On a bridge on the far edges of Trollstopia, Poppy stood, sadly looking off into the distance as she thought carefully about her mom...

     All she wanted was to meet her... to get to know her... but because of her dad... she'd never get the chance to...

The young queen sighed as she watched a family of ducks, the mother and father hugging their babies happily... why couldn't her family be like that?

     But then again... at least she had a family... Branch... Branch had no one... he was alone... hair... she was the only thing even remotely close to a family that he had... and she was so mean to him... he probably never wanted to see her again... and it was all her fault...

Finally... the queen of pop deciding to just get home and go to bed for the night... she turned, beginning to walk away with her head low in shame...

"Poppy!" she suddenly heard in an exited shout from behind her. "Poppy, wait!"

She stopped walking, turning around to see Branch running quickly towards her, the biggest smile ever plastered on his bright blue face...

"Hey, Branch..." she sighed, turning to look away from him as she guiltily began rubbing her arm. "I... I'm sorry about earlier... I shouldn't of snapped at you like that. You were only trying to help."

He smiled slightly, actually bouncing up and down slightly in overwhelming exhilaration... he kind of looked like a young child with that big goofy grin of his covering his entire face...

"It's ok, Poppy," he assured, not angry with her in the slightest. He loved her... and understood completely why she was acting the way she had been earlier that day...

After all... he was kind of worse than that in his bunker days... even a few hours ago when he had his 'little' argument with Peppy...

"And look... I think I actually found a way to help..." he finally continued, pulling the rolled up piece of paper out of his hair before handing it to her with an expecting smile. "Check this out. You'll love it!"

She took the dirty ripped up sheet, unrolling it to look at as she raised an eyebrow in slight confusion...

"Uh... coooool..." she lied, not wanting to hurt her boyfriend's feelings, but at the same time having no idea what in the world she was looking at... "But... uh... what is it exactly?"
"I think it's a map to your mom," Branch explained with glistening eyes.

Poppy gasped at her boyfriend's words, looking up at him in complete shock...

"My... my mom?" she asked softly, her eyes wide in disbelief.

     "Well... it has her name on it," he said. "That must mean something, right?"

She looked back down at the paper, smiling wide at the possibility of her mom being at the ❌ that marked the spot...

Branch smiled lovingly over at his beautiful girlfriend, ecstatic to see that she was finally happy again...

"So... if I follow this..." Poppy started, not looking away from the glorious piece of paper in her hands... "I'll find my mom?"
"I believe so," Branch smiled. "Yes..."

"Oh my god... oh my god!" she yelled out in excitement, suddenly flinging her arms around the light blue pop troll, hugging him tight. "Thank you, Branch! Thank you so much! You're the absolute best!"

"I'd do anything for you, Poppy," he chuckled softly, gently hugging her back as he shut his eyes in overwhelming joy just to see her so happy... "Anything..."

Finally, Poppy pulled away from the hug, looking back down at the map with her large enchanting smile...

     In that moment... Branch was aware of nothing but Poppy's joy... lost in a blissful state of pure and utter love...

     That is... until the queen of pop suddenly spoke again...

"Where did you get this anyway?" she asked, Branch snapping right out of his trance, the little troll's smile instantly fading as his heart sank down painfully into his stomach...

"Oh... I... I... uh..." he stuttered nervously, not knowing what to say as he looked away from the love of his life in pure terror...

     He did not want to tell her he had stolen the map from her dad... she would be so angry with him... and even worse... if Peppy found out... he couldn't help but shutter at the thought...

"I... I... I... I..." he stammered, trying hard to think of an excuse. "I just... I... uh... I..."

Poppy finally looked away from the map, turning her gaze up to Branch as she raised an eyebrow in confusion...

"Are you ok, Branch?" she asked, seeing the worried look on his face. "You're looking a bit pale..."

"Oh... um... yeah... I... I'm fine," he lied, faking a smile to convince her he was telling the truth...

She shrugged, quickly getting back to the topic...

     "So, where did you get the map?" she asked again.
"Your... uh..." Branch said slowly, nervously rubbing his arm, an idea finally popping into his head at what seemed like the last possible second... "Your dad. He... he gave it to me..."
"He did?"

Branch nodded, smiling innocently over at Poppy...

"Yep," he explained 'confidently'. "He said that he felt bad for lying to you all these years, so he gave me the map so we could go and find her. Together..."

"Wow..." Poppy gasped, looking back down at the map in amazement. She just couldn't believe what Branch was telling her... "I gotta thank him," she suddenly exclaimed with a large smile, turning to run off towards her father's pod...

     Branch's eyes widened in horror at the statement, quickly racing after the queen of pop...

"Poppy, wait!" he shouted, grabbing hold of his girlfriend's wrist to stop her departure. "We... uh..." He had to think of something... fast... "We actually don't have time," he explained, the blue troll's terror being heard clearly in his trembling voice. "We should probably get going. Now! Be... before it gets too late..."

     "Come on, Branch," Poppy chuckled, pulling away from her boyfriend's grasp as she looked him right in the eye. "It won't take that long... now let's go!"

She handed him the map with a quick kiss to his cheek before quickly running off towards Peppy's pod, excited to thank her father for the opportunity to finally meet her mom...

Once Poppy was completely out of sight, Branch looked down at the map that was now in his hands, gulping in pure terror, a ball of fear seeming to literally be stuck in his dry throat...

"I... am so dead..."