"Poppy..." Branch said with a quiet sigh as he looked away from her in sadness. "I'm sorry, but..." He looked back up at her with caring eyes, taking her hands gently in his. "Even if your mom wasn't eaten by a Bergen... there's no telling where she is now. Or... if she's even still alive..."

     "I know she is, Branch," Poppy objected, pulling away from her boyfriend as she stood up to her feet, placing her hands against her heart as she looked up at the sky dreamily. "I can feel it..."

     Again, she looked back at Branch, helping him up to his feet as well...

     "Ever since I was little..." she continued, holding his hands gently in hers as she gazed deeply into his gorgeous crystal blue eyes. "I had this feeling she was out there somewhere... and now that I found this letter... I know it's true..."

     She looked away yet again, dreading what Branch's reply would be to her next statement, knowing how he was about adventures, fearing that she would be unsafe if she went into one purely off of emotion...

     "I... I have to find her," she finally muttered under her breath, expecting the blue troll beside her to object and try to talk her out of it...

     Branch smiled slightly at the young queen's words, hugging his arms around her comfortingly as he gave the love of his life a gentle kiss on her forehead, knowing he would want the same thing if he found out his grandma was still somehow alive...

     "Ok," he finally whispered softly, Poppy looking back up at him in slight shock. "And I'm gonna help you..."

     Poppy couldn't help but smile, knowing Branch would always be right there beside her no matter what...

     "Thank you, Branch," she whispered, hugging him back.
"Anything for you..." he told her, shutting his eyes gently to enjoy the moment of being so close to the one he loved so much...

—————

     In his pod, Peppy anxiously paced back and forth, waiting impatiently for Branch to come and give him news about his daughter who had now been missing for almost an entire day...

     He hoped the young troll was able to find her... and he really hoped she was ok...

     "Dad?" he suddenly heard in a soft voice coming from behind him, causing the old king to quickly turn around, sighing in relief once he saw his beautiful little girl standing in the doorway, seemingly completely unharmed...

     "Poppy!" he shouted out in pure joy, quickly running over and lifting the queen of pop up into the air in excitement before wrapping her in a tight hug. "Thank goddess you're alright..."

     "Yep... I'm doing great..." Poppy replied sarcastically, pulling away from her father's loving grasp, and looking away from him as she began rubbing her arm nervously...

     "Poppy? What's wrong, my little princess?" Peppy asked in concern, seeing the sadness in his precious daughter's eyes.

     "I... I need to ask you something..." she responded, not even looking up at her father.

     "Of course..." the former king assured with a slight nod, taking Poppy's hands gently in his own...

     With a sigh, the little pink troll looked up at her dad, tears sparkling in her beautiful pink eyes...

     "What... what happened to mom?" she finally asked softly, gaining a stunned look from the old troll in front of her...

     Peppy's eyes widened a bit, completely shocked by the question as he looked at his daughter in confusion... but he knew he would have to answer her... even though he deeply didn't want to...

     But... he didn't have to answer her truthfully...

     "She... she was eaten by a Bergen..." he replied, doing his best to not look Poppy in the eyes, knowing he would crumble at her gaze. "You know that."
"Do I, dad?" Poppy replied firmly, giving her father a stern glare of disapproval. "Do I really?"

     Peppy gulped at her tone, finally looking up at his daughter.

     "What are you talking about, sweetie?" he asked, genuinely confused about what she was getting at. "I've told you all about your mother. What's bringing this up all of a sudden?"

     At the sound of that question, Poppy reached into her hair, pulling out the letter from her mother before handing it angrily to Peppy...

     "This..." she explained, Peppy taking the paper from her to look at. "I found this last night... in a box of mom's stuff..."

     Peppy sighed, crumpling up the letter as he lowered his head in shame, too disappointed in himself to even look up at his daughter for another second...

     "You... you were never supposed to see this, Poppy," he said softly, trying to mumble the words under his breath so the young queen wouldn't hear him...

     "So it's true..." she muttered in an angered tone. A tone that was very unusual for the queen of pop... "You lied to me? My mom is alive!?"

     The former king sighed, walking over to his daughter to place a comforting hand on her shoulder, but Poppy quickly pulled away, glaring up at him with tears of anger and despair flooding her eyes.

     He had lied to her... her own father... her entire life... she felt so... so... betrayed...

     "Please..." she whispered softly. "Just tell me about my mom... the truth..."

     Peppy sighed yet again, looking away from his daughter once more...

     "I have long feared this day would come..." he muttered under his breath. "I was hoping to protect you from this, Poppy..."
"Protect me? I'm not a little kid anymore, dad!" Poppy cried out in anger. "I'm the Queen... and... and she's my mom! I need to know where she is!"

     The old king looked back up at her, and despite seeing the tears pouring from his daughter's eyes... he still refused to tell her what had actually happened all those years ago...

     "I'm keeping this from you, because I love you, Poppy," he stated firmly. "You just have to trust me..."

     Again, he reached out for his daughter's shoulder, but again... the young queen just pulled away, shaking her head at her father in disappointment...

     "You lost my trust, dad," she stated firmly. "You lied to me! And now... I can never believe anything you say to me, ever again..."

     "Poppy..." Peppy said softly, trying to make her listen.

     She shook her head again, quickly running out of her father's home...

—————

     Outside the royal pod, Branch paced back and forth, waiting anxiously for Poppy to come back out...

     He was just so worried about her... the troll known to be the happiest, most positive creature on the planet... was so sad when he found her in the forest... and he hated seeing her sad. He hated it more than he hated Creek... and that's saying something...

     Suddenly, Poppy came sprinting out of Peppy's pod, crying harder than ever as she ran right past her worried boyfriend...

     Branch stopped pacing for a moment, looking off after her in confusion mixed with uncontainable worry...

     "Poppy? Poppy! Wait!" he finally yelled out, quickly taking off after her.

     It took a few moments, but Branch finally caught up to the young queen, placing a gentle but strong hand on his girlfriend's shoulder to stop her from running any farther...

     "Don't touch me!" Poppy snapped harshly, quickly pulling away from her boyfriend's grasp.

     Shocked at her outburst, Branch backed away a bit, looking at her with wide fearful eyes...

     "S... sorry," he apologized, feeling bad for making her angry. "I... I didn't mean..."

     Poppy looked away, crying harder as she shook her head, interrupting Branch's words.

     "No, Branch... it's not your fault..." she mumbled softly, instantly regretting her outburst. "I'm sorry..."

     Branch went to put his hand comfortingly on her shoulder, to hopefully help her feel better, but quickly stopped himself, remembering that it's not what Poppy wanted right now... he was going to respect her decision, no matter how much he wanted to make those tears leave her beautiful eyes... no matter how much it pained him to see the love of his life in this state of sorrow...

     "Are you ok?" he finally asked calmly, making sure to keep his hands to himself. "What happened?"

     "My dad is a liar..." she mumbled angrily, not even looking up at the blue pop troll she was speaking to. "He lied to me about the other troll tribes... he lied to me about my mom... and... and who knows what else he's lied to me about..."

     "Poppy..." Branch said softly, just wanting to help. "It... it's ok. We... we can still find her... you and me. We just need..."

     "No..." Poppy interrupted as she shook her head, still not even looking up at him... "I'll never find my mom... no matter what... and it's all his fault..."

     Quickly, without another word, the queen of pop turned, running off yet again...

     "But, Poppy!" Branch yelled, starting to chase after her. "Wait!"

     "Leave me alone, Branch!" she yelled back to him, continuing to run as tears flooded from her eyes. "Don't follow me! Don't you dare follow me!"

"Poppy! Come back!" Branch yelled out in concern, still chasing after her, his heart aching at how sad the troll he cared about more than anything else in the world was... "I just want to help!"

     "No, Branch!" the young queen suddenly yelled out angrily, turning back to him as she roughly shoved the blue pop troll down to the ground without even thinking, Branch landing on his butt with a silent groan of pain before looking back up at her with wide eyes. "I don't want your help! I don't need your help!"

She paused, noticing the small scrape that was now prominently shown on her boyfriend's elbow from when he fell.

She sighed, helping Branch back up to his feet before looking away from him yet again.

"I'm sorry..." she muttered softly, feeling bad for shoving him. "I... I just need to be alone..."

"Poppy..." Branch whispered, still wanting to help.

"Just leave me alone..." Poppy said before turning around, beginning to run away once more...

     Branch watched her sadly as she ran off into the distance, the queen of pop quickly leaving his sight...

     "Poppy..." he whispered again, lowering his head in despair as his ears drooped down, ashamed in himself for not being able to help her feel better...

     Slowly, several thoughts swimming through his head and refusing to shut up, Branch's sadness began to turn to anger as he suddenly turned, running back towards Peppy's pod...