After the whole... incident... was thankfully done and over with... Poppy decided to walk Branch back to his bunker against the gray troll's many complaints to the contrary...

     He still didn't want to be anywhere near her... at least... not until he could get this wolf thing under control... He just... he couldn't stand the thought of hurting the one troll he cared about more than anything else in the world...

     But... Poppy insisted on making sure her friend got back to the village safely... and he knew well that once the young princess put her mind to something... there was no changing it...

     Besides... he couldn't make her walk home all alone in the dark forest! Even if it wasn't him who attacked... it could easily be some other dangerous predator to take the pink troll's life away far too early... the survivalist just had to protect her...

—————

     The two trolls walked together through the forest in complete silence, Branch keeping a carful watch over their surroundings while also trying his absolute hardest to keep his wolf side in check as the sun slowly began to rise up in the sky, not yet poking it's way above the treetops surrounding them...

'Come...' the voice suddenly called out yet again to Branch, echoing loudly in the survivalist's brain over and over again to try and regain control over the little Weretroll, the head splitting sound causing the poor boy to wince sharply as he stopped dead in his tracks...

"Ow..." the village grump moaned as he reached up to clutch his head in both hands, the young boy squinting his eyes tightly shut in pain....

Hearing the pained whimper of her best friend, Poppy looked back to the only gray troll in concern before placing a gentle hand on his shoulder...

"Are you ok, Branch?" she asked softly, worried out of her mind about his safety...

Slowly, he looked up at her, his squinted eyes reflecting a look of pure pain even though he was clearly trying to hide it...

"Y... yeah..." he grumbled, still clutching his head tightly. "I... I'm... I'm fine..."

He took another step forwards, just trying to get the princess back home to safety, but was immediately forced to stop yet again, the pain just too much to handle as his brain throbbed violently inside his skull, feeling almost as if there were a tiny person inside his head going hard on a major drum solo...

'Come...' the voice whispered again, not giving up on it's mission to take control of the little gray troll once more... 'Come to me... come...'

"You don't look fine, Branch..." Poppy said in a concerned tone, freaking out even more than she usually would as she remembered what had happened only a few hours before...

     Poppy knew... she could see from the struggled look on her best friend's face... Branch was clearly fighting whatever took over him earlier... it was trying to take him back... but he wasn't letting it... What was wrong with the gray troll that he kept losing control of his own actions? More importantly... how could Poppy help him?

"I'm fine... really," Branch lied, trying to calm his friend's nerves as well as his own. "Just a little... ugh... headache..."

'Come!'

"Ugh..." Branch groaned, closing his eyes tight once again, the poor boy feeling as if he were about to lose his lunch all over the ground in front of him...

     Poppy's eyes widened as the survivalist's face turned pale... was he about to...

'Co...' the voice began to call out again, but as the sun continued to rise, the bright ball of fiery gas finally lifting up above the treetops to shine its golden rays down on the two trolls below... the voice stopped... getting completely cut off as if the blinding light of the sun had just chased it away...

Branch blinked as his gray coloring came suddenly flooding back into his face, the young boy shaking his head slightly to chase away his last remaining bits of dizziness as all the pain previously shooting through his brain strangely dissipated...

"B... Branch?" Poppy asked in concern, taking both his hands in hers as she gazed straight into his gorgeous crystal blue eyes, the young princess instantly noticing the change in his behavior...

     He was no longer in pain... she could tell... and... and he looked normal... but... what if that thing had won the battle? Was... was this really her friend standing in front of her right now?

At the sound of the pink troll's muttered words, Branch looked back up at the young princess, instantly able to see the look of pure worry clearly painted all over her beautiful face...

     Finally, the village grump smiled sweetly at her to let his friend know everything was ok now...

"I'm fine, Poppy," he assured in a calming tone. "I promise..."

Knowing he was telling the truth this time, Poppy hugged the gray troll tightly in her arms, the young princess burying her face deep into her friend's shoulder...

"You scared me..." she whispered, trying her best not to cry.
"I... I'm sorry..." Branch apologized, slowly beginning to hug back. "It was just a little headache... but don't worry... it's gone now..."

Hearing those words, the young princess looked up at him, shaking her head as tears slowly began forming in her eyes...

"Not... not that..." she muttered softly. "When... you attacked me..."

Branch gasped softly, his eyes widening in shock at the young princess' unbelievable explanation...

"I... I did wha... what?" he asked in complete terror, the young boy quickly pulling himself out of the hug to get as far away from his friend as possible, his eyes sparkling with sudden fear...

     He... he had attacked her? Had he hurt her!?

His heart racing in terror, Branch could only think of one explanation for his actions...

     The wolf... it was too strong... and only getting stronger... just like in his dream... that awful dream where he had... killed... Peppy... he couldn't control it...

     "It was like you were being controlled," Poppy told him, seeing his fear and wanting to calm him down so he wouldn't think it was his fault. "It... it wasn't you..."

     With a sigh, Branch lowered his head as his ears drooped down in shame...

It didn't really matter if he knew what he was doing or not... he still attacked her... he attacked his only friend... the... the love of his life... What if he did it again? What if he seriously hurt her? Or worse...

     He... he couldn't do that to her... he just couldn't...

"I... I have to... go..." Branch muttered softly, the village grump beginning to walk away as he looked down at his own two hands in disbelief...

     Why had she told him that!? He didn't remember... and they had gone almost the entire walk home without discussing it... so why did she bring it up now!? She should have known it would upset him! She was such an idiot!

     "Branch! Wait!" Poppy called out, the young princess quickly beginning to run after her friend who just kept walking forwards... "Branch!"

     He wasn't stopping... she had to get his attention... but how?

💡

     That's it!

     Quickly, the young girl reached into her hair as if searching for something in particular before finally pulling out a rubber ball as she looked up at Branch with a fiendish grin...

     "Hey, Branch!" she called out to him in an almost taunting way. "Fetch!"

     Chucking the ball as far as she possibly could, Branch paused for a moment as he watched the rubber sphere fly past him, his eyes lighting up in excitement at the sight...

     No! He wasn't doing this! She wasn't going to trick him that easily...

     Shaking his head, Branch pushed his wolf instincts deep down inside of himself before continuing to walk, the village grump stuffing his hands into his short pockets...

     "Come on, Branch!" Poppy called after him again once she realized her brilliant plant had failed. "Come back and just talk to me!"

     "I... I can't..." the young boy muttered in reply, Poppy just barely able to hear his saddened words as he continued to move away from her. "I don't... I just don't want to hurt you... I don't want to hurt anyone..."

     He was aware of Poppy following closely behind him, but did nothing to stop her, knowing that if he could just get to his bunker... he would be able to lock himself inside forever... she wouldn't be able to get in there to follow him any longer... especially with the new reinforced locks the survivalist had been working on lately...

     "You're not gonna hurt me, Branch!" Poppy yelled after him, slightly picking up the pace to try and keep up. "I know you!"
"But you don't know the wolf!" Branch snapped, finally turning back to her in pure rage, causing Poppy to freeze in place as she stared straight into her friend's glowing blue eyes, the young princess recognizing them instantly as the ones belonging to the wolf... "You think you do... but you don't..."

     "Branch..." Poppy started, taking a single step towards her best friend who quickly backed away from her...

     "I can't control it, Poppy... I can't..." he whimpered, tears filling his eyes as he forced them back to normal. "I... I don't want to hurt you..."

     Again... Branch turned, beginning to walk home once more, the village grump leaving Poppy alone in the forest, the young princess still frozen in place from what she had just heard...

     "But... but, Branch..." she finally started softly. "Don't you see? You can control it..."

     Branch froze, his back still turned to his best friend as he listened closely to what she was about to say...

     "You didn't hurt me, Branch... because you stopped yourself..." she stated firmly. "Because you pushed the wolf away..."

     "Yeah... but..." Branch sighed, still not looking over to the troll he secretly loved so much. "What if next time... I'm not able to stop it?"
"You will be," Poppy assured. "And... and I can prove it... the ball!"

     Confused, Branch finally turned his head to look at his best friend, his eyebrow raised in suspicion.

     "The ball?" he questioned, not understanding what the young princess was getting at.

     "Yes, Branch!" Poppy exclaimed. "The first time I threw that ball... Squishy went wild over it. But I just threw it now, and you didn't even make a move to get it!"

     She... she had a point...

     Slowly, Branch turned completely back to Poppy, his sad expression slowly fading away...

     "You can do it, Branch..." the young princess continued, taking another step towards the gray troll who stood just in front of her. "It might be hard some times... but when it really matters... I know you'll be able to control it... because you can do anything you put your mind to, Branch... I'm sure of it..."

     "Well... not anything..." the village grump mumbled under his breath so Poppy wouldn't hear, unable to stop himself from thinking about how perfect this one troll was... If only... he had the guts to admit it...

     Finally, he sighed, giving in to the pink troll's comforting words as he opened up his arms for her...

     Poppy couldn't believe her eyes... Branch... the village grump... the troll who absolutely despised hugs... was actually initiating one!?

     With a squeal filled with pure and utter joy, Poppy ran at Branch to accept the hug...

     But... before she could get there... Branch's ears suddenly perked up as he turned away, a look of worry plastered on his face as he looked cautiously around the area...

He had heard something... something rustling in the bushes that sat directly to the left side of the two un-expecting trolls...

     His ear twitching, the paranoid survivalist turned towards the strange sound to look off in the direction it had come from...

     Little did he know... his injured ear prevented him from hearing the second rustle... the rustle that had come from a bush to his right...

"Branch?" Poppy whispered, stopping dead in her tracks when she saw the safety nerd standing defensively, his eyes locked on a bush up ahead of him. "What's wrong? What did you hear?"

     "Shh..." Branch shushed, continuing to listen closely to the now silent air. "Stay here..."

Dropping down onto all fours, the little Weretroll sniffed carefully at the air as he slowly crept forewords...

     Something was there... watching them... but he couldn't tell quite what...

     Whatever it was though... it sure did smell bad... almost as if it had never taken a shower a day in it's life...

Watching Branch as he slowly crept forwards, Poppy suddenly heard something herself... the young princess quickly turning to the bushes beside her as something rustled inside of them...

"Grrr..." Branch growled softly in warning as he continued to follow the rustling sound he could actually hear, which continued from right in front of him...

"Uh... B... Branch?" Poppy whispered, her eyes wide as she stared at the bushes beside her in fear, the young boy still having no idea there was danger over there as well...

"Shh..." Branch shushed again, just wanting to keep Poppy safe. She needed to stay quiet... for her own protection... "Grrr..." the survivalist growled again, slinking forewords cautiously, his eyes locked on the still rustling bush in front of him...

Suddenly, something jumped out of the bushes the young princess had been trying to warn Branch about, the unknown creature quickly grabbing hold of Poppy...

     "Branch!" Poppy screeched out in terror just before the threat covered her mouth to silence the pink troll, Branch quickly turning at the sound of her shout, his eyes wide and heart racing...

     But before he could charge back over to save his love... before he could even see what had her... before he could do anything... the creature he had been tracking jumped out to tackle the little Weretroll to the ground, Branch letting out a quick yelp of shock as he fell to his side, a quick stab of pain striking his hip...

     "Aaaaaaaoooooooooooo!"