Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Don’t, don’t, don’t let's start
This is the worst part
Could believe for all the world
That you are my precious little girl

— They Might Be Giants

“And that is what we in study of anthropology refer to as the Neolithic Revolution. We’re out of time for today, so please read through Chapters 17 and 18 before our next class on Friday.”

Melissa furiously scribbled the notes that Professor Neumann had left on the chalkboard. Even when all of the other students began leaving their desks and walking out the door, she stayed behind just to make sure she had gotten them exactly right. A part of this was that she was a bit slower at note-taking than she liked, but the Professor always seemed to have a way of keeping her engaged.

When she finally finished, Melissa idly brushed a strand of blonde hair out of her eye. She liked having her hair long, but it did have an unfortunate tendency to get into distracting places. With all of her notes and study materials tucked safely into her backpack, she slung it around her shoulder and approached the Professor, who was busy putting away his own materials into his desk.

Professor Neumann himself was a very old-school academic, always seen dressed in a brown tweed blazer and a matching pair of khakis. His silver eyes complimented his short yet unkempt head of hair, light brown with just a hint of graying. Whenever he was seen on campus outside of class, he was usually carrying a perpetually dog-eared and weathered book of some sort. He was an excitable middle-aged man who always seemed eager to share what he knew, and was always overjoyed to see someone else show interest in learning his field.

Melissa approached the Professor. “Heya, Prof. I just wanted to let you know, I might have to turn in that essay a day or two late. That’s not going to be a problem, is it?”

The professor smiled at her softly. “Oh no, not at all. You’re one of my best students, you know. As long as you get it in, I’m sure I’ll be able to grade it in time.”

“Geez, again with the flattery, huh? You really know how to make this embarrassing.”

“Well, it’s the truth, isn’t it?” said the Professor. “You’ve always been exceptional at learning, even if you have some difficulty getting assignments done on time. I know you’ve already said you intend to major in biology, but have you ever considered getting a degree in anthropology? You seem to take to it quite naturally.”

“That’s alright, Professor. I think I’ve already gotten my life figured out,” said Melissa. “I’m gonna get my degree in biology, and then go to graduate school. I’m hoping to eventually get a Ph.D. in entomology and start doing field research.”

“Hm. Bugs, you say?” said Professor Neumann. “Can’t say I see the appeal, but it’s wonderful that you’ve already found a field you’re passionate in. Why, I’m sure you’ll excel in any pursuit that you set your mind to!”

“Hey, I thought I told you to tone down the flattery!” Melissa chided. She could feel herself flush as her body heat rushed to her cheeks. “And you really should give bugs more credit, you know. Insects form the foundation of pretty much the entire global ecosystem. We wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for them.”

“True enough, I suppose,” said the Professor. “And I will admit, I have always found certain moth species rather endearing… not the ones that eat my jackets, of course.”

“It’s only the larvae that do that, actually.”

“Indeed,” the Professor said with a chuckle. “And it’s quite funny that you would take such an interest in insects, with a name like Melissa. You do know what that word means in Greek, right?”

Melissa rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I know. Har har, funny coincidence. Anyway, I’ve gotta head to my next class. I’m probably gonna be late at this rate anyway.”

“Well don’t let me keep you. I’ll see you around.”

Melissa waved goodbye to the Professor, and headed out the classroom. She made her way through the social sciences building, and out onto the campus. Beyond it was a simple courtyard with well-trimmed grass and a few hedges, with paved sidewalks connecting to the other buildings.

She always felt just a bit unnerved at how sterile the courtyard seemed, with so much careful effort by the groundskeepers to exterminate any other plants that might disturb the pristine appearance of the grass turf.

They really should ditch the lawn look and plant some native wildflowers.

She tried not to think too hard about such things. The ecological consequences of snuffing out the wild plant life were very depressing to consider.

And so Melissa began traversing the sidewalk, passing by several other students and campus faculty as she made her way to her next class.

But something went wrong.

The sky… changed color. It was not the gradual change of the setting sun. It suddenly and instantly changed, from the normal idyllic blue, to a bright, crimson red. Melissa’s heart raced as she looked upward, staring at the bloodied skies, and she could hear all around her the panicked voices of all the others, who were equally perplexed and disturbed.

What… what is this!? What’s going on!?

She didn’t have time to ponder that question any further, when fire began to rain down from above.

It was all so sudden, a burst of noise and heat and screaming. She barely had time to jump out of the way as a massive ball of flame fell right beneath her. Her skin and hair were singed, and her nose was filled with the nauseating stench of sulfur.

As she collapsed to the ground, Melissa could only stare upwards as doom rained down. Before she could even speak her last words, her entire body was consumed in a burst of fire and pain.

----

…

……

………

…………

Dark. Everything was dark.

No, that wasn’t right. This wasn’t darkness. Darkness was what you saw when there wasn’t any light. But Melissa couldn’t see anything.

She couldn’t see anything, she couldn’t hear anything, she couldn’t smell or taste or touch anything. She couldn’t feel anything.

It was difficult to even describe what this was like to herself. Wherever she was now — if she was even anywhere at all — the only thing that could remind herself that she existed were her own thoughts. And those thoughts brought her to a very distressing realization.

Am I… dead?

She couldn’t think of any other explanation. This was… this was nothing. What she was experiencing was something that could only be described as nothing.

Is this… is this what being dead is like?

Am I going to be like this forever? All alone, trapped in nothingness?

Please, someone help me…

She wanted to cry, but she couldn’t. Not just because she couldn’t feel her body, but because she probably wouldn’t have the mental energy to do so in the first place. What she felt was a quiet despair, one that could only be born from an absolute sense of helplessness.

With no sense of time, Melissa didn’t know how long she remained there, in the nothingness. But eventually… something broke the silence.

A voice, kind and gentle, yet filled with a deep worry. A voice that soothed her loneliness, healed the ache within her soul just by speaking.

“Oh! Oh no! How did I ever miss you? I am so sorry, my child! I was so preoccupied during the cataclysm, I didn’t mean to leave you behind!”

That voice. That voice sounded… familiar, somehow. It somehow reminded her of home.

…Mom?

“I am so, so sorry. You’ve withered so much from being left in this place. I can’t reincarnate you in this state. But… I can still grant you a second chance at life. Please, forgive me for my error. You didn’t deserve to be left here.”

Melissa’s mind spun. This voice… what was she saying? Reincarnation? So she was dead? And why… why did the voice sound so familiar? It felt familiar, yet at the same time like no one she’d ever heard before.

You… you’re not my mom.

Who are you?

“I am not the one who birthed you. But you may consider me your mother, in a greater sense. Please, don’t despair. I am here for you now.”

Melissa felt… a warmth, forming deep inside of her. It wasn’t a physical warmth, but something greater, something deeper. A deep and profound feeling of someone else’s love, permeating her entire being. She’d felt it before, when she was…

…when…

…when had she felt it? This wasn’t a sensation like anything she had experienced in life. Not since she was born.

I don’t…

…I don’t understand.

“You don’t have to understand. You only need live. Live, now. That is all I ask.”

Then, for the first time in who knows how long, Melissa saw something. A bright light, in the distance, piercing the nothingness. It grew closer and closer, and brighter and brighter, until it consumed her field of vision entirely. Yet despite its intensity, the light did not blind her. On the contrary, it felt… inviting, somehow.

Melissa felt herself suddenly falling. The feeling of vertigo enveloped her mind, just before she lost consciousness.

----

Melissa’s eyes slowly opened. She was staring upwards, at a bright blue sky, lying on a bed of… grass? It felt like grass, but something about it was weirdly off.

She slowly stood up, holding her throbbing forehead. Her entire body ached. She stretched her arms out, trying to relax her tense muscles, and...

…And suddenly remembered what had happened to her. She remembered seeing the sky turn blood red, and then fire raining down, and then… nothing. That was the last thing she could recall.

Her breathing quickened. Did the world end? Was it a nightmare? And how did she end up here?

No, panicking wasn’t going to do her any good. Melissa took a series of deep breaths, and let her body relax. “Okay,” she to herself. “Okay, calm… calm down. Let’s try to make sense of… of this.”

She looked down, at her body. Yellow T-shirt, black jeans and black sneakers. Her clothes were the same as the day she… died? Did she die? At least they weren’t damaged by the fire and brimstone.

Melissa followed up by tentatively stretching out all of her limbs. No sign of injury on any of them. She felt fine. A little woozy, but fine. She’d live.

But the next order of business would be finding out just where the hell she was. She certainly wasn’t at university any more.

She was standing in the midst of what looked to be some kind of grasslands, with a small river just to the side of… but right away, she could tell that something was off. The normal-sized grass at her feet, she realized, was not grass. It was moss.

And the actual grass that was all around her was huge. In sporadic patches around her, giant blades of grass sprung up from the earth, easily several times her height. In the distance, she could see even larger grass blades that were many times larger than even that.

Melissa approached one of the grass blades, and placed her hand on it. It felt cool, slightly damp.

“Jesus Christ, it’s enormous. It’s the size of a goddamned tree! What the hell.”

Still bewildered, Melissa looked around her and saw something else much larger than it should be. At first glance, it looked like a log, or a fallen branch. But its proportions were off. It was far too thin and spindly to be an ordinary tree stump, or an ordinary-sized branch. Yet it was still several times longer than her body was tall.

“That’s… that’s a twig. What? What? Just what is going on here?”

Melissa took another series of deep breaths. Nothing about this made sense, but getting worked up wasn’t going to help.

“Okay. Okay, enough freaking out. I… survived. That means other people could have survived too. I should start looking.”

As she began wandering the immediate area, Melissa was instantly caught by the protests of her body. Hunger pangs ate away at her stomach, and there was a dryness to her throat. If she was maybe just a bit more desperate, she might consider drinking from the river, but as of now she wasn’t going to risk getting herself sick from that.

Thankfully, dirt path through the grassy wilderness seemed to suggest that there were other people here. All she had to do was follow it, and she would probably find someone. Hopefully she would also find a town or village of some sort, and hopefully they would offer some kind of hospitality.

Melissa didn’t get very far before encountering something unlike anything she’d seen before. ‘Creature’ was the only word she could really think to describe it. It was a little round thing that waddled on two stubby legs, just about tall enough to reach her mid-thigh. And the way that it had ‘hair’ made of leaves made it look more like a plant than an animal.

...It’s like a real-life goomba. Kinda cute, actually.

Melissa quickly changed her mind when the little seed thing tucked in its legs and rolled, quickly smacking her in the left leg.

“Why you–!”

Her retribution was swift, and she delivered a powerful front kick. The little seed thing, surprisingly light for its size, was instantly launched forward, eventually landing into the river with a splash.

Thankfully, the seed creature’s attack had not hurt as much as she would have expected — its body seemed to be mostly hollow. But it still hurt, and Melissa sat down, clutching her left leg in pain.

“Ow. Owowow, fuck.” she complained. “That’s gonna leave a bruise. What the hell even is this place? First absolutely giant grass blades, then territorial seed things. Shit. Fuck. I’m gonna need an ice pack. Ow. God, what next?”

As Melissa sat and grasped her aching leg, she began to hear voices, coming patch of tall grass in the distance. Three voices, to be precise. One of them sounded like teenage girl, one was deep and masculine, and the third was monotone.

But what was truly strange was that she couldn’t identify the language they were speaking in. It sounded… weird. Consonant-heavy, and full of strange clicking noises. Some of the syllables didn’t even sound like noises that humans could make.

That didn’t matter much to her, though, as it was still clearly language. Language meant people, and language barrier be damned, she was glad to find someone.

“Hey!” said Melissa, waving her arm in the direction of the grass patch. “Hey, over here!”

The grass rustled, and the source of the three voices pushed through…

…and Melissa’s jaw immediately dropped.

They were… insects. Not like any insects she’d ever seen, though. They stood on two legs, and had two arms, for one thing. And more importantly, they were also nearly as big as her, with the tallest being just half a head shorter than her.

She recognized them as a honeybee, some kind of green scarab beetle, and some weirdly blue-colored geometer moth. But they lacked compound eyes, instead having two large opaque eyes each. They all had roughly human-shaped heads, and the bee and moth had apparently human-like mouths. The beetle seemed to have more conventional mandibles, though the way they were arranged made them look more like the mouthguard of an armored helmet. The moth wrapped its wings around itself in a strange manner, making it look like it was wearing some kind of robe.

Melissa could only stare at the three bugs. And they were clearly equally shocked, as they stared back equally dumbstruck.

She turned her eyes to the ground and sighed. “Of course. Giant, people-shaped bugs. Why didn't I see that coming?”

Chapter Text

Glass of milk
Standing in between extinction in the cold and explosive radiating growth
So the warm blood flows through the large four-chambered heart
Maintaining the very high metabolism rate they have

Mammal, mammal
Their names are called, they raise a paw
The bat, the cat
Dolphin and dog, koala bear and hog

— They Might Be Giants

Kabbu had absolutely no idea what he was looking at.

His team — Team Snakemouth, consisting of himself, Vi, and Leif — had been called to investigate a strange yellow light that had appeared in the sky over the Bugarian outskirts. Based on what he had heard from the reports, it should have appeared in the sky right around here. He didn’t really know what he was expecting to see when he got here, but he certainly wasn’t expecting this.

The creature they saw before them was… they looked like a bug, vaguely. They had two arms, and two legs. They also wore clothes of some kind, a yellow shirt and black pants and shoes, indicating that they were intelligent. But that was where the similarities ended. Most strikingly of all was that they appeared to lack any sort of exoskeleton. Only worms and mollusks were known to lack those, and even then many mollusks did possess some kind of shell. Their… skin was soft, and pale, and looked shockingly fragile. It wasn’t clear how they managed to maintain such a complex body shape without a chitinous carapace.

The creature had… hair, like some species of bugs did. A bright yellow-gold color, coming very close the bright yellow of their shirt. But the hair appeared to be mostly confined to the top of their head, and was long, flowing down their back down to where a bug’s wings might be. In the front it was shorter, with the strands shaped into a rounded arc that bulged slightly outward, before covering the forehead.

And their eyes. Their eyes were also so strange, too. Not uniform in color or texture, like a bug’s, but white on the outside, each with a deep green circle surrounding a smaller black dot. And they had a strange lump, right in the center of their face, with a pair of holes on its underside. And big fleshy flaps of unknown function, sticking right out of the sides of their head.

For a moment, Kabbu simply stared at the creature. And they were clearly just as shocked, as they simply stared back at Team Snakemouth, with their mouth hung agape.

The creature sighed, and turned their head towards the ground. “Bs pbhefr. Tvnag, crbcyr-funcrq ohtf. Jul qvqa'g V frr gung pbzvat?”

Kabbu shared a look with his teammates. He then turned Leif. “Erm… Leif, did you understand that, by any chance?”

“Nope,” said Leif. “We’re not sure what language that was, but it certainly wasn’t Bugnish.”

“Well duh!” said Vi. “He’s asking you if it’s the roach language, dummy!”

“Well if it was, we wouldn’t be saying we don’t know the language, would we?”

“Hm,” said Kabbu. “This is quite the predicament, then, is it not? We came here to investigate that the source of that light, but all we found is this… creature. Do you suppose they are connected?”

“Who knows,” said Leif. “What sort of creature do you suppose it is? We thought they might be a larva, but it can clearly speak, so perhaps not…”

“I think they look kinda like a bee,” said Vi. “Not just because they’re wearing yellow and black, I mean. They just… have that kinda vibe about them, I guess? It’s weird.”

The strange creature was trembling now, as its eyes continued to be fixed on Team Snakemouth. “Jung… jung ner lbh thlf gnyxvat nobhg? L-lbh’er abg tbvat gb uheg zr, ner lbh?”

“Goodness!” said Kabbu. “This poor thing looks absolutely terrified! We should let them know we won’t harm them.”

“Allow us,” said Leif. “We are good with animals.”

“But Leif, they’re quite clearly a person,” said Kabbu.

“People are animals,” Leif retorted.

Leif very slowly approached the creature and knelt down, meeting its eyes. He reached out, and gently outstretched his own hand. Very slowly, the creature reach out and grabbed Leif by the hand.

The creature hesitantly stood up, letting themselves be pulled upward by Leif’s hand. As soon as they were on two feet, they immediately fell backwards onto their rear, and clutched their left leg.

“Bj. Shpx. Fuvg, gung fgvyy uhegf.”

“Your leg,” said Leif. “It’s injured?”

The creature said nothing, simply sitting on the ground and nursing its apparent wound.

“Here, let us help.” Leif held out their left hand, and begun to channel magic into it. Within moments, a thick block of ice formed in their palm.

The creature let out a yelp. They fell over from their sitting position, with their back falling against the ground with a whump. The creature stared up at Leif, practically shivering before the ice even touched them.

“Jung gur shpx!? Jung gur shpx vf gung!? V-vf gung zntvp!? Npghny zntvp!?”

“Relax. We’re just going to put this ice against your injury. Can you hold still for us?”

The creature did not move, apart from the occasional twitch of her arms. Her eyes were wide and fearful. Leif moved slowly, and bent over the creature’s legs. He set down the ice block on the ground, and very carefully grabbed the creature’s pants by the ankle, beginning to roll it upwards. The creature shifted uncomfortably, but did not resist.

Sure enough, on their upper thigh was a very gross-looking patch of blackish-blue discolored skin. Though it had a different hue, it very closely resembled the same sort of splotchy, discolored patch that would be seen on an exoskeleton hit with a blunt injury.

“Venus’s breath,” said Kabbu, “that is a rather nasty bruise.”

Channeling magic into his left hand again, Leif conjured another ice cube, and held it closely against the bruise. The creature winced, but once again showed no signs of resistance. For several seconds, he simply knelt there, pressing the ice block against the wound.

Eventually, the block of ice dissipated back into the aether, and the bruise had become less visible than before.

“Does that feel better?” said Leif.

“Hz. V qba’g xabj jung lbh’er fnlvat, ohg gunaxf? V qvq fnl rneyvre gung V’q arrq na vpr cnpx…”

“Jeez, this things’s lucky they weren’t hurt more, huh?” said Vi. “I don’t think there’s a doctor in all of Bugaria who could treat whatever the heck they are.”

“We’ll say,” said Leif. He turned to face the creature again and offered a hand. “Can you walk?”

“Lbh jnag zr gb fgnaq hc, evtug? Zl yrt’f srryvat n ovg orggre abj, fb yrg’f frr…”

Still moving slowly, the creature grabbed Leif’s hand, and allowed themselves to be pulled upwards. They winced as they stood up, but otherwise seemed to have no trouble staying on two feed.

“So, uh. What exactly do with them?” said Vi.

Kabbu stopped for a moment, letting his thoughts move ahead. “Well, maybe we should take them to the Explorer’s Association. Discovering a new intelligent species isn’t something that happens every day, much less a new species that’s… this. What do you two think?”

“Sounds like a plan to us.”

“Fine with me,” said Vi. “I just hope they still pay us.”

Kabbu couldn’t help but be amused at Vi’s one-track mind. A tad selfish on the surface, maybe, but in the end she’d never truly turned down an opportunity to help someone else. He beckoned the creature forward with a gesture.

“Come with us,” said Kabbu, “We’ll being you somewhere safe.”

The creature seemed to understand the gesture, at the least. They took a moment to pull down their pants leg, and began following after the team. Vi trailed behind the rest of the group, and seemed to take a particular interest in the creature’s… rear part.

“Hey, where’s their abdomen? All I see is a front butt.”

Vi’s stare did not go unnoticed to the creature, who swiveled their head around to shoot Vi an aggravated glare. “Url! Dhvg fgnevat ng zl nff!”

“Vi!” Kabbu chided. “You know it’s very rude to stare at someone’s posterior! You should apologize.”

“What? Don’t tell me you weren’t at least a little curious!” said Vi. After a moment’s pause, she relented. She looked up at the creature and gave them a regretful stare. “…Yeah, alright. Sorry.”

The creature didn’t respond. She just kept her eyes forward, their lips pursed tightly, as the group continued walking.

“…I guess they don’t forgive me,” Vi lamented.

“I wouldn’t worry about it,” said Kabbu. “I think they just didn’t understand your apology. I am sure that it’s nothing personal.”

“Yeah, maybe,” said Vi. As they continued across the dirt path leading through the Bugarian Outskirts, Vi walked right by the creature’s side. Her eyes were eventually drawn to the creature’s chest, which she stared at with an inquisitive gleam in her eye.

“Huh, what do you suppose those two lumps on her thorax are? They’re really weird.”

“Hm,” said Kabbu. His eyes turned to the creature’s chest. Sure enough, there were two strange bulges there. “Why, you’re right, that is quite unlike any creature’s anatomy I’ve ever seen. Perhaps once we’ve established some form of communication, we could ask—”

The creature’s face turned bright red, and they crossed their arms across their chest, covering the aforementioned body parts.

“F-fgbc gung! Dhvg fgnevat ng zl obbof, lbh jrveqbf!”

Chapter Text

I’ve been seeing things, I’ve been seeing things
Don’t have answers but I’ve got lots of questions

— They Might Be Giants

Melissa followed the three strange… anthropomorphic bugs, as they led her across the dirt path. She grumbled to herself internally as she did so. A part of her wanted to ditch them after they displayed such an apparent lack of respect for privacy. That honeybee was staring at her ass not to long ago, and just moments after the bee and the beetle staring at her boobs as though they’d never seen boobs before.

She was considerably less offended once she realized they probably hadn’t seen boobs before. They had all looked just as shocked to see her as she was to see them.

I’m dressed in yellow and black, too. Does… does that bee think I’m also a bee? Were they wondering where my abdomen is?

She ruminated on that thought for a moment. The implications took their sweet time to settle in, and when they did she did not like where they went.

Melissa stopped dead in her tracks when the realization finally hit, forcing the three bugs to stop as well. “Oh. Oh geez, you’ve all never seen a human before, have you?”

The three bugs exchanged a glance. The beetle looked at her, pointed to himself, and then pointed down the road. “Sbyybj zr. Sbyybj. Lbh haqrefgnaq?”

“No, no! I get it. You want me to follow, just…” Melissa took in a breath. She was pretty certain she’d seen the world end. And she was here, now, in an unfamiliar place, with strange and unfamiliar beings who were apparently just as unfamiliar with her . Panic began to swell up inside of her. “…Oh. Oh my god, I’ve been isekai’d, haven’t I? God, what do I even say to that? It’s so cliché.”

Melissa’s breathing quickened. A dull ache began to throb in her forehead, and she clutched her head in pain, covering her eyes with her palm. “Oh. Oh god, I’m making dumb ‘self-aware’ jokes. What is wrong with me? This is a serious situation! Am I just that unable to deal with this right now? What is happening? Where the hell am I? What the hell are you? Where are all my friends? Are they dead? Am I dead? Am I dreaming? What is going on? Oh. Oh jeez, oh God, what is happening?”

The beetle approached, their mouthparts curled into something that resembled a frown. There was a gleam of worry in their eye. “Url, rnfl! Vg'f bxnl. Lbh'er tbvat gb or bxnl.” They held their hand to her shoulder. Despite the hardened exoskeleton, their touch was surprisingly gentle.

Melissa’s breathing slowed, and a fog cleared from her mind, that she hadn’t even noticed was there. She quickly realized that she had been close to hyperventilating, without even knowing it.

“Ner lbh srryvat orggre?” said the beetle. “Urer, jul qba'g jr vagebqhpr rnpu bgure?”

“Hz, Kabbu,” said the bee, “lbh xabj fur pna’g haqrefgnaq hf, evtug?”

“Um. Thanks?” said Melissa.

The beetle pointed to themselves, and said something very slowly. “Kabbu. Ka-bbu. Pna lbh fnl gung? Kabbu.”

Melissa wondered for a second what the beetle was doing. It didn’t take her long to figure it “Oh, um. That’s your name, you mean? Kabbu?” She paused. Something weird occurred to her. “Wait, is that short for kabutomushi? That’s, um. A bit on the nose, isn’t it? And I’m like ninety-nine percent sure you’re not speaking Japanese.”

The beetle stared at her strangely for a moment. They pointed to themselves again. “Kabbu. Kabbu.”

“Ugh, fine,” Melissa said with a sigh. She pointed at… Kabbu, apparently, and repeated their name.

Kabbu gave a big grin. Melissa wasn’t sure that was possible, since they didn’t seem to have a humanlike mouth the way the other two bugs did. Maybe it’s something in the eyes, she surmised.

The other two bugs caught on quickly, and soon enough they were teaching her their names as well. The bee was named Vi — which, appropriately enough, rhymed with ‘bee’ — and the moth’s name was Leif. They all seemed very excited at how quickly she managed to learn their names.

“Okay, so I guess you want to know my name too, huh?” Melissa pointed to herself, and slowly repeated her own name. It took a few tries, but eventually the bugs seemed to catch on as well.

“Melissa?” said Vi. “Uhu. Gung fbhaqf xvaqn yvxr n orr anzr.”

“Lbh frrz cerggl pbaivaprq gung gurl'er yvxr n orr,” said Leif. “Jul vf gung?”

“V qba’g xabj, bxnl?” Vi shot back. “V whfg nz! Vg'f jrveq, V pna'g rkcynva vg!”

Melissa breathed a sigh of relief. At least they were getting somewhere.

Of course, knowing their names still left a few other questions on her mind, like their species.

Okay, so Vi’s pretty obviously an Apis melifera, or western honeybee. Kabbu is… with that horn and body shape, I want to say something from the genus Phaneus? No idea what species though. Leif… almost definitely something from the family Geometridae, with such a slender body and broad flexible wings, but that’s like THOUSANDS of species.

…Or I could be totally wrong, because no moth species I know has fucking ice magic.

And then there was the question of gender. And Melissa didn’t even know where to start with that.

Oh geez… If these were ordinary bugs I’d at least ASSUME Vi’s a girl, since they have a stinger. But I’ve no reason to think sapient bees would even have a gender binary. What if they consider ‘worker’ to be a seperate gender? Would that make it a gender trinary? Am I overthinking that?

Kabbu has a horn, so PROBABLY male — but again, I don’t know if bugs would have anything close to the same concept of gender as humans.

And Leif… God, I don’t even know.

Melissa didn’t have any more chance to try to puzzle that out, however, as her thoughts were drowned out by the sound of her own growling stomach. She realized she hadn’t eaten since… since I died? Maybe?

“Vi,” said Kabbu, “qb lbh unir nalguvat lbh pbhyq funer sebz lbhe fgnfu?”

“Lrnu, fher, ubyq ba,” said Vi. They ran their hands through their neck fluff, as though they were combing through it for something. Their face slowly darkened after several seconds of rummaging. “Hu bu. Thlf, V guvax V ena bhg.”

“Ena bhg!?” Kabbu exclaimed.

“Vf gung rira cbffvoyr?” said Leif.

Vi was clearly panicking now, but they seemed to be trying to reassure the others of something. “Ab, ab, vg'f svar. V, hz. Unir n onpxhc cyna, sbe va pnfr guvf rire unccraf. Ubyq ba n frp.”

The little bee’s face contorted, and their eyes closed in concentration. Melissa briefly wondered what Vi was up to.

She was answered by Vi cupping their hands below their mouth, and loudly regurgitating a thick blob of honey into their palms.

“Htu,” said the bee, “V'yy arire trg hfrq gb ubj tebff gung srryf.”

“Holy shit! Did you just…?”

“Vi!” Kabbu exclaimed. “Qvq lbh whfg…?”

“Jung?” Vi said, an air of defensiveness readily apparent in their voice. “Lbh ernyyl guvax V jbhyqa'g xrrc na rkgen engvba va zl ubarl fgbznpu, whfg va pnfr?”

Vi approached Melissa, and stretched their arms out, holding the honey drop out in front of her.

“Urer. V xabj vg’f xvaqn tebff gb guvax nobhg jurer vg pnzr sebz, ohg V cebzvfr vg’f ernyyl tbbq!”

“Oh, um. Thanks?” said Melissa. She hesitated for a moment. Her stomach clenched at the thought of eating this… big blob of bee vomit.

Then again, I do like honey. And I guess all the other honey I’ve eaten isn’t really different…

Reluctantly, Melissa reached out and grabbed the honey drop from the little bee’s hands. It was thick and viscous enough that the blob managed to maintain its shape even as she held it in her palms. Still trying not to think about where it had been, Melissa slowly lifted the honey to her mouth, and bit into it...

...and any reservations she had immediately vanished. This was the most delicious honey she’d ever tasted. It was just the right combination of sweet and savory to send her entire body into a blissful trance. Before she even knew it, she had greedily slurped the entire thing up. Her stomach was pleasantly full, and Melissa felt like she had enough energy to last her for the entire week.

Vi turned towards their two companions and grinned. “Frr? Jung'q V gryy lbh? Rirelbar ybirf ubarl!”

God, this one’s adorable, Melissa thought, as she wiped the residual honey off of her lips with her shirt sleeve. It took all of her willpower to stop herself from sucking on the shirt sleeve to extract the delicious honey residue.

No longer feeling the clutches of hunger, Melissa felt satisfied enough to continue. Kabbu could clearly see this, as he motioned for Melissa to follow the group.

He was stopped however, when Leif held up a hand. “Ubyq ba,” they said. “Jr unir na vqrn.”

Melissa wondered what was going on, and what the strange moth could be up to.

Her question was answered when Leif approached her, cleared his throat, and spoke.

“¿Hablas el idioma de las cucarachas?”

Chapter Text

That’s not the insane part
The insane part is
First of all it can speak
Second of all the thing it said
It’s like it read my mind

— They Might Be Giants

The strange creature — Melissa, they’d learned their name was — stared slack-jawed at Leif, like they had seen a ghost. Kabbu, likewise, was nearly as perplexed by what Leif had just attempted.

“Hold on,” said Kabbu. “Leif, didn’t you say their language isn’t the roach language?”

“It isn’t,” said Leif. “But some of the words they’ve spoken sound similar. If their language is related, they might have an easier time understanding us.” He turned towards Melissa again, and spoke once again in the roach dialect. “¿Bien? ¿Nos entiendes?”

For a moment, Melissa simply stared back at Leif. When she finally found the words to speak, she sounded utterly dumbstruck. “Bxnl, jung gur rire-ybivat shpx vf guvf? Jul gur shpx qb lbh fcrnx Fcnavfu? Jul ner lbh pnyyvat vg gur pbpxebnpu ynathntr? Jung gur uryy vf tbvat ba urer?”

Kabbu could only feel sorry for the poor thing as they rambled in their strange language. Whatever they were, it had been clear from the moment they met that Melissa was scared out of her mind.

“Ugh, Leif, you’re wasting your time! They clearly don’t understand us!” Vi huffed. “Can’t we just bring them back to the Association already? I bet this new kind of creature is like some kind of big scientific discovery or something!”

“...And you think a scientific discovery is worth money,” Kabbu deadpanned. He cared a great deal for Vi, but he too often found himself exasperated by her particular obsession.

“Well, maybe, but what does that matter?” Vi replied. “We’re not gonna get anywhere if we just keep talking past each other like this!”

“Will you two quiet down for a moment?” said Leif. “She won’t answer if you won’t let her get a word in edgewise.” Leif looked towards the strange creature, and spoke again. “¿Melissa? ¿Nos entiendes?”

“N… no,” Melissa said back. “No habla… no hablo Español.”

Kabbu’s eyebrows shot upwards. “Wait, so they do speak the roach language!”

“Oh, thank the swarm,” Vi exhaled. “I was getting tired of just guessing what they’re saying. Hey Leif, do you think you can ask them if they’re a guy or a girl? It’s getting a bit weird trying to dance around that.”

“Hm,” said Leif. He scratched his chin, looking deep in thought. “Well, we can certainly try.”

“What do you mean try? That’s like one of the simplest questions there is!”

“We don’t even know if they have the same concept of gender as us, Vi,” Kabbu pointed out. “From the looks of it, they’re not even a bug at all. Their understanding of things might be completely alien to us.”

“H-huh?” said Vi. “H-hold on, did you say alien? As in, from outer space!?”

“No, I meant that they might not see things the way we do,” said Kabbu. He couldn’t help but be amused by Vi’s misunderstanding.

Although… now that he thought about it, it was certainly a possibility that Melissa was not of this world. They looked like literally nothing else ever seen by bugkind, and appeared in the Bugarian Outskirts shortly after a strange light had appeared in the sky.

If this were a science fiction story and not real life, this might just be a first contact incident…

“You two are overthinking things,” Leif chimed in. “We meant that they only recognize the roach language. They do not appear to be fluent. They also seem to call it ‘es-pan-yol’ for some reason.”

“Oh,” said Vi, sounding slightly disappointed. “But are they a guy or a girl though?”

“That’s what you’re fixated on?” said Kabbu. “The fact that they even know the roach language raises so many more questions!”

“It does,” said Leif. “But perhaps we should start small, for now.”

----

Melissa could hardly believe it.

She could hardly believe that there were talking bugs in the first place, but the utter weirdness of the situation, the way it was so distant from anything she would expect from the real world, had almost convinced her that everything she’d seen so far was just a dream.

That all changed when Leif had suddenly spoke fucking Spanish at her. Spanish, an Earth language, spoken by humans. Only here, it was apparently a language related to cockroaches somehow. There were so many questions that raised that she didn’t even have a clue where to start.

Thank fuck I know what ‘cucaracha’ means from that dumb song they play in old cartoons.

Melissa could only curse internally as she told Leif, as best as she could, that she didn’t speak Spanish. Argh, why didn’t I pay more attention in high school? I only took Spanish for the elective credit!

The three bugs continued chattering among themselves, though about what, Melissa could only guess. Eventually, Leif approached her, and asked another question.

“¿Es usted masculino o femenino?”

Melissa breathed a sigh of relief. That one was easy enough to understand, at least. “Erm… femenino. ¿Y… vosotros?” Melissa paused briefly, recalling something particular she had once learned about the Spanish language. “Wait, shit. Is this European or Latin American?”

Thankfully, none of the bugs seemed to care about any particular flubs Melissa made with the language. “Vi es femenino. Kabbu es masculino. Soy…” Leif paused for a moment. His eyes seemed to grow distant, briefly, as though lost in thought. “…masculino.”

Melissa let out a breath. Her initial impressions of Kabbu and Vi had turned out to be correct. Okay, so their concept of gender isn’t really different from humans. That’s oddly relieving.

Although, now that she thought about it further… Leif sounded oddly unsure that he was a guy. Her heart sank as she thought about what that might mean.

Oh… oh geez. I hope I didn’t trigger some kind of identity crisis. Can insects get gender dysphoria? How does that even work?

In her thoughts, Melissa didn’t notice that Leif had started speaking to the other two bugs. Once he finished speaking, he turned back toward Melissa, and motioned for her to follow. “Vamos.”

And so Melissa went with the groups, as they made their way further down the dirt road.

What she would see next would change her understanding of things forever.

Chapter Text

She’s actual size, but she seems much bigger to me

— They Might Be Giants

The dirt path continued for some distance, until it passed by what appeared to be some kind of gate, fashioned out of wood. Melissa’s three bug companions eventually led her past a bridge, grown entirely out of leaves and vines, and towards what looked to be their destination.

It was a small building, apparently constructed out of giant leaves and wood, elevated just over twelve feet off the ground. The… “stairs” leading up to the building were made out of a series of giant flowers, which grew out of the ground just before it, eventually terminating in a large rock that could be used to scale the first flower.

Huh… how do they climb up that in winter when the flowers die off? I don’t recognize the species… maybe they’ve got some kind of super-fertilizer to keep them alive?

As they approached the flower stairs, Kabbu quickly hopped up each step, leaping from flower to flower until he eventually reached the doorway. His two companions followed closely behind.

Melissa, meanwhile, only stood atop the first rock and stared. The gap between each step was far too large for her to be able to scale with just her legs; she would have to jump between each step, over a height that just barely reached her waistline. The bugs had scaled the steps easily, but Melissa wasn’t sure if she could make such a jump. She looked up, and saw the three bugs looking down at her from the doorway expectantly.

“Um… I don’t think I can jump as well as you guys. Hold on.”

With some effort, Melissa managed to grab on the petals of the first flower, and slowly heft herself up. She then repeated the process for the next flower, then the rest. By she managed to fully climb up the stairs, she felt decently winded.

Must be a good workout, at least.

“Jung? Lbh’er frevbhfyl gryyvat zr lbh pna’g whzc?” Vi said. She looked, and sounded, utterly exasperated.

“Vi, or avpr,” said Kabbu.

By the sides of the door to the building were two banners, each adorned with a symbol resembling the head of an ant. As she followed her escorts through the door, Melissa found herself gazing upon what looked to be an administrative building. There was a bulletin board at the far end, made out of a leaf and plastered with several dry leaves with indecipherable writing scrawled on them. More leaves grew out of a large vine that formed a central column of the building, creating a natural staircase that led to an elevated platform. Atop this rudimentary second floor she could see a desk, attended to by a large insect with a flowery, pink and white appearance.

...an orchid mantis? That’s something you don’t see every day.

By the side of the door, there was a single table, also grown from a leaf, with a pair of leafy chairs right beside it. Standing at the desk were a pair of ants, dressed in… steel armor? So they have advanced metalworking, too? One of them was wearing a blue scarf, and the other was wearing a green one. Were it not for their differently-colored accessories, they would have looked virtually identical.

When the ants’ eyes met Melissa, they both nearly jumped in shock.

“J-jubn! Jung vf gung guvat?” said the ant in the blue scarf.

Melissa couldn’t help but wince at the stares the two ants were giving her.

…Do I really look THAT freakish to you?

“Jr qba'g xabj,” said Kabbu. “Ure anzr vf Melissa, naq jr sbhaq ure jurer gung yvtug va gur fxl jnf. Jr qba’g xabj jung fur vf, be ubj fur tbg urer.”

“Naq fur qbrfa’g fcrnx Ohtavfu,” Leif added. “Fur xabjf n srj jbeqf bs gur ebnpu ynathntr, ohg bayl oneryl rabhtu gb trg nal vasbezngvba bhg bs ure.”

“Jubn!” said the ant in the green scarf, “Fb lbh whfg qvfpbirerq fbzr ragveryl arj oht fcrpvrf!?”

“N-ner lbh fher fur'r rira n oht, Gen?” said the ant in the green scarf. “Fur qbrfa'g rira unir na rkbfxryrgba! Be na noqbzra! Tbbqarff, ubj qbrf fur rira oerngur?”

Whatever else the ants were saying to her, Melissa had already tuned out, and she didn’t want to be a part of their conversation besides. It felt almost voyeuristic, the way that they were eyeing her. She couldn’t tell what they were saying, but it felt like they were talking about her like one would talk about a zoo exhibit.

Eventually, Leif approached her, and tried to get her attention.

“Espera aquí,” said Leif.

“Um… okay?” Aquí means ‘here,’ but I don’t remember what ‘espera’ means… I guess he’s probably telling me to wait here?

As she pondered the meaning of the sentence, Melissa came to a realization. She hadn’t been paying much attention to it, given the sheer weirdness of her new circumstances. But now that she’d gotten used to it, she noticed something fascinating.

Whenever Leif spoke Spanish — or the ‘cockroach language,’ as he called it — his mouth moved far less than the syllables he pronounced should have demanded. He seemed to only use his mouth to speak consonants; vowels sounded like they were being spoken from somewhere lower down in his body.

And when he spoke his native language, it was the same deal. The bug language was extremely heavy on harsh consonants and click-like sounds, sounds that could be made fairly easily without needing to exhale. When the bugs spoke vowels, those sounds also likewise came from somewhere lower down in their bodies. It made them all sound like they were speaking from two places at once.

That’s right, insects don’t have lungs. They breathe through spiracles on the sides of their abdomen. That means any language they develop wouldn’t rely on a larynx like a vertebrate.

So it sounds like they use their mouths for consonants, and for vowels they… make sounds through their spiracles, I think? Can they even do that?

…I guess that gives the phrase ‘talking out your ass’ a whole new meaning, doesn’t it?

Melissa let out a laugh as the thought crossed her mind. The two ants jumped at the sudden sound, and slowly began to back away.

A sudden surge of heat rushed to Melissa’s cheeks. She could feel herself flush in embarrassment.

“Oh. Um… sorry.”

----

Kabbu approached Artis, and let him know of what his team had found. As he explained, he gestured to Melissa, who was resting on the chair on first floor, while Gen and Eri both stared at her nervously from across the table. Artis in turn leaned over his desk to take a look, and his eyes went wide as he saw Melissa’s strange… everything.

Artis. “Hm… Well, you didn’t find out what caused that light in the sky,” said Artis. “But I have a feeling that… person you found is related to it, somehow. Very well, I’ll count this one done. Here’s your payment.” He reached beneath the desk, and pulled out a small handful of berries, laying them out before him.

Vi eagerly waltzed up to the desk and snatched up the berries. “Don’t mind if I do!”

“Mission complete, we suppose” said Leif. “But what are we going to do with Melissa now? We somehow doubt she has a home to return to.”

“If I may make a suggestion?” said Artis. “Perhaps you should bring her to Queen Elizant. Discovering an entirely new sophont species is one thing. But one that’s seemingly not even a bug at all? As far as I know, that’s completely unprecedented. I’m not sure what they’d even be, but there could be serious implications.”

“Hm. You’re right,” said Kabbu thoughtfully. “But we can’t just waltz into the Queen’s audience chamber whenever we feel like it. She’s a very busy bug, you know.”

“Maybe. But you three are heroes across all of Bugaria,” said Artis. “I’m sure she’ll be willing to make the time for you, if you requested it.”

----

With the speed of everything that had happened since she arrived, Melissa had never truly been given the opportunity to sit down and reflect on her circumstances. While the three bugs that found her were busy talking to the orchid mantis upstairs, she sat down on the leafy chair and let the situation fully weigh down on her mind.

It didn’t take her long to decide she didn’t like it.

Her parents… her mother and father probably didn’t know where she was now. And neither did her professors at college, or her best friend Kelly. Assuming they were even still alive at all.

After all, Melissa was almost certain that she saw the world end. That sudden torrent of flames from the sky, that cataclysm of fire and brimstone, was something that she couldn’t have possibly survived. So why was she here now? Was it an act of divine intervention? Was it fate? She had no idea.

They’re… they’re really all gone, aren’t they?

Melissa fought hard to stifle a sob. She didn’t want to cry here, beneath so many judgmental eyes.

As Melissa sat despondently in her chair, she turned to look at those two ants, who were still standing by the table and staring at her tensely. Melissa felt comfortable enough now to guess that both of them were female, though in the end it hardly mattered. They were so unlike her, and they knew it.

Slowly, the ant in the green scarf began to approach. Her eyes were soft, and concern was written plainly on her face, the chitin on her forehead almost seeming to wrinkle as she looked Melissa in the eye. “Hz, url. Ner lbh bxnl?”

“Eri, lbh xabj fur pna’g haqrefgnaq hf,” said the ant in the blue scarf.

“Fur ybbxf fb fnq, gubhtu…”

The two ants eventually backed off, though their eyes held a deep sympathy as they watched Melissa. Eventually, Kabbu, Leif, and Vi all descended the stairs from the second floor. They motioned for her to follow, and they led her out of the building and further down the road, past what looked like another gate of sorts.

Past the gate was… a town, it looked like. A plaza, with a statue of an ant in the center, and several buildings surrounding a large gateway. The gate appeared to be a part of a castle, and beyond it Melissa could see a massive anthill towering above, with a crenellated castle turret built atop its peak. Various bugs were meandering about the streets, and a few of them had stopped to gawk at her.

Melissa had also stopped to gawk, but it wasn’t the bugs that caught her attention. It was what the buildings in the plaza were made out of.

“That’s… that’s a juice box,” Melissa stammered. “And… and over there, across from it. That’s a music box.” Her breathing began to quicken, as the implications began to fully set in. “Oh… oh my God. You’re not human-sized bugs! I’m a bug-sized human! I… I’ve been shrunk! No no no no no…”

Melissa took a deep breath, inhaling through her nose and exhaling through her mouth. Kabbu, Leif, and Vi had all stopped beside, all of them looking at her with deep worry etched into their faces.

“O-okay, c-calm down… It’s not all bad… Those… those are human things, which means there have to be other humans here… Oh… oh God, but they’re normal-sized human things! T-that means they’d be like giants to me now! What if one of them sees me like this!? And… and oh God, w-what if they don’t see me? They could crush me underfoot without even noticing! They could crush this whole town underfoot!”

Leif walked up to Melissa. He gently placed a hand on Melissa’s shoulder. “¿Estás bien?”

Tears were now freely pooling at the edge of Melissa’s eyes. “Leif… ¿Dónde están los… los humanos?” Oh god oh god PLEASE tell me I got that right.

Leif stared at Melissa blankly. “¿Humanos?”

The reply struck Melissa like a blow to the center of her stomach. “You… you don’t know what humans are. You’ve built an entire town out of our… our trash, and you’ve never even heard of us. But… how is that possible? How…?”

In truth, Melissa already had an idea of what the answer was. But… she didn’t want to consider it a possibility. She sniffled slightly, and swallowed a thick lump in her throat.

Leif gently rubbed Melissa’s shoulder. His touch was devoid of warmth, as she might have expected from a non-mammal, much less one who could apparently conjure ice out of thin air. Yet all the same, he was astonishingly gentle, and a deep pool of empathy was evident in his eyes.

“Sorry,” said Melissa. “I didn’t mean to make a scene. Let’s, um. Go. Wherever you want to take me. Um… Vamos.”

----

“Um, Leif? Is she gonna be okay?”

Vi’s voice was laced with concern as she stared at Melissa. It was obvious to Kabbu that Melissa was trying very hard to avoid breaking down in tears. The poor creature seemed utterly distraught, but for what reason he could only guess.

“…She is grieving,” said Leif.

Kabbu’s eyes widened in recognition. “You mean to say that she lost someone she cares about?”

“We don’t know exactly, but that’s our best guess,” said Leif. “She asked us where we can find the ‘humanos,’ and seems very distressed by their absence. We’re guessing that’s the name of her kind. Perhaps she was accompanied by more of them before.”

“Oh dear,” said Kabbu. A sharp pang of sympathy shot through his gut. “That poor thing. You don’t suppose her companions were slain, were you? The Bugarian Outskirts are relatively safe, but they are not entirely devoid of monsters.” And that giant bruise she had, too…

“Again, we don’t know,” Leif answered. “And from the sound of it, she doesn’t know either.”

Vi idly scratched at the back of her head. “You sure we should take her to see the Queen right now? I imagine meeting bug royalty for the first time would be stressful…”

Leif turned to Melissa, and spoke. “Te vamos a llevar a ver a la Reina. ¿Quieres ir ahora?”

Melissa’s brows shot upwards. The little black dots in the center of her eyes seemed to grow larger. “L-la… ¿La Reina? Hz…” After what looked like a moment of great internal deliberation, she sighed. Very strangely, Kabbu noticed that her breath seemed to be coming directly out of her mouth. “Sí. Vamos. Yrg'f whfg trg guvf bire jvgu…”

“Well, that settles it, then. It seems she wants to go now.”

Leif began to lead the rest of them towards the Ant Palace. As he did, Kabbu briefly stopped by Melissa’s side, and looked her in the eye.

“I know you cannot understand me,” he said. “But I want you to know, it’s going to be okay. We’re here to help.”

Melissa didn’t appear to comprehend him, yet all the same there was a small glimmer of understanding in her eye. Perhaps she’d recognized the kindness in his words, or perhaps it was something else.

Either way, Melissa gave a nod, and followed the group as they headed to meet the Queen.

Chapter Text

There's an ant crawling up your back in the nighttime
But you think that's okay while you're sleeping

— They Might Be Giants

Melissa’s heart felt like it was about to burst out of her chest. She had suffered shock after shock to her emotional core, ever since ending up in these lands. But somehow, this was the first time she’d felt truly afraid.

The Queen. They’re taking me to see the Queen.

She didn’t fully understand what Leif had said to her. But the mention of ‘la Reina,’ a word she did know, made it abundantly clear. And if there were any doubt left in her mind, they were currently escorting her straight into the heart of the combination anthill-castle that was sitting in the heart of the town.

I… I’d always thought that calling insect broodmothers ‘queens’ was just humans projecting onto them. They weren’t like actual monarchs. But this… there’s no denying what this is. This is a royal palace.

The three bugs took to her the castle entrance, located beyond a bridge that crossed a moat filled with brambly thorns, and into the castle proper. Its interior was strikingly ornate and complex, in sharp contrast to the comparatively simple buildings she had seen so far, with a number of passageways leading to other chambers, some of which were closed off by huge double-doors. Almost everywhere throughout the castle, there was the emblem of an ant head, plastered across banners and doorways and anywhere else it would fit.

The center of the entrance hall had a stairwell leading downwards, and just behind that staircase was a huge chunk of bright blue crystal sticking straight out of the floor. The crystal seemed to faintly glow of its own accord, and when she looked directly at it Melissa could feel a slight tingle just behind her eyes. Similar crystals jutted out of the walls in various places, serving as a… most likely natural light source for a building mostly cut off from sunlight.

Come to think of it, I think I saw a smaller crystal like those by that leaf building outside the town. I guess I never paid any mind to it, given… everything else.

What looked like a number of guards were stationed around the castle, dressed in armor very similar to the blue and green scarfed ants Melissa had seen in the leaf building earlier. They each carried spears that were made from sharpened sticks, and all of them stared at Melissa in what looked like a combination of curiosity and fear.

Same to you, guys. Or… girls, more likely.

Eventually she was led to the far end of the castle, to a doorway much larger than the others. A very large and burly ant stood in front of the door, dressed in some kind of bright yellow plate armor and carrying a massive roundshield. Whoever she(?) was, she obviously had a much higher rank than any of the other guards.

“Unyg,” said the yellow guard. “Grnz Fanxrzbhgu. Gur Dhrra vf abg gnxvat ivfvgbef evtug abj. Vs gurer vf arjf lbh zhfg funer, lbh jvyy tvir vg gb zr svefg.”

The large guard’s gaze meandered away from Melissa’s three escorts, and eventually found its way to her. Though Melissa could not see the guard’s eyes through her visor, it was clear that she was in shock from the way her fiercely stern posture froze up.

The guard spoke breathlessly. “Jung va gur…”

Kabbu stepped forward, and got the yellow guard’s attention. “Nf lbh pna frr, jr’ir sbhaq n arj vagryyvtrag fcrpvrf. Naq nf lbh pna frr, fur’f abg yvxr nal xvaq bs yvivat guvat jr’ir rire xabja. V ubcr lbh haqrefgnaq jul guvf vf fhpu vzcbegnag arjf, naq jul vg zvtug jneenag gur Ure Znwrfgl’f nggragvba.”

The yellow guard’s posture seemed to soften for a moment. “V’yy vasbez Elizant evtug njnl. Jnvg urer.”

For what seemed like an eternity, they simply waited there, as the yellow guard went past the doorway. The air of the palace was still as they waited, and waited, and waited.

As they waited, Melissa couldn’t help but wonder just what was going to happen next. Before she ended up here, she was nowhere close to anyone special. One face among millions in her city. But now she was apparently someone, and something, notable enough to meet face-to-face with royalty.

Oh God, what if she decides to hold me captive in some kind of lab? I’m like a total scientific anomaly! Humans can’t BE this small! What if she has some mad scientist put me under the knife!?

Melissa’s thoughts turned briefly to Dr. Haber, her old biology professor. The eccentric septuagenarian was a great teacher, but she seemed just a little bit too eager to have her students perform dissections. Like she had some kind of morbid fascination with bodies.

Eventually, the yellow guard came back, and motioned for the others to follow. “Nyevtug. Nyy bs lbh, tb va. Gur Dhrra vf jnvgvat.”

Melissa followed the others into what appeared to be a large audience chamber. The yellow guard took the lead and eventually moved to the far end of the chamber, standing beside the throne. Right in front of the throne was a very tall ant — larger than most others Melissa had seen, and with an abdomen that was noticeably swollen in comparison to the rest of the ants she had seen so far.

That alone would be enough to tell Melissa that this was the Queen, but the way she was dressed absolutely sealed it. She wore what looked like an ornate royal dress, fitted specifically for an ant, woven of blue and purple fabric. Her head was covered in a matching headdress, and her face was hidden by a pure white mask that had four separate eyeholes. Whether the Queen actually had four eyes or not, Melissa couldn’t say. But she could feel an ice-cold gaze coming from them all the same. Even just when she was standing still, the Queen exuded power and confidence in a way that made Melissa’s skin crawl.

And then, the Queen stepped forward. Vi, Kabbu, and Leif all approached, stopping just before the steps leading to the throne. The bugs all began talking to the Queen in their incomprehensible bug language. Melissa tried to distract herself from the thoughts of whatever might happen to her next. Her eyes turned to the left, towards a series of four stained glass windows lining the chamber.

One of them depicted the Ant Queen, the very same that stood before them just now. Next to it was a bug that was clearly the queen of a beehive — likely the very same hive that Vi had come from. Then there was a stained glass portrait of what looked like a wasp queen. And on the far end, a stained glass portrait depicting two termites, both a king and a queen.

Huh. Those are all four of the major types of eusocial insects. I guess each of them has their own kingdom here.

…though, I guess there’s also that one species of weevil from Australia. I wonder if there’s also a Weevil Kingdom somewhere?

Melissa’s eyes were suddenly drawn to the portrait bee queen. Out of all of the stained glass portraits, she found herself most fascinated by this one, in particular.

Come to think of it, that bee queen’s kinda…

…kinda…

…oh my God, WHY am I having gay thoughts about a bee!?

“Melissa.”

Melissa was suddenly snapped back to the real world, thankfully sparing her the trouble of having to reflect on the uncomfortable implications of such feelings…

…But she was made even more uncomfortable, when she realized it was the Ant Queen who had called her name. The Queen approached, moving down from the steps leading to her throne, until she was standing nearly face-to-face with Melissa. The Queen was not the tallest bug present — that honor would go to the ant in yellow armor, who Melissa had by now figured to be the Queen’s bodyguard. But the Queen’s presence seemed to tower over everyone else. Melissa felt almost as small now as an ant would feel looking up at her, were she normal-sized.

The Queen gazed up and down Melissa’s body, sizing her up. Melissa could only stand there, frozen in trepidation. The Queen’s mask remained expressionless as ever, but through it Melissa could feel the weight of her cold, steely gaze.

“U-um… Your Majesty? What are you going to do to me?”

The Queen tilted her head curiously. She turned around, and nodded to her bodyguard.

“Zaryant, cercner n fhvgnoyr yvivat dhnegre sbe bhe thrfg. Hagvy jr unir nafjref, fur jvyy or fgnlvat va gur cnynpr.” She then turned to face Leif. “Leif, V erdhrfg gung lbh fgnl jvgu ure. Rira vs fur unf bayl n ehqvzragnel xabjyrqtr bs gur ebnpu ynathntr, lbh ner bhe orfg punapr bs ernpuvat n pbzzba haqrefgnaqvat.”

Melissa trembled as the Queen’s bodyguard approached her, until she was standing virtually right beside Melissa. The body and made a motion for her to follow.

“Um… Leif? What is… I mean, ¿Qué?”

“Quiere que vayas con ella. Síguela.” As if to demonstrate, Leif moved beside the bodyguard and motioned for Melissa to follow them out of the Throne Room.

Without any better idea of what to do, Melissa did just that.

----

As Melissa followed Leif and Zaryant out of the Throne Room, Kabbu turned back to Queen Elizant. Despite the sudden and unexpected meeting he’d requested, Her Majesty had turned out to be astonishingly cooperative.

“Thank you so much for this, Your Majesty,” said Kabbu. “We were afraid she might truly have nowhere to go.”

“It is no trouble at all, Kabbu,” Elizant replied. “As you have said, to discover an intelligent species that is not a bug is quite unprecedented. The only other time that has happened is when we first came into contact with the Three Goddesses. Thus, I believe that it is of great importance that we leave a good first impression on Melissa’s kind. How her people perceive us may have profound implications for Bugaria’s future.”

“Uh-huh,” Vi deadpanned. “So explain to me again why her and Leif get to stay here and we don’t?”

“Vi,” said Kabbu, “we already have a house.”

“Yeah! And they have a palace!”

----

The rest of the day was… tense. Thought it felt like it shouldn’t have been. Melissa had half expected Queen’s bodyguard to escort her to some kind of dungeon, or prison cell. Instead, she was brought to what looked to be some kind of guest quarters, kept in a hall behind one of the double-doors that was otherwise closed to visitor. And from the look of it, Leif was staying in a guest room right to the side of it.

The guest room was quite ornate, as one would expect of a bedroom in a palace. At least, she figured it was ornate by bug standards. There was a small wooden bedside table decorated with filigree silver carvings, and a matching wardrobe where presumably one would store their clothes. The bed was roughly equivalent to a queen-sized bed, with sheets made of silk, though she could not discern what the mattress and pillows were made of.

There was also a small bathroom connected to the guest room, much to Melissa’s surprise. It had what looked like a small squat toilet, built out of wood, though the dimensions of its… hole did not seem to be made for humans. And though there was no running water, there was a small wash basin set on a four-legged table, with a very fancy-looking bar of soap next to it. A large bowl of potpourri was set on another table in the corner, which masked any unpleasant scents that might otherwise accompany such a space.

Ugh, I hate that there’s no plumbing. Still, I guess it’s better than some dingy bug outhouse…

Melissa spent the following hours lounging on her bed and… thinking. Thinking about her friends, her family, and all of the things that she missed so dearly about her old life. Not that she wanted to think about such things, but there was little else she could do. The castle might have had a library somewhere, but there was not a single chance she could even begin to read any written language the bugs had developed.

Eventually, a knock came at her door. Melissa sighed, and wearily rolled out of her bed, opening the door.

Standing before her was Leif. At least that was a face she was comfortable seeing now.

“Buenas noches, Melissa.”

“Um. Good evening?” Is it evening already?

“El chef de la Reina nos está preparando la cena. ¿Que es lo que tú comes?”

“Um… Sorry, I didn’t… Comes… um,” Melissa stuttered. “Comes… Shit, what does that word mean again?” Argh, I feel like I should know this!

“Que tú comes,” Leif repeated. He opened his mouth, and then moved his hand to it, and… pretended to bite something.

Melissa’s eyes went wide. She saw something in Leif’s mouth, something that by all means an insect shouldn’t have.

Hold on, do you have TEETH!? How in the fuck!?

A sudden realization smacked Melissa right across the face. “Oh! Oh! You’re asking me what I eat. Um… Yo soy… ¿Omnivore?” Oh god oh god I hope the Spanish word for that is similar. “Vegetales y… frutas… y, um, uh… ¿Carne?”

Wait, shit. Do they even have meat here? I know ants eat basically anything, but moths…

Leif was silent for a moment. “Gracias. Nos vemos en la cena.”

“Um. Okay? Uh, I mean… de nada.”

Melissa went back to her bed, and crashed down on it. It suddenly occurred to her just how comfortable the bed was. Much softer than her stiff old college dorm mattress, or even the mattress she had a her parents’ house.

Seriously, what is this mattress even made of?

Before she could get too comfortable, however, another knock came at her door. Once again, she opened the door to see Leif standing before her.

“La cena está lista. Vamos.”

Um… ‘cena’ means something like dinner, right? I AM hungry… A big blob of honey can only keep me going for so long.

Melissa’s stomach agreed, and with that she followed Leif out of the guest quarters.

----

Melissa’s jaw dropped when she arrived at the dining room. What she saw at the massive, elongated dining room table wasn’t just a meal. It was an absolute feast.

Sure, much of the food looked pretty close to inedible. Chopped and dried cuttings of autumn leaves — despite the fact that it was spring — weird baked potato-like tubers that were sickeningly purple and didn’t even have the eyes cut off, and also some very gross-looking brown mashed stuff that looked like it had already been pre-chewed by someone else. Which, considering the dietary habits of many ant species, it probably was.

But there were also so many other foods to choose from that it didn’t even matter. Dishes made from chopped berries, sauteed sprouts and mushrooms, and entire bowls of strangely bug-sized fruits and squashes. There was a massive roasted kidney bean in the center of the table, sliced like a human would slice a large leg of ham. They even had a few loaves of bread, which was something Melissa absolutely was not expecting to see.

Sitting on the opposite end of the table — a very long table — was the Queen. While she still wore her royal regalia, she no longer wore her mask. Melissa was shocked to see that her face was not the stern visage she had expected, but a gentle face with deep green eyes. Standing beside the Queen was what looked like a butler, a tall ant dressed in a shiny black tuxedo. Given that this butler had wings, Melissa realized that it was the first male ant she had seen. Or… I’m assuming he is.

Leif sat at the side of the table, between Melissa and the Queen. With the aid of the some exaggerated gestures and very rudimentary Spanish, she was eventually able to pick out which of the dishes she wanted. The butler passed them all their chosen portions. Melissa chose a fairly large portion of sauteed sprouts, as well as three slices of the kidney bean and a single heart-shaped berry. The Queen, meanwhile, chose a modest portion of the pre-chewed foodstuffs, along with some of the dried leaves and the spud that was clearly not fit for human consumption.

And Leif… had served himself triple-sized portions of everything at the table.

How the hell is he planning on eating that much!?

The answer, as it turned out, was ‘very easily.’ While Melissa was still trying to figure out just which of the several different forks to use on what, Leif had very nearly finished off his entire portion. And then he went back for seconds.

Eventually, Melissa did manage to finish her meal. It took her considerably longer than both Leif and the Queen, something she felt slightly embarrassed by. But the Queen seemed to be remarkably patient, and though she didn’t speak a word to Melissa throughout their shared dinner, there was a gentle gleam in her eye that spoke volumes.

After meal’s main course, came a dessert. The butler came in, carrying three sorbet dishes on a platter. Melissa had no idea just what kind of dessert it was, though, because it looked like no ice cream or sorbet she’d ever seen. It looked like… some kind of mashed tangerine, served as though it were sorbet. And strangely, each sorbet dish had a single glazed donut sticking out of it.

When the strange dessert thing was placed in front of her, Melissa didn’t quite know what to think. But, cautiously, she took the silver dessert spoon, and took a bite…

…and her taste buds were instantly transported into a paradise. The taste was utterly indescribable, in the best way possible. It was… tangy, and sweet. Just the right combination of tangy and sweet. But that description alone couldn’t do it justice. Melissa couldn’t even think of any words that could accurately capture how delicious it was. Anything she could say would be like sacrilige.

Before long, the entire dish was packed away in Melissa’s stomach. She hadn’t even realized how fast she’d vacuumed it up. She felt a deep sadness that it was gone, and wished with all her heart that she could experience such a dessert for the first time again.

When the meal was finished, an entire team of waiting staff came out of the far end of the dining room, and began taking the dishes away. Melissa got up from her chair, practically having to drag herself to her feet from the weight of her engorged stomach. She was absolutely stuffed.

It occurred to Melissa, then, that this was probably the single best meal she’d had in her entire life. A powerful emotion swelled within her chest, her heart feeling like it could burst out of her chest. She felt her body tremble as the Queen approached her, a gentle smile written across her face.

“V ubcr lbh rawblrq lbhe zrny jvgu hf, Melissa. Lbhe xvaq bhe nyjnlf jrypbzr, urer va bhe xvatqbz.”

Melissa couldn’t stop the emotion from leaking out. It gushed upwards from her heart, and pooled in the corners of her eyes “Your Majesty… why? Why do all of this for me? I… I don’t understand… I’m… I’m nobody special. I’m just… I’m someone who’s in the wrong place. What did I even do to deserve this kind of hospitality?”

Leif approached Melissa. For what may have been the first time since Melissa saw him, he had a gentle smile written across his face. “Está bien. Estás entre amigos aquí.”

“I…” Melissa sniffled. “T-thank you… thank you all so much…”

After having eaten such a thoroughly filling meal, Melissa couldn’t help but feel drowsy. Leif escorted her back to the guest quarters, where she promptly collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep.

Chapter Text

When I'm awake and I look around me
I can faithfully record everything that I see
Most of my memories tend to be sad
So I wish I could remember the dream that I had

— They Might Be Giants

Melissa idly wandered into the basement of the Student Center. It was a small round building located right on the edge of campus, by the main road that led further downtown. As she pushed through the doors and descended the staircase, she entered the rec room where various students idly hung out during their off-hours.

There, sitting on one of several couches before a television, was her best friend Kelly. The two had known each other since grade school, and had remained almost inseparably close since, even going so far as to apply to the same university. They’d even dated each other briefly in senior year of high school, and even though it never ended up working out, they still remained good friends.

Kelly had short red hair and several freckles on her face, complimented by brown eyes and a dark orange sweater. She had brought her Nintendo Switch to the rec room and had hooked it up to the television, and her eyes squinted in concentration as she was in the middle of what looked to be an intense boss fight.

Her character was… a little thing in a white horned mask, holding some weird weapon that looked like something between a lance and a sword. It was currently fighting a vastly larger, big horned thing, wielding a much larger weapon of the same kind. There were two similar great big horned things in the background, sitting on a pair of thrones.

Hey, Melissa thought, those look kind of like…

The little horned thing danced around the big horned thing’s strikes, counterattacking nimbly with its own weapon. Kelly looked like she’d gotten a good handle on it, and was solidly winning.

That suddenly changed when the great big horned thing doubled over in injury, and then jumped into the background, slumped over in its center throne. Then, the other two big horned things stood up simultaneously.

“Wait, WHAT!?” Kelly cried out. “I have to fight TWO now!?”

Sure enough, fighting two of the big horned things quickly proved overwhelming for the little horned thing, and before long Kelly’s player-character was struck down. She let out a groan and pressed the ‘home’ button on her controller, before quitting the game.

“Ugh. This game is hard.” She picked up a milkshake that was sitting on the table between the couch and the television, and took a loud slurp as she finished off what was left of it.

Melissa, who had been watching intently the whole time, sat down next to Kelly. “Heya, K. What’cha playing?”

“Oh, hey. Didn’t see you there,” said Kelly. “It’s called Hollow Knight. My boyfriend recommended it to me. I’m surprised you’ve never heard of it, you’re the one with the bug obsession.”

“It’s not an obsession!” Melissa shot back. It was almost a reflex at this point.

“You kept a cockroach for a pet in high school,” said Kelly. “Don’t tell me that’s not just a little bit weird.”

“Hey, at least I know how to care for an insect,” Melissa replied.

“Christ, Mel, you’re still teasing me for flunking that science project?” Kelly huffed. “It was second grade.”

“I’ll stop once you tell me how the hell you managed to let a freaking caterpillar die of malnutrition. They literally do nothing but eat and poop.”

“Fuck you,” Kelly wittily retorted.

“I thought you said you only wanted to be friends.”

Melissa flinched as a now-empty cardboard milkshake cup bonked against her forehead, bouncing off harmlessly and clattering to the floor.

“…Okay, I kinda deserved that.”

“Sure did,” Kelly said with an adorable smirk. “So what’ve you been up to? I just got finished with my last midterm.”

“Same,” said Melissa. “Though I guess it wasn’t really a traditional midterm. Dr. Haber had us dissect an atlas moth in the lab.”

Kelly winced. “Geez. For you that must be some kind of crime against humanity, I imagine.”

“Beats having to dissect a cadaver in medical school,” said Melissa. “Not gonna lie though, I did feel bad for those big guys. I mean, I feel bad for atlas moths in general, but you know.”

“Really? Why though?” said Kelly.

“Saturniid moths lose their mouths when they pupate,” Melissa explained. “So they basically spend their entire adult lives slowly starving to death. I imagine being dissected isn’t much less dignified than how they usually end.”

“Yeesh,” said Kelly. “You know, everything you tell me about bugs makes it sound like life is hell for them. I’m surprised you manage to care about them so much. Seems like a waste, if you ask me.”

“Hey, insects are the most common form of animal life on Earth,” Melissa retorted. “Like 90% or something. They were here millions of years before us, and they’ll probably be here once we’re all dead.”

“That just makes me feel lucky I’m not one of them.”

Before they could continue their conversation, a very loud chime-like ringtone echoed through the rec room. Immediately, Kelly seemed to tense.

“Wait, you actually have notifications on?” said Melissa. “What kind of self-respecting zillenial are you?”

“Shut up,” said Kelly. For the first time since they started talking, her tone was deathly serious. “It’s from my brother.”

She pulled her phone out of her pocket, and quickly thumbed through a text message. The color seemed to drain from her face by the second.

“Oh. Oh no…”

Melissa suddenly felt her stomach drop. “Kelly? Is something wrong?”

Kelly refused to look Melissa in the eye. She put her phone back in her pocket, but continued staring downwards. “It finally happened. He’s been deployed.”

Melissa felt a sudden jolt run up the length of her spine. “Wait, your brother joined the military!?”

“No. He joined the U.S. Forest Service. They’re sending him out to deal with that big wildfire on the west coast.”

“Oh,” said Melissa. “That’s. Um… That’s…”

“It’s really bad, that’s what it is!” Kelly shot back. She finally turned to look Melissa in the eye, her composure utterly shattered. “They’re sending him out into the middle of the woods in NOWHERE, OREGON, where he’s probably going to waltz straight into a five thousand-acre inferno!”

Melissa scooted closer to her friend. “Hey. Kelly. It’s going to be alright, okay? Your brother must be very strong to get a job like that. He’ll be fine.”

“But you don’t KNOW that!” Kelly protested. “He could end up being burnt to a crisp in there! Ugh, I swear to God, if he doesn’t make it out alive, I will KILL HIM!”

Melissa put her arm Kelly’s shoulder. “Come on, you don’t mean that. It’s going to be okay, alright? Everything’s going to work out just fine.”

Kelly sighed. “I sure hope you’re right…”

Chapter Text

Maybe I didn't correctly misstate all the things
That I thought I said I never said
Maybe the wires got uncrossed and instead
What I said was the thing that I meant

— They Might Be Giants

Melissa woke to find herself once again in her guest room within the ant palace. A part of her was surprised to realize that the previous day had not been a dream. Another part of her wished that it had been a dream. But she was here, and that’s what mattered. She carefully slumped out of bed, her eyes still adjusting to the gentle light of the blue crystal hanging above.

Ugh, I need a shower… do the bugs even bathe here?

She would worry about that later, maybe. Thankfully, she didn’t smell too bad yet. She rubbed the morning crust out of her eyes, and after a few short stretches, made her way out the door and into the hallway. Leif was already there, waiting for her.

“Buenos dias. ¿Quieres ir a desayunar?”

“Um… sorry, I can’t brain this early,” Melissa replied. “I need breakfast first. And some…” Her words trailed off when she remembered something important that would rule out her usual morning beverage.

Right. You can’t drink that. Fuck.

She and Leif were escorted to the dining area again, by a pair of ant guards. Breakfast was considerably less fancy than dinner, though it was still a fairly impressive affair, with several different kinds of breads and pastries laid out in a buffet across the central table. Several smaller tables had been set up since last night, and in each of them a number of different ant guards and castle staff were seated, eating their own meals. The Queen was not there to join them this time; Melissa wondered if perhaps she had her own private breakfast arrangement in her personal chambers.

Either way, though, it didn’t matter. Ignoring the weird stares she received and the muttering among the other attendees, she grabbed a plate and served herself some bread with jam, along with a weirdly bug-sized tangerine and what looked to be a glazed sweet roll. She then grabbed a cup from near the end of the table, and poured herself a serving of a hot drink from a nearby carafe.

Moving with extreme caution, Melissa carefully carried her plate and cup to one of the side tables. There, Leif was already seated, and had served himself a very large portion of bread and fruit, along with a hot drink of his own. After sitting herself and her breakfast down, she slowly moved her cup to her lips, and savored the wonderful taste of a pitch-black cup of coffee.

Melissa’s eyes snapped open with a sudden and gut-wrenching realization. She forcefully spat out a mouthful of her beverage, spraying the hot drink all over Leif’s face.

“Wait! Holy shit! This is coffee!”

Leif did not appreciably respond. Even as little drops of saliva-diluted coffee dripped down his face, stared at Melissa with the same, half-lidded gaze that he always seemed to have.

Slowly, he moved his own coffee cup to his mouth, and Melissa’s heart skipped a beat.

“No! Don’t drink that!” Melissa lurched forward, dropping her coffee cup to the floor, and reached over and swatted Leif’s beverage out of his hand. The porcelain cup flew away from the table before shattering against the floor into several shards.

“You idiot! Don’t you realize what that is!? That has CAFFEINE in it! Caffeine is LETHALLY POISONOUS to insects! Are you TRYING to get yourself killed!?”

The room suddenly fell deathly silent. And all at once, Melissa could feel the weight of every single bug in the room, staring at her all at once. Her skin crawled, when her thoughts at last caught up to her actions, and she realized just what sort of outburst she’d just had.

“Melissa,” Leif said calmly.

“Um… Um…” Melissa’s mind raced as she tried to find any possible way out of the current situation. She’d just made a fool of herself, after being given the literal royal treatment, and now everyone in the room was glaring at her like she was some kind of dangerous criminal freak. A couple of the guards present looked like all to eager to use the wooden spears they were carrying.

“Es… es el café,” Melissa gulped. “Es… venenoso.”

Leif’s eyes went wide. “Lo sentimos. No teníamos idea.” He turned towards the ants, and spoke. “Vg'f nyevtug, rirelbar. Fur arneyl ngr fbzrguvat gung jnf cbvfbabhf gb ure, naq cnavpxrq. Fur jba'g uheg lbh.”

There was a small chorus of murmurs from the crowd. One of the ants turned to Leif and asked a question. “Vf fur tbaan qvr?”

“Ab,” said Leif. “Cebonoyl abg.”

The ant who asked the question looked disappointed for a moment, and for some reason Melissa found that insulting. But either way, the ants went back to their shared meal without incident.

Melissa let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding. That was close. That could have gone way worse if Leif were not here to translate what little Spanish she knew.

Wait, Melissa realized, did he think I meant coffee is poisonous to ME?

...I guess they wouldn’t be serving it here if it was poisonous to them. Jesus, they’re even more different from normal insects than I thought.

Melissa ate the rest of her breakfast in peace, though it was a peace characterized by a strong sense of unease. No matter how much the Queen intended to spoil her, she could not shake the feeling that she didn’t belong.

----

Once breakfast had concluded, Melissa was brought to the Queen’s audience chamber. She didn’t know what to expect there, but her eyes immediately fell upon a tall bee, carrying what looked to be a halberd and wearing a mask that covered her eyes.

There’s no eyeholes… how does she see in that?

The Queen was currently engaged in a conversation with the honeybee guard, and based on the tone of their they sounded like they were discussing something important. Eventually, the bee and the Ant Queen both took notice of Leif and Melissa. The Queen approached, and spoke.

“Tbbq zbeavat, Leif. Naq lbh nf jryy, Melissa.”

“Tbbq zbeavat, Lbhe Znwrfgl,” said Leif. “Vf gurer fbzrguvat tbvat ba?”

“Lrf,” the Queen replied. “Dhrra Ovnapn unf orra vasbezrq bs Zryvffn, naq ure cerfrapr vf sbeznyyl erdhrfgrq ng gur Orr Xvatqbz. Jbhyq lbh or fb xvaq nf gb rfpbeg Zryvffn guebhtu gur Nag Zvarf? Vg jbhyq or n qnatrebhf wbhearl gb znxr ba gur fhesnpr.”

“Bs pbhefr, Lbhe Znwrfgl. Jr jbhyq or unccl gb.”

Leif turned around, and motioned for Melissa to follow. “Vamos.”

“…uh, sure? Leif, what was she saying just now?”

“Nosotros vamos al Reino de las Abejas,” said Leif.

“Oh. Um… Yeah, I’m not fluent enough in Spanish to…” Melissa paused for a moment, and let Leif’s words ruminate for a bit. ‘Reino’ meant ‘kingdom,’ and ‘abejas’ sounded… familiar. She wasn’t a linguist, but Melissa was familiar enough with the Latin ‘apis’ to guess that ‘abeja’ probably shared a root word. And there was a honeybee guard in the Queen’s chamber just a moment ago, which meant that…

“…wait, Bee Kingdom?”

----

Leif led Melissa out of the Queen’s audience chamber, and made his way straight for the entrance to the Ant Mines. It would be strange, going through the tunnels without either of his teammates by his side. Fortunately, it seemed that Kabbu and Vi had both come back to the palace, and were waiting to meet him by the entrance hall.

“Good morning, Leif,” said Kabbu. “And you as well, Melissa. How did you enjoy spending the night at the palace?”

“Probably had a way better time than us,” Vi grumbled.

“It was alright,” said Leif. “Right now though, we have another errand we will need to take care of.”

“What sort of errand?” said Vi.

“We’re going to the Bee Kingdom,” said Leif. “Queen Bianca has been made aware of Melissa’s presence, and wishes to meet her.”

“Whoa, what!?” Vi blurted out. “Alright, that settles it! We’re going with you! It’s one thing for you two to get a royal pampering here, but from my own hive? No way am I missing out on that! …Or Kabbu, I guess.”

“…How very considerate,” Leif remarked. “Well, then, let’s not delay.”

----

As Leif met up with Kabbu and Vi, the group eventually took Melissa down the central staircase in the palace foyer. The way they apparently insisted on traveling together was enough to stick out in Melissa’s mind… she didn’t know what the three were to each other exactly, but it was clear that they were extremely close.

The downward staircase led to a large room that had seemingly been carved out of the bedrock only recently. Attending the room were ants of various sizes and appearances, much of them carrying pickaxes and dressed in yellow hard hats. There was a massive blue crystal in the center of the room, embedded firmly in the ground and piercing through the ceiling. Likely the very same large crystal that could be seen poking out of the floor in the entrance hall above.

I guess these are some sort of… crystal mines?

Circling around the room were a series of tunnels, each marked with a different symbol. Among them she saw a tuft of grass, a cherry, and… some weird metal disk thing. But the one that they approached, and the one that caught Melissa’s attention, was the tunnel marked with a symbol resembling a bee.

Her three escorts led her down the tunnel path. It was a long, winding, and terribly dark tunnel that was lit only by the gentle glow of the crystals that were sporadically jutting out of the walls. But eventually, they reached the end.

At the very end of the tunnel, where the path abruptly ended in a wall of dirt and bedrock, there was a hole in the ceiling above. A gentle beam of sunlight shown down from the exit, and Melissa could feel a gentle breeze of dry air coming into the tunnel through it.

Then, somehow, her three bug companions managed to jump up through the hole in the ceiling. Despite the fact that the ceiling was almost twice Melissa’s height.

“¿Melissa?” said Leif.

“Um… I can’t jump that high, guys.” To demonstrate, she bent her knees and sprang up as far as her legs could carry her. She didn’t even get one-fifth of the height she would need to clear the jump.

The three bugs stared down at Melissa blankly. Kabbu and Leif both turned to look at Vi.

Vi let out a heavily exasperated groan. “Htu, lbh'ir tbg gb or xvqqvat zr! Svar. V'yy uryc.” She jumped down the exit again, and tightly wrapped her arms around Melissa’s waist.

“W-whoa, hey! What are you…?”

Melissa had her question answered when Vi’s wings buzzed, and the two of them slowly ascended. Melissa let out a yelp as her body hung limply from Vi’s grasp. Very slowly, they made their way up to the ceiling.

It occurred to Melissa that this was actually the first time she’d seen Vi fly before. A part of her hadn’t even considered that she might be able to.

Oh God, no. Don’t think it. Don’t think it. Don’t think it. Don’t think it.

Vi struggled to maintain her grip on Melissa as she continued to carry them both towards the hole in the ceiling.

Don’t think it don’t think it don’t think it don’t think it don’t think it

Finally, with one final push, Vi managed to carry Melissa out of the hole and onto the surface above, sending her unceremoniously collapsing onto the soft, sandy ground. Melissa stood up, and rubbed the grains of sand out of her face. She saw Vi standing by the side of the mine entrance, slumped over with her arms hanging limply. A heavy wheezing sound was pouring out of her spiracles.

“Geez, you okay?” said Melissa. “I’m surprised those little wings could even… argh, no!”

According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground. The bee, of course, flies anyway because bees don't care what humans—

“No! Shut up brain! We’re not doing that!”

A rush of embarrassment flooded over Melissa when she realized she’d said that out loud. She was suddenly glad that nobody here understood her. With a sigh, she dusted the remaining sand off of her clothes, and took a look around.

Sure enough, the sand that was beneath her feet was a constant presence throughout this new settlement. There were many little houses and buildings, fashioned out of what looked to be some kind of clay. She could even see a large round cactus above one of the buildings.

H-huh? A desert town? But the ant town was in the middle of a grasslands… how could there be a desert this close by?

Arching over the entirety of the desert town was what looked to be a truly enormous tree root. And sure enough, standing right at the root’s end was an utterly gargantuan oak tree.

Maybe if she were a normal-sized human, Melissa wouldn’t find such a tree all that remarkable. But at her current size, a simple oak tree was large enough that it appeared like it would tower over most skyscrapers. The leafy branches that extended out from the trunk criss-crossed over the entire visible sky, keeping most of the town firmly within the shade. And nestled within one of the branches, she could vaguely what looked to be some kind of beehive.

“It’s… it’s taller than the Empire State Building! And we’re going there?”

Vi saw that Melissa was staring up at the tree, and grinned. “Vg’f fhcre vzcerffvir, evtug? Zbfg ohtf jbhyqa’g guvax gb ohvyq n xvatqbz fb uvtu hc, ohg V thrff jr orrf ner ohvyg qvssrerag.”

“I… Um… Okay?” Melissa could feel her heart rate increasing as she suddenly realized that yes, this was where they were going.

The three bugs took Melissa a short distance away, to a large lift at the base of the tree trunk that held up by a thick rope. Kabbu said something to the bee guard stationed at the lift, and motioned for the rest to follow.

Melissa stopped in her tracks. She let in a deep breath, and sharply exhaled. Her body trembled as she stepped onto the lift with the other three.

There was a sudden motion as the lifted jerked upwards slightly. Then, it began to ascend at a lightning pace. Melissa shut her eyes tight, not daring to look and see how fast they were ascending. Without even noticing it at first, she reached out and grabbed onto Leif’s hand, clutching it as tightly as she could.

“¿Miedo de alturas?”

Melissa didn’t respond. She kept holding on, kept her eyelids firmly closed, until at last the ascent of the lift stopped. When she felt that it was finally safe, she opened her eyes again.

What Melissa saw caused her to stumble backwards in sheer astonishment, and fall onto her rear end. Vi was immediately by her side, helping her back to her feet.

“U-url! Pnershy! Lbh pna’g gevc bire ng guvf urvtug! Vg’f qnatrebhf!”

Melissa didn’t care to try to guess what Vi was saying. What she was looking at now had sent a paralyzing shock through her already fraught emotional state. Her gut twisted and churned as she looked down.

The desert… the so-called desert that was beneath the giant tree was surrounded by an enormous plastic wall. She couldn’t see it at surface level, not at her size. But it was readily apparent what the sands really were, from this altitude.

“Holy shit! T-that’s a sandbox! Oh my God, that desert’s not a desert at all! We’re in someone’s back yard!”

Melissa’s heart and mind both raced as she struggled to consider the full implications. If this was a human’s back yard, then does that meant a human lived nearby? Was this settlement of intelligent insects in danger of being discovered by a normal human? Or… or was it that a human had only used to live nearby?

She didn’t want to think about what the answer might be. But she didn’t know how much longer she’d be able to avoid the question.

Melissa tried to force the sickening feeling rising up inside of her back down. She turned around, and nodded to the others. They led her across a tree branch, towards the entrance to the hive.

The hive, strangely, looked less like a natural hive and more like a yellow skep, sculpted out of beeswax. Like what beehives look like in cartoons. Huh.

Melissa moved across the walkway, trying hard not to look down, or think about what she might see down their. A bee guard nodded as they passed through the entrance, which was flanked by banners with that same bee-shaped emblem she’d seen on the tunnel leading to the desert town.

Entering through the hive’s entrance brought Melissa to a very strange sight. It looked like some kind of security checkpoint. On the far end of the room, leading to the entrance of the hive proper, was a set of steel doors that were clenched tightly. A single honeybee guard stood at attendance behind a glass wall, next to a strange console with flickering blue lights of unknown purpose.

The guard looked at Melissa strangely. It was a look she had gotten very used to by now. After speaking something unintelligible, the guard pressed a button on a console.

Melissa nearly jumped when suddenly, a wall of holographic light appeared right in front of them. It looked like a wall of honeycomb, except translucent and weirdly humming. The intangible wall of light moved forward and passed through the group, then doubled back and passed through them again. It then vanished, just as quickly as it had been summoned.

The guard mumbled something for a second, and then pressed a button on the console. The steel doors opened, Melissa followed her companions in.

The hive’s interior consisted of a central round chamber, with floors and walls built out of hexagonal tiles. Various statues and decorations were lined around the chamber, and bees and other bugs of various kinds were idly going their day. To the side, Melissa could even see what looked to be a store of some kind, as well as a fountain that used honey instead of water.

Several more beeswax walkways crossed the upper areas of the hive, suspended above the floor like catwalks over a theater stage. Melissa briefly wondered why they didn’t seem to have any stairs or ramps leading up to them, but her question was answered when she saw a bee fly up and land on the walkway.

Geez… I always knew honeybees were good at building structures, but this is something else.

She didn’t have much time to take in the sights, however, as Melissa was into a large room built into the very center of the hive. Given the large set of double doors, the banners with the Bee Kingdom’s symbol flanking them, and the pair of guards stationed right beside the entryway, it was easy for Melissa to guess what this meant.

Oh God, they’re taking me to see the Queen here too!? Why am I suddenly getting involved with every freaking head of state there is!? Is my presence here THAT unusual!?

…No, that was a dumb question. As far as any of these bugs could tell, Melissa was some kind of intelligent creature unlike anything that existed to them. Her being here would be like if an extraterrestrial being visited Earth. Of course everyone important would want to get involved. And on that note, Melissa couldn’t help but wonder. Do they think I’m a space alien?

Melissa was led along with Kabbu, Leif, and Vi into the throne room. It was exactly as ornately decorated as Melissa would expect from such a place, but what truly drew her attention was the figure who was standing just before the throne.

The Queen was tall, a full head taller than the guards who attended her throne room. She had immaculately styled antennae, curled backwards in a manner reminiscent of long flowing hair. The hairs on her neck were perfectly fluffed, and the pattern of black coloration on her body gave the impression that she was wearing a leotard. Her abdomen, extremely large even for the standards of a bee queen, was adorned with several tiny flowers.

And wow, those thighs…

Melissa mentally slapped herself, interrupting that thought well before it could finish.

The Queen slowly approached Melissa. Her eyes twinkled gently under the light as she made eye contact with Melissa.

“Naq lbh zhfg or Melissa. Gur Nag Xvatqbz pbhevref gbyq zr bs lbh. Lbh znl pnyy zr Bianca.”

“Um… okay?” said Melissa. She could feel the heat flushing to her cheeks. The Queen had such beautiful eyes, and she had this really nice floral scent, and… Oh God oh God WHY am I having feelings for a bug we’re not even in the same freaking phylum HELP ME

A realization struck Melissa, pulling her out of her thoughts. “Wait, did you say Bianca? That’s… that’s a human name. How in the…?”

Queen… Bianca smiled, and the sight sent any thoughts of the matter melting away. “Zl eblny fpvragvfg unf erdhrfgrq gung fur rknzvar lbh sbe fghql. Va gur zrnagvzr, Zryvffn, V ubcr lbh rawbl lbhe fgnl urer.” She approached Melissa, and looked her over again. “Naq V zhfg fnl, V pbhyq rnfvyl frr lbh nf n orr lbhefrys. Creuncf V pbhyq rira guvax bs lbh nf n ivfvgbe sebz nabgure uvir.”

“Jbj, lbh gbb?” Vi added. “V gubhtug V jnf gur bayl bar jub tbg fbzr frevbhf orr ivorf sebz ure.”

“Jryy, V’z fher fur’yy svg evtug va ertneqyrff. Qbpgbe H.B., vs lbh jbhyq?”

Queen Bianca turned to the side, gesturing towards another bee that Melissa hadn’t noticed. Standing to the side of the throne room, and apparently waiting for an introduction, was a very ragged-looking bee of advanced age, dressed in the manner of a scientist. Melissa’s heart nearly jumped out of her chest when she looked at her.

D-doctor Haber!?

Melissa couldn’t believe her eyes. The bee she was looking at was an absolute spitting image of her old biology professor. The same slender build, the same thick cracked glasses, the same ratty old lab coat that looked far too dirty to be usable in a laboratory setting. Even her crumpled antennae and unkempt neck fur reminded Melissa of Doctor Haber’s wild mane of hair.

The bee scientist flashed a grin. It was the same grin Doctor Haber had whenever she was preparing the class for a dissection in the laboratory.

…Melissa didn’t like the implications of that at all.

“Jryy abj! Lbh’er rira zber snfpvangvat abj gung V’ir tbggra gur punapr gb ybbx ng lbh zlfrys. Pbzr jvgu zr, Melissa. Gurer’f fb zhpu V pna yrnea sebz lbh, V’z pregnva bs vg.”

W-wait! That voice! Your voice sounds like her too! How!?

The bee scientist roughly grabbed Melissa by the arm and quite literally began pulling her of the throne room. Melissa let out several curse-laden words of protest, ones that were echoed by Kabbu in his own bug language. But ultimately, all of those words fell on deaf ears as Melissa was dragged out of the throne room and across the hive.

Eventually, she was brought to what looked like some kind of combination research laboratory and office. To the side there was a desk cluttered with various gadgets and books, as well as sheets of paper seemingly made from leaves. On the far end of the laboratory was what looked like a massive computer monitor, nearly the width of the entire room, and beside the monitor was another large set of steel double-doors.

Kabbu, Leif, and Vi all soon chased after Melissa and the bee scientist into the lab. Within the lab itself there were already another pair of bugs. One of them, a bee in another dirty lab coat carrying a stack of papers. Beside her was a moth, with a brown body and deep grey eyes, carrying a tattered and dog-eared book in his hand.

P-professor Neumann!?

Melissa blinked, trying to make sure she’d seen correctly. This moth was… he was a spitting image of her old anthropology professor. His brown thorax and cream-colored legs looked exactly like the tweed jacket and khakis that Professor Neumann wore. Even the way the moth carried an old book in his hands was exactly like him.

“Bu?” said Kabbu. His eyes lit up as soon as he set them on the moth. “Neo, jung ner lbh qbvat urer?”

The brown moth spoke excitedly. His voice, even without a larynx, somehow managed to sound like Neumann’s. “V jnf fgnlvat va Qrsvnag Ebbg, jura Qbpgbe H.B. vaivgrq zr gb uryc fghql n arj vagryyvtrag fcrpvrf. Vzntvar zl fhecevfr jura fur gbyq zr gung vg jnfa'g n oht ng nyy!” He approached Melissa, curiosity apparent in his eyes as he looked her. “Naq guvf vf bhe fhowrpg, V gnxr vg?”

Okay, that’s really freaky… that’s the second insect I’ve met here that seems just like someone I knew in college. Am I imagining that? Am I just projecting my own life onto these bugs? What is going on?

“Lrf,” said Kabbu. “Ure anzr vf Melissa. Jr’ir abg orra noyr gb svaq bhg zhpu, ohg fur frrzf gb unir orra frcnengrq sebz ure xvaq.”

The brown moth reached out a hand, and offered to shake Melissa’s. “Cyrnfrq gb zrrg lbh, Melissa. Zl anzr vf Cebsrffbe Neolith. Lbh pna pnyy zr Neo.”

“Um… how do you do?” said Melissa, shaking the moth’s hand.

“Lbh’yy unir gb fybj qbja,” said Leif. “Fur qbrfa’g haqrefgnaq Ohtavfu. Jr’ir orra noyr gb pbzzhavpngr jvgu ure va gur ebnpu qvnyrpg, ohg jvgu yvzvgrq fhpprff. Fur qbrfa’g nccrne syhrag va vg rvgure.”

“Bu! Ohg gung zrnaf fur xabjf nobhg gur ebnpu ynathntr, qbrfa'g vg?” said the brown moth. “Bu zl fgnef, gung vf snfpvangvat! Pbhyq fur or pbaarpgrq gb gur ebnpurf va fbzr jnl?”

“V’yy yrg lbh chmmyr bhg gur fbpvb-uvfgbevpny vzcyvpngvbaf yngre,” said the bee scientist. “Sbe abj, yrg’f frr jung jr pna yrnea sebz ure nangbzl, funyy jr?”

The bee who was carrying the papers earlier — the scientist’s assistant, it seemed — brought out a chair and invited Melissa to sit down. Not knowing what else to do, she complied.

The scientist came forward, and began poking and prodding at Melissa’s body. She grabbed Melissa’s arm and felt her skin, squeezing to feel the stiff bone underneath. She poked and prodded at Melissa with various tools, which she seemed to produce directly from her own neck fur. A stethoscope, a flashlight, even a pair of calipers. All throughout, Melissa remained deathly stiff, and her muscles remained tense and ready for action.

Melissa also had to slap away the scientist’s hand when it came just a bit too close grabbing her breast, but she couldn’t bring herself to be mad at a bug for not knowing which human body parts were off limits.

Eventually, the scientist even brought up what looked like an x-ray of Melissa’s own skeleton, displaying it on the computer screen. Most likely taken during that weird scan that Melissa had been put through when she entered the hive.

...For some reason, Vi seemed really agitated at the sight of it. She started panicking and babbling something in her bug language. And whatever it was that was bothering her, it seemed that Kabbu was very bothered by it well. Even Leif, seemingly stoic as ever, had gone slightly stiff.

“Um… Leif?” said Melissa. “What’s going on? Erm… ¿Que pasa?”

“…Nada. No te preocupes.”

There was a brief argument, as Vi exchanged words with the others. Whatever it was she was saying, it seemed to unnerve both the bee scientist, her assistant, and the moth.

“Q-qbrf gung zrna fur’f n zbafgre, gbb?” said the assistant. “Vf fur tbaan tebj ovt naq xvyy hf nyy?”

“Pbzr abj, lbh’er orvat evqvphybhf!” said Kabbu. “Jr’ir ab ernfba gb oryvrir gur erfrzoynapr vf nalguvat zber guna zrer pbvapvqrapr.”

“Gung’f n cerggl uhtr pbvapvqrapr, Kabbu,” Vi said with a frown.

“Rira fgvyy!” Kabbu shot back. “Gurer vf ab ernfba gb oryvrir fur vf n guerng gb nalbar. Jura jr sbhaq ure, fur jnf fpnerq bhg bs ure zvaq. Naq jr'ir fubja ure abguvat ohg xvaqarff fvapr. Jr qba'g rira xabj vs fur'f pncnoyr bs unezvat hf, naq fur unf ab ernfba gb ghea ntnvafg hf.”

The argument continued for some time, eventually reaching a resolution. Melissa couldn’t tell what it was, or what they were arguing about, but scientist eventually muttered something and dismissed the X-ray image on the monitor.

----

“Well, I think I’ve learned as much as I can about her anatomy without doing something wildly unethical,” said Doctor H.B.

“Like that’s ever stopped you,” Vi jabbed. “You’re sure you can’t tell us why her freaky inside skeleton—”

“Endoskeleton,” H.B. corrected.

“Whatever! Are sure you have no idea why it looks like that super ginormous monster in the Giant’s Lair? That’s still really concerning! What are even the implications of that?”

“I don’t know. But that’s what scientific study is for, isn’t it?” said the Doctor. She adjusted her glasses, letting the artificial light reflect off of their grimy and cracked lenses. “I expect the Professor will be able to find out more, once he’s able to inquire about her people’s history. Shame Melissa only has a rudimentary grasp on the roach language. If our fungal friend here could speak with her fluently, I’d bet we could learn so much more.”

“Fungal…” Leif’s eyes suddenly looked like they had nearly popped out of his head, an expression shared with Vi. Kabbu likewise felt like his heart had nearly stopped. “W-wait, how do you know…!?”

“Know what?” said Professor Neolith.

“…Don’t worry about it,” Kabbu answered.

“Oh, we’ll get to that later,” the Doctor said to Leif with a grin. “But right now, you are currently only the second strangest living creature here. So our efforts for the time being will be focused on translating Melissa’s language. Who knows? Maybe I could get her to consent to a vivisection.”

“We highly doubt she would agree to such a thing,” said Leif.

“Yeah. And how long is this translation gonna take anyway?” Vi added.

“Hm… Even with the roach language acting as an intermediary, it could take quite a while,” the Doctor replied thoughtfully. “Especially since I can’t expect Leif to be here with me to translate the entire time. So, I don’t know… Professor Neolith’s assistance would expedite things a bit, but even then it could take more than a year.”

“Ugh! You’ve got to be kidding!” Vi complained. “There’s got to be a faster way!”

“If there was, don’t you think I would have thought of it already?” said Doctor H.B.

“I don’t know!” Vi shot back. “But you’ve built a machine that lets us fight our own memories! How hard can it be to build something that translates a few dumb words?”

Doctor H.B. opened her mouth, then silently closed it again.

“Vi, be patient,” said Kabbu. “Linguistics is a highly complex field of study. I doubt that it’s possible to just—”

“That’s it!” the Doctor shouted. “Vi, you’re a genius!”

“Huh? I am?”

“Of course!” H.B. replied. “Crystals have the innate ability to record mental data, which means they must possess the capacity to connect to Melissa’s mind directly! Thanks to your genius idea, I know exactly what to do to build a translation device!”

Vi’s eyes lit up instantly. “Whoa, thanks! Am I gonna get paid for this?”

“No, but I’ll credit you once I publish my paper.”

“…Boo.”

“That’s academia for you,” said the Doctor through a chuckle. “Now, why don’t you go take Melissa on a tour of the hive or something? I’ll need some time to focus. Come back in an hour and I should have something ready for you.”

“An hour?” said Professor Neolith. “Goodness, you must work fast…”

“It won’t take long. A translation device would be based on the same principles as the B.O.S.S. system. Significantly less complex, actually, since it only needs to read surface-level thought data. Come back later I’ll have a working prototype ready for you.”

“Fair enough,” said Neolith with a shrug, “I admit that crystal engineering is not my area of expertise… though I actually do want to take some time to tour the honey factory, while we’re here. The Hive has such incredible technology!”

“Ugh. Can’t say I miss that place. But I guess it’s better than being trapped there during lockdown,” said Vi. “I’d like to visit Jaune too, though. I haven’t spoken to her in a while.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” said Kabbu. “Thank you for your time, Doctor. We’ll see you later.”

----

Melissa felt gross. That bee scientist, who reminded her so much of her biology professor, had been poking at her for over an hour. Sure, there likely wasn’t any malice involved, but she didn’t like being treated as just some specimen for study.

Thankfully, the bee scientist soon seemed to have grown tired of it, and allowed Melissa the opportunity to leave. She was escorted by Kabbu, Leif, and Vi, as well as that excitable brown moth, out of the laboratory and back into the hive proper. Melissa wasn’t sure where they were planning to take her now, but it seemed like they were intent on showing her around the hive.

As they walked across the central hive chamber, Vi looked up at her. There was a remorseful look in her eye, though Melissa couldn’t guess why.

“Hz, url Melissa,” Vi said. “V’z fbeel sbe fnlvat lbh jrer n zbafgre rneyvre. V xabj lbh’er abg.”

“Um… okay?” Melissa had no idea what Vi had just said, but her words were spoken with a palpable sense of sadness. “Don’t worry, kid, you’re alright.”

Melissa reached down and patted Vi on the head. Vi raised an unintelligible word of protest at the gesture, but ultimately didn’t try to stop her. Kabbu, meanwhile, seemed to grin at the sight of it. Melissa still wasn’t sure how he did that without lips.

The first place the group visited was what looked to be an art studio of some kind. It was attended to by a tall bee, wearing a blue beret of some kind, and…

...I’m sorry, did you have your stinger surgically replaced by a PAINTBRUSH?

Fortunately, the artsy bee didn’t seem to notice Melissa gawking at her… unusual body modification, as she was far too busy gawking at Melissa herself. Vi eagerly skipped up to the other bee, a grin written across her face. There was an excited pitch in Vi’s voice as she spoke to the other bee, and the latter’s look of sheer bewilderment faded away. The two bees pulled each other into a hug.

Aww, those two must be really close.

Vi smiled, and pointed to Melissa, then pointed back to the other bee. “Jaune, Melissa. Melissa, Jaune.”

Melissa felt greatly relieved that Vi hadn’t spoken a full sentence. Names, at least, she could understand. “Um… hi, Jaune?” She blinked, as a sudden epiphany came to her.

“Wait, hold on. Is that French? Do bees speak French? Goddammit, why do you guys speak every human language except English?”

Jaune stared blankly.

“Erm,” said Melissa. “Français?” Argh, shit! I know even less of this than Spanish!

Jaune continued to stare blankly. “V’z fbeel, V qba’g haqrefgnaq…”

“Bu lrnu, fur qbrfa’g fcrnx Ohtavfu,” said Vi. “Jr’er gelvat gb svther bhg ubj gb gnyx gb ure.”

…Ooookay, So I guess she doesn’t speak French after all. Even though she has a French name. God, this place is weird.

Melissa zoned out of the ensuing conversation between the other bugs, and eventually she was escorted out of the studio. She awkwardly gave a single wave goodbye back to Jaune as they left. Jaune could only stare as she went out the door.

----

The next hour or so was spent touring a facility that Melissa could only think to describe as a honey factory.

She’d been led by the group through an opening that led out of the Hive’s interior, and across a bridge that seemed to be fashioned out of another tree branch. Thankfully, Melissa was able to keep her eyes forward and not look down. The bridge led to a large steel door that was carved right into the side of the tree trunk. A bee guard nodded as the group passed by, and pressed a button to open the door and allow them through.

The factory entrance was nothing special, being an entry hall with a gift shop, and several doors leading to various other places. They met with what looked like a bee tour guide, dressed in a blue hard hat, who eventually led them through the main doors into the facility proper.

When Melissa actually saw this factory for herself, she was left utterly dumbstruck.

It was a massive room, filled with pipes and mechanical switches, with viscous streams of honey flowing freely from pipes into ceiling into massive churning vats. There were even robots seen milling about the factory, some of them looking like little bees made out of chrome plating that flew around the airspace, and others looking like tiny bug cars skittering about on four wheels on the floor.

How… how do you make honey in a factory? That makes no goddamned sense.

The tour guide led them through various rooms of the factory, each somehow even more impressive than the last. Areas filled with towering vats, large reservoirs, and conveyor belts that carried globs of honey to parts unknown. Vi, Kabbu, and Leif seemed mostly uninterested in taking in the sights, as though they had seen it all before. But the brown moth, on the other hand, seemed very eager to take it all in.

I’ll admit, it is pretty impressive.

There were many areas that seemed completely inaccessible, and could only be accessed by platforms that hovered in the air through unknown means. Given that bees possessed the ability to fly, they likely didn’t need to have all of the factory’s paths be walkable. Eventually, when they reached a point where they could no longer continue, the tour guide doubled back, and they made their way back to the entrance. The group bid the guide goodbye as they exited the factory, and entered back into the Hive proper. Still, the sights of the factory lingered heavily on Melissa’s mind. It really was like nothing she’d ever seen before.

Jeez… how do these bees even manage to build anything this advanced? I don’t even think humans had this kind of technology.

Eventually, Melissa was led by the others back into the laboratory of the bee scientist. She wasn’t eager to go back there again. But everyone seemed tired, and she knew that she was tired, and she wasn’t going to argue the point.

The bee scientists seemed much more exited than usual, when they returned. She started babbling on to the others about… something. Even her frazzled assistant was beaming. It didn’t take long for Melissa to realize that something big was happening here.

Melissa felt her stomach tense. The scientist walked up to her, and Melissa noticed that she was carrying…

“A bracelet?”

It was a simple orange cuff wristband, fashioned out of some unknown metal. Embedded in its center was a hexagonal blue crystal, which glowed with the same faint light that Melissa had seen from all the other strange crystals.

“Urer,” said the scientist. “Chg vg ba.” She held the bracelet out towards Melissa, and looked at her expectantly.

“Um… you want me to put this on? Okay.”

Trepidation tingled through Melissa’s spine as she reached out and grabbed the bracelet. Something about this otherwise plain-looking accessory was important. But what it was, she had no idea. Slowly, Melissa slipped the band around her right wrist…

…And immediately cried out, as an intense pain shot straight through the center of her brain. She clutched at her forehead reflexively, and let out a sharp yell.

“Fuck!”

“Melissa! Language!” Kabbu cried out in horror.

Melissa’s attention was suddenly and forcefully seized away from the pain. Her head still had a dull ache, but that no longer mattered. All around her, she could see the other bugs staring at her expectantly.

“W-wait… Kabbu, did you just…?”

Vi snickered. “You gotta admit, it’s kinda funny that’s the first word she said to us.”

Chapter Text

Tabloid footprints in your hair
Tabloid footprints everywhere
We can't be silent
‘Cause they might be giants
And what are we going to do unless they are?

— They Might Be Giants

Melissa stared, mesmerized at the sight of the device strapped across her wrist. She’d learned a few important things about the new faces who had taken such an interest in her. The honeybee with the lab coat was named Doctor H.B., her assistant was called Crow, and the brown moth was known as Professor Neolith.

Even their names are similar to my college professors… but what exactly does that mean? Could it really just be coincidence?

“So… this bracelet thing. It translates our words for us?”

“That’s correct,” said Doctor H.B. “The Automated Translation Matrix Prototype, or A.T.M.P., uses mental data transcription to read the thoughts that correspond to spoken words, and project them into the minds of those you speak to. It works both ways, so that means you’ll understand us, and we’ll understand you.”

“Huh,” said Melissa. “So it’s basically telepathy, then? I can hear that your words are like… bug words. I physically hear it as your own language. But my brain… my mind interprets it as English. It’s like I understand you without understanding you.” It probably says something that this isn’t even strange to me at this point.

“It may take some getting used to,” said H.B. “But I would avoid ever taking it off, as it could mess up the calibration.”

“…Right. And it won’t reveal any thoughts that I don’t say out loud, right? And what if I need to bathe?”

“Don’t worry, it’s quite thoroughly waterproofed. And spoken thoughts have distinct mental data from unspoken ones, so it shouldn’t mistake the two. Just don’t damage the crystal and it’ll be fine.” The old bee flashed a very nasty-looking grin. “Now then, since we’ve established mutual intelligibility, the important part is that you can now consent.”

Melissa felt all of the blood instantly drain from her face. “W-what!?”

“To a vivisection,” H.B. elaborated. “I’m talking about vivisecting you.”

“…Oh,” said Melissa, breathing a sigh of relief. “Wait a minute, that’s even worse! I’m not gonna let you cut me open, you freak!”

Doctor H.B. frowned. “Well, there goes another one-of-a-kind opportunity… Just let me know if you ever change your mind.”

“Doctor, maybe you should ease up on the unnecessary surgery?” said Neolith. “If we want Melissa to answer our questions, we should probably avoid making her uncomfortable…”

“Too late for that,” Melissa deadpanned. “But sure, I’ll answer any questions you have. Not like I have anything better to do right now.”

“Hey, I’ve got one,” said Vi. “How come your weird skeleton looks like…”

Before Vi could finish, Kabbu pulled her to the side, and spoke something to her that Melissa couldn’t hear.

“Vi, perhaps we should avoid telling her about that giant dead lander. I have a feeling she won’t take the comparison well.”

“My skeleton looks like what?”

“…um… I forgot what I was gonna ask,” said Vi. “Sorry.”

Well, that’s not suspicious at all. “Fine. Anything else?”

“Well, I have a few questions about your physiology,” said H.B. “I was able to deduce a few things from my examination, but there’s still quite a lot that eludes me.” She reached into her neck fluff, and pulled out a clipboard and a fountain pen.

How does she even fit that in there?

“Now, then. Let’s start with your respiratory system. Since you don’t have any abdomen, I’d assumed your spiracles were located somewhere else. Would I be right to assume that they’re the openings on the sides of your head?”

“Okay, wow, that’s way wrong,” said Melissa. “No, those are my ears. They’re, um. You can think of them as tympanal organs. They’re what I use for hearing. They’re technically connected to my trachea, but that’s only to help stabilize the air pressure inside them. I can’t actually breathe through them.”

The Doctor furiously began scribbling notes on her clipboard. “Ah! Fascinating! So then your actual trachea would be…?”

“In my throat,” said Melissa. “I mostly breathe through my nose, which is the olfactory organ.” She pointed at her nose to demonstrate. “The two holes in it are called nostrils. I can also breathe through my mouth, which is how I speak. There’s an organ in my throat called a larynx, which can vibrate to make sound as I exhale.”

“I see, I see. That never even occurred to me,” said the Doctor. “That would explain why your speech sounds so unusual. And then the air is then transported to your tissues via the tracheae?”

“Um, no. The air is stored in a pair of organs in my chest cavity called lungs. I only have one trachea, and it connects to the lungs.”

The Doctor’s mouth opened for a moment. “L-lungs? Like a spider?”

“Kinda,” said Melissa. “Arachnid book lungs are different, though. Mine are, um… instead of being folds of air pockets, they’re made of millions of microscopic air sacs. And from there, they connect to my circulatory system.”

“The circulatory system?” said the Doctor. “That sounds extremely unusual. What would the purpose of that be?”

“Oh, um… right. Okay, the thing you have to know is that I actually have a closed circulatory system, not an open one like yours. Do you know what that is?”

“Like an earthworm, you mean?”

“Yeah, kinda,” said Melissa. “Except I only have one heart. For an insect like you, oxygen exchange with your body tissues is done by the respiratory system, while nutrients and hormones are carried by hemolymph. But my, um… blood is responsible for both. My respiratory system doesn’t perform oxygen exchange with my body. It just carries my oxygen to the circulatory system, and removes carbon dioxide from it. Then the blood does the rest. I, um… think it’s more efficient that way, but also a lot more energy intensive. Don’t quote me on that, though.”

Doctor H.B. began furiously writing down on her own notebook, her eyes squinting in concentration. Her note-taking was so intense and focused that it looked like she was going to burn straight through the paper with the friction of her pen.

“Uh…” Vi idly scratched at the back of her head. “Okay, am I alone in not understanding literally any of this?”

“Probably not,” said Leif.

Once she finished taking down her notes, Doctor H.B. looked them over again, flipping back and forth through the pages. “This is… Hm… Oh my… No, that can’t be right…”

“Something the matter?” said Melissa.

“No, no, it’s fine. Crow, I need your help. Take this data set and run it through the computer.”

H.B. tore off a page from her clipboard, and handed it to Crow. With a silent nod, Crow ran to the computer at the far end of the room, and began furiously typing something on the keyboard. Even with the translator bracelet, Melissa still couldn’t understand written bug language, and could only guess what could be happening there.

Professor Neolith gave a light chuckle. “Impressive. I’ve never seen anyone capture the Doctor’s attention this strongly. You have a very keen mind for science, Melissa.”

“Hey, don’t mention it,” said Melissa. “I’m a bit of a biology nerd myself. Um, actually, I had a few questions to ask. What’s your field of study, Professor? I have a feeling you might be just the person I want to answer them.”

“Oh! Well, I’m glad you asked. As it happens, I’m a professor of arthropology at the Ant University. For a time I was the personal science advisor to Queen Elizant II.”

‘Arthroplogy?’ ‘Queen Elizant?’ Oh Jesus Christ I’m in a world of bug puns.

“Oh, uh… good,” said Melissa. “That means you’re just the kind of person I want to ask. Um… first off, do you know the name of my species?”

“Yes, I believe so. Leif told Doctor H.B. that it was ‘humanos.’ Is that right?”

“Kind of,” said Melissa. “That’s the Spanish word for ‘human.’ The language I’m speaking right now is called English, and it’s one of many human languages.”

“Spanish?” said the Professor. “That’s what you call the roach language, I assume.”

“We thought you called it Español,” Leif added.

“Um, kinda. Español means Spanish in Spanish. I guess this bracelet doesn’t really translate proper names.” Though if it did, ‘Melissa’ would probably sound just a bit odd to you… “Anyway, what I’m wondering is, why the hell do roaches speak Spanish? Seriously, where does that even come from?”

Neolith stared at Melissa for a moment. “Oh dear… you don’t know either? That’s actually one of the questions I wanted to ask you. I suppose that’s yet another mystery of the ancient roaches we’ve yet to solve…”

Melissa blinked. “Wait, ancient?”

“Indeed. The roaches were the first bugs to build a civilization of their own,” the Professor exposited. “Even compared to most modern technology, their creations were highly advanced. But something eventually caused their civilization to decline. Their population had been sharply dropping for many generations, until most of their settlements vanished a generation ago.”

“Geez,” said Melissa. “Sounds rough. What do you think caused that?”

“Well, there are a few competing theories,” said Neolith. “But the most commonly accepted is that it was some sort of fertility crisis, possibly as a result of overuse of crystal magic.”

“Crystal…” Melissa’s body tensed as a sudden epiphany struck her in the face. “Wait! You’re not saying this translation bracelet thing is gonna make me sterile, are you?”

“Probably not,” said H.B. “If simply being near a crystal was enough to sterilize someone, every bug in Bugaria would be infertile. Why, were you planning on having children?”

Melissa was about to open her mouth to object, but quickly quieted herself when another important realization came to her.

Right. I… I would need another human for that.

And I…

…I don’t know if…

…if…

Melissa quickly and brutally crushed that thought, before it could lead her any further towards where it was heading. “No, definitely not. Still, it’s… it’s really weird that the roaches spoke a human language, right?”

“I’m as baffled by it as you are, believe me,” said Neolith. “I highly doubt that any of the living roaches today would know either. I’ve interviewed quite a few of them, and they know shockingly little of their forebears. I have a feeling I’ll be trying to find an answer to that for many years.”

“Um… right. Makes sense,” said Melissa. Anxiety began to clutch at her chest, leaving her feeling short of breath. “But that basically proves that the roaches had some connection to humans, right? What do you know about us? Is… is there anything you know about our culture? Our history? That’s what you study, right?”

“Oh. Well, yes,” said Neolith. “But I’m not sure why I would know anything about humans. As far as everyone is concerned, you’re the first human anyone has ever seen.”

“But… but that can’t be true!” said Melissa. Her breathing was beginning to quicken. She had to keep running from the inexorable conclusion, had to keep looking for a way out of it. “You don’t understand! There’s evidence of humans everywhere here! How could you have missed it? How would you not know?”

A tense stillness hung over the room. “…I’m sorry Melissa,” said Neolith, “but I just don’t know of any such evidence. Your kind are entirely new to us. I don’t know what else to say.”

“Melissa,” Kabbu chimed in, “perhaps you should explain what sort of evidence you mean. Neo is quite the accomplished scholar of ancient relics. If you elaborated, I’m sure it would jog his memory.”

“You’ve seen it too,” Melissa said glumly. “In that town in front of the Ant Castle. There’s entire houses there built out of stuff that humans left behind. And… and beneath this hive, at the base of the tree, there’s a desert. But that desert isn’t a desert! It’s a sandbox!”

“A… sandbox?” said Neolith.

“Yes!” Melissa repeated. “A sandbox! A big box that you fill with sand, so that human children can play in it! Don’t you get it!? Literally everything I’ve seen here is in single human’s back yard!”

Melissa could feel the weight of everyone else’s stares grow heavier by the moment. Words failed, and the room was left with only their absence. Melissa could hear the sound of her own breath, thick and heavy.

“Um… Melissa,” Vi finally spoke up. “No offense, but that’s literally impossible.”

“No it isn’t!” Melissa blurted. Her body trembled with desperation, confusion, and panic. She’d tried to avoid letting her mind to this place, but after everything there was nowhere left for it to go. “You just don’t understand how tiny you are! Oh God, everything’s so big now! Everything’s big because I’m small now, and I don’t know why! None of it makes sense! What’s happened to me!? What’s happened to my species!? Please, I just want it to make sense…”

Silence once again hung over the room, save for the sound of Melissa’s own breathing. The corners of her eyes were raw and wet with unshed tears, while a horrible clenching sensation tore up the inside of her chest.

The Professor’s lips pursed tightly. There was a deep pool of sympathy evident in his eyes.

The computer at the end of the room suddenly let out a beep. A robotic voice began to emanate from its speakers.

“CALCULATION COMPLETE. DISPLAYING SIZE NECESSARY FOR ORGANISM OF DESCRIBED ORGAN SYSTEMS.”

Melissa’s eyes went wide. “Wait, what?”

“APPROXIMATE SPECIMEN HEIGHT: ONE THOUSAND, SIX HUNDRED, AND FIFTY ONE MILLIMETERS. APPROXIMATE SPECIMEN WEIGHT: SIXTY EIGHT POINT FIVE MILLION MILLIGRAMS.”

All at once, the entire room froze, as if locked in stasis. Every single bug present was near-catatonic, staring at her like they had seen a ghost.

“Um… s-sorry, Doctor. I’ll enter the calculations again,” said Crow. “There’s no way that can be right. Right? Right? Oh Goddesses please tell me it isn’t right.”

“…no. It’s correct.” Melissa exhaled, a feat made many times more difficult by the thick and soupy fog of anxiety drowning out her lungs. “I… I used to be bigger. Thousands of times bigger. Big enough that any single one of you could fit on just the tip of my finger. I… was at my college campus, minding my own business, when…”

Melissa could barely hold on any longer. Tears began to pool at the corners of her eyes. She felt sick to her stomach, as well as everywhere else.

“…w-when I saw the world end. One moment it was peaceful, and the next, I… I saw sky was on fire. And… and then the fire rained down, and I was certain I was dead, but instead I ended up here. A-And somehow, I… I was shrunk to the size of a bug, and then the actual bugs come up to me and tell me they’ve never seen a human before! I don’t understand it! I don’t understand anything! Please, one of you has to know something! I-I just want to know! Why? Why has this happened to me…?”

The room remained quiet, save for the sounds of Melissa’s own heavy breathing. She could feel the intensity of everyone’s stares bearing down on her, crushing her beneath their weight.

“I… I don’t believe it,” Neolith said breathlessly. Almost all of the color had drained from his face, leaving him deathly pale. “You… you saw the Day of Awakening. You… you’re a Giant.”

“A… a what?” said Melissa. “Then… you have heard of us? And… And what’s the Day of Awakening?”

“The day that bugs became people,” said the Professor. “No one knows how it happened, or why. But it expanded our minds, and transformed our bodies. It gave us the ability to walk, and talk, and… build civilizations. What you just told us, about fire raining from the sky… that’s how many of the roach texts describe that day. The Day of Awakening was known to them as the Day of Reckoning.”

“Day of… Reckoning?” said Melissa. “So the world… i-it did end?”

“No one’s ever found any evidence that such a great cataclysm occurred,” said the Professor gravely. “No craters, no damage to the earth, no blasted ruins. But your testimony, it… it all but completely matches the story. That fateful day, as described by the roaches… it’s said that all creatures were wiped out, save for bugs and a few other beasts. And the Giants, the former rulers of this land, vanished from the world entirely.”

“V… v-vanished?”

“There’s no other way for me to put it,” said Neolith, shaking his head. “If what you’re saying is true, then… your species is very likely extinct. You’re almost certainly the last human alive.”

Melissa felt a great, yawning abyss open up deep inside of her heart. “When… when did this happen? How long ago?”

“Again, no one knows,” said the Professor. “Records from the era immediately following the Awakening are functionally nonexistent. But we estimate that it was anywhere between eight hundred and two thousand years ago.”

“Then… then everyone I know has been dead for… for centuries?”

Melissa couldn’t hold it back anymore. This was the inevitable conclusion, the only place she could have arrived from where she had been. And all at once, everything that she had been holding in came bursting out.

There were no more words to express herself with now. Tears flowed from her eyes without restraint, and she buried her face in a shrieking, sputtering sob. It was impossible to say how long she cried, but the sounds of her sobbing drowned out anything else, and by the end her face and throat were left burning and raw.

Melissa shivered, and hiccuped slightly. There was a slight tug at her sleeve, and when she looked up, she saw Vi gazing at her with deep, compassionate eyes.

“Um… hey. You need a hug?”

“Vi? What are you…?”

“Well, I’m super cute, and I’ve got really soft fur. And, um… you seem like you kinda need a hug right now. Want one?”

“…Yeah. Sure.”

Without any further thought, Melissa pulled Vi into a hug, while Vi eagerly returned the embrace. The young bee’s carapace was as stiff as Melissa expected, and she didn’t quite have the warmth of another human’s touch.

But… there was something there, regardless. Something that began to close the yawning abyss in Melissa’s heart. Melissa held tightly, holding onto that soothing feeling for as long as she could. It wasn’t enough to remove the anguish, but it was a start.

Melissa eventually pulled away, but Vi showed no signs of unwrapping her arms around Melissa’s waist.

“Um… Vi? You can let go now.”

“Hmm? Oh, sorry.” Vi pulled away, bearing a wide grin. “Gosh, you’re really soft, you know that? Maybe you should start charging for hugs. I bet other bugs would pay a ton!”

Melissa couldn’t help but laugh, however subtly. “Yeah. I… guess that’s the benefit of not having an exoskeleton.” It still hurt inside, and she wouldn’t pretend it didn’t. But despite that, she’d found someone she might consider a friend. And the other two she’d met just yesterday… Kabbu and Leif had both come to her side, standing right before her. Maybe they could be her friends, too.

“I could not possibly fathom losing as much as you have,” said Kabbu. “But you don’t have to grieve alone.”

“We are here for you,” said Leif. “All of us.”

“Yeah… thanks, guys,” said Melissa.

Melissa wasn’t sure how much she meant it. She wasn’t sure if she could be thankful, after losing everything. She wasn’t sure if these new friends would be enough to mend the open wound that was left within her soul.

But, at the very least, it was worth a try.

Chapter Text

And nothing’s smelling like a rose
But I don’t care if no one’s coming up for air
I know nothing’s gonna change my clothes
Ever anymore

— They Might Be Giants

Shortly after discovering just what she was, both of the bug researchers left the laboratory to speak with the Queen. Melissa couldn’t help but wonder just what it was that she would even say.

“There’s no need to worry,” Kabbu tried to reassure her. “Queen Bianca is a kind and gentle soul.”

She could only hope that Kabbu was right.

After what seemed like an agonizing wait, eventually two of the bee guards came in, and escorted Melissa and her companion back to the throne room. Nothing about the room itself had changed, yet at the same time she felt that everything had changed.

At the prompting of one of the guards, Melissa stepped forward, and approached the Queen. She wasn’t sure if the anxiety she felt was trepidation or… another thing that she didn’t want to think about.

“Um… hi, Your Majesty.”

“Hello again, Melissa,” said Bianca. “It’s wonderful to finally be able to speak with you. And I must say, never in my life did I expect I would ever meet one of the mythical Giants in person.”

Melissa laughed nervously. “I’m… not exactly sure if I count as giant anymore, Your Majesty. And trust me when I say this is much weirder for me than it is for you.”

“I understand,” said Queen Bianca. “I want you to know that you have my deepest sympathies. You have suffered such a profound tragedy, far greater than any bug I have ever met.” The Queen walked up to Melissa, and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. “If there is ever anything I can do to help you heal, I will be happy to provide. And I will permit you to stay in my Hive for as long as you desire.”

Melissa could feel her heart rate increasing. Her face suddenly became unbearably hot. Holy shit she’s touching me holy shit holy shit holy shit

“Um… t-th-thanks, Your Majesty. I’ll… I’ll think about it.”

“You are quite welcome,” said the Queen. “You are free to go now.”

“Yeah, sure. I’ll… I’ll go. Bye.”

Melissa hurriedly turned around, and made her way to the door. As she did though, Queen Bianca called out to her.

“Oh, Melissa? There is one more thing I wish to say to you.”

Melissa turned around. “Y-yeah?”

“I’m flattered that you find me so attractive. But I think you already know that I’m not in a position to reciprocate your feelings.”

“What!?” Melissa forced out a nervous laugh. “I-I mean, I have no idea what you’re talking about! Really!”

“There’s no need to lie, dear,” Bianca said with a smile. “Your heart isn’t exactly hard to read. But don’t worry, there are plenty of other bugs out there. I’m sure you’ll find yourself a wonderful partner someday.”

Melissa buried her face in her hands. Why didn’t I just fucking die when the world ended. Why am I alive.

“Um, Queen?” said Vi. “Can we leave now? No offense, but this making me super uncomfortable.”

“YeahIagreeseeyouyourmajestyBYE.”

Melissa bolted out the door so fast that she nearly bowled over the guard stationed by it. She didn’t even think to look back.

----

Once that scene was over, Melissa was quickly joined in the central Hive chamber by Kabbu, Leif, and Vi.

“So,” said Leif, “about your feelings for Queen Bianca.”

Melissa groaned. “Christ, Leif, you too? It’s not happening! She said so herself!”

“No, we mean to say you shouldn’t be ashamed of them,” said Leif. “Bianca’s beauty is quite famous in Bugaria.”

“…You mean everyone thinks she’s a QILF,” Vi scoffed.

Somehow, despite lacking any lungs, Kabbu broke into a brief fit of sputtering coughs. “Vi! Where on Earth did you learn to say such things?”

“Kabbu, how naive do you think I am? I’m not a kid.”

“You are sixteen!”

Melissa pressed her fingers to her temples. “Look, can you guys argue about that some other time? I really don’t want to think about… that.”

“That’s exactly what we’re concerned about,” said Leif. “Why are you so ashamed of acknowledging your own feelings? That can’t be healthy.”

“Because it’s weird, okay? We’re not even remotely close to the same species!”

Leif raised an eyebrow. “So? Why does that matter?”

Melissa paused. Her thought process tripped over itself trying to fully parse what Leif was implying.

“Um… right. Okay. I’m… guessing interspecies relationships aren’t really uncommon for bugs here. Is that right?”

“Not at all,” said Leif. “Were they unusual for humans?”

“Not just unusual. Completely unheard of,” Melissa explained. “Humans were the only sapient species when they were around. It was flat-out impossible to enter a consenting relationship with anything that wasn’t human.”

“Oh dear,” said Kabbu. “That sounds awfully lonely.”

“Um… not really?” Melissa exhaled a heavy puff of air. “I… just don’t know how to parse having feelings for something that’s not human. It feels wrong on such a fundamental level. Even though I guess it isn’t, since you’re all people too.”

…Oh God, does this make me a furry?

“It sounds like your life was quite different from ours,” said Leif.

“Yeah, I guess. You guys are so different from humans, and it only makes it all the ways you’re the same even weirder. I dunno if I’ll ever get used to this.”

“Why don’t we go hang out somewhere and talk about it?” said Vi. “Um… not about you wanting to fuck the Queen, I mean. Anything but that.”

Melissa buried her face in her hands again, and let out a prolonged groan. “Please just fucking kill me already.”

----

The four eventually made their way to a public area, located on a branch to the side of the hive. Melissa tried very hard not to look down, or to think about what she was seeing from a bird’s eye view of the Bee Kingdom. In the distance she was fairly certain she could see a human-sized house, a fact that she tried very hard not to dwell on.

The group sat down on a small picnic table, where they made themselves comfortable. Melissa looked over the rest of them.

“I gotta say, it’s nice to get to finally meet you all for real,” said Melissa. “As you can imagine, I have a lot of questions.”

“Likewise,” said Leif. “It’s not every day we get to meet a mythical being.”

“Yeah…” Melissa idly combed through her hair with her fingers. “So, um. First of all. What exactly is the insect life cycle like now? I heard Vi mention she was sixteen, but like… what does that mean, exactly? She’s obviously an imago, but I’ve no idea what that entails in this context.”

“I’m a what?” said Vi.

“An imago,” Melissa repeated. “It’s, um. The final stage of an insect’s development. Basically one that’s finished their metamorphosis. What I’m wondering is when a bug’s considered an adult here.”

Vi opened her mouth to answer, but was beaten to it by Leif.

“That depends on what you mean. Physically speaking, any bug that’s pupated is an adult. Usually that only takes a few moons. But socially speaking, we’re not considered adults until eighteen years of age.”

Vi crossed her arms. “Well screw you too, I guess.”

“There’s no shame in being young, Vi,” said Kabbu. “You should appreciate your youth while you still can.”

“You know I don’t like being treated as a kid! I’m mature for my age!”

…I think if you feel like you have to SAY that, you already aren’t.

“Um, right,” said Melissa. “Anyway, it’s interesting that you say eighteen is the age of adulthood, because it’s actually the same for humans.” She paused thoughtfully for a moment. “Although… I’m not sure if you measure years the same way, since you seem to use a lunar calendar instead of a solar one. How many months are in a year for you? Or, um… moons, I guess you call them.”

“Twelve,” said Leif.

“Gotcha. So that means your years are roughly the same as human years,” said Melissa. “Definitely not exactly though, since solar calendars are different. The main human calendar wasn’t based on moon cycles, it was based on the amount of time it took for the Earth to revolve around the sun.”

“Wait, the Earth revolves around the sun?” said Vi. “I thought it was the other way around.”

“Um… yeah. I guess your astronomy hasn’t quite figured that out yet, but the sun is basically a giant mass of hydrogen. More than a million times as big as Earth, I think. And it’s so big that it pulls the Earth into orbit around it.”

A catchy song from Melissa’s childhood played in her head. The sun is a mass of incandescent gas, sang the voice of John Flansburgh.

“Wow,” said Vi. “And you based your calendar on that?”

“Kinda? I think it was originally based on the sun’s position relative to the stars. But yeah, it takes roughly three hundred and sixty-five days for the Earth to make one trip around the sun. So for us, a year is that many days, split into twelve months.”

“But that number isn’t divisible by twelve,” said Leif. “Unless your version of arithmetic is different from ours, too.”

“Nah, some months just have more days than others. There’s an old children’s rhyme for it: ‘Thirty days has September, April, June, and November. All the rest have thirty-one. Except for February, all alone.’”

“Feb-yew-ary?” said Vi. She seemed to have extreme difficulty pronouncing the word.

“Yeah, February's the weird one. It usually only has twenty-eight days. Except on a leap year, which happens once every four years. On those we add another extra day to February, since, um... there’s technically three hundred sixty five and a quarter days in a solar year.”

“Jeez,” said Vi. “Why would you even make your calendar so complicated? Wouldn’t moon phases be way easier to measure?”

Melissa gave a shrug. “Honestly, I don’t even know. That calendar was used for hundreds of years before I was even born. Point is, you seem to age way closer to humans now that you’re people. Is it right to say you live for about seventy years nowadays?”

“It would certainly depend on the circumstances, but yes,” said Kabbu. “Though I believe the queens of social species are far longer-lived. Bianca founded this kingdom over two hundred years ago, and it doesn’t seem like she’s much older today.”

Melissa blinked rapidly. “Wow. Um… okay. Yeah, no human has ever lived anywhere close to that long. It’s pretty rare for anyone to make it to a hundred.” Guess that only further shows that Queen Bianca was way out of my league…

“I see,” said Kabbu. “Strange that your lifespans are so similar to ours now. Based on the old tales, I would have assumed that the Giants lived for centuries, if not millennia.”

“No, definitely not,” Melissa said. “If I wasn’t catapulted forward in time somehow, I’d be dead a dozen times over. And… I guess everyone I knew would be, too. Even if they hadn’t all been killed.”

The thought of the fiery cataclysm she’d survived was once again brought to the forefront of Melissa’s mind. She tried to push it away, tried to push down the returning sickness in her heart, but none of it worked.

“I… I’m going to miss them all so much,” Melissa sighed. “My mom and dad, my professors, all of my college roommates… But I think I’m gonna miss Kelly most of all.”

“Who’s that?” said Vi.

“She was my best friend growing up,” said Melissa. “We always were really close. Even dated each other once in high school. Never quite worked out as a relationship, but we remained friends. We decided to go to the same college… though I guess that’s partly because the state college was cheaper for both of us.”

“She sounds like a wonderful friend,” said Kabbu. “What was she like?”

“She was… nice. A bit shy at first glance, but she was pretty outgoing once she got comfortable. Really athletic, too. Was on the track and field team in high school, and even took up javelin throwing. Also had an older brother named Mark who she practically couldn’t live without. You should have seen Kelly the day he left for college; I had to stop her from literally tearing out her own hair in worry.”

Melissa chuckled silently as she remembered desperately trying to soothe her friend’s anxiety on that day. Her smile faded away, once the reality of her current situation caught up with her. Her stomach twisted again, leaving a persistent ache in the center of her gut. The initial shock and despair of her situation had faded, and now there was only a dull sorrow that ate away at the inside of her soul.

“She’s really gone though, huh? I used to say we were best friends forever as a kid. I guess ‘forever’ ended a lot sooner than I thought…”

Kabbu reached across the table, and rested a hand against Melissa’s. Through his fierce-looking horn and hardened mouthparts, his face showed a gentleness that was matched by his touch. “…I am so sorry for your loss. You have our deepest condolences.”

“I… I know,” said Melissa. “I’m… I’m glad you’re all here to help me process this. I… I guess I’ll just have to get used to her not being around anymore. Or anyone else I knew…” Melissa sighed. “God, it’s even worse than that, though, isn’t it? From the sound of it, it wasn’t just humans that were destroyed in that cataclysm. It was all the vertebrates too. No bats, or birds, or cats, or frogs, or snakes…”

“Whoa! Hold on a second!” Vi interjected. “D-did you just say snakes!?”

“Yeah,” said Melissa. She blinked, as a sudden epiphany occurred to her. When Vi said ‘snakes,’ it didn’t sound like a transliteration of the English word. She had spoken the bug word for it. “Wait! Wait a second! You’ve heard of snakes!?”

“No! No one has! That’s exactly what makes it so weird!”

“Um,” said Melissa. “Sorry, you lost me. Just what are you talking about?”

“The three of us are known collectively as Team Snakemouth,” Leif explained. “We were the first adventurers to brave the ruin known as Snakemouth Den, and return alive. But no one has ever known what a ‘snake’ is.”

“Wait, but then why was it called that?”

“If I had to guess, the Den’s name was inherited from the roaches who once inhabited it,” said Kabbu. “No idea how they had heard of snakes, though…”

“We could probably ask a roach, next time we see one of them,” said Leif.

“Would they even know?” said Kabbu. “Their village was entirely isolated from the other settlements when they collapsed. And they all seem to know very little of their ancestors.”

“Ugh. Figures,” Melissa complained. “Everything about these ancient roaches just raises more questions. I’m almost certain at this point that they knew something about humans, but hell if I know how.”

“Yeah, roaches are mysterious, we know,” said Vi. “What I wanna know is, what’s a snake? We’ve been calling ourselves Team Snakemouth for a whole year and nobody even knows what that means!”

“Um. Oh boy,” said Melissa. “It’s gonna be hard to fully explain that without doing a whole lesson on taxonomy. But, um… snakes are a kind of vertebrate. Basically animals who have endoskeletons, like mine. Most of them were many times larger than bugs, though there were a couple exceptions. And… snakes were a kind of vertebrate called a reptile, who had rigid scales that grew out of their skin, and were mostly ectothermic… I think. There’s been a bunch of taxonomic shifts lately thanks to dinosaurs and such, so I’m not sure about the ectotherm part.”

“Hey, slow down with the egghead talk,” Vi protested. “I can’t understand that stuff!”

“Right. Right. Sorry,” said Melissa. “I, um. Biology’s kind of my thing. Anyway, snakes are… were basically long, legless, predatory vertebrates. They had scales covering their skin, which they periodically shed by molting. They also typically swallowed their prey whole. Some of them had venomous fangs for hunting, while others killed their prey by wrapping around and squeezing it to death.”

Vi’s face had suddenly become noticeably pale. “And… and they ate bugs?”

“A few of them, probably. But most of them actually ate other vertebrates. So… either they ate herbivorous vertebrates, or they ate vertebrates who ate bugs. Or vertebrates who ate vertebrates who ate bugs. Insectivores were often pretty low on the food chain themselves.”

There was a lull in the conversation, as Team Snakemouth all took the time to stare at Melissa wordlessly.

“Venus’s breath,” said Kabbu. “You make it sound like we were near defenseless, before the Awakening. Was the world truly so hostile to us?”

…wait, did he say Venus? The Roman deity? My bracelet must have mistranslated, that can’t be right.

Melissa put that question out of her mind, for now. “I mean… I wouldn’t say defenseless, but… you weren’t exactly on top of the hierarchy, either. Insects… arthropods in general, really. They made up the vast majority of animal life on Earth, so… almost inevitably, that meant they’d have to be near the bottom of the food chain. A lot of bugs eventually ended up evolving some way to deal with that. Like, um. You, Vi.”

“Me?”

“Just to use your species as an example. You know how bees like you are yellow and black? And some wasp species, too?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“That’s actually a warning,” said Melissa. “It’s called aposematism, and it’s meant to tell potential predators, ‘hey, I have a stinger, don’t touch me.’”

“Huh. I never knew that. And I guess that’s what my stinger’s for too, right?”

“Yup,” said Melissa. “Basically a natural weapon to help defend your hive. Even larger vertebrates would steer clear of bees most of the time, to avoid getting stung.”

“Wow! That’s awesome!” Vi said excitedly. “We don’t ever use them since we can just make real weapons now. But it must be pretty effective if it can scare off something big, right?”

“Yeah, but um…” Melissa winced, when it dawned on her what crucial piece of information Vi was missing. “…oh. Oh jeez. You don’t know, do you?”

“Know what?”

“Your stinger,” Melissa elaborated. “It’s good at what it does, but there’s, um. A catch.”

Vi blinked. Her excited grin vanished instantly. “Oh no, I don’t like the sound of that.”

“You shouldn’t. You know how your stinger is serrated? Like it has a jagged edge?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Well, um.” said Melissa. “See, that jagged edge means you can only safely sting other bugs with it. Only things that have a hard exoskeleton. But if you try stinging something with skin, like a human, it… gets stuck.”

“Oh,” said Vi. “Well, that’s not so bad. I can just pull it out, right?”

“No! If you do that, you’ll die!”

Vi looked as though she had just been slapped directly across the face. Her eyes, which already took up the majority of the space in her head, seemed to grow even larger.

“D-d-d-d-die!?”

Melissa nodded. “Yeah. The way it works is that, if you sting a vertebrate… your stinger will get dislodged, and it’ll be, um… ripped out, along with your venom gland. The gland will continue pumping venom into the wound even after it’s removed from your body. But you, um… you won’t survive.”

A thick silence hung over the table. Vi stared blankly. Her entire body had gone rigid, and her antennae were now standing nearly on end.

“That’s… that’s horrible! Why? Why would anyone use their stinger, then?”

“Um. I… don’t really know a lot about what they would have been thinking, before the Awakening,” said Melissa. “But it’s likely that most bees saw their own lives as expendable. For the species to continue, only the queen and drones needed to survive, so… the worker bees mostly just did whatever the hive needed them to do. And, um… sometimes that meant throwing their own lives away to deal with a threat.”

Vi’s antennae drooped. She turned her eyes away, avoiding contact with Melissa’s. “So, that’s all I’d ever be, then. If bugs didn’t become smart like you. Just some cog in the machine.”

“Vi, wait,” Melissa hurriedly cut in. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to imply—”

“Yeah, yeah, I know you didn’t mean anything. Just drop it. I don’t wanna think about it.”

Another sigh escaped from Melissa’s lips. She’d been doing that a lot, lately. “I… guess it is kinda existentially terrifying, huh? Knowing that if it weren’t for some freak cosmic accident, you wouldn’t even be a person. I never had to think about that kind of thing…”

There was another protracted pause in the conversation, until Leif managed to speak up.

“Perhaps. But life itself is an accident of evolution. Does that mean you can’t find meaning in it?”

“Um… maybe?” said Melissa. “Sorry, I don’t really know a lot about existentialist philosophy.”

“Admittedly, I’m no philosopher myself,” said Kabbu. “But perhaps the answer is to be grateful for what we have. Awakening or not, we are all blessed to be alive right now, and to be here with each other.”

“I guess…”

Before anyone else could speak, the sound of Vi’s stomach rumbling cut in.

“Well, I don’t know about you guys,” said Vi, “but right now I’d be grateful for some lunch.”

----

As the sun reached its apex, Melissa followed Team Snakemouth to a simple food stall that was located within the Hive, which sold sandwiches made with leafy greens and some kind of honey-based spread. Strangely, Vi seemed to pay for their shared lunch with berries as currency — apparently they were close to inedible, and were used as money rather than eaten.

As they sat down on a nearby bench, Melissa eagerly bit into her meal. The leafy greens were weirdly filling, and tasted like no vegetable she had ever eaten before. Their savory taste complimented the sweet honey spread excellently, and the result was a sandwich that far exceeded her expectations.

“You know, I’m curious,” she said through a mouthful of sandwich. “What’s this bread made of? Humans made bread by grinding up wheat seeds, but I dunno if you have that here.”

“Wheat? Dunno what that is, but we make our flour from pollen,” said Vi.

“Huh.” Melissa took one last bite from her sandwich, and started chewing. “Makes a weird amount of sense. I’m glad I don’t have pollen allergies.”

“You can be allergic to pollen?” said Vi.

“Well, I dunno about bugs. But it was easily the most common allergy for humans. Spring was actually known as ‘allergy season.’ People would sneeze like crazy and get really bad asthma.”

Vi winced in sympathy. “Wow. That sounds awful.”

“It was. Or so I’d heard,” said Melissa. She swallowed the last of her sandwich, feeling the satisfaction of a satiated stomach. She would never have expected bugs to have such good food.

“Um, hey Melissa,” said Vi. “How come your forehead’s all moist all of a sudden?”

Melissa blinked. It took her a moment to realize what Vi was talking about. “Oh. Um. That’s called sweat. It’s… how my body cools off. Basically, my skin secrets a saltwater solution when I get too hot. It then evaporates, which carries away the excess heat.”

“Wow,” said Vi. “That’s, um…”

Melissa snorted. “Weird and gross, I know. Funny thing you mention it, though, there was actually certain type of bee attracted to human sweat.”

“What?” Vi gave Melissa a strange look. “Why, though? That sounds grody.”

“Um… well, I don’t know, but I guess they thought it was just really salty nectar. They had a sort of green color, and made nests by burrowing in the soil. They didn’t have queens and were mostly solitary, though a few of them lived in small groups.”

“Oh! You mean green bees!” said Vi. “Yeah, I’ve heard of them. Never met one in person, though.”

“Right.” Melissa grabbed the cloth napkin and wiped the sweat off of her forehead. “…Anyway, do you have a shower or something I can use? Sweat starts to smell weird if you don’t wash often, and I haven’t bathed in two days. Or… in centuries, depending on how you look at it.”

“Yeah, there’s actually a shower room not far from here. Here, let me show you the way,” said Vi. She hopped off of her seat, and then turned to face Kabbu and Leif. “You two stay there. Girls only.”

“Obviously,” said Leif.

Melissa breathed out a sigh of relief. Oh, thank fuck. I was worried for a second that you guys don’t have running water.

----

Melissa cursed once she saw what the ‘shower room’ that Vi had mentioned was. It was something straight out of the YMCA, with many bees going about the adjacent lockers, and washing off in the hot showers just nearby.

“…Shit. I’m going to have to get naked for this, aren’t I?”

“Well, yeah,” said Vi. “You don’t wanna ruin your clothes, right?”

“Yeah but… naked in front of you? And all the other bees here? Are you sure?”

“So? What’s that matter?” said Vi. “Lots of bugs are naked, and you don’t see them complaining. I’m naked all the time!”

“L-look, it’s not like that for humans, okay!?” Melissa took in a breath, and exhaled. “Gah, fine. I guess it’s no different from the gym. Just, uh. Please don’t make it weird if you notice what makes my body different from yours, alright? Especially since you’re still a minor.”

“Not a kid,” Vi replied, seemingly by reflex. “And just what is it you’re so worried about me seeing, anyway? It can’t be any weirder than not having an exoskeleton.”

“…Never mind. Let’s just get this over with.”

Swallowing the trepidation that had built up within her, Melissa began to disrobe by the lockers, making a point to not to think about the dozen or so bees who were getting a full view of her… anatomy. With everything but her bracelet now removed, she felt the chill of the moist air against her naked body. Trying to stifle the rush of embarrassment building up in her chest, Melissa bent over to set her clothes in her chosen locker.

“Wait a second,” said Vi, “is that your—”

Melissa’s heart jumped inside her chest, and she abruptly stood upright. “Hey! What did I just say about making this weird!?”

“B-but it’s visible from the outside! That’s the freakiest thing I’ve ever seen! Is that why you wear so many clothes!?”

“Can we NOT talk about this!?”

“…Right. Sure. Sorry.”

“…”

“……”

“………”

“So, um. Do you lay eggs from there, or…?”

“NOT TALKING ABOUT IT!”

Chapter Text

And I should be allowed to blurt the merest idea
If by random whim, one occurs to me
If necessary, leave paper stains on the gray utility pole

— They Might Be Giants

Even after finishing her hot shower and getting dressed, Melissa still felt like she was steaming. Embarrassing misunderstandings she’d grown to expect, but it was much harder to forgive Vi’s knowingly tactless behavior. Something she was more than happy to chastise Vi about, as they walked through the central Hive chamber.

“I’m sorry, okay?” Vi said in response. “I was just curious! That’s all!”

“Christ, Vi, you really need to stop blurting out every thought that occurs to you. That’s gonna get you in serious trouble someday.”

“I said I was sorry!”

“Whatever,” Melissa huffed. “I’m not mad, I’m just concerned. I guess I don’t blame you for being curious. There’s stuff I’m curious about here, too.”

“Like what?”

“Like, um… well, there have to be drone bees here, right?” said Melissa. “I know they’re usually a pretty insignificant portion of any beehive, but I’ve literally not seen any.”

“Oh, them? They leave the Hive as soon as they come of age,” said Vi. “I think they end up going to other hives far away. I know that drones from other hives live in the Queen’s chambers.”

“Live in…?” Melissa felt herself flush when the implications set in. “…Okay, wow. I think that’s all I need to know.”

Do they still die when they…? If so, why would they even consent to that? I mean, I guess it’s not a BAD way to go out, but…

…Argh, WHY am I suddenly jealous!? Where the hell are you, self-preservation instinct!?

Melissa coughed. “Anyway. Just to be clear, the Queen is your mom, right?”

“Um… kinda?” Vi idly scratched at the side of her head. “Yes and no. It’s complicated.”

“Yes and no?”

“Well, I hatched from one of her eggs, so she’s kinda my mom in a way,” Vi explained. “But she’s not like… my mom mom. Does that make sense?”

“Nope. You lost me.”

“Um… I guess what I mean is that the Queen’s not really family,” said Vi. “It was Jaune who raised me, so she’s my big sister. Even though all the bees here are technically my siblings, I think?”

“Probably half-siblings,” said Melissa. “Though I’m guessing none of you would know who your dad was anyway.”

“My dad?” Vi said blankly. She seemed to have trouble processing the thought. “Oh, yeah. You mean the drone who, um… that. I guess that would make him technically my dad, huh? I never even considered that I’d have one.”

“Yeah, that’s why I was wondering,” said Melissa. “I don’t really think it’s possible for a eusocial species to have a conventional family. So I was curious if you’d found another way of doing it. From the sound of it, you sorta separate into smaller family units, right?”

“Pretty much,” said Vi. “You’re not supposed to think of other bees as your family, unless you grew up with them. Otherwise it gets super weird.”

“I’ll say,” Melissa chuckled. “If all of my coworkers and neighbors were related to me by blood, I think I’d tear my own hair out. I have another question, while we’re at it. Mind if I ask?”

“Go ahead.”

“That factory. How does that work? How do you even make honey in a factory?”

“Oh, we have our robots forage for nectar and bring it there,” said Vi. “Not sure how it works exactly, but the machines do stuff to make it into honey. Most bees don’t know how to make honey themselves anymore.”

“Didn’t you literally regurgitate your honey for me when we met?”

“Well, yeah, I know how to make it,” said Vi. “I had to go out of my way to learn, though. I figured it’d help to keep an emergency ration while exploring.”

“That must be gross, though, huh? Eating food that came right out of your body?”

...said the girl who’s a mammal.

“I know, right!? It feels like throwing up! No wonder nobody does it anymore!”

Eventually, the two met up with Kabbu and Leif, who had been wandering the Hive for their own reasons. Leif had wanted to try on a few accessories from the local clothing shop, as demonstrated by the little red bow he was wearing between his antennae. He seemed very sad when it turned out he hadn’t the money to pay for it.

As they regrouped, Melissa and Team Snakemouth met face-to-face with another bug who took interest in them.

She was a tall beetle with a brown, cylindrical body and deep amber eyes, and a human-like mouth unlike the mouthparts of other beetles Melissa had seen. She wore a dark, earthy green smock that covered the front of her body. She also appeared to have some physical disability, as both her legs had been cut off just below the knee, with her shins, ankles, and feet each replaced by metal prosthetics.

The beetle sported a gentle smile, and her eyes lit up as soon as she saw Vi.

“Oh, hey! I’ve heard of you. You’re Jaune’s sister, right?”

Vi stared vacantly at the beetle for a moment. “Um… Yeah. Why?”

“Nice to meet you! I’m Ambrose!”

The beetle reached out and offered a handshake. Vi returned the handshake, though her the baffled stare never left her eyes.

“Um, hi? I’m Vi. What do you want?”

“Oh, well I came here from the Weevil Kingdom, and I was hoping you could help me find who I’m looking for.”

Vi’s body instantly went stiff. “Wee— There’s a Weevil Kingdom. You’re a weevil.”

“Yup!” said Ambrose, beaming. “Well, it’s more like a village. It’s far to the southwest of Bugaria, and we built it the trunk of a big tree, kinda like the one here. And we grow a whole bunch of fungus there that we use for lots of stuff. I even use it in my paint!”

“Pa… p-paint!?”

Ambrose nodded gleefully. “Mm-hmm! I’m a painter. And I came here ‘cause heard there’s a famous artist who uses really colorful pigments! You’re her sister, right? Mind telling me where I can find her?”

Vi didn’t respond. Her entire body had gone completely rigid, frozen in place.

“Oh, hold on. I think know who you’re talking about,” said Melissa. She pointed in the direction of a door several inches away. “Her studio’s that way. The door with the painting hung over it. Can’t miss it.”

“Wow, thanks!” Ambrose cheered. “Oh, I can’t wait to meet her! I bet there’s so much I could learn from her techniques!” She walked off with a skip in her step, gleefully humming to herself as she did.

She seems really nice. I guess there is a Weevil Kingdom after all.

Vi’s mouth hung agape. She didn’t move, and it barely even looked like she was breathing. A pang of worry struck at Melissa’s heart when she noticed.

“Um, Vi? You okay? What’s bothering you?” Melissa waved her hand in front of Vi’s face, to no response. “Earth to Vi. Hello?”

From the door to Jaune’s studio, an unmistakable shout erupted, causing all of the other bugs nearby to stop in their tracks.

“WHAT IS THIS, SOME KIND OF JOKE!?”

Before Melissa could even ask any questions, Vi instantly bolted.

“Jaune, no! Wait! Please don’t yell at her, it’s not what you think!”

Melissa sucked in a breath of air through her teeth. “…Okay, I think I might be missing some context here.”

----

After that incident, Vi came out looking particularly glum. Kabbu gave Melissa an explanation, and Melissa couldn’t help but wince at the particularly bad misunderstanding that had just occurred.

“Um,” said Melissa. “Is everything gonna be okay with you two? You and your sister, I mean.”

“I… think so yeah,” said Vi tensely. “I don’t think it’s us you should worry about. Jaune already apologized to that weevil girl, but she was practically crying her eyes out…”

“Yeesh. I hope Ambrose is okay. She definitely didn’t deserve that…”

The group eventually made their way back to another series of public benches in the hive chamber. Melissa sat down, and let her thoughts swirl around inside her head. After feeling refreshed from the shower, her emotions became a lot clearer. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing, she couldn’t say.

Through the thick soup of feelings in her brain, Melissa rested her chin in her palms, and let out a sigh.

Kabbu rested a hand on Melissa’s shoulder. “Something wrong? Talk to us, Melissa.”

“That easy to figure me out, huh?” Melissa said. “Fine. I dunno what to say that I haven’t said already, though. Everyone’s gone, and… and I don’t even know what my life is anymore. Like, where do I even go from here? I had plans for a future that no longer exists. And I can’t just expect to be pampered by freaking royalty for the rest of my life.”

“You probably could for a little longer,” said Vi. “And you could invite me this time, too!”

“Be sure to save some food for us,” Leif added.

“I mean… it’s tempting, but I think I’m good,” Melissa replied. “I… haven’t really done anything to earn that kind of welcome. I want to make something of myself. Make something out of my life. I don’t want people to just wait on me hand and foot for doing nothing.”

“Oh,” said Vi. Disappointment had crept into the edge of her voice. “…Yeah, I think I get it. I guess it’s no fun being rich if it’s just handed to you. You gotta do something for it if you want it to mean anything.”

“Interesting you’d say that. Should we count this as character development?”

“Don’t you start, Leif!”

“Actually, that gives me an idea,” Kabbu chimed in. “Melissa, why don’t you return with us to the Ant City? Queen Elizant would certainly be willing to grant you a resident visa. And with relations to the other kingdoms having improved, there are more jobs than ever. I’m sure you’d be able to find something.”

“Sure, I guess. Sound about as good to me as any other plan,” Melissa said. “I mean, the Bee Kingdom’s nice and all, but, um… I don’t think it would work out for me here.”

“Because you’re afraid of heights?” said Leif.

“Because you can’t stop being horny for the Queen?” Vi added.

Melissa closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, and exhaled. “…How about we not talk about that. Let’s just go.”

----

The trip back to the Ant Palace was mostly uneventful, though Vi did have to lift Melissa down the hole in Defiant Root to prevent herself from getting injured.

“Okay seriously, you’re really telling me you can’t jump down from that high!?” Vi complained after the fact. “Any bug could make that!”

“Do I look like a bug?”

“No, but still!”

“At least you got a good workout,” said Leif.

“Yeah, I guess,” Vi grumbled. “…Wait a second, why was I the one carrying her!? Leif, you could have just used one of your floating ice platforms!”

Melissa blinked, and thought about what that meant. “…Right. You have ice magic. I have so many questions about that, but… honestly, I won’t even bother. Like, where would I even start?”

“It is a very rare gift,” said Leif. “Very useful, too. We use it for our homemade sorbet.”

“Wow. Sure would be nice to have that in the summer,” Melissa mused.

Eventually, the tunnel came to an end at the central chamber of the Mines. The group went back up the stairs, where they found themselves once again in the foyer of the Ant Palace. They approached the throne room, and found the guard in yellow standing in front of the door again.

“You’re back already?” said the Queen’s bodyguard.

“Hello Zaryant,” said Kabbu. “We have returned with some news that Her Majesty would like to hear.”

“Yeah,” Vi added, “turns out Melissa’s a Giant who got shrunk and sent into the future.”

The entire castle foyer went utterly, deathly silent. Melissa could feel that all of the ant guards stationed throughout the hall were suddenly staring, both literally and metaphorically bug-eyed. It felt like a million ants were now crawling up her back.

Melissa covered her face with a palm, and let out a groan loud enough to echo across the entire chamber.

“Vi, you’re a wonderful friend, but if you don’t learn the meaning of subtlety then I swear to God…”

“I… I see,” Zaryant stammered. “And… and she talks now, too. I’ll inform Her Majesty right away. Stay there.”

The wait outside of the audience chamber was tense, almost as much as it had been the last time. Meeting with royalty would always be anxiety-inducing, it seemed. Melissa couldn’t help but wonder just what it is that the Queen would even say to her.

I guess her name is Elizant? Weird she has a name so similar to another famous queen…

…though I guess THAT one’s dead now anyway. Heh. Kiss my dad’s Irish ass, you decaying old corps—

Before that thought could complete, Zaryant stepped out of the doorway. “Alright, come in.”

Melissa followed the others through the doorway, and eventually was eventually brought to the throne room. The Queen stood just as tall as she always did, though royal mask on her face looked far less threatening now that Melissa had seen the gentle eyes underneath. Elizant stepped forward, her attention kept fully on Melissa.

“Melissa. You can understand me now, correct?”

“Yeah. It’s, uh… this bracelet thing.” Melissa showed off the crystal on her bracelet to demonstrate. “Not sure how it works, but… I think it projects my words into your mind?”

Elizant gave a nod. “I see. May I get a closer look at you?”

“Um… sure. Go ahead.”

Melissa stood stiff as the Queen approached her, and stood right before her. Though her eyes were not visible through her mask, Melissa could feel Elizant’s gaze working its way up and down her body.

“Incredible,” the Queen spoke breathlessly. “So it’s true, then? You are a Giant?”

“Um… formerly giant, but… yeah? I think? We’re called humans.” Melissa let out a breath. “Your Majesty, no offense, but um… why? Why’d you go out of your way to give so much to me yesterday? I… I didn’t even do anything.”

“Your kind is unlike anything that any bug has ever seen,” said Elizant. “I had a feeling that your arrival marked a significant event in Bugaria’s history. So I wished to ensure that we had a good relationship to your people. But to think that you were one of the near-mythical beings who once ruled this land…”

“I, um… never exactly ruled anything, Your Majesty. I was really nobody special. And… you don’t have to worry about meeting any other humans. They’re…” Melissa’s body tensed, even more than had been before. She trembled slightly, as the memories of her last day as a normal-sized human burned clear through her mind. “…they’re all dead. I saw them die. All of them.”

The Queen was left without words. She stared at Melissa silently, her mask leaving her face as unreadable as ever.

“I don’t know what it was, exactly,” Melissa continued. It almost hurt to say it out loud. “It was like a great fire that fell from the sky, and… And I don’t know how I survived it. I don’t know I ended up being shrunk, or sent hundreds of years into the future. But it… it couldn’t have been natural, any of it. I don’t know what else to say. None of it makes sense.”

There was a silence, as the Queen stared wordlessly at Melissa. Melissa’s fingers idly twitched by her sides, as she wondered what Elizant could be thinking.

Finally, the queen spoke up. “I am so deeply sorry for what you have suffered through. I can’t imagine having to lose so much. If there is anything you need, please let me know, and I will provide.”

“I… sure,” Melissa mumbled. “I’m grateful for the hospitality you gave me, Your Majesty. I’ve met some great friends, who’ve helped me deal with all of this. But I don’t want to be just… given everything, you know? I want to find my own way in this strange new world.”

Elizant nodded. “I understand. But in a situation like yours, there is no shame in asking for help. Here, at the very least let me give you something to help you back on your feet. Zaryant?”

“Yes, my Queen?”

“Please inform the Treasury of the situation, and request a payment to Melissa of four hundred berries.”

“Whoa!” Vi exclaimed. “Four hundred!?”

“As you wish, my Queen.”

Zaryant left the room at Elizant’s request, and Melissa was left to stare at the Queen, wondering just how much that was supposed to be.

“So, um… that’s a lot, right?”

“It should be enough for you to purchase any vacant home in the Residential District,” said Elizant. “In the meantime, I will expedite your resident visa, so that you will be granted the full privileges of citizenship within the Ant Kingdom.”

Before long, Zaryant came back, carrying a moderately-sized burlap pouch. She handed it to Melissa, who held it in her hands. It was surprisingly hefty for its size, and Melissa could only wonder just how she was supposed to carry it.

But one thing was clear, was that this was enough to buy a house. Melissa found herself once again trembling with raw emotions, though this time they were emotions of an entirely different kind.

“I… thank you, Your Majesty. Thank you so much…’

----

Melissa eventually left the palace, carrying the berry pouch the Queen had given her shoulder. She was joined by Team Snakemouth, who insisted on showing her around the Ant City to get herself familiar with it. It was small enough that Melissa wouldn’t have even called it a ‘city’ — though perhaps she was biased, given her former size. In addition to the plaza, there was a commercial district with various shops and market stands, as well as a large building Vi called a ‘Termacade.’

“Wait, you have video games here?”

“Yup!” said Vi. “Reverse engineered from Giant technology, I think. Or, um, human technology I guess? It's fun, we should totally go there sometime. You can even win really sweet prizes!”

“Wow…”

“By the way, do want me to carry that berry pouch for you?” said Vi. “It looks pretty heavy…”

“Yeah, no. Nice try.”

As they continued down through the Ant City, Melissa idly put her left hand in her pocket. She didn’t expect to find anything in there. But to her astonishment, she felt a familiar rectangular shape inside of her left pants pocket.

She stopped in her tracks, and her mind raced with excitement.

“Wait, guys! Wait a second! Holy crap, I still have it!”

The three bugs stopped to look at Melissa curiously.

“Have what?” said Leif.

“My phone! Look!” She pulled out her cell phone out of her pocket, a familiar black touch screen rectangle with a rubber casing wrapped across it. She pressed and held down the button on the back, and frowned as the device failed to respond. “Oh. Shoot. No charge.”

“That’s a phone?” said Vi. “Shouldn’t it be like, hanging on a wall or something?”

“Yeah,” said Melissa. “Wait, you have phones?”

“Yeah, the Bee Kingdom uses them to call across the hive,” said Vi. “The termites probably have them, too. Never seen one like that though.”

“It’s a cell phone,” Melissa explained. “It’s, um… a miniature phone that can call from anywhere, without a wire. The cell network’s definitely destroyed by now, so the calling wouldn’t work. But it’s also got a bunch of other functions, like a video recorder, and a calculator, and a digital camera. It can also play games and music, too.”

“Whoa!” Vi exclaimed. “That sounds more like a computer than a phone! How do you even fit all of that in there?”

“Hell if I know,” Melissa said. “I’m not an engineer. But yeah, humans had really advanced technology. I was hoping I could show you a few things, I had a few videos of bugs on here that I recorded in college.”

“We are somewhat curious about that, now that you mention it,” said Leif. “What did our kin look like before the Awakening? We hope they were cute.”

“Um… well, that’s pretty subjective,” said Melissa. I certainly thought so, but everyone in grade school made fun of me for that. “But you were all pretty drastically different. Insects used to have six legs, for one.”

“Good gracious,” said Kabbu, “that sounds grotesque. Even most lesser bugs don’t have that many limbs.”

“Lesser bugs?”

“Bugs that were not granted higher intelligence,” Kabbu elaborated. “They instead became more feral and aggressive. It’s often dangerous to leave civilized areas, since they have a habit of attacking travelers.”

“…Oh. Jeez,” said Melissa. “I guess maybe they were affected differently?” Good thing you found me while I was in the wilderness, or I might have been in serious trouble…

“Um… so when you say insects had six legs, that includes bees, right?” said Vi. “That sounds super freaky…”

“Yup. Insects were part of a group called hexapods, which literally means ‘six feet.’ I think there were a couple other non-insect hexapods, like… springtails, I think? Insects also had external mouthparts, so some six-legged bugs that had internal mouths were reclassified.”

Vi blinked. “Mouthparts?”

“Um… yeah. Like Kabbu’s, actually,” said Melissa. “The exact shape varied greatly by the species, but all insects had mouths that were on the outside. It’s… honestly really weird that so many of you have human-like mouths now. That normally shouldn’t be possible.”

“Fascinating… I’d always heard that we’d retained some vestiges of our feral ancestors,” said Kabbu. “I’d never imagined that my mouth would be one of them. I had thought that was the part most affected by the transformation of my kin.”

As they made their way to the residential district, Melissa could get a clearer view of the houses. They were built mostly out of various cardboard boxes, and she could see a house built from a teacup, and even a building that was made out of an abandoned gumball machine.

“These are your houses? What exactly do you do when it rains?” said Melissa, as they continued to walk. “A lot of these are made of cardboard, so wouldn’t they get soggy and fall apart?”

“Oh, not at all,” said Kabbu. “They’re coated in plastic, so they’re shielded from moisture. The more important concern is getting bugs to shelter before the worst of a storm hits.”

“Gotcha. I guess even a small rainstorm would be pretty scary at this size.” Melissa suddenly did a double-take. “Wait, plastic? Where the hell do you get that?” I really, REALLY hope you guys haven’t started burning fossil fuels…

“It’s sold by white bees from the Northern Kingdom,” said Kabbu. “They frequently come down here to sell plastic wares, and perform waterproofing services. No one knows where they get it from.”

“White bees… who sell plastic?” Melissa rolled the thought around in her mind for a bit. “Oh! Duh! You mean polyester bees!”

“Poly-what?” said Vi.

“Polyester bees. Or plasterer bees,” Melissa explained. “They’re solitary bees, and some of the only living things that can make plastic naturally. Their bodies produce it instead of wax, and they use it to line their nests. I’m pretty sure a few species of them have white bands, too, so that’s probably what these ‘white bees’ are.”

“Solitary, huh?” said Vi. “Is that why they’re usually seen outside of hives? ‘Cause they don’t have any?”

“Probably,” said Melissa. “Believe it or not, most bee species are either solitary or only partly social.”

“Partly social?” said Vi, incredulously.

“Um… well, some species nest together in groups without a queen,” said Melissa. “Other species alternate between social and non-social generations. Bumblebees are weird, since they technically have queens, but workers much more often have their own children too. Worker eggs can only hatch into drones, though.”

“Oh,” said Vi. She stared at Melissa blankly for a moment. “That’s, um… not how I expected it to work. I’ve actually never heard of bumblebees having queens. They don’t even have their own kingdom.”

“Well, bumblebee nests are usually much smaller than a hive,” said Melissa. “So I guess for them a queen might just be a village matriarch or something? Jeez, I don’t even know.” I hope they don’t still do that thing where they kill the queen over who gets to lay eggs…

“I must say, it’s impressive that you knew so much about bugs in your old life,” said Kabbu. “I would have thought us beneath your notice.”

Melissa shrugged. “I was always the weird one, I guess.”

“It does make me wonder, though. What do you know about my species? What were we like?”

“Well, admittedly I’m less knowledgeable about beetles, but…” Melissa felt a realization strike at the back of her mind. “…Wait. Hold on. You’re a scarab, right? Crap.” Literally.

“Well, yes. Why?” said Kabbu. His eyes seemed to grow duller for a moment. “Is… there something wrong with that?”

“No! No, not at all!” Melissa blurted out. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it like that. It’s, just, um… okay, this might take some explaining. But before I do, can I ask what your diet is now? I’ve seen you eat plant-based foods. Is there anything else you eat?”

“No, certainly not,” said Kabbu. “I’m strictly herbivorous, as far as I can tell.”

“Okay, good. That’s um. What I thought.” Melissa exhaled sharply. “Whoo boy, this is going to be really awkward, though. Can you promise me you won’t get mad?”

Kabbu’s mandibles twitched idly. “Um… I, erm… Hmm.”

“Not a question you usually want to hear,” said Leif.

“No, it’s fine,” Kabbu reassured. “Whatever it is, I promise I will not let it get to me. I will respect my ancestors, regardless of their nature.”

“…Alright,” Melissa breathed. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you though.”

And with that, Melissa told Kabbu what his ancestors’ diet consisted of. Kabbu reacted in exactly the way that Melissa expected of him.

“We ate WHAT!?”

---

With the funds that the Queen had given her, Melissa was able to purchase a simple dwelling in the Residential District. It was a house that appeared to be made from an upturned ramen noodle cup, something that Melissa happily explained.

“Ramen?” said Vi.

“Cheap human food,” said Melissa. “Basically half my diet in college.”

The proprietor of the house was a monarch butterfly — or a viceroy, it was hard to tell. She didn’t seem to mind that Melissa was a strange species no one had seen before, and didn’t even look like a bug. The former proprietor took her payment eagerly, placed the key in Melissa’s hand, and then left without speaking another word.

A sudden rush of emotion flooded through Melissa as she unlocked the door. She’d never really stopped to consider what this truly meant.

Oh my god, I’m… I’m a homeowner.

I never thought in my life that I’d own a house.

“Congrats on having a home to call your own,” said Leif. “Mind showing us around?”

The words rang through Melissa’s mind like a giant clock tower bell. It was still hard to fully wrap her head around. This was her home now.

“Um… no, not at all. Come in.”

And so Melissa entered through the door, and took a good look at her new home. It was a cozy single-room dwelling, with a dresser, a bed with leafy sheets, a chest, a bedside nightstand, and a simple table with four chairs. It boggled her mind that she could even afford such a place. She even had a hundred or so berries left over after the purchase, and made sure to store them away in the nearby chest.

Melissa soon sat down with her friends at the table, looking them over. Despite the fact that they’d barely known each other for two days, she felt a sense of comfort and familiarity seeing their face.

“I really can’t believe it. This is my house. It’s so surreal, you know? In addition to, um… everything else. Just… God, you know? How did I get here?”

“You seem to make mention of this god of yours a lot,” said Kabbu. “Might I ask who it is?”

“Oh. Um.” Melissa paused for a moment, and ruminated on her answer. “Well, ‘God’ singular usually refers to the most commonly worshiped human deity. I’m an atheist, but I guess it’s sort of just habit to swear by his name? Or title, since supposedly nobody actually knew his real name.”

“Makes sense,” said Leif. “Bugs use’s Venus’s name in much the same way.”

Melissa blinked. “Wait, Venus? So I did hear that right earlier, Kabbu? You guys worship a deity named Venus?”

Kabbu’s eyes went wide. “You… you’ve heard of her?”

“Um… kinda? That depends, what sort of deity is she?”

“She is the patron goddess of the Golden Settlement,” Kabbu explained. “A local harvest deity, whose blessing provides much of the food that’s grown in Bugaria.”

“A harvest goddess?” Melissa breathed out a sigh of relief. “Okay, probably not the same deity, then. Still, it’s weird that she has the same name as a goddess that humans once worshiped, right? Like, you actually pronounced her name the same. That can only mean it’s not a bug name.”

There was a lull, as Team Snakemouth took the time to fully process the implications of what Melissa just said.

“You… you had a god named Venus, too?” Kabbu said.

“Well, sorta. She hadn’t been worshiped for like… a thousand years or more, by the time I was born. But the human Venus was pretty famous, and featured a lot in stories and art well after people stopped believing in her.”

“Hmm… Fascinating,” said Leif. “Maybe you could ask her priestess if there’s some connection? We can’t imagine it’s a coincidence. Who know, Venus herself might even answer.”

“Hey, there’s an idea,” said Kabbu. “Melissa, you’ve been looking for some purpose in life, correct? Why don’t you try joining the local harvest cult? Venus’s followers find great meaning through her worship.”

“Um… thanks, but I’ll pass,” said Melissa.

“Oh, hey! I just remembered something, too!” Vi added. “Didn’t something she said in the Sand Castle imply she was around during the Day of Awakening?”

Melissa was taken aback. This… supposedly benevolent deity was around the day that the entire human species was blasted into oblivion?

Then why did everyone still die anyway?

There were several possible answers, and Melissa disliked all of them. A pressure began to bubble up somewhere, deep within her chest cavity.

“Was she?” said Leif. “Somehow we doubt that.”

“Yeah! She said she was there when the roaches started building their civilization. That means she had to have been around from the start!”

“…You spoke with her? I don’t believe it,” said Melissa

“She doesn’t usually speak with most bugs,” Kabbu said. “We were among the few lucky enough to be granted audience during her annual festival.”

“Some god she must be, if she can’t even show her face to her followers,” Melissa grumbled.

“…Now, Melissa, I’m certain she has her reasons,” said Kabbu.

“Like being literally rooted in one place,” Leif added.

“Whatever. I don’t care,” Melissa said bitterly. Her mind once again turned to the sudden rain of fire, the sheer speed and intensity of it, and the way that everything so suddenly came to an end. “Doesn’t stop her from seeing you, apparently. What makes you so special?”

“Duh! We’re heroes!” said Vi. “We’re the most famous explorers in Bugaria!”

“Don’t see why that should give you special privileges,” Melissa sniped. “I mean, let me assume what you’re saying is true. If she was really there for the Day of Awakening, why didn’t she do anything to stop the apocalypse that came with it? I don’t think you understand just how many people died that day. Literal billions. Do any of you have even the slightest idea how much a billion is?”

Leif’s eyes suddenly widened, though he didn’t seem to be looking at her directly. “Melissa, maybe you should calm down.”

“No, Leif! I saw the literal end of the world, something that most religions would describe as act of divine judgment, and I’m supposed to come away from that thinking that a god would have my back? No offense if you believe in her, but I find the idea of worshiping this Venus lady almost insulting.”

By now, the anger and indignation that had been bubbling within her had boiled to the surface. She couldn’t hold it back, now.

“I mean, think about it! Either she wasn’t powerful enough to prevent everyone from getting vaporized, or she didn’t care, or she was actively involved in it! So no, I don’t trust this supposed goddess to solve my problems, okay!? I don’t trust any religion to! Billions of humans were religious, and they all freaking died! So Venus can go screw herself, as far as I care!”

Silence hung over the area. Team Snakemouth all collectively stared, unable to speak a word.

It occurred to Melissa that they weren’t staring at her. They were staring past her.

“Well, that’s a rude thing to say in front of me, isn’t it?”

A jolt ran up the length of Melissa’s spine. She spun around, and turned to face the one who’d suddenly spoke to her.

It was… a flower bud. A pink flower bud with a mouth, that hadn’t been there before. She looked down at the little plant thing, suddenly keenly aware of the cold sweat she’d broken into.

“Hello, Melissa. Before I begin, I want to see if I understand this. You’re human, correct?”

“Um… yeah.”

“I thought so,” said the bud. “In that case, I have a formal request I’d like to make of you. Meet me in my sanctum in the Golden Hills. Come alone. And don’t delay. I must speak with you as soon as possible.”

The flower bud’s stem wriggled slightly, and with a sudden pop, the entire plant vanished into the ground.

Melissa was left to stare at the spot where the bud had stood, wondering just what had just happened.

Chapter Text

It may take an ocean of whiskey and time
To wash all of the letdown out of your mind
And I may not be the one you expected but
I am the answer to all your prayers

— They Might Be Giants

Melissa’s new friends had taken the time to explain to her just what that little flower bud was, and just what it was asking her to do.

All things considered, she was taking it remarkably well.

“OhgodohgodohgodohgodohgodohgodwhatdoIdowhatdoIdowhatdoIDO?”

“N-now hold on Melissa,” said Kabbu. “I’m sure Venus won’t do anything too harsh. She’s quite understanding, once you get to know her.”

“You sure about that?” said Vi. “Last time I ticked her off she summoned a giant guardian to beat us up.”

“She did WHAT!?”

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine,” said Leif. “It was more of a friendly sparring match. Just keep attacking and you’ll win in no time.”

“W-what do you mean sparring match!? You expect me spar with a deity!? I don’t even know how to fight!”

Leif blinked. “…Oh. You might be in trouble, then.”

“Not helping!”

“Melissa, please calm down!” Kabbu hurriedly spoke up. “Venus had never intended to seriously harm us. She wouldn’t put you through such a trial if you weren’t capable of defending yourself.”

“Okay, but what should I do?” Melissa pleaded. “I can’t just go up and meet her right after I accidentally insulted her right to her face!”

“You could just skip the meeting,” Leif suggested. “Venus can’t leave her sanctum, so it’s not like she can force you to go.”

“I mean, yeah, sure” Melissa snorted. “But do I really want to further anger a freakin’ deity I just pissed off? That’s the sort of things that gets you an eternity of punishment in… what do you guys call the Bad Place in your religion? Hell? Tartarus? Florida?”

“…I don’t think eternal damnation lies within Venus’s domain,” said Kabbu. “But you may be right. It would probably be best if you cleared up any misunderstandings.”

“Yeah, and she said she wanted to talk to you about something super important, right?” Vi added. “Maybe she knows something about how you ended up here?”

Melissa sighed. “I guess. But if she was there when the world ended, … I dunno. Something about that whole story smells fishy.”

“Huh?” said Vi. “What do silverfish have to do with this?”

“Silverfish? What are you…?” Melissa paused, her train of thought suddenly arriving at a realization. “…Oh. Um. Nevermind. It’s a human saying, don’t worry about it.” Jeez, I’m really going to have to rethink how I say stuff here, huh? “Point is, I… I really don’t know how to feel about this. Meeting with royalty’s one thing, but a deity? A deity that I insulted?”

Kabbu approached Melissa, looking deep into her eyes. Despite his lack of anything resembling a human face, Melissa could see a deep concern written into his expression.

“Melissa, I understand you’re anxious. But I promise you, nothing bad will come of simply speaking to her.”

“…You sure? A lot of bad things have happened to me lately.”

“If it makes you feel better, we’ll all be right there with you,” said Kabbu.

“What?” said Melissa. “But she told me to come alone!”

“We’ll wait for you right outside the sanctum,” Kabbu promised. “And if there’s any sign that you’re in distress, we’ll come to your aid right away.”

“You really think it’ll come to that?” said Leif.

“I don’t anticipate that it will,” Kabbu replied. “But now is not the time for us to turn our backs on a friend.”

“Not to mention she’ll need my beemerang to even get to the sanctum,” Vi added. “I dunno how her priestess lady even uses that huge elevator all by herself.”

Melissa blinked. “Wait, your what? And her priestess uses what?”

“Oh, you’ll see when we get there,” Vi said with a grin. “I can’t wait to show you what I can do with it!”

“We should probably get going,” said Kabbu. “Venus said she wanted to meet you as soon as possible, didn’t she? Best not keep her waiting.”

Reluctantly, Melissa agreed, and she followed Team Snakemouth as they led her back to the mines.

----

This time, Melissa was led through a separate tunnel, one marked by the image of a fruit. This time, she noted, the path seemed to be sloping gradually upward. Considering their destination was a place called the ‘Golden Hills,’ it only made sense.

Though at human size, I’d probably be able to move over most of these ‘hills’ in a single step.

They eventually reached the exit, another hole in the ceiling of the tunnel. Kabbu looked at Vi expectantly, but was met with only a frown.

“Nuh-uh. Not doing it this time. Leif, you carry her.”

“Fair enough,” Leif said with a shrug. A swirl of blue energy engulfed his hand, and he gestured in the air. At this command, a large mass of ice of materialized in the air, with a flat surface on the top that was more than large enough to fit two people. Leif sat down on the hovering ice chunk, and motioned for Melissa to join him.

“Um… I’m not gonna slip off of that or anything, am I?”

“Don’t worry, we won’t let you fall,” Leif reassured. “Just sit down and hold on.”

Melissa obliged. Wincing briefly from the chill against her rear end, she reached out and gripped tightly to Leif’s hand. She closed her eyes as the ice chunk slowly began lifting up in the air, trying as hard as she could to not think about how chilly her entire body felt all of a sudden, and trying very very hard not to think about slipping off and breaking her spine.

Unfortunately, she quickly realized that trying not to think about something only made you think about it more.

Eventually, Melissa felt something change in the air. It became crisper, less stuffy. But more importantly it was also substantially cooler than the air both in the tunnel and in the Ant Kingdom.

“We’re here. You can get off now.”

Leif led Melissa by the hand as she stepped off of the ice, grateful that her feet were now touching solid ground. When she opened her eyes again, she let out a gasp.

There were… leaves. Leaves, orange and golden like a forest in autumn, falling around everywhere. But they were far smaller than a normal leaf, which should have been several times her own size now. These leaves were small, small enough that they were no bigger than her hand.

More importantly, they didn’t appear to be coming from anywhere. Certainly not from the massive tree looming overhead — the same tree the Bee Kingdom was housed in, most likely. Most strangely of all, as the leaves touched the ground, the vanished, as though they were made of something entirely immaterial. Melissa could feel one briefly brush against her body and then dissipate.

And the rest of the vegetation surrounding the exit to the mines matched the color of the falling leaves. Melissa could only gawk at it all, her mind desperately trying to find an answer.

“W-what…? How!? It was spring when we went into the mines!”

“All thanks Venus’s blessing,” Kabbu said cheerfully. “The Golden Hills are kept in a perpetual harvest season to ensure that food remains plentiful.”

Melissa could practically feel the color draining from her face. Sure, these ‘Golden Hills’ were bug-sized. But being able to control the seasonal cycle of an entire region, however small...

Holy shit. She really IS a deity.

“Venus’s sanctum is just past the Golden Settlement,” said Kabbu. “It’s quite the beautiful town, I’m sure you’ll like it there.”

“Yeah, sure,” Melissa mumbled. “Lead the way.”

Melissa followed after the others as they walked up the trail leading to the Settlement. As she did, she tried to ignore the lingering bite of cold on her rear end, which sent a noticeable shiver up her body.

“You okay there?” said Vi.

“I’m fine. Just a bit chilly after sitting on a big chunk of ice.”

“Wow, you must be really sensitive to the cold, huh?” said Vi. “You weren’t even like frozen in the ice or anything.”

“Y-yeah,” said Melissa. “Humans are mammals, and that means we basically have to have a high body temperature to stay alive. It’s, um…” Melissa followed her train of thought for a moment, and came to a realization. “Actually, I’m surprised I haven’t died of hypothermia already. I guess the weird magic that shrunk me is also protecting me?”

“Died? We didn’t think our ice was that cold,” said Leif.

“And what’s a mammal?” said Vi.

“Um… Mammals are a sub-category of vertebrates,” Melissa explained. “We have a constantly high body temperature, as well as body hair, and a very high metabolism, and um… a few other distinguishing traits.” Oh god please, please, PLEASE don’t make me explain what my boobs are for. Or what ‘live birth’ is. “And the high body temperature is relevant, because, um… I think the way it works is that our ability to generate heat comes from muscle volume. That’s why mammals almost always have to be much larger than a bug. If we get too small, our bodies lose heat faster than we absorb it. And, um… we can’t live unless our bodies are really warm.”

“…Wow. So you’re warm and soft. No wonder you’re so good at hugs!” said Vi. “Seriously, you really should start selling those. And also maybe give me a cut for the idea, while you’re at it!”

“I’m starting to think you might have a one-track mind when it comes to money, Vi,” Melissa remarked. An idle thought occurred to her. “Actually, since we’re on the topic of cold… how exactly do you guys make it through the winter? Most of the bugs I knew in my time could only survive the cold by hibernating. We humans usually just built heating systems, but it looks like not all of your places have that?”

“Um… we just sorta tough it out, I think?” said Vi. “It’s not really that bad in the winter. The temperature rarely ever goes below… about ten degrees, I think? The Hive’s heated anyway, and I’m pretty sure the rain shelter in the Ant Kingdom is too. So we just go there if it gets super extra cold.”

“Wait, ten degrees? That’s…” Melissa paused, and remembered that Dr. H.B.’s computer had mentioned ‘millimeters’ when estimating the average human’s height. “…actually, wait a second. You use the metric system here, don’t you? So I guess ten degrees isn’t that cold.” I think ten degrees Celsius is like… fifty degrees Fahrenheit?

Leif curiously raised an eyebrow. “Humans used the same measurement system as us?”

“Yeah, that’s… that’s really weird,” said Melissa. “You guys don’t even have the same calendar, but you have the metric system? Did you like… inherit it from the roaches or something?”

Leif shrugged. “Sounds about right.”

…Okay, seriously, what the HELL is going on with these ancient roaches?

The Golden Settlement, true to Kabbu’s word, was a lovely little town which wholeheartedly embraced the perpetual autumn surrounding it. The entrance was marked by a gate grown from a root and adorned with a pair of living sunflowers, and the central plaza was a raised platform carved from wood, adjacent to a large building which was made from a pumpkin shell. Other pumpkin-shell buildings were visible beyond it, situated on the cliffs which lined the far end of the town.

Beyond the central plaza was a massive statue depicting an orchid-like figure of some kind. The statue was raised above the ground on a set of stone stilts, creating a gate beneath it that led to whatever lay beyond.

Kabbu took a moment to go ahead and speak to a mantis who was standing in the center of the town square. Melissa didn’t pay attention to what they were saying, but from the looks of it, that mantis was Venus’s priestess.

“Alright, looks like we’re okay to head through,” said Kabbu.

Melissa tried as hard as she could to not appear intimidated. Judging by Kabbu’s face, it was clearly not working.

“Melissa, you don’t need to worry. I’m sure you and Venus will get along quite well, once you get to know each other.”

“I certainly hope so,” Melissa muttered. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Past the statue was a series of wild-looking cliffs, where the signs of civilization gave way to large amounts of vegetation. Opposite the statue-gate was sheer cliff face that continued for… Melissa’s instincts said roughly 300 feet up, but she had to remind herself that it was probably more akin to three feet.

In front of the large cliff was a massive wooden lift, with a large crank just beyond it. Vi eagerly moved forward and stepped onto the lift, and motioned for the rest of them to follow.

When Melissa followed Kabbu and Leif onto the lift, Vi flashed her a wide grin.

“Hey Melissa, check this out!” said Vi. She reached into her neck fur and pulled out an orange boomerang of some kind.

“So that’s that ‘beemerang’ thing you mentioned earlier?”

“Yup!” Vi answered. “Now hold on tight, ‘cause we’re going up!”

“Right. Up.” Melissa shut her eyelids tight, and…

“Hey, no! Don’t close your eyes!” Vi complained. “You’ve gotta see this!”

Melissa sighed, and relented. She opened her eyes, and stared at Vi expectantly.

“Don’t worry, we’ll hold your hand when we go up.”

Melissa rolled her eyes. “Yes, har har, I’m afraid of heights. Very funny, Leif.”

“It wasn’t a joke. And you’re already holding our hand.”

Melissa blinked, and the feeling of cool, segmented fingers against her own made her realize that she’d instinctively grasped Leif’s chitinous hand the moment he’d mentioned it.

“R-right. Um. Anyway. Vi, what’s this you wanted to show me?”

“My trademark beemerang, of course! Watch this!”

Brandishing the aforementioned weapon, Vi spun around and tossed it in the direction of the crank.

Melissa was almost immediately transfixed by what she saw. Rather than returning, or simply bouncing off of the crank, the orange boomerang hovered right next to the crank while spinning rapidly. Its ends spun against the teeth of the crank, turning it like a massive gear.

Then, suddenly, the lift shot upwards. Melissa let out a yelp, and clutched Leif’s hand tightly. Before long, the lift had arrived at the top of the cliff.

Vi held out her hand, and her boomerang suddenly flew upwards from the ver bottom of cliff, as though she device were homing into her exact location. She caught it in her hands, and gave Melissa a self-satisfied smile.

“Wow,” said Melissa. “That’s boomerang’s, um. Something.”

“Pretty cool, huh?” Vi. “I can do all kinds of super tricky and technical things with it. You should see how I use it in a fight!”

“I’ll, uh, take your word for it,” said Melissa. “I’d say what I just saw you do was impossible, but… honestly, it’s not even the tenth most improbable thing that I’ve seen in the past two days.”

“But it’s impressive, right?”

“Oh yeah, definitely.”

Melissa looked around. The top of the cliff was, if anything, even more beautiful than the rest of the Golden Hills, with a carpet of tiny bright pink flowers covering the ground. The three bugs led her further, eventually leading to another pair of small orchid statues flanking another root-like wooden gate, adorned with a single flower at the top of the arch.

“I believe this is as far as we can take you,” said Kabbu. “Venus’s sanctum lies just beyond.”

“Yeah… guess I’m on my own now.” Melissa took a deep breath, and tentatively stepped towards the gate, trying to ignore the sound of her heart beating in her eardrums.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, sure. Thanks, Leif.”

Holding in a breath, Melissa left the others behind as she stepped through the gate, and entered the sanctum, a small field that was filled with all manner of flowers, large and small.

And sure enough, there Melissa was staring face-to-face with the goddess herself.

Venus was… the only word Melissa could think of was beautiful. But it wasn’t the kind of beauty that out her mind at ease. On the contrary, her figure was nothing short of imposing.

She was an orchid flower, over twice as tall as Melissa, with deep pink eyes that matched the color of the petals lining her face, and vine-like tendrils emerging from the sides of her stem that mimicked the function of arms.

Venus smiled at Melissa gently. “It’s nice to finally see you in person. I’ve gotta say, never in my life did I think I’d meet a living human.”

“Uhm… y-yeah. Thanks?”

Oh God what is she going to do me!? And why am I SAYING ‘oh God,’ she’s literally the god here!

“L-listen, Venus, um… Your Godliness?”

“Please, just call me Venus.”

“Right… I…” Melissa gulped, swallowing a thick lump that was caught in her throat. “I-I’m sorry for what I said about you earlier. I-I didn’t think you were… I-I mean…”

Venus giggled lightly. “It’s alright, dear. You don’t have to apologize. Think whatever you want about me, but I’m certainly not a vengeful god.”

“You… you’re not mad?”

“Well, I’d be lying if I said you didn’t hurt my feelings,” said Venus. “But that’s no reason for me to abuse my power, is it?”

“Um… right.” Melissa felt her body relax, if only slightly. “So uh… what is it that you wanted from me?”

“Well, I have an important question for you. So, let’s have a chat.” Venus motioned to a patch of tiny flowers to the side of her. “Here, sit down.”

At Venus’s request, Melissa sat down on the flower patch, crossing her legs as she looked up to meet the goddess’s gaze. Though she could tell that Venus’s eyes carried an immense power, at the same time there was a gentle, contemplative character to them.

“Good. Now that you’ve made yourself comfortable, I’ll get straight to the point,” Venus announced. Her face suddenly lost its smile, and her eyes hardened into a fierce glare that sent a jolt down the length of her spine.

“What do you know about humankind’s weapons of mass destruction? Were you ever, at any point, involved in making them?”

“What!?” Melissa blurted. “N-now hold on a second here! You can’t just—”

“Answer the question, Melissa. Do you know how to build these kinds of weapons or not?”

“No! Are you crazy!? That’s one of the most top top secrets there is! If I tried to learn how to build a nuclear fucking bomb, I’d probably have been disappeared by the government!”

Silence hung over the sanctum. Venus’ face was stern, and she stared directly into Melissa’s eyes. Melissa’s heart beat like a thousand percussion instruments, pounding through her head.

Finally, Venus’s face relaxed. “You seem to be telling the truth. That’s good.”

A new feeling rose up within Melissa’s chest, threatening to burst straight out of her solar plexus. “Okay, look. Not to disrespect a goddess or whatever, but what the fuck!? Why would you think I’m involved in that kind of thing!?”

“Simple. Because I know what humans were capable of,” Venus responded. “When your species ruled this world, there were weapons that could level entire civilizations, and machines so polluting that they altered the entire Earth’s climate. Even to this day, the world hasn’t fully recovered from the damage caused to it.”

A horrible, dawning realization made its way to the forefront of Melissa’s mind.

“You… you think because I’m human, that I’m a threat. Is that it?”

“Not necessarily,” Venus replied. “But if you were someone responsible for the state the world was in before the Awakening, that’d be a different story. That’s what I wanted to know.”

Despite the situation, Melissa couldn’t help but laugh. She could feel the tension leaving her body

“No… you, um, don’t have to worry about that. I wasn’t someone rich or powerful. Hell, I don’t even know anything about engineering. I don’t even think I could describe how our technology worked.”

Venus smiled. “That’s very good to hear. You have no idea how worried I was when I’d heard you were a human, sent into the future. Now, I take it you have questions of your own? I understand you’re in a weird situation right now.”

“That’s an understatement if I’ve ever heard one.” said Melissa. “So, um. First question. How’d you know about me, anyway?”

“Oh, well that’s simple. My roots reach across all of Bugaria, and can hear things across great distances.”

“What?” said Melissa. “Hold on, that sounds like you have a freaking mass surveillance network! That’s a serious invasion of privacy!”

“Hey, I don’t listen to everything,” Venus replied. “I’m not omniscient. And I try not to intrude on bugs during their private moments. But as a protector of these lands, it’s in my best interest to have a general idea of what’s going on. Honestly, it was completely by accident that I happened to catch one of your conversations with Team Snakemouth. And when I heard them mention you were human, well…”

“…you wanted to be sure that I didn’t bring any dangerous human knowledge with me.”

“That was the idea,” Venus hummed.

“Right. Of course,” Melissa grumbled. “And that, uh. Brings me to my second question, I guess. How do you know about humans? Every single bug I’ve met had no idea what I was. And you, um… you weren’t really there for the Day of Awakening, were you? You said you’d never even seen a human before now.”

Venus’s face turned dire for a moment. She looked to be deep in thought, her lips pressed thin into a frown. And for a while, she simply stood there in contemplation, leaving a tense silence to hang over the sanctum.

“Um. Venus, everything okay?”

“No, no, it’s fine. It’s just. Oh dear, I should have thought this conversation through a bit more. I should have known you would ask something like that.” Venus sighed. “I do have an answer to your question, and… it’s an answer that will help you greatly in making sense of this world. But it’s not an answer to be given away lightly. I’m… not sure if I really should tell you.”

That caught Melissa’s attention. “Okay, now that you’ve said that, that means I have to know.”

“Ah,” said Venus. “I walked right into that one, didn’t I? Fine. I… I can tell you. But I want to be clear, this is forbidden knowledge to bugs. If we’re going to go through with this, you must promise me that you will never, ever tell anyone else. Not a single soul. Can you promise that for me?”

Anxiety began to creep its way back into Melissa’s heart. “Um… sure?”

“Melissa, I’m serious! If what I tell you becomes common knowledge, it could radically change the fate of all of Bugaria! And don’t think it’d be for the better!”

The anxiety building within Melissa’s chest grew, until it became a thick tar stuck to the inside of her lungs. “Oh. Oh Jeez, you really mean this, huh?” With some effort Melissa was able to let out a breath. “Fine, I… I promise. Cross my heart and hope to fl— uh, die.”

Fuck, is that colorful horse show still tripping me up on that?

“Good. Now then…” Venus cleared her throat. “The first thing you should know, is that… I wasn’t born a goddess. I was made.”

If Venus had Melissa’s curiosity before, she now had Melissa’s full attention. “Made?”

“My memory of my life before godhood is fuzzy, but I believe I was an orchid mantis of some kind,” Venus explained. “The ancient roaches discovered me when I was on the verge of death, and… did something. I don’t know what they did exactly, but it made me into the kind of being you see now.”

“An orchid mantis, huh? I guess that’s appropriate, given… well, you know.” Melissa paused for a moment, and allowed the implications of what she had just heard to fully catch up to her. “…Wait a second, you’re not a real goddess!? You’ve been lying to your followers this entire time!?”

“It’s not a lie!” Venus argued. “I’m still an immensely powerful immortal being, you know. I’ve protected these lands for almost three centuries!”

“But you’re not divine!” Anger began to bubble up again within Melissa, and despite her better judgment, she couldn’t stop it from pushing itself out the surface. “You’ve had bugs worshiping you for over two hundred years and you don’t see the problem with not telling them this!?”

“I never intended to be worshiped!” Venus shot back. “Bugs simply saw how powerful I was, and that I was going out of their way to protect them, and drew their own conclusions. By the time I noticed I was revered as a god, it was too late to tell them otherwise. And their religion gives them meaning to their lives. They’ve built elaborate festivals and rituals that bring bugs together, helps them find community in each other. The faith of my followers brings so much joy to them, and it would be cruel of me to deny them that.”

“But you still want to keep this secret,” Melissa accused. “You don’t want anyone else knowing about this.”

“No, I don’t,” said Venus. “Look, you don’t have to believe in me, and you don’t have to think of me as a god. But I don’t think it’s a lie to say I am. From a certain point of view, I simply am the deity of these hills, because that’s what I mean to the bugs who live here.”

‘From a certain point of view?’ Who the fuck do you think you are, Obi-Wan?

Melissa grumbled to herself internally. Yet at the same time, she could in some way see the point that Venus was making. “Alright, I… fine. I won’t tell anyone. I guess being the obnoxious atheist isn’t going to make anyone think too highly of me anyway. But why tell me this? Why tell me about your true nature?”

“Because it’s important context,” Venus replied. “It’s the reason that I know so much about humankind. I know so much about humans because I was made by the ancient roaches. And the roaches, they…”

Venus’s words trailed off. Her expression became pained, like she was internally tearing herself apart over whether she should finish the sentence.

“They were what?” said Melissa.

“…the roaches were human.”

Melissa could only stare up at the supposed deity, wide-eyed. The words Venus spoke had caused her mind to practically trip over itself.

“You… you’re joking.”

“Well, it’s a bit more complicated then that. But essentially, it’s true. The ancient roaches were masters of crystal magic, which they used to expand their own minds in unprecedented ways. And one of the ways they did so was… they found a way to unlock the memories of their own past lives.”

Melissa’s mouth hung open slightly. Her thoughts ran in circles, trying to find a way to best follow the course of the words laid out before her. And though it took some effort, she eventually managed to reach the implication.

“P-p-past… you mean, reincarnation?”

Venus nodded. “Mmm-hmm. You may have heard by now, that the ‘Day of Reckoning’ of roach legend was the same as the ‘Day of Awakening’ where bugs started to gain higher intelligence. There’s a reason for that. Whatever that fiery cataclysm was, all of the humans who perished in it were allowed a second chance at life. The Awakening was not merely a mass uplifting event. It was a mass reincarnation event.”

“Then… then that means…” Melissa stumbled over her words as she tried to follow them.

“Exactly what you think it does,” Venus said. “All of the bugs you’ve spoken to were once humans in a prior life. Even I was, though I don’t remember it myself.”

“And… and the ancient roaches figured this out? T-they found out how to remember their past lives?”

“They most certainly did,” said Venus. “And though I can’t prove it, I have strong reason to suspect this is somehow connected to their eventual decline. I think there’s a reason why none of the surviving roaches today remember being human.”

“And…” Melissa could almost feel her heart skip a beat. “I… I really don’t believe this. I mean, sure, if all the bugs here are reincarnated humans…” She swallowed thickly, fighting desperately to parse her own thoughts and feelings. “T-they couldn’t be people I knew in life, could they? It’s been hundreds of years since everyone died, so even if my friends reincarnated, they’d have died again by now. Right?”

All of a sudden, Venus managed a smile. It was a warm, deeply compassionate smile, one that almost made Melissa believe in Venus’s divinity.

“Well, I wouldn’t jump to conclusions. From what I understand, the roaches found that reincarnation doesn’t quite follow the same laws of time as everything else. And there was an era when ants and bees were not yet intelligent, meaning they hadn’t yet gained human souls. So who knows? Some of the human friends you had might have found a new life today.”

Now that she mentions it… those two scientists… they were just like my college professors. Does that mean they… they ARE my college professors?

And… and Kelly… is she…?

Tears began to well in Melissa’s eyes, as her thoughts dwelled on all of the people that she’d lost. “But… they’re not really the same, are they? E-even if they have the same souls, whatever that means… they don’t remember their old lives. They’ve had new lives, and entirely new experiences… they’re not the people I knew. So everyone else is still gone.”

“Maybe so,” said Venus. “But you’re not as different from everyone here as you may have thought. You have something fundamentally in common with everyone you’ll ever meet in Bugaria. A kinship that extends far beyond your species. And that means something, doesn’t it?”

Melissa sniffled. She felt a warmth build up inside of her, a feeling that she seized and held onto as tightly. “Yeah… I guess. I… I can’t help but wonder though, why was I not reincarnated like everyone else? How did I end up here? Do you know anything about that?”

“Honestly, I have no idea,” Venus admitted. “But if I had to guess, it was probably the cosmic equivalent of a clerical error.”

“You think I’m here because some celestial powers that be made a mistake?”

“Can you think of a better explanation?”

Despite everything, Melissa couldn’t help but laugh. “No, I guess not. What sort of bug do you think I’d be, anyway?”

“Well, what do you think?” Venus teased.

“…I think I’ve been having a weird craving for pollen and nectar since I arrived.”

The skies suddenly started to turn an orange color, matching the vibrant autumn hues of the Golden Hills.

“Oh dear, sunset already?” said Venus. “Well, I’d hate to keep you here all night, so I’ll go ahead and let you go now. Feel free to come back whenever you like, okay? I don’t really get much in the way of social interaction.”

“Wow, really?” said Melissa. “That’s, um… kinda sad.”

“I know,” Venus replied. “But such is the life of a sedentary being. Don’t be a stranger, you hear?”

Melissa said her goodbyes to Venus, and turned around to exit the sanctum. When she did, she saw Team Snakemouth waiting for her expectantly.

“Geez, took you long enough!” Vi complained. “It’s almost nighttime already! It’ll be totally dark out by the time we get home!”

For a moment, Melissa said nothing. There was a deep, powerful swelling within her chest, and tears once again pooled in the corners of her eyes. As she stared at her friends, she could feel the common link between them all, persisting across the end of the world. They didn’t know, and Melissa had promised not to tell them, but… she had a feeling that deep down, they could feel that connection too.

Before she could ponder it any further, Melissa reflexively reached out with her arms, and pulled the three of them into a massive group hug.

“W-whoa! Hey!” said Vi.

“Oh wow,” said Kabbu, “you are soft…”

“Thank you,” Melissa whispered. “Thank you all so much…”

----

True to Vi’s word, when the group finally made its way back to the Ant Kingdom, sun had already dipped well below the horizon. With the lack of public lights, navigating the streets of the Ant City proved difficult, but with the help of her friends she was able to make her way back to her house.

As she said the others off, Melissa collapsed onto her bed in exhaustion, letting her thoughts idly drift as her mind slowly floated towards the realm of sleep.

Man, what a day. It feels like an entire decade of my life happened in less than twenty-four hours. First royalty, then a goddess, then I learn everyone’s been reincarnated…

I’m still going to miss everyone I knew. But maybe living in interesting times isn’t so bad after all.

Little did Melissa know, the most life-changing person she’d meet was yet to come.

Chapter Text

Do you mind, excuse me
I saw you over there can I just tell you
Although there are millions of cephalophores that wander through this world
You’ve got something extra going on, I think you probably know

— They Might Be Giants

The next week of Melissa’s life was, for the most part, uneventful. It hadn’t stopped being weird yet, and people still ended up giving her very weird looks everywhere she went. And it had quickly gotten out that she was a former Giant, which led to a lot of very awkward interactions. Nobody seemed to know quite what to think of someone who used to be big enough to squish them dead with a fingertip.

That said, she wasn’t without her admirers. A little orange moth boy named Tod — Leif’s nephew, from what she’d heard — had been very excited to meet her for the first time.

“Hey miss!” Tod had said, running up to her. “You’re Melissa, right? Is it true you’re a Giant?”

Melissa could practically feel her heart melting at the sight of him. She’d always thought moths were adorable, but this kid seemed practically designed to hit all of the cuteness receptors in her brain at once.

“Yup, that’s me,” Melissa said, breaking into a wide grin. “Though I guess I’m more of a ‘tiny’ now.”

“Whoa! So if you were normal-sized, you could crush the whole city underfoot!”

Melissa’s smile vanished instantly. It took a measure of self-control to stop herself from wincing. “Um… I, uh, don’t really like to think about that. But… yeah.”

Tod up at Melissa with wide eyes. “That’s so cool, though! And how come you talk so weird? I understand what you’re saying, but I dunno how. It sounds like you’re speaking a totally different language.”

“Oh, um. I actually don’t speak your language. It’s my crystal bracelet translating for me.” To demonstrate, Melissa gestured to the machine wrapped permanently around her wrist. “Honestly, I’m not even sure if my body can make the sounds for bug words. I don’t have spiracles, so I breathe and make sounds through my mouth.”

“You only talk with your mouth?” said Tod. “Wow, you must be really different from us. Being a Giant sounds awesome!”

“Yeah. I… I guess it was.”

“Hey, how come you look so sad all of a sudden?”

“…It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

Melissa couldn’t help but envy the childhood innocence. Every time they’d run into each other in the town square, he always seemed to have the same cheerful attitude, and the same insatiable curiosity.

He’d ask questions about her life as a human, like ‘what do you eat?’ and ‘where did you live?’ and ‘do humans have larvae or nymphs?’ She’d answer to the best of her ability, and in the case of the last question, she’d managed to completely blow his mind.

It reminded Melissa a lot of her own fascination with bugs, when she was Tod’s age.

Still, being able to answer the questions of a young child was the least of her concern. Eventually, she would have to get a job. Her leftover funds were able to last her a good while, as food was both plentiful and affordable, but it wouldn’t be enough to carry her through the end of the month.

And so, after several days of unemployment, she began searching for a place to work. Which brought Melissa to a saddening epiphany.

Without having a chance to complete her degree, it wasn’t likely Melissa could find a job in field biology like she’d wanted, and she wasn’t sure if the nearby Ant University would even be able to accept her as a student. The realization that she may never truly have a chance to pursue her dream career sent a painful spike through her heart.

Yet, at the same time… she’d always wanted to work with bugs. So, in a way, maybe she was still getting what she wanted. Or, at least, that’s what she would tell herself.

So in the meantime, she would have to consider other options. Manual labor was right out of the question: as a human she had vastly less proportional strength than any bug, and ants in particular seemed to be immensely skilled at heavy lifting.

Shouldn’t being small give me MORE proportional strength BECAUSE I’m tiny? I swear, this shrinking is bullshit.

With both academic work and manual labor ruled out, that left Melissa with only one option. The thought of it sent a chill down the length of her spine.

…Oh God.

I’m going to have to work retail.

Melissa’s first choice of an employer was the Termacade, as that seemed like a fun place to work, but they weren’t hiring. And the receptionist told her that they weren’t interested in hiring anyone but termites anyway.

Wait, is that racist? Am I being discriminated against? Can I sue?

Thankfully, finding another place with a potential job opening proved to be easy. There was a small general store next to the Termacade, built out of a cardboard box and stocked with many simple items, foodstuffs, and commodities.

The owner of the store was a butterfly woman with deep blue wings, named, appropriately enough, Madame Butterfly. Some kind of blue morpho, it looks like? Bugs didn’t seem to know what French was, strangely, so it seemed to be that ‘Madame’ was just her first name.

“So, you want to work here?” Madame hummed. “That’s a fortunate coincidence. I’ve been looking for a pair of extra hands, myself. I’ll be setting up some more shelves soon, and I’ll need someone to help stock them and manage inventory.”

Madame’s eyes shifted slightly. Melissa wasn’t quite sure how she managed to do that when she didn’t have pupils. “Hold on, let’s not jump to conclusions. I haven’t decided if I want to hire you yet.”

“Oh,” said Melissa, trying to hide the disappointment in her voice. “I don’t have to like, do an interview, do I?”

“No, nothing like that,” Madame reassured. “It’s… well, I don’t mean to be rude, but given what you are, I can’t help but worry what my customers might think of you working here. It’s nothing against you personally, it’s just… everything about you is rather off-putting.”

“What!? N-now hold on! That’s definitely discrimination!”

“Oh, no, nothing like that!” Madame replied, aghast. “I’m just not sure what sort of risk I’d be taking by having you associate with my business. All the other bugs are still quite wary of you, you know.”

“I… I know.” Melissa said. “Please. I need this. I… My whole world is gone, okay? If you know I’m a Giant, then you probably know that everyone else like me died a long time ago. If… if it weren’t for the Queen’s generosity, I’d have nothing. Please just give me a chance, alright?”

There was a pause that hung over the air. Madame looked deeply conflicted, and her hands fidgeted as she looked deep in thought.

“Well, alright. I suppose as long as you’re willing to do the work, I can make use of you. And this could be a good opportunity for you to earn the community’s trust. Consider yourself hired.”

Melissa gave a fist pump in the air. “Yes! Thank you, Madame! Thank you so much! I promise you won’t regret it!”

“You’re quite welcome,” Madame replied. “But before you get your hopes up too much, you should know you’ll be working at minimum wage.”

Melissa blinked. Almost immediately, she felt herself deflate. “…Oh. Well, that’s fine. At least it’s a job.”

“Excellent,” said Madame. “I won’t have the shelves ready for another two days, so you can come in the day after tomorrow. Don’t worry about the schedule, I’ll compensate you for whatever time you’re willing to spend working.”

“Yeah, thanks,” said Melissa, being at least grateful for the flexible hours. “See you tomorrow.”

As she left to turn out the door, a sigh escaped from between her lips.

Minimum wage… yeehaw.

----

After exiting the general store, Melissa decided to spend some time wandering around the Ant Kingdom. She couldn’t go very far beyond the city, given the dangerous lesser bugs that supposedly made their home outside civilization — and given how much squishier, weaker, and less athletic she seemed than any of the bugs she’d met, she likely wouldn’t stand a chance against anything that attacked her.

Still, Melissa hated being cooped up in such a small area. Knowing that it was an area less than half the size of her already-tiny college dorm was just further salt in the wound. Everywhere she went, Melissa couldn’t help but be reminded of just how much of her old world she’d taken for granted, and how much of it was now completely inaccessible to her.

At the very least, she could head just a bit south of the city, towards where the Explorer’s Association was. The air was crisp as she walked by the leafy building, and she turned just a bit to the east to head towards the river. Or… stream, more likely. To a bug though, it was certainly a river. She was careful not to move too far along it, though, and a fierce glare she received from a weird purple pointed seed-monster reminded her to back off and head back to safety.

As Melissa walked back to the Explorer’s Association, however, a sound caught her ears. It sounded like the rhythmic wheezing of a bug’s spiracles, though it was a strained sound quite unlike anything else she’d heard. For some reason, hearing it sent a sharp pang straight through Melissa’s heart.

Following the sound, Melissa was eventually led to a bug sitting by the side of the river, a good ways away from the Association, and the attention of any other bugs. She was a moth girl with a fuzzy grey body, and a pink heart-shaped marking on her head; she looked quite unlike any moth species that Melissa had ever heard of.

But most important to Melissa was the realization that the distressed wheezing she’d heard was actually the moth crying. Her eyes were wet with tears as she sat by the river, shuddering slightly.

Without even thinking, Melissa rushed instantly to the little moth’s side, the pain that had shot through her chest only intensifying at the sight of her distress.

“Hey,” she said, trying to get the moth’s attention. “Are you okay? Is everything alright?”

“Nuh… nuh… no…” The moth girl’s reply was strained, as though it took great effort to force the words out of her body.

As if by reflex, Melissa sat down next to the moth girl, and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Hey, easy there. It’s alright. You’re alright.”

“S… sorry… Talking… hard. Have… spee… speech imp… impa… imp…”

“A speech impediment?”

The moth girl nodded. “Yuh… yeah… That.”

“You don’t have to apologize. It’s not your fault that talking’s hard for you,” said Melissa. “My name’s Melissa, by the way. What’s yours?”

“Yi… Yin.”

Melissa continued to rub Yin’s shoulder. Despite her rigid carapace, Melissa could somehow feel her muscles beginning to relax. “It’s nice to meet you, Yin.” Melissa frowned, as it suddenly dawned on her how young Yin seemed. Even with a speech impediment, she didn’t act quite like an adult. “If you don’t mind me asking, how old are you?”

“Du… dunno. Gr… Grew… slowly. But… just puh… pupated. Three moons ago.”

Melissa felt a second pang shoot through her heart. If what she knew about insect development now was true…

“That means you’re still just a kid, aren’t you? Where are your parents?”

“D… Don’t have any.”

Melissa could feel her entire body going rigid, all at once. “You’re an orphan!?”

Yin said nothing. She nodded silently.

“Oh my God. Then… you don’t have anyone to look after you?”

“Ma… Maki… He ta… takes care of me.”

Recognition lit up within Melissa’s mind. She’d heard that name mentioned a couple times, by the citizens of the Ant Kingdom.

“Wait, you mean the Queen’s strongest knight? He’s your guardian? Where is he now?”

“He… left… on a mi… mission. Kina… She… was gonna l-look after me… But… Sh… she… left.”

Melissa felt a mixture of emotions stir within her. It bubbled up from within her stomach in a concoction of shock and horror, one that quickly congealed into raw anger.

“She abandoned you!?”

Yin didn’t say anything more. The tears flowed freely from her eyes again, and she buried her face in her hands. A sound akin to a chorus of pained whistles came from Yin’s spiracles, and Melissa’s mind instantly recognized it as a sob.

“H-hey! Hey, it’s okay! Please, don’t cry! I promise, it’ll be okay! You’ll be okay…”

Letting her instincts guide her body, Melissa leaned over, and pulled Yin into a tight hug. For a moment, Yin didn’t respond, simply burying her face into Melissa’s shoulder.

But then, Yin reciprocated the hug, and almost instantly Melissa felt all of the air be squeezed out of her lungs.

“S… soft…”

“G… Gah!” Melissa let out a pained cry. “C-crushing… can’t… breathe!”

“Oh. S-sorry.”

Yin released her hug, and Melissa winced in pain, clutching her side and nursing the sharp pain that was stabbing straight through her lower ribs.

“Gah! That freaking hurt! What are they even feeding you?” Fuck, how are even kid bugs so freakishly strong!? I hope I haven’t bruised a rib…

Yin frowned for a moment, and gave Melissa a thoughtful look. “Here… make you fee… feel better.”

Before Melissa could even ask what she meant, Yin grabbed Melissa’s hand and pulled it out of the way. Then, Yin place her other hand on Melissa’s side, right where she was clutching it earlier.

Melissa opened her mouth to object, but was cut off by a soft light that pulsed through Yin’s hands. Almost instantly, the sharp pain in Melissa’s ribs vanished. It was as though she’d never been hurt in the first place.

“Wha… what? How?”

“Ma-magic,” said Yin, with a smile. “Can… can heal. I’m… only one who can.”

“…Wow,” said Melissa. Magic, as far as she could tell, was something extremely uncommon in Bugaria. “I guess you really are something special, huh?”

Yin let out a giggle, and Melissa had to spend all of her mental effort trying to stop herself from pinching Yin on the cheeks.

Kid, if you’re going to keep being this adorable, you’re liable to give me diabetes.

Putting the thought aside, Melissa smiled gently. “Seems like you’re feeling a bit better. Here, why don’t we go hang out until Maki returns?” Her growling stomach reminded her that she hadn’t yet had lunch. “Actually, maybe we can get something to eat while we’re at it.”

“O-Okay!” said Yin. “Can… can I have… a sweet shroom?”

“From Fry’s place? Yeah, I think I can do that.”

----

After enjoying a quick meal together, Melissa spent the day walking around the Ant City with Yin. It was the only thing they could really do with each other, given Melissa’s limited budget, but they found that they enjoyed each other’s company regardless.

But Yin’s cheerful mood changed when they entered the Residential District, and saw another bug calling out Yin’s name.

She was a large orange mantis, standing just over a head taller than Melissa, with curled antennae and a purple bandanna tied around her neck.

And in the back of her mind, Melissa couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of familiarity at the sight of her.

“That’s… that’s Kina,” Yin whispered

“Hey! Yin! Yin!” Kina called out. “Seriously, where are you!? I’ve looked all over! Do you have any idea how mad Maki will be at me if I finds out I lost you!? I swear, if something happened to you…”

From deep within herself, Melissa felt something bubble outwards, filling her with equal parts tension and resolve. She stormed towards Kina, her footprints pressing deep into the soil as she practically stomped across the earth.

“Muh… Melissa! W-wait! Stop!”

Yin’s protest didn’t even register in Melissa’s mind. She approached Melissa, who was currently facing the other way. When Kina finally turned around to notice

Kina, who was looking the other way, didn’t notice Melissa approaching. When she finally turned around, Melissa was already right up against her face, staring straight into her eyes with a glare that could kill a full-sized human.

“Oh, trust me, he is going to be nowhere near as mad at you as I am right now!”

“Wha—”

Before Kina could even get a word in edgewise, Melissa delivered a pointed jab at Kina’s chest with her finger. All of her thoughts were pouring out of her like an unstoppable torrent, and any concern she had for manners, tact, or self-preservation had been forcibly washed away.

“Now you listen here, you piece of rotten excrement! I had to spend this entire afternoon looking after this little moth girl because you were too goddamned negligent to take care of her yourself!”

“W-what!? N-now hold on a second!” Kina sputtered.

“And do you want to know where I found her, huh? Do you!?”

“H-hey, come on! This isn’t fai—”

“I found found her sitting by the goddamned river crying her eyes out, because the only person she had at the time left her all alone to fend for herself! I had to be to be the one to console her, I had to be the one to make sure she didn’t go hungry, and I’m the only one here that’s given a single solitary shit about her well-being! What do you have to say for yourself, huh!?”

“STOP IT! STOP FIGHTING!”

All at once, the unstoppable torrent of righteous indignation pouring out from Melissa vanished. Her attention was pulled away from Kina. She turned her head to see Yin standing before the both of them. Her entire body was subtly trembling, and her eyes were wet with fresh tears.

“P… please… don’t fight… Please…”

A sickening whirlpool of guilt sloshed inside of Melissa’s stomach, threatening to crawl its way up her throat and choke out her sinuses. “Oh… Oh my God, Yin. I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean… I-I’m so sorry!”

“I… I guess we both owe Yin an apology, huh?” Melissa turned around, and saw Kina looking at her and Yin both, her lips pressed together into a tiny frown. “I’m sorry, Yin. I should have known it was a bad idea to leave you behind. I thought you could take care of yourself, but I didn’t think you’d take it that badly…”

“It’s… it’s… okay,” said Yin. “I… I’m glad… you’re here.”

Without any further words, Yin pulled Kina into a hug, wrapping her arms tightly around her waist, reaching across Kina’s abdomen.

As she did so, Melissa couldn’t help but notice how stiff Kina’s posture was. She didn’t return Yin’s hug at all, and there was a plain look of discomfort plastered across her face. Yin, for her part, didn’t seem to notice, and eventually pulled away with a contented smile.

“Um… hey. Kina, right?” said Melissa.

Kina blinked. “Yeah? You’re the former Giant everyone’s talking about, right?”

“Yeah. My name’s Melissa, and, uh… I’m sorry for yelling at you.”

“No, it’s fine.” said Kina. She seemed to be trying to avoid making eye contact. “I admit, I, um… haven’t always been the best at taking care of Yin. I like to think I’ve warmed up to her, but… I guess I still have a lot to learn.”

“What do you mean ‘warmed up to her?’ She’s a kid.”

“Look, I don’t want to talk about that, okay!?”

“Uh-huh,” Melissa deadpanned. “Whatever the case, you’d better promise me you’re not going to neglect her like that again, got that?”

“Yeah, sure,” Kina grumbled. “You’ve made your point, I’ll be better at looking out for her. Can you please just leave us alone now?”

“Fine. I will.”

Melissa turned around to leave, but as her emotions died down, a sudden epiphany came to her. That twinge of familiarity in the back of her mind suddenly came rushing to the forefront.

And when Melissa realized what that familiarity was, her heart nearly burst right out of her chest.

W-wait! Wait a minute! Kina looks just like…!

A-and if what Venus said about reincarnation is true, then…!

“…Um. Actually,” Melissa cut in. “There’s one more thing.”

Kina let out a groan. “What now?”

Melissa could feel her heart pounding in her eardrums. She could scarcely believe it, but it was impossible to deny. The way the orange color of her exoskeleton matched her red hair, the way she talked, the way even her voice sounded the same…

“I… Look,” Melissa said with a sigh. “I think… I think we left the wrong first impressions on each other. You… you seem like a pretty cool person, and I’d like to start off with you on the right foot.”

“O… okay?”

“So, um… Kina, how about we go hang out together sometime? Maybe someplace quiet, where we could get to know each other?”

Kina blinked. For several seconds, she simply stared at Melissa blankly.

“A-are you asking me on a—”

Melissa felt her heart jump. “What!? No! Oh God no, not a date! Just… you know, a chance for us to be friends. N-not anything weird, I promise.”

“Um…” Kina’s antennae twitched idly as she continued to stare blankly at Melissa. “I… I guess I don’t see an issue with that. Maki will be staying here with Yin tomorrow, and I don’t really have anything better to do… maybe we could hang out at the Tavern? You know the one, right?”

“You mean the worst-kept secret in the whole kingdom?” Melissa joked. “I’ve barely been here a week and I already know about it.”

“That’s the one,” said Kina with a smirk. “Honestly, they should really just legalize that place already. They trade so much useful information, so it’s not like the Queen would ever shut it down.”

“Great! So it’s a da— er, so it’s settled,” said Melissa. “How about we meet there at high noon tomorrow?” God, it’s so weird not having a real clock to go by…

“Yeah, um… I think that works for me,” said Kina. “I’ll see you there, I guess?”

“Yup! See you tomorrow, then.”

As Melissa waved goodbye and turned to leave, she suddenly found herself breaking into a cold sweat.

Oh… Oh no.

What in the twenty-four karat golden fuck have I just gotten myself into!?

Chapter Text

I haven't seen you in forever
I'm so glad we're together again

— They Might Be Giants

Trepidation ate away at Melissa for almost the entirety of the next morning.

Sure, as far as Kina was concerned, it was just meeting with a stranger. But for Melissa, it meant something much, much more.

Is she really Kelly’s reincarnation? That was the question that weighed heavily on her mind, drowning out almost any other thoughts she might have on the matter. In her deepest heart, she felt more than anything that the answer was ‘yes.’

But in her mind, Melissa really had no idea. She believed what Venus said about reincarnation, and the ancient roaches learning of their past lives explained all too much about them. But she couldn’t be certain that Kina was the reincarnation of her friend, specifically. There was no way to prove that, as far as she could tell.

And… even if Kina was her best friend’s reincarnation, she was a totally different person now. Melissa had no reason to suspect that the two of them would end up getting along.

But it seemed that her more rational thoughts held little sway over her decisions.

Kina was an echo of the life Melissa had lost. And she had to cling to that echo. Her heart gave her no other choice.

And so she waited. Waited, until the sun was near its peak. Swallowing her anxiety, Melissa approached a hole in the ground, tucked away in the Commercial District behind a patch of tall grass, and hidden underneath a plastic bottlecap.

As she approached, a voice from below called out, as though someone knew she was approaching.

“Password?”

Melissa’s eyebrows shot up. “Wait, there’s a password!?”

“Yup. There is. And if you don’t know the password, you don’t get in. Those are the rules.”

“Fine. I’ll… go find the password, then.” She paused for a moment, until something occurred to her. “Hold on a second, do you know if Kina’s in there? I’m supposed to meet her here.”

“Maki’s sister? Haven’t seen her. Now scram. No password, no entry.”

“Right, sorry.”

Maki’s her brother? Kelly had an older brother, too… does that mean he’s also…?

Melissa stopped for a moment to wonder, as many questions swirled through her mind.

What were the odds that a pair of siblings would still be siblings in their next lives? Would it be just a coincidence if they were, or was reincarnation not something entirely random? What if two people who were related in one life became unrelated in their next lives? What would ‘family’ even mean when past lives were taken into account? What would it mean to the ancient roaches, who could supposedly remember what their past lives were?

Melissa didn’t have much time to ponder her thoughts, as she was pulled out of them by the voice of another bug.

“Oh. Hey Melissa. Here already?”

Melissa turned around, and saw that Kina was standing right behind her. Her hands fidgeted idly, as though she wasn’t quite sure what to do with them.

“Yeah. I was gonna meet you but, uh… there’s a password.”

Kina frowned. “Wait, he’s seriously not letting you in? He doesn’t know who you are?”

“Well… No?”

“But you’re speaking that freaky Giant language!” Kina said, exasperated. “Everything you say slips right past the tympanum and goes straight into the brain! Who else could you be?”

“Um…”

Kina held up a hand, and approached the bottlecap. “Hold that thought.”

Then, Kina took in a deep breath, and Melissa instantly recognized what was about to happen. The sound that erupted from Kina’s spiracles sounded to Melissa’s ears like the entire brass section of an orchestra, playing a single note at maximum volume.

“HEY, REED! QUIT MESSING AROUND AND LET US IN!”

From below the bottlecap, the voice of the bouncer spoke again. “Kina? Is that you? Sorry, but you know I can’t just let you in without the password.”

“AND I KNOW THAT IF YOU DON’T LET US IN, MY BROTHER WILL STICK HIS FOOT SO FAR UP YOUR ASS THAT YOU’LL BE TASTING IT NEXT MORNING! SO OPEN UP!”

“Okay, okay! Fine! You can come in! You always try to make this difficult, I swear…”

It took a moment for Melissa’s ears to stop ringing. “Jeez. Remind me to never make you angry.”

The bottlecap jostled suddenly, as though it were being poked by something from below. Sure enough, an immensely long wooden pole nudged it from beneath, before eventually pushing it to the side. Melissa stepped forward towards the hole, only to immediately stop in her tracks when she saw what was below it.

It was a sheer drop over six times her height, with nothing but a mushroom on the floor below to break her fall. And while the mushroom looked soft, it didn’t look anywhere near soft enough to prevent herself from getting injured.

“Well?” said Kina. “You heading in or not?”

“I… can’t. Not unless I want to break both of my legs.”

Kina stared incredulously. “Wait, seriously? Any bug could make that jump.”

“I’m not a bug, okay?” Melissa retorted. “I don’t have an exoskeleton, my body’s literally not built for that kind of fall. And I don’t think there’s a single doctor alive that could treat me if I broke a bone or something.”

“Oh,” said Kina. “…What’s a bone?”

“Exactly.”

For a moment, Kina could only continue to stare. Her antennae very subtly twitched in the breeze, as though demonstrating that her brain was searching for a response.

“…Right. Guess I’ll just have to carry you, then.”

“Huh? Wait, wha—”

Before Melissa could even finish asking, she let out a yelp as Kina reached up and literally swept her off of her feat. Kina held Melissa close to her chest, one arm under her legs and the other supporting her back.

Kina then jumped down the hole, with Melissa firmly in her arms. Melissa felt a small shock through her skeleton as her carrier bounced off of the mushroom, before landing on the floor.

Kina then gently set Melissa down. For some reason, Melissa’s entire body felt like it was about to turn into jelly.

“Um. You okay?” said Kina. “Your face, it’s all red. Is that normal?”

“Uh… yeah, it’s fine. Nothing to worry about.”

That’s right, insects don’t have red blood. So she wouldn’t recognize if I’m…

…wait a second, am I BLUSHING!? What!?

Melissa coughed, and tried to put the thought out of her mind as she followed Kina to the bar. The two of them passed by the bouncer, a beetle with a striking red-and-black exoskeleton, holding in his hands the same extremely tall wooden pole he had used to open the entrance. He nodded at the two of sthem, then used the pole to flip the bottlecap back over the hole above.

“I gotta say, I never thought the legendary Giants would have been so fragile.”

“Hey! We’re not fragile!” Melissa retorted. “Our bodies are just good at different things.”

Kina’s head tilted slightly. “Like what?”

“Well, um. The main thing is that we have way more natural stamina than almost anything else,” Melissa explained. “So we’re able to keep up physical activity for a lot longer than other species. Our ancestors hunted by just slowly pursuing our prey until it tired out.”

“So you’re a carnivore?” said Kina. Melissa seemed to have her full attention now. “Does that mean there were other creatures big enough for you to hunt?”

“Omnivore, actually. But… yeah. Humans were far from the only animal that would be giant-sized to a bug. We’re just… the only ones that were intelligent enough to build a civilization. So I guess when all the vertebrates were wiped out, we were the only ones to leave behind our stuff.”

“Huh. I never would have guessed,” said Kina. “Still, it’s hard to believe your kind ruled the world, if you’re so easily injured…”

Melissa shrugged. “Honestly, we were just the first to start building weapons.”

The inside of the tavern was cozy, and lit by the same crystals that seemed to be everywhere else in Bugaria. There was a bar, fashioned out of a stick and what appeared to be some kind of cigarette box, with a ladybug serving as the bartender. In front of it were three white barstools, which appeared to be fashioned out of plastic. They looked weirdly familiar to Melissa, in a way that made her think they weren’t originally barstools.

Wait, those are the little plastic table things they used to put on top of pizzas.

To the side of the bar was a grasshopper playing some sort of plucked stringed instrument… Melissa recognized it as some sort of long-necked lute or mandolin, though it was weirdly thin, and its body had only four strings. Interestingly, it sounded like a guitar played by pick, despite the grasshopper playing with his bare fingers.

How does he not get blisters?

…Right. Chitin. Duh.

Around the tavern were various tables, with a single white bee serving as the waitress. On one of the tables, a single red-and-black ant was playing cards against a brown wheel bug with a very long proboscis. Interestingly, the ant seemed unusually fuzzy, and her red-and-black patterns seemed to form the outlines of the four suits of playing cards.

Hold on, she’s not an ant at all. She’s a velvet ant, that means she’s actually a wingless wasp.

Kina led Melissa to the bar, and gave the bartender a smile.

“Wow, you have stools now?” said Kina. “You’ve really fancied up the place, huh?”

“Yup,” said the bartender. “Some explorers found ‘em in some Giant ruins to the southwest. There were a few huge cardboard boxes, and these were in ‘em.”

“Let me guess,” said Melissa. “Pizza boxes?”

The bartender shook his head. “No idea what that is, Giant lady. You’d know better than me.”

A sudden, horrible realization sent a sharp pang straight through Melissa’s gut.

The bartender gave Melissa a worried look. “You okay there, miss?”

“Yeah,” said Melissa. “I just need a moment of silence for my favorite food.”

For a moment, Kina and the bartender just stared awkwardly.

“…Right,” said Kina, as she pulled up one of the stools and sat down. “Anyway, I’ll have a slippery aphid.”

“A cocktail it is. And you, miss Giant?”

“Just call me Melissa,” Melissa said, pulling out the second stool and taking a seat herself. “And, um. Honestly, I’m not sure what to order. I doubt bugs have the same kind of alcohol that we did.”

“I guess you could share my drink if you want,” Kina suggested. “It’s like an aphid shake with a bite.”

“Really? That’s awfully generous of…” Melissa blinked, and a thought came to her. “…Wait, is it made with honeydew?”

“Well, yeah,” said Kina. “What else do you think we use aphids for?”

Melissa had to fight off the sudden urge to cringe. “…Right. I think I’ll pass, then.” Not to judge, but I’m NOT drinking something that came out of another bug’s butthole. “Anything else you got, bartender?”

“A few things,” said the bartender. “But if you want my suggestion, I’d try the succulent cider. It’s almost out of season, and once our stock runs out we won’t get any more ‘till next year.”

“Alright. I’ll take one of those, then.”

“Sure thing. I’ll have your drinks up in a sec.” With that, the bartender turned around and began preparing the order, stored on what looked to be a series of large pots behind the bar.

Before long, the bartender served the both of them their drinks. Kina’s was a thick green cocktail that, just as she said, appeared to be mixed with honeydew.

Melissa’s, meanwhile, was a dull, brownish orange drink that looked a lot like beer. It definitely didn’t taste like it, though. The word “succulent” pretty aptly described the taste, it was like a sweet alcoholic drink that tasted like some kind of juice blend.

“So, Kina,” Melissa said, taking a sip of her drink. “Why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself?”

“Well, you’ve probably heard of it already, but I’m part of a famous exploration team with my brother,” Kina boasted, with a self-satisfied grin.s

“Yeah, I heard Maki was a pretty big deal,” said Melissa. “I had no idea you were part of the same team, though.”

Kina’s antennae twitched. Her lips pursed tightly into a deep frown.

“Um.” Melissa felt a lump begin to form in her throat. “I’m sorry, did I say something wrong?”

“No, no, it’s fine,” Kina grumbled. “It’s not your fault he keeps leaving me behind and getting all the fame and glory.”

A creeping dread began to crawl its way up Melissa’s back. She suddenly had a feeling she’d just made a huge mistake.

“I mean, I’ve just known him for literally my whole life, that’s all,” Kina continued. Her bitter sarcasm was so thick that Melissa could almost smell it. “We hatched from the same egg sac, and grew up in the Eastern Dead Lands. We were the only ones in the clutch to even make it to our final molt. And we continued to live there because we could handle anything as long as we stuck together! We survived because we were always a team!”

Melissa wasn’t sure what the ‘Dead Lands’ were, but she certainly didn’t like the sound of it. Kina, however, was not about to let Melissa get a word in edgewise.

“But ever since we moved to Bugaria, he’s decided he’s too good for that! That all of his missions are too ‘secret!’ Sure, he’s strong! Stronger than anyone! But strength can only get you so far, and he knows that! That’s why every other explorer in the Kingdom works in a team! It doesn’t matter how strong you are if nobody’s there to help you when you get in trouble!”

“Well… maybe he’s just worried about you?”

Kina took a big chug of alcohol from her glass. “That’s his other excuse. Nothing but a bunch of aphid frass if you ask me.”

That’s a funny thing for you to say, considering what you’re drinking.

“I mean, come on. We’re strong enough to take on Dead Landers when we work together. And he thinks I’ll be less safe when we’re working as a team? He’s just needlessly putting himself in harm’s way! I don’t understand why! He says it’s because the missions are too dangerous and confidential for me, but I know that’s not true!”

“Um,” said Melissa. She shifted uncomfortably in her chair. “Look, this is obviously something that upsets you a great deal to think about. Maybe we can talk about it some other time?”

Kina took another big chug of her drink. Her cheeks now had a slight blue-green tint, matching the color of a bug’s hemolymph. The alcohol was evidently getting to her already. “No. No. I’m not done. We had something great going on! We could take on the whole world together, and suddenly he just decides that it’s longer worth it, and just straight-up lies to me about why! And to make matters worse, I’m the one who always has to look after Yin when he’s away!”

“Okay, back the fuck up,” Melissa cut in. She felt a pressure building inside of her chest, and had to actively fight to keep herself from raising her voice. “What the hell is your problem with Yin? She’s a kid.”

“No she isn’t!” Kina shot back. “I mean, I guess she is in a way, but… ugh. Gods, I don’t even know.”

“How do you not know that?”

“She… grew up weird,” said Kina. “We found her as a caterpillar, but by then she was like… I don’t even know how old, but she should have already pupated by then. The doctors said her growth was stunted by something. She might have already been years old, we just don’t know.”

Melissa lips pursed tightly, and her free hand balled into a fist by her side. “So you didn’t like that she was disabled. Am I hearing that correctly?”

Kina’s mouth hung open in shock, like she had just been slapped clear across the face. “What!? No! T-t-that’s horrible! I would never…! Look, I just… I honestly didn’t even think she was going to make it, okay? Do you know what happens to bugs who end up traumatized during the larva or nymph stages? Because I can tell you now that it’s not pretty!”

“No, I don’t. But it had better be a good explanation.”

Kina let out a deep, heavy sigh, and her antennae sagged as she massaged her forehead. “If… if a bug suffers enough stress before they finish their metamorphosis, they… they stop being people. They lose their minds and become lesser bugs. I knew that Yin had been through a lot of trauma before we found her. And I was certain that if she ever pupated, she’d come out of it as some kind of feral monster. And then we’d be forced to put her down, and Maki would be heartbroken, and… I-I couldn’t bear the thought of seeing him go through that.”

Melissa could practically feel the color suddenly draining from her face. “Oh… Oh my God.”

“Yeah. It’d be not good if things worked out that way,” Kina lamented. “And I was totally convinced that it was the only way it could go, so I just… thought that looking after her was a waste of time. I admit, I resented her for it. And you know, maybe I shouldn’t have. But either way, Yin made it through pupation with her mind intact. I don’t know how, but all she had to show for her trauma was a speech impediment.”

“That’s…” Melissa’s words caught in her throat. “…Kina, I… I had no idea…”

“I was wrong, okay!? All my worries were unfounded, so all I did was end up looking like a total bitch! And I don’t know how to deal with that!” Kina sighed again, and then finished off the rest of her drink in one swig, slamming the empty glass against the bar. “I… I’m just not cut out for taking care of someone like Yin. She deserves better than me.”

For a moment, the bar remained silent, with only the sound of the grasshopper musician’s mandolin crossing Melissa’s ears. The bartender stared at the two of them sympathetically, but said nothing. He likely knew it wasn’t his place to get involved.

“Um… maybe we should talk about something else,” Melissa suggested. “I… didn’t want to come here to remind you of… that.”

“Yeah, good idea,” Kina muttered. “Enough talking about me. How about you tell me about yourself?”

“Uh… okay, sure,” said Melissa. “What should I start with? My hobbies? What my life was like when I was bigger? That sorta thing?”

“I was more thinking about what you are, exactly,” Kina said. “I know you’re a Giant, and I’m pretty sure you called your kind ‘hyoo-mans’ before, but… what exactly is that?”

Melissa sucked in a breath of air through her teeth. “Oh boy. I don’t even know how to start with that. I could explain my internal anatomy, like I did for Doctor H.B., but… I don’t even know if you’d understand half of what I’d say. If you like mean our culture, or evolutionary history, that’s probably even more complicated. We could be here all day, is what I’m saying.”

“No, that’s fine. If that’s what it takes to keep my mind off my own problems.”

“Ah. Right.” Melissa could feel butterflies in her stomach. That particular metaphor probably didn’t work anymore, but it was the one that immediately came to mind. She cleared her throat, and began to speak. “So, anyway. Humans. Before you can really know what we are, you have to know what vertebrates are. You know how I mentioned breaking a bone earlier?”

“Yeah,” said Kina. “You still didn’t explain what that is. Is that some kind of organ bugs don’t have?”

“Yup. Specifically, they’re the organs that…” Melissa paused, as an idea suddenly came to her. “Actually, it might be better to just show you. Here, feel my forearm.”

Melissa then held out her left arm in front of Kina, who leaned back as she stared at it. Tentatively, Kina reached forward, and gently grasped Melissa’s limb in her hand.

“Wow! It’s so soft!”

“On the outside, yeah. Now try squeezing. Um, gently though. You’re still way stronger than me, remember.”

“Um, okay,” said Kina. Slowly, her grip began to tighten, and Melissa winced at the sensation. “Huh? Wait a minute! There’s something hard inside of it! Is… is that normal?”

“Yup!” said Melissa, her lips curving upwards into a smirk. “That’s a bone. They’re what my skeleton’s made of.”

Kina released her grip instantly, and she stared at Melissa with her mouth hung slightly open. “Your skeleton’s on the inside!?”

“That it is,” said Melissa, proudly. “An internal skeleton was the defining feature of vertebrates. It’s not quite as durable as an exoskeleton, but it’s much lighter relative to body weight. That’s what allowed us to be so much larger than bugs.”

“And… all the giant-sized animals used to have this? Not just humans?”

“Mostly, yeah,” said Melissa. “Though some ocean bugs could be pretty close to giant-sized compared to land bugs, since weight is much less of a problem underwater.” I’m counting crabs as bugs, and you can’t stop me! Ha!

“W-wait, ocean bugs?” Kina stammered. “You mean the ocean is real!? I thought that was just a legend!”

“Yeah, the ocean is — hold on, legend?”

“It’s an old story,” said Kina. “It’s said that the world is surrounded by an infinite body of water. Nobody’s ever seen it, though. I always figured it was a myth, since we don’t really know what’s out there.”

Melissa blinked. That… made a strange amount of sense. Bugaria and its neighboring kingdoms were a very small part of the world, and few bugs of its denizens seemed to have ventured that far beyond it.

“Oh. Well, the ocean’s not infinite. It’s… really huge, though. It covers around seventy percent of the world’s surface, and it’s like… impossibly deep, even by human standards. Honestly, the ocean’s one of the scariest things out there.”

“I’ll say,” said Kina. “And… there are bugs there? Underwater?”

“Yup. Decapods and krill, mostly. They, um… look pretty different from insects, but they’re still basically bugs. I guess maybe they survived that Reckoning thing? I don’t even know, honestly.”

Actually, would barnacles also count as bugs? They’re technically arthropods too, but still…

“Wow. You… know weirdly a lot about bugs.”

Melissa laughed nervously. “Yeah, I uh… I’ve always honestly been interested in them. Or, um… you? Your kind? Before the whole world changed, I wanted to become a field entomologist. Um… that’s basically someone who gets to know bugs in their natural habitat.”

Kina snickered lightly to herself. Melissa felt a wave of relief wash over her body, seeing how the conversation’s turn had eased Kina’s mind.

“Sounds like you got your wish, huh?”

“Definitely not in the way I’d expected,” Melissa snorted. “But yeah, I’ve… studied a lot about insects, so there’s a lot I know. I could go on and on about it, but that’d probably bore you.”

“Well, maybe not,” said Kina. “We were different back in your time, right? I’m curious to know how. You can go on as long as you like, it’s not like we’re in a hurry.”

Melissa let out a small laugh. “Alright, but don’t say I didn’t warn you!”

----

Minutes passed, possibly more than an hour. True to her word, Melissa went in great detail about all the little bits of information she’d learned about insects over the years. Kina, true to her word, seemed fascinated by nearly all of it.

Maybe the alcohol helped, and maybe it was the possibility that they were best friends in a previous life, but it was remarkable to Melissa how well they got along.

“…and did you know that ants and bees are both descended from wasps?”

“You’re joking.”

“Nope!” Melissa beamed. The slight, pleasant tingle of alcohol buzzed throughout her head as she spoke. It was already easy to ramble on about all the information she knew about bugs while sober, but now it became almost effortless that she didn’t even know if she could stop. “Wasps came first, and then ants branched off of them around… I dunno, a hundred million years ago? Then bees about sixty million, I think. Don’t quote me on that, though.”

“Million?” Kina said, with wide eyes. “It’s a little hard to believe you’d know what happened that long ago. Are you sure you’re not making this up?”

“No! No! There’s totally scientific evidence for it, I swear!” Melissa insisted. “You just have to… have to find the right fossils. Bugs have been the most common form of animal life since forever, so there’s a ton. A lot of it’s in amber, which is, um… fossilized tree sap. There’s ant and bee fossils that still have some wasp-like features, and they’re incredibly old. Tens of millions of years old.”

Kina blinked. “Wow. I had no idea we’d been around for so long.”

“Oh yeah, bugs are like… way older than humans. The first species that was sorta human was like… two million years ago, I think? And the first modern humans were a couple hundred thousand years ago. But insects have been around for, uh… around three hundred million years, I think. And arthropods in general for at least five hundred million. The fossil record speaks for itself, really.”

“I guess that means we’ve made it through a lot, huh?” Kina said, with a light giggle. “No wonder we were the ones who survived the end of the world.”

Melissa hesitated. Her thoughts turned once again to the great purge of vertebrate life that she’d somehow lived through. She couldn’t stop herself from shuddering when the smell of burning flesh came back to the forefront of her mind.

“…Oh,” said Kina. “I guess that’s not something you like thinking about, huh?”

“No, no, it’s fine. It’s… fine,” Melissa said through a breath. Her mind paced in circles, trying to find something else, anything else, to focus on. “Let’s just talk about something else. Um. Your eyes. You have pupils, right? Real ones? You see through them?”

“Well, obviously,” said Kina. “Though we’re the only bugs that have them, I’m pretty sure.”

“Yeah, that’s actually really interesting,” said Melissa. “Mantises used to have something called pseudopupils, which were like… an optical illusion that looked like pupils. But yours are real now, which is, uh… something.”

“Wait, an optical illusion? We didn’t have real pupils?”

“Nope,” said Melissa. “Most vertebrates had them, though… that’s kind of related to one of the first things I noticed, actually. Whatever the Day of Awakening did to you all, it made you a lot more human-like. Even lesser bugs seem to be a lot more like vertebrates.” And knowing where your souls came from, maybe that was the point. “Not always in the same ways though, from what it seems? Some of you guys have human mouths and teeth, but it looks like beetles and some crickets still have their old insect mouthparts.”

“I guess that makes sense,” said Kina. “It’s pretty well-accepted that we were all transformed, though nobody knows exactly how… but I guess you would know that, huh?”

“Yeah. There’s a huge number of ways you’ve all changed,” said Melissa. “Not just ways that are obvious either. I’ve seen bugs eat things that would have been lethally poisonous to them before the Awakening. And you all seem to be a lot closer in size now too.”

“Closer in size? What do you mean?”

“Oh. Um.” Melissa stopped for a moment, searching for a way to articulate her thoughts. “Well, okay. Picture this. See my hand?”

“Uh-huh.”

“When I was big, the average ant would be smaller than the tip of my finger. Even large ones like majors would mostly fit on top of my fingernail.” Melissa blinked for a moment. “Oh, um. A fingernail is the long hard thing on top of my finger.”

“Yeah, I got you,” said Kina. Her antennae twitched as she spoke, and her body suddenly seemed tense. “And… and an ant would fit on that?”

“Yup,” said Melissa. You don’t have to pretend you’re not scared that I was that big, Kina. “But a lot of the bugs I’ve seen here would have been way bigger than that pre-Awakening. Like… um. You, for example. I’m guessing you’re a Chinese Mantis…”

“…Chinese?”

“It’s, um. A country that no longer exists. Look, don’t worry about it. The point is, before your species were people, you would be about as long as my index finger, where an ant would only be half as long as my fingernail. So you’d be like… more than twenty times larger than an ant.”

Kina’s eyes went wide. That’s pretty impressive, considering most of her head is eyes. “…Wow. You’re saying that the Awakening caused bigger bugs to be shrunk?”

“At least the intelligent ones, yeah. Though the smaller ones seem to have gotten a bit bigger, too.”

Kina crossed her arms and harumphed. “Well, now I just feel cheated. Seriously, I could be so much better at fighting if I were that big!”

“Well, mantises were more about ambushing than fighting, I’d say. But… yeah. I miss being big too.” Melissa let out a sigh. “God, I really wish my phone were working right now. I could have shown you what you would have looked like.”

“Your phone?” said Kina. “Isn’t that one of those freakishly advanced termite machines?”

“Um. Kinda. Mine’s pretty different though. Hold on, I’ll show you.”

Actually, I wonder if the Termite Kingdom is related to the ancient roaches? Apparently they’re the oldest and most technologically advanced kingdom, and termites are just roaches that live in eusocial colonies…

…then again, I guess that’s like saying humans are just hairless primates.

Putting aside that thought, Melissa reached into her pocket and pulled out her cell phone. Kina stared curiously at the device, no doubt appearing to her as nothing more than a black slab made of inscrutable technology.

What Melissa didn’t realize, however, is that unlike the last time she took her phone out of her pocket, she was now holding in her bracelet hand.

With a loud zzzzzaaaaap! an arc of yellow lightning jumped from the crystal, into the phones’s charging port. Melissa jumped in her seat in astonishment, her arms flailing wildly as the phone clattered onto the top of the bar, while her glass was knocked onto the floor, spilling the rest of its contents out.

Acting as if by reflex, Kina quickly grabbed Melissa by the arm, stopping her from tipping over on the barstool. When Melissa righted herself, she let out a deep breath.

Then, suddenly, the phone on the counter flared to life, its screen flashing the boot-up message.

For several seconds, Melissa merely stared at the phone’s lock screen. She wasn’t alone, as both Kina and bartender stared vacantly at the device.

“…Okay. Alright,” said Melissa. “Question. What the fuck!?”

Kina had no answer, simply continuing to stare at the cell phone. Desperate for answers, she turned to the bartender.

“Don’t look at me, lady,” said the bartender. “I don’t even know what that thing is.”

Being careful only to use her non-bracelet hand, Melissa picked up her cell phone, and carefully entered the lock screen code on her phone. As expected, there was no reception for cell service or internet to be found. “It looks like my bracelet crystal… charged the phone, somehow? Only by like five percent, though.”

“Huh,” said Kina. “I guess it sorta makes sense that would happen. Ancient Crystals are the main power source we use for machines.”

“Wait, so the crystal in my bracelet isn’t just some magic psychic thing?” said Melissa. “It’s also some kind of battery? Does that mean it’ll, um… run out?”

“Probably not,” said Kina. “I’m no expert, but… I’m pretty sure the crystals never run out of energy. They can keep powering things forever.”

“What!?” Melissa blurted. “Kina, that’s literally impossible! And I’m saying that as someone who got shrunk to less than a hundredth of her natural size! You expect me to believe you’ve discovered perpetual motion!? That’s a flagrant violation of the fundamental laws of thermodynamics! If what you’re saying is true, that makes even one of these crystals infinitely powerful!”

A silence hung over the bar. Melissa suddenly became aware that everyone was staring at her. Not just Kina and the bartender, but all of the other patrons, too.

“Um. Well, I dunno about infinite,” said Kina. “The Everlasting Sapling was supposed to have infinite power too, and it ended up running out. But crystals can power things for centuries without stopping. There’s a big one in the Giant’s Lair that’s been powering one of their machines for gods know how long.”

“Giant’s Lair?” said Melissa. A pit of dread began to form in her stomach. Oh, that had BETTER not be what I think it is.

“You haven’t heard of it? It’s the massive structure in the north. I though for sure you’d know about it, given… well, you know.”

“I… think I saw that from the Bee Kingdom Hive, actually. Some kind of boarded-up human house, it looks like. I… really don’t like thinking about it, though. Gives me the creeps.”

“Yeah, I don’t blame you,” said Kina. “Nobody goes there, and for good reason. So that thing’s a phone, huh? How does it work without a wire?”

“Oh, there’s a special kind of phone network which uses, uh… electromagnetic waves,” Melissa explained. “It needs special towers to function though, those definitely stopped working ages ago. I don’t know the specifics, since I’m not an engineer.”

“So that thing’s useless now? Like a fancy brick or something?”

“Not really. This thing’s not just a phone, it’s basically a handheld computer. Most of it won’t work, but… I have a few photographs of bugs that I can show you.”

“T-that thing can take photos!? And… you have pictures of pre-Awakening bugs on it!?”

“Yup!” Melissa boasted. “Here, hold on. Let me show you.”

Holding her phone in her left hand, she carefully thumbed through the menus, going into the photo storage app. It was difficult to do with only her non-dominant hand, but she couldn’t risk destroying her phone with another freak electrical… thing from her bracelet.

Eventually, she brought up a picture of a large brownish-green mantis, sitting on top of an even larger leaf.

“W-whoah! That’s…!”

“A Chinese Mantis. Your species, I’m pretty sure.”

“But… but s-she’s got four legs and two arms! That’s so freaky!”

“Actually, the front limbs are also legs,” Melissa explained. “And it used to be that all insects had six legs, too. One of their defining traits, actually. Honestly, I can’t believe I never told you that before just now.”

“A-and her front legs are… big, serrated blades?” Kina said. Her pupils darted back and forth, from looking at the screen to looking away from it, as if she couldn’t decide if she was fascinated or repulsed by what she saw. “I’d heard we used to have blades for arms, kind of like a mantidfly… but it’s so surreal to actually see.”

“I wouldn’t say they’re exactly blades,” said Melissa. “The front legs actually have feet on the end too, they just folded their legs so that they rarely used them. What you’re seeing are called tibial spines. Basically a bunch of pointed spikes on the shin.”

“Wow,” said Kina. By now, it was clear that her mind had made its decision — she seemed to be rather impressed. “And… she’s the same color as the leaf, too. It’s so hard to see her!”

“Yeah, most mantis species were ambush predators,” said Melissa. “Back then, they were some of the only bugs to have good eyesight. The rest could mostly only see motion, but were bad at seeing shape and color. So a mantis would just sit on a leaf where they naturally blended in, and wait for another bug to fly by.”

It’s so weird that most winged bugs are flightless now… I guess becoming a person has some kind of tradeoff.

“So we’d fold our front legs to expose the spines, and then use them to hunt,” Kina noted. “…Hold on, is that why we’re called praying mantises? Because we held our front legs like that?”

“Yup,” said Melissa.

“That’s… I had no idea.” said Kina. “I thought it was because we were the only ones allowed to be Venus’s acolytes.”

“Wait, really?”

“Yeah. It’s said Venus will only ever allow a mantis to be her priestess. Nobody knows why.”

Melissa paused for a moment. Slowly, an epiphany dawned on her.

When it finally struck, she let out a loud groan.

“Oh my God.”

“What?”

“You didn’t realize?” said Melissa. “Your local deity started her entire priesthood tradition as a pun.”

“That’s a little bit hard to believe,” said Kina. “I can’t imagine a god having such a sense of humor.”

Melissa couldn’t help but laugh.

“Nah, trust me. It completely tracks she’d do that.”

Melissa’s phone suddenly made a notification sound, followed by a recognizable shutdown sound. Curiously, she pulled her phone back to her face and confirmed that it had, indeed, shut down.

“Shoot, out of power again. I’ll really have to figure out how to charge this thing without risking an electrical burn.”

“I’m sure you’ll think of something,” said Kina.

----

The two spent the rest of the afternoon hanging out in the tavern and chatting, even playing a few rounds of darts once they ran out of things to talk about. Melissa was both embarrassed and thoroughly impressed by just how easily Kina managed to kick her ass at it.

When the time came to leave, Kina once again scooped Melissa up and carried her, jumping on the mushroom below the Tavern entrance. They bounced off it like it was some kind of natural trampoline, going up through the entrance hole and landing on the ground above.

The sun was already well on its way to the edge of the horizon by then, painting the sky in a vibrant series of orange shades. As Melissa stepped back onto her own two feet, Kina looked her in the eyes.

The warm, gentle smile on her face sent a whirlwind of emotions tearing through Melissa’s heart and mind. And it was such a familiar smile too.

“You know,” said Kina, “I’m glad we took the time to hang out. It’s strange, but… even though I only just met you yesterday, it feels like we’ve known each other a long time.”

Melissa took a moment to fully digest what Kina had just said. It was such an oddly specific thing to say.

And when the realization of what it meant fully hit her, she was very nearly flattened by its weight.

It… it’s you.

It’s really you.

I was right. This whole time, it’s always been you.

I thought you were gone forever, but you never left my side.

“Um. Hey. You okay there, Melissa? Are you crying?”

“I… I’m fine,” Melissa said through a sniffle. “I’m just um… glad to have made a friend. I had a good time, too. Thanks.”

“It’s no problem at all. I should probably be heading back home soon, before it gets dark. I’d be happy to do this again sometime, though.”

“Yeah, me too. Seeya.”

Melissa said her goodbye, and watched as Kina pushed through the tall grass and left. She was left with only her own thoughts now, and those thoughts left and uncomfortable question lingering on her mind.

Kina… there was no doubt about it now. She had the soul of Melissa’s childhood friend.

But it was also clear now, that this didn’t make her the same person. She was so similar to her past life in so many ways, but she had such a different history, and an entirely different experience of life.

And through it all, Melissa could only wonder.

Am I really being fair to her?

“Hello Melissa,” said a sudden new voice, completely disregarding Melissa’s brooding.

Melissa nearly jumped into the air at the sound. “Gah! Jesus Christ!”

“Wrong god, I’m afraid.” Melissa turned around, and saw that one of Venus’s buds was facing right at her, a smirk written clear across its face.

Melissa’s train of thought immediately derailed itself. “Wait. Waitwaitwait. You know about Christianity!?”

Venus gave a light giggle. “Oh, don’t even get me started. The ancient roaches were mostly reincarnated from humans in Latin America. So when they remembered their past lives, you’d better believe they were the most Catholic bugs you’d ever meet.”

Melissa paused for a moment, to let that thought roll around in her brain a bit. “Oh. So that’s why they spoke Spanish. But doesn’t reincarnation sort of conflict with the whole Christian… everything?”

“Not necessarily. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from being a religion, it’s that faith is surprisingly flexible. People will always find ways to reconcile their beliefs with whatever the world presents them. ”

“Yeah, makes sense.” Melissa idly scratched at the back of her head. “Okay, but seriously though, what are you doing here!?”

“Just wanted to make sure you’re doing alright,” said Venus. “I understand this new life of yours is a huge adjustment to make.”

“It definitely is, yeah,” said Melissa. “But I… I think I’ll be okay.”

The bud smiled. “I’ll say. You’ve already found yourself a potential romantic partner! I expected that would take many moons, if it happened at all.”

“Romantic!? N-now hold on a second!”

Venus let out a tiny giggle. “Oh, you don’t have to play coy. I can hear your heartbeat, you know. It’s very hard to mistake what your heart does when you’re around her.”

Melissa covered her eyes with a hand and groaned. “Aw, fuck. Please, please, please don’t tell me you’re trying to play matchmaker with us.”

“Of course I am!” Venus sing-songed. “What Roman deity do you think I’m named after? A romance between a human and a bug is such a beautiful thing. A love so pure it transcends species!”

“Will you just butt out!? That’s not for you to decide!”

The Venus bud’s smile faded away. “Look, I just want you to be happy with your new life, alright? And it’s clear to me that you’re very happy with her. I’m not going to push you into something you’re not ready for, but I know what sort of feelings you’re having. And I think you shouldn’t hide from them. Who knows? Maybe it will help you find your place in this world.”

“Yeah, fine,” Melissa grumbled. “But can you please just let me figure this out on my own terms?”

“Naturally,” said Venus. “Though if you ever want any advice, feel free to give me a call! The Venus Dating Advice Helpline is always available, 24/7!”

“Yeah, thanks,” Melissa muttered.

As Melissa pushed through the tall grass and left the Venus bud behind, she let her thoughts on the matter simmer, kept only just below the surface of her skin.

…No offense, Venus, but I’m not sure if you fully understand how I really feel about this.

Even I don’t know how I really feel about it.

Chapter Text

Istanbul was Constantinople
Now it’s Istanbul, not Constantinople
Been a long time gone since Constantinople
Why did Constantinople get the works?
That’s nobody’s business but the Turks

— They Might be Giants

Melissa hummed to herself quietly as she swept away the corners of the shop. True to her word, Madame Butterfly had made a rather substantial expansion to her general store just as Melissa had begun working there. There were several new shelves lining the shop floor, built from twigs and thick slabs of varnished cardboard, and held together with some unknown adhesive.

The job had proven to be simple, far more so than she would have anticipated from her experience with retail work. The shop patrons had seemed somewhat wary of her at first, but after taking some time to help them around the store, they had each noticeably begun to relax.

A relatively stress-free work environment was also helped by the fact that the Ant Kingdom still had rather primitive timekeeping — hours were measured by the passage of the sun, and the only bugs who seemed to know the word ‘minute’ were from the much more technologically-advanced Bee and Termite Kingdoms. Madame’s shop was opened simply when she arrived there in the morning, and closed two hours before sunset.

With such flexible shop hours, Melissa was free to start working whenever she was ready in the morning. Thankfully, even without alarm clocks, she found herself naturally falling into a consistent circadian rhythm, leaving her to wake up just after dawn broke.

On introspection, it occurred to Melissa just how much better she was sleeping now. Between her classes and the part-time cashier job she had taken during college, her time a student was quite stressful. Life in Bugaria was downright relaxing in comparison.

…or at least it was, as long a she didn’t think about what it had taken to get to this new life.

Late into the afternoon, Madame had left the shop to take care of a personal errand, leaving Melissa to help any customers in her place. Few customers came at that time of day, so Melissa spent most of her time organizing the new inventory, checking and double-checking the stock.

Eventually, her attention was pulled away by the gentle sound of footsteps behind her. She turned around, and saw a familiar face coming to greet her.

“Oh, hey Vi,” she said. “Madame’s not here right now, but I can ring something up for you if you want.”

“Nah, I’m good,” said Vi. She walked over to the new shelves, eyeing them curiously. “Just browsing the new merch.” It took a moment or two, but eventually she did a double-take. “Wait, you work here now?”

“Yup. Gotta make a living somehow,” said Melissa. “And it gives me something to do, which is a plus. It’s awfully boring just sitting around all day.”

“What,” said Vi, “you don’t have any hobbies?”

Melissa scratched her head, while a glob of discomfort formed in her stomach. “Uh… kinda. My main hobby was… um. Well, let’s just say it’s not something I can really do anymore.”

“Really? Why?” said Vi. “What was it?”

Melissa sighed internally. Well, might as well rip this bandaid off.

“Bug catching,” she said curtly.

Vi blinked. Her face remained utterly blank as she stared Melissa in the eye.

“Bug… I’m sorry, what?”

“Exactly what it sounds like,” said Melissa. “I’d go to the park to catch bugs to study, and then release them. Sometimes I’d take the train up to Oak Grove and walk to the Fells, which is where you could find the really cool bugs.” She paused, and a suddenly realized that she’d left out some important context. “Um, the Fells was a nature reserve just north my home.”

“No, forget that! What’s this about catching bugs?”

Melissa bristled at Vi’s apparent offense, yet at the same time she couldn’t blame her for it.

“Um. Right. I told you before that when I was big I was fascinated by bugs, right? That’s… usually what it meant for me, in practice.” A puff of air escaped her mouth. “Obviously, I can’t really do it anymore. That’d be kidnapping.”

“No kidding,” Vi said with a frown. “It’s super freaky that you could just… use us for your own amusement. You seriously didn’t have any other hobbies?”

“Um…” Melissa’s thoughts ran ahead of her, trying to find anything else to make the conversation less awkward. “Well, uh… I played the guitar sometimes?”

Almost immediately, Vi seemed to relax, as though she was waiting for an opportunity to change the subject. “Oh, you had those too?”

“Yeah, I was wondering about that. I saw a guy at the tavern playing some kind of mandolin, but I wasn’t sure if you had guitars too.”

“You mean Tristan? Yeah, he’s pretty good.”

“Tristan, huh?” …I have a good idea WHY you do, but it’s really freaky that so many of you have English names. “I’ll have to say hi next time I see him.”

“Just don’t ask him to play while he’s drunk,” Vi remarked. She turned to continue examining the shop’s wares, but paused for a moment as something seemed to occur to her.

“Oh yeah, that reminds me. There’s something else I need to ask you.”

“Sure. What do you need?”

“We were out exploring somewhere to the south, when we found this super old roach settlement,” Vi explained. “There was this weird map with all the other stuff there. We took it to Professor Neolith, and he seems to think it’s an old giant map that the roaches copied. Dunno how he figures that, but he wants to see if you can help us make sense of it.”

Melissa hesitated for a moment. A slight, familiar tension built within her as she was reminded just how far out of her own time and place she was. “…Right. I guess I do have some pretty significant historical knowledge, huh? I’ll be wrapping up in an hour or two, so I should be able to stop by later.”

“Sweet, thanks!” said Vi. “We’ll be in the Royal Library. Just let the guards know and they’ll let you in.”

“See you around.”

As Vi took her leave, Melissa couldn’t help but wonder just what was so unusual about this map.

----

Several hours soon passed, and once Madame Butterfly had closed her shop, Melissa made her way over to the castle. The guards nodded at her as she passed through and explained the situation — though not without being noticeably wary as she passed them by.

That was a thought that gave her pause. The Ant Kingdom’s civilians had seemed to adjust well enough to her presence by now, but the soldiers always seemed to be much more guarded around her. She didn’t want to think about what the implications of that meant.

Eventually, as she made her way past the castle entrance, the guards pointed her in the direction of a large room to the left.

The Royal Library was much smaller than Melissa had grown to expect of Elizant’s palace, with only a single room lined with books. Granted, it might not have been possible to fit many more rooms within the anthill castle, but there was something oddly cozy about it.

In the far end of the main room were Snakemouth, standing around a table with Professor Neolith. Laid atop the table was a very large piece of parchment, the details of which Melissa couldn’t make out at a distance.

“What if we tried viewing it at a forty-five degree angle?” said Kabbu.

“Hm… no, I don’t think that will work,” Neolith replied.

“…A forty-four degree angle, then?”

Melissa approached the table, and gave the group a wave. “Hey guys.”

Neolith turned to face Melissa, and almost immediately his face brightened. “Oh! Melissa, you came!”

“That I did. I heard you needed my expertise on something human-related.” Melissa grinned, and gave a little bow. “Miss Melissa MacGowan, world’s last living human, at your service.”

Vi stared at Melissa blankly. Even more blankly than her pupil-less eyes usually were. “MacGowan?”

“My last name. What, you didn’t think I had one?”

“Um… no?” said Vi. “Why would I? Most bugs don’t.”

…Right. I guess inheriting your dad’s name wouldn’t really work for your species.

“Gotcha. In any case, I heard you needed some help deciphering a map of some kind?”

The Professor nodded. “My good friends were investigating some ancient roach ruins, and they found a map that none of us can decipher. Given the presence of other human relics in the area, I believe it’s a map of human origin that the roaches transcribed.”

“And you want me to see if I can take a look at it and see if I know anything.”

“If you don’t mind,” said Neolith.

Melissa stepped forward, and took a look at the map. Almost immediately, her eyes went wide with recognition. On the table, in ancient and faded parchment, was a familiar sight that she had seen in countless classrooms since her own childhood.

“Huh? Hold on, this is…”

Vi beamed, visibly struggling to keep her wings from buzzing in excitement. “It’s a treasure map, right? I knew it it was a treasure map!”

“So that’s why you insisted we help the Professor with this,” Leif deadpanned.

“Well, why else would they make a map that’s impossible to read?” Vi harrumphed. “It has to be hiding some kind of super valuable secret!”

Melissa took one last extended look at the map. She scratched her head, as questions circled through her mind.

“Sorry Vi,” said Melissa. “Nothing like that. It might be something really valuable to the Professor’s research, though.”

“Awww, no treasure?” Vi lamented.

“I see. I see,” the Professor nodded. “I suppose we can rule that out, then. But you say this would still be valuable to me? Why is that?”

“Easy. It’s a map of the entire world,” said Melissa.

For a moment, the Professor could only stare, his wide-eyed astonishment matched by the others at the table. Melissa couldn’t help but crack a smile at their reactions.

“Melissa!” Kabbu blurted out. “A-are you saying that humans had managed to fully explore the entire Earth in your age?”

“Yup. We did. Granted, it took a long time. We didn’t have maps like this until… a couple hundred years before I was born, I think?”

“But… why’s it shaped like that, then?” said Vi. “I thought the Earth was supposed to be round or something.”

“It is,” said Melissa. I’m kinda surprised you know that, actually. “But you can’t accurately represent the surface of the earth on a flat piece of paper. So it has to be shaped funny.”

“Right, right, of course,” the Professor said, beaming. “If you stretch the surface of a globe across a two-dimensional plane, it will be distorted.”

“Exactly,” said Melissa. “A world map can either accurately represent the relative size of each landmass, or the relative shape, but not both. This projection… I don’t remember what it’s called, but I think it’s supposed to keep the relative area of each landmass intact. Cutting out parts of the oceans like this helps minimize the distortions.”

The Professor’s eyes went wide. “The oceans? By the gods, you mean the oceans are real? I’d always thought them to be mere legend!”

“Yup,” said Melissa. “They cover about seventy percent of the Earth’s surface. I told Kina about them the other day.”

“Wait, Kina?” said Vi. “What were you doing with her?”

“Forget about that!” Neolith cut in. “Melissa, you realize what it is you’ve just told us? Why, this could be the discovery of the century! To have a full map of the entire Earth… why, I didn’t think such a thing would even be possible!”

Across the room, one of the ant librarians loudly shushed Neolith. The Professor flushed a deep blue-green for a moment.

“Ah… apologies,” Neolith whispered, “I suppose I let myself get a bit too excited for a moment.”

“Nah, I totally get it,” said Melissa. “It’s not every day you discover something this huge.”

“If you don’t mind us asking,” said Leif, “where exactly is Bugaria on this map? You say it’s a map of the entire world, but we still can’t make any sense of it.”

Melissa paused for a moment. She hadn’t really given that too much thought before, but now that Leif had brought it up…

“...Huh. You know, now that you mention it, I honestly have no idea.”

“How do you not know that?” said Vi.

“Hey, I’ve had other things to worry about! Besides, I got catapulted hundreds of years into the future. There’s no saying that I’m still in the same place I was before.” Melissa coughed lightly.

“Anyway, um… I used to live in a city called Boston, which was like… right here.” She leaned over the map and placed a finger on the east coast of North America, roughly where Massachusetts used to be. “But Boston had a way colder climate than Bugaria, so I doubt that’s where we are now. And the Earth’s big enough that even taking an educated guess would be next impossible where we are now.”

“I was wondering that myself, actually,” said Neolith. “It’s difficult to deduce the scale of this map without knowing exactly how large the Earth is. How big is it, exactly?”

“Um… shoot. I don’t remember,” said Melissa. “But I’d say something like… thirty or forty thousand kilometers in circumference?”

Once again, Melissa was met with a series of astonished stares.

“W-wait, kilometers?” said Vi. “That’s like… a thousand meters!”

“That’s what a kilometer is, yeah.”

“But… but that’s like a hundred times longer than all of Bugaria! And the world has forty thousand of those?”

“Yup. Like I said, the world’s big,” said Melissa. “Even bigger for you guys, but it was still pretty big even for a fully-grown human.”

“Goodness,” said Kabbu breathlessly. “I never would have imagined the world could be so enormous. A bug could spend an entire lifetime exploring and not even come close to seeing the end of it!”

Melissa felt her breath get caught on something in her chest. “Um… yeah, let’s not… let’s not talk about that right now. Anyway, you guys said you were wondering where Bugaria is? I still don’t have an answer for that, but there is something very interesting I’ve noticed while I’ve been here.”

“Oh?” said the Professor. “Do tell.”

“A lot of the bug species I’ve seen here are ones that wouldn’t have existed in the wild together in my time,” said Melissa. “Like, um… you, Kabbu.”

“Me?” said Kabbu.

“I don’t know exactly what your species is, but I’m guessing it’s closely related to the rainbow scarab. That would put you somewhere in the taxonomic genus phaenus, which, um… I don’t remember exactly, but I think most of beetles of that kind live around Arizona and Mexico.” To demonstrate, she hovered her finger near Mexico and the southern United States, drawing a broad circle around the area with her fingertip. “This broad part of the world right here.”

“So that’s where my homeland is?” said Kabbu. “There are quite a few beetles of my kind in the Northern Kingdom.”

“Nope. Well, maybe, but it’s impossible to say,” said Melissa. If Bugaria is south of your kingdom, that would make it in like… Panama, or something. Which would be weird. “Because like I said, there’s a lot of other bugs here that shouldn’t be in the same place. Like, um… that orchid mantis at the Explorer’s Association, what was his name?”

“Artis?”

“Yeah, him. Anyway, orchid mantises are native to the rainforests of Southeast Asia, which is like… around here.” To demonstrate, Melissa hovered her finger over Southeast Asia, drawing a circle around Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Thailand. “As you can see, it’s not anywhere close to where your species would normally be found.”

Kabbu stared intently at the map, and a spark of understanding appeared in his eyes. “Oh my… I’ll say.”

“Ooh, do me next!” Vi chimed in. Her eyes gleamed with curiosity as her antennae twitched excitedly. “What do you know about bees? Where do we come from? I wanna know!”

“Oh, that’s easy,” said Melissa. “Your species is apis melifera, or the western honeybee. They’re probably the most famous insects around, as far as humans are concerned.”

“Wow, really? I guess you must really like us, huh?”

An uncomfortable sensation wormed its way into Melissa’s stomach. Once again, it seemed Vi was missing some rather critical information about her own species.

“Um… yeah. See, about that…”

Vi blinked. All of the curiosity that was evident in her had vanished almost instantly.

“Oh no. I’m not gonna like this, am I?”

“Probably not,” said Melissa. “See, um… there’s really no way to mince words here. For humans, your species was basically, uh… livestock.”

“L… Live…” Vi mouthed the word, seeming to struggle to grasp its full implications. “H-hold on! You can’t be serious!”

“Yeah. Sorry,” said Melissa. “I… don’t really know what to tell you. Honeybees were domesticated thousands of years before I was born.”

“But why though? Why would you do that to us?”

“H-hey, I never had anything to do with that,” Melissa replied, throwing her hands up. “It’s just… a thing that happened. Humans have always really liked honey, but stealing honey from wild hives was always dangerous. A single bee sting was just a nuisance, but being stung by an entire swarm at once could actually kill a fully grown human.”

Any disgust and horror that was evident in Vi’s face seemed to instantly vanish, replaced with a morbid curiosity. “Wait, really? We were that dangerous?”

“Yeah. It’s even worse if you’re allergic to bee venom, which was pretty common for humans. Getting stung with a bee sting allergy was basically a death sentence, especially if they got you on the neck. You’d get all swollen, and it’d be so bad that you couldn’t breathe. You’d basically choke to death on the spot.”

Vi couldn’t help but wince. Judging from the looks on everyone else’s faces, she wasn’t alone in the sentiment.

“Sound pretty nasty,” said Leif.

“Probably not that pleasant for the bees either,” said Melissa. “Beekeeping was an ancient tradition to obtain honey without that risk. Basically, humans would build artificial hives for nearby bee colonies, and then harvest the honey, leaving the colony with enough to survive. It was also really important to agriculture, too. Some specialty crops like almonds wouldn’t grow at all unless a beehive was nearby to pollinate them.”

“Huh,” said Vi. “I… guess that makes sense. I’ve heard our robots are super important for pollinating the crops in the Golden Hills. And we used to do that for you?”

“Yup. Without your species, there would have been major food shortages almost everywhere. And that’s not counting all the thousands of other undomesticated bee species, which pollinated many of our other staple crops. It’s not an exaggeration to say that humans were totally dependent on bees.”

“…Wow,” Vi said breathlessly. “I mean, I still dunno how to feel about you using as… farm animals, I guess. But I also guess I can’t really be mad, if it was like that?”

“I suppose it’s not altogether different from how we use aphids now,” said Kabbu. “Were they to ever awaken, I’d imagine that would be uncomfortable for everyone involved.”

Vi scratched the back of her head, brushing her antennae to the side. “No kidding…”

An awkward silence hung over the table. Melissa tried to think of something to say, but nothing came to mind that could break the palpable sense of unease in the air.

“What about us?” Leif finally spoke up.

“Huh?” said Melissa.

“Our species,” said Leif. “What do you know of our kind? Where do we come from?”

Melissa blinked. “Oh. Um… honestly, I kinda have no idea about you. I’m pretty sure you’re a geometer moth, but that’s thousands of species across dozens of genera. So I have really no clue what kind of moth you are, or what part of the world your kind comes from. Sorry.”

“That’s alright,” said Leif. He paused momentarily, his antennae idly twitching as his lips pursed tightly. He looked as though he were deep in thought about something.

“…On a strictly unrelated note,” he said, “what do you know about fungi? Anything in particular?”

Melissa blinked, replaying the question in her mind to make sure she’d heard it correctly.

“Huh? Um… not a lot. Pretty much nothing, honestly. Mycology’s really not my area. Why?”

“No reason.”

“Oh hey would you look at the time thanks for helping us Melissa we have to go now BYE”

“H-hey! Ow! Careful with the fur!”

Before Melissa could even begin to wonder what was going on, Kabbu hurriedly rushed over to Leif’s side. He swiftly grabbed both him and Vi by the arms, ignoring Vi’s complaints as he very literally dragged them away. In the end, she and Neolith were both left to stare vacantly as Team Snakemouth less-than-silently exited the library.

“Oh dear,” said Neolith. “What do you suppose that was about?”

Melissa couldn’t give any answer but a shrug.

----

Melissa had spent the rest of the day answering Neolith’s many questions about the map of the Earth, explaining what she knew about the continents and the various parts of the world. Her knowledge of geography was embarrassingly less complete than she would have admitted, especially for someone who wanted to study insects across the world.

In any case, Neolith’s curiosity about human society was endless, and Melissa was happy to answer to the best of her abilities. Thankfully, the Professor shied away from any talk of human politics, though Melissa suspected he was merely saving those questions for another time.

When all was said and done, Melissa was left quite tired, and the sun was already dipping below the horizon by the time she left the Ant Palace. As she made her way back to her home, she wasted no time in collapsing on top of her bed.

Melissa’s thoughts began to drift from place to place as she lay down on her back. The map of the earth that Team Snakemouth remained heavy on her mind, but what truly stuck out to her was the fact that nobody had even begun to recognize what it might be. They were professional explorers, and none of them had even imagined what the scale of the world truly was, or just what it might have looked like when mapped out. Bugaria was only a tiny fraction of the Earth, and it seemed to be truly and profoundly isolated from the rest of the world.

Her mind then turned towards the events of the Awakening — and the secret truth that Venus had revealed to her, not long ago. There was seemingly no rhyme or reason to how the humans killed in the cataclysm had been reincarnated — Kina was her old childhood friend, Melissa was certain enough of that. And Professor Neolith and Doctor H.B. both resembled her old college professors enough that she suspected they were once part of her life, too.

But everyone else was a total mystery, and there was nothing to say that any of them were people that she knew. It was, as far as she could tell, just a stroke of cosmic luck that she found her old best friends. Everyone else she knew in her old life could be anywhere else in the world right now — assuming they were even still alive at all. Her other friends, her mom and dad...

…Her parents. She hadn’t really thought much about them since the disaster that changed her life forever. Memories of her mother’s floral shop, its vibrant colors and smells, and the embarrassing nicknames that her mom gave her, all of which were related to various kinds of flowers. Her father’s lame jokes, his disheveled brown hair, and his unpublished novel that he spent half of his spare time writing.

It occurred to Melissa, then and there, that the last time she called her parents was weeks before the cataclysm hit. She never knew that it would be the last time they’d ever speak to each other.

It wasn’t until she felt a tear running down her cheek that she’d realized she had started crying.

A sigh escaped her lips. It wasn’t fair. Everything had changed, it had changed so dramatically and so suddenly that it felt like she was trapped in a dream. She couldn’t even wrap her head around just how much she had lost. Trying to think about it all made her chest throb with a dull ache, and made her feel sick to her stomach.

And so she lay there in bed, silently weeping, for what felt like an eternity. What else could she do?

“Melissa, dear, are you alright?”

Melissa was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of a familiar voice. She turned to the side to see one of Venus’s buds right beside her bet, looking up at her.

“Oh, it’s you,” Melissa grumbled as she sat up. “Don’t you have actual worshipers to bother or something?”

“Well, yes, but I can’t exactly show myself to them,” Venus replied. “Are you sure you’re feeling okay? When I checked on you, your breathing sounded quite ragged. You weren’t crying, were you?”

A sigh escaped from Melissa’s lips. No point in hiding it, it seemed. “I was just thinking about everyone,” she admitted. “All the people in my old life.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

“Thanks, but I think I’m good,” said Melissa. “What’s this about you not being able to show yourself to your followers?”

“Oh, you have no idea. I’d love to have a more active role in their lives, but my priestesses would never allow it.”

“Wait, but why wouldn’t they allow it?” said Melissa. “And aren’t you the goddess they worship? Doesn’t that mean you outrank them or something?”

“You would certainly think so, wouldn’t you? But alas, they’ve always been the ones who keep the whole religion thing running smoothly. Trying to argue with them only ever invites trouble, in my experience. They say that I can’t prove that I exist to my followers, or else it would undermine their faith.”

“That makes zero sense. You literally keep your entire town in a perpetual autumn.”

“Oh, believe me, I’m very well aware.”

“Right,” said Melissa. She turned her head away, letting her thoughts stew. With a sharp breath, she let her muscles relax, and fell back onto the bed.

“Something else on your mind?”

“That obvious, huh?” said Melissa, turning on her side to face the bud. “Yeah, I guess you could say there is. Earlier today, I was talking with Team Snakemouth about the role that insects used to play in human lives. It… got me thinking about something. About how I ended up here.”

“Oh? Do tell.”

“You’re already aware of the ways humans damaged the global ecosystem, right?” said Melissa. “But um… I don’t really know if you understand quite how badly we messed things up. Did you know that just before the world ended, insect populations had been in sharp decline for the past fifty years? In some places, by as much as seventy-five percent.”

The bud’s mouth hung open. Even without eyes, Melissa could clearly read the look on its face. “Oh. Oh my, that’s…”

“Terrifying, I know. And it, um… it made me wonder. About the way the world is now. Did that have something to do with whatever caused all this to happen? Was some higher power trying to put things back in balance or something? Most humans never thought of bugs as anything more than nuisances. Is it some kind of karma for humankind that they’re living as bugs now? I just don’t know.”

A thin frown crossed the bud’s lips. “I see. It certainly is something to think about, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, it is,” Melissa said. She let out a yawn, and turned around, facing towards the wall. She didn’t have the energy to say much of anything else. “Anyway, that’s all I have. g’night.”

“Melissa.”

“What now?” Melissa groaned.

“I just want to say, I’m proud of you. You’ve been very brave, finding your place in this new world.”

A harsh snort escaped through Melissa’s nostrils. “You sound like my mom.”

“Well, perhaps I was, in a past life.”

“What!?”

“Kidding! Only kidding!”

Melissa pressed her palm against her forehead. “Good night, Venus.”

After a moment’s hesitation, Venus responded.

“Good night, Melissa.”

There was a subtle pop as the bud retreated back into the ground, and Melissa was once again left alone with her thoughts. She let the cool night air wash over her as she slowly drifted into a shallow, dreamless sleep.

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