A/N: Hmm, not many reviews for the last chapter! I really don't care much. I don't write stories just for the reviews. But I love seeing any funny reactions you guys have at the chapters! Although, fair warning, this chapter is quite angst-y with few funny moments.
GalaxyMegaGirl – I wanted there to be some kind of different magic, hence the Magi Trolls. I'm glad you enjoy them!
Jpbake – Yeah, imagining Creek and Cooper's embarrassment made me laugh. I have a plan for the ending. I don't know if it's a twist; but, then again, I wrote it, so I saw it coming. :)
Enjoy this next chapter!
Chapter Eleven – Return to the Troll Tree
Cooper ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Crystal had created a sort of snowboard out of ice and rode it alongside Cooper. Snowflake rode on Crystal's shoulders, whooping and laughing. Poppy shivered, even when buried under her coat and her and Crystal's capes they got from the Magi Trolls. Creek held her tighter, one arm wrapped around her and his free hand gripping Cooper's fur so he didn't fall off.
"Just hang in there." Creek encouraged Poppy. The pink troll smiled a little. "Come on, Cooper! Faster!"
"Hang on tight, buddy!" Cooper picked up speed. Several agonizing long minutes later, they saw the Troll Tree in the distance.
"Snowflake, wait here in the forest!" Creek ordered.
"But I wanna help!" Snowflake protested.
"We have no idea how the other trolls will react to seeing you." Crystal explained gently. "So wait here. We will come for you."
Snowflake pouted. "Okay….." She hopped off Crystal's shoulders and landed softly in the snow, waving after them.
When they reached the borders of the Troll Tree kingdom, Crystal hopped off her board and let it fly off to one side, where it shattered against a tree trunk. It was a longstanding rule within the ice troll kingdom that no non-ice troll could know of their abilities except for extenuating circumstances. Although that rule may be moot now, she didn't want to risk anyone finding out while they were in the middle of an eternal winter, in case it made things worse. Crystal ran alongside Cooper as they hurried to the Troll Tree.
Aspen saw them coming, and he shouted out to the other guards. "Queen Crystal and Queen Poppy have returned!"
Creek still carried Poppy as he slid off Cooper's back. The elevator came down, and a few of the servants came down to receive the returning trolls.
"Poppy!" one of them gasped. "Is she all right?"
"We need to get her inside and someplace warm." Crystal urged. Creek set Poppy down on her feet, and Crystal helped Poppy walked forward and into the elevator.
"Take care of her!" Creek called. He didn't move from his spot. Cooper stayed with him, the two of them unsure if they would be welcome.
Crystal looked back to them. "What are you waiting for? Get in here!"
"What?" Cooper and Creek asked simultaneously.
"Get in the ice bucking lift, you twits!" Crystal snapped.
"Yes Queen Crystal!" the boys yelped, hurrying into the elevator. It took them all up, and the servants led them into a drawing room with a large fireplace. Creek and Cooper began making a fire while Crystal helped Poppy get comfortable on a couch. The servants left them to their work.
Crystal put her fingers to Poppy's forehead. "You're so cold." She moaned worriedly. "Creek, Cooper, watch over her. I'm going to find my brother."
"Can do!" Cooper nodded. Crystal hurried out the door. Creek finished the fire and pulled up a chair to sit closer to Poppy. He tucked the capes tighter around her. Poppy suddenly slipped a hand out and grasped Creek's fingers.
"A-are you going to be okay?" Poppy asked.
Creek smiled softly. "Don't worry about me." He noticed more strands of Poppy's hair turning white, and he gave her hand a squeeze. "Everything is going to be all right."
Crystal ran about the royal pod and didn't find Frost until she arrived at the library, where Frost stood by the fire and stared absent-mindedly at the flames. He looked up when he heard the door open, and overwhelming relief washed over him.
"Sister." He sighed, opening his arms as Crystal jumped towards him. The twin royals held each other in a tight embrace. "I was worried for you."
"I am fine, Brother." Crystal sighed, stepping back from Frost.
"Where is Branch?" Frost asked. "Did you find our baby brother?"
Crystal looked down. "Yes. But I fear I made things worse. And we have no time to think of that now. Poppy needs our help! Branch accidentally struck her in the heart with his powers."
Frost paled. "But she'll—"
"Turn to ice, I know!" Crystal said impatiently. "That's why we brought her here. She needs an act of true love to save her, so we must bring her father to her!"
Frost shut his eyes, in great pain. "We can't."
"Why not?" Crystal demanded, a little scared to see her brother so distraught. "What has happened?"
"King Peppy is dead." Frost said, causing his sister to gasp.
Frost had been gone for ten minutes. Ten measly minutes. Apparently that's all the time it took for disaster to strike in the royal pod. When he returned from checking in on the village, one of the servants frantically dragged him to King Peppy's room. Frost's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he saw the bloodied bandages around Peppy's chest. He barely breathed.
"Go get the healer! Now!" Frost barked. The servants rushed to do his bidding while Frost hurried to Peppy's side. The wounded king was deathly still, and he breathed funnily. Peppy slowly blinked open his eyes and stared at Frost with a pleading gaze. "Just be still, sire." Frost assured. He shouted out the door. "Where is that healer?!"
Then, Frost felt a weak grip on his hand, and he looked down to see Peppy staring at him with more urgency. Frost leaned down to hear what Peppy so desperately wanted to say.
"Malcolm…did this…" Peppy rasped. "Protect…my children…."
"Malcolm?" Crystal repeated. "The leader of the imps?"
"Yes." Frost nodded solemnly.
"But why?" Crystal wondered. "What could he gain from that?"
"Revenge? The kingdom?" Frost guessed. "I do not know and I hate not knowing. Worst of all, the slippery eel seems to have disappeared. I fear for Queen Poppy and our brother's safety."
Crystal's thoughts raced. "So what do we do?"
"Watch over Queen Poppy." Frost instructed. "Do not let her out of your sight for a moment. I am going to search for Malcolm."
"What about Branch?" Crystal asked. "What will we do about him?"
"I sent Kiv with a group of volunteers to find you when Foxlen returned." Frost explained. "He may have found our baby brother already, and will bring him back. For now, our focus must be on Queen Poppy."
Poppy eventually fell asleep, exhausted by recent events. Cooper and Creek kept a close and careful watch on her. Cooper made sure the fire kept going, but even the roaring flames and two blanket-like capes only marginally helped Poppy's shivering. She seemed much calmer now that she slept.
Creek sat in a chair right next to the couch Poppy slept on. He still had her hand in his gentle grip, staring at her face. Creek wished he could see her bright pink eyes again. Those eyes that always sparkled with hope and determination. He lifted a hand and gently brushed his fingers against the pretty glitter freckles on her cheek. He tried to imagine her smile, the same smile that took his breath away. He would do anything to save her. He'd give his life to keep her from dying.
Slowly, hesitantly, Creek stood and leaned down to press his lips against Poppy's.
Cooper stared in shock and awe, praying the kiss would be enough. Creek pulled away, and Poppy's eyes fluttered open. She stared at Creek in confusion.
"Creek?" She murmured. "What are you…?"
It hadn't worked.
"I-I'm sorry." Creek stood hurriedly, suddenly ashamed. "I just…that was stupid, I know—"
"No, no." Poppy reached out to him, and Creek tentatively accepted her hand. She gave his hand a squeeze. "Thank you for trying." She said sincerely. Creek gave a weak smile, his eyes traveling to the ground.
Cooper watched their interaction closely. Not many considered him particularly bright, but he often saw things others didn't. He could see now why the kiss didn't work. There was a bond between Creek and Poppy. But Creek didn't have his heart and soul put forth in it. Poppy seemed to be denying the bond for some reason. If they both accepted that connection they shared, maybe the kiss would've been enough to save Poppy.
Crystal entered the room soon after Poppy fell asleep again. "How is she?"
"Still cold as ice." Cooper said. "And I don't think she's getting any better."
Creek moved aside as Crystal came to sit in his place. The ice troll queen removed her mittens and unclipped her opal necklace from around her neck. She placed the stone on Poppy's chest, careful to not wake the sleeping queen. She put her free hand on Poppy's forehead. Creek and Cooper watched, mesmerized, as Crystal murmured under her breath, and the opal began to glow softly. Some of the white hairs on Poppy's head turned back to pink.
"It's working!" Cooper cheered softly. Creek shushed him so Crystal could focus. After a few minutes, Crystal removed the opal and put it back around her neck. Poppy sighed in her sleep.
"How did you do that?" Creek asked in a quiet voice.
"I have ice powers too." Crystal reminded him. "I was able to pull some of the ice out of her, and the opal repressed the spread for now." She rubbed the opal gem. "This gem has been passed down for generations in the royal family. It's original use was to cleanse a royal ice troll's mind, erase memories they find unnecessary….or much too painful." Crystal looked to Creek and Cooper, sorrow in her eyes. "Before my baby brother ran away, I had planned to use it to erase his memory of knowing Mother's death. Frost and I planned to erase all memory of Mother's death from Branch's and our father's minds, in hopes we could start over."
"Queen Crystal?" Cooper piped up, coming closer to the ice troll. Crystal perked up a little, seeing how this was the first time Cooper regarded her so formally. "You don't have to be sad anymore. You found your brother. And when all this blows over and we bring back summer, you and King Frost can start over with Branch. I think the first thing you ought to do is have a real heart-to-heart. Branch is in a lot of pain, and he's gonna need a lot of help from his whole family to heal him."
Crystal grinned gently. "Thank you, Cooper." The troll llama puffed up his chest in pride, and Creek smiled broadly.
"By the way, did you find King Peppy?" Creek asked. "Poppy needs that act of true love soon."
Crystal's smile fell away. "He's dead. Someone murdered him while we were gone."
Creek and Cooper stared at Crystal in horror. "But without him, how are we going to save Poppy?" Cooper asked desperately.
"With Branch." Crystal said. "He and Poppy…they're soul-bonded. He is her true love. So you two need to return to my baby brother and bring him back here."
"He won't help us when he knows he put ice in her." Creek protested.
"Then you have to convince him that he's the only one who can help!" Crystal ordered. "He is our last hope at saving Poppy's life. Get him to come back and we can save the entire kingdom."
Creek and Cooper exchanged a look. Branch was a stubborn troll, and fiercely protective of his family. He left his siblings because he thought he would kill them. He left Poppy because he was afraid to hurt her. But if they could get him to understand that they weren't afraid—that he wasn't the monster he feared he was—maybe he and his siblings could stop this winter.
"All right." Creek nodded. "We'll drag him back here if we have to!"
"Then go." Crystal commanded. "I will watch over Poppy and slow her freezing. You must hurry!"
"We're on it." Cooper assured. He and Creek sprinted out the door and down to the base of the Troll Tree.
Crystal turned her attention back to Poppy, gently brushing the pink troll's bangs from her face. "You will be all right, Little Sister. I promise."
The second they reached the ground, Creek hopped onto Cooper's back and the llama took off across the frozen river and up the mountain.
Snowflake sat on a frost-covered mushroom, waiting patiently for someone to come fetch her. She drew pictures in the snow to pass the time, getting rather bored with waiting. Then she noticed Creek and Cooper in the distance, and she stood up to better watch them leave. Only they didn't come for her. In fact, they were heading back towards the North Mountain. Snowflake looked back towards the Troll Tree, worry creeping up inside her.
Creek and Cooper ducked under some bushes and kept going. "It took us almost a full day to reach the North Mountain." Creek reminded Cooper.
"That was the long away around, and we left from Drago's trading post!" Cooper corrected. "We're going the short route: straight up!"
Creek looked up towards the North Mountain in the distance. He tightened his grip on Cooper's neck fur. "How fast can you get us up there?"
Cooper's eyes settled into a determined glare. "You just hang on tight."
Cooper suddenly shot out his hair, stretching it like rainbow trolls do, and grabbed a tree limb. He yanked himself and Creek forward, sending them flying through the air and covering almost a quarter of a mile in a matter of seconds.
With their determination as their fuel, the two of them reached the mountains in under an hour, and they arrived at Branch's palace through a similar route Branch himself took when he first ran away.
When they arrived, however, they were shocked to see the ice stairs partially destroyed. The snow around them, though half-smoothed out thanks to the wind, looked disheveled like a battle had taken place. Creek jumped off Cooper and the two of them hurried up and through the open front doors.
"Branch?" Cooper called.
"Your Majesty!" Creek's voice echoed around the room. "Are you in here?" They heard no reply, and then an arctic fox bounded up to them. The anxious animal sniffed and nuzzled Creek until he could calm her down. He and Cooper left her by the fountain while they tried going up a level and to the second floor. They saw a few arrows here and there, and it made them nervous. They shot through the open doors and slid to a stop. The second floor looked worse than they thought: large icicles sticking up in random places, the doors to the balcony destroyed, and the ice chandelier in shambles around them.
A lone figure lay on the ground across the room, and Creek and Cooper sprinted over to him.
"Isn't that Kiv?" Cooper asked.
Creek pushed the figure to his back and saw it truly was his honor guard friend from the ice troll kingdom. "What is he doing here?" Creek murmured. He put his ear to Kiv's chest, sighing in relief when he heard a strong, steady heartbeat. "Kiv? Kiv! Wake up! Come on, Mate, wake up!"
Kiv moaned, his eyes blinking open. "Creek? What the iced devil are you doing here?"
"It's a long story." Creek said, helping Kiv sit up. "What are you doing here? And where's King Branch?"
Kiv suddenly looked all around, and he slammed his fist into the floor. "Frostbite! I'm going to kill that little ice bucking son of a—"
"Whoa, whoa!" Creek said, trying to calm the ice troll. "Easy on the language, Mate! What's wrong?"
"Malcolm. That slimy duke of the imps. He did this!" Kiv declared.