Author's note. This is the first chapter I've written myself, I hope you all like.
Suggestions are welcome.
Enjoy and please review.
Some hours later, Wasp woke up and to his delight find himself snuggled with Bumblebee near their make shift hive. He remembered how they'd be competing against each other in a little display of flying, showing off their skill. He grinned, he'd thoroughly enjoyed that, especially as his mate to be was extremely talented.
And also rather competitive, he'd almost completely worn himself out trying to keep up with the large bug. Not that he minded, he quite liked having a mate like that, one who was a bit feisty but still nice and cute. He gave the little honeybee a nuzzle and got a little groan in return, the bee was still very much asleep.
As much as he wanted to remain here snuggled with his mate, he was starting to get a bit hungry. Besides, now that he had a mate he really had to think about building a proper hive and settling down. The only problem was, despite the fact they'd been getting on quite well, he was sure the honeybee would try to escape if he got the chance.
This was very problematic as he would need to live this hollow tree to seek out food and probably building materials. But maybe if he just scouted around the area of the tree, he could still keep an eye on the old bird nest and ensure his mate didn't escape. When he returned to the nest, he'd carry on trying to gain the honeybee's trust to the point he could get his future mate to promise he wouldn't try to escape.
So after checking to make sure Bumblebee was definitely asleep, he went over to the blocked entrance and started digging out a hole for himself. He planned to block it up again once he was out, although the honeybee would likely have a go at unblocking it once he woke up.
Once he'd gnawed his way through the materiel blocking the entrance, he successfully managed to pull himself outside. He eyed the surrounding area, making sure there were no predators or other Asian hornets about. As he didn't have a proper hive yet, he didn't want to tangle with any hornets unless he absolutely had to.
Not that there were many predators out there of taking him on but it didn't do to attract attention. In any case, there were plenty of predators who would target his beautiful mate and he didn't want that. All the more reason for him to start courting as fast as possible, they really needed to start building a hive and producing larvae.
This thought made him smile, he couldn't wait to have offspring with little Bumblebee. Some would be workers, some warriors, a few would be scouts and a very few special would be destined to start their own hives. That would certainly be a proud day but he was getting a little ahead of himself, they hadn't built a hive yet.
"What's on the menu today?" he pondered, as he emerged fully to buzz in mid air.
Honey would be best but out of respect for his mate, he wasn't going to return to his hive to plunder it. Not to mention, it was quite a distance away, he didn't want to stray far. But as he scanned the area, nothing caught his attention so he decided to have a scout about the place.
Hopefully, he could find a food source that would allow him to store some while he worked on courting Bumblebee.
Bumblebee's POV
Bumblebee yawned widely as he awoke slowly, feeling warm and cosy. He idly opened his eyes, lazily glancing around until he suddenly realised with a jolt there were no other bees around. Normally, the place was alive with different bees coming in and out, not to mention the Queen was usually close by.
He jumped up, looking wildly around but there was no one here. He was totally alone in this dark prison where there seemed to be no escape. He buzzed on the spot, turning several circles as he tried to work out just what was going on. But now he realised something, this wasn't his hive, it was nothing like his hives.
There was no comforting smell of honey, no wiggling larvae or the constant hum of busy workers. This was the prison that Asian hornet had taken him to after practically wiping out his hive. Bumblebee's antennae drooped miserably, he felt so alone at this moment, something he'd never experienced before.
Back at the hive, he'd always been surrounded by other bees, even when he went into parts of the hive that were empty, there was still the constant background noise of other bees. Tears started to well up in his eyes, he wanted to go home, back where it was safe and warm.
"Stupid Wasp," he said mulishly before suddenly remembering just what Wasp was and jumpily glancing around in case the hornet was lurking nearby.
But there was no one about, not even when he flew over to the little hive that Wasp had started to build. However, he found that it too was empty, Wasp had obviously gone out. This made the little bee a little excited, did that mean he could escape? At the very least, he wanted to be able have a flight outside for the first time in his life, at least by himself.
He'd rarely been allowed outside before but each time he'd been under heavy guard by warrior bees. But now he could explore on his own for the first time ever and the very thought made him very excited. So he rushed over to the blocked up entrance and started to tug and pull at it. It took a lot of effort on his part, he was a small bee after all but eventually, he managed to dig a little hole.
He had to rest for a little while after this, he didn't want to exhaust himself before he flew out of the nest. He was starting to feel a little hungry so he scouted about the place until he found a small deposit of honey which he gobbled up. This made him feel much better, he was now ready for action, oh yeah.
"I'll show Wasp," he said mischievously as he started to crawl through the little tunnel. "He'll see what I can do."
He ended up having to gnaw his way out the last bit but this wasn't too bad. It seemed Wasp had just stuffed it with some soft materials, enough to block it up but not so much that it was difficult to shift. This made him wonder, why Wasp had left him when he knew Bumblebee would likely try to escape.
This made Bumblebee briefly nervous, was the hornet just waiting for him to escape? So he could show him how futile it was and end up punishing him? He didn't think Wasp was going to eat him, a hornet wouldn't bother playing with him. Well, he really wanted to see the outside so even if the hornet was waiting for him, he was still going to get a glimpse of the sky.
"Mmm," he breathed as he gazed around at the forest which shone in the bright sunlight.
He grinned, this was great, there were so many wonderful scents in the air, he enjoyed all of them. With one last push, he managed to pull himself free of the tree and launched into the air. He allowed himself to briefly free fall before activating his wings and zooming back up, whooping with joy.
"I love this," he cried, zipping here and there, taking in all the sight.
He spotted a flower and couldn't resist flying straight for it. He landed on it and explored it carefully but the last bee to harvest this flower had been quite a while ago so it was bursting with nectar. With a moan of satisfaction, he extended his long tongue and started lapping up the nectar within.
Pretty soon, his legs and face were liberally dusted with pollen but he didn't mind. It just felt so good to be doing something like this, he wished the Queen could have allowed him to go out more often. But he was her heir and she had done everything to protect him. If he managed to have offspring, he would doubtless be the same.
This thought made him still, Wasp had made it clear he wanted to have offspring with him but could that really work? Hornets were meant to be their enemies, Wasp had killed just about all their warriors and yet he hadn't completely destroyed their hive. Baring any more disasters, the hive would recover and thrive once more.
So Bumblebee was grateful for that but wasn't sure if he really wanted to be this hornet's queen. He wondered if he should try to find his hive again but sadly knew that Wasp could easily follow him and obliterate the hive so that Bumblebee would be forced to remain with him.
If he had to stay with Wasp, he'd rather do it with the knowledge his hive was safe, especially the Queen. But hey, he was free at the moment, enjoying a lovely flower full of fresh nectar. Which got him thinking, could he start a little honeycomb of his own? He'd seen the others working a way, it couldn't be too hard to do?
He only had to feed himself and probably Wasp, it wasn't an impossible task. He decided that was what he'd do, at least if Wasp came back and caught him flying outside, he could point out he was starting a little larder, the hornet couldn't object to that surely. And there were plenty of nice fresh flowers in this area to get started.
But as he started on this task, he didn't realise that danger was approaching his little forest clearing.
Author's note. Just what is the danger coming? Can Wasp get back in time to save Bumblebee? Find out next time, until then.
