(Cover art is a collaboration between and I!)

The entire stadium went dead silent once again as everybody waited for Titus's answer.

His mouth hung open as I watched him process what I had just asked him. Then, he smiled and hugged me.

"Of course...I thought you'd never ask," he said. The audience erupted with applause as they all started to jump around happily. I could feel Titus's tears plop onto my shoulder as I smiled and patted him on the back. Even though I was done crying, he sure wasn't.

"From now on, everything that I have will be yours. You deserve it, my dear," I whispered to him. "Not only because you are my husband, but because you have done so much for me that it feels like no matter what I give you, it'll never be enough." I was being completely honest with him. He had saved my life, listened to me, helped me find myself, given me a temporary home, and, best of all, he had given us a son. There was nothing I could do in this world that would be enough to repay him.

"You don't need to repay me, dearest," he sniffled. "Getting to be by your side for the rest of our lives is good enough for me."

We stood there for what felt like hours, absorbing the other's embrace like it was the only thing keeping us alive. But then, I heard a voice.

"Um...mom...? I have a question." I turned towards Trollex. He looked a bit confused, but at the same time he looked a bit tense.

"So, if you two are now going to be the King and Queen of Trollstopia," he said slowly. "What does that make me? Am I still King of the Techno trolls?"

Titus and I looked at each other, then looked back at Trollex. "Of course you are, sweetie," I chuckled. "Just because your father and I are switching titles doesn't mean that you have to change yours. You'll continue to rule as King of the techno trolls until the next heir comes along to take your place."

Trollex let out a sigh of relief and let his shoulders relax.

"By the way," I started to ask. I think Trollex could sense what I was about to ask him, cause he quickly tensed up again. "Have you started looking for your future queen yet, or do you already have someone in mind?"

His eyes widened as tiny beads of sweat began to appear on his forehead. "NoPe!" He squeaked. I started to giggle at how uncomfortable I was making him, but I continued to poke at him.

"Are you sure?" I asked him.

"Well, it's kind of hard to choose a queen when every female techno troll that is single wants a piece of you," he said quietly. I snorted.

"Wait, what?" I asked him in disbelief.

"It's true," Titus giggled as he gave me a playful nudge. "He even has a fan club. It's hilarious! They all want him!" Trollex crossed his arms and scowled at Titus.

"It's not funny, dad!" he grumbled under his breath. "Some of those girls may be calm and collected, but there are others that are freakishly obsessed with me...in fact..." He looked out towards the audience, then quickly turned his head back towards us in a panic. "I think some girls from a few of the other troll tribes may be joining them soon. They keep staring at me with that love-struck look in their eyes and it's freaking me out!"

Suddenly, I heard a bunch of chaotic screeching coming from my left. I quickly turned my head towards the source of the sound to find a large group of female techno trolls waving their arms around frantically. Trollex smiled awkwardly and gave them a small wave, which only caused them to scream even louder.

"He noticed us!"

"We love you, King Trollex!"

"You're so hot! Please go out with me?"

"MARRY ME, KING TROLLEX!"

His awkward smile quickly faded as he rushed over to us and cowered behind me like a frightened child. "There aren't that many things that scare me, but that right over there..." He shuddered.

"If this is what choosing a queen is going to be like, then I don't want one..." he squeaked. "Help...please...I don't know what to tell them..." I patted him on the head as he looked up at me with these big, puppy dog eyes.

"Don't worry," I reassured him. "I'll take care of this." I turned my attention towards the ever growing group of fans and raised my hand up to silence them. Once they were quiet, Titus placed a microphone in my hand.

"Now girls," I began. "I know how you all must feel about my son, King Trollex, and I don't blame you for feeling that way towards him. I mean, he is quite a FINE looking young man, am I right?" The group of trolls screamed even louder. I raised my hand up again and waited for them to stop before continuing.

"However, you all need to understand something. The way some of you are obsessing over him isn't healthy in the slightest. Not only is it worrying your king, but from what I've just seen and heard, it's starting to worry me, too." I could see a few of the trolls start to hang their heads in shame.

"I'm not telling you to stop, I'm just asking for you all to dial it down a few notches. Your king cares about every single one of you, but he can only choose one troll to be his queen. However, if you keep swarming him like this, he may end up choosing none of you. So please, back up a bit, and be patient. He's not ready yet." All of the trolls in that group started to look a little sad, and I felt pretty bad. But sometimes, you've gotta do what you've gotta do.

"Now," I continued. "When he finally does chose his future queen, I want you all to promise me not to get angry, or frustrated, or try to harm her or my son in any way, shape, or form just because he didn't chose you. Can I count on you all to keep that promise?"

"Yes, your majesty!" they all said in unison.

"Good!" I looked down at Trollex and gave him a warm smile. "No matter who you choose to be your soulmate, we will welcome her into our family with open arms. When you find her, I'm sure that you will look at her the same way your father looks at me." He gave me a goofy smile and buried his face into my back.

"Thanks, mom," he said quietly as I handed the microphone back to Titus.

"Wow," Titus said completely dumbfounded. "You surprisingly handled that very well." I smiled at him.

"I guess negotiating is just in my blood," I said confidently. We both started giggling like children. That was, until I heard someone call out to me from behind.

"You're majesty?"

I turned around to see Slick step up onto the stage. My smile quickly turned into a scowl as he made his way towards me. I started growling and I clenched my fists as tightly as possible. Both Titus and Trollex started to back away from me with caution, almost like they were scared I was going to explode at any second. I mean, they weren't exactly wrong.

"Take one step closer, and my foot is going to end up somewhere it isn't supposed to be," I said through my clenched teeth. He stopped immediately. I was fuming. Although my father hated me, he never tried to physically hurt me when he was alive, but this troll had hurt me on multiple occasions! On purpose!

"Listen," he said without a hint of fear in his voice. "I'm sorry for everything that happened when we were younger. Can we put our differences behind us and maybe even become friends?"

"You-" I took one step towards him, but before I could go any further, Katheryn placed her hand in front of me.

"Let me take care of this," she told me. I watched as my sister walked towards Slick with a stone-cold look on her face. He just smiled at her.

"Katie! My friend! I knew you'd understand-"

SMACK!

I covered my mouth in shock as I watched Katie slap Slick across the face. He stumbled around a bit before regaining his balance and glaring at my sister.

"What was that for?!" he shouted at her.

"Don't play dumb, Slick! You know exactly what that was for!" Katie growled at him. "I know about all of the terrible things you've done to my sister! I saw her room! She would never tear up that music, even if she wanted to! I thought I saw you, Cathy, and Harrison sneak into our living quarters all those years ago, but I decided to ignore it. Now I know that I shouldn't have..." She turned around to look at me. "Is there anything else he's done to you while I was possessed?"

"He pushed her to the ground when we were below stage and made her nose bleed," Trollex spoke up. "I told him to stop, but he just told me to shut up. He even had the nerve to call me fish boy!" He crossed his arms and stared at Slick with a disapproving look in his eyes.

A sly and mischievous look appeared on my face. "Oh, that was nothing really," I said sarcastically. "But what you didn't see, Trollex, was when he tried to whisper sweet nothings into my ear, called me sweetheart, and then licked his lips at me like I was some sort of snack."

"HE DID WHAT?!" Titus yelled angrily. I jumped. In all the years we have been together, I don't think I had ever seen him this angry before. His face was beet red with rage and his hands were curled into fists at his sides.

"Yeah! He's a total creep!" I said, not realizing that I was just adding more kindling to Titus's raging fire of anger and hatred.

"So, not only is he a bully," Katheryn stated. "But he's also a bloody pervert, too?!"

I could feel Titus's anger radiating off of his body, even though I was standing about ten feet away from him. His whole body started to shake as he continued to glare daggers at Slick. I was starting to get worried.

"Honey?" I asked him. He didn't answer. "Are you okay? Can you hear me?" Still no response. Then, Slick continued to dig his own grave as he dropped the kind act and reverted back to his creepy self.

"Can you really blame me, Katheryn?" Slick said. The creepy look reappeared on his face as he looked me up and down. "I can't help that your sister is unbearably good-looking. Besides, I didn't know she had a husband. I thought that maybe, after Queen Barb turned her into a rock zombie, I could have her all to myself." That was the last straw.

"YOU PIECE OF HAIRY GARBAGE! SHE'S NOT YOUR PROPERTY! SHE'S MY WIFE!" Katie quickly lunged out of the way just in time for Titus to jump at Slick and tackle him to the ground. He started punching him in the face over and over again as I watched, completely frozen in shock. I always knew him as a peacemaker, not a fighter! Sure, Slick deserved to be punished, but not like this!

"Dad! What are you doing?!" Trollex screamed. "Violence doesn't solve anything!"

"Hush now, mummy and daddy are busy," I said as I ran over to Titus. I had to peal him off of Slick in order to get him to stop hitting him, but by the time I had successfully done so, Slick's face was almost beaten to a pulp.

Slick groaned in pain as he curled up into a ball while holding his face in his hands. Titus was screaming and flailing his arms around wildly as I pulled him away from Slick.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! I'M NOT DONE YET! LET ME AT HIM! HE NEEDS TO PAY FOR WHAT HE DID!" Titus screamed.

"Shh...soft kitty...warm kitty..." I whispered to him while petting the side of his head. As I continued to calm him down, Barb walked forward and towered over Slick menacingly.

"I had a feeling that you couldn't be trusted," she told him. "Rockers! Take him away! Mom, dad, and I will discuss what his punishment should be later."

A few rock trolls emerged from backstage and dragged Slick away. He didn't even try to fight back.

Titus went limp in my arms, then immediately snapped his head back up. "What happened? I just blacked out and then-" He looked around at everybody's worried and frightened glances. "W-Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"Do you even know what you just did?" I asked.

"What did I do?"

"Well, what's the last thing you remember?"

"Umm...I was very angry. I heard you tell your sister about the disgusting things Slick did, and all I could think about was protecting you and making sure he could never hurt you again." He looked up at me and smiled. I smiled back.

"Don't worry," I told him. "I'm sure he won't after what just happened." I couldn't stop staring into his eyes. I loved the way he looked at me.

"What did I do?" he asked again. Before I could answer, I heard someone sigh longingly behind me.

"Gosh! I wish somebody looked at me like that..."

I turned my head and saw Poppy looking at us like she was in a trance. Her friend, Branch, was standing behind her with his mouth slightly opened and his hand outstretched to tap her on the shoulder, like he wanted to tell her something, but he hesitated and backed up. When he looked at Poppy, I saw the same loving look that I had just seen in Titus's eyes only moments before. I suddenly realized what he was trying to do.

"We'll talk more about that later. Right now, I think it's time we discussed the elephant in the room," I whispered to Titus as I pointed in Poppy and Branch's direction. He glanced over at them, realized what I meant, then nodded and stood up.

"So, Queen Poppy," I said as I stood up and began walking towards her. "I have a question for you, my dear." She quickly snapped out of her trance and gave me her best smile.

"Alright! Shoot!" she said. In an instant, I reached past her, grabbed Branch's arm, and pulled him over to us.

"Are you two guys, like, a thing or something?" I asked both of them. Branch was trying to squirm away from me, but there was no way I was letting him back out now.

Poppy chuckled nervously, almost like she didn't know what to say. "Well...umm...I mean...I like him...and...I love that we're different," she stuttered out. Her eyes lit up. "Yeah, that's it! Branch!" She reach grabbed his other arm and pulled him away from me as he let out a squeak. "I love that we're different!" she told him. Branch offered her a gentle smile as he brushed a few strands of hair out of her face.

"And I love you, Queen Poppy," he said. I held my breath as I waited for Poppy's response. She returned Branch's gentle smile.

"I love you too, Branch." I had to hold in my excitement as I watched the two of them confess to each other. Then, Branch held up his hand.

"High five?" Branch asked. Poppy's gentle smile quickly turned into a playful grin.

"I've got something even better in mind," she responded. Branch raised an eyebrow at her.

"W-What do you me-"

Suddenly, Poppy grabbed Branch's shoulders and pulled him closer to her. Then, she quickly dipped him down, brought her face closer to his and then...

She kissed him!

I couldn't contain myself any longer as I let out a squeal of delight. I could hear the pop trolls screaming with excitement, too.

"Aww, young love!" I squeaked. "You two are giving me flashbacks to when Titus and I had our first kiss!" As Poppy and Branch's kiss ended, Titus appeared by my side and sighed.

"They're giving me the same flashbacks, too," he whispered in my ear. I giggled.

"Speaking of Titus..." Poppy turned away from Branch, grabbed Titus's hand and started shaking it rapidly. "It's so nice to finally meet you in person! Roxy already told me a lot about you, but I want to hear your side of the story as well! I'm sure you have a lot to say!"

Titus yanked his hand away from her and held onto his wrist in pain. "You don't need to hear my side of the story. I'm sure Roxy was very thorough when she told you about us."

I just nodded and smiled awkwardly as a small bead of sweat trickled down my face. I guess it'd be wise not to tell him that I didn't go into detail...

"No she didn't," Poppy said. "She left out one of the most important details!"

"Oh, really?" I asked. "What detail did I leave out?"

"You never told me about your wedding day!"

"Um..." I glanced over at Titus, who in turn glanced at me. "We never had a wedding..." Poppy's smile dropped into a look of shock.

"You guys never had a wedding?!" she screeched loudly.

"Well, yeah, but it's alright-"

"No! I cannot accept this!" Poppy gasped. "Idea!"

I suddenly felt a little scared. What did she have in mind?

"Since you two technically need to have a proper coronation in order to be king and queen of Trollstopia, why don't we just make it a wedding-coronation? It'll be like two big parties fused into one, big, extravagant event!" Poppy started to jump around with excitement. Then, she turned to the other troll leaders. "What do you think?"

They all looked at each other and smiled.

"I think that's a great idea!" Queen Essence said.

"Let's do it!" Barb shouted.

The other troll leaders nodded in agreement. Then, they all looked at me, like they were waiting for my approval.

"I guess..." I mumbled. I didn't understand why a wedding was necessary. I mean, we were already married.

"Then it's settled," Trollex said. "Let's head home and start planning right away!" Everybody started to run out the stadium doors as fast as they could.

"Wait!" But they were already gone. I guess I was so busy trying to wrap my head around what I had just gotten myself into that by the time I had opened my mouth to speak, it was too late. Now, Titus and I were the only ones left in the stadium.

I felt his hand touch my shoulder. "What's wrong?" he asked.

I sighed and looked out at the empty stadium. Nobody was out there, but I liked that. It reminded me of the days when I would sneak in under the cover of darkness and play my violin for the vacant seats. Just me, the empty stadium, and music. But something was always missing, I realized that now, but I could never figure out what it was.

Now that I had everything I could've ever wanted, that missing something finally became clear.

I turned to Titus, and asked him:

"Where is home?"