Wow, I didn't think this story would get so many views and reviews so soon! I wasn't even sure people still looked in this section of the site anymore. I'm glad folks are enjoying it so far. :) Thank you to everyone who has taken time to read and also to those who took an extra moment to review.

When It Rains
Chapter 3: One Last Favor

"Flik! Flik!"

It seemed like Princess Atta had circled the island dozens of times and still hadn't seen or heard Flik. She was beginning to think that Hopper had abducted him and left Ant Island entirely. Meanwhile, the rain had finally started to let up and visibility improved enough to give the princess a clearer view of the terrain. Just as she was about to do another lap around the island, Atta made out a small blue speck lying on the ground below her. She just knew it was Flik and quickly flew down to him. But between the darkness, the weather and how far she was off the ground, the princess had no idea what the true extent of Flik's injuries were until she saw him up close.

"I'm so glad I found you, Flik! Are you-" Atta ran to where Flik was lying and she stopped dead in her tracks. She gaped at the appalling scene before her and her breath caught in her throat: there was Flik in a heap on the ground, surrounded by his severed limbs. Time felt as though it had stopped entirely while Atta tried to process what had happened – the whole scene looked and felt like a nightmare. She questioned whether what she was seeing was even real; could something that gruesome really happen to someone she knew? Slowly, she closed the distance between the two of them; much to her dismay, saw that everything had, in fact, actually occurred. The lavender ant cried and dropped to her knees; Flik lay battered and bruised beyond belief, limbless, motionless and in a pool of his own blood. Atta instantly feared the worst until she heard a faint wheeze emerge from the pulverized body.

"Flik!" Atta cried. The blue ant's antennae perked up ever so slightly at the sound of the princess' voice. Flik managed to open his swollen eyes enough to look at Atta.

"... Princess?" Flik's voice was weak and barely audible. In spite of what he'd been through and how he felt, he found the strength to smile just a little when he saw Atta beside him. Her presence brought him some comfort, if only a tiny bit.

"Oh, Flik. I... I'm so sorry I didn't find you sooner. I just... oh, Flik..." her voiced cracked as she looked over his mutilated body. She was certainly no stranger to the sight of her fellow ants being eaten by birds, but it was usually a quick, clean death. The physical devastation Hopper had wrought upon just one ant was like nothing she'd ever seen before. She couldn't even hold his hand to comfort him, and she was utterly shocked that Flik even survived Hopper's attack, judging by the injuries he sustained. Atta rested her hand softly on the side of Flik's face and did her best to maintain something resembling composure to avoid causing him further distress.

"Come on, Flik. I'll take you back to the colony." Atta wiped the tears from her eyes. "Dr. Flora will fix you. It's... it's going to be okay." She tried her best to sound convincing; Atta wanted to assure herself as much as Flik that it wouldn't end this way, but deep down, they both knew he was living on borrowed time. He'd been savagely assaulted, dismembered, was bleeding out and was still in shock. It was only a matter of time before any one of Flik's injuries finally shut his body down.

Flik coughed in pain. "Atta, I... I need you to do... one last favor... for me."

"Yes, yes. Anything." The princess looked into his eyes – the very life was draining from them and she struggled to retain her self-control with every pained breath Flik took. Atta was a realistic insect and knew her friend didn't have long, but she didn't want to believe that he wouldn't make it after they'd finally beaten the grasshoppers back.

Flik's breath was shallow and labored. "I... want you... to kill me."

Author's notes: I hope I didn't make Flik too out of character, though it's hard to say what his character would be like in this kind of situation, so I had to wing it. Stay tuned for the final chapter!