but it just refused to work, the dial suddenly snapping right off in his large hand.

His eyes widened at the sight of the broken watch, his heart racing in terror as he realized that the only way for him to stay on this earth with Poppy... was now completely broken beyond repair....

"No..." he whispered, panting heavily in pure terror as tears began to flood from his crystal blue eyes. "No, no, no..." This... this couldn't be happening...

Another sharp pain clutched his heart, holding onto it tight, and refusing to let go, as Branch fell onto his side, clutching tightly at his chest as he screamed out in pure agonizing pain.

"Ahh! P... please..." he begged, crying hard in pain and terror as he clutched tightly at his chest, trying desperately to make the pain he was feeling go away. "I... I can't... Ahhh!" He paused for a moment as another tight squeeze of his heart almost made him lose consciousness. "I can't... I... I... I can't... I can't leave her..."

He could hear the sound of ticking ringing loudly though his eardrums as the pain continued, the sound getting slower and slower, until it finally stopped completely, the hands on his watch freezing in place...

The pain in Branch's chest vanished along with the ticking, the little blue troll slowly forcing himself to sit up, as he looked around the room in confusion, still panting heavily in fear.

Finally, after a long moment of pure and utter silence, Branch took the watch in his hands, looking at it closely to try an figure out what had happened. Had it somehow started itself back up?

     No... it was still completely frozen in place... but he was still there... he was still in his bunker... he was still alive! Or... so he thought...