"Aaaaaoooooo!" Branch cried out as loudly as he possibly could, almost sounding as if he were howling up at the moon... "Aaaaaaaooooooooooo!"
The sun had set by this time of day, the stars and moon the only things lighting up the night as the wolf's howls of pure absolute terror echoed loudly through the entire forest...
He was panicking more than ever, the young boy's heart pounding inside his chest...
Branch knew... he knew that any minute now... Peppy would be coming back... coming back to kill him...
'HELP!' the survivalist howled out in pure terror. 'Someone! Anyone! Please, help!'
"Shut up!" a sudden angered shout rung out from one of the pods above him, catching Branch's attention as he stopped howling to listen...
"I'm trying to sleep!" shouted another, all the trolls in the village fed up with the constant screeching of the wolf trapped below them...
With a soft whimper, the wolf's ears drooped at the sound of the angry trolls yelling down at him, realizing with a heavy heart... that none of them were going to save him... he was trapped... and he was never getting out... at least... not alive...
'Please...' Branch whimpered softly in one final attempt at survival. 'Help..."
Loosing all hope of ever seeing the light of day ever again... the heart broken wolf leaned his head up against the bars of the cage as he closed his eyes in despair...
'SNAP!'
The sudden sound made Branch jump, the young boy gasping in horror as he shrunk back, his ears drooping down in fear...
Scared of what was about to happen, the wolf whimpered softly, his big blue eyes scanning the darkness around him...
This was it... he hadn't gotten away... and now the King was here to seal his fate...
Footsteps rung through the pitch black darkness around him, Branch looking around in a panic as his entire body shook in petrifying terror...
'P... p... please...' he whimpered, still frantically scanning his surroundings for his attacker.. 'D... don't... hurt m... me...'
A loud whimper escaped his throat as he finally spotted a figure emerging from the darkness, something looking like a knife in their hand...
Branch couldn't hold in his cries of fear as the figure approached his cage, his eyes wide and full of tears as he shrunk down low to the metal floor beneath him...
"Shhh..." he suddenly heard in a calming whisper, interrupting his cries of terror as the figure finally emerged from the shadows, revealing once and for all who it actually was... "It's ok, bud... It's just me..."
'Poppy!' Branch barked out in excitement, quickly jumping up to his four feet and running over to the edge of the cage to greet his savior. 'Please! You have to save me!'
Again, the wolf began to bite at the bars of the cage, keeping his tearful gaze locked on the young princess, pleading with her to understand him... to finally release him...
"I know... I know, bud," Poppy whispered softly, looking around for a quick moment to make sure she wasn't being watched. "Don't worry. I'm gonna get you out of there..."
It was than that Branch realized... the thing he had seen in the figure's hand wasn't a knife after all... Instead... it was a pair of scrapbooking scissors which the young princess was now using to pick the lock on the cage that he was imprisoned in...
"My friend Branch taught me how to pick locks, so I should have you out of there in no time," she explained with a smile. "I mean... I've had lots of practice. I break into his bunker with this technique all the time..."
'Wait...' Branch gasped, looking at the young princess in complete shock. 'You do!?'
'Click!'
Branch's ears perked up at the relieving sound as the lock snapped, the cage door popping right open...
A small smile coming to his face, the wolf stepped out of the cage, Poppy getting a little nervous at seeing the large creature now towering over her...
Full of pure relief, Branch closed his eyes, pressing his head gently against her's as a thank you...
"You're welcome," Poppy whispered, hugging him back as her heart immediately calmed down, knowing that even though this wolf was much bigger than her... he wasn't dangerous... despite what the other trolls thought...
'BANG!'
The horrible shriek of pain that escaped the wolf's mouth at that moment made Poppy's heart stop as Branch suddenly collapsed to the ground...
Horrified by the sight, Poppy's eyes widened in terror as she stared down at the wolf in shock, not fully comprehending what had just occurred...
"No!" she shouted out in complete panic, quickly dropping down to her knees beside the wolf. "What... what happened!?"
The only reply she got was a soft whimper and the sight of blood now flowing from the wolf's hip, his eyes shut gently in exhaustion...
"No..." she whispered in disbelief, quickly turning to see what had caused this...
She looked up, her heart sinking painfully into her stomach as the young princess saw her father standing just a few feet away, Creek right by his side with a gun held out in front of him, smoke still spitting out of the end of it...
"Creek! Dad! Stop!" she pleaded, but neither one of them heard her desperate cry, Creek firing out another bullet...
Luckily, this one had missed the wolf by a few inches, the bullet crashing into a nearby tree instead...
"Up! You have to get up!" Poppy yelled in complete panic, pushing the injured wolf up to his feet. "Go! Run away!"
Branch was weak, and so tired... his eyes barley open, he gazed weakly at Poppy, seeing the pure terror on her face as he stood completely still, his legs feeling like jello, making it seem as if he were about to collapse at any moment...
"Run! Please!" Poppy begged, pushing him off towards the forest... "Go!"
Shaking his head to try and wake himself up, Branch quickly took of running towards the forest, limping slightly as his hip ached painfully...
As the wolf ran for his life, Creek shot yet another bullet, the slab at pure metal managing to hit it's target...
Branch yelped out in pain, almost falling right back down to the ground, but somehow... he managed to continue running, finally disappearing into the dark shadows of the forest...
With a loud groan of pure rage, Creek tried to take off after the escaping beast, but Poppy quickly stopped him, cutting off the purple troll's rout...
"No! Stop!" she pleaded, holding him back with all her might.
Confused, Creek looked at Poppy with a raised eyebrow, Peppy suddenly pushing past him to hug his daughter...
"Are you ok, my little princess?" the old king asked in concern, but Poppy just pulled away from the hug, crying hard...
"How could you!? How could you do this!?" she cried, tears flowing from her eyes in betrayal. "You could have killed him!"
"We did it to protect you," Creek stated, walking over to her. "How did it get out of it's cage?"
The young princess looked away at the sound of that question, not wanting to admit that she had let him out... She knew her father would be so disappointed in her if he found out the truth...
"That monster is dangerous. You're lucky it didn't hurt you," Peppy said, checking his daughter over for injuries.
"He wasn't dangerous!" Poppy cried out.
"Poppy... It's a wild animal," Creek stated. "You have no way of knowing what's going on in it's mind."
Poppy shook her head at the purple troll's words, turning to run away, not wanting to hear any more out of him...
"Wait! Poppy!" Peppy yelled after his daughter as she disappeared into the forest beyond. "Come back!"
But she didn't listen, continuing to run as she horridly wiped the tears from her eyes...
She had to talk to someone... someone other than her father... she knew he wouldn't listen... The wolf wasn't dangerous... it was just a scared animal... But her father was so convinced that this 'beast' would kill them all... she knew he wouldn't believe her... she needed someone who would listen... who she could tell the truth to... that she had befriended the wolf... that she was the one who had set him free...
Then... she thought of someone... someone she could spill her guts to without the fear of them telling on her...
Yes this troll was grumpy most of the time... but he always listened to what she had to say... he never judged her when she was alone with him... he would always help her feel safe as long as no one else was looking... That's who she would go to now...
—————
Branch ran through the forest as fast as he possibly could on his injured leg, panting heavily in exhaustion...
His vision was blurred, and mind clouded...
He couldn't breath... he couldn't think... there was just too much pain...
Finally, he just couldn't take the agony any longer, the wolf collapsing down to the ground as he whimpered softly...
Slowly, his fur began to fade away, the young boy once again transforming back into his troll self...
"Ow..." the gray troll moaned, laying on his side, finding it hard to move...
There was so much pain, his hip and ear throbbing to a point where he just couldn't ignore it...
He had to get up... he had to find help... he wasn't safe here... not like this...
Forcing himself back up to his wobbly feet, Branch took a few shaky steps forwards, but he didn't get far before clasping right back down onto his stomach with a groan of pain, the little troll panting heavily as he struggled to breath...
His eyes beginning to get heavier and heavier... he finally succumbed to his overwhelming injuries... the village grump allowing his eyes to slowly fall shut as the world around him faded to complete black...