Controlled Chaos

Anxiety Dreams

Poppy went back to her pod and finally fell asleep. She had a strange dream as she slept.

"Poppy?" she heard a voice call out to her. She looked around. Gosh, it was bright.
"Uhm, hello? Who's there?" Poppy called out. No answer. So, she decided to look around. She was under a tree... or something? It was blinding.

"I said, 'hello'? Anybody?!" she yelled. Poppy was starting to get scared. Suddenly, it went dark. Pitch black.
And then, it was night. As she adjusted to her new surroundings, she realized she was on a ship.

A huge, tall, sailing ship. Above water.

She could hear the faint sound of cannon fire. It was like Poppy was on a pirate ship. And maybe she was.
"Hello?" she whispered, "Is- is anybody there?"

Nothing.

Poppy felt someone tug on her dress. "Poppy!" Branch wrapped his arms around her from behind. She screamed. "Branch!" she gasped, as he picked her up.

"We have to go! C'mon!" he urged. Poppy groaned. "Well, could you at least put me down? Please?!" she pleaded.
He didn't, he just sped up, making her bounce in his arms.

After awhile, she fell asleep. When she woke up, she was lying on the ground, Branch hovering over her. "Finally. You're awake," he said dryly. Poppy rubbed at her eyes.

"Branchie..? Hhn... Where are we?" she mumbled. He rolled his eyes. "Ugh. You're so stupid," he growled. Her ears shot up. "W-what?" she whimpered.

"You heard me!" Branch screamed, "Get up. Now." Poppy was terrified, so she stood up. Branch glared at her. "If you weren't so heavy, maybe we would've gotten away in time," he snarled, gesturing to the sky.

It was blue. Dark blue. But it was different than a regular night. Something about it was... off. Poppy heard a boom, like a bomb, and the sky lit up. A huge mushroom cloud erupted in the distance, and she could hear screams and shouts.

She screeched, but then it all went black.

▁ ▂ ▄ ▅ ▆ ▇ █ 𝓒𝓱𝓪𝓸𝓼 █ ▇ ▆ ▅ ▄ ▂ ▁

"Pops, hey, it's okay..." Branch soothed, rocking her back and forth like a baby. Poppy looked up at him. "What happened?" she asked groggily. He brushed hair from her cheek.

"I think you had a nightmare." She clung to him and whimpered after recalling the dream. He stroked her back in comforting swirls. "Don't worry, I've got you," he said softly. After a while, Poppy had calmed down enough to tell him about the nightmare.

"Well, at first, I was sitting... Under a tree? And it was really bright... But then, something happened. It was dark.. and I was on a boat. A really big boat..." she trailed off, trying to remember what happened.

"And then... and then... You came, and you picked me up... then I fell asleep while you were carrying me. But when I woke up, you were really upset. And then, something exploded! I actually woke up after that.."

Branch just blinked. His face was blank for a few seconds before it lit up. His face was shielded with a mischievous-looking mask. His mouth shattered into a smirk and he bit down on his lip.

"I know what would make you feel better," Branch grinned.
Poppy looked up at him and crossed her arms. "And what exactly is that?

Branch scooped her up and dropped her on the recliner next to her bed. He reclined the chair and sat on top of her,  each of his knees on either side of her waist. No sooner did his hands pounce down against her neck.

"Wait! No! Please, no tickles!" Poppy cried, making Branch's grin wider, revealing his teeth.

"Too late!" he yelled and started tickling her mercilessly.
She screamed thru her laughter, pleading him to stop.
But he didn't, not until she was breathless and crying. Branch finally did stop, not wanting to hurt his beloved queen.

Poppy, after she regained her breath, just pouted. She stuck her lip out at him. "Just so you know, that didn't make me feel better!" she whined.

"Well, let's try another way, then," he said, nudging her. Poppy was most definitely skeptical of Branch after he had almost tickled her to death. After half a minute of staring at each other, she sighed. Or more like huffed.

"Okay, what is it?"

Branch smiled at the sentence. The pure defeat of her voice.. He knew that her guard was partially let down. At least for a little while.

"Alright, turn over. Onto your stomach," he ordered.
"You never answered my question."
"Fine, I'm gonna give you a massage. Now, turn over."

Poppy hesitantly flipped around, so her back was facing Branch. He laid both of his arms on her shoulders and kneaded her muscles under his hands.

Her shoulders were tense, but after a few minutes,  they slowly melted into a relaxed state.
"Aww," he cooed, "You like that, don't you?"

Poppy nodded slightly as he continued to dig his thumbs into her shoulders. He leaned down against her neck, practically laying on top of her. "Good," he whispered against her neck, "Because I'm not stopping until you forget all about your dream..."

Branch lightly kissed her neck, sending shivers down her spine. Goosebumps prickled her skin, and Branch could feel the bumps against his skin.
He liked the feeling, but he pulled away, not to make her uncomfortable.

He just continued to massage her shoulders and neck for the next hour, until he realized that she was actually fast asleep. Branch knew it was getting late, but he didn't want to leave Poppy in case she had another bad dream.

Branch carried Poppy to her bed and laid her down. He crawled under the covers with her, hoping that she wouldn't have any nightmares with him by her side.

He pulled out the book he was reading earlier. It was titled "Controlled Chaos", about how anxiety could take control of your life if you didn't get help. He'd been reading it since Poppy had been diagnosed with anxiety so he could help her work thru it.

Branch was reading for awhile before he reached a chapter named "Anxiety Dreams." He was dreadfully tired, but he was equally curious.

Anxiety dreams are dreams that occur when the troll is under tremendous stress or has had something tramuatic happen, e.g, the death of a loved one, abuse, a severe injury, etc. They leave the troll scared, disoriented, and sometimes even sickly or ill..

Branch tried to finish the passage, but he couldn't before he drifted off to sleep.