Tears of worry clouding her vision, Poppy ran straight to Branch's bunker as fast as she possibly could, quickly climbing inside once she reached the unusually unlocked hatch...
"Branch!?" she yelled out in a panic, running all throughout the bunker, desperately hoping that Branch had somehow made it home safely despite everything that had accrued the night before... "Branch, are you in here!? Branch!?"
She ran through every room, flinging doors open to reveal whatever was hiding on the other side, but unfortunately... no matter how frantically the young queen searched... there was no sign of the grumpy survivalist anywhere...
"No..." she whispered softly in disbelief, tears flooding her eyes as she turned, quickly running out of the bunker... This wasn't true... Branch was ok! He had to be ok! He was still out there somewhere... she just had to find him...
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Quickly, not stopping even once, Poppy ran straight to the waterfall where she had last seen Branch, looking down over the cliff, and into the water below for any signs that the little blue troll was down there...
"Branch!?" she called out, hoping he would answer... desperately wanting her best friend to just come out from wherever he was hiding and give her the biggest hug ever... she wanted him to be ok... she needed him to be ok... "Branch!?" she yelled again, scanning the large area carefully with her eyes. "Please, Branch! Answer me!"
But there was no reply other than the young queen's echo calling back to her over the roar of the falls...
No... she wasn't giving up... she would find him...
Looking around, she finally spotted a narrow path leading down the edge of the cliff, the young queen quickly taking it so that she could get safely down to the pond below, where she proceeded to search yet again for the love of her life... but... there was still no sign of him... there was no doubt about it... Branch was gone...
Tears flooding her eyes and grief suffocating her heart, Poppy's sadness suddenly turned to rage as she looked up, her eyes narrowed at the completely empty pond before her...
"You promised, Branch!" she yelled out loudly into the distance, struggling to speak clearly through her tears of despair. "You promised you wouldn't leave me!"
'Leave me... leave me... leave me...'
Once again, her echo was the only response the young queen received, seeming to mock her with it's repeated words...
He... he left her... she was sad and mad all at the same time... how could he do this? Why would he do this...
It wasn't his fault... despite how much she wanted to blame him for everything that had happened... she knew it wasn't his fault... He hadn't wanted to leave her... he was only doing what he thought was best... what he thought he needed to do to protect the love of his life... but still... he left... he was gone... forever... she would never see him again...
Her sorrow quickly overpowering her anger, Poppy finally fell to her knees, sobbing hard as she desperately wished her best friend would come back to her...
"Please, Branch..." she whispered. "Please, don't leave me..."
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Through her tears, she suddenly saw something sparkling down in the water below her reflection, causing the young queen to slightly cock her head as she looked down at it in confusion...
"Wha... what?"
She wiped away her tears before reaching down into the water, the cold liquid seeming to freeze her fingertips, causing the pink troll to shiver...
But she didn't retreat... no... she continued reaching down for whatever it was that she could see deep in the crystal blue water...
Finally, she got her hand wrapped around the mystery object, gasping as she pulled it out of the pond, realizing in shock what it was...
It was Branch's watch...
Looking down at the watch in her grasp, the young queen was devastated to see that the hands of it were completely frozen in place, not moving even an inch...
'Look...' she remembered Branch saying as he held out his watch for her to see. 'It's still ticking. As long as these hands are moving... I'm fine...'
It wasn't ticking... but... maybe she could fix that...
Slowly, Poppy twisted the nob on top of the watch, hoping to get the hands moving again... but it was no use... the gears were completely filled with water, and no matter how hard she tried... the young queen just couldn't get it to start ticking again... she couldn't get Branch to come back...
"Branch..." she whispered softly in despair, tears beginning to flood her eyes once again, knowing that he was gone. Gone forever... She would never see him again...
Crying, she hugged the watch tight, holding it close to her heart as she allowed her eyes to fall gently shut, not even trying to hide her sorrow...
"I need you, Branch..." she whimpered softly. "I love you. I love you so much..."
Finally, she opened up her eyes, freezing in place as she noticed something in the reflection of the water below her...
Words... something had been written on the bottom of the watch...
Slowly, she flipped the precious item over, looking closely at the back side of it, gasping softly at what she read...
'Our love is timeless.'
It was Branch's hand writing... He must have written on the back of the watch before he left the bunker, hoping that Poppy would somehow find it after he was gone...
She smiled slightly at the words she was reading, remembering when she said that exact same thing to him. He loved her... just as much as she loved him...
"I will always love you, Branch," she whispered, hugging the watch close to her chest as she mourned the loss of her most beloved friend. "Always..."
