Trolls World Tour: Forever My King

Ch.4: I'm listening...

(I am not proud of this chapter. In my opinion, it is very sloppy, but here you go. It's also quite short compared to the other ones.)

I pushed Barb out of the room and locked the door behind us, leaving the egg safe and sound in its room.

"Um...what are you doing?" Barb asked.

I ignored her and started to run down the hallway. She groaned and ran after me.

"Titus?!" I yelled. "Titus?!"

I needed to apologize, for a few reasons. The main reason was, of course, because I punched him in the face...unknowingly. The second reason was because I had forgotten something really important.

After the world tour, we vowed to stop keeping secrets from each other and to be truthful to one another. No matter what we were going through, we would get through it together...and I've been shutting him out...keeping him in the dark.

And the third reason was because he had to deal with my dramatic, paranoid self 24/7. That in itself deserved the biggest apology.

I needed to tell him everything, from the nightmares to...whatever I saw yesterday. If he forgives me, then we can figure this who thing out together and move on with our lives. If not...

Then that was alright, too. I...don't deserve to be forgiven after what I've done.

I ran all over the castle looking for him, but he was nowhere to be found. Barb wasn't following me anymore, either. When I finally returned to the main hall, I found her sitting in Titus's throne at the top of the stairs, and biting her toenails.

"Get your foot out of your mouth!" I gagged. "That's disgusting!"

"Let me be nasty!" Barb yelled back.

"And get out of your uncle's chair! It's not yours!" I demanded.

"Sorry...moody," Barb mumbled. She planted both of her feet on the ground and stood up. "Standing is exhausting."

"Don't talk to me about standing being exhausting. You're not that old."

I walked up the stairs and sat down in my throne, letting out a big, heavy sigh. "Where is everybody?" I asked.

"Home," Barb replied. "Mom is back in Volcano Rock City with dad and Riff, while Trollex and Maya are at Techno Reef."

"And...where's Titus?" I asked. She sighed and sat back down in Titus's throne. I didn't even bother to say anything this time.

"He...went with them..." she said. "He figured you needed some space after you nearly broke his nose."

I put my head in my hands and groaned loudly. I felt awful...probably because Titus thought I was too mentally unstable to be around anymore... "Then, why are you still here, Barb?" I asked.

"Is it illegal to check if my aunt is doing okay?" she scoffed.

I shook my head. The room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop.

"You good though?" she suddenly asked. I lifted my head up and stared at her.

"Yes...I'm alright..." I lied. Barb raised an eyebrow at me and crossed her arms. "What?" I asked.

"Is the phrase "I'm alright" some sort of secret harmony troll code for "really not alright"...or something?..." She pulled her hair down in front of her face out of frustration. "Jeez...now I'M starting to sound like Riff."

"Why do you say that?" I asked nervously. I could feel a few beads of sweat rolling down my forehead, but I quickly wiped them away before Barb could see them.

She offered me a small, side smile. "Cause I think we're all doing alright too, if you catch my drift."

I chuckled and looked away from her. This was starting to get a bit awkward.

"Why'd you do it, anyways?"

I whipped my head back towards her, now a bit agitated. "I didn't even mean to! I thought I was-" I cut myself off and clamped my mouth shut. "Nevermind..."

Now Barb was getting curious. She leaned forward on Titus's throne. "You thought you were what?" she asked.

I sighed. "I...I thought I was swinging at...somebody else..."

"Who?"

I bit my lip and started scratching my arm. If I was to scratch myself any harder, I probably would've drawn blood. But, the cat was already poking its head out of the bag, so might as well take it out the rest of the way. "Your grandfather..." I mumbled. She looked surprised, and confused.

"Grandpa Flash? Why would-"

Her eyes widened as a look of sudden realization appeared on her face. "Ohhh! I see what's going on here."

"What?"

"Mom went through something similar recently...it wasn't like that, but it was still pretty bad."

Now I was the one who was confused. "What do you mean?"

"Well, up until a few weeks ago, she used to have these AWFUL nightmares, which usually ended with her waking up in the middle of the night screaming bloody murder."

I wasn't exactly as shocked as I thought I would be upon hearing that. I was kind of expecting for her to be traumatized to a degree after...well, a lot of things. I mean, if you were possessed for twenty years, and were controlled like a puppet on a string for most of your life, you'd be pretty traumatized, too.

I must've gotten lost in my thoughts, because the next thing I heard was: "You know, I heard that she used to be known as "Queen Katheryn the Brave and Powerful!" Pfft! Kind of hard to believe, am I right? The woman is scared of EVERYTHING! It's hilarious!"

"That's not funny..." I mumbled. Barb cleared her throat and started over.

"SO, recently I've been trying my best to bring her old self back; the side of her I barely got to see..." She looked down at the ground and sighed. "I can hardly remember what she was like before grandpa possessed her...I was so young."

I couldn't stop the tears from falling; I didn't even know why they showed up. Was it because of what Barb was telling me about...or was it because I knew a troll like me could never be forgiven after everything that I've done...

Barb whipped her head back up and chuckled. "But enough about that! That's not what we were talking...about..."

The moment she saw those tears trickling down my face, she slowly reach her hand out to me and awkwardly patted my back. Empathy wasn't exactly her strong suit, but at least she was trying.

"Look, I'm sure he knows you didn't mean it. I've known Uncle T for what, three years now? He doesn't seem like the kind of troll to hold a grudge against anyone, especially you. He'll be back within the next couple of days, you can tell him EXACTLY what you told me, and EVERYTHING will go right back to the way it used to be!"

Before I could respond, we heard the front door slam open.

"HELP!"

The two of us immediately stood up and I wiped my tears from my eyes.

"Roxy! Come quick! It's an emergency!" Highlight screamed as she dashed inside. She was almost completely out of breath and looked absolutely terrified.

"Highlight?! What's wrong?" I asked. What she said next nearly made my heart stop...

"Techno Reef is under attack!"