PART TWO

Chapter Thirteen: Pine

Branch heard voices around him. He couldn't tell who was speaking, but it sounded urgent. His mouth felt dry and a stinging sensation on his left arm was almost unbearable. He couldn't move properly. His sight was blurry and the light, even though it seemed dim - blinded his unused pupils.

A few connections of the past events came to him like bubbling memories. He remembered the fall into the ocean. He remembered being cut with a sword. Poppy looked glorious in a white dress.

Oh Hair… Poppy!

"No, Branch, don't move."

The voice on his right was Dr. Moonbloom's. It was one of the few voices he could recognize anywhere. He felt like he was still tied down, with hands holding his legs and arms keeping him still. "Just one more stitch…"

He didn't feel it, which meant that either he had lost the sensation in his arm or he had been given an anesthetic. If it was the latter, then he was back in Pop Village…

Poppy was alone on the Island.

He struggled again and the hands tightened more. It was ridiculous. He felt completely helpless. Everything hurt, from his head to his toes and he couldn't fight them off.

"You'll be okay, buddy," a gentler voice sounded on his left and he turned his head to focus on a blue colored troll that offered him a reassuring smile. The hair was neon green and he was floating. The beat button by his side made the survivalist confused.

"King Trollex…?"

The blue troll nodded, relieved to see that the Pop hero had a sound mind.

"What…?" Branch asked.

The techno king quickly looked at Dr. Moonbloom who hummed in response; her eyes never leaving her meticulous work, and allowing Trollex to speak with her patient as she proceeded with the medical attention he needed.

"I found you near Techno Reef," Trollex explained, inching closer to make sure Branch focused only on him. "You were nearly dead, but we were fast in taking you out of the water."

"He's awake!"

The loud and surprised voice of Queen Barb filled the room. She had entered from a door with King Peppy following her in a hurry. The Snack Pack also showed up, crowding the room and disturbing the doctor. Barb half chuckled,

"Man, don't scare us like that!"

Slowly, the group filled the gaps in his memory. When he was left for dead, he was lucky enough that the current took him near the Techno Reef. A few techno trolls noticed him and called their King who immediately recognized Branch as the Pop Queen's boyfriend. He was rescued and had his wounds attended to, while taken to the surface. The right thing to do was to take Branch back to the Village to have appropriate medical treatment, something that a pop kind of troll couldn't have under the sea.

The Beat button was given the task to go to the nearest Kingdom - in this case being Volcano Rock City - to find help. At first, Barb was confused with the amount of words the brisk button was spilling at her during her day off, but she arranged the fastest beetle to transport Branch back home. Both King and Queen combined their forces to rescue him and they were successful in delivering him in time to be saved.

It was a big fright for the pop trolls. The community asked about their Queen, but nobody had answers. They were all terrified that something bad had happened but, while the survivalist was unconscious, there wasn't much they could do. A potential new enemy was considered and the children that were in the exchange program reported the events to the other tribes. Soon, the whole Kingdom was bubbling in alarm.

Dr. Moonbloom finished tying his arm and instructed Branch to avoid keeping it down for too long to help the blood flow. Groaning and realizing he was hungry and thirsty, he sat on the surgery table, seeing at least a dozen eyes focusing on him. They didn't want to ask - seeing the poor state the young troll was in - but they were in desperate need for answers.

"Fine…" Branch's voice sounded hoarse and a nurse gave him a glass of water, which he drank with gladness. "King Peppy… Poppy and I went to the Moon Island."

Several gasps were heard, some confused - because they had never heard of that place before - and some just quietly waited for him to proceed.

Branch swallowed hard against his dry sore throat. "...We just wanted to find the gift her mom had left her. I didn't know…"

"Her mom…?" Barb repeated, arching an eyebrow in suspicion.

"I didn't know they would get her. I'd have never have gone in the first place, if I had known..." Branch looked down in shame. His eyes stung with the lack of tears from dehydration. He wanted to cry, but his eyes were dry. "I'm an idiot…"

"Young man…" King Peppy said. He was so serious that, for a moment, he reminded them of the fearless troll who had saved them all from the Bergens. "As soon as you get your strength back, come to my pod." And he turned his back in an incredible display of self control, and left.

"Hey, Branch…" Barb approached quietly, looking at the hopeless troll sitting down in anguish. She offered uncharacteristic gentleness by bending down to talk as discreetly as possible with him. "...What do you mean by Poppy's mom?"

"... Barb…" Branch rubbed his eyes, getting angry with himself. "She's the daughter of the Empress. We just thought it was all a stupid tale from King Peppy, but it looks like it was true."

"Which Empress?" Trollex approached as well. "Is there another tribe?"

"No… it's complicated." Branch didn't feel like he had any rational thoughts left to explain what he had seen.

"Well…" Seeing his lack of energy, Barb decided to speak what she knew. "Before my dad was king, there was a story about an Empress that administered the reigns. The leaders were allowed to meet her only when they were invited, and it would happen just when there was a conflict about to happen. It was a way to keep us from knowing each other."

"Oh… now that you mentioned it…" Trollex tapped his cheek a few times. "I remember my grandpa went to seek help because our Reef got polluted once… many of us died of poisoning."

"Oooohhh, so it was your tribe that made us move our summer vacations from the beach!" Barb growled in annoyance, but she immediately apologized for polluting the sea. "That was why my uncle never returned in the first place."

"What happened to him?" Trollex asked, but they both looked at a beaten up Branch for their answer. It was pretty obvious that the survivalist had been lucky to be alive.

"... My grandpa visited the Island and said there was a lignage of Empresses… my uncle got curious..." her voice trailed off, looking at Branch who accepted a bowl of soup from the nurse. The Queen of Rock feared that the fairy tale about the Moon Island and the actual situation were connected. Mysterious as the dark side of moon...

"But now that we're on good terms again… there's no need for someone to administer things for us," Trollex completed. "Why would they keep Poppy?"

"It's more than that, apparently…" Branch said, blowing a spoonful before slurping it.

Everything in there was so… ethereal, so magical… if he tried to explain what he had seen and heard, it would sound like he had lost his mind.

"They wouldn't hurt her, would they?" it was Guy Diamond who asked, taking a step forward and reminding the three trolls that they weren't alone in the room.

"I don't think so…" another sip of soup "... they seemed to care deeply for her." They seemed to need her.

"Well… so we need to get back there and rescue our Queen," Smidge said, showing her extremely strong arms in her petite body.

"Undoubtedly, she needs to be rescued," Branch said, finishing the soup and laying the bowl on the side table. "But… we need a strategy to go in there. They have guards… a lot of them. And swords," he added after feelings pang in his wound.

"Swords? Like medieval weapons?" It was Biggie who said that, looking like he was about to pass out.

The heavy silence provided the reality of the situation. There was no way they could politely walk in and ask to have Poppy back.

"I need to see King Peppy," Branch announced, standing up. His knees immediately failed him and Trollex quickly moved forward to help him stand.

"You need to rest, Branch," Guy Diamond said. "If we're going to save Poppy, you need to be in your best shape."

How could they not understand that Poppy needed urgent rescue? How could he rest when she was locked in a tower, scared, thinking that he had abandoned her?! He would never be able to sleep again knowing the psychological torture she might be going through. He had promised he'd protect her.

"At least, I need to speak with the King…" Branch breathed out, "He deserves a proper apology."

He took a step towards the exit, steading his feet on the ground the best way he could. He noticed purple bruises on his ankles and the soreness around them. He was all stiff like he had been run over by a train… or by several guards.

"Hey, Branch…" Barb called and he turned his head just slightly to indicate he was hearing her. "We'll back you up." The queen of rock fired up. "My rockers, we'll help you get there. You'll have my fastest beetle."

Yeah… the Rock Queen had redeemed herself.

With a grateful nod, Branch left the treatment room and limped towards King Peppy's pod. It felt like everyone whispered when he passed. He was suddenly aware why he locked himself in the bunker for ten years. He hated the feeling that every eye was on him. He felt them moving as he walked, and the heavy awareness of being the center of attention made him feel like he couldn't walk fast enough.

He couldn't understand how Poppy enjoyed her popularity. Being Queen and simply having to be accessible and available full time was pure torture. It was no wonder she had had a hard time growing used to it. If the Moon Island had been inhabited by better people, then it would be the perfect refuge for her. If only…

His hair hurt, but he managed to reach it up and grab hold of the pod before jumping inside. With hair and scrapbooks scattered everywhere, Branch's immediate thought was about how he had lost hours of hard work helping the King to get everything cleaned only to be greeted with a mess again.

"Branch!" His future's father in law's surprised voice was not the reception he was waiting for. Branch thought the King would be furious, madly loud, that he would have several condemnations for his behaviour. But, instead, he was greeted with concern and the offer of a chair to sit on, which was very welcomed. "I didn't say for you to visit immediately."

"I'm sorry, King Peppy." Branch gladly accepted the chair and put both his bruised feet up on a small table that the King put in front of him. They throbbed painfully. "I couldn't wait."

"My boy…" The older troll looked worried. Not desperate, just worried. He stared at Branch intently for the longest time, as if trying to find his old General's features mirrored in his son. The sincere attitude certainly was a very noble heritage. "I'm impressed you managed to arrive at the Island with that old map."

"It wasn't so hard," Branch answered in reflex, not expecting the subject to be about the map.

"Well… I assume Pine's son would easily guide himself with his old man's handwriting." That was the kind of information that came out of the blue. Branch's eyebrows arched in surprise, and the survivalist put his hand on his pocket, retrieving the folded map. Peppy chuckled gently. "Don't look so surprised, do you think I could be THAT accurate?"

Well… taking from the King's pod's mess… no…

"Sir…"

"Listen, Branch," King Peppy sat down next to him, looking very distressed, but keeping as calm as he could. Maybe years of being King made him conceal his fears when every other parent would normally be freaking out. That was what a royal training was for. If the leader showed vulnerability, his subjects would panic. Peppy continued, "I'm very disappointed that you both left without telling me, but I assume it was my daughter's idea…"

Branch wouldn't tell on his girlfriend, of course, so he just smiled guilty and, with that, the King got the answer he needed.

"... And I can see that you didn't run from the fight."

"There were so many of them..." Branch felt another wave of despair rising. The heaviness, the air being knocked out of him, the wild thoughts of never seeing Poppy again.

"I was pretty reckless when I was your age," King Peppy said, looking up at the point where all hairs that formed the pod came together in a top swirl. A soft breeze blew from the door, moving the two trolls' hairs to the side. "Once I was in the forest, searching for a good place to extract children from the Troll Tree… and a Bergen found me. I was sure it was going to be my end, but Pine jumped out of nowhere and struck him in the eye." His mustache moved when he said that, with the memories making him smile. "I wanted to go after the Bergen, but Pine held me and said even with one eye hurt that monster could easily destroy us. It was smarter to retreat and return more prepared."

It was an obvious conclusion, Branch thought. He would have said the same. Live to fight another day. His old man's habits lived in him, even if they hadn't shared many memories. They had the same strategic kind of thinking. Startled, Branch looked at the old King when he stood up and moved to an old chest that hadn't been touched during their cleaning. The orange troll looked around for a while and finally pulled a long object. It was heavy enough to be held with two hands, so, leaving his cane, he used his good leg to support his weight and walked back to Branch, to give him the wrapped object.

It was really heavy. As the teal troll unfolded the fabric and the ropes that held them together, he realised exactly what he was holding. It was an old sword, protected with a scabbard. The hilt was long enough for a troll with big hands… just like his…

"Is this…?"

"It belonged to your dad," King Peppy said, showing him a P marked on the grip. "I gave it to him as a gift when he became my General."

It was getting difficult to follow the King's thoughts. Why did Peppy have his father's sword with him? Curiously, Branch pulled the hilt to see the blade, but along with it, a few paper sheets fell on the ground. The King waited for the son of his best friend to pick it up and find out the contents by himself.

My dear Lily settled her mind in helping us escape, but she wouldn't leave the island. I tried to convince Pine to take her with us against her will, but he told me we had better chances of making it out of there if we did as she instructed us.

"Hide in the forest. Don't let Poppy use her Moon blood or he will find her."

We rappelled down the balcony in the middle of the night. The egg was safe in my hair and Lily watched us with the saddest eyes. I felt her tears dropping on my arms and her face high above glowed with the Moon behind her. She rubbed that stupid ring that was around her finger, condemning her to her fate.

Pine had stolen the only boat available, but we had to go. When we crashed into the first waves, lights lit up the entire castle. We heard sirens and a blinding light came from Lily's room followed by a loud rumble of thunder.

Pink glitter showered on us like tiny snowflakes. The ocean got covered in a shiny layer of pink that glistened with the tide. I knew Lily was gone then. My heart wept and my lungs constricted. My Lily… my sweet Lily was no more.

If only that had been the hardest moment of our journey back.

Pine was silent and unrestfully rowed the whole night. He used the stars to guide his way back to the land - a trick I never learned but admired so much - and only now that I got the courage to sit down and write this, that I realize how deeply lost I felt, because I hugged Poppy's egg all the way and never raised a hand to help him.

"Hey," Pine said, coming from behind me. It was near dawn and I was sitting on the sand, looking at the ocean and wishing I had died with my Lily. "You will be a father now Peppy. Lily gave you the best gift she could. You'll always have a part of her with you."

How could I argue with that? Pine had lost his wife not long after their egg had hatched. What would it make us? Two widowed trolls trying to raise their children in a world full of troll-eater beasts? And the single thought of it… of Poppy playing with Branch and the sound of their giggles somehow gave me strength. If Pine hadn't given up, then neither would I. We would see our kids in a Bergen-free environment. They would be happy!

My heart bled, but my mind was sound and focused on our mission. We had the permission to move from the tree. The tunnels were nearly ready and we would live to see better days.

"What is it that you want to see Poppy doing when we're free?" Pine, in a rare display of relaxation, asked me while he cut the bushes out of the way so we could walk through.

"I don't know… I'm just dying to meet her," I looked at my orange and pink egg. The perfect mix of our skin tones colored the shell. "What do you want to see Branch doing?"

"I made him a kite." Pine's face lit up with the thoughts of his son. "He's been asking to play with it, but it's too dangerous. I promised I'll find a safe place for him to play with it. I can't wait to see him running in a meadow."

"Branch is a very sweet kid."

We must have talked about our plans for the future for hours. The sky was nearly setting once more when we stopped to rest. I had already the perfect plan in my mind: we'd get back, then I'd find the best place for us all to live with fresh air, clean water and great acoustics, while Pine finished the tunnels. Before Trollstice, we would carve our shapes in woods and leave strands of our hair to confuse the Bergens. We'd be out of there in no time, marching towards paradise before they could see us.

Unfortunately, that night, we were too tired, but we kept walking and it was the biggest mistake of our lives. Our brains got confused and we took the wrong detour. We stepped into a tarantapuff's nest and the smell of Poppy's egg electrified them with hunger. We were only two trolls with a delicious snack… and there were more than fifty spiders.

We ran for our lives. Pine stayed behind, fighting the ones that got closer. He sliced one in half and another that tried to jump us was blown away by a hair-jitsu chop. They hissed and we ran and ran. I heard their legs moving raptly behind us.

My heart stopped when we came to halt on a cliff with a lava river below us. We had reached the border between Rock and Pop lands, but we weren't on the safe bridge. Instead, in front of us, was a poorly made wooden passage that stood only with rotten ropes. Both of us couldn't cross it at the same time. One would have to stay until the other reached the other side.

"Hurry, my King!" Pine said, taking a wide stance as he withdrew his blade from its scabbard. It glowed in front of him as if it was as ready to fight to death like my General was.

"I'm not leaving you, Pine. We'll cross it together or we die together."

"Listen to yourself!" Pine jumped and came down to take a tarantapuff's head off and shifted around cutting another one across the chest. "You have a daughter!"

"You have a son!"

"He's not here now! Your baby is!"

I was livid that he had made an irrefutable point, so I could only do as he said. He was my General after all. If I didn't obey the only person who lived to protect me; who was the smartest troll I had ever met, then I would be a plain idiot and I'd disrespect his efforts.

I repeated to myself many times that night, when I finally dropped to my knees in exhaustion and was left alone in a safe part of the forest with Poppy's egg in my hands, that I had made the right choice. That it was what Pine wanted me to do.

The moment I finished crossing the bridge, I saw my friend taking some severe blows. A spider put a leg on the bridge, ready to cross it after me, but Pine jumped up and sliced it in half. My friend gave me a lopsided smile and I panicked. I knew what it meant. He stood straight and picked his sword with his right hand and tossed it in the air. It spinned out across the bridge and landed on my foot.

"Cut the ropes!" Pine commanded.

"Come over first!" I yelled back, but he pulled another small knife from his pocket to defend himself from the exponentially growing amount of spiders. He turned his back to the peril and used his only defense to cut the rope on his side. He knew I wouldn't be able to leave him unless… "Pine, you idiot!" I bellowed desperately.

"Take care of Branch for me, okay?" And with that, Pine turned to face his fate.

The spiders jumped up, coming down on him like a rehearsed group attack. Pine didn't make a sound; he stood firmly until he was completely covered by them. And I cowardly ran and ran until my feet bled and my lungs burned.

A found a crystalline river, but my thirst couldn't be satiated with water. I had lost my wife, my best friend and my entire tribe would soon be snacks for Bergens. The only thing that I had left was Poppy's egg and a crown; a crown that I didn't deserve, on my hair.

A crack came from my hands and I looked down. My eyes were so filled with tears that I had to blink them away to see that the egg had started to move. My heart skipped a beat and I stood up.

"My daughter! She's being born!" I called, looking around, but nobody was there to witness it. I was alone with a baby that kept kicking the shell, certain that it was time to come out. "C'mon, baby girl, you can do it."

And she kicked with vigor. Her tiny pink foot broke the shell and came to view. I was in awe. She had the cutest little foot and her skin tone was just like Lily's. My chest tightened. Lily should have met her.

Another foot came out and I was desperate to help her, but I had heard that the babies are supposed to fight their way out. I just picked the broken pieces of the shell and threw them out of the way as she kept struggling. Her tiny hand was next and in no time her beautiful pink hair sprouted free. Her alert magenta eyes immediately focused on me, as if recognizing that I was her dad.

Her smile was the sweetest of candies.

"My dear Poppy. My little princess."

Branch understood why the pages had been ripped from the original scrapbook. He couldn't stop the tears himself. The wetness had stained the words and tried to wipe them, making a mess and almost cutting himself with the sharp blade that was still on his lap.

"I'm sorry, King Peppy, I'll clean it."

"Branch…" His future father-in-law stopped him with his wrinkled hands. "It's okay…"

The young troll finally let go of all the heaviness, of all the suffocating thoughts about his father. His primitive memories that had made up an imaginary version were now corrected, and Branch saw that his father had been someone he would be eternally grateful for.

And King Peppy… the man had gone through his share of bad moments. He still managed to save everyone, he had found strength to keep going even when his world had shattered.

Branch cried like he had never cried in his life. His fingers gripped the King's arms, feeling the closest he'd ever get to a father's hug.

And Poppy… dear Poppy had nothing to do with the mess he had gotten them involved with. If only he had talked first, then he'd have found the rest of the story and she wouldn't have been kidnapped.

It was his duty to save her. He couldn't let her stay on that island another minute.

"I need to rescue her…" Branch sobbed weakly. King Peppy nodded, but made sure the young troll actually listened to what he had to say.

"Poppy is fine." His voice sounded strong and grave, like he had never retired. "They won't hurt her. She's too precious." Branch opened his mouth to voice a protest, to point out that she might be scared. But Peppy was adamant. "I need you to be strong to lead the mission. So your job now is to get better as soon as possible, and I'm sure that in no time Poppy will be back with us."

"But…"

"Besides," the older troll put his hands on his sides, looking like he was in a lighter mood. "Don't you know my daughter by now? She's probably hatching a plan to get out of there on her own. Give her some credit."