Curse of the Weretroll (rewrite)

Chapter 59

Down in the safety of his underground survival bunker, Branch paced back and forth, anxiously waiting for Poppy to come back with news about the hunt...

He just couldn't take the suspense of waiting any longer, when he suddenly heard the sound of his elevator coming down the shaft...

With a soft gasp, Branch raised his head, his eyes immediately locking on the pink troll stepping into his living room...

"Poppy!" he exclaimed upon seeing the love of his life, the village grump quickly rushing over to hug her tight. "Please tell me you found a solution..."

But there was no answer... the young princess just remained completely silent, Branch beginning to get worried about her...

Poppy was NEVER silent... something must of been very wrong...

"Poppy?" he questioned in a calming tone, the gray troll pulling slightly away from the hug to look at his secret crush in concern. "What's wrong?"

Silence...

For a long moment, Poppy just stood absolutely still, the young princess' gaze locked on the floor below her feet...

'Lives will end... blood will be shed and tears cried...' Cyble's voice rung through her brain over and over again... 'The troll of gray will betray...' Could... could Branch really be capable of that?

     "Poppy?"

     Snapping back into reality, the young princess finally looked up at Branch, meeting his worried gaze...

     "I... I'm sorry, Branch..." she apologized softly after a few more short moments of silence. "I was just thinking... about something Cyble told me... something about the future..."

     "Eh... Cyble?" Branch groaned, rolling his eyes uncontrollably. "There's nothing mystical about her. All she does is point out the obvious... either that or completely makes up a load of nonsense..."

     Poppy sighed, taking Branch's words into consideration...

     Although she hated to admit it... the other trolls... they weren't too fond of Branch... some of them even going as far as to make up some pretty nasty rumors about the poor boy... maybe Cyble had simply been lying about the prophecy...

     The last thing Poppy wanted to do was to accuse her friends of falsifying the truth... but it did make more sense then Branch betraying them...

     I mean... this was Branch we were talking about, for Pete's sake! The safety nerd! And although he was grumpy a lot of the time... most of the time... ok... all of the time... he was still the sweetest troll the young princess had ever met... he would never betray the village... he would never betray her...

     "It was nothing," Poppy finally said, not wanting to hurt her friend's feelings with what the village mystic had made up about him just to get the young princess to leave the survivalist all alone with no one he could talk to... "I'm ok..."

     She looked to her friend, noting that his wolf claws were sticking out, the survivalist having bitten them down to the nub...

     "Oh Branch..." the pink troll muttered softly, taking the Weretroll's hand in her own to take a closer look at his chewed up nails, Branch quickly yanking his hand away from her as he forced his claws back into his fingertips, not wanting his worried friend to know he was once again freaking out...

     Concerned about the gray troll's well being, Poppy looked him in the eye, the young princess instantly able to see his fear...

     She knew him well... there was no way he'd ever be able to hide anything from her...

     "Did... did you figure out how to get me out of the hunt?" he asked, seeming rather embarrassed as the young boy tried his best to change the subject while also getting back on topic of what was causing his panic in the first place...

     With a sigh, Poppy lowered her head, not really wanting to answer that question...

     "N... no..." she finally admitted. "I didn't..."

     She heard the small tortured groan that escaped from the poor boy's throat as she spoke those awful words, the young girl looking up to see Branch once again pacing back and forth... back and forth... back and forth...

     Even worse... he was yet again beginning to have trouble breathing...

     "Whoa... calm down, Branch..." Poppy insisted, looking to her friend in concern. "Just breath... you're gonna be ok... relax... just please calm down..."

     But he didn't listen... he couldn't listen... he was just far too panicked to do anything other than pace anxiously as he bit down on his claws in pure terror...

     "Or... do you want me putting you back into your relaxation daze..." the young princess asked firmly, placing her hands on her hips almost as if threatening the terrified troll...

     Branch froze at the sound of his best friend's words, the young boy quickly turning to look at her with wide fearful eyes as he shook his head in denial...

     "N... no... I... I'm calm... I'm calm..." he assured, still clearly panicking. "I'm relaxed..."

     Taking several deep breaths, Branch finally began to calm down, Poppy walking over to hug him tight...

     "You'll be ok..." she whispered into his good ear. "I promise..."

     Branch nodded, taking several more deep breaths to try and calm his nerves even farther, the paranoid survivalist hugging Poppy in return...

     Surprisingly... just being close to the one he loved so much made him feel safer... as if nothing could ever hurt him...

     That blissful moment of relaxation didn't last long however as Branch's large grandfather clock began to chime, signaling that is was now 9:00...

     Well... it was too late to think of a solution... because the hunt was starting now...