- I CAN'T BREATHE - || Trolls, Broppy Fanfiction

~ Chapter 6 ~

The afternoon sun had been burning his neck for a few minutes, he surely had a little sunburn, and it would not be better if he stayed there. He knew this from his survival books.

Branch was still laying down on the shore, at his side was Princess Poppy herself who had somehow tried to save him before falling herself into the rapids with him. The breath of the two trolls was calm, they had evacuated the water from their system by coughing until it irritated their throats, giving them the impression of being in the middle of the desert when they had just come out of the water. Their only way of reassuring themselves was not to close their eyes, to look at each other, weak, and lost. They were lost.

Far from their home, away from Trollstopia. Completely lost.

Being just laying here for half an hour gave time to think, but the gray troll's head was so full of overwhelming thoughts that he just couldn't think... But it had to stop. He had to sort it out.

Let's recap.

He had fallen into the crazy river where he was supposed to build a barage... Poppy had tried to help him and hold him back from his fall but fell in too.

Branch had been swimming, trying to survive the river. He had found Poppy and managed to get her out of the river with him after a big death jump into an unknown lagoon...

Poppy was injured.

They were lost.

Poppy was injured, he had to do something. They were lost, they had to find a shelter for the night.

Branch squeaked with discomfort, drawing the pink troll's attention. With difficulty, she watched her companion stand up on his forearms, a few drops of silver water, shining flowing down his cheek to fall from his chin to the red water in which their bodies were immersed. She saw the huge eccymose under his ear, he had received this bruise when he fell down the waterfall.

The silence troll stood still, along with a few horrible tremors for another minute, under the worried gaze of Poppy who still didn't move a single bit. Her body was a pain as a whole. It was with a pinch in her heart that she watched the normally so strong and courageous Branch crawling weakly towards the ground of warm pebbles and sand, the water flowing from his body and his soacked clothes in a sound of droplets that was enough to give her a headache. When he was partly out of the water, he turned to his side, his shoulder uncomfortably stretched on the ground, supporting his weight with a cry of pain. Pain, he was in pain, but he was out of the water, it was one more step done.

Right now... He had to stand up on his legs. He couldn't stay there, he had to stand on his feet... If he stayed there, he would die, and so would Poppy. He had to move, just move.

With a growl of rage, Branch forced himself to get up, making a complaint to the pain that the sudden movement suddenly caused in his jaw and temples. Poppy let out a squeak of fear, worried about him at this scream of a hero in middle of a battle;

- B-Branch?... She called out his name, his ear didn't even twitched like it normally would;

- I-I'm alright... He murmured when he was done catching his breath, his eyes closed in pain, I-I... I have to get... We have to fucking get up !...

Poppy nodded weakly; Branch was right, they couldn't stay there. It was useless to stand there and do nothing, not fight for their lives, it would lead them to nothing except perhaps towards the destiny to which we were all destined to, one day or another.

Poppy tried to get up too, copying Branch's clumsy movements to get the best of the supports on the flat pebbles and sand of the beach. Branch turned his face towards her, the sun blinded him, and he had to close his eyes for a few seconds. His heart squeezed as he heard Poppy's cry of pain;