Branch wandered through the forest, anxiously looking around. He had no idea where to start searching for his friend. The forest was huge, Biggie was small. Bigger than the average troll, but he was still a troll.

He pulled the hood down and yanked on his hair to provide some light, "I'm now realizing what a stupid idea this is.." he shrugged it off and continued walking, "better than going camping and then.." he shook his head, deciding to not think about the tornado at all.

Branch looked around, every little sound alerting him. Whether it was a leaf falling and crunching under his foot or a small critter scurrying up a tree, he would flinch. "This is a bit scarier alone, heh."

He face palmed, "I need to stop talking to myself." He went a few seconds without saying anything, and already the silence made him uncomfortable, "nevermind."

He started blabbing his random thoughts out loud, "cold, cold, cold— wait, if I say I'm cold it'll make me feel colder. So, not cold, not cold, opposite of cold, warm, warm, hot, hot, burning, scalding hot, I just burned my fingers off hot— lying to myself doesn't help."

Branch pulled two twigs off the ground and tried to rub them together to make himself a torch to provide light and warmth. He kept dropping the stick he tried to hold in his right hand (the side of the broken arm).

(When I broke my arms, the cast was always along the entire arm, including my hand, so I don't know about most people, but at least for me, I struggled to hold things.)

He dropped both sticks on the ground, frustrated, "guess I get to stay co- OH!"

Branch cleared his throat and looked up at the night sky, then sang a little note, "Ahh!"

Quickly, animals scurried out of bushes and flew down from the sky to greet their returned princess. "CHRRT CHRRT!"

(WHAT SOUND DO FOREST CREATURES BESIDES CRITZ MAKE 😭)

"Hello, adorable little forest creatures!" He patted a squirrel-like critter on the head, "would it be much trouble for me to ask you to help me start a fire?"

They all chrrt-chrrted happily. The squirrel critter and a cuddle pup used their paws to light the sticks on fire for him.

A bird tied the sticks together so it could be held as a single one and give off warmth.

"Thank you for your help!" Branch blew them a kiss, "bye bye!" He twirled in a princess fashion and with the warm light at hand, he continued his quest to find his best friend and bring him back to the village.

The creatures waved to the princess, "chrrt!"

"I wish we looked for him when we were still out here before. What if he thinks we abandoned him?" Branch looked at the ground as he walked, feeling horrible.

He was so focused on his thoughts he stopped paying a attention to where he walked. Suddenly, the ground was gone and he put his food right on air, him resulting in tripping, "AH!"

He managed to balance himself enough to not fall directly in to the hole, but was still stuck hanging from it with only arm holding on to the cliff, "that figures."

It was the same cliff Rose had fallen from, just a different part of the canyon. However all the leaves on the bushes below had fallen off, nothing soft at all to land on if he fell.

"Why do I always end up in the life-threatening situations?!"

(Because I like making you suffer 👁👄👁)

Branch looked down and then up and back and forth, trying to decide whether he should let himself fall and hope for the best or if he should stay there until he lost grip and plummeted to his death.

The word death echoed through his mind. He looked at the rocky ground at the bottom, frowning. No matter what happened, he was going to die, so it wouldn't make a difference, right?

Branch shook his head, realizing he was having suicidal thoughts again, "I don't want to die." He told himself, that being the only thing he could think of. He hadn't started therapy sessions yet, he didn't know how to help himself get through these thoughts.

"Can anyone please, help me?" He hoped there was someone nearby that could help him, "please?"

Branch waited a few seconds, praying someone would come for him, but nothing happened. It was hopeless, he gave up.

He sighed and let his fingers slip off the cliff and held his breath, accepting the fact he was going to die no matter what.

"BRANCH!" Pink hair wrapped around Branch's leg, stopping him from falling, "I got you!"

Branch looked up and exhaled, "THANK YOU! I really didn't want to die."

Guy Diamond glared at him and put his hands on his hips, "were you trying to kill yourself?"

"I tripped!" Branch explained as Poppy pulled him up.

When he was back on the solid ground, another face was there: Hickory.

Hickory waved, "the others didn't want to come and knowing the history of you three and deadly adventures I came." He added, "and also because I care about your safety."

Branch sighed, "I just wanted to—"

"Look for Biggie whether he's dead or alive?" Guy crossed his arms at Branch.

"How did you know?"

"It's obvious, why else would you come out here?" Hickory raised his eyebrow at Branch.

"Come on, Branch, come back to the village! You had a dream about, Biggie, it's normal, but that doesn't mean he's alive." Poppy held his hand, frowning at him, "it's dangerous out here."

Branch pulled his hand away, "You guys can go home, but I'm not leaving until I find Biggie."

"Branch, you need to let him go. He's gone. If you find his dead body you'll feel worse than before."

Branch crossed his arms, "I'm still going." He began to walk off, still arguing, "I can handle this myself! Just because I broke my arm doesn't mean I'm helpless. If you guys could just trust me-EEEE!" He walked right off the cliff again.

Poppy quickly caught him with her hair, "are you sure about that?" She plopped him on the ground in front of them and raised her eyebrow, "let us come for three days. If we don't find Biggie, can you come back to the village with us?"

Branch sighed, "fine. But you also have to everything I tell you guys to do."

"Deal." Poppy shook his hand.

"We start first thing in the morning. Now go make us a fire so we can sleep warm." Branch snapped his fingers at them.

The three quickly scurried in several different directions, looking for any sticks they could find on the ground.

Branch sat against a tree and watched them, pleased with himself being able to control them for a few days. He pulled something tiny from his hair— Mr. Dinkles' hat— and smiled at it, "I'm coming for you Biggie."
—

Finished Chapter August 19th, 2020