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The loud crackle of thunder roared over the hills, echoing through the land that passed quickly by the racing queen of rock.
Rain pelted Barb’s jacket and face like bullets, the troll riding as fast as her poor critter bike could go. Her chest heaved with desperation as her eyes were wide with determination.
Not even minutes earlier, she had received a text from poppy that had sent her into a panicked shock.
She NEEDED to get home at that exact moment. There was no doubt about it.
The purple troll rode through the drenched and soggy forest, leaves and vegetation slapping and ripping through her skin. Yeah, sure it fucking hurt, but barb didn’t care.
Her jaw clenched and the corners of her mouth pulled into a very tight frown, the rough gritting of teeth making her eye twitch with stress.
She cared about getting home more than getting torn to shreds. She would deal with that later, it’s not like a few bandaids wouldn’t fix them right up.
As she rode on, the storm got worse. The rain came down in heavier amounts as the lightning got closer.
The large crash of the thunder absolutely deafening at how close it was to her.
And still she persisted on, planning on stopping for nothing. Absolutely. Nothing.
Because this was important to barb, so important that she would risk her own safety to make sure it was okay.
So on she rode, through the painful slashing of shrubbery and sharp sting of raindrops.
It was only another 3 minutes before she finally rolled up upon pop village, carefully slowing down to not cause an accident, or worse, miss her stop.
Bike still in motion, she leaped off with a loud grunt, mud splashing up at her and totally caking her boots, as well as leaving dark muddied splatters up her soaked white tank.
Hair clinging to her face and water running her mascara, she bolted towards the dully lighted pod, the poor thing looking sad and frail in the storm's harsh grasp.
“JUST GO AHEAD AND SEEK SHELTER! I'LL FIND YOU AFTER THE RAIN DIES DOWN!” She said with a hollar, still booking it towards the pod, unable to look back as the bug bike sped off to seek a dry space.
On the inside of the pod however, a very nervous and distraught poppy was found pacing the room, glancing over at the front door every now and then as she kept her focus on the last text barb sent before going quiet.
“I’ll be there in five.”
Was all barb had sent before leaving the very worried, very alarmingly stressed poppy to pace the floor.
“God it’s been like seven minutes.. what if she got in an accident or something..” poppy mumbled into her hand that was firmly cupping over her mouth. The gesture supposedly trying to bring any sort of comfort to the bright pink troll.
It was only when poppy glanced down at her phone that she heard a large slam come from behind her, the noise of wind and rain now pounding heavily on the carpet that stood before the front door.
“BARB!” Poppy shrieked, whipping around to see a heavily breathing, VERY soggy rock queen, holding the door wide open as she panted. “OH MY GOODNESS, BARB I WAS SO WORRIED!” She cried, running up and throwing her arms around barb, not caring that she was getting soaked to the bone and mud smeared onto her dress as she held the darker troll tightly. “poppy-“ barb choked out, as she wrapped her arms around the pop troll’s waist, returning the gentle gesture.
It wasn’t until about 5 seconds later that barb broke the hug, grasping poppy’s shoulders tightly as she stared into her pink gaze. “Poppy…” barb started, eyes widening with a serious tone. “Where’s Debbie?”
There it was. The question. Poppy’s eyes flashed with worry, then softened into a sadder setting. “Barb, she’s in the bedroom.. but trust me… I don’t think she’s doing too well..”
Barb gasped, loosening the grip on poppy as she bolted past, shoving her way roughly in through the bedroom door. “Debbie? Where are you my little fuzzball?” Barb called out softly into the pitch black room, only occasionally being lit up by the flash of lightning that passed every 50 or so seconds.
Quiet.
The room was dead quiet.
Barb felt her heart sink, she began to rub her eyes, desperately trying to get the sting of runny mascara out of her corneas as she continued to search for the tiny bat.
It was only after a few seconds of calling and rubbing her itchy eyes when she heard a small squeak. Eyelids immediately flying open and ears peeking up alertly, she made her way around the room, quietly peeking into the small valley of darkness that was strewn out between the wall and the bed.
“Debbie? Baby?” Barb sniffled, creeping towards the small valley of darkness that she stood before, squinting her eyes as she desperately tried to look for the source of the noise.
Another squeak.
“Debbie!” Barb said in a louder whisper, now looming over the edge of the bed, wading her arm through the dark swamp of pitch black nothingness.
Suddenly, a flash of bright spectacular light lit up the room, giving barb the split second of vision that she so desperately needed.
However.
She wasn’t at all prepared for whatever she was about to witness.
Her eyes widened in shock as the image of a small grey bat, no bigger than one's head, lay sideways on the ground, unable to move.
“Oh my god- Debbie..” barb choked, biting back her tongue as she lunged for the tiny creature, coddling it in her arms as her eyes grew hot and heavy. “My hairy little baby..” barb sniffled as she ran her fingers through the twiney fur of the bat, desperate to relieve any sort of pain or distress the tiny thing was feeling at that moment.
Just then a shadow loomed in the doorway, large frizzy hair stood droopy in the silhouette as it wandered slowly into the dark room, only illuminated by the light peeking in from the hallway.
“Barb?” The figure whispered, calling out for the very distraught purple troll.
There was no response, just echoes of sniffles and tiny hushed gurgling.
Finally, the silence broke as Barb spoke up.
“She’s worse than this morning…” she mumbled, still holding the creature gently in her arms.
“Yeah… I.. I know…” Poppy said quietly. “When I went to check on her before you got home I realized she wasn’t feeling as good- so.. that's when I texted you..”
The pink pop troll shoved her phone in her pocket as she made her way through the dark room, desperate to sooth her heartbroken girlfriend.
“I’m so sorry Barb.. I tried to help her but she wouldn’t let me touch her- she kept biting and hissing at me when I went to hold her.. I think… she wanted you here..” poppy lowered herself next to barb, gently placing a hand on her back as she rubbed soothing circles.
“Yeah but- god… I shouldn’t have gone out today.. she was already doing pretty bad and we knew it would happen.. but I didn’t think she would be like this so soon.. I’m stupid..” barb choked out- running a rough fist through her Mohawk as she yanked the tangled handful of hair. “Stupid stupid stupid!!”
“Hey- HEY!” Poppy shouted, grabbing at barbs fist and face. “Shhh, shhh.. it’s not your fault!” She untangled barb’s clenched fingers and gently brought the hand down to her lap.
“None of it is your fault.” She soothed, rubbing her hand over Barb's face, the feel of facial hairs scratching over her fingers. “The signs were there, but you didn’t know.. WE didn’t know..”
Poppy planted a small kiss on barb’s cheek, pulling her in gently for a hug. “I got you…” she said in a hushed whisper.
Barb’s face began to run with hot tears as she buried her head into her girlfriend's shoulder, arms gently rocking a limp, fuzzy creature.
And they stayed like that for a while. Either one holding the others embrace like their life depended on it, hiccups and quiet sniffles filled the room as they shared gentle touches.
When morning came, poppy awoke to a loud screeching. She quickly jolted up, looking around the room as she searched for the location of the noise.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, something threw itself into poppy’s face- leaving her to grab her nose in slight pain. “Augh! What the-?!” She blurted- but once her eyes adjusted she went dead silent.
Barb was awoken when a hand began gently shaking her shoulder, the sound of hushed whispers in her ear as she heard a muffled voice. “Mhg!! Hmmn..?” Barb gasped, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. “What..?” She looked up at poppy who was smiling down at her.
“Good morning, sleepy head.” The pink troll cooed, stroking her fingers through the soft red Mohawk that barb was sporting.
“Wh…” barb mumbled, looking down at her empty hands. “Where’s Debbie??” Her voice picked up a little as she sat up, eyes darting around the floor as she quickly began to panic.
Before poppy could calm her down, a loud gurgle chimed in behind the two, making them jump in surprise. Barb was the first to turn around, putting an arm out to block poppy in case anything were to have lunged at the pink haired troll.
“Barb-“ poppy started, only to be cut off by the loud scream that came from the rock troll. “DEBBIE!!” She hollered; jumping up from the floor and onto the bed, arms outstretched as she lunged for the fuzzy critter that flapped its wings with a happy gurgle.
“YOU’RE OKAY!!” She shrieked, pulling the tiny bat into a gentle hug. “I thought I lost you, my fuzzy little meatball!!” Barb said, voice muffled as her face was buried in the creature's long silver fur.
“It looks like she was just feeling under the weather after all!” Poppy chuckled, climbing up onto the bed as she watched the precious scene before her. “I’ll call up to your next appointment and tell them you can’t go today, sound good?” She patted barb’s shoulder with a warm smile.
“Why do you wanna do that?” Barb said, finally poking her head out from the fur she had buried her face in. “So you can spend more time here with Debbie, obviously.” Poppy said, rolling her eyes at the question. “And… between you and me.. you might wanna take a shower, maybe do a little bit of laundry as well..” she pointed down at the mud-covered outfit that barb had slept in.
“Oh… yeah, maybe you’re right...” barb replied, rolling over to face poppy. “Before I go and do all that- can you c’mer a sec?” she whispered as she sat up.
“Hm?” Poppy said, leaning in closer so she could hear barb.
“I love you.” The darker troll cooed, giving a soft peck on the cheek to her girlfriend. “Awww, barb!” Poppy beamed, wrapping her arms around barb’s neck as they tumbled back onto the bed, sharing soft kisses and giggles as the morning sun rose.
It was only about another 10 minutes of peaceful cuddling before a loud gasp was to be heard.
“ OH SHIT! MY BIKE!”