Trolls World Tour: Forever My Queen

Ch. 26: Family Reunion

(Cover photo is a collaboration drawing between @MimiNicolette and I. She did the lineart, while I did the coloring, shading, and the background.)

Katheryn quickly helped me to my feet. I turned around to see Trollex inching his way towards me ever so slowly.

"I'll leave you guys be for a while," she said as she backed away from me to go talk to Barb. They had a lot of catching up to do as well. I just stared at Trollex in awe.

Twenty years...wow...I still couldn't believe it had been that long since I'd seen or talked to my son in person. Seems like only yesterday we were playing hide and seek on the beach near Techno Reef...but now, he was king of the techno trolls...my son...a king...

I offered him a gentle smile as tears began to form in my eyes. I nodded at him.

"I...I...I..." he stuttered as I slowly began to approach him. I reached out and placed my hand on his cheek, and at once, he stopped talking. Queen Poppy noticed what was about to happen and smacked Branch's arm.

"It's happening!" she squealed in delight. "Branch, hold me!"

"Why?" Branch asked as he wrapped his arms around Poppy's waist from behind. "What's happening?"

Poppy shushed him as they both watched us. I sighed, scrunched up my nose, and gave Trollex an Eskimo kiss.

As I pulled my head back to look at him again, I could see tears flooding his eyes as well. He bit down on his lip to stop himself from crying as the realization finally began to sink in. He then slowly rested his chin on my shoulder as I wrapped my arms around him in a tight hug. He didn't hug me back right away; he was still trying his hardest not to cry. He probably didn't want his techno trolls to see him get all emotional.

Other than the brief sniffling noises that he was making, I heard him start to hum a very familiar tune into my ear, almost as if he was giving me one final test to make sure I was who I said I was. A small smile began to appear on my face as I whisper-sang the lullaby into his ear:

Hush now, my baby
Be still love, don't cry

I didn't even have to finish the lyrics. That first line was good enough. He crashed, both emotionally and physically. He threw his arms around me and pulled me as close to him as possible. As he buried his face into my shoulder, his entire body began to shake. If my shoulder wasn't there to muffle him, who knows how loud his cries would've been.

"M-Mom..." he cried into my shoulder. "I-I'm...sorry..."

"Shh..." I whispered as I started to rub circles on his back soothingly. "It's okay..."

"I-I don't know...why I couldn't remember you..." he managed to say in between sobs.

"But you did remember me," I continued to whisper. The tears that had formed in my eyes only moments before slowly began to trickle down my face as I held my son in my arms. "Even though you may have forgotten almost everything about me, you still managed to hold onto the few memories that mattered the most..."

Trollex slowly lifted his head up; his face was drenched with tears. He was still shaking, but he had somehow managed to calm down a bit.

"W-Which ones?..." he sniffled. I cupped his face in my hands and gave him a kiss on his forehead. I could feel my heart filling with nothing but pure love as I stared into his beautiful green eyes.