The next morning Poppy woke up not feeling herself. Usually when she rose she'd wake up happy and ready to party. But today, however, she just wanted to lay there. She gasped when she looked at her hands, that looked dimmed by the slightest bit. She swallowed hard as she sat up and looked at Branch, who was hunched over eating blueberries for breakfast.

Poppy smiled a little despite the clench in her heart. She thought about her confession last night by the fire's glow. She slapped herself for being so stupid. Although she meant every word, he didn't hear her. And what if he did? What would he say? He couldn't have felt the same way. Part of her wondered if he did.

Branch strained his ears turning over to Poppy, who instantly looked away. He stuffed a few more in his mouth before offering her some recently, his mouth still full of the berries. Poppy just stared at him. He tried again, extending his hand out. "Breakfast," he said hastily.

She politely shook her head. He studied her until gulping a few more down, some of the fruit smearing on his face. He was about to get up when Poppy gripped his shoulders. "Hey, wait," she started, surprised by the softness of her own voice. She wasn't one to be super soft. She was a loud troll, but a gentle one. But being quiet and being gentle were two completely different things. "Um, you got a little something…"

"What?" he grunted.

"Well, it's uh...here." She stopped trying to explain and licked her thumb, then gently putting it on his blueberry-smeared cheek. "There, it's off now." She gave him a small smile. He didn't smile but he nodded in thanks and stood up.

"Alright, let's get a move on." He gathered up his things and wasted no time getting back on the road.

Poppy hummed to herself quietly, Branch by her side as the wind blew in her face. She tapped her toe, and he knew what was to come.

"Tell everybody I'm on my way!

New friends and new places to see!"

"Poppy," sighed Branch. Poppy silenced but only for a moment.

"I'm walking on sunshine!"

"Too happy."

"And I need you now tonight-"

He whirled around. "POPPY! STOP!" They were now inches away from each other, his breath was heavy and it tickled her neck. She'd never seen him look so angry and at the same time pained in her life. There was so much pain behind the anger. If not more. "Br-"

"Just stop singing! For one second!" he snapped. "I can't believe I'm stuck here with you."

"Oh you have the nerve! You aren't the best traveling companion in the world! You never wanna do anything!"

"May I remind you that I was the one that saved you from those spiders?! And I was the one that started the fire! If it wasn't for me you'd freeze out there!"

"It's not my fault that I don't have any survival skills!"

"Well you ought to learn!"

She decided to ignore that. "It's not my fault either that you threw my guitar in the fire!"

"It's not my fault that you're annoying!"

"No! You did it because you have no social skills! You practically been living under a rock your whole life!"

"Oh yeah? Then why don't I just go back under that rock where I belong?"

"Fine by me!" she said, throwing her hands in the air and about to walk away, but clearly he wasn't done.

"You spoiled irresponsible ditz!" he exclaimed.

"That's it!" shouted Poppy, screaming and lurching herself on top him and pinning him down.

"What are you doing?!" he demanded.

Poppy ignored him, making frustrated grunting noises, trying to keep him down. "Poppy!"

The two wrestled each other for what felt like a long time, hands through each other hairs. "By the way- you have white hairs!" she said angrily. "Old man!" she mocked.

He pinned her down, growling loudly. "Well you have…" he studied her up and down, trying to find a single flaw. "Well…"

"What do I have?" she asked, trying to hide her amusement then pinning him down. She was just ask strong as he was.

"Whoa, wee!" a new voice chuckled. "You and your boyfriend sure do get carried away!"

"What? Boyfriend?!" Branch demanded. He felt the blood rush to his cheeks. Poppy stood up, making her way off up him and getting up on her two feet, her hair a hot mess.

In front of her stood a cloud.

With eyes, a mouth, and arms and legs.

Branch rubbed his eyes and opened them again. Yep. It was real. "What do you want?" he asked flatly.

"I just wanted to let you know that one of these tunnels lead to the troll tree, and the others...to certain DEATH, DEATH, Death, death, death…" his voice lowered each time he said death.

Poppy was about to ask what he was talking about but when she glanced to the right she noticed the tunnels. "We made it! Branch did you hear that?! We are almost there!" She hugged him tightly, and he felt his muscles tense. One moment she was getting ready to kill him and the next she was fine. He was also still a bit weirded out that a cloud was actually talking to them.

She hugged him ever so tightly, closing her eyes.

"Awww," the cloud sighed. "You have such an affectionate girlfriend!"

"She's not"- he pushed her off him "-my girlfriend!"

"Alrighty then."

"Hey, um, Mr. Cloud?" Poppy asked, minding her manners. "Would you mind telling us which tunnel is the right one?"

"You bet! And call me Cloud Guy."

"Great!" Poppy beamed.

But as always, Branch had different plans for her. "No, we are fine Cloud Guy, thanks," grunted Branch, pulling Poppy away. In his opinion, Cloud Guy was a bit freaky. Clouds weren't suppose to talk in the first place, right?!

"Branch," Poppy laughed nervously, "He's trying to help us."

"I don't like the looks of him…" Branch said, narrowing his eyes. "I mean, who wears socks with no shoes?!"

"Don't be rude he may hear you!" she whispered harshly.

"How can he even hear us!? He doesn't have ears either!"

"You're thinking too hard, as always," Poppy rolled her eyes. "He seems to know what he's talking about. Just give him a chance," she pleaded.

He gave her a hard stare before sighing. "Okay fine, but if this guy plays any tricks…"

"Branch! You are so paranoid-"

"I know you guys said you aren't a couple but you sure do fight like one!" laughed Cloud Guy. "Like an old married one! Are you sure you aren't dating?"

"No!" Branch said harshly. "Now which way do we go?"

"Denial is strong in this part of the woods." He cleared his throat. "Anywho, give me a high five, then I'll tell you."

"A high five?! What doesn't that have to do with anything?!"

"Do you wanna know which way to go or not?" the cloud asked, his voice monotone.

"I'll do it!" said Poppy, excitedly pushing Branch out of the way. "I love high fives!" Poppy was just about to high five him but Cloud Guy put his hand to the side and smirked.

"I know you will," he crossed his arms then looked at Branch. "But will he?"

The thing Branch found funny about Cloud Guy was that he did seem to know what he was talking about. He wasn't ready to admit that Poppy was right about that, but he found it bizarre that the cloud already had their personalities down. He knew Poppy would just by the way she acted, and he knew Branch wouldn't judging by the way he's acted.

"No," Branch said sternly. "I won't."

"Welp I guess you two are out of luck…"

"Branch! It's a high five! The others lead to certain death! Get perspective."

Once again Poppy was right. He would rather high five the stupid cloud than risk going into the wrong tunnel. But would it really make a difference? It's not like they would survive one second in Bergen Town without getting spotted.

"Slap it boss," said Cloud Guy.

"Not gonna happen."

"Little slappy make daddy happy?"

"That's weird."

"Here just do this"- he slapped his left his with his right -"but with your hand."

Branch scowled. Did he think he was stupid?! He knew what a high five looked like! He didn't need a demonstration!

"Yeah thanks for that demonstration it really cleared up exactly what I will NOT be doing!"

"BRANCH!"

"Better do it, grey one. Your girlfriend is getting antsy there…" he said through his teeth. "A satisfied girlfriend is is a happy girlfriend, ain't that right?" he asked Poppy, who was slightly blushing.

Poppy was about to correct him once again that they were not dating but Branch finally came through. "One high five. That's it!"

"Alright!"

Just as Branch thought that this guy was finally gonna come through for them, he was wrong. Because before he knew it he almost tripped because Cloud Guy had slipped his hand away before he could slap it.

He burst out laughing. "Too slow!"

"Too slow?!"

"Classic," Poppy chortled. Branch gave her the coldest stare, causing her eyes to dart away, and suddenly her feet became the most interesting thing in the world.

"Alright, alright," Cloud Guy cleared his throat. "I'll let you slide with a fist bump." He held out his fist slightly.

Branch clenched his first into a ball, almost wanting to punch him in the face but he stopped himself.

"Woops! Shark attack! Om num num! Jellyfish! Ham sandwich, turkey, snowman, dolphin, helicopter, bird, money trapped in a zoo!"

"What?!" Branch demanded. What was wrong with this guy? Wasn't everything a joke to him?!

"Gearshift! Verrrmmmm!" This sent both Cloud Guy and Poppy laughing hysterically.

"Good one," Poppy laughed.

Branch, however, was not so amused.

"Okay, okay, okay, now I'm thinking we hug," he smiled once he calmed down, holding out his arms happily.

He completely lost it. He was done, finished with him. He broke a stick in half, making the cloud rain. "Run," Poppy whispered.

The cloud did as ordered, screaming as Branch completely lost his mind. "YEAH YOU BETTER RUN CLOUD!"

"No! Wait!" Poppy protested, noticing that Cloud Guy had ran into a random tunnel. She wasn't sure if this one would actually lead to Bergen Town or not, and her heart leapt as she found herself running after Branch, still protesting. He was unstoppable.

"C'MERE CLOUD!" he shouted.

"He can help us!"

"Control your boyfriend!" screamed Cloud Guy, turning back to Poppy as he ran.

Of anything, this made Branch even more enraged. "I'M GONNA TEAR YOUR LITTLE CLOUD ARMS OFF YOUR LITTLE CLOUD BODY!"

"Run Cloud Guy!"

"Control him!" Cloud Guy repeated. "THIS IS NOT HOW-" he was cut off when his head hit a large branch. "Oh hey we are here!" he smiled, taking the sticks from Branch before he could impleal him with them and threw them to the side. "You guys are a lot of fun. I'm gonna go, got some cloud stuff to take care of." He didnt face them until he realized he had forgotten something. "Oh! never caught your names, care to share?"

"No," Branch growled, clenching his fists tightly.

"I'm Poppy," Poppy smiled. "And this party pooper over here is Branch."

"Welp, nice meeting you, Poppy and Branch. I wish you luck. See you on the way back? Unless...you DIE, DIE, die, die…" He made are dramatic exit, and Branch had never been so grateful for someone to leave in his whole life, and that was saying a lot.

"Ugh can you believe that guy?! He could never make up his mind!" Branch ran a hand through his hair, trying to calm himself. He knew he should've gotten too worked up considering he was just a cloud. He was somewhat grateful that he actually came through with showing them the way, even if it wasn't how he expected him to.

"Hey Branch," Poppy called, cutting though his thoughts. Only then he realized she wasn't were she was before. "You really need to see this…"

"What?" he asked, taking a few steps closer.

Oh. He swallowed hard.

They were smack in the middle of the troll tree with a perfect view of Bergen Town.

This, he knew, would be where the real adventure began.

Sorry it's short but it's okay, right?

Mehhhh…