"Ok... food... food..." Branch mumbled softly to himself as he looked carefully around the market for some food that Poppy would like. "Just need to find some food..."

The survivalist didn't go to the market that often, only heading into the village on occasion to pick up a few necessities when absolutely needed.

     Usually, he just ate things he could find out in the forest so he didn't have to interact too much with the other trolls. His diet consisted mostly of things like berries, and crunchy swamp moss... Sometimes he was even lucky enough to find some dehydrated snail slime! But he knew Poppy wouldn't enjoy any of that stuff like he did... she liked sweet things like cupcakes, and brownies... lucky for him... he had a giant weakness for brownies as well. Those were his favorite... 😋 so he knew exactly where they were located in the store...

—————

     Finally, the little blue troll had gathered up enough food for a few days, stealthily bringing it back to the bunker, being extra careful as he took the long way home, just to make absolute sure he wasn't being followed...

     He walked inside, Poppy immediately running over to give him a big hug once he stepped off the elevator.

     "Are you ok?" she asked, almost crying from being so worried about him.
"I'm fine, Poppy," he assured, kissing her head comfortingly. "I got some food..."

     Pulling away from the hug, Branch walked into the kitchen, putting down the bags of groceries as he began to carefully unpack them...

     "What would you like to eat?" he asked, going through the food he had just brought back. "We've got cupcakes... ice cream... frozen pizza... Brownies..." But no matter how many things he listed off, the young queen didn't answer, remaining absolutely silent... "Poppy?"

     Slowly, he turned, instantly seeing the pink troll staring right at him, her eyes wide in fear.

     "What? What's wrong?" he asked in concern, wondering why she was so scared all of a sudden...

     "Your... your head..." she stuttered softly, pointing at the blue troll in front of her.

     "My head?" he questioned, raising an eyebrow as he reached up to touch his scalp. "What's wrong with my..."

     His sentence was immediately cut off when he pulled his hand away from his head, his eyes widening in shock as he saw the blood suddenly dripping down his fingers...

     "Sugar..." he cursed softly under his breath, seeing the blood that was now coating his hand. His head didn't hurt at all... so why the hair was he bleeding...

     Slowly, he looked back up at Poppy, his heart sinking down into his stomach as he noticed she was crying...

     "No, no. Don't worry, Poppy... I'm... I'm fine," he assured, trying his best to calm her nerves. "Um..." He looked around for his first aid kit, finally spotting what he was searching for, quickly bringing it into the bathroom with him to patch up his wound.

     He gasped in horror as he suddenly saw his reflection in the mirror, his eyes widening in pure terror at the sight of himself...

     There was so much blood... and even worse... there was a giant blue and black bruise forming around the massive cut imprinted into his skull, his skin pale and clammy almost making him look like a zombie...
 
     It was then that Branch remembered the anvil Creek threw at him had hit his head in that exact spot... that must of been what caused this...

"Oh no..." he muttered softly in fear, quickly beginning to rummage through his first aid kit to find some gauze, along with something to clean his cut with...

Once he found the necessary equipment, Branch looked back into the mirror, his eyes widening in horror as he saw Poppy standing behind him, tears flowing from her beautiful pink eyes as she stared at him in disbelief...

"Poppy..." he muttered softly, quickly turning to look at her. He could see the fear in her eyes, and knew she was worried sick about him. "I promise I'm ok," he assured, trying to calm her down. "It doesn't even hurt..."

     "We need to get you to a doctor..." Poppy said in concern, slowly approaching him as she struggled to hold back her tears of fear.

     "No!" Branch quickly denied, his heart racing in terror at the suggestion. "I... I can't... they won't understand. Besides... if I go to a doctor... I won't be able to protect you..."
"You need to protect yourself, Branch..." Poppy stated firmly. "Not me... yourself..."

"N... no..." he stuttered in a panic, turning back to his first aid kit as he pulled out the disinfectant spray. "They'll keep me locked up there like a lab rat if they figure out what's going on..."
"They won't do that, Branch... they'll help you..." Poppy objected, Branch just shaking his head in reply.

"I'm fine," he assured, spraying his cut with the canned medicine.

Usually the spray would sting as it made contact with open wounds, but this time... Branch didn't feel a thing. In fact... if he wasn't looking in the mirror, seeing it spray onto his head, he'd think it wasn't even coming out of the can at all...

He cleaned his cut thoroughly, putting a sheet of gauze onto the massive wound in his head before trying to wrap it up with an ace bandage.

     Unfortunately... it was kind of difficult to do to himself, the blue troll having a bit of difficulty wrapping up his injury...

Poppy saw him struggling, slowly beginning to walk over to him.

"If you won't go to a doctor... at-least let me help..." she offered.

     "N... no. I'm fine, Poppy..." he denied, his voice shaking slightly in fear as he struggled to bandage up his wound. "Please... just go eat. You're hungry... I... I don't... I don't want to inconvenience you..."

Not excepting 'no' as an answer, the young queen took the ace bandage from him, gently beginning to wrap up his head as he watched her with sad eyes, knowing he couldn't stop her...

"I'm sorry, Poppy..." he finally apologized, lowering his head in shame as he allowed her to bandage up his injury. "I... I didn't mean to worry you..."

"It's not your fault, Branch," Poppy assured in a kind voice, finishing wrapping up the large hole in his head. "Now... tell me what happened... what caused this?"

He didn't answer, continuing to avoid eye contact with the young queen, not wanting to tell her what had actually happened... He knew that the truth would just upset her... and the last thing he wanted was to make the love of his life sad...

"Branch..." Poppy said calmly, grabbing his shoulders with her hands as she forced him to look up at her. "What happened?"

He sighed as he looked deep into he bright pink eyes, knowing she wasn't going to let this go until he told her what had happened...

"Creek...." he muttered softly, lowering his head once again in shame...

Poppy's eyes widened at that one little word, as she looked at Branch in concern.

"What did he do?" she asked in complete panic, keeping her hands gently on her boyfriend's shoulders as she tightened her grip on him just a bit.

     "He..." Branch started, but his words quickly trailed off as he sighed, closing his eyes in sorrow. He really didn't want to tell her this...

"Branch... tell me what he did to you," she demanded firmly.

"He... he dropped an anvil on my head..." the little blue troll admitted softly, not even looking up at her.

Poppy gasped softly, before Branch finally continued...

"After... he threw a bowling ball at me..." he added softly, still not raising his head...

The young queen's eyes widened in horror at he boyfriend's confession.

"I'm fine, though," he assured, finally looking up at her with sad tear-filled eyes. "It didn't even hurt. I swear..."

She looked at his head, blood already starting to leak through his bandages, undermining his comforting words...

He saw her staring, and then turned to look into the mirror at his reflection, instantly seeing why she was so concerned...

"Look..." he said, turning back to Poppy as he held up his watch for her to see. "It's still ticking. As long as these hands are moving... I'm fine..."

     She looked at the watch for a moment, her heart seeming to loose some of it's sadness as she took in her boyfriend's words, knowing he was telling her the truth... he was fine... despite the way he looked...

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, causing both trolls to flinch at the unexpected sound, as they turned towards the elevator in fear...

"Who... who is it?" Poppy whispered.
"I don't know," Branch whispered back.

Another knock sounded on the door, this time louder than before, sounding as if whoever was creating this sound would break open the bunker hatch to get inside if no one answered in the next few seconds...

"Poppy... hide..." Branch instructed softly, not taking his eyes away from the direction of the elevator.

"What!? You better not be thinking, what I think your thinking!" Poppy yelled out in a whisper.

He turned to her, putting his hands firmly onto her shoulders as he gazed right into her eyes...

"Please, Poppy..." he begged. "Just hide... And don't come out until I tell you otherwise. No matter what..."
"But, Branch..." she started.
"No matter what," he repeated firmly, his voice shaking with fear.

They stared at each other for a moment longer, as the knocking continued from above, seeming rushed and panicked.

Finally Poppy nodded, obeying Branch's orders as she ran off to find a safe place to hide.

The knocking continued, getting faster and louder by the moment as the young queen disappeared from sight.

With his girlfriend safely hidden... Branch took a deep, calming breath, before slowly heading for the door...