A Bug's Life: The Ant Queen

Chapter 1

The Truth Comes Out

As the blood-curdling screams of a grasshopper being torn apart and eaten came to an end, the huge red-headed yellow finch settled comfortably into its nest with its three fluffy babies, blanketing them from the rain with its massive wings.

Looking up in disbelief from the small boulder she was hiding behind was Atta, a slender purple ant with curled antennas and a leafy tiara. "Hopper... He's gone." Atta whispered to herself before quietly beginning to celebrate with joy and relief, "He's finally gone! The colony is free! Ant Island is safe! And it's all thanks to-" Atta turned to her side, expecting to see someone with her, but instead found nothing.

"Flik?" Atta looked around with worry, wondering where he had gone. Her smile then suddenly dropped when she saw a slim, light blue ant walking in the direction opposite of her. "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 long blades of 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, seeing how he stopped in his tracks. However, she received no response from him, but instead a look of sorrow and even a tiny hint of anger on his face before he turned back around and continued on with the direction he was going.

Atta soon caught up with him and said "Flik..." softly to him, but when she put her hand on his shoulder, Flik jerked it away from her and clutched his arms tightly. "Flik..?" said Atta, surprised by this sudden reaction. "Please... Don't, Princess," Flik reminded her in a rather callous tone.

Atta felt a lump rising in her throat and tears budding in the corners of her eyes. With his back still facing her, Flik went on, "It's probably best if I leave and never come back, because that's what you wanted. Isn't it?" "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 as he finally turned to face her with an eyebrow raised, puzzled by what he had heard.

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

"Look, Flik, you deserve to know the truth. I didn't send you on that quest because I thought you would've actually found warriors to help the colony fend off the grasshoppers." As soon as she told him that, Flik's eyes widened with bemusement. In spite of this, Atta continued, "I only did it because after the whole offering stone incident, I-" Flik had cut her off, finishing the sentence for her by saying, "-didn't want me around to screw anything up," earning himself a shameful nod from Atta, who was visibly 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 gave not much thought to those events at the times they each took place, but considering 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? 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!" Flik raised his voice at her, making Atta jump with fright. As she slowly backed away, Atta's eyes started to well up with tears, and her lips began to quiver. This wasn't the Flik as she knew him: angry, furious, and broken.

Although at the same time, she couldn't blame him, especially after everything he had been through to save the colony from that brutish grasshopper, Hopper, who had a scar down his right eye and a tyrannical attitude, and his gang of greedy grasshoppers. Flik even received the beating of his life from a scrawny feral locust named Thumper, Hopper's pet.

"It's all very clear to me now. You only sent me on that phoney quest just so you would all be rid of me. All I ever wanted was to help the colony and invent gadgets that everyone could use and benefit from! You made me believe that I could fix all the mistakes I've made, including the offering stone incident, by going on that search for help, so we 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.

"And what's worse is that when I lied, you banished me, when you're the one who lied to me first!" yelled Flik, causing Atta to take a few steps back, terrified. "I had my reasons for lying to you and the colony, 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 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 heartbreaking.

All he ever wanted was to help people by inventing gadgets that would have made everyday life easier. So, what was he going to do now that he'd left the colony? Were 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?" Flik quivered in fear as he received 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 whirled 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 said, softening 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 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 her head as a crown. Taking in the figure that he saw standing before him, Flik inquired warily, "Y-y-you're... A hornet queen?"

"Well, yes, I just said that," the stranger replied rather irritably, feeling Flik had stated the obvious. "And to get the introductions out of the way, my name is Thistle. But don't bother telling me who you are, because I already know everything I need to know about you. Flik." As soon as he picked up 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?" Flik began shaking, feeling a little creeped out.

Thistle started explaining herself even further as she started to slowly circle around him: "You see, Flik, my swarm has been trying to think of new ways of harvesting food at a quicker pace. So, I've sent out scouts in search of someone who can aid us in our efforts with inventions that can help speed things up for us. They had been searching for quite awhile until they found who they thought would be the perfect one, that being you." "Me? But, why me?" Flik's eyes were now full of curiosity, as his wariness of her was slowly starting to drain away.

Thistle continued, "Because of 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 wrongfully mistreated you were by your own colony; they saw how they were pushing you away whenever you had new ideas and 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 she stopped circling around Flik for a brief moment while 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, resuming her circling and continuing on, "Anyway, the way 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 faltered by a tiny bit, as if she were contemplating something. After a moment of thinking, a wide smirk soon appeared on her fallen face before she turned 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 with intrigue. This made Thistle gleam with pride, knowing that that particular question would've piqued his interest. "Just imagine it. You're helping us with your creativity, making gadgets that'll assist us greatly, and finally getting the appreciation you've been craving for," Thistle carried on, seeing as the more Flik listened, the more curious he got about what she was offering him.

"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?" Once Thistle finished, Flik looked down at the ground for a long moment, pondering what he had been offered.

The thoughts of finally getting the appreciation for his inventiveness and gadgetry that he had always wanted were flooding his mind. He then turned around to take a long look at Ant Island, wondering 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 and eagerly waiting 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, albeit hesitantly. Thistle smirked wider than ever before, delighted that he had accepted her offer. The two bugs stood there for a short moment before Thistle spoke: "I promise you, Flik, you will not regret this. You and I are going to achieve so much. Wouldn't you agree? Partner?" Thistle earned herself a nod of certainty from Flik. She stifled a small chuckle, to which Flik had not paid much attention, but gave him a reassuring smile regardless. This was the beginning of their partnership.

To be continued...