It took me around two hours maximum to find him… and I was in no good mood either. It hurt to see her still body just laying there in the hot sun, so I did the most honorable thing I could think up. I closed Flitter's eyes and covered her in a fallen leaf. That was all I could offer. I couldn't loiter around, feeling sorry for her or myself. Which meant Molt couldn't loiter either, even though I knew how he was. Our tree looked so empty already. It seemed like those murderers got what they wanted after all. I promised silently that it wouldn't stay that way for long. I promised Molt and I promised Flitter and Emerald. More importantly, I searched the numerous tree holes trying to follow a voice or a flutter of wings … something.

I was seriously getting a little scared. I may have hurt the nymph on more than one occasion, but I did love my only brother. Flitter's words plus his own stung me hard still. I was still convinced that he was avoiding me, even when I was searching through this one random tree hole. I could hear a series of sniveling down the narrow tunnel, so I carefully stepped in. As if I didn't feel like a complete failure already… there he was, hidden inside here, lost and confused like on the day of the poisoning. I had to swallow down the lump that stuck in my throat as I watched him look like that.

"… hey."

He heard my voice and he jerked awake, removing his claws away from his face.

"H-Hoppy…"

"I was wondering where you were." I grumbled, turning to the opening when I thought I heard wings outside.

"I-I'm… I'm okay…"

I knew that was a lie.

"You are not okay." I sharply corrected, stating the obvious.

As expected, his eyes widened with horror when he finally got a good look at my scratched face. I turned my face away from him.

"Hopper. Hopper! Your… Your eye."

"I'm fine!" I spoke, raising a claw to keep him away from me. "I'm fine… Alive. Now don't go on mentioning it."

"I-I promise…"

"I've been looking for you. Don't just go flying off like that, again. You hear me?" I ordered with impassioned anger.

"Y-yeah, yeah. I-I'm sorry, Hopper."

"The flock is leaving. You have every right to go with them. But this time, I'm not following."

"N-Not following? But — but, Hoppy, you always come."

"Well, that ends today." I roughly replied, turning my back to him. "I promised Emerald. And I promised Flitter, that I'll make sure those monsters don't follow you."

"What!? Ya might! They might kill you!"

"At least I'm able to show my gratitude." I sighed.

"Hopper… p-please… Let me stay… I-I can help. I'm thankful too."

"Molt, do I have to say it? You're not exactly soldier material…"

"Y-yeah, but I can forage! I'm really good at it!"

It really touched me that he wanted to stay behind, with me. Maybe… maybe he did forgive me. This was especially new because he spent most of the time with Flitter rather than me, and for good reason. I fought a smile that tried to creep up and I chuckled a little. I couldn't let him though, for his own good. That smile faded away as if it was never there.

"Molt. You can't stay. It's really dangerous— you saw what happened!"

It was as if I shoved him with those words because he nearly broke down again. Softening, I came to him and looked him right in the eye.

"I'm keeping promises, okay? To you, Emerald, a-and … Flitter. You need to go. Take care of Flaps and Speckles."

"I'll try, Hopper. I'm… I'm gonna miss ya."

Sorrow was really starting to well up inside my chest at those words.

"Yeah." I said, tightly, patting him on the back before turning to leave.

I couldn't look back at him and just took flight. The nurses gathered up and were taking off, a few glanced sadly at my general direction with mixed feelings of thanks and sorrow. I really had the feeling that this was the last time I would ever see them and my brother ever again. At the moment, it was crucial to not keep my hopes up.

The river zig-zagged along this almost flat meadow. There were tall hills in the distance which was unexplored territory for me. All I knew was Emerald's routes that always followed the water. Now that I was completely on my own again, I had to teach myself how to track properly. Lush blades meant that there was water inside them, at least some. The ground sucked as much as it could now since the air was getting so dry. Since the bird's departure, the land began to change … as if it was a strange occurrence. The sun just beat me down at every flying chance I got. I kept needing to take flight breaks. The shade under the blades made a difference but nonetheless, I had a lot of ground to cover.

Who knew that this day would come? When at first I was a soldier to a flock of birds and now brought down to being the lone grasshopper I once was. It literally happened all in one day. At least I was confident that my brother was safe. I hoped life served him better, to live in greener places than this. What I needed to do to keep watch for hornets… and during these passed couple of days I was able to pick up on the hum of their wings, but I couldn't spot them. If anything, I had to follow the sound. Much to my relief, they were not following the direction of the birds.

During these dry loner days, I was just fueled with so much anger. Pure hatred. Who would go to great lengths to hurt hapless species, just for territory? Even to kill a bird for it!? That name was becoming somewhat of a curse word to me whenever I tried to sound it out on my lips. It was always on my thoughts whenever I ate or rested. I'd chew blades of grass and fallen leaves to get a little bit of water as well as some nutrients to tie me over. But the further I got, the drier things seemed to get. One evening, I was rested in a burrow I dug up for myself and I was checking on my eye. I could feel the difference from my exoskeleton and the scar that was quickly forming, but I was able to see. The sight in this eye was blurry and my second lid still struggled to close but it eventually did, much to my relief. It hurt to blink still, but it wasn't as bad as before.

The next day I finally found the cactus where this meadow began. It was exactly what Emerald was talking about before the attack. I tried to keep on the scent of these hornets and it just kept going everywhere, so much that it was starting to make my head spin. Yet, I didn't see one single hornet on this flight. It didn't make a lick of sense to me. But it all continued on from here… and I instantly feared that these hornets were making an attempt to follow our birds. That made me want to press forward even more before I discovered something really strange. The rocks and dirt abruptly ended at this dark, sort of black material that seemed to stretch out really far. It wasn't dirt and it wasn't loose. The scent it had gave me a sharp headache. The heat from sun seemed to rise right off it, so instead of touching it, I flew up to the peak of one of the cacti to get a better look at this new obstacle. It struck me as uncanny at the fact that if felt so hot so I wasn't sure if flying over it was a wise idea.

Right when I rose to the top of the cactus, I was able to see much farther down and was able to discover what this strange material was. It was just black all across and it reached on like a river to as far as my eye could see. That what it looked like from up here … a sharp, hot black river.

With … no water. I thought I had seen everything.

The journey this far had taken a toll on me, already. Everything that happened left me shaken deep down and all I could do for myself was to just keep working. It all left me kind of … dull. As in I hardly cared about much…. It was just me and my only worry was if I found another hornet — now, I had always been known to hold a grudge. Molt knew this, first hand. Ever since Flitter died, something in me woke up. That same negativity I held onto since I was a nymph which Emerald completely beat out of me. Or so he thought. Only, I was a bit wiser for the wear. I knew just the one who deserved to see it. No, it wasn't Molt… or anyone else, but one. I hated the taste that name left in my mouth. I wanted to make him say her name to my face and if he did, I'd kill him. Needless to say, I realized that I was in a deep rut and who knew where'd I be if we were never found by the flock. I remember having the weirdest opinions. When I thought I would only care about myself, I now found myself worrying over my brother, Flitter's fledglings… and if there was enough food for everyone. As with before all that, it was all about me and that Molt would never amount to anything that I considered worthy, which meant taking over. Forcing someone else to do the job, by lying to protect them or something entirely selfish that would serve me, for the most part. I remember our clan had abused these family of beetles when we settled down in this one patch of weeds one time. Young and dumb, I was perfectly fine with it. I didn't know why…. The only one who was different was Molt. I guess he earned the good life because of it and not me. Never did I say it to his face but I was jealous of that, when he was praised over me among the flock. That was happens when you act like a total jerk.

Anyway, as I mused I was currently unaware that someone had joined me, no other than a tiny katydid. I overheard her incoherently murmur to herself. Peering down at her, I rose a brow at her hint of surprise.

"Oh, goodness me! Had I seen you sir I would've kept away." her little voice shook as her whole body did. I was a giant compared to her.

"It's okay. Everyone I run into tend to want to avoid me." I replied, a little low-spiritedly.

"Not much of your kind come out this far. Not lately anyway…. Too hot, I'd reckon. You can call me Katie."

I smirked. "Hopper." I bluntly gave her.

"Hopper." she took a try of tasting that name as she eyed me up and down. "It tells a lot about you."

"You have no idea about me." I roughly told her, still with this estranged river on my mind.

"You're new here, aren't you?" she chuckled.

"This is driving me nuts! I don't know flying over is safe or not."

"This just appeared here, over time…. There was a lot of chaos when it came. I wasn't hatched yet, but it is known around here that you shouldn't walk over it or fly too low."

"I knew there was a catch." I sighed, scratching the back of my neck with a claw.

"You've been through something." Katie suddenly intruded, by noticing my new scarred eye. "You can rest here if you want -"

"Lady, that is none of your business." I cut her off, not ever wanting to go into the details. This scar was haunting me already. "Just talk to me. Do you know what's over there?"

"Many colonies live out there, from ants to termites. Beware of the hornets and the gold birds."

"Hornets?" I looked at her, sharply. Dismayed, I looked back to the other side "Okay… then I was on the right track."

To my surprise and dismay, a great wind blew up from out of nowhere accompanied by this terrible rushing roar. There was a sudden shadow and the cactus we stood on slightly swayed.

"Guh!" I gasped as I ducked low to hold on.

Just down this river, there was this massive bright red thing soaring down this black path, which began to get smaller and smaller the farther it went. Then it was gone. Katie only ducked a little but she pat my claw.

"Don't fly too low." she whispered before she chuckled.

"… wow, thanks." I sarcastically replied with a glare as I rose up again.

"Good luck, Hopper." were her last words to me as I gathered the courage to fly again.