I do not own the rights to the song or Hollow Kingdom.

Put That Thing Back Where it Came From or So Help Me

Kayto confronted Marak as soon as they left the human in the cave. "That's it? Since when is forcing a human to marry a goblin revenge?"

Marak turned to face the captain of his guard. He knew he wouldn't be happy with the revenge Marak had enacted. So Marak would just have to help his lieutenant reach the same conclusion Marak did. Walking back up to the palace he asked, "Why are you so determined to take revenge on the girl?"

"She hurt Babar obviously."

"Your friend I take it," said Marak nonchalantly.

Kayto looked at his king in disbelief. Babar was more than a friend, he was almost a brother, and had recently become his brother-in-law. "He's more than a friend and you know it."

"A brother, then?"

"Yes. What's the point of this?" demanded Kayto.

Marak sighed. "Give me a minute to get to it. I suppose as a brother then, you'd be willing to do anything, go anywhere, to secure his safety?"

"Of course," replied Kayto bluntly.

"Now, how do suppose the girl, Alex, felt when her sister disappeared? You and I know she was taken by Nir, but how do you think it appeared to her family? What awful thoughts were in Alex's head do you suppose, when she attacked Babar?"

Silent, Kayto was thinking this over. He had read books about humans and was disgusted by their behavior. Murder, rape... those had to be only some of the fates that the girl had considered that could have happened to her sister. Continuing, Marak said, "With that in mind, how is what she did any different from what you would do for Babar, or even Kayta for that matter? True, she did attack him, but only because she believed he had information about her sister. So although she did attack one of my own, she did it because she believed she was acting in her sister's best interest. Are you now satisfied with your king's choice of revenge?"

"I suppose," conceded Kayto after much thought. If Babar or Kayta, or any other goblin had gone missing in a similar manner, he would have acted the same as the girl, Alex had done. How could he fault her when he would have done the same?

"I'm glad you agree with your king. It'd be quite a shame if you didn't. Hate to have you going off and performing revenge on your own. Now, you've had a long night. Why don't you go to bed? On your way you can check on Babar. I believe that he's awake by now in his apartment with Kayta no doubt attending to him." Kayto smiled at this. His sister was like their mother. If one had even the slightest injury she would put them to bed for a day at least to make sure it was nothing serious. She had died last winter, and his father was still taking the loss hard.

By this point they had reached the guard quarters. "See you tomorrow then," said Kayto with a bow to his king. He planned on going to bed and visiting Babar, but he had somebody else to visit first.

As Kayto walked to his destination, he turned over the past night's events in his head. Humans wandering onto goblin land was nothing new, especially since it had become a Reserve. Guards on duty were told to simply keep an eye on them and make sure they did no harm. So when Babar had checked in on his watch and reported that that there was a human girl in the truce circle who was walking around erratically, Kayto responded with orders to put a sleeping spell on her to calm her down until morning. He hadn't thought there would be any issues. That was until Babar didn't check in when he was suppose to. Not sure what to think, he went to investigate only to see the girl tying up his best friend. Somehow, she had managed to take out a trained king's guard without receiving a scratch. In hindsight, he could have used any number of spells on her even with the Truce Circle's limitations, but he was so enraged at her that the thought of using any spells went out of his head.

And then she had acted like he was the guilty one, accusing him of taking her sister. If her sister was anything like her, he doubted anybody would want to take her. Furthermore, she had the gall to accuse him, the goblin king's lieutenant of lying, of all things. But once she mentioned the name and when the girl had vanished, he realized that she was talking about the elf king's Wife. The one responsible for the wife debacle a couple months ago and that had caused Eresha, the goblin king's Wife's sister to join the goblin kingdom. Not that anybody saw her that much.

As for the angry girl in front of him, he eventually decided it would be best for his king to put up with her madness. After of course taking her weapons. It would be irresponsible as a lieutenant to bring an armed enemy into the goblin kingdom. It was why he had brought her to the elf prison so no innocent goblins could be harmed by her. But not before she had demanded something precious of his. He only had the pocket watch that had belonged to an ancestor of his, Seylin, a strong elf cross like himself. The sneaky human had ordered him to turn around, close his eyes, and cover his ears so she could hide it. Not that it mattered. He would just use his magic later to track it down.

He had then led the human and locked her in the prison. The look on her shocked face was priceless as she realized she would have to spend the night there. With a smile of satisfaction on his face as he walked away, Kayto then dropped off the still incapacitated Babar at his apartment with Kayta before writing his report and waiting for the goblin king to wake up. From there he had informed him of the events that occurred while the king had been asleep much to the king's amusement. After checking in on Babar and determining he would be fine with some sleep, and assuring a worried Kayta that he would be fine as well, he moved on to visiting the prisoner with Marak.

When his king brought up the topic of revenge, Kayto was filled with glee. If the king needed suggestions, Kayto had more than plenty. Taser her a couple times with the device to see how she liked it, turn her into a monkey that the goblin children could play with, take away her ability to move or talk forever, give her horrible dreams from which she would never awake, shrink her and then crush her only to heal her and repeat the process over again, and the list went on. To say he was shocked when the goblin king had determined her revenge was to marry a goblin was an understatement. Humans had been made to marry goblins for years against their will, and never as revenge. Marak had even given into her other demands, the letter writing and contract part.

It was only after leaving the girl did Marak finally explain his revenge to Kayto, which he hated to admit, did make sense. As Kayto reached this conlusion, he looked up and saw that his feet had brought him to his final destination. Might as well get this over with. He then knocked on the door and was greeted by the sight of the girl, now in her pajamas.

Probably didn't get much sleep last night, he thought guiltly. Her own fault for not taking my advice. There were beds down there after all. I think. With the anger gone from his mind, he finally paid more attention to her features. He supposed she was attractive by human standards. Her hair was a goldish brown that was currently pulled back into a ponytail. Judging by the fly aways it had a tendency to frizz and pouf out. Her eyes were a hazel color and had a determined look in them.

"What do you want?" she asked him, while giving him another one of the glares that Kayto had become accustomed to.

He cleared his throat. "I, um... just wanted to say I was sorry for the way I treated you." Except it came out in a jumbled mess that was spoken very softly.

"What?" she asked, not being able to understand him.

"I said," being careful to enunciate each word so he wouldn't have to repeat the sentence again, "I am sorry for the way I treated you earlier."

She quirked an eyebrow at him, not quite sure to believe him. "What brings about this change of heart?"

"Marak explained to me why you acted the way you did. Considering that I would have done the same for my own sister and even Babar in a similar case, I can't blame you."

With his apology done, he turned to walk quickly away. Not before a cry of "Wait," reached his ears. So close and yet so far. He turned and started to slowly walk back. The door was cracked open, but the girl was nowhere. Starting to wonder if it was a prank, she finally reappeared with a shoe of all things. She then reached into it and brought out to his surprise, his watch.

Handing it to him she said looking down, "I'm sorry for the way I treated you too."

Kayto turned over the watch in his hand inspecting it. Surprised, he found no faults with it. It was still ticking along with the correct time, no obvious scratches or marks. The inscription on the back was as clear as ever: To Seylin, M. He then looked up at her, Alex, was what she said her name was. No wonder she didn't bat an eye when I said my magic would lead it to her hiding place in the forest. It wasn't up there and she knew it.

Sensing his thoughts almost, she clarified. "I didn't know if I would make it back to the spot, so I thought it would be better to misdirect you and take it with me in case I need it. I'm still trying to adjust to the whole goblin thing, but... so far you seem to be trust worthy. I also can't blame you for treating me when I probably would have done the same as well."

"So..." said Kayto hesitantly, "I suppose we should try to get off to a friendlier start?"

"I guess. I'm Alex," she responded sticking her hand forward to shake.

"Kayto," he responded while clasping her hand.

Both were silent for a while until Alex finally decided to break the awkward silence by asking, "How's Dum... Babar I mean?" correcting herself at the last moment.

"He'll be fine with some sleep. Kayta, my sister and his wife, is looking after him now."

"Good... Tell him I said sorry, for what I did."

"Oh I will," said Kayto, perhaps a bit too enthusiastically, wanting to end the unpleasant conversation as soon as possible. And with that he hurried off before she could say another word.

Alex watched as the Spock smurf, no Kayto, she mentally corrected herself, walked away. After he and Marak had left her in the prison, an old woman named Aggie had guided her to her new room. Aggie reminded her of her own grandmother, kind and warmly. While walking, Alex had been more busy trying to absorb that fact that goblins and magic existed, and the fact her sister had married an elf, than listening to Aggie. So en-rapt with her thoughts, she hadn't even noticed that Aggie had stopped until an arm jerked her back.

"It's a lot to take in," Aggie had said, "But you'll get used to it eventually. Now, this is your room. I'm right next door if you need anything. While Marak, that's my son if you were wondering, was busy talking to you, I brought the stuff Kayto had and put them in your room. I also had some of the other guards grab the rest of your things from your room at the inn and convince the staff that you had left so nobody would worry. If I were you I'd get some rest. Wouldn't want to be dead on your feet when you meet your sister tonight, after all?" Alex nodded, overwhelmed by it all. Now that she had found out what happened to her sister, the anger had left along with the strength she had. She was going off fumes now.

Once Aggie had left she had entered the room and changed into her pajamas. Normally she would have inspected the room, but now she only wanted to sleep. She checked her phone, which was still on vibrate, and found a bunch of message from Finn demanding to know what was going on. Not having the energy left to go as detailed as he would want, she simply texted that he shouldn't worry and she would explain everything later once she had some much needed sleep. This of course would drive him insane, but for the time being, Alex didn't care.

She had been about to go to bed when there was a knock at her door. She had expected it to be Aggie, only to find Kayto who then proceeded to apologize. By this point, Alex could see where he was coming from and admitted it. When he was starting to walk away, Alex decided it would probably be a good faith gesture on her part to return his watch. He had taken her to the guy who was arranging the meeting with her sister and all her belongings had been returned after all. He seemed surprised when she put it in his hand, no doubt expecting it to be damaged. From there they had agreed to start again and Alex had even remembered to inquire about Babar. Knowing the truth of everything now, she was genuinely concerned about his well being. Especially after finding out he was married.

He quickly left, clearly wanting to end the conversation quickly. Alex didn't blame him. She wanted it to end fast as well so she could go to bed. She climbed into bed with sleep coming instantly. Her dreams consisted of a mixture of the Lord of the Rings and Star Trek characters chasing after smurfs.

**Author's Note**

Thanks goes to JayLah, and speederina, my much appreciated reviewers for the last chapter.

So this chapter explained more from Kayto's POV, and pointed out the fact that if Alex hadn't tasered Babar, the goblins would have left her alone. If course, if that was the case, she'd have much longer to go before seeing her sister. Which she will, in the next chapter, I Thought I Lost You.

I'm happy to say, that After, is done! As in, it's all written minus some editing. Now that's it's done, I have some good news, and bad news.

Good News: You'll see two weddings in After. Others might be mentioned, such as Kayta's and Babar's, but two will be featured, and I'm pretty sure, there's at least one couple nobody will guess.

Bad News: Before After ends, there will be three deaths.

Feel free to speculate, but I won't confirm and deny anything for fear of ruining the plot. But just prepare yourself for stuff up ahead.

Finally, the August Writing Challenge is open, so start submitting some fics!