It was around 1:00am and Branch woke up to a sudden pain in his chest. He checked the time and sighed. "Really? 1:00am? Why can't I be woken up at 5:00am or something?" He said to himself in annoyance. He got up to get some water. Once he finished, the pain got even worse. It spread all over his upper torso. He tried to stay quiet so he didn't wake Poppy up. He clenched his stomach and fell on his knees, 'No, not again!' he thought.

Branch's eyes went glowing orange and his face held no expression. He stood up straight and walked out of the house. Even though it was cold, Branch couldn't feel it because, well, it wasn't Branch. He kept walking in just his pyjamas, and walked all the way to the forest and disappeared.

The Next Morning

Poppy woke up with a stretch. She reached to the other side of the bed too feel Branch not there. She felt his side of the bed was cold which meant he hasn't been in bed for a while. She got ready and left too go find her husband. She walked all around the kingdom but could not find him.

Since Poppy couldn't find him, she decided to check the forest (Idk man, bc she smart). When she got to the entrance to the forest, she stopped. She looked around and heard something. Like a groan. She walked further into the forest. She kept walking towards the sound as she heard the groaning get louder. Then she heard it coming from right beside her. Poppy quickly hid behind a tree and slowly looked around to see what it was. But she was shocked when she saw-

"Branch?" She gasped. Branch was on his knees with his hands in fists. His pyjamas were ripped with bits of blood dripping down his mouth. He looked over towards Poppy when he heard her gasp. "P-Poppy?"

"Branch, what happened?!" She asked as she ran over to him.

"...I was attacked." Branch lied.

"Oh my god! Are you okay?!" She asked frantically as she tried to help him up. Branch slowly stood up while wincing. "Y-Yea, I'm fine." They stood and Branch held one hand over his stomach with the other arm over Poppy's shoulder. As they slowly started too walk back, Poppy constantly questioned Branch on what happened but Branch only told her that he got attacked by giant creature of some sort. He told her that he doesn't remember what happened, but he did.

"Come on, Branch. We have to get you home." Poppy told Branch as they walked through the kingdom. Other trolls looked in their direction and questioned why they were walking like that, what could have happened? A few went up to them but Poppy politely pushed them out of the way.

They got back to their house and Poppy lead Branch over to the bed. Branch laid down slowly on the bed. Poppy left to go get Doc. She brought Doc to the house and when Doc saw Branch's state, he was shocked. "How did this happen, my King?" Doc asked as he cleaned up Branch's wounds. Branch stuttered for a bit before answering, "I-I was attacked. By a creature. But I can't quite remember what it looked like." Branch looked down.

"Well you're safe now, but why were you outside at night?" Poppy asked. Branch wondered that himself. Why? Why was he outside, in the forest, at night, by himself? He didn't know why it happened, but he knew it had something to do with...

The Demon.