Branch smiled as he walked hand in hand down the street with the love of his life, Poppy. He'd been with her only a few months, but it felt like a lifetime. He couldn't help but remember those lonely years in his bunker, made slightly less lonely with Poppy popping in every half hour... maybe that's an exaggeration.

Trolls always asked him for help now, knowing he was more than willing. Even when he was grey, you only had to ask and he'd help, though not saying it was to be nice but because he had nothing better to do. He secretly felt socially accepted whenever he helped. So it was no wonder when Petal, a green troll with purple hair going up into pink, ran up to him and asked him for some help.

"Hey Branch! Are you able to help me?" Poppy nodded as Branch looked to her. "Great! My dad just gave me his restaurant, you know, Circus Baby's Entertainment and Rental, and I need to hire someone for the night shift, but until I do, would you be willing? I mean, I'll pay you and everything, just until I find someone to do it?" Petal asked in one breath.

"Yeah, no problem. What time?" He asked, nodding.

"From midnight to six." She replied and smiled. "Thanks for doing this Branch. Just as a warning, according to my dad, the animatronics are in their 'rooms' or whatever at night, but are left so they can walk around, so just make sure they don't leave the place and don't go all Branch on them if they come in the room. Now, I have no idea how they work, you know, but that's all my dad told me. He'll show you around, because he knows the place a lot better."

"Sounds good." Branch smiled softly at Petal and squeezed Poppy's hand anxiously as Petal stared at Branch longer than she should have.

"Kay, bye. Thanks so much again." Petal skipped off as Poppy latched herself to Branch's arm.

"Branch, I think she likes you. Nobody can take my man." She said before kissing his cheek.

"I know, I'm more nervous that she'll have cameras watching me than of those animatronics ever could."

Branch found himself regretting those words as he ran through the corridor, looking over his shoulder to see a creepy ballerina animatronic racing after him.

The teal troll used his hair to get himself into a vent and jumped into the next room... which landed him right in the middle of Funtime Freddy and Funtime Foxy, Ballora dancing into the room. Branch tried escaping through Freddy's legs, but BonBon popped up and frightened him back into the middle of the animatronics.

He began to dial Poppy's number into his phone, but decided to call 911 instead.

"911, what's your emergency?" The phone was knocked by Funtime Foxy, and Branch was pulled back to the horror as their faces began to unhinge. He just screamed.

He opened his eyes to see another animatronic walking towards him. Circus Baby.

He closed his eyes and braced himself for the worst, feeling his eyes being pulled at but didn't budge his eyelids until the knocking stopped.

He opened his eyes to see a metal thing coming towards him and a sharp pain, and everything was white as the pain overtook the troll.

"Branch, please, wake up!" Branch woke up to find Poppy holding his hand, a bandaged hand, and if it wasn't for his pain in his chest and face he'd think he was dead. "Branch!" She launched herself around her boyfriend.

"Poppy?" He asked softly, his head pounding. "Please stop screaming. What happened?"

"Branch? Oh my gosh, I am so sorry! I seriously didn't realise that the animatronics would attack you!" Petal yelled, running into the room, and he felt his head jerk to the side... he certainly didn't mean to do that.

His shoulders went up jerkily before he fell back against the pillows, not even realising he had sat up from the bed.

"Branch?" Poppy asked shakily. "Why did you move? How did you move?!" Branch felt his shoulders and felt bandages wrapping them. "They'll be gone in a day or two, don't worry. But they said they numbed your upper body."

"I.. I didn't do that." He gulped.

"Doctor!" Dr. Plum, a purple troll with green hair, raced in. "How is Branch moving his shoulders?" Almost as if his neck heard, his head jerked to the right again.

"Alright, I'll be straight with you. Now, when Branch dialed 911, they knew they probably wouldn't get away with killing him, so they put in some sort of sensor in him, just it's on the top of the spine and can only control your head and shoulders. Branch, you wouldn't know, they kind of... damaged an eye when they attacked you and knocked it back in your socket. Your sight should be fine, but your eye will always be a bit wonky. I just hope they didn't do enough damage to you to actually turn you into one of them..." She trailed, and Branch looked at Poppy, suddenly aware of how half of his sight looked twisted at a 30 degree angle, so things seemed like they should slide down half his vision.

"Am I ugly now?" Branch asked Poppy quietly so only she could hear.

"No Branch, you are the most gorgeous troll ever." She softly trailed a finger down his cheek.

The next day, the doctor unwrapped his shoulders and neck, along with his head and kept one large bandage on his right cheek and down his chin, because apparently Foxy had gotten him deep with his claws there. He was released, but Poppy still insisted that she'd stay with him in case he needed medical attention in the middle of the night.

He walked the long walk back to his bunker at the end of troll tree, a more homier bunker though obviously. It was worse than the walk of shame. People saw the bandage and asked what happened if they didn't see his eye, but when they saw his eye they just recoiled and either snickered or stared.

He gripped Poppy's hand tighter, and she squeezed back before finally pulling his cheek against her shoulder and put a hand over the bandage to get the attention off him.

"Branch, the Snack Pack wants to come by later and see how you are. Is that okay?" The pink troll asked as his head jerked into her cheek involntarily, and she let out a hiss.

"Sorry Poppy! I swear I didn't-" She softly kissed him to shut up.

"It isn't your fault. So no sorries." Poppy said softly and smiled at him before continuing to his bunker.

They went in silently, a comfortable silence. Poppy sat on a couch and Branch laid down with his head in her lap. She began playing with his deep blue locks and he hummed in appreciation, before his shoulders shrugged themselves but it didn't stop Poppy. He closed his eyes and leaned into her skilled touch.

The door burst open, and a familiar llama troll burst in, followed by the entire Snack Pack. "Heyyyyy Branch!" The group settled themselves on the couches.

"How is it without your hand?" Guy asked with his autotuned voice, tilting his head slightly. Branch raised an eyebrow and looked at his left hand, it was there. He looked at his bandaged right hand, and realised it seemed too short.

"Branch, don't." Poppy warned as he pulled off the bandages and screamed when he saw a stump where his hand should be. Oddly enough, a few wires poked out of the healed skin. "Guy, we weren't gonna tell him just yet!" Poppy hissed before wrapping an arm around Branch and kissing his temple, trying more to calm herself than her soulmate. His head jerked twice after a minute as he talked with the Snack Pack, nobody noticing when his head jerked for the fiftieth time that his eyes glowed a vibrant blue before fading back to normal.

"Hey Branch, you feeling all right?" Poppy asked as she sat next to the blue troll who had his head in his hands... uh, hand and stump covered in a sock-like thing.

"Yeah..." He said softly as he looked at her, feeling a sudden urge to rip off her skin and see what was underneath... then shook the thought from his head.

"Branch!" She gasped as his eyes glowed a blue light. He blinked and it was gone, before his shoulders shrugged. "Your eyes..."

"I know Poppy... that happened a few minutes ago too..." He didn't want to say what was on both their minds. What if you are secretly an animatronic? Of course, Branch would know, right? Maybe he wouldn't, which was the scary part.