A Bug's Life: The Ant Queen

Chapter 1

The Truth Comes Out

As Hopper's blood-curdling screams had stopped, and the huge, red-headed yellow bird settled into its nest with its three fluffy babies, Atta; a slender, purple ant with curled antennas and a leafy tiara; looked up in disbelief from the small boulder she was hiding behind with Flik; a slim, light blue ant who loved to invent. "Hopper... He's... He's gone," Atta whispered to herself. "He's finally gone! The colony is free! Ant Island is safe!" she celebrated with joy and relief. "And it's all thanks to-" Atta turned to her side, expecting to see Flik to thank him, but instead, she saw nothing.

"Flik?" Atta looked around with worry, wondering where he had went. Her smile then suddenly dropped, as she saw Flik walking in the direction opposite of where Ant Island was. "Flik! Where are you going? The Anthill is that way!" Atta called out to him, pointing towards an island that had a large tree that was left bare, after all the leaves had fallen from the branches; it was surrounded by grass and one of its roots was towering over an anthill, home of the ant colony. Despite the sound of heavy raindrops, Atta knew that Flik heard her, as he had stopped in his tracks. However, she received no response from him, but what she got from him instead was a look of sorrow and even a tiny hint of anger, before turning back around and continuing on with the direction he was going in.

Atta caught up with him and then said "Flik..." softly to him. But when she put her hand on his shoulder, he whirled around with a glare. "Don't touch me!" Flik hissed at her, making her back away a little bit. "Flik..?" Atta said softly, surprised. "Oh don't act so surprised, princess! Did you just forget that you banished me from the colony, wanted me to leave and never come back!?" Flik raised his voice at her.

Atta felt a lump rising in her throat and tears budding in the corners of her eyes. "Well, that's what I'm doing, because that's what you wanted, isn't it?" Flik asked with a rather callous tone. "Flik, nothing about what I said to you before you left matters now. Besides, I-I-I was the one who lied to you first." Atta confessed, nearly on the brink of tears. "What? What are you talking about?" Flik asked, raising an eyebrow, puzzled by what she had told him.

The two ants just stood there and stared at each other for a long moment, while Atta was taking the time to compose herself before deciding to speak. She sighed, as she knew that everything she was about to spill to him probably wasn't going to make things better, whether that be for herself or for Flik, but she knew that she had to, regardless of whatever outcome that may be, as it was now the time to tell him the truth.

"Look, Flik, you deserve to know the truth. The truth about why I did it, why I really sent you on that quest for warrior bugs. I didn't do it because I thought you would've actually found warriors to help the colony fend off the grasshoppers," as soon as Flik heard that, his eyes widened with bemusement. Despite that, Atta continued, "I only did it because after the whole offering stone incident-" Flik had cut her off, finishing the sentence for her by saying "-you didn't want me around to screw anything up," earning himself a shameful nod from Atta, who was preparing herself for what he was about to say next.

Flik looked down at the gravelly ground, slowly taking in everything he was told. It all made sense to him now: Atta having that "royal huddle" with the council back at the court chamber, how her face looked when he came back home with the "warrior" bugs and finally, how she was when she told him to leave Ant Island and never come back, after Flik had lied to her and the colony about the circus bugs really being warriors, all thanks to P.T. Flea's unexpected appearance, right before the last leaf was about to fall from one of the tree's branches.

He paid not much thought to those events at the times they each took place, but considering with what she had poured out just now, he had managed to connect the dots. Stricken with revelation, he looked back up at her, now with a scowl, which struck Atta to her core.

"So, this is how you and the colony see me as? A nuisance? A burden?" Flik asked with deep sorrow. "No, Flik! It's just that-" Atta tried to argue, but Flik wasn't having any of it. "Stop it!" snapped Flik, making Atta jump with fright. Atta's eyes started to well up with tears and her lips began to quiver. She was scared of him; him being so angry, furious and broken. Yet at the same time, she couldn't blame him, especially after everything he had been through to save the colony from that tyrannical brute, Hopper; a bulky, golden-brown grasshopper who had a scar over his right eye that looked cloudy; and his gang of greedy grasshoppers; he even had the beating of his life from that scrawny feral grasshopper, Thumper.

"It's all very clear to me now. You and the colony only sent me on that phony quest just so you would all be rid of me. All I ever wanted is to help the colony, invent gadgets that everyone can use and benefit from! You made me believe that I could fix all the mistakes that I've made, including that offering stone incident, by going on that search for help, so we that could finally be free of those grasshoppers! But you lied to me! And like an idiot, I believed you." Flik monologued coldly. All Atta could do was just stare at him, with eyes welled up with tears, feeling heavy with guilt.

Flik continued, "And what's worse, is that when I lied to you and the colony, you banished me, when it was you who lied to me first!" Atta took a few steps back as he yelled at her, terrified. "I had my reasons of lying to you all, but you?" Flik scoffed, "You just wanted me to be out of the way, and I'm an idiot for not seeing it till now." "Well, if that's the way you want it, then I'll leave," said Flik, as he slowly walked towards Atta with a look that stared right into her soul. "And this time, I won't come back." Flik said those words with such disdain.

Upon hearing those words, Atta lowered her head in shame, slowly taking in the fact that he repeated those very same words she told him the same night that he was being exiled from Ant Island, when those "warrior" bugs he brought home turned out to be really a circus act, because of their ringmaster's unforeseen arrival. She turned away from him and started to quickly make her way towards Ant Island, with tears squeezing through her tightly closed eyes.

As for Flik, he walked towards a grass stem and hid underneath its blades for protection from the raindrops. He clutched his arms close to his body and shut his eyes tightly, allowing tears of his own to run down his face. However, unlike Atta's tears, which were of regret, his tears were of anger and sorrow; just the feeling of wanting to help his colony badly, only to realise that not only have they rejected his inventions that could've benefited everybody, but also be told that he was only sent away, just so that he wouldn't be an inconvenience to everyone around him anymore, was heart-breaking. All he ever wanted was to help people by inventing gadgets that would've made everyday life easier. But, what was he going to do, now that he's left the colony? Are Atta and the colony really going to be better off without him?

"Well...looks like that went well." said a voice, startling Flik from his thoughts. He looked around frantically, trying to find where that strange voice came from. "W-w-who said that?" asked Flik, as he quivered in fear, only to receive no response. "W-w-who are you? W-w-what do you want from me?" Flik asked with a now terrified look. He then bumped into something behind him; his eyes widened with dread, as it didn't feel like a grass stem or a stem of any plant for that matter.

He slowly turned around to see a monstrous shape before him, causing him to back away with fright. The bright green, slanted eyes that were looking directly at him sent shivers down his back. "Hey, I'm not here to eat you. I just want to talk with you," the stranger softened her voice in an attempt to make Flik feel more comfortable, "I know I look a little overwhelming for an ant like yourself, but you have to understand that as queen of the hornets, I have to keep up an appearance, you see?"

Lightning bolts had struck the night sky, lightening up the stranger's face and body, revealing her to be that of a massive black hornet; she had a white-striped plump abdomen, slender legs that were standing on their clawed toes, large arms with taloned hands and a mostly white face with pointed eye ridges, resembling small horns, curled antennas and small, sharp teeth. She also wore a golden ring, adorned with a green emerald, atop of her head as a crown. Flik had to take in the figure that he saw standing before him, before asking warily "Y-y-you're... A hornet queen?"

"Well yes, I just said that" the stranger replied irritably, feeling like Flik had stated the obvious. "And to get the introductions out of the way, my name is Thistle. But don't bother telling me about who you are, because I already know everything I needed to know about you, Flik." As soon as he heard his name, his eyes bugged out in shock, bemused as to how she knew his name. "H-h-how do you k-k-know my name?" asked Flik, as he was shaking and felt a little crept out.

Thistle began to explain herself even further, as she started to slowly circle around him, "You see, Flik, my swarm have been trying to think of new ways of harvesting food at a quicker pace. So, I've sent out scouts to search for someone who can help us develop those new ways, with inventions that can help speed things up for us. They had been searching for quite awhile, until they have found who they thought would be the perfect one who can help us, which is you." "Me? But, why me?" Flik's eyes were now full of curiosity, as his wariness of her were slowly starting to drain away. Thistle continued, "Because from what they had described, I thought to myself, "Hey! He's exactly the kind of bug we're looking for," and that thought proved me right, especially after they had told me of how you were wrongfully mistreated by your own colony. They saw how they were pushing you away whenever you had new ideas, rejected your inventions that could've helped them pay off their debt to those infernal grasshoppers..." as soon as she mentioned the grasshoppers, her face grimaced slightly, and stopped circling around Flik for a brief moment, whilst looking down at the ground, away from him.

She then shook her head before facing Flik again, with the glare wiped off of her face and quickly replaced with a friendly grin, resumed her circling and continued on, "as I was saying, the way that they cheered when you left the island to find help and lastly, how they kicked you out when they found out the truth that you've recruited a circus act instead of fighters." Flik lowered his head, facing down the ground, feeling more disheartened as he listened to every word she was saying, as it was all unfortunately true. "If you ask me, that was pretty wrong of them to treat you the way they did, especially considering the fact that all you ever wanted was to help them, despite their constant rejections..." Upon finishing that sentence, Thistle's face dropped by a tiny bit, as if she was reminiscing something. After a moment of thinking, a wide smirk soon appeared on her fallen face, before turning back to face Flik once again.

"But what if I told you, that you can still put that inventive little mind of yours to good use, when using it to help someone else? Like... Me and my swarm, for instance?" that question made Flik's antennas perk up and his eyes fill up with intrigue. That made Thistle gleam with pride, knowing that that particular question would've piqued his interest. "Just imagine it. You helping me and my swarm with your creativity, making gadgets that'll assist us greatly, and finally getting the appreciation that you've been craving for," Thistle continued on, seeing as the more Flik listened to what she was offering him, the more curious he got.

"Now, wouldn't that feel satisfying? Just knowing that you've helped other bugs that will actually thank you for your help, instead of being constantly pushed aside, like what your own colony did?" Thistle finished. Flik looked down at the ground and stood there for a long moment, pondering about what Thistle had just offered him. The thoughts of finally getting the appreciation for his inventiveness and gadgetry that he had always wanted, were flooding in his mind. He then turned around to take a long look at Ant Island, wondering on whether or not he should take up on her offer.

He twirled back around when Thistle asked, "so, what do you say?" as she held out one of her hands to him, while her other three hands were behind her back, patiently waited for him to take it; unknown to Flik, however, was that one of her hands behind her back had two of her fingers crossed. Flik stared at her hand for a short moment, before taking a quick glance back at Ant Island. He looked at Thistle's hand again and sighed to himself, knowing that it was now or never; either take her hand and go with her, or refuse and go back home.

He then took her hand and shook it. "I'll... Accept your offer" answered Flik, as he shook her hand, hesitantly. That made Thistle smirk wider than ever before, delighted that he accepted her offer. The two bugs stood there for a short moment, before Thistle said, "You've made the right decision, Flik." "I promise you, you will not regret this. You and I are going to achieve so much. Wouldn't you agree? Partner?" Thistle asked eagerly, earning herself a nod of certainty from Flik. She stifled a small chuckle, to which Flik had paid not much attention to, but gave him a reassuring smile regardless. This was the beginning of their partnership.

To be continued...