Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The rains came down, and Monsieur Scarlet hid. He’d happened upon the Ancient City in the Forsaken Lands a few days prior, a fortune he now appreciated as having saved his life. No bug could be out in a storm by themselves - they’d be swept away, or even blasted to bits in the event that hail rained down.

Yet, he couldn’t appreciate his luck. Not with the circumstances that’d placed him here to begin with. Scarlet sighed, his ruined robe falling to tatters around his shoulders as he collapsed against the wall. How could he have been so stupid? Of course the Association would catch on to his schemes eventually, and of course they’d eventually send a team to take him out. He’d gotten fat off his own pride, assuming that just because he was strong, he was untouchable.

“Cursed fools…” Scarlet mumbled under his own breath as he fumbled through his pack. From it, he pulled out a map, and traced the distance between where he thought he was, and where the Termite Kingdom should have been. The Termites were his own real hope here. The other Kingdoms would have him locked away in an instant if he showed himself without a change of wardrobe, what with his wanted poster being plastered everywhere.

Yet, the Termite Kingdom was isolated. They’d only just really opened back up to the rest of Bugaria, in the fight against the Wasp King. There was a chance that word might not have reached there yet of his deeds. If so, it could be the out he’d been looking for. He’d need to ditch this hat, his robe, everything but his trusty umbrella. He caressed his weapon faithfully, as his mind filled with memories of happier bugs, and happier times.

As soon as the storm broke, he’d have to move. He had no proof of it, but Scarlet felt certain he was being tailed. A few days ago, he’d idiotically blown his cover while sneaking through Defiant Root, and the entire town had gone to the Dead Lands in a handbasket in a matter of minutes. Guards stomped around, the Hive’s soldiers descended on the city, and he’d even heard somewhere among the clamor the familiar aggravating voice of that insipid beetle who had helped expose him the first time.

He’d only escaped by the skin of his teeth. Scarlet had ambushed one of the bee soldiers in an alley, and sucked him of almost all his life. Then, he’d chucked the fool as hard as he could towards the elevator leading to the Hive, and shouted with his best impersonation, “Look! He just took out one of our guards, by the elevator!”

Somehow, it’d worked, pulling away just enough of the guards from the southern exit of the town for him to slip away. He slapped his forehead in anger. If only he’d taken the guards armor and clothes before tossing them away like the trash they were, he’d have a better disguise right now. Well, there was no reason to cry over spilled honey. The cards were dealt as they were dealt - and he had to play by them or give up.
The storm broke a few hours later, and Scarlet bolted. He cursed at the footprints he was leaving in his wake as he ran, another error he should have calculated for…

Wait.

Scarlet put a hand to his head, and giggled. They thought they had him cornered. If he really was being chased, he’d just have to scheme out a way to turn the tables. He strolled gingerly through the Forsaken Lands, heading towards a cave he could just make out on the horizon. A wet tongue ran across his lips. It’d been too long since he’d had a good meal.

—

Zasp shivered as he followed Mothiva through the Forsaken Lands. “Mothiva, you know I trust you,” he said, “But are you certain it’s a good idea for us to do this alone?”

“Of course! What, do you doubt we can beat him?” Mothiva gave him her best cocky smile.

Zasp had to suppress saying “yes,” and instead settled for saying, “I’m just saying, he's a dangerous, infamous criminal who nearly took down Team Snakemouth and Team Celia at the same time. I know what you’re capable of in combat, but he’s not to be underestimated.”

“Oh Zasp,” Mothiva said with a slight pout, “That was when we were all way weaker. And he still lost to them, remember? Second place is only the first loser.”

He had to giggle at that. She had a point. Scarlet had lost before, he evidently wasn’t invincible. Apparently, he was also careless. Zasp had picked up his hurried trail shortly after he’d made his escape from Defiant Root. That meant he was either so clumsy at being a criminal he’d forgotten to erase his tracks, or he’d been so desperate to get away that he hadn’t stopped to think about being tracked. Either option left Scarlet with some pretty dim prospects.

“Wait, hold on,” Mothiva said, her voice cutting into a whisper. “Do you see that? Up ahead?”

Zasp dropped down beside her, and squinted. “It’s a cave. Do you think that’s where he’s hiding out?”

“Of course he’s in there,” Mothiva said. “Take your eyes off my beauty for a minute, and look closer at the tracks. They go into the cave, but don’t come back out. He’s gotta be in there.”

“Ok, good,” Zasp said. “Now I can flash over to the Termite Kingdom, and get a group of guards here before-”
Mothiva raised a hand to his mouth. “No! I’m NOT sharing the glory! Think about it, Zasp. How much love will Bugaria have for me if I’m the one to take in Monsieur Scarlet? It’ll make them forget all about that stunt at the Tournament.”

He flinched. Maki had ranted at Mothiva for an entire day straight over her decision to hijack the Termite Kingdom tournament for what amounted to a grudge match with another Adventuring Team. That wasn’t an exaggeration - Maki had gone an actual, literal, whole, entire twenty-four hour-long lecture at her over it. Mothiva had tried to keep her cool, but it was obvious the entire thing had gotten to her. He reached out to place a hand on her shoulder, but pulled it back, not wanting to seem too forward.

“I’m going in,” Mothiva said, creeping forward toward the cave's entrance. Zasp sighed. There was no use arguing with her at times like this. When she set her mind on something, she did it, and there was no use getting in her way.

As they closed in on the entrance, Zasp’s ears perked up as he heard snoring coming from inside. He signaled for Mothiva to be silent, and she rolled her eyes as if he’d just said the most obvious thing in the world. She peeked in, and spotted a figure resting against a small flame. The figure was clothed in a pink robe with a white hat - though the umbrella was nowhere to be seen. Maybe he’d lost it? In the roof of the cave was a circular hole, not quite wide enough for a bug to fit through.

Zasp signaled for Mothiva to let him go first, but the show of weakness caused Mothiva to spring. She leapt into the air, and slammed her leg down as hard as he could on the sleeping figure.

She shrieked with shock as her leg connected with nothing but soft grass and twigs. In the darkness of the cave, it’d been impossible to make out the exact make or shape of the sleeping figure, and in her haste, Mothiva had walked right into what was now a quite obvious trick.

A giggle came from behind Zasp, and he whipped around to look at it. His head was suddenly slammed by something blunt, with the force of Zaryant’s swing behind it. He crashed into the wall, and the last thing he heard before a second blow knocked him out was a mocking, “You REALLY fell that hard for it?”

He awoke a few minutes later, but he was too late. His limbs were tied up with Scarlet’s frilly scarf, which was shockingly a lot tougher than it looked. In the light of the dim fire, Scarlet stood over Mothiva, his bare body glistening in the flame. Mothiva’s body rested under his foot, evidently having been given the same beating Zasp had received.

“G-Get off of me!” Mothiva barked, desperately trying to wriggle out from underneath Scarlet’s body. “I’m a superstar! You can’t manhandle me like this!”

Zasp wanted to cry out for Mothiva, but there was something more important to the fight at hand on his mind. He called on all his composure, and took a breath. He said, “How did you get behind us?”

Scarlet looked at him with a malicious grin. “Oh, you didn’t figure it out? Look up.”

He looked up and spotted the hole again. “Wait, did you-”

“You got it!” Scarlet said, digging the tip of his umbrella into Mothiva’s back with a grin. “I just made snoring sounds through that hole, and this place echoes so much, it was impossible to tell it was coming from up there.”

I could have told if I’d had more time, thought Zasp. “So you were planning to-”

“I wasn’t even expecting you two to come in! I was just going to jump you at the entrance. Looks like your little ‘superstar’ here has got passion. I like that.” Scarlet licked his lips again.

“Stop it!” Mothiva shouted, kicking her legs weakly with what strength she had left. “Who cares how he got us? Come on Zasp, get up and get this guy already!”

Zasp forced his body as far as it would go, and he could tell Mothiva was doing the same. Neither of them got very far. It was then that Zasp noticed the bloody hole on his arm, and it all made sense. He panicked, and looked straight at Scarlet. “D-Did you-?”

Scarlet laughed uproariously. “Oh, you two were so delicious! Don’t bother struggling - all the fight’s already been taken out of you. In fact,” he said looking at Mothiva, “You were so delicious, I think I might go back for a second helping.”

Mothiva opened her mouth to shout at him, but Scarlet just plunged his stinger into her arm. Zasp cried in fear, and rubbed his bindings on the rock wall to try and break them open. Scarlet was too absorbed in his own fun to pay much attention to his struggles - it’s not like he had a chance to escape now anyways.

Zasp watched as the life seemed to fade from Mothiva, right before his eyes. Her color grew pale, and her eyes grew glassy. She couldn’t speak - but her face was contorted in a mixture of grief, pain, and despair.

Finally, once Mothiva had passed out, Scarlet removed the stinger from her body. He turned to Zasp, who had started crying, and rubbed his lips with a corner of his robe. “Oh, stop your blubbering,” he said, “I’m not going to kill you two.”

“W-What?” Zasp said, confusion and hope filling his mind.

“No, not yet. I’ll bring you right up to the edge of it, but I won’t push you over. I want you to send a message for me.”

“Message?” Zasp said, voice filling with fear.

“Yes. I want you to tell and show Team Snakemouth what happened to you two today. Tell them every detail. Mothiva’s pain, your failure to save her - all of it. And then, I want you to tell them I am coming for them next. And what I do to them, it will make this look merciful.”

Zasp stared up at Scarlet’s bare body, and considered telling him to stuff it. But that wasn’t a real option, and they both knew it. “Fine, I’ll do as you ask, as long as you ensure Mothiva doesn’t come to further harm.”

Scarlet leaned down, stinger at the ready. “I’ll build a signal fire outside, the kind you Adventuring types use so often. By the time anyone gets here, I’ll be gone, on my way to the Bee Kingdom. Trust me,” he said, licking his lips, “You’re going to need it.”

Then, Zasp felt the stinger pierce his arm. His very life was swiftly sucked from him, leaving him weaker with each suck of Scarlet’s body. Soon, it was impossible for him to keep his eyes open any longer, and he blacked out.

Later, the signal fire burned clearly into the night, the smoke rising for all to see. Scarlet emerged from the cave, having just gotten done sucking a bit more of Mothiva’s life. She’d been so delicious, he couldn’t stop himself from having some more of her. He wiped his mouth with his robe, and sprinted out into the night.

—

Scarlet’s calculations had been right - no one in the Termite Kingdom knew who he was. In the span of just a few hours, he’d completely changed his look, donning a brown business-looking suit, and a bowler hat that made him look every part the obedient workman. He’d also brushed his face with a copious amount of makeup, making him look more red than pink. It’d be a pain to put on consistently, but those were the rules of the game for the time being.

A sudden commotion at the gate brought him, and dozens of onlookers, back to the gates of the Kingdom. Dozens of Ant Kingdom guards were marching towards the hole leading to the mines that connected all of Bugaria, carrying two figures on a couple of gurneys as fast as they reasonably could. Scarlet grinned beneath his hat as he saw the weak, fading forms of Mothiva and Zasp. They were breathing, but unsteadily. Hopefully that handsome one would deliver his message like a good boy.

Then a voice cut through the crowd that Scarlet recognized all too well. He whipped his head just in time to see Kabbu dashing from the direction of the mines, tears in his eyes.

“M-Mothiva! Zasp!” sobbed Kabbu. “What happened? Please, friends! Tell me you’ll be alright! By Venus, you both look so-”

“Please stand back, Kabbu,” one of the guards said. “They’re not conscious yet. It looks real bad. We should be able to heal them back at the Kingdom, but it’ll be hard.”

“WHO DID THIS?” shouted a second voice, unmistakably Vi’s. She rushed forward, eyes wide with horror as she gazed at Mothiva and Zasp. “They look so pale… I know, I never got along with Mothiva, but- but- she didn’t deserve this!”

“It was Scarlet, wasn’t it?” Leif interjected, face downcast. His eyes were a sulking storm of fury and fear. “This is what Kabbu looked like, after our fight with him. But it’s so much worse here. How much life did he take from them…?”

Leif’s eyes looked up through the crowd, sensing he was being watched. Scarlet tried averting his eyes, but Leif caught his just in time. Scarlet rushed back through the crowd, shoving bugs aside as more and more came out of the Kingdom’s gates to see the commotion.

Deep, measured breathing was the only thing that kept Leif from screaming. He turned to Leif and Kabbu, voice hardly a whisper. “Team.”

“W-What is it, Leif?” Kabbu said, recognizing the fear in those eyes.

“He’s here.”

Chapter Text

Kabbu’s stunned voice shot out of his throat like a rocket. “He’s here?”

Leif’s mind worked overtime. He ran towards the crowd, gesturing for Vi and Kabbu to follow without slowing down. Vi swallowed hard and took to the air, trying to get a better vantage point. Leif looked her way and simply said, “Business suit, bowler hat.”

That’s all she needed to hear. She rose up over the crowd and scanned for anyone who matched the description. Vi just barely made out a figure moving at the back of the crowd, away from the entrance. Already he was vanishing into the Termite Kingdom’s depths. She grit her teeth and sped after him, growing, “You’re not getting away this time!”

Leif formed a bubble around him and Kabbu, using it to shove through the crowd. Kabbu aided his strength, pushing bugs to the left and right as they looked to the ceiling to follow Vi.

Scarlet cursed himself as he ran as fast as his legs would carry him. He shouldn’t have gone to look at Zasp and Mothiva, that had been a stupid mistake. Now they knew he was here, and not in the Bee Kingdom like he’d hoped they’d come to think. That’d been the plan, to casually drop he was heading back to where he’d come from in front of Zasp, so he’d give them the wrong information. But his pride had gotten in the way again, and he was really in it this time. At least he still had his trusty umbrella on him, tucked against the inside of his back, under the suit.

He didn’t need to turn around to hear Vi screaming at him. It took everything he had to not look back. There was no way he could outrun her, since she had the air advantage. Scarlet had to duck and dodge between pedestrians, while all Vi had to do was buzz her way towards him. He held his head as he ran, thinking. If he was going to escape, he was going to have to get her off his tail, if only for a few minutes. Rummaging through his pockets, he felt a few berries he had left over from the trip to the Termite Kingdom.

There was no more time to think. Vi’s buzzing filled his ears as his feet thundered across the stone. She couldn’t be more than a bug's length away from him now. Scarlet turned to his left, and saw the Dome Hotel. He turned on a dime, and leapt for its doors. Vi buzzed right past him, not having expected his sudden turn. Scarlet heard her shout “Hey! No fair!” as he slapped all berries in his pockets down on the receptionist's desk.

“Room for one, sorry I can’t talk, thank you for your service,” he said in a single breath as he dashed for the elevator. The receptionist looked at the berries, shrugged, figured that she wasn’t getting paid enough to care, and opened the elevator.

Vi’s buzzing grew louder again as she dashed for the elevator. Scarlet turned back, and saw her drop to her feet as she ran towards him. Then, her gait faltered. Her face was conflicted, torn between immediate action and considered movement. The smart thing would have been for her to wait until Leif and Kabbu arrived, and then go up together to confront Scarlet in that confined room.

But the vision of Zasp and Mothiva, drained to the husk, barely holding on, refused to leave her mind. A chill ran through her body as she realized there might be other bugs up there. Defenseless civilians, with not a hope in the world of standing up to someone like Scarlet. If she waited, would the room be filled with nothing but husks, and Scarlet’s high, haughty laughter?

Scarlet grinned at her. “Oh, I’m sorry, miss? Is something the matter?”

Vi barred her teeth. The audacity of the entire display, for him to stand there in that elevator, after everything he’d done, and to pretend he didn’t recognize her? The elevator started to shut, and Vi roared “Don’t pretend you don’t know me!” as she raced towards him.

The heavy metal doors slammed shut, and Scarlet let out a small giggle. Now, if there were some bugs on the floor he was heading to, he could knock them out and swap appearances. Maybe cause some commotion and try to slip away-

The doors shuddered. The elevator wasn’t going up. A heavy groaning sound filled the chamber, and Scarlet moved back towards the far corner away from the door. He watched as a crack of light appeared between the two halves of the elevator entrance, a crack that soon burst open as the doors were flung apart. Vi stood in the middle, her hands bloody from where she’d shoved them between the closing apertures, bruised and wounded from the effort of forcing the doors apart. She flung herself inside, and onto Scarlet.

Vi pulled out her poison-coated daggers, and stabbed at his torso. Scarlet managed to get his umbrella in the way of them just in time, before tossing her from his body. She was on him again in a second, stabbing at him hard enough to leave holes in the walls of the elevator where her blades made contact. One of the knives caught him in the arm, and he bit back a cry of pain as he felt it dig into his body. The poison followed right after, stinging his arm with bright fire.

He bit down on his lip to suppress a cry. Scarlet opened his eyes, and focused. She was small and fast, but also more physically vulnerable than someone like Kabbu. Several panels on the side of the elevator had fallen away, revealing the gears and machinery that powered the device. Scarlet glanced his eyes over them, thinking. Only a few seconds had passed, despite the great commotion, and the elevator was nearing the top. He put his back against the elevator doors, and held up his umbrella for protection.

“Y-You hurt my friends!” Vi cried, voice cracking with rage as she circled him, waiting for an opening. “What did they do to you? Why’d you go and-”

Scarlet beamed, striking a taunting smile as he listened to the elevator rise the last few inches to its destination. “Why did I drink them to the husk? Why not? If anything, I think they were the most delicious meals I’ve ever had.” He opened his chest, just a bit. Enough for someone to pierce his defenses, if they were looking for an opening.

“Why you-!” Vi took the bait, and charged at Scarlet. Behind him, the elevator doors opened wide. Her attack was tragically predictable, and he sidestepped out of the way, sending her flying confusedly into the dim hotel room. Scarlet hammered the button for the elevator to drop back down, and the doors promptly started to close. Vi gathered herself, and dashed back to the door. This time, however, Scarlet was ready for her.

He jabbed his stinger out between the doors, catching Vi right in the chest. He reached back with his umbrella, and jammed it between the closing doors, preventing them from totally closing on his stinger. Vi stared down at her chest with shocked eyes, and pain filled her expression as Scarlet got to sucking the life from her. He drank deep, sucking up as much of her health as he possibly could, to the point where it felt like he was choking on it. After a few seconds of taut indecision, Vi fell backwards, pulling away from Scarlet.

The doors closed again. She tried to pry them open like before, her blood growing slick on the metal doors, but she was too weak. As it was, she felt like she might fall over at any moment. With an angry groan, she slammed the button to call the elevator back up.

Scarlet was one step ahead of her, however. Soon as the doors opened on the bottom floor, he slammed the control panel with his umbrella. He ripped the exposed entrails of the elevator apart, strewing wires and gears across the floor. For a few seconds, he was a whirlwind of destruction, destroying every part of the elevator he could get his hands on. He stood still for a moment, making sure it was properly broken. Scarlet knew it was gone when he heard Vi let out a cry of despair and anger upstairs, followed by her just screaming, “Work! Please! Please work! Please…”

Stepping out into the parlor, the receptionist looked at him with fearful, weary eyes. Scarlet just shrugged at her. “Oops! My bad!” Scarlet said in his best begging voice. He said it like there was nothing else to be done, and he moved back towards the entrance of the hotel.

The receptionist let him go, too afraid and too underpaid to be bothered with this.

This entire episode had only taken a couple minutes, but it still felt like an eternity had passed. Scarlet looked around, then back at the crowd. It was a sheer mass of bugs at this point. Word had spread quickly. Doubtlessly, everyone wanted to see what had happened to Mothiva. Bugs surged towards the entrance as word spread through the crowd of what she had gone through.

Then, Scarlet saw something that made him turn and run. In the middle of the mass of bugs, he made out a blue, translucent ball. It was coming his way. Slowly, but surely, it was coming in his general direction. He might never have seen Leif use that particular spell, but the color and flavor of it was all him. Scarlet bucked it towards the pier, knowing he’d only have a few minutes to fandangle an escape route, before everything went to the Dead Lands.

—

The second Leif’s shield fell, Kabbu dashed around in a panic. “Vi? VI?? Where are you? Are you okay??”

Leif cursed. “She took a left somewhere up here. Did she go into the hotel?

Kabbu didn’t answer before sprinting into the parlor. He ran up to the receptionist and said, “E-Excuse me, but has a bee come in, in the last few minutes?”

“Oh yeah,” she said. “She’s upstairs. She followed that weird guy in the hat up there.”

Shock and fear raged through Kabbu’s veins. He ran into the elevator, and screamed for Vi as he saw what Scarlet had done to the elevator.

“Kabbu…?” Vi said from above, just loud enough to be heard.

Kabbu’s voice rose, growing thick with tears and fear. “Vi! Are you okay? Did he do anything to you?”

“He got me, Kabbu,” Vi choked out. “He stung me in the chest. I- I’ll be okay, I think. The pain is bad, but I’ve been through worse. D-Don’t worry about me! Just go get him!”

Her voice didn’t sound as confident as her words. He couldn’t just leave her here, even if it did cost them some time. Kabbu ran outside, and rallied the guards. “Quick, Vi is trapped in that building! On the top floor!” He swallowed hard, hoping he could trust these guys. “Leif and I will keep chasing Scarlet, just promise me you’ll get her out of there.”

The captain of the guard stepped forward and nodded. “You can count on us. Just make sure that guy doesn’t reach the pier - if he does, he could flee to anywhere in Bugaria.”

“Yes, I agree,” Kabbu turned around, eyes closed with concentration. “Isn’t that right, Leif?”

He opened his eyes and looked around. Leif was nowhere in sight.

“...Leif?”

—

Scarlet scrambled towards the pier, smiling wide as the bright open air brushed against his face. He was almost out of this place. All of Bugaria was reachable from the ocean. He could go anywhere, and there wouldn’t be any way to track him down. He smiled, hope filling his heart for the first time in so long. He stepped forward, looking at the several boats arrayed along the docks.

He was walking on the wooden pier when a chill came from behind him. He turned around to see Leif standing with his wings open, a blizzard seeming to emerge from his center. The force of his magic was so strong that, even from the distance he stood at, the waves below the pier were already freezing into ice. When Leif spoke, it wasn’t the voice of a bug. It was the voice of something else. Something monstrous.

“What did you do to Vi?”

Chapter Text

Scarlet’s eyes danced around the pier, looking for a way out. He felt a chill coming from beneath him, and he looked down to find the water already freezing solid under the weight of Leif’s fury. It was like the moth was a localized blizzard, freezing anything that came too close. Behind him, a crowd of civilians were gathering at a distance, startled by the ferocious display.

“I’ll ask again,” Leif said, his tone cold as his magic. “What did you do to Vi?”

“I didn’t do anything,” Scarlet said, backing up towards the end of the pier. “She came after me, and I just defended myself, is all.”

Leif shot an icicle at Scarlet’s chest, which he dodged. “Don’t lie to us! We’ve never heard Vi sound so weak. As if her very life had been drained out of her. If you stung her with that stinger of yours even for a second-”

Scarlet tuned out the rest of Leif’s little speech. He was more focused on trying to find a way out of this jam. The first time he’d fought Team Snakemouth, he’d been able to give them a run for their money. Now, however, they’d all grown so tough, probably from all that damn adventuring. They had defeated the Wasp King, after all.

This display of magic was incredible. He was clearly not the novice of their first encounter anymore, his magic was strong enough to freeze the water even from the distance where he was standing. Scarlet grasped his arm where Vi had stabbed it. It felt numb, and he could already feel a disconnect from between when he told his brain to move it, to when it actually moved. He might have been able to take Leif on, if he’d run into him first, but there was no way he’d win a direct fight.

One of his hands held his umbrella in a death grip. Where did that leave him? There was a boat to his right, but it was out a ways in the water. There was no way Leif would let him get that far. He’d need a distraction, but there wasn’t exactly anything around to distract him with. The only thing he could think of was to stall, and see if something, anything opened up.

“So, we are warning you-” Leif’s words cut through his thinking. “If you don’t surrender, we will rain down on you with the fury of a God.”

“I’m sorry,” Scarlet said. “I wasn’t listening. Could you perhaps repeat all that?”

Water immediately rose from beneath the floorboards of the pier. Scarlet leapt back, landing on the final board of the dock, but one of his legs had been caught in it. Leif froze the water solid, encasing Scarlet’s leg in a chunk of ice. He bit back a cry of pain. Yep, this definitely wasn’t the same Leif he’d fought all those months ago, in that cave.
…Wait. Where had Leif gotten these fantastical powers from, anyway? Scarlet had been stalking Bugaria for months before Snakemouth showed up on the scene, and he’d never once heard of a bug who could use ice magic, let alone exercise some power over water. He giggled. “Nice parlor tricks. Where did you get them?”

Leif moved forwards, coming close to the front of the wooden pier. “That’s none of your concern. Now,” he flung his wings apart with a flourish. “Surrender, or we will freeze you to your core.”

When he opened his wings, Scarlet focused in on something interesting. There was stitching in Leif’s chest, a few inches across, as if something had stabbed him right through the chest. In what world could any normal bug survive something like that? “My, how interesting,” Scarlet said, gesturing at the scar. “I wonder if the rest of Bugaria knows the truth about that scar and you, hmmmm?”

“We’re not falling for your tricks, Scarlet.” Leif froze the water around the pier, and unleashed a brief barrage of icicles at Scarlet. The ant blocked them with his umbrella, but the ice struck it with such force that it ripped holes in the fabric. Scarlet looked through one of them, horrified and amazed. “One last chance. Get down on your knees, or I’ll freeze you, and kick you out to sea.”

Scarlet bit his lip. It was now or never. He mustered up all of the bluffing energy he had, and said, “Oh, you don’t want to do that. Then you’ll never know who I told your secret to!”

This time, it was Leif who was left frozen. “You what?”

“Yes, indeed!” Scarlet said, giving a little hop. “What? You didn’t think anyone noticed? You didn’t think anyone found it odd that a genuine wizard showed up out of nowhere? One who can control ice, and survive attacks no one else could?” Scarlet pointed again to his scar, where it looked like Leif’s chest had been ripped apart.

“You’re lying,” Leif said. “You don’t know the first thing about us.”

“We don’t? If that’s the case, then freeze me! Cast me out to sea or what have you. Just remember, that if I go, you’ll never know which bugs know what you really are.”

“Shut up!” Leif gathered all of his energy into one hand, and aimed it at Scarlet. “Don’t talk about us! Y-You can’t accuse us of anything!”

Scarlet laughed. He was really on a roll, now. “I imagine Vi and Kabbu must know, you wouldn’t keep it from your teammates. But do your other friends know?” Scarlet paused for a moment and licked his lips. “What about your family? You didn’t tell them, did you? How does it feel, to know you’ve betrayed them?”

An uncharacteristic cry of rage emerged from Leif’s mouth, and he aimed the Vi-sized chunk of sharpened ice in his hand at Scarlet. He hand shook as hard as his composure. It was taking every bit of his considerable self-control to not blast this entire pier apart. What stopped Leif, ultimately, was a small voice piping up from behind him.

“Leif? What’s wrong?”

Leif looked around to see Kabbu staring back at him. He could only muster a small, broken,
“K-Kabbu…”

He had only taken his eyes off the pier for a few moments, but that was all it took for Scarlet to turn and leap. He aimed for the small skill, and just barely made the jump. There was a motorized rudder on the back of it. Much like the other boats in Bugaria, it was relatively primitive. But it’d get the job done. Scarlet turned it on, and started speeding away.

Leif cried out with anger, and threw the chunk of ice in his hand directly at Scarlet’s boat. Due to its large size, the crystal flew slowly towards the target. Scarlet stood at the back of his ship, feeling the wind flowing through his tattered clothes. His stung arm was growing increasingly numb, but he commanded his body to move with every ounce of will he had. He readied his umbrella, and hit the ice with all of his might. It swung back towards Leif like a baseball, cratering in the pier, shattering it into a thousand pieces.

Scarlet collapsed backwards in the skiff, holding his poisoned arm as he let out a cry of pain. Immediately, he knew he wouldn’t be using it for a moon, at least. His frozen leg still stung too, but the leap had shattered much of the ice, and now only the afterburn remained. Still, as he looked up into the sky, Scarlet couldn’t help but smile. He’d made it. He’d actually made it.

He sat up, and pointed the skiff out to the most deserted-looking part of the sea. He’d pick a random direction once he got there, and then ditch the boat once he got to shore, preferably at a place with a strong current, that’d suck it out to parts unknown, leaving no trace of where he went.

But for the moment, at least, he was safe. Vi wasn’t in physical shape to chase him, and Leif certainly wasn’t in a good mental state for it. The Termite Kingdom might - probably would - send some bugs on boats after him. But he could deal with some random guards, even with a trashed arm. There were few bugs who were an actual threat to him, and he’d just dealt with three of them.

Then, it’d be time to plan his counterattack. He would fulfill that message he’d said to Zasp, about making them pay for the suffering they’d put him through.

—

Team Snakemouth sat in an empty room somewhere in the Termite Kingdom’s palace. The three sat in silence, no one wanting to speak the first word. Kabbu swallowed hard as he looked at Vi and Leif, the former looking ghostly, and the latter looking like he’d rather be anywhere else.

“Alright, Team,” he said, “I don’t want anyone blaming themselves for what happened today.”

Vi let out a little cough, wincing at the pain even that brought her. “Easy for you to say. You didn’t have him right there in front of you.”

“We could have stopped him…” Leif said, his voice trailing. “And how he’s out there, he’s going to come back. And he knows our secret.”

Kabbu practically ran over to the two of them, tackling them both in a hug. “Come on you guys, I know you two better than anyone. We can’t just give up now!”

Vi hugged him back, but her voice was shaking. “But we messed up! And he got away! All because I couldn’t help myself and wait for you guys!”

“And we took our eyes off of him, gave him the opening he needed to escape…” Leif said, voice cold. “If only we had been more focused…”

Kabbu sighed, and hugged them tighter. “Please, don’t blame yourselves. Think of everything we’ve been through together! From Snakemouth Den, to the Dead Lands, to fighting the Wasp King himself! I promise, I know how you both feel. But nothing will ever come out of blaming yourself..”

“I just- I don’t know what else to think, Kabbu,” Vi said, tears leaking from her eyes.

He patted her on the back of the head. “It’s alright, Vi.”

Kabbu paused, and thought for a moment.

“Once the debriefing is over,” Kabbu said, “I want to take you two back to that place in the Swamplands. The place where my master and Bit-” The word choked in his mouth. “-died.”

“Are you sure, Kabbu?” Leif said.

“Yeah, why bring us there?” Vi added.

“You’ll see,” Kabbu said with a nod. “And after, we’re going to clean ourselves up, and finish what we started. We’re going to turn the tables on Monsieur Scarlet.”

Chapter Text

Vi and Leif followed Kabbu into the clearing, unsure of if this was a good idea. They’d tried to talk him out of coming back here, to the place where his friends had been killed right in front of him. Devoured by a predatory beast that knew only hunger and malice. He’d spent so much time agonizing over his seeming failure to save them, and it was only now, after the Beast was dead, and Bugaria saved, that those wounds had begun to heal. Was it wise to expose himself to past pain, so soon after having come to grips with it?

If Kabbu was uneasy, his stride didn’t show it. He had the look of a man on a mission, determined to pursue his cause through to the end. There was a slight shake of his shoulders as he saw the cross he’d planted to mark Master and Bit’s memories, but all it took was a deep breath to compose himself. He paused before it, and bowed to the cross, honoring the memory of the dead. Then, he turned around, and faced his friends.

“Leif, Vi,” he said. “I don’t bring you here lightly. I brought you two back to this place, because I want you to understand.”

“Understand what?” Vi said, voice shaking a bit. “I’m really sorry you lost them, Kabbu. But I don’t see what this has to do with what happened with Scarlet.”

Kabbu breathed in deep, as if swallowing an ocean. Then he exhaled, trying to let the tension flow out of his body. “I- I understand what it feels like, to blame yourself. To have made a mistake and put others in danger. Worse, I know what it’s like for those mistakes to-”

His voice broke off. Kabbu steadied himself on his feet, looked to the sky, and continued. “For those mistakes to hurt the ones you love.”

“Kabbu, what happened wasn’t your fault,” Vi said, hesitant but trying to be comforting. “It took all three of us to take down the Beast! And if it wasn’t for that second wind you got, we would’ve lost too. There wasn’t anything you could have done…”

Leif nodded. “We agree. The Beast was one of the strongest foes we faced,” he paused, considering his next words. “If you had faced that thing when you were just starting out, we don’t want to even imagine what would’ve happened next.”

Kabbu nodded solemnly. “I know. And when we got back here to the Swamplands, I lost myself. My mind was a rush of vile violence, and I put you two in danger.”

“Oh, Kabbu,” Vi said, taking a step towards him. “Please don’t beat yourself up over that! We got through it! We took that thing down! I don’t want you feeling bad over that, and I don’t think Leif does either.”

Leif said nothing, holding his words. He did nod, however, to show agreement with Vi’s assessment.

Kabbu raised a hand. “I understand, Vi. But I say all of this because I want you guys to know I understand why you did what you did. I know why you ran ahead to fight Scarlet on your own, and I know how bad you must feel over how it all ended up.”

His shoulders slumped, and sadness crept into his eyes. He continued, “I felt so terrible, for so long, about what happened with my Master and friend. And I felt so filthy for dragging you two into my feud with the Beast. The last thing I would ever want, in the entire world, would be for you two to feel the same way about what happened with Scarlet.”

“So please,” Kabbu said, running towards his friends and pulling them close in a hug. “Do not let this hurt you, as I allowed my mistakes to hurt me.”

Vi’s body ached under his tight hug, her body still recovering from the copious amount of life Scarlet had sucked from her. Still, she managed to hug him back, wrapping her arms around as much of his thick body as possible. Leif followed Vi’s lead, and hugged Kabbu back. He whispered, “Kabbu, if you ever feel that way again, please open up to us. We want to help you, anyway we can.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Vi said. We don’t want you to feel bad either!”

Kabbu pulled them tighter. “Thank you. Just please promise me, you won’t blame yourselves further?”

“Deal,” Leif and Vi said at once.

They hugged a moment longer, and then Vi pulled away. She performatively wiped her hands across her chest, as if trying to wipe the sentimentality away. “Okay!” She said, “Enough mushy stuff! What are we gonna do about Scarlet? I won’t get angry at myself over it, but he’ll be coming back, and we need a plan!”

Kabbu nodded. “Yes, indeed we do. I must admit, I don’t have one fully made. But if the three of us come together, there’s nothing that we cannot do.”

Leif grinned. “We agree. We did take down the Wasp King, after all. We didn’t come all this way, just to lose to some lowly criminal.”

“So uh,” Vi said, “I agree and all, but we’re at a disadvantage. He can find us easy enough, but we don’t have any way to find him!”

“Well,” Kabbu said with a smirk. “If we can’t go after him, then we can wait for him to come to us!”

“A trap, eh?” Leif said. “Yeah, I think we can do something with that.”

Vi smiled for the first time since before this entire mess started. “I can’t wait! Let’s get this punk!”