I'm so sorry that this chapter took so long to come out! Honestly, I wrote it all today. Please enjoy!

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The next day, Branch and Poppy began to head out once more. There was silence as they trekked through the thick forest side-by-side, neither party knowing how to start up a conversation. However, it was Poppy who decided to relieve the tension. "Branch, can I ask you a question? And I need you to be totally real with me here." As much as she wanted to believe he was different, she didn't know how reasonable he was compared to his friends.

He looked over to her. "Of course," he answered. "What is it?"

Poppy didn't stop walking, but craned her neck to look at him. "Do you actually think your friends are still alive?" she asked.

More silence. In all honesty, who knew? The Snack Pack could have been devoured on sight and this whole trip could be for nothing. Heck, they might even be walking into a trap. The odds were definitely there, Branch knew that. But they had to try. They had to retain the hope that everything would be alright in the end.

So, Branch decided to tell her that. "I honestly don't know," he finally spoke. "I'd say it would be about a fifty-fifty chance." He raised an eyebrow. "Do you still think they're alive?"

She shrugged at him. "I hope they are, at least," she told him. She may not sing or dance or hug, but Poppy was as hopeful as they came. It was all she had, after all.

He nodded. "Me too." Neither of them said anything after that for a while.

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Soon enough, the duo came upon a series of tunnels. "Crap," hissed Poppy under her breath, checking her map. As it turns out, she had remembered to pack that at least. She was relieved as she was nervous they were going the wrong way (which they weren't). Unfortunately, the map didn't tell her which tunnel they had to take to get to Bergen Town. "Which one do you think it is?" she asked her companion.

Branch inspected one of the tunnels. "I don't know..."

"Choose a hole wisely!" a voice suddenly boomed through the air, causing both parties to jump. "For one will lead to Bergen Town, and the others to certain death!" The "death" ending had an obviously forced echo to it.

Unwittingly, Branch and Poppy drew closer together. "Who's there?" demanded the latter bravely even though she was obviously nervous for what was out there.

"It was..." A cloud with arms and legs emerged from behind the bushes, startling the two trolls who both blinked in surprise. "me." The cloud smiled a somewhat creepy smile at them. "Hey, guys, how's it going?" They glanced at each other awkwardly before returning their attention to the creature in front of them. "Welcome to the root tunnels. Uh, I just wanted to warn you. One of these tunnels leads to the Troll Tree... and the others to certain death, death, death, death..."

Definitely forced echo, noticed Poppy. "Is there any chance you can tells us which one is right?" she asked carefully.

"You bet."

She plastered on another fake smile. "Great!"

Branch eyed the cloud suspiciously. "What's the catch?" The cloud grinned.

Poppy's smiled faltered. That was a good point. "Is there something you want in return?"

The cloud seemed to think about this. "I want you-" He gestured to her. "to sing a song."

She tensed up at that. "You want me to sing?" she sputtered.

"I will," volunteered Branch immediately, glancing at her reassuringly. "My grandma says I have the voice of an angel."

The cloud waved his hand dismissively. "Oh, I know you will," he brushed him off. "but will she?"

Branch glanced at her helplessly, as if trying to apologize silently. Poppy looked at the cloud before sighing. "What do you want me to sing?" she grumbled. She really didn't want to, but the other tunnels led to certain death. She needed to get perspective.

"Ever hear of Total Eclipse of the Heart?"

She groaned, trying to disguise how much she liked that song. "Yeah, I know it. The whole song."

"No, just a bit," the cloud answered. "I'm guessing you two don't have time to spare. Just the first chorus is fine."

Branch handed her a flower. "Your microphone, Princess." She saw a smile on the blue troll's face and assumed that he was fond of it as well. Poppy accepted it and took a deep breath before beginning the song.

And I need you now tonight,
And I need you more than ever,
And if you only hold me tight,
We'll be holding on forever

And we'll only be making it right,
'Cause we'll never be wrong together
Once upon a time I was falling in love,
Now I'm only falling apart
Nothing I can do,
A total eclipse of the heart

Poppy praised herself for not losing it as she sang. She always got nervous singing in front of other people, but since it was just two people, she managed to keep herself together. It always helped her to close her eyes and pretend she was singing alone in her room.

There was slow clapping coming from the cloud who still had that creepy smile on. "Bravo," he praised. "Really well done." He pointed to the largest tunnel. "That's the way right there. See you guys when you came back. Unless..." He made his voice deep as he continued, "you die." With that, the cloud was gone.

She sighed in relief. "Okay, Branch, we got the right tunnel." No response. "Branch?" She turned to see the blue troll staring at her, unblinking. She waved a hand in front of his face. "Branch? Branch. Branch!"

Branch seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was in, blushing blue. "Good!" he exclaimed, perhaps a bit louder than he meant to. He took her by the hand, leading her to the tunnel that the cloud had pointed out to them. "That's good! We should probably get going, the sooner we get there, the sooner everything can go back to normal, right?"

Poppy raised an eyebrow, but decided not to dwell on it. "I guess so..." The two walked through the tunnel, eventually coming upon a tree. This was not just any tree, she realized. "The Troll Tree..."

"Bergen Town," stated Branch next to her.

Now, Poppy had never seen a Bergen before. At least, not to her memory. She knew that her mother had sacrificed herself to them for her, but as far as she knew, she had never come into contact with one. As she watched them, however, she couldn't say that it was a bad thing that she had never encountered one. They were the most miserable creatures she had ever seen. Shoving each other, yelling at each other, throwing things out of window, the list went on and on.

"Wow, they're as miserable as me." The words escaped her mouth before she could stop them. Yet, she had uttered them so quietly that she was sure that her companion hadn't heard the full sentence.

Branch turned his head to look at her so fast that she was surprised the movement didn't give him whiplash. "What?"

Poppy looked away, blushing a light pink. "Oh, nothing," she lied. "We should get going, yeah?" He gave her a suspicious look before following towards what looked to be the castle.

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They had made it into the palace without any complications. No one had been able to spot them thanks to their size and they were currently using Branch's hair as a torch imitation. "So, where do you think they are?" he asked.

"Hopefully, not in a Bergen's stomach," she answered before wincing. "Sorry, that was negative. I have no idea where they could-" She was interrupted by her Hug Time bracelet going off and gasped. "Branch!"

Branch tilted his head in confusion. "But you hate-"

Poppy shushed him by placing a finger on his lips. "Listen," she hissed softly. At that moment, they could hear the chime of multiple Hug Time bracelets just around the corner. "Let's go." They followed the sound to what looked like the dining room where many Bergens were bustling around and getting everything ready. "This can't be good..." She really hoped that the Snack Pack wasn't about to be eaten right then and there. This whole trip would have been for nothing.

"This is gonna be the best Trollstice ever!" proclaimed a young, green Bergen with a crown on his head. She assumed that he must be the king. "Such a great idea I had."

"Yes," responded a tall, purple Bergen wearing a chef's hat. "Tomorrow is Trollstice, everyone. And it must be perfect!"

Branch nudged her. "That's the Bergen that took them," he told her.

"Yes, Chef!" chorused the workers.

"Feels great to be ordering everyone around again," proclaimed the chef with glee. For some reason she couldn't quite place, the chef reminded her of Creek's father Brook. Maybe it was because they both wanted to undermine the throne and control their respective kingdoms. Just a hunch.

Speaking of Creek, he and the other members of the Snack Pack were locked in a cage on a wheeled table. "Branch, look!"

"They're alive," he breathed, as if he couldn't believe it.

It was hard to make out what happened next. Chef pulled out a small orange bib, the king tried it on, and it ended up breaking. Cooper let out a laugh and the king approached him, anger evident on his face. Next thing they knew, Chef had pulled Creek from the cage and was stuffing him into a taco.

She couldn't even think of how sick that was.

"Poppy, Creek!" exclaimed Branch. Chef turned her head and Poppy quickly pulled them both out of sight.

After a few minutes of debating whether or not to eat Creek just yet, Chef stuffed the troll into the king's mouth. "No!" exclaimed both Poppy and Branch, but were drowned out by the Mariachi band playing in the background. Chef and the king exited, but not before the chef threw a spoon at a scullery maid and ordered her to put the Snack Pack in her room and guard them with her life.

"Branch, we have to save him!" She couldn't imagine how terrified Creek must be at that moment. Even if she wasn't his biggest fan, no one deserved to be eaten alive.

Branch looked as horrified as she felt, but shook his head. "Poppy, he just got eaten. I don't think we can save him from the king's stomach."

"But we didn't see him swallow!"

"Poppy, we can't do anything for him!" he reasoned. "He gone, Poppy. And if we go after him, we will be too."

She couldn't believe it. Not even ten minutes in the castle and she'd already failed. She couldn't believe Creek was gone. No, she didn't believe it. And she wouldn't accept it. She was going to save Creek, but her priority were the trolls in the cage which the scullery maid was running off with. She dived off the chandelier.

"Poppy!" exclaimed Branch in alarm.

It was for naught, however, as she landed on a spoon and used the momentum she had gained to slide across the large dining room table. She jumped off of the table once the spoon got to the edge and landed on the maid's apron loop. Branch followed her soon after, leaping off the chandelier and hopping off two of the guards' hats. He ended up landing beside her.

She gave him one of her rare smiles as they looked around to make sure that no one had noticed them. Apparently, luck was on their side because no one had. They huddled further into the maid's back, trying to keep it that way as she carried them all off to her room.

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Well, that took a while to write. I had to change up their interaction with Cloud Guy a bit since I doubt that Poppy would chase after him with a stick, gray or not. And I decided to used "Total Eclipse of the Heart" because, why not? My favorite line here was definitely:For some reason she couldn't quite place, the chef reminded her of Creek's father Brook. Maybe it was because they both wanted to undermine the throne and control their respective kingdoms. Just a hunch. I don't know why, but I made Poppy really salty there and I love it.

Anyway, I hope you liked it and please review!