Trolls World Tour: Forever My King

Prologue

I awoke to the sound of my name being called out to me. My entire body felt numb; I couldn't feel anything.

I tried to lift my head up to see where I was, but it felt like it was made out of lead. It was so heavy. I could only move it up an inch or two, but luckily that was enough to observe my surroundings.

There were prison cells and cages as far as my eyes could see. There were so many of them; it was an unbearable sight to behold. The lights in the room were dimmed so much that I could hardly tell if their were trolls in them or not, but based on the frantic shouting I was hearing, they definitely weren't empty.

I recognized mostly all of the voices: Poppy, Delta, Barb, Branch, Katheryn, and a few others, but there were also voices that were completely unrecognizable. Those voices sounded so warbled and distorted, almost robotic. But even though all of their voices were different, they had one thing in common:

They were all begging me to wake up...

"MOM!"

Trollex? I tried to open my mouth to say something, but it was like my lips were glued shut.

"MOM! WAKE UP! PLEASE!"

He sounded so scared...Trollex? Baby, where are you? Don't be scared! Mama's here! I'm awake!

"I CAN'T LOSE YOU AGAIN!"

Lose me again? What was he talking about?

That's when I noticed the empty feeling in my chest. It felt like a part of me was missing, but I couldn't quite figure out what it was...

"Roxanne!"

Titus? Titus is that you?!

I could see the bottom of his tail fins plant themselves in front of me, and I could feel his hand delicately trace under my jawline until he reached my chin. Then, he lifted my head up so I could see him more clearly. I was so glad he was here! Was he going to rescue us?

Except...something wasn't right...his eyes looked different...they were completely black...I couldn't even see the yellow in them. His mouth was twisted into a scowl. It sent a chill down my spine. I had never seen him look at me like that before, even when we argued.

Did I do something wrong? Did I...say something wrong?

Suddenly, someone started crying to the right of me. With all the strength I could muster, I turned my head in that direction to see Maya and Trollex in the cell closest to us.

Trollex was holding Maya close to him as she sobbed loudly, clinging onto him for dear life. I could see the fear in her eyes as she stared at us. Her dress was filthy and her hair was a mess.

"LEAVE HER ALONE!" she managed to scream in between sobs. "WHY...ARE YOU DOING THIS...TO HER! SHE NEVER...DID ANYTHING WRONG!"

Who was she screaming at?

"ROXY! MOM! PLEASE WAKE UP! I...I CAN'T...lose you, too..."

I was so confused. Why was everybody screaming at me to wake up. My eyes were wide open!

Just then, Titus jerked my head back so I was looking at him again. There was something emitting a soft, pink glow in his free hand.

"Roxy! Wake up! You're having a nightmare!"

What? No...

My eyes shifted over to the source of the soft, pink haze. If I was able to open my mouth and choke, I would've. The light was coming from a techno troll's pixel heart; Titus's fingers were wrapped around it tightly. Why was that in his hand?! And more importantly...

Whose heart was that?

"It's all just a bad dream! Wake up! Come back to me, my dear."

Then, without warning, he let go of my chin and pinched my arm.

I gasped as I opened my eyes and jolted upward in bed. I placed both of my hands on my chest. My heart was pounding a mile per second and I could hardly breath. The tears started almost automatically, cascading down my face like waterfalls. My body also started shaking with every sob that escaped my mouth.

I felt Titus wrap his arms around my neck gently as he pulled me closer to him.

"Shh...it was just a bad dream. Just breathe," he reassured me while petting my hair. I took a deep breath and shook my head.

"B-But...it was so real..." I whispered. I leaned my head up against his chest, listening to his heart beating softly into my ear. My heavy breathing subsided, and I quickly wiped my tears away from my eyes. Being in his arms always seemed to calm me down.

"Do you want to talk about it?..." Titus asked. I shook my head again.

"No..." I whispered. "Like you said, it was just a bad dream..."

"Well, yes, but..." He sighed, then moved his arms down my body until they were around my waist.

"You're starting to worry me, darling...I don't think you've had a good night's sleep in weeks because of these vivid dreams..." He placed his hand under my chin and lifted my head up so I could look at him. His expression was soft, filled with kindness and warmth. "Is something on your mind that may be causing them to happen more frequently?"

"I...I don't know..."

He leaned down and gave me a quick peck on the lips, then he smiled at me.

"Hey...everything is alright...remember, as long as I'm here, I will never let anything or anyone hurt you ever again. We are safe."

As we laid back down on our bed, he wrapped one of his tail fins around my leg and let me rest my head on his chest. He placed one of his hands on my heart as well, then fell asleep. I smiled, and placed my hand next to my head so I could feel his heart beat, too.

Our hearts were in perfect sync with each other, just like they were supposed to be. Just feeling the others heartbeat was a reminder that we were there with each other. It was kind of like saying, "I'm here," but without any words.

I closed my eyes and tried to fall back asleep, but I couldn't. No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn't get this question out of my head...

...

Are we really safe?