Disclaimer: No, I am not dead. I am just on vacation. I decided to do a quick story that has nothing to do with future stories. This is basically a looksee on what was going on in Branch's head. I will do another chapter with Poppy's POV. I will do my best to get the fourth chapter of A Two Sided Street up and running. Speaking of that, I was wondering, should I go back and update earlier chapters? Or should I just leave them? There is a poll going on in my profile, answer there. I'll check in about a week. I am deeply sorry that it's taking a while. I am about to head to Florida in a few hours (3/31/2017) and getting no sleep in the process (you're welcome)! Without further a due, lets get this show on the road.

"YES!"

I whirled around to see Poppy visibly upset. We are currently stuck in a giant (compared to us) pot. And by 'We', I mean every troll in Troll Village. Of course, no thanks to that bastard, Creek! Surprised at Poppy's sarcasm, every one gasped and with Smidge's deep "Oh my god!". I was one of those surprised trolls; although I didn't gasp. I just stared in awe.

"I'm sorry," Poppy started with tears in her eyes, "I'm sorry that I got you thrown in here. I'm sorry that I let you down." She was now sitting on her knees, crying, looking at the ground. Every one was backed away so Poppy was sitting in an empty circle. This broke my heart. Seeing my best and only friend, sad, broken, and defeated . . . . and it was about to get worse.

Poppy turned to me and said with the saddest voice, "You were right. I couldn't do it." She looked back to the ground and that's when my heart shattered. I never actually believed that she couldn't do it. I just didn't want her to get herself killed. We weren't that close, compared to her and Creek, but I didn't want the only person in my life that I cared about . . . . to say hi to Grandma. And I never wanted to be right about her being wrong. If my heart was shattered know, then it was about to turn into dust.

Very slowly, from top to bottom, her color faded away.

Oh shit. This can't be happening. My Grandma dying was nothing compared to this. I looked around to see the trolls doing the same. Even Mr. Dinkles and he wasn't even a troll! And at the middle of it all was . . . . . CREEK! That traitorous bastage, he was responsible for this. Poppy was depressed that every one was about to die and the last thing she got from her crush was a cold shoulder. But at the same time I felt like I helped create this. Maybe if I wasn't so mean to her, maybe if I stayed a little more positive, I could have helped her.

This isn't Poppy, Poppy was a beautiful, funny, smart, positive girl that found a good thing in everything. Now she's this sarcastic, sad, lonely, beautiful women that deserves so much better. Poppy was always busy hanging around her friends, and learning to become queen, and things like that. But I was so attracted to her and her personality. It just started as a crush when she sent some of those invitations, I thought it was her just trying to include me out of pity. I always expected them to stop, but they didn't. No matter how much hate I tried to shove in her face, she always brushed it off, always had faith that I could be happy. I wanted to avoid happiness to punish myself for practically murdering Grandma. But while wallowing in my guilt, I forgot about Poppy and how I could make sure nothing horrible could happen to her. Now I'm too late.

Wait! It isn't too late. I can still fix this. I was not going to watch Poppy turn into a shadow of herself. How can I fix this? How, how, how, HOW!? I stared at Poppy and wrecked any part of my brain to try to fix this. And I found it. In a extremely forbidden part of me. Something that I vowed to never set foot in. Something that Poppy would have done and has done.

Singing.

But is it worth it? Doing the exact thing I vowed never to do? I glanced around me and looked at Poppy. I saw her depressed and colorless eyes. Hell yeah it is worth it! So I closed my eyes, took a deep breathe, and let it go. I opened my eyes with a new purpose. A new need for life. And I saw my one goal in life. Poppy.

"You with the sad eyes," I started to sing. Some trolls backed away from me, making a path to Poppy but they all were looking at me. I didn't care, the only thing I cared about is her, more than that bastard Creek ever would. Poppy looked at me with those said sad eyes. That pushed me to continue. While slowly walking up to her, I continued to sing, pouring my heart and soul into the song. "Don't be discouraged." I knelt down to her level and turned her face toward mine. I wanted to kiss her, but I stuck with my original plan.

"Oh, I realize. It's hard to take courage. In a world full of people. You can lose sight of it all, the darkness inside you, can make you feel so small." At that point Her watch for Hug Time went off and I opened my arms. Staring at me, she didn't move or even smile at my new character. Instead she shut her watch off. But that didn't stop the other watches from going off. In a melodic charm, each one started to glow and chime. Suddenly, the pot started moving, I could tell because I jerked a little bit. I had to put more than my heart and soul into this. I stood up and pulled Poppy with me, hand in hand.

"Show me a smile then. Don't be unhappy, can't remember when." She turned and walked away from me but I persisted. Holding an arm out, "I last saw you laughing. This world makes you crazy." I slide on my knees doing a little jazz hands at 'crazy'. And she grinned! Just a little, but enough! Motivated, I resumed. "And you've taken all you can bear, just, call me up. Cause I will always be there."

That's when it happened. "And I see your true colors- She started getting her pink back from her feet. I was so happy I continued to sing. "-shining through." She was smiling and she was happy and she turned around to look at her colors . . . . . . then I blew it. "I see your true colors. That's why I love you."

This was, what I call, an 'Oh shit' moment. I was so deep in the song that I poured my feelings out. I saw her head perk up and turn around. But there was a flaw in the script I made in my head. Her face had a smile on it. And then she started singing. "So don't be afraid. To let them show." Our hands connected and I let my colors show.

My blue came back and my hair grew with its color. It felt good to let go of my guilt and to let myself be happy again. I was only happy because she was happy. I sang with her, "Your true colors. True colors are beautiful." I grabbed her hands and started slow dancing with her. We slowly spun around while singing as everyone else let their true colors show. "I see your true colors shining through. I see your true colors and that's why I love you. So don't be afraid, to let them show. Your true colors." and Poppy sang as back up, "True colors" then we joined together in "are beautiful." We paused and stopped dancing.

"Like a rainbow." Poppy sang alone again. "ohh-ohh-oh-ohh. Like a rainbow." Then Cooper joined in with his harmonica. At this point, every one was back to normal. I turned back to her and saw her bright smile and happy face. I could die to a bergen right now. She slowly pulled me in and I was getting ready for the hug . . . . . . . .

She kissed me . . . . . She. Is. Kissing. Me! Surprised, I didn't know what to do, so I went with the flow and kissed back. I feel her lips, soft as a flower petal and tasty as a . . . . . poppy seed. Hey! I am into this! I, sadly, came back from heaven when I heard some 'awes' in the crowd. And when I say 'some' I mean most. Although we didn't stop until we needed air. We broke apart and stared, lovingly, into each others eyes.

"Why?" was all I could choke out. She looked taken back, confused. Her righ - I mean - left eyebrow lifted up. "Because I love you. Did you not listen? You sang the dang song." I chuckled at this. "Yeah, but I thought you liked-" she shoved her right index finger on my lips in an attempt to shut me up. "I had a crush on Creek. I thought that you would prefer someone more like you at the time." She started looking down getting another sad look. "I thought we could at least be friends and then Creek started making advances with me and . . . I didn't care."

I tilted her head up to look at me. "Don't go grey on me again." I was rewarded with the giggle from the heavens. "I didn't think you would want some one like me. So I just loved you from the sidelines . . . . I even keep all your invitations. After I fix them." She gasped at this. "You still kept them?!" she asked and I nodded. "Aw" she cooed with her hands on her heart. I blushed and rolled my eyes, "You don't need to make a big deal about it." She laughed and hugged me again.

"Princess Poppy?" asked a little girl. Poppy turned around, detaching herself from me, and looking at her. Can we take a moment to acknowledge that Poppy would make a great queen one day? "Is he your boyfriend?" she asked pointing at me. I blushed deeply and looked at Poppy for support. All she did was smirk evilly and ask, "I don't know. Are you my boyfriend Branch?" WHAT?! I was not equipped with the skills to deal with this! "Um . . . . Um . . . . shit, I mumbled that last part.

"Language," Poppy critiqued playfully while giggling at my face. The little girl started laughing and I knew they were waiting on me. "If you want me to?" I squeaked. she walked up to me and said, "As long as you want to." I guess that's what all the kid needed because she skipped happily along singing, "Princess Poppy and Branch sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G." And the rest, thankfully, faded in the distance. "Oh no," Poppy and I said at the same time. Although, hers was more playful and mine was more worried.

The rest happened all in a flash: Bridget saves us, we save Bridget, King meets queen and it was all fun. But my favorite part was watching that bitch of a chef rolling down the stairs, on fire, with Creek in her fanny pack.