Poppy felt the cold floor under her cheek. Her eyes seemed hot and puffy, but somehow the tears had stopped.
Her head was pounding. It felt like her heart was thudding in her ears because her ribcage seemed to shrink at every shaky attempt at breathing.
'Branch…' the name kept echoing in her mind. Confused. Hollow. Unfeeling. She tried to feel something, to force herself to remember a joyful moment to restore a sparkle of happiness, but it was useless.
"Oh, pleeeaase, is the drama really necessary?"
Poppy rolled on her back, startled. Her body felt achy and heavy, but the possibility of being watched in a vulnerable situation made her gather her strength and face the one who addressed her.
The girl standing on the other side of the wormhole, with bright pink hair and messy black strands, mockingly rolled her eyes and gulped a red drink that looked like wine.
"I cannot believe how pathetic you are." She continued.
Poppy curiously frowned and slowly stood up, trying her balance on both feet, but with her eyes fixed on the girl. She refused to believe it at first, but it was unquestionably a version of herself.
Rock Poppy.
"Infected by Sadness nonetheless." She cackled evilly. "Hair, I thought Branch was a disaster. You guys deserve each other, that's for sure."
"Who…" Poppy shook her head, trying to make sense of what she was seeing. She had to stop and check where she stood.
She was inside the Funk Troll's spaceship. She had been looking at other universes to understand what had happened to Branch… and she just met a version of him, in another universe, that was so fragile it made her heart bleed…
How did Rock Poppy end up standing in front of her, leaning over the wormhole like a window and picking on her black nail polisher like she was utterly bored?
"I assume he told you the truth, uh? What we did." Rock Poppy continued. "Hair, you look like you'll puke. It's not my fault. He's the one who disturbed my timeline."
Goosebumps raised all over her skin. Her throat seemed to hurt and the words wouldn't come out. Did Branch disturb the timeline? What the Hair?
"You're the one who-"
"How do you think I felt when I realized I was tricked?" Rock Poppy raised her voice in indignation. "I had to tell my boyfriend I was with someone else and he vanished!" She drank from her glass, looking away for a second. "At least I had the decency to tell him the truth, unlike that misleading idiot who pretended nothing happened."
"It's not true," Poppy spoke up, finding the energy it required to defend Branch from what obviously was a terrible misunderstanding. "He had nightmares for months! It wasn't his fau-"
"Nightmares!" Rock Poppy laughed, nearly dropping the wine. "Honey, you're way off in your ideas. I've been reaching out to him all this time. They weren't nightmares,"
"Wait, what?" Poppy weakly asked. She noticed she lost feeling in her toes.
"Stupid Lownote Jones is the only one with the portal shifter. I had to reach him some other way…" Her half-black hair fell over her shoulder. "... and torture him a little, of course. Honestly… keeping something of this magnitude of his significant other." And she ticked her lips, enjoying the confused look on Poppy's face. "At least, I'm honest and told the truth to my Branch at once."
"What do you want?" Poppy asked in a low voice, barely being able to stand on her own.
"I want this stupid bond to be broken." Rock Poppy suddenly turned serious. "We're tied to each other because he interfered in my timeline." For a moment, Poppy thought she'd step out of the wormhole. "I cannot see him at every corner of the bunker. I cannot keep having him haunting me!"
"What can I do?" Poppy asked. She felt so lost in all the mess. It was so much to take in at once. She was so confused.
"You?" Rock Poppy looked at her in disgust. "You're some useless self-centered girl. Tell Branch to fix his own mess if he wants ever to sleep again."
The portal glitched. Poppy tried to find the remote, but it was nowhere to be seen. Or maybe she was too weak to even look properly.
"Wait! No!"
Branch dropped to the ground once again, this time, hearing a loud crack in his ribs. The hovering board flew away, leaving a desperate survivalist behind.
"The Hair!" He screamed, pressing a hand to his side.
"Branch, the shield won't let you in. It's useless." B said, holding her hands together, begging him to stop.
"But, B, the sun is setting, we must do something. Poppy has been in there for too long!" Smidge protested.
"What if she is lost in another dimension?" Laguna joined Smidge. "I've calculated the odds and the possibility of finding Poppy in good health has dropped to seventy percent!"
"What do you think, Lownote? Uh? Where's Lownote Jones?"
"I'm sure Poppy is going to return soon. Don't worry so much, baby." Lownote Jones walked out of a shrub with another ice cream and a smooth attitude.
"I can't believe you went for another ice cream at a time like this! Oh my Guh!"
A breeze followed by a metallic sound coming from above made them look up. A small hole opened on the spaceship and a tiny bubble made its way to the ground. The worried sick friends screamed in joy, sure that their queen had finally ended her solo adventure and they all could give her one big group hug.
It was Branch's smile that first turned into a frown. The bubble popped on the ground revealing a timid gray queen, who wouldn't lift her face to meet their eyes.
The trees rustled with the wind and the last minutes of daylight illuminated stunned faces.
"I didn't find Feliz Peas." Poppy said before anyone could start inquiring about her condition.
"Poppy!" Branch stepped toward her, arms opened and ready to use his boyfriend card to scoop her up and take her to be pampered.
"Please don't touch me." Her voice was low and hesitant, fear was evident in her tone; Poppy made Branch halt and took a horrified step back. "I know it wasn't your fault," Poppy whispered so only he would hear. "I need to be on my own... to think... for a while."
A deafening silence fell on her friends. Poppy took a few steps in the opposite direction. It was under the shocked eyes of her friends that she disappeared into a wall of mixed kinds of foliage.
"What the Hair!" Val protested. "No one is going after her?"
"Does anyone have a clue of what just happened?" Smidge asked.
Branch stood, completely immobile. His bruised side wasn't hurting as much as his heart at that moment. So that was it. Exactly as he feared. Poppy had seen those universes… she probably even saw… THAT. And it was all Lownote Jones's fault!
"You idiot!" Branch turned to face Lownote, who raised his hands to defend himself.
"Now Branch, be reasonable."
"Reasonable!" The survivalist's voice dripped hate. "You allowed her to…" Hair. He could remember it. Lownote had gone for ice cream and a stroll when he had visited the multiverse. Lownote had them all locked outside on purpose so Poppy could explore!
"To the Hair with it," Val said, throwing both her hands in the air. She turned on her heels and dashed after Poppy, leaving the others behind.
"It's all your fault." Branch's face grew purple with rage. His hands turned into fits, shaking involuntarily.
"Branch…" Lownote narrowed his eyes, "you wouldn't understand."
"Shouldn't we go after Poppy and leave this for later?" Smidge was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. One more word from either Branch or Lownote she'd beat them to a pulp.
"But… she asked for privacy." Laguna adjusted her glasses. "I'm afraid confronting her with her head hot may do more damage than waiting until she voluntarily looks for us."
"I won't be able to let it go!" Smidge protested. "She's my best friend and she's gray!"
"Val has gone after her." B pointed out.
"What a waste of time," Branch turned his back to his friends, mentally picturing a shortcut to reach Poppy before Val.
If he turned left on the big tree he could make it to her pod and…
…what was happening? His feet felt numb.
Looking down, Branch noticed some yellow-ish goo spreading from the ground. It seemed like a big jelly that started expanding and taking over his body. He only had time to turn around to see Lownote Jones with a remote in his hands.
"What are you doing, Lownote?" R asked, recognizing what had just engulfed Branch entirely.
"Suspended animation shouldn't be used to-" B was interrupted before she could finish.
"Smidge, Laguna." Lownote turned to the girls who were confused and slightly scared. "I need you to take Branch to an isolated place. No troll can find him until the goo starts to melt."
"What is going on?" Smidge insisted.
"R, B." He turned to the funk sisters once more. "Your cooperation will be required."
"Lownote, please, offer us some explanation." Laguna joined her hands, begging to understand what was going on.
"We're saving Branch and Poppy."