(Cover art is by MimiNicolette)
Titus and I ended up eloping. It was a shame we couldn't have a proper wedding, but we still got married. We exchanged vows in the secrecy of my home and renewed our promise to never tell anybody (except Beat) about it. It didn't effect me that much, since I was used to hiding my personal life from others by now, but it hit Titus a bit differently. Since he was king of the techno trolls, naturally he wanted to tell everybody! But now, he couldn't even wear the wedding ring I ended up getting him because it would draw too much attention and the other trolls would ask questions.
Surprisingly, he handled this small bump in the road maturely. But all of that maturity quickly flew out the window when we found signs of three about two years after we got married. While I was staying calm and collected, Titus on the other hand...it was difficult for him.
"Please!" He begged at my feet. "Can't I tell just one troll?"
I rolled my eyes. "Even if you tell one troll, our secret will be revealed and rumors will spread! Do you really want that?" I asked him sternly.
"No...," he pouted. "But...I'm just- I'm too excited! The heir to the techno throne! I don't know if I can-"
"I know you are dear, and so am I, but you have to stay quiet!" I was starting to get a little annoyed with him. I thought he would handle this like a grown man, but instead he was pouting and acting like a child.
Titus groaned. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't swim through techno reef as fast as I can screaming about our accomplishment at the top of my lungs," he said sassily as he crossed his arms. My eyes widened. He wouldn't, would he? I wasn't about to take any chances.
I quickly stood up, flinging him onto his back in the process, and pinned him down with my foot on his chest.
"So you want to play that game, huh?" I said through clenched teeth. "Ok then. Let's play!"
While still keeping my foot in place, I leaned down as far as I could and gave him a death glare.
"I'll give you five good reasons why you shouldn't do that," I growled as I stuck my hand in front of his face. As I started to count to five, I slowly began to curl my hand into a fist.
"1, 2, 3, 4, 5."
I quickly stuck my fist underneath his nose menacingly as Titus let out a squeak.
"ThOsE aRe GoOd ReAsOnS!" He choked out.
To make sure that he kept quiet, I ended up telling Beat to keep a close eye on him. Beat was just as excited as Titus when we told him that he'd soon get to have a new little buddy to hang out with. But, he promised to watch Titus for me.
It was difficult, to say the least, but we got through everything together. We had even come up with a pretty good story to tell others for when Titus brought out son back to techno reef to live with him. According to Titus, he found our son while he was out swimming one day. He had been abandoned by his mother so he decided to take care of him. Surprisingly, everybody bought it! Now, three years after we were given a gift in the form of a baby techno troll, I finally felt like I was part of a family again.
"Do you ever think about what your life would've been like without me?" I asked Titus one day. We were sitting on the beach, having a much needed moment of relaxation.
"Well," he started. "It probably wouldn't have been as good as it is right now." He smiled and gave me a kiss on the cheek. I blushed. "By the way, that crown looks good on you, my queen." He brushed his hand along the side of my head. It was made almost entirely out of jewels. White and pink pearls hung from my new pink and white hair tie all the way to the shimmering obsidian gemstone that was carefully pinned to a few strands of hair near the front of my head. It was a gift that he had given to me earlier in the day since, after all, it was my 25th birthday.
"Why thank you, my king," I said. "You were the one who gave it to me."
"Indeed I did," he said goofily. Then he cleared his throat and stood up.
"Anyways," Titus said as he helped me to my feet. "I'm going to get us some dinner. It'll just be a few minutes, so why don't you go and find our son while I'm doing that."
"Alright," I said. "Do you know where he might be?"
Titus smiled and pointed over to a cluster of trees and bushes that were just behind my house. I smiled back at him and began to walk over to where he had been pointing.
"Trollex!" I called out. "Dinner time!"
"I'm hiding! Come find me!" I heard a tiny voice whisper just loud enough for me to hear.
I smiled. He would always try to play hide-and-seek right before we ate. For a 3 year old he was very good at hiding, but I was even better at seeking. It didn't help that his entire body glowed a soft shade of blue, which made him stick out like a sore thumb amongst all the greenery. But still, I played along.
"Where did he go?" I gasped dramatically as I started to tip toe over to the nearby bushes, which was where he would normally hide.
"Did he disappear? Did he turn invisible?" I heard muffled snickering coming from one of the bushes. There you are! "Oh well! I'll find him eventually," I said as I got down on my hands and knees.
I snuck up as quietly as I could to his hiding spot, then...
"Gotcha!" I reached through the bush, grabbed him, and pulled him into my arms. He shrieked and started giggling happily once he saw my face.
"You found me!" He squealed.
"I found you, my sweet baby boy!" I said playfully as I started giving him lots of kisses.
Trollex laughed even harder as he tried to wiggle out of my grasp. He flicked his tail around gleefully.
"Mama! Stop!" He squealed.
"I can't! You're just too darn cute!" I said as I nuzzled his nose against mine. That was a special thing only Trollex and I did. Eskimo kisses.
He really was the cutest little thing! Other than the beating, pink pixelated heart that every techno trolls had on their chest, he had blue skin with light blue freckles on his cheeks, green eyes and light green hair. He didn't have any pixels on his tail yet, since he was too young, but I was sure they were going to start appearing soon. But what truly made him special were his arms. They looked almost exactly like mine, except his arm bands went from his wrists all the way up to his shoulders. Everything about him was perfect!
"Come on," I said as I carried him down to the beach. "Let's go eat some dinner."
"Yay!" Trollex shouted. He was always such a happy little boy!
After all three of us had eaten, Titus proceeded to place a neatly wrapped box in front of me.
"Another one?" I laughed as I slowly began to take off the wrapping paper.
"Absolutely! What? Can't I give my wife more than one present on her birthday?" Titus smiled as I opened the box. I gasped. Inside the box was a pair of pink and purple, see-through headphones. They looked like they were made out of sea cucumbers, and designed to fit specifically on my head.
"Now you can listen to music wherever and whenever you want," he said as he reached into the box to pull them out and place them gently onto my ears.
Tears of joy started to fill my eyes. "Thank you, dear," I said softly as he leaned down and kissed me on the lips.
"Yucky!" Trollex said as he made a face at us. The two of us just laughed.
Later that night, after Trollex and Titus had went back to Techno Reef to sleep for the night, it started to rain. The rain came pouring down so fast that it made loud pattering noises on my roof and I couldn't sleep.
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning flashed across the sky as a loud clap of thunder quickly followed.
BOOM!
I screamed and pulled my blanket over my head. I may have been a grown woman, but I absolutely hated thunderstorms.
Not long after that, I heard some tiny, fast knocking sounds on my door.
"Mama! Let me in!" I jumped out of bed, ran to the door, flung it open, grabbed Trollex and pulled him inside. He was shivering and soaking wet from the rain.
"What are you doing here? You should be sleeping back at Techno Reef, young man!" I lectured as I dried him off. Trollex looked down at the floor.
"Papa told me you didn't like the bad noises, so I came to protect Mama from them," he said shyly. He looked up at me with big, round puppy eyes. "Can I sleep with you tonight? Please?"
I sighed. There was no way I could say no to that face...
"Just for tonight, okay?" I said as I got back into bed. Trollex's eyes lit up with joy.
"Yay!" He yelled as he dove under my blankets and nuzzled up next to me.
BOOM!
We both screamed this time, and I could hear Trollex starting to cry next to me. I held him closer and stroked his head trying to calm him down, even though I was just as scared as he was.
"Don't cry baby, it's alright. Mama's here," I whispered. "Just close your eyes and try to sleep, okay? Mama's gonna sing you to sleep."
"Okay mama," he sniffled. Memories of my own mother began to emerge from the back of my mind. A single lullaby that she used to sing to me stood out from those memories, and I smiled. I could feel a single tear fall down my face as I softly sang the tune to him:
Hush now, my baby
Be still love, don't cry
Sleep as you're rocked by the stream
Sleep and remember
My last lullaby
So I'll be with you when you dream
I could hear Trollex's soft, sleepy breaths replace the sounds of the storm outside as I slowly fell asleep as well, hugging my son close to my heart. Our hearts were beating in perfect synchronization with each other.
The next morning we were awoken by the whole house shaking.
"Mama?" Trollex asked as he clung onto me. "What's going on?"
"I'm sure it's nothing, Trollex," I answered, trying not to scare him. "Go and get your father. I'm sure he'll know what to do. I'll wait for you two on the beach, okay?"
Trollex nodded and bolted out the door. I exited the house and made a run for the beach. The rumbling was getting worse. Was it an earthquake? It sure felt like it.
Suddenly, I heard the sound of an electric guitar playing from somewhere in the distance behind me. My eyes widened in shock. I knew that sound all too well. I stopped running and turned around. That was no earthquake...that was...
My family's angler bus. And it was heading straight towards me.