Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

We hung.

Hung from the web. And silence hung with us.

Gentle, cold silence.

The pitter-pattering of paws. The rough scraping of claws.

A thump. Pain.

Warm claws. Big ones, too. Embracing us. Holding us.

Beetle and bee.

Normal.

Gurgling.
Rushing.
Rippling.

Water.

We are drowning, perhaps.

Body goes limp. Protecting itself.

They crawl out of us. They live in water.

Land. Soft land.

Perfect.

Spread.

Spread the spores.

Beetle is gone. Bee is no where to be seen.

We will find her. And then the others.

Chapter Text

The sound of rough, painful coughing snuck its way through the cloak of the infirmary’s entrance, filling Delilah’s head and making her wince. This wasn’t the first time she heard it, but the sound always made her somewhat distraught.

The mosquito closed her eyes before opening them again. She rubbed her arms, trying to rub away the sickening coldness of the Ant Kingdom. Delilah wished she spent more time in the sun than in the Underground Tavern before all this.

Delilah turned her head to look up at Stratos. He leaned against the wall, arms crossed tightly in front of his chest. Neither of them spoke. The saddening sounds of painful coughs, the shuffling of fevered bodies on beds, and the occasional wail of despair already spoke for them. And loudly.

“Sounds like death in there,” Delilah spoke, her nasally voice making Stratos open his eyes. “Smells like it, too.”

Stratos didn’t respond. Not at first. He turned his head, taking a quick peek through a hole in the ragged cloth, and turning back at her. “It’s because there is death in there, Delilah.”

The mosquito blinked, uncomfortably shuffling a bit. With her back against the wall, she slowly slid down until she sat, not caring if her wings got torn. She lifted her knees and rested her arms around them, clinging to them tightly. “All because of one spore… do you ever think of that, Stratos?”

”Delilah, I think of it all the time. Because we talk about it all the time.”

”Yeah, well…” Delilah forced a wry smile. “It still pisses me off. I mean, imagine you’re Vi and Kabbu. You find this new guy and he’s acting weird, and instead of — you know, leaving him behind—you bring him back HERE. And then suddenly EVERYONE’s sick.”

Stratos straightened his posture, looking down at his mosquito companion. “You know Kabbu wouldn’t just leave someone behind.”

The sound of rough, painful coughing snuck its way through the cloak of the infirmary’s entrance, filling Delilah’s head and making her wince. This wasn’t the first time she heard it, but the sound always made her somewhat distraught.

The mosquito closed her eyes before opening them again. She rubbed her arms, trying to rub away the sickening coldness of the Ant Kingdom. Delilah wished she spent more time in the sun than in the Underground Tavern before all this.

Delilah turned her head to look up at Stratos. He leaned against the wall, arms crossed tightly in front of his chest. Neither of them spoke. The saddening sounds of painful coughs, the shuffling of fevered bodies on beds, and the occasional wail of despair already spoke for them. And loudly.

“Sounds like death in there,” Delilah spoke, her nasally voice making Stratos open his eyes. “Smells like it, too.”

Stratos didn’t respond. Not at first. He turned his head, taking a quick peek through a hole in the ragged cloth, and turning back at her. “It’s because there is death in there, Delilah.”

The mosquito blinked, uncomfortably shuffling a bit. With her back against the wall, she slowly slid down until she sat, not caring if her wings got torn. She lifted her knees and rested her arms around them, clinging to them tightly. “All because of one spore… do you ever think of that, Stratos?”

”Delilah, I think of it all the time. Because we talk about it all the time.”

”Yeah, well…” Delilah forced a wry smile. “It still pisses me off. I mean, imagine you’re Vi and Kabbu. You find this new guy and he’s acting weird, and instead of — you know, leaving him behind, you bring him back HERE. And then suddenly EVERYONE’s sick.”

Stratos straightened his posture, looking down at his mosquito companion. “You know Kabbu wouldn’t just leave someone behind.”

”Yeah, well, look how THAT ended for him.” Delilah shouted, gesturing her hand out towards the Ant Kingdom. A large majority of the flora was destroyed, eaten by spores, and everything seemed just… a lot more gloomy and depressing. The mosquito sat for a bit, now starting to really think of the situation. Stratos was right; Kabbu was never the bug to leave someone behind. Vi, maybe. But Kabbu was always very kind and generous, it’d be out of character for him to do anything else.

Delilah was snapped out of her thoughts when a covered body was placed into a cart by a doctor with a loud thump. It tumbled around in there before snugly fitting against the other bodies accompanying it. Delilah blinked before looking up at Stratos. 
“How many?”
“Nine infected and sedated. Six unconfirmed but sedated anyways. Kina said that Maki said to put them in The Pit anyways.”

Delilah shuddered. She couldn’t help but feel a bit bad. She couldn’t imagine being in their shoes, being infected and then discarded like waste. But Delilah knew that there was no choice. Either one goes down or the rest of them do.

With a grunt, Stratos lifted the cart’s bars onto his shoulders, his grip on them tight. 
“Cmon, Del. Let’s go.”

𓆣⭒𓆦

The wagon groaned in pain with the weight of several bodies, all sprawled unevenly on its back. Delilah supported from the back, eyes wide as she stared at the contents. Movements, whether that be life, infection, or rigor mortis, wracked the bodies within, albeit subtly. Despite having done this many times in less than a month, it still shook the mosquito to her core. Her wings fluttered behind her uneasily. Delilah looked back once the cart came to a stop.

“We’re here,” Stratos announced, turning the cart. “Finally.” With a grunt, the colossal, orange beetle poured the bodies in. Groans and hisses came from behind teeth and angry throats as they plummeted to the ground. The sounds of bodies must’ve triggered the others. Immediately, like zomants, they rose, eyes wide and mouths even wider.

Delilah caught sight of a young mantis, barely fresh out of his final molt. Eyes having been plucked out, he grabbed aimlessly at the air, the other arm stuck to his body as if glued there. It didn’t take long for her to realize that it was the infection keeping his body together. Terrifying.

Gleaming eyes seemed to stare at them, but the lack of a soul behind them was obvious. They tore into one another, growling and screeching. One ant, clearly more clean than infected, screeched in pain as their arm was torn off, followed by their head. Green-red blood splattered across the walls, spores spreading from the wound. 

Delilah turned. “Let’s go, Stratos. I can’t watch any more of this, and I don’t know how Hawk can.” The mosquito flinched as Stratos’ huge claw rested firmly on her shoulder. Her eyes looked back at him. His stared back. 
“We’ll get through this, Del. You ‘n me, got that?”
Despite the situation, she smiled, a chuckle escaping her. 
“We better, Stratos.”

“We better.”