Trolls: Fade to Gray

Sick

I'm really proud of this chapter, so let me know what you think! <3

~Branch's POV~

I insisted I could walk fine, but Poppy still slung my arm over her shoulders and led me inside. I plopped down on the bed in her spare room, feeling absolutely exhausted. After she made me take some fever reducers, she changed the bandage on my hand.

"Get some sleep, hopefully you'll feel better!" She smiled, and it almost made me forget everything.

"Wait." I patted the side of the bed next to me and she gladly climbed under the covers with me. I wrapped my arm around her, and she used it as a pillow, lying on her side facing me. No words were exchanged, but a lot was said. She slowly fell asleep, and I relished every moment, just trying to stay awake long enough to enjoy her slow breaths and the warmth of her hand atop my chest for a bit longer. But I fell prey to my fatigue, noticing as I drifted off that my hand was turning a lovely shade of blue.

~Poppy's POV~

I slept for around ten hours, feeling groggy when I woke up. I slowly and carefully got out of bed, trying not to wake Branch. I wanted to let him sleep for as long as possible. To my surprise, he wasn't looking so grey anymore! I covered my mouth, trying not to let my squeal of excitement wake him. Tiptoeing out of the room, I made my way to the kitchen to get started on breakfast.

I cracked a few eggs into a bowl and seasoned them with salt and pepper, greased the pan, and poured in the mixture. Hopefully my omelet would end up actually being an omelet this time, and not just scrambled eggs. I set my bacon onto a skillet, prepared the cheese, and diced some onions. I put all the ingredients onto the omelet and folded it over.

"YES! Its perfect!" I celebrated. I topped it with some paprika and chives and called Viva to try it.

"Viva! I finally made a real omelet this time!" I ran to her room and knocked on the door with no response. I didn't think much of it since it was nearly 10am. She probably already left the house. My noise must have woken Branch, because I heard him stirring across the hall. At least he could try it!

"Good morning Branch." I ran my fingers through his hair. "How are you feeling?"

He groaned and put a pillow over his face.

"That bad, huh?" I said playfully as the pillow slid off, revealing a small smile. "I made breakfast! It looks realllllly good, are you sure you don't want to be the first to try it?"

"Now that you mention it, I'm starving." He started to get up and winced in pain. I did nothing to hide the concern on my face.

"Are you ok? Tell me where it hurts." I rushed to his side.

"It's just a headache, I'm fine. So, what did you make?" He stood up, looking a little uneasy on his feet, but cute in his oversized white T-shirt and shorts.

"Are you sure? Cause I can just bring it to you, if that would be better." I held his arm.

"No, no I'm fine, really. I need to get up and move around anyway."

I led him to the kitchen and we both sat at the dining table, splitting the massive omelet in half. He complimented me on my cooking and I blushed, admitting it was really good. I couldn't stop myself from smiling, he looked so much happier! We ate and talked for a while getting up to clean the kitchen.

"Here." I handed him two pain reducing pills.

"I'm fine Poppy, It's just a headache."

"Lowering the pain will help you feel better and heal, I don't care that you want to 'tough it out'." I gave him a glass of water.

He chuckled, "I can never argue with you."

"It's cause I'm always right." I said in a snarky voice. "Now, take them and then it's back to bed for you."

He swallowed the pills before attempting to reason with me. "But I'm not tired!"

I rolled my eyes "You've literally yawned like, eight times in the past few minutes."

"What? No I haven't!" He smiled.

I laughed and pointed to the bedroom. He raised his hands defensively before finally complying. "Goodnight!" I yelled down the hall.

"But its morning!"

"Well then, good morning! Now go to sleep!"

I went into the dining room, realizing we didn't clean up our plates. But before I could grab them, there was a knock at the door. I was greeted by a mail bug, holding an urgent letter addressed to me. "Thank you." I grabbed the note, quickly opening it.

Hey Poppy,

We have a situation, come to the central garden ASAP!

Love, Viva

The central garden? That's where we had that disastrous party. I quickly got dressed and left a note on the door in case Branch woke up, telling him where I went. When I showed up, I saw Viva talking to a bunch of trolls in electrician and construction uniforms. She saw me and waved for me to come over.

"Poppy! I'm so glad you made it." She said, looking concerned.

"Of course, what's going on?"

One of the workers answered, "Well, we were called to inspect the site after the massive fire, and we found that it looked... suspicious."

I raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Suspicious how?"

"The electrical box was tampered with the night of the party." Viva explained.

I widened my eyes in disbelief. "So your saying..."

"The fire was not a coincidence, someone did it on purpose."