Welp, I thought I was done with this, but folks seemed really keen on an epilogue, so I gave it a shot. :) It turned out a lot longer than I intended, so I wound up with more than one additional chapter (seriously, I think the "final" chapter was over 2,800 words, so I had to break it up into several chapters to make it more readable). YAY! Stay tuned for a couple more after this one!

When It Rains
Chapter 5: Breaking Another Heart

Atta still couldn't believe Flik was gone, even though she couldn't help but recollect the sight of him taking his final breath in her arms. At first, things had gone so wrong with Flik's plans, but right when everything started to change in the colony's favor, this had to happen. In numbers, the ants held unbelievable power that took them far too many years of abuse to finally realize, but one ant singled out the way Hopper had done with Flik was a death sentence. The outcome would have been the same, regardless of which ant he'd taken.

Why couldn't Hopper have gone after Atta instead? She could fly, at least. And, as a royal ant, any harm brought upon her would've had a much more profound effect on the other ants compared to killing a "mere" worker. It's probably why Hopper had originally targeted the queen. But when his scheme came crashing down around him, he went for more vulnerable, available prey because he wanted someone to pay right then. This reminded Atta that she also never got the chance to thank Flik for saving her mother; Flik revealing Hopper's secret assassination plans helped drive the colony to fight back. It was quite clear in the wake of his wrath that Hopper wasn't intending to fight fair when he seized Flik and flew off – he was intending to make the blue ant suffer as much as possible. Atta didn't know if Hopper was aiming to kill Flik when he attacked and still wondered where the ruthless grasshopper was, or if he was even still on the island.

"Why couldn't I have gotten here sooner? Maybe I couldn't have stopped Hopper, but I could've distracted him. Why wasn't I just a little faster? I could have saved Flik!" Atta was beating herself up mentally over the whole situation, blaming herself for arriving just a couple moments too late.

Part of Atta wanted to hope this had all been a horrible nightmare and that she'd wake up soon, or that Flik would open his eyes and tell her that he was fine. Still, she knew better; she had to come to terms. The ant that inspired his people to take control of their lives had paid the ultimate price for their freedom while not living to see his own. Atta was still thinking about what Flik had confessed to her in his final moments when she heard a small voice and the buzz of tiny wings approaching.

"Atta! Flik! Where are you?"

It was Dot. Atta began to panic; she knew how fond her sister was of Flik and she didn't want to traumatize Dot with the sight of her dearest friend's crushed and mangled remains. The elder princess darted off into the weeds to find a leaf with which to cover Flik's body. Atta didn't want Dot to see what had passed before she had a chance to talk to her. Princess Atta wanted to shield her kid sister from the butchery that she had the misfortune of witnessing herself, but she knew she couldn't hide him for very long, especially from her puckish sibling. How could she possibly tell Dot what had happened? The princess promptly covered Flik's body and followed her sister's voice, hoping that she could catch Dot before the tiny purple ant discovered the grisly scene herself.

"Dot?" Atta called out. It was difficult for her to see in the dark, but she could soon make out a little fleck of purple approaching her from the sky.

Dot asked in a chirpy voice, "Atta! Atta, did you find Flik? Where is he? Where's Flik?" The little princess seemed to think Flik was somehow invincible and that there was nothing he couldn't overcome. Like many children, Dot naively believed that nothing would betide her hero because he was her hero – that nothing bad would ever happen to someone she loved. Alas, the older princess had to be the one to betray Dot's high hopes. Atta had to reveal that the blue ant her sister admired so much had met his match and lost.

Atta reached out and hugged her little sister in midair without saying a word. Dot was a little perplexed by this gesture since Atta was never usually all that affectionate toward, well, anyone. "Ummm... you okay, sis? You, like, never hug me." Atta brought her down to the ground.

"Dot, I..." Atta was already losing her poise trying to think of how she could break the news. "I... something bad has... Hopper has done something... terrible..." Atta's eyes began to tear up, but she tried her hardest to hide it. She hadn't come to terms with Flik's fate herself, yet she had to be the one to tell her sister about it and see her tiny sibling's soul shatter alongside her own.

"Is... is Flik okay?" Dot's eyes got wide, wondering what could have possibly befallen her friend.

Atta swallowed hard. "Dot, I don't know... how to tell you this. But, Flik..." her voice was cracking, "... Flik is dead."

Author's notes: The remainder of this story is going to mostly be taking place right where Chapter 4 left off with the epilogue set a few months after the events in the preceding chapters took place. Thanks so much for everybody's reviews and readership! Your kind words inspired me to continue this story a little longer, but I don't want to drag it out (in some places, I kinda feel like I already did), so the epilogue is going to be the for-real ending. But we aren't there quite yet - hope everybody enjoyed this chapter and will enjoy the upcoming ones! I'm also hoping I didn't make Dot too out of character since I don't usually write child characters.