Branch paced around his cage anxiously, feeling much better then the night before. His wounds had mysteriously healed over, and he no longer felt the pain coursing through his body. Poppy really was a miracle worker...

With a soft whimper, the wolf headed over to the edge of his cage, beginning to chew fiercely on the bars holding him captive like some kind of trophy for the entire village to gaze upon, the terrified child trying his hardest to escape his small prison... he had to get out of there... before the trolls had the chance to finish him off...

But no matter how hard he tried... now matter how much he chewed... the survivalist just couldn't seem to break through the sturdy bars of the epically durable cage... and even worse... it was one of the traps he had designed for village safety. Why did he have to be so good at building things!?

With a sigh, Branch gave up on his failed escape attempt, looking up towards the sky to gage the time.

To his horror, the village grump was distraught to realize that the sun would soon be rising any minute now...

Would he transform back into a troll at the first rays of the new day? If he did... then everyone would know what he truly was... a monster...

With a soft whimper of pure terror, Branch began once again pacing around his cage, trying desperately to come up with a plan... a plan to save his secret... a plan to save his life...

The cage wasn't very large, but it was just big enough for him to walk in circles around the perimeter... so that's what he did... he paced in small circles, his heart pounding right out of his chest...

'I have to get out of here,' he thought to himself in a panic. 'I have to...'

—————

Up on a hill top, Poppy was sitting in the tall flowered grass, looking sadly down at the wolf who was pacing worriedly in his cage...

A tear came sliding down her cheek as she watched him, clearly seeing his pure uncontainable terror even though she was rather far away...

"Aaaaaaaaaoooooooooo!"

The young princess' heart shattered at the horrible sound of this poor animal howling out in fear, almost as if he were begging for someone to come and help him... to save him from his disastrous fate...

'I have to get him out of there...' she decided, a determined look coming to her face as she wiped the tears from her beautiful pink eyes. 'But how...'

—————

Still down in his cage, Branch continued to pace back and forth, periodically howling up at the sky to voice his worried thoughts...

That is... until a particular smell suddenly came to his nose...

His head jerked up quickly at the familiar scent, instantly seeing a red glitter troll in a police uniform approaching him... the same troll who had forced Poppy away the previous night...

Seeing this threat quickly approaching, Branch growled softly, slinking back in his cage to get as far away from him as possible, afraid of what this troll was going to do to him...

"You don't scare me..." the officer stated firmly, giving the wolf a firm glare to back up his words.

Branch gulped at the horrible glare he was getting from this troll, his ears drooping down low as he stopped his growls, replacing them with silent whimpers of fear...

"Trying to escape, hugh?" the glitter troll questioned, seeing the teeth marks implanted lightly into the hard titanium bars of the cage. "What's the matter... don't like your new home?"

He glanced back up at the beast, the wolf shrinking down in fear, his crystal blue eyes wide as he stared up at the officer, unable to do anything else as he whimpered softly in pure terror...

"Don't worry," the troll finally continued with a slight grin. "You won't be in there for long. King Peppy will figure out what to do with you real soon..." He chuckled at his own words, finally beginning to walk away... "And until then..." he continued. "You're stuck in there... you'll never be free again..."

Once the officer was well out of sight, Branch straightened up, shaking of his body to try and chase away the fear coursing through it before looking up at the sky once again, the sun slowly beginning to rise from off on the horizon...

Well... so much for getting rid of his fear...

He was afraid... afraid of turning back into a troll... Would that make the situation he was in worse? How could it? He was already in danger... either way... he was dead...

But still... he couldn't help but dread his secret getting out to the world... He didn't want anyone knowing he was the beast... Especially not Poppy...

With small whimpers of fear, Branch watched as the sun slowly rose up into the sky, the beams of warm light shining down onto his thick black fur... wait... his fur... he was still a wolf...

Somehow... that realization didn't make him feel much better...

     Was he stuck like this now? Forever...

     He couldn't help but feel more distraught than he had been about changing back in front of everyone...

Branch grunted at this realization... Now... he was trapped as a monster for the rest of his life. Well... what was left of it anyways...

     No... he wasn't giving up... even if he was stuck as a wolf forever... he wasn't going to just let the trolls kill him... he wanted to live... he needed to live...

     Walking over to the cage door, Branch went back to trying to escape. This time however, instead of chewing his way to freedom, he tried banging his head on the bared door, trying his best to bust it open. But that only seemed to make him dizzy...

With a grunt of discomfort, the wolf stumbled back a bit, shaking his head to try and relieve the dull pain now shooting through his skull...

     The survivalist had been so focused on his escape attempt that he hadn't even noticed the familiar smell blowing through the breeze...

     His vision slowly clearing from his dizziness, Branch smiled slightly when he caught sight of a familiar face standing just in front of him.

"Hey there, bud..." Poppy said softly, looking in through the bars of the cage to see the wolf trapped inside.

     "Arf," Branch barked happily in reply, shaking the last remaining dizziness from his brain so he could focus completely on the love of his life...

     The young princess couldn't help but chuckle at the adorable sound that had just emerged from the wolf's mouth, seeing his tail wagging excitedly at the sight of her...

     "I see you remember me," Poppy chuckled, the wolf immediately pushing his nose through the bars to drink in her amazing scent... cupcakes and rainbows... it was unique to only her...

     Again, Poppy giggled, gently reaching up to pet the wolf's snout.

     With a content sigh, Branch closed his eyes, allowing the young princess to smoothly stroke her fingers through his thick black fur...

     "You're a good boy..." she whispered to him, smiling at how adorable this one little wolf was. "I wish the others could see that too..."

Before anything else could be said, a loud rumble suddenly emerged from the wolf's stomach...

Branch lifted his front leg in slight confusion, looking down at his tummy as it grumbled again, screaming at him to eat something... anything...

He let out a quiet whimper of pain at the feeling of the strong gnawing in his stomach, spinning around in circles a few times before laying down with a sigh, trying his best to just ignore it...

"Are you hungry?" Poppy asked in concern.

     He looked back up at her, listening closely to her soft, gentle voice.

     "I could get you something," she informed. "What do you like to eat?"
"Arf," Branch replied, but obviously... Poppy couldn't understand his new language, having no idea what he had just said...

She looked at him, getting a little nervous as she saw him licking his lips, his crystal blue eyes gazing straight at her...

"You... you don't eat... trolls..." she stuttered nervously. "Do you?"

Branch flinched at the question, giving her a disgusted face as he shook his head in denial.

"Phew," Poppy sighed with relief, giving the wolf a sweet smile. "Well... what about brownies?"

Branch's face light up at the suggestion. He loved brownies... He loved all chocolate actually, but brownies were his absolute favorite. (Other than his grandma's Fluffleberrie cake of coarse)

Poppy laughed as Branch licked his lips, intrigued by the mention of brownies...

"Ok than," she chuckled. "I made this for myself as a snack for today, but you can have it."

     She pulled a brownie out of her hair, dropping it into the cage, where Branch immediately gobbled it up, thankfully.

He gazed up at Poppy with kind eyes, purring softly as if saying 'thank you'.

"You're welcome," Poppy laughed. "I have to go now, though. Before Officer Sparkleton gets back. I promise I'll be back to check on you tomorrow."

She gave him one last kind smile, and then turned, walking away...

Branch watched her as she left, smiling. Even though he looked like a monster now... she was still kind to him. She was always kind to him... How could she be so perfect?

He sighed, completely and utterly love struck, as he smiled lovingly at the departing pink troll...