Trolls Fanfiction: Iris

Chapter 7

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀< ❈Branch's POV❈ >

Branch had his teeth gritted together tightly as he was roused from his sleep. He was once again reminded of the agonizing pain scorching through his broken leg. A cast was cocooned around it and it was propped up on a pillow. He had memories of last night, finding Iris in the forest and fighting off that beastly spider. Finding his daughter had been a struggle. He hadn't been out in that forest for over a decade and hardly found his way around.

Suddenly, the door to his room gently opened up. He noticed it was one of the doctors and sighed. Were they were to draw blood again? Or perhaps lecture him for what he was "doing wrong"?

But the doctor was smiling a bit as she approached him. "Hello, King Branch, how do you feel?" she asked.

"I'm feeling okay," he replied, glancing down at his injury. Everything else in him seemed to be doing okay except for his leg.

"Well, I'm just here to tell you that you'll be released from the hospital today. Also, your family is here to see you." The doctor turned away and left him alone in his room once again.

Branch blinked and laid his head back down on the pillow. He remembered his little argument with Poppy yesterday after Iris' absence had been noticed. He felt instant regret. Why had he yelled at her like that? None of this was her fault. I call her irresponsible. And the thing is, when I said it, I had wanted her to hear it. Geez, I'm such an idiot!

He knew it would be a little awkward seeing Poppy now. But he would make it up to her. An idea was already creeping through his mind on what he could do. But before he thought anymore deeply into it, the door swung open again.

There stood Poppy and Iris, staring at him with concern shimmering in both their gazes. Iris seemed the most relieved.

The young blue-skinned Troll rushed over to her father, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and burying her face into his chest. Branch patted the back of her head and hugged her back.

"I'm sorry, Dad," Iris whimpered against him, the wetness of her tears soaking through his leafy vest. "I'm so stupid! I could've killed you." She lifted her face from his body, shiny droplets sliding from her glistening pink eyes and dampening her cheeks.

"No, no, no," Branch muttered, holding his daughter against him and nuzzling her forehead. "You're not an idiot. I'm not mad at you, I promise. Everyone makes mistakes. I make mistakes, your...mother has made mistakes." He flashed a quick look up at his wife who was watching them with a blank expression. He pushed away another flash of guilt and focused on the crying teenager Troll in his arms. He stroked her face with his hands, using his thumbs to wipe away the tears. He smiled at her affectionately, kissing her forehead a couple times. He felt bad for her. She was obviously traumatized from the event. Branch would leave her alone about it. Originally, he was going to have punishments inflicted upon her. But now...there was no way he wanted to do that. Sure, she needed to learn her lesson. But he knew that experience out in the forest was punishment enough for her. She'd almost been killed and had to watch her father suffer injuries. Watching him hit that tree trunk could've looked very different from her eyes. She could've seen his face hit the wood instead of his leg and then wonder if he'd broken an important bone.

"Were you scared I had died, Cupcake?" Branch asked. Cupcake was a nickname he'd had for her for years. It started when she was still a baby and had muttered her first word: cupcake. He remembered being so excited by hearing her say something for the first time, that he just started calling her Cupcake.

Iris nodded. "You could've died because of me," she muttered, guilt ringing thickly around her voice.

"Shh," he murmured, bringing her closer against him and brushing her pointy blue ears with his hand. "Don't cry. Don't feel bad. I'm okay, aren't I? This is a minor injury." He sat there holding his daughter for a very long time with Poppy watching them from where she stood.