All Trolls go to Heaven (Rewrite)

Chapter 33

"Branch!? Poppy!?" a shout rang out loudly through the brisk dusk air, a large group of trolls wondering aimlessly through the forest in search of the two missing trolls. "Poppy!? Branch!?"

Peppy had arranged a search party as soon as he realized his daughter had somehow snuck out of the bunker, almost all the trolls from the village now wearing party hats as they searched far and wide for their beloved queen... and... to a lesser extent for them... the troll who they had always known till recently to be the village grump... Branch...

     The old king however was desperately looking to find both missing trolls, hoping with all his heart that they were alright... especially Branch... he didn't know the full extent to the trouble the young boy had mysteriously gotten himself in to... but he did know it was bad... far worse for him than it would be for Poppy... he knew his daughter was safe... he could just feel it... but Branch... there was an empty feeling in his heart as he thought about the survivalist, knowing things had gone really wrong for him...

"Poppy!? Branch!?" he called out in a panic, desperately hoping the two of them would answer. "Where are you, guys!?"

There was no sign of the couple anywhere, until Peppy suddenly spotted something just on the shore of a close by beach...

His eyes widened at what he saw, his heart sinking down into the pit of his stomach as his breath seemed to get stuck in his throat...

"Poppy!" he finally shouted out at the top of his lungs, dropping his cane to the ground as he quickly began sprinting towards his daughter at top speed...

The others noticed their former king running away from the group, gasping as they saw the bright orange raft washed up on the wet sand, all of them quickly running to join him, worried for the safety of their queen...

Peppy ran right over to Poppy, dropping down to his knees beside her as he gently lifted his precious daughter into his arms.

"P... Poppy? Sweetie? Can you hear me?" he asked softly, looking down helplessly at his daughter as she lay motionless in his arms, his gentle hand softly stroking the wet hair out of her face... "Please... please wake up..."

Much to the old king's dismay, his daughter didn't wake up, remaining completely still in his arms, her eyes shut gently and looking as if she had no life left inside of her at all...

     Slowly, Peppy lowered his ear down to Poppy's chest, sighing a deep breath of relief as he heard the faint beating of her heart...

     She was still alive! And luckily... she was going to be ok...

Carefully, trying not to hurt his daughter any farther, the old troll lifted her up as he rose to his feet, looking all around for Branch. He had to be nearby... right?

     But there was no sign of the little blue troll anywhere... nothing to prove he was still somehow alive...

With a sigh, Peppy lowered his head as his ears drooped down in despair, sadly knowing exactly what this meant...

     This had been the survivalist's plan all along... protect Poppy at all costs... But still... knowing the gruesome truth... it actually made the older troll's orange coloring fade slightly to grey...

Slowly, he looked back down at Poppy, happy to at least see that she was still safely with him, and then began walking back towards home, taking his daughter with him...