This is an odd fiction done from Branches point of view, it covers before the film during and after. There is something I like about this story and I don't know why. Any way, warnings of fluff and angst as is usual for me. I don't own anything here. I have dyslexia so please be nice about the spelling and grammar.
Our bond.
The foundations:
Branch remembered the first time it had ever happened between them so clearly, at the time they had been very young and they had only recently moved from the old troll tree to the new one. The feel of the smaller pink troll in his arms when she had fallen out of a tree and strait into his arms had felt so natural. The princess had blinked up at him with wide pink eyes, eyes which Branch couldn't help but think they were the most beautiful eyes he had ever seen in his whole life. As he thought this the grey troll had felt it something flaring into life inside him, Branch didn't know what it was but from the look on Poppy's face she felt it too. He'd quickly but gently put her on her feet and backed away from her, the feelings inside him where opening up places within his heart which after the death of his grandma Branch had closed off and he was unwilling to let them open once more.
As Branch had backed away from the princess, Poppy had looked at the grey troll with an expression of hurt which had stabbed at his heart, but for him feeling any form of positive emotion was too dangerous to painful. So, Branch had done the only thing which came to mind at the time he ran…He'd ignored her calling his name, Branch had run all the way back to his only partly built bunker and hidden away for all the other trolls for days until he was sure that he once more had whatever those strange feelings where back under control.
The grey troll was aware of those same feelings occurring in him every time that he and Poppy ran into each other so the grey troll tried to avoid the positive princess as much as was possible. It seemed to him however that the more he tried to avoid her the more Poppy sought him out. Branch found this fact endlessly irritating so he tried his hardest to put the pink troll off of coming to see him by being mean to her and sarcastic. This worked some of the time so the grey troll did his best to be as unhospitable to Poppy as possible in the hopes that sooner or later she would give up and finally leave him alone thus taking those strange feelings with her.
"BRANCH!" The grey troll froze he knew that voice far too well, it always made his heart start to race and he didn't know why.
Poppy came running up to him, she looked up into his blue eyes and he stepped back as he felt that feeling start to try to surface as he did every time Poppy was close to him. It was a feeling he didn't want to feel but Branch couldn't help but feel it anyway. It also felt to him as if something was trying to bring them closer together and bind them together forever. As far as Branch was concerned that made no sense they were nothing alike why would they need to be together in any way. The pink troll was still standing there watching him but not saying anything to him so Branch asked. "What did you want Poppy?"
The princess shook herself out of whatever thoughts she had been involved in and spoke to the grey troll. "Oh I wanted to give you this." Poppy quickly shoved an invitation into his hands.
Frowning Branch looked down at it but before he could say or do anything to the other troll she had dashed off to give other people their invitations. The grey troll was sure that the princess had to know that he was unlikely to attend this party so he couldn't help but be confused as to why Poppy would think of inviting him in the first place. Little did Branch know that this would be the first of the many invitations Poppy would present him with and which the grey troll would secretly collect and keep for a reason he would not understand until many years later.
Branch didn't know how he had known that day that Poppy had needed him he just did, the grey troll, grabbed his medical kit and his back pack with his basic tools in it, before the grey troll flew out of his bunker and ran into the forest. Branch didn't know what was directing him but whatever it was the grey troll followed it without hesitation and found Poppy laying on her back in a clearing he could see that the pink troll was very pale. Quickly the grey troll was at the side of the princess, he leant over her, he listened for a heartbeat and when Branch found it he let out a sigh of relief. Branch quickly but carefully started to inspect the princess to see if he could find out what had her in this state. Eventually on the palm of her left hand he found a small red star shaped mark and instantly the grey troll knew exactly what this was. Branch put his back pack down to one side, he opened it up and then fished out the bottle he needed as well as a cloth. Branch carefully put some of the liquid it contained into the cloth, tenderly he pressed it to the mark for a few moments, before taking the cloth away and then pouring a little more into the wound which caused Poppy to whimper. "I'm sorry." Branch said softly knowing that the princess couldn't hear him. Once he was happy that he had treated the injury fully the grey troll carefully bound the hand with bandages. With this done Branch lifted the smaller pink troll into his arms before heading back to the troll tree and then start to make his way towards the royal pod. As the other trolls noticed him as he walked through the tree carrying Poppy, they tried to take the princess from him but Branch refused to surrender her to any of them even her friends.
One of the trolls had dashed off to fetch the King and a few moments later Peppy came through the troll tree towards the grey troll. He looked to his pale daughter in his arms and then to Branch there was no judgement in his eyes just questions. "What happened?"
The grey troll answered this question. "Princess Poppy was stung by a thorn of the bell vine. I have treated it so the princess should be fine with some rest." With this said Branch carefully handed the pink troll across to her father and went to leave.
"Wait Branch…" The King said, this caused the younger troll stop walking and he turned to look back at the troll King. "Thank you for helping my daughter." Branch gave him a nod of acknowledgement before he walked away making his way back home to his bunker.
Over the years which had passed since their childhood into their early adult hood Branch had done a lot of research into what that feeling inside him had been and what had been happening to both Poppy and himself. What he had discovered in the course of his research had shocked the grey troll deeply. He didn't want to place the real name to what it was so the grey troll started to refer to it simply as their bond. Branch knew from his reading that it was special and rare…But the grey troll also knew that he didn't deserve Poppy. As far as he was concerned the pink princess deserved some troll who was her equal some troll who could give Poppy everything she could ever want and that troll wasn't him. The grey troll tried as much as possible to avoid the princess and to make her want to keep a distance from him in return but despite his best efforts to make himself even more unlikeable Poppy still tried to include him in everything and even called him her friend. Branch often wondered if the princess had any idea of the bond they shared but after observing Poppy for years he was sure that she completely unaware of it. Branch decided not to tell the pink troll anything about the bond which stood between them and instead the grey troll opted to use the knowledge he had gained from all of his research to supress it as much as was possible.
Recently though Branch had been feeling a lot a of pain in his heart in and off, the grey troll was well aware that the pain in his heart was because Poppy had started to act in a romantic way towards Creek which was affecting their bond in a negative way. Sometimes the grey troll found that the pain in his heart was almost unbearable but Branch did the best he could to push the terrible pain he felt to one side and just carry on as normal. After all in Branch's opinion the princess deserved a lot better than someone as damaged as himself and Creek would make her happy which was what mattered the most to him.
In the middle of what he was doing Branch felt her through their bond despite the fact weak as it was due to him keeping a distance from Poppy and supressing it, he still knew that something was wrong with the princess. Quickly the grey troll picked up his faithful backpack and left his bunker in search of the pink troll. He let the bond draw him on and eventually Branch found the princess who was stuck bound up in some vines which had clearly been hanging from a tree. As Poppy noticed the other troll she gave him a look which was a combination of mortification and relief. The grey troll looked her situation over for a few moments, before settling his backpack on the ground, he opened it up and drew out a sharp blade. Carefully Branch climbed into the tree, he then set to work on the vines holding Poppy and when at last she was almost freed of them the grey troll carefully curled his dark hair round hers which caused the princess to let out a surprised gasp.
Poppy stared up at the other troll she had never felt like this when anyone else had curled their hair round hers. She felt completely safe and her heart was full of happiness suddenly, the pink troll was so lost in these feelings that she was unaware of the moment when Branch cut away the last vine. Poppy only became aware of what was happening when the grey troll placed him on her feet on the grass. A few moments later the princess felt his hair slip out of hers and she suddenly felt as though she had lost something very important to her. Branch came down out of the tree, he stood on the grass opposite Poppy who was standing there staring at him wide eyes. "Thank you for your help Branch."
"Try to stay out of more trouble I might not be around next time to find you." With this said the grey troll picked up his pack, shouldered it and then walked away heading back to his home without looking back at the one he had just saved.
Realising that he loved Poppy had come as quiet the shock to Branch, he didn't even really know when it began or why…It was just something he came to realise one day after helping Poppy out of some trouble she had gotten herself into yet again. The grey troll was well aware of the fact that two trolls such as them with their bond where supposed to share a deep love, but he hadn't really believed that it would happen until it had. Branch took great pains to hide the fact he was in love with Poppy right alongside the fact that they were supposed to be bound together. Love as far as the grey troll was concerned was an emotion which he not only didn't deserve but would only cause him more pain. He'd already lost so many trolls in his life that he had loved, to add another to them wasn't something Branch even wanted to contemplate. Despite all of this the feelings of love for Poppy lingered in his heart and the grey troll did his best to contented himself with loving the princess in secret and from a distance.