Blade's POV
Blade gasped for air as pain surged through his entire body after having been brutally mutilated by no other than a grasshopper. The one he had sworn to kill but was too cowardly to do so. Now he was paying for his stupidity. He feared his Queen to an extent, as did the rest of the hive which now was falling into shambles as he bled. He looked forward after examining his wound, seeing not one, but two grasshoppers. His former captive had returned, in a fright over his injured brother. Hopper, the scarred one was down while he frightfully looked up when he noticed Blade starting to pull himself up. The younger locust protectively stood over Hopper looking very perturbed as a start.

"Back off." was the fierce order which even surprised him.

Hopper's Narrative
I was in a state of pain, but Molt's voice made me hesitate. It sounded so different, so… wrong to me. His voice leaked with anguish, something that was held back… something I never realized. It made hate rise up within me so fast. With all I had left, I had to turn and look, only to see the injured Blade slowly advancing. There far below on the ground was the green hue of a lurking snake… I had my brother's wrist in a tight grip, not letting him get closer to the dangerous hornet. Right then I knew Molt wasn't going to obey me anymore. We were both broken, just the same way. Down below on the ground level, I was able to spy the greenish hue of that snake as it slithered through towards unsuspecting fallen soldiers far beyond this tree.

Too hurt to speak, I simply had to press my brother behind me as I painfully began to stand up. It was clear to me, us, that Blade could hear the screams of his kind. This was a tragedy for him and a victory for us…

"Don't bother… don't you dare bother." my voice felt like it was grating out of my throat. "How does it feel now?"

"You may have taken me down, but you're no match against our Queen…"

"Are you so sure about that…?"

I merely glanced down before smirking at my enemy to where this hungry beast continued to strike at aimless hornets that fell injured from the Finch's defensive attacks. It knew where the nest was now and its scales were impenetrable, also with it being lightning quick. Blade looked below, knowing that I had him. It was over. When I watched him begin to tremble with rage while setting those fiery eyes on the both of us, I kept myself between him and Molt. I squeezed Molt's wrist, silently telling him that he was going to jump away. I gave him a glare as I shoved him away…. Blade jumped quickly to grab one of us, but I purposely shoved him off. He grabbed hold onto my back, forcing me to have to fly. Molt landed safely on a nearby limb, looking on in horror.

My wing may have been ripped to a point, but it was still able to keep me in the air for a good amount of time. With the extra weight on my back, I had to yell out in agony while Blade tried a hand to yank at my antennae. I pulled my head down, sharply to dive down to the deadly massacre below. Blade hollered when I grabbed his wing with my better arm to thrust him off my pain filled back. With a roar, I bucked him off, having him fly off and hit the rough, scaly back of a hungry grass snake. Blade tried to recover, only to have the weight of the snake's body roll half way over him. He saw the head of it, with black piercing eyes with a quick tongue spewing out at him out of a flash of bright green.

As soon as I got him off of me, I landed hard on a dead blade of grass. I hoped the captives weren't eaten along with the rest of these things, but my injuries were starting to get the best of me. The flight made it all worse, yet all the more worth it to me….

Blade tried to squirm out before the great snake curled up and struck near his head. He gave one last cry before the snake made the last move… which ended those piercing cries in an instant.

It was hard for me to accept that he was gone… only after a few tense seconds. It was hard, in a way, to listen to all the terror I brought to everyone in this hive, excepting those I protected. Those I've sworn to protect. I stayed still on the leaf, practically in shock at what I've done. Yet on the other side of the dead trunk, the Queen tried to sneak away even though her own soldiers were crying for her help. From the attack, she had lost both wings and had to walk. Little did she know that the Finch had her eyes on her. She landed heavily in front of her, chirping under her throat. She had lost a feather or two from the ordeal but she was safe, strong and still very hungry after the fight. All thanks to a few exchanges between her and a hummingbird, this Finch knew who she had struggling at her feet. The hurt and defeated Queen began to shake and recoil when she saw the giant avian quickly inch close with her beak.

"No… no, no — NO!" she began to get desperate and run.

Smart, the Finch made a daring strike at her abdomen, damaging her stinger and proceeded to do it again and again, while leaping from side to side, defensively. Molt could hear this, as could I… Deep in my heart, I wanted him to be away from all this, but he willingly came back for me. Slowly, I looked up to try and see where he was. I relaxed when I saw Flaps come by him, seemingly flustered at his decisions to leave. Molt pressed him away as he checked him for any injuries, but he pointed down to me, worriedly. Right away, the hummer hovered down to where I was kneeling and kept his wings open. I felt so nauseas all of sudden.

"Hopper! How could you do this to me!?" Molt cried. "I know ya wanted me to not come back, but I couldn't! I couldn't— now look at you ~ Oh gosh, your wing! Oh!"

"I can care less, genius… As usual you did the opposite of what I said and got yourself caught…" I smirked.

"Oh… I— They were going to hurt Summer and Atta… I-I had to do something…"

"Who cares about me…? Are you hurt?" I had to ask, lowly and grating.

"I'm fine. I'm… fine — Hopper, we need to get you back home…"

That last word came out so naturally. I weakly smiled while resting my head down.

"It all kind of worked as planned, so I can't complain." I whispered, shutting my eyes for a moment.

"Hop, please… Please, don't —"

"Getting your arm yanked off and your wing ripped, you can guess that I'm not feeling all that fine, Molt…" I groaned. "… but I'm glad you stuck around."

Molt fought back tears, yet he smiled. Gently, he took my good arm and draped it over his neck to help me up. "… come on, we're going home…"

I gave into his wish and did my best, feeling fulfilled after all.
Flaps managed to carry me a ways on his back to return to where the colony camped at. Flik and Atta were not too far off from the fight. When they saw me, they couldn't believe it… that state I was in. Finally, I forced myself to walk.

"C-captain… What have they done…?" Flik stammered.

"I just need rest. That's all…"

Atta was in a fit, feeling responsible for all this grief and pain. "Hopper, this is all my fault…. I am so sorry."

"Shut up… It's over. The Queen lost…" I breathed each word out. "That's all that matters now…"

Atta softly stroked my claw as much as I didn't want it. "We owe you. We owe you everything…"

Flaps lowered his head. "Emerald was right about you. Soldiers fight to the death… This is a first, for a grasshopper." he then perked up at last.

"Right when I find my wings, I happen to lose one… but that's the least of my problems." I lowly spoke, feeling that my heart was about to break.

"You need to heal, Hopper… We're taking you back." Atta spoke. "That's an order."

I held back some laughter. Too pained, I shook my head. "Is that so…?"

As the Queenless hornets fled farther away, we went the opposite way, back towards the dry river. I was carried on Flaps' back as Molt flew above him as I hung on with a web… We happened to fly over what was the hive as half it was completely fallen and strewn all over the ground like fallen leaves. We could hear the song of the Finch far above us… and the snake was nowhere to be seen, probably burrowing again after its meal. There was just a whole mass of carnage, a sign to others to make them think twice if they wanted to infest the same way…

It was before that Queen could even set eyes on the Island… and on the other side of the river, the colony hid in the burrow of the termite who gave me a helping hand. Unwillingly at first, I might add. I was so thankful to know that the colony got there safely, only one royal, one worker and a grasshopper were taken as it turned out. I had to set my own pride aside for the moment in order to allow them to care for me. Of all I knew, I wasn't flying again for awhile. I thought the Hummers would be long gone when the son of my late mentor came back… I remember teaching this former fledgling how to turn corners. I was done… I was not going to just up and leave them again. Since no one was going to let me anyways, I did the one thing I seldom did…

I fell asleep…

It seemed like I was awake again but Flitter was there. I had a feeling it was too good to be true.
My life was always on the go, too hectic, too frightening to consider it — What was the right word?

Beautiful.

The only beauty I remember was them. They had order, they had leadership. Strength and spirit. They treated their young like treasures. They treated their world like treasure, with such gentleness and respect. If my brother and I had never come upon them, or rather if they never came upon us, I dread to imagine that things would have turned out to be way different. I would have been different… Not in a good light, anyway. I was a very lonely nymph becoming twisted by the spoils of a hard livelihood. I took my insecurities out on Molt who was there by me, even when I treated him so badly. If he found it normal that I would hit him every day then who would I be if I had never met Emerald's Flock? I loved them. I loved my brother… and I was so close to losing everything.
Then it all came back to me.
Did I deserve it?

No.

Did I earn it?

Probably. It took a wing from me and an arm, but I was still alive today. The colony was alive. Molt was alive. The tree was alive.

The world was trying to convince me that life makes you strong. It wants you to be happy, but in order to be happy, you need to be strong. It will beat you around a little bit if it has to… but in the end I found something worth while. It took constant reminding and some sacrifice, but we made it. Emerald was just the start. Flitter would have wanted this for me.

We were Soldiers.