Branch's face felt like it was on fire, he was so cold and all he did was shiver nonstop. His arms were so sore from being tied up higher than his head all night and his knees ached from holding his weight. Yet all he could think about was how much he still loved her even though she said that she had never loved him in first place, but if that were true then why had it felt so real? He had to keep telling himself that she was raised most of her life by a heartless monster of a troll and so that must have been the reason she was able to trick him by playing sweet and naïve all the time.
"Did you enjoy your night?" Spruce asked with a sinister grin forming on his lips as he walked toward the weak troll "I hope it wasn't too painful."
"Sir Spruce," a palace guard said walking over to the green troll "Queen Abilene would like to see you now and she said to bring him."
"Well you heard him!" Spruce snapped at his two friends "Untie this gross pathetic excuse of a troll."
The two trolls quickly untied Branch's hands allowing his arms to finally have a chance to relax before forcing him to his unsteady legs. "WALK!" Spruce hissed. Branch took a few steps but it wasn't good enough, Spruce used all his strength to shove the weaker troll forward where he landed hard on the muddy ground. Hearing them laugh was nothing new to Branch, he had heard it most of his life whenever they tricked him and did some not so nice things to him. After getting back on his feet Branch was made to stand in front of Lady Abilene and Princess Poppy who had a look of disgust on her face, he quickly lowered his head to embarrassed to make eye contact with her.
"Hey Poppy," Spruce greeted as he walked towards the pink troll extending a hand for her to take.
Poppy smiled as she placed her own hand into his before stepping up to him and placing a quick kiss on his lips. Her heart sank when she saw the way Branch slowly turned his head away with a hurt look.
"My… my," Lady Abilene said with a evil grin gently caressing the cuts on Branch's face sending sharp pains throughout his body "look how dirty you are."
"Maybe we should clean him off," Spruce suggested grinning just as evilly as his aunt had.
Lady Abilene nodded and watched as they shoved the imperfect troll to the ground on his back and held his arms down to his side. Panic began to rise in Branch as they held him place, what were they going to do to him? Spruce then appeared over him holding a small bucket giving him one last smirk before he slowly poured water onto his face, like the night before cuts flared up with such intense pain. Branch wanted to shout out and beg them to stop but was no use his mouth still covered. As Poppy watched from a short distance away she noticed his right hand shaking and his breathing increased which told her that he was in a lot of pain, her head was screaming for them to stop but her mouth said nothing.
By the time Spruce was finished Poppy could see that the cuts on the side of Branch's face were now glowing a purplish color while his skin tone looked a few shades lighter and his shivering was also more noticeable. After lifting him to his feet they quickly tied his hands behind his back tightly and even though his face was in pain it did not hurt as much as his heart. It hurt knowing that she just stood back and watched showing little to no emotion whatsoever. He closed his eyes remembering all the good times they had spent together and how she acted like she truly cared for him but it had been all a nasty trick that he was dumb enough to fall for. "WALK!" Spruce hissed giving again Branch another hard shove to get him to start moving.
The moment Branch was back in his cell Spruce attacked because what better time to hurt your enemy then when he would not be able to defend himself. Spruce's two friends watched as their leader punched and kicked the helpless troll until he was out of breath. "Well," Spruce said standing up straight "I think I will go spend time with my girlfriend."
"Just don't hurt her," Branch said in a weak shaky voice as soon as they removed the cover from his mouth.
"Will you just shut up!" Spruce spat quickly turning back to the weaker troll and slowly advancing towards him again "You have no idea how much I want to end your miserable life right now but I can't because my aunt wants you to suffer a little while longer."
Spruce towered over him and with one last swift kick to Branch's side he then left leaving the injured troll in so much pain, before leaving Spruce's two friends untied his hands. Branch very slowly sat himself up against the wall and held his head up trying his best to stop the blood that was now oozing out of his nose. He was still so very cold, so his body continued to shiver trying it best to warm him up. He could hear the faint sound of footsteps heading his way again and by the sound of them he could tell it wasn't Spruce and his two friends returning but someone completely different. His heart began to beat faster the moment he recognized who the footsteps belonged to but why was she coming down to see him when she very clearly made it known that she never cared for him? Poppy stopped outside of his cell and stood there for a few seconds before taking a deep breath and entered. She marched bravely over to where he was, she wore a dark expression on her face and as much as Branch wanted to hear her sweet voice, he was not prepared to hear the many insults she had to say. He had heard these insults many times before in his life but none of those times hurt as much as they did coming from her. "Poppy this isn't you," he tried to tell her, but she just snorted and asked, "And how would you know? You don't EVEN know me."
"I know that you are not like this," he whispered shifting his body to try and somehow keep warm as another wave shivers took over.
"STOP SHIVERING!" she snapped "I know you are just doing that to try and make me feel sorry for you but guess what it's not going to work!"
"I'm sorry," he said downlow trying his best to stop himself from shivering, but it was no use.
"You're not even cold," she said quickly grabbing his one hand and feeling how cold it was. Her face softened a bit as she released it and slowly raised her hand to his forehead where she could tell by just how warm it was that he had a high fever. She then slowly moved her hand down towards the purple cuts on his cheeks, she stopped for a second before gently placing it on the side of his face. The cuts were hot to the touch and she could tell the way he had flinched the moment she touched them that they were painful, yet he allowed her to place her hand there anyway.
Without thinking about it Branch brought his own hand up and gently placed it on top of hers which turned out to be a very bad idea. The moment his hand touched hers her face quickly changed back to the dark tone and she started to apply pressure to his face knowing that it was hurting him.
"Don't touch me!" she hissed freeing her hand away from his then used it to slap him hard across the side of his face. The sound of the slap echoing throughout the cell filled her ears and the way he quickly grabbed the side of his face made her feel sick, but nothing compared to what came out of her mouth next "Grey Freak!" The moment she said those words she regretted it and turned away from him covering her mouth for fear something worst might come out.
For Branch the sting from her slap was unbearable and as he held his hand up to his face he began feeling weaker, he slowly pulled back his hand and saw the palm of his hand was covered in blood. The now bleeding cuts were more painful than ever but for him it was hearing her say those words that really crushed him. All he had ever done was open up to her, care for her, trust her and why? Because he loved her.
"I don't understand why you hate me so much?" he said slowly bringing his trembling hand back to cheek and covering it up. "When I love you."
"How can you love me when you don't even know what love is?" she asked feeling tears starting to sting her eyes.
Branch shook his head "You know that's not true."
"Yes, it is," she argued "monsters don't know how to love."
"I'm not a monster," he replied sadly.
Poppy turned back to face him and noticed that he was still holding the side of his face and looked another shade lighter. "Why are you holding your face?" she asked before pulling his hand away. She stepped back when she saw what she had done to him, the cuts were now bleeding and looked even more painful. "Branch I…." she whispered wanting to tell him that she was sorry, but those words never came out. "I got to go," she said quickly turning away from him and leaving without even looking back.
She got all the way to her room before she broke down and just cried. How could she had done those horrible things to him?
