Archive of Our Own ^beta

"LOOK OUT!"

The cry rang out over the cataclysmic rumbling as the cavern collapsed onto itself, rocks and dust pouring down upon the five hapless explorers as they all dove in different directions, each finding the first place their instincts told would get them out of danger. When the shaking stopped, the five of them; Kabbu, Vi, Leif, Mothiva, and Zasp, were all separated, caught in three different segments of the cave they've been traveling through by an impassable wall of rubble.

It was supposed to be an easy mission. Team Snakemouth had left town at noon fully prepared for a short day with no real obstacles, but unfortunately, on the way out an obstacle presented itself in the form of Team Mothiva, on their way home from a mission of their own. Despite both teams' better natures, they got to talking as they passed each other by, and barbed comment from Mothiva had turned into a heated response from Vi, which in turn escalated into such an argument between the two that the shouting soon triggered a cave-in, thus landing the five bugs in their current predicament.

Kabbu had jumped backwards instinctively, having been closest to the entrance before the ceiling fell. He appeared to be the only one who had. Still choking on dust, he quickly fell into a mild panic after realizing he was alone, shouting a frantic "Is everyone okay!?" as loudly as he could manage towards the newly-formed wall of debris.

To his immense relief, moments later Vi called back "I'm fine! Zasp is here and we're both okay."

"WHERE'S MOTHIVA!?" Zasp yelled, even more frantically than Kabbu had been.

"She's with us, down the other fork of the tunnel." Leif answered. "She's stunned, but doesn't have any visible injuries."

Kabbu sighed. At least no one was hurt, he thought to himself.

A loud crack sounded out, followed by an even louder curse from Zasp.

...Nevermind.

"Don't kick the rubble, stupid!" Vi yelled. "What if it fell on top of us?"

"Are you two okay?" Kabbu called in their direction.

"We're fine. Zasp hurt his leg like an idiot, it looks like he'll be walking funny for a bit."

"I'm fine." Zasp snapped, pain still obvious in his voice.

Kabbu sighed again. "I suppose there's no breaking down this rock wall, then."

"If Zasp couldn't do it, you'd probably just hurt your horn if you tried."

"We could use magic to blast the rocks away." Leif offered.

"No," Kabbu sighed. "If we upset the rocks too much it may cause further cave-ins. The four of you will just have to go deeper in until you can find another way out."

"What about you?"

"I'll head back the way we came and try to find another way in." Kabbu said. "If I don't have any luck, I'll wait here by the rubble in case either of you needs to tell me anything, and probably try to clear some of these rocks away by hand."

Zasp interjected. "What about-"

"We'll stay with Mothiva until she comes to." Leif interrupted him. "If she's injured and can't move, we'll tell Kabbu as much and wait to be rescued."

There was a brief pause, before Zasp called out. "...Alright. I'm leaving her in your hands."

"Alright, Team Snakemouth." Kabbu said. "Er, and Zasp. And Mothiva, when she wakes up. Let's try to meet up as soon as possible!"

"Right!"

~

Zasp winced as he walked with Vi through the lowlit tunnel. He had managed to keep himself from full-on limping, at least, but it was still mortifying for the bee to watch him like this. He hadn't been seriously hurt, but he struck a nerve badly and pain still lanced through his body every time he stepped with the leg he'd foolishly kicked the pile of rubble with. What an awful decision, he told himself, cursing again under his breath. What were you thinking?

But the truth was that he hadn't been thinking; the fact that Mothiva might be in danger had fully overridden his ability to be rational. He wasn't in the habit of being so needlessly reckless - even for Mothiva, he had his limits - but the cave-in was so sudden and frightening that he panicked.

"You know, you could have stayed behind if you're hurt-" Vi spoke up as the two walked together.

"I'm fine." Zasp said, through tightly clasped mandibles. He was obviously not fine, but as much as he'd grown to respect Team Snakemouth, he still had his pride. Vi would not pity him over such a stupid injury.

"Hmph." Vi pouted. "I was just going to say, if you'd stayed back at the cave-in site, you would've been able to hear when Mothiva woke up."

"I'm not Mothiva's keeper." Zasp replied. "I mean, I sort of am, I suppose, but my point is. If she's hurt, then taking care of her will be something I'll have to worry about when we reunite with the others."

Vi still looked annoyed. "So that's why you wrecked your own leg attempting to kick a landslide, huh."

Zasp glowered. "Like you, of all bugs, never did something stupid because your emotions were running high."

"Hey, that's-" Vi paused, suddenly thinking about all of the many, many times throughout her life she had done exactly that. "...I'm not the one on trial here!"

"Anyway, I didn't 'wreck' anything." Zasp said. "I can still walk, my exoskeleton isn't cracked, I just hit some nerves in a bad way, that's all."

"That still sounds bad."

"It hurts, but I've had worse." Zasp paused, giving Vi a surprisingly genuine look. "You don't need to fret over me, you know."

"...Who's fretting?" Vi huffed. "I just don't want you slowing me down if we get jumped in the dark."

"Hmph. Fair enough." Zasp said, smirking. "If that's what you're worried about, then don't. I can handle myself."

"Even though we've kicked you and your dumb girlfriend's butts every time you've gotten in our way."

Blushing hard, Zasp reared back instinctively. "She's not my--!" He stopped himself, clearing his throat unsubtly. "A-at any rate, that's when you're fighting three-on-two, even with my leg I could handle myself against any one of you individually."

Almost on cue, an especially sharp pain shot up Zasp's leg on his next step and he yelped involuntarily, tumbling over as his leg buckled underneath him.

"Hey!" Vi rushed over to support the collapsed wasp. "Okay, that's it, you need to stop and rest for a bit."

"I'm fine!" Zasp strained to shout, throwing his arm out to keep Vi away as he attempted to untangle himself from such an undignified position.

"Yeah, right!" Vi snapped back, batting away Zasp's outstretched arm. "You're a liability like this, we're resting until you aren't as sore and that's final."

Zasp fumed, but relented. He was stubborn, but sensible, and though he'd tried his best to power through his aching nerves, at this point he needed to admit Vi was right; even a small chance of collapsing like that again meant he was a liability in any situation where their survival was in question. He sighed. "...Fine, we can rest for a bit."

---

"Here." she said, offering Zasp a honey drop from her pack.

"I'm not hungry." Zasp said, clearly pouting about his admission of defeat.

"You don't have to be," Vi replied. "It'll help you feel better. Any time I'm in a bad mood, honey always cheers me up."

"You eat basically pure sugar as a mood booster?" Zasp asked incredulously.

"It's a bee thing, okay!? I'm trying to be nice."

Zasp chuckled. "I appreciate the gesture, but I'll be fine. Having too many sweets makes me feel ill anyway."

"Suit yourself." Vi shrugged, munching on the honey herself. "...Say, speaking of food, is it true that wasps eat other bugs?"

"Some do." Zasp answered, completely unfazed by such a sudden question. "Or did, apparently, before the Day of Awakening. I certainly don't, at any rate."

Vi nodded.

"Why do you ask, afraid I'm going to try and eat you if we're trapped here?"

"No, it was just something I read in a book at one point that I was curious about, so I wondered if you knew one way or the other."

"Wondering if the book was Ant Kingdom propaganda or not."

"Well, I didn't want to just SAY that." Vi smiled wryly. "They're the ones cutting our checks, after all."

Zasp chuckled. "Wouldn't want to cause an international incident by cracking a few jokes. Not when the ants and wasps have just started getting along again."

"Yeah, you know I’d hate to make Elizant mad at this point." Vi grinned. "...Hey, thanks for saving me, by the way."

"What?"

"You grabbed me as you dove out of the way of the cave-in." Vi blinked. "Did you forget already?"

"No, I remember. I was just shocked that you, of all bugs, were capable of sincerely thanking someone." Zasp smirked.

"Ha ha." Vi rolled her eyes.

"You seem remarkably well-behaved today." Zasp continued, probably against his better nature given what had just happened. "Ordinarily you'd be trying to bite my head off over a jab like that."

"I'm not dumb, y'know. The last time I lost my temper the cave imploded, plus you're my only companion and we have a better chance of making it out of this if we're together." Vi pointed at Zasp's bum leg. "That's why I wanted you to rest that thing so badly too."

"Plus you felt you owed me one for saving your life earlier and don't like being in debt."

"...A little, yeah." Vi pouted.

Zasp grinned. "Anyway, don't mention it, you were just the one nearest to me when I leapt for safety. You probably could've helped yourself anyway."

"I totally could've, but I appreciate it anyway." Vi smiled. "I'm surprised you didn't grab Mothiva as your first instinct, though."

"I wasn't thinking straight." Zasp said. "It all happened too quickly and I panicked, that's all."

"Makes sense." Vi nodded. "Though hey, speaking of Mothiva,"

Zasp sighed irritatedly.

"For real though, are you two-"

"She's not my girlfriend." Zasp said insistently. "She's...we're something. I'm not really sure what we are. We’re partners, I guess that’s the end of it."

"Partners."

"You don't believe me."

"Most partners don't keep huggable plushies of each other." Vi grinned smugly.

"Most partners aren't world famous-" Zasp stopped himself too late. "...Shit."

"So it WAS you!" Vi pointed dramatically at Zasp.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"The Mothiva fanboy in the hood from Defiant Root!"

"Not ringing any bells. The last time I was anywhere near Defiant Root was during the search for the Sand Castle."

"You're a bad liar, Zasp."

"Believe whatever you want." Zasp said. "The point is, Mothiva and I aren't involved with each other."

"Do you want to be?"

"You're awfully nosy, you know that?" Zasp huffed.

Vi grinned. "Being nosy is one of the trademarks of Team Snakemouth, how do you think we wind up helping so many folks?"

Another sigh from Zasp. "Whatever. I...still don't know what I want out of my relationship with Mothiva. It's complicated."

"You like her, though."

Zasp blushed. "It's complicated. I have an idea of how I feel about her, but I don't really know how to approach that."

"I can't imagine why." Vi said.

"Look." Zasp said impatiently. "I know that Mothiva can be stubborn, and abrasive, and kind of hard to work with sometimes. Or a lot of times."

"That's all putting it pretty mildly, in my experience." Vi snorted.

"My point is," Zasp said, cutting over Vi's comment. "There's a side of her you don't know anything about, which is what complicates matters a lot."

"Ain't that always the way with bugs like her." Vi remained unamused.

Figuring there was nothing better to do while the pair rested, Zasp decided to continue. "...She doesn't show it to people, but she's vulnerable. She works incredibly hard to maintain her position, and she's always afraid that one day her fame will just fall out from under her." He paused to sigh. "She's not actually that awful when you really get to know her, but the real her is so buried under all her layers of pride and insecurity that it's hard to get a bead on it."

Vi rolled her eyes at the "not awful" comment.

"I'm serious." Zasp said. "The whole reason she became an explorer was to help those in need."

"Is that why she tried to snipe the relic from us at Golden Hills?"

"Alright, so she's lost her way somewhat, admittedly, but she really does see the value in altruism for its own sake and tries to do good where she can. Most of the time."

Vi looked unconvinced, but wasn't interested in pursuing the topic further. "Anyway, so you're saying the reason she has such a grudge against us is that she's paranoid about losing her status?"

"That's an oversimplification, but yes." Zasp sighed again. "Mothiva...didn't come from much. She still isn't comfortable sharing a lot of the details with me, but she had it hard when she was young, and had to really claw her way to fame."

Talking about Mothiva always set Vi on edge, but hearing this information caused her to relax somewhat and listen more intently.

"She's not a diva." Zasp continued. "...I mean, she is, but it's not just that. She's horribly afraid of things going back to how they were. She only ever gets angry in public, but sometimes even extremely minor setbacks will send her into a full-blown panic attack."

"..."

"She...she always lets herself break down when I'm around. I think I'm the only one who's seen her cry in a long time." Zasp gave an especially tired sigh. "That's why I say it's complicated."

"What do you mean?"

"She lets herself be vulnerable around me, but I'm still not sure what it means, or how I feel about it." Zasp shifted in place. "She puts a lot of trust in me, I don't want to misread her feelings."

Vi nodded. "If you make a move, it could mess things up really bad if she doesn't feel the same way."

"That's surprisingly perceptive of you."

"I can't tell how sarcastic that was supposed to be." Vi grumbled.

"Considering our history, at least a little." Zasp smirked. "At any rate, you're right. We're a team before we're a relationship, and Mothiva needs me to be her anchor. That's all there is to it."

There was a tense pause.

"...Are you okay with that?"

"What?"

"Are you okay with that?" Vi asked again. "With that being the last word on your relationship, I mean."

Zasp fell silent for what, to him, felt like hours. "I...my feelings don't matter in this situation. My job is to protect Mothiva, and that's that."

"That's unfair, though!" Vi said. "Your feelings do matter, Zasp, you can't just shove them away like that without at least taking a chance."

"Hmph. Easy for you to say." Zasp said. "I'm not impulsive like you are, if I think something I want would cause a bad outcome I'm fine living without it."

"So you admit you want it."

"..." Zasp blushed. "...It doesn't matter."

"It does!" Vi insisted, standing up from her seat on the ground. "Look, I may do and say some dumb stuff to get what I want sometimes, but at least I'm not a coward, Zasp."

Zasp's blush shifted slightly to one of shame. "Call it what you want, you won't change my thoughts on the matter."

"Zasp, come on." Vi crossed her arms. "At least give it a shot, I promise it won't go nearly as badly as you probably think."

"You don't know that."

"I do!" Vi cried. "During the hunt for the sapling, on our way back out of the Hive, Kabbu and Leif convinced me to drop in on my sister Jaune at her studio. We had been in a fight before I left, so I thought it would go really badly, but thanks to them pushing me into it we were able to make up and now we're best friends again!"

"...Your sister is the famous artist?"

"Not the point! The point is, don't let 'what if it goes wrong' keep you from taking important steps with people you care about."

"..."

"Just give it a shot, c'mon." Vi said, moving over to put a hand on Zasp's shoulder. "If she really isn't as awful as you say, it'll be fine, trust me."

After another long pause, Zasp sighed. "...I suppose I could afford to be a little selfish now and then." He smiled.

"That's the spirit!" Vi said with a grin. "Take it from me, it's definitely okay to be selfish sometimes."

"Sometimes." Zasp chuckled.

"Hey!"

"At any rate...thank you, Vi. I suppose I needed a kick like that to actually do something with these feelings of mine."

"Anytime!" Vi smiled. "Giving folks a kick in the butt when they need it is one of my specialties."

"Even though it more often than not it probably leads to things like fights with your sister."

"Well, y'know…"

Zasp stood up from the ground as well. "At any rate, I think I've rested long enough. My leg doesn't hurt anymore, so let's keep looking for an exit."

"Good idea." Vi nodded. "Let's get outta here!"

Vi eagerly began walking further down the tunnel. Zasp, after giving her a look of newfound respect, quickly followed suit.

~

"Ugh…"

"Ah, good, you're awake."

"What happened?" Mothiva asked, shaking the fuzziness from her head and coughing up dust.

"Your little screaming match with Vi caused the ceiling to collapse." Leif replied matter-of-factly. "We grabbed you in our dive to safety since you were closest to us."

"...Hmph." Mothiva immediately launched into her at this point tiresome grudgeholder routine. "Don't think this means I owe you anything." she huffed.

"Perish the thought." Leif rolled his eyes. "Rescuing ungrateful bugs from getting crushed to death is just one of the perks of being an explorer, after all."

"I could have helped myself!" Mothiva snapped, standing up from where she had been lying in the dirt and frustratedly dusting herself off. "Look at this. I'm all covered in filth."

"Better dirty than squished." Leif reminded her. "Are you good to move around then?"

"Of course I am." Mothiva said with a heated sigh. "If anything would have injured me, it would've been your idiotic hero stunt knocking me to the ground. Is the plan to go find an exit rather than waiting here to be rescued?"

"That's the general idea, yes."

Without saying another word, Mothiva turned on her heels and began angrily marching further into the tunnel without Leif.

Leif sighed. This was going to be a long walk.

---

"You know, it's generally considered safer for us to stick together in case we get jumped." Leif offered as he struggled to keep up with the angry songstress outpacing him.

Mothiva said nothing, pushing herself to move even faster.

"Heavens' sake." Leif sighed. "Fine, get eaten by spiders or whatever, we don't actually care."

Mothiva wheeled around, storming back towards Leif. "I already told you, I can take care of myself! I don't need or want you mothering over me, especially not one of you Team Snakemouth losers!"

"Sorry for trying to be considerate." Leif was already frustrated with Mothiva's antics. "Next time there's a cave-in, we'll be sure not to rescue you."

"Please." Mothiva scoffed. "You probably just did that because you wanted leverage over me anyway."

"...It may be hard for you to believe, evidently, but not every bug acts exclusively in their own self-interest." Leif retorted.

Mothiva scoffed again.

"The fact that you've been regularly terrible to us doesn't mean we'd just refuse to save your life given the opportunity." Leif said. "...Though maybe we'd think about it if it were just a serious injury." He gave a wry smile. Couldn't help needling her just a little.

"Ha ha, you're hilarious." Mothiva replied mockingly.

"What's your beef with the three of us, anyway? Zasp seems cool with us at this point but you still have a grudge."

"I don't owe any of you Snakemouth clowns an explanation." Mothiva huffed.

"You kind of do, at this point." Leif was growing increasingly short with Mothiva. "Hold as many petty grudges as you want, we don't care, but not when it starts getting in the way our ability to perform our jobs as explorers."

"..."

"Which it's been doing for several moons now, we should point out. At least as far back as the colosseum match in the Termite Kingdom."

"Please." Mothiva scoffed again. "Don't pretend like you, of all bugs, aren't so arrogant that you didn't even entertain the thought that you would've lost that fight. It was a no-lose scenario for you three."

"The fact that we knew the three of us were going to beat you into next week is irrelevant." Leif snapped back. "The important issue here is that you barged into an already extremely delicate situation with the Termite royals. What would you have done if we had lost?"

"We're explorers too, you know. We would've just taken your place at the head of the pack."

"You just don't get it, Mothiva." Leif paused to rub his forehead. "The colosseum wasn't just a display of strength, it was a test to prove that the explorers Elizant had put her faith it - that is to say, us - were as good as she said. If you had beaten us in that fight, it's Elizant's reputation that would have suffered, not ours, and there's a good chance King Hector wouldn't have given over the seacraft we needed to safely reach Rubber Prison."

Mothiva looked genuinely disarmed by Leif's assertion. "But, we also answer to the queen, so would we not have just been able to slide into your place?"

"That wasn't the arrangement." Leif sighed. "We weren't just showing off for no reason, we were in the middle of an extremely important diplomatic negotiation. Failing which would've likely resulted in Hoaxe reaching the Sapling uncontested and running roughshod over the whole world."

Mothiva was distressingly silent.

"Did you not get tipped off by the fact that Kabbu got genuinely angry, almost the angriest we have ever seen him in the whole time we've known him, at your unwanted appearance?"

Flushed with shame and embarrassment, Mothiva reared back up, doubling down. "I don't keep tabs enough on you weirdos to know what your dumb friend is like."

Leif sighed again. "No, we imagine you don't do a lot of thinking about the world beyond your own nose. Do you even know what Zasp is thinking half the time?"

Mothiva grew redder. "What's that supposed to mean!?"

"We're just saying, the two of you don't seem like a very reciprocal partnership." Leif said, straightforward as ever. "Lot of take on your part, not so much on the give."

Mothiva's temper hit a fever pitch. "Oh, and I suppose YOU'RE now an expert relationship coach on top of everything else, huh!?"

Leif backed off, suddenly showing discomfort. "...Well, not an expert, but, well. We know some things, suffice it to say."

Sensing she had struck a nerve, Mothiva pushed further. "What kind of things, hmm? You having some kind of stupid tryst with your team or something?"

Leif chuckled. "Nice try. Kabbu's cute, we admit, so we certainly wouldn't tell him no, but try again."

"Go ahead and laugh." Mothiva hissed. "You're just joking around cause I'm on the offensive now, and you don't want me to find out whatever your little secret-"

"We used to be married."

"...What?"

"We used to be married." Leif repeated with an annoyed sigh. "There. Are you happy? Do you have any more dumb little games you want to play?"

Mothiva gaped in shock. "Wh, wait, how did-- WHEN did you-"

Leif sighed again. "You were there for our treatise to the Roach chieftain, that day in Giant's Lair, yes?"

"Huh? O-oh yeah, some nonsense about how you time traveled here with Roach science or something."

"...Time traveled, yes." Leif hated that version of the story, but lies of omission were still mostly true and he hated the real story more, so he sucked it up. "Well, that's basically the entire story; we had a wife back in our original time. That's all it is."

"...A wife."

"Yes. Muse was her name."

Almost instinctively, Mothiva's shocked expression curled into a sneer. "Really now. Well, I can't imagine what she was like, but to fall for you she must have been a real-"

Before she could finish her thought, the rocks behind her suddenly froze solid. Leif had slammed his hand into the wall of the tunnel, right next to where she was standing, instantly freezing a large chunk of it. Mothiva could feel the temperature around her drop considerably, suddenly finding it difficult to breathe.

“We aren’t in the mood to tell you what to do anymore, lest you throw another temper tantrum,” Leif said, his eyes locked dead on Mothiva’s and his voice low and cold. His tone wavered as he spoke, carrying a note of genuine anger Mothiva had never heard from him before. “But, if we could make a suggestion, be extremely careful about how you talk about our wife.”

Mothiva gulped. For the second time today, she was deathly silent.

"Despite how we may appear, we are in fact an extremely patient bug," Leif said, retracting his hand from the wall. The quiet rage in his voice was still palpable. "But insulting Muse is a line we will NOT allow anyone to cross, least of all you. Understand?"

Mothiva nodded wordlessly. She prided herself on always standing tall, on holding her head up and never backing down in the face of adversity, but faced with Leif's reaction she was overcome by the urge to shrink away and hide. It was the smallest she had felt in an extremely long time.

"Good." Leif said, quickly turning away from the other moth and beginning to move. "Now let's get out of this cave so that we don't have to think about you anymore for a while." As he walked, Leif left tiny patches of frost on the ground beneath his feet, clearly still fuming.

Mothiva swallowed again, sheepishly trailing behind him.

---

"Hey, I-"

"Stop talking." Leif snapped. It had only been a few paces from their last argument, but Mothiva was already trying to get a word in edgewise. Leif was having absolutely none of it.

"I just wanna-"

"We aren't interested." Leif cut her off again. "We've decided to walk in silence the rest of the way."

Mothiva's frustration mounted, and she felt a bit of her normal self return. "I'm TRYING to say I'm sorry!"

It was Leif's turn to turn on his heels to face Mothiva. "No, you aren't!" he shouted, uncharacteristically raising his voice. "If you actually felt bad about what you tried to do, you would have stopped to think for half a second about how hurtful your words might have been! You're only sorry you made us angry and want to stop feeling guilty about it!"

Mothiva shrank back again, shame quickly filling the hole her retreating boldness had created.

"Do you have ANY idea how we feel about Muse?" Leif continued. "She was the most perfect insect we ever knew. In our lowest moments, she could brighten our day like no one else, and we both knew we meant the world to each other."

Mothiva looked away guiltily.

"And then we wake up with barely any memories, decades in the future from our latest ones, and learn that she died years ago while we were away." Leif paused, trying to get his now audibly shaking voice under control. "We never had a chance to say goodbye."

"Leif--"

Leif shook his head angrily. "Do you have any idea how much it hurts to have to struggle to hold onto any memory we have of her? How much it hurts to feel that twinge of loss every time we think about her smile or her laugh?"

"..."

"But of course you don't have any idea of how any of that feels." Leif said coldly. "We still have doubts you can see any further than your own nose."

"...You're right."

"We ARE righ--" Leif stopped himself. "Wait, what?"

"You're right." Mothiva repeated, nervously avoiding eye contact. "I'm obviously not above taking petty cheap shots, but going after your wife was uncalled for and I should've thought more about how it might hurt you."

Leif blinked.

Mothiva blushed. "W-what? Is it so weird that I'm capable of admitting a mistake?"

"Frankly, yes."

Mothiva huffed angrily. "I may be a jerk...sometimes…arguably...but I'm not a monster, okay!? I can accept when I crossed a line."

"When it's pointed out to you, maybe." Leif replied, still feeling pretty short.

"Listen!" Mothiva snapped, before pausing. Letting out a sad sigh, she forced herself to dial it back. "...No, you're right. I do often dig into bugs without thinking about how it might affect them."

Leif looked unamused, but refrained from sniping at Mothiva since she appeared sincere.

"I get...scared easily." Mothiva shifted uncomfortably. "And I get mean when I'm scared. I know it's bad, but I just--" she sighed. "I'm just...sorry, okay?"

Leif's expression softened, and he let out a long sigh. "It's...alright. You didn't realize it was such a sore spot, we suppose." He looked down to notice the tiny patches of frozen earth marking his footsteps. "Sorry for giving you a scare like that at the wall. Still don't know our own strength, we guess."

"It's fine." Mothiva grinned sheepishly. "I did kind of deserve it."

"You did, but it was still meaner than we intended." Leif gave a wry smile of his own.

Mothiva gave a light chuckle. "Well, apology accepted."

There was a brief pause, though one refreshingly free of tension that had surrounded them so much earlier.

"...So, what was Muse actually like? If you don't mind me asking."

"Not at all," Leif replied. "Though it's strange, since normally we're the nosy one."

"Hey, you can't just drop a fact like 'I had a wife' on a girl and not expect her to be a little curious." Mothiva winked.

"Fair enough." Leif smiled, before softening into a melancholy expression. "Muse was...effervescent. She made everywhere she went feel brighter and more joyful. Even with the pain of loss dulling things a bit, we're so happy to have been a part of her life."

"You loved her a lot." Mothiva said sympathetically.

"More than we have ever loved anyone." Leif sighed. "We have so, so much love in our heart for Kabbu and Vi and can never thank them enough for everything they do for us, but no bug will ever shine as brightly as Muse did."

"Were you explorers?"

"Scouts, but yes." Leif nodded. "Our job was mostly concerned with preliminary information-gathering and was generally much less dangerous than being an explorer in this era. Of everyone on the team, Muse was the only one who even bothered learning to defend herself."

"But you had your weird magic too." Mothiva said.

Leif looked away, his expression growing dark. "...No. Our magic...our magic is a Roach original. We had no powers until waking up in this time." Another lie of omission, but he could feel his gut (or whatever it wanted to call itself) literally churn with discomfort over the subject and was eager to move on. "...Anyway. Muse was always smiling or laughing about something. Usually we didn't even know what, she just loved being alive we guess."

"Well, if you were as in love as you make it sound, she was probably just happy to be around you." Mothiva posited.

"...You know, now that you've calmed down you seem awfully invested in all of this."

Mothiva turned red again. "...It's a weakness of mine, okay? I dreamt about getting married a lot as a child and it still makes me happy hearing about loving couples."

Leif smiled. "It's fine, you don't need to explain yourself." He paused a moment to think of other anecdotes. "...She loved singing. When we were on the road for a scouting mission, she would pass the time by singing her heart out, and eventually made us join in as well." He looked away self-consciously, knowing who he was talking to. "We actually got pretty good at it, according to her."

Mothiva scoffed. "I'll be the judge of that," she said. "Sing a few bars for me."

"Not on your life. We haven't sung anything in ages, and even at our peak we weren't a pro by any stretch."

"Chicken!"

"Why aren't you like this all the time?"

"What?" Mothiva blinked at the suddenness of Leif's question.

"This conversation." Leif clarified. "It's fun. We're actually enjoying being around and speaking with you, which isn't something we ever considered possible. Why do you always have to put on airs about hating us instead of being more like this?"

"...Oh." Mothiva said, looking away. "Well, it's...complicated. And kind of difficult to talk about."

"That's alright," Leif replied. "We were just wondering, if you're not comfortable there's no pressure."

"No, I think after everything our teams have been through together I at least owe you an explanation, while we're on speaking terms." Mothiva sighed. "But you can't breathe a word of this to ANYONE, understand?"

Leif felt a strange pang of guilt, perhaps from the irony of it all. "Trust us, Mothiva. We don't know a single bug better at keeping secrets that ourselves."

Mothiva stood back and took a deep breath. "So, you know how I mentioned that I tend to get mean when I'm angry? Well, that's...a defense mechanism. An impulse, at this point, to tear down anyone who might threaten my position." She sighed. "I've said and done a lot of things I'm not proud of in hindsight to bugs intending to become my rival."

"Like gatecrashing an extremely important diplomatic negotiation masquerading as a flashy arena fight." Leif teased.

"Yes, yes, like that." Mothiva huffed angrily. "The point is, I get...afraid easily. That someday someone is going to come along and replace me as the next big thing, and I'm going to just lose everything that I have."

"Well, fame is fleeting, after all." Leif shrugged. "You're successful enough that you'd still have a decent life if you got knocked from your number 1 spot. Besides, a little competition should be good for your career."

"You don't get it!" Mothiva snapped. "It's because, er--" she stopped herself before getting too deep into things. "W-well,"

"If you don't want to talk about this, it's alright." Leif said. "We're not going to press you for information you're not comfortable sharing."

"N-no, it's--" Mothiva paused to steady herself. "It's alright, just give me a minute."

Tense silence gripped the air once more, but of a much different kind than it had before. Nervous tension, rather than angry. It was only a moment, but the weight of the atmosphere caused Leif's own chest to tighten vicariously.

"I...didn't come from much." Mothiva finally admitted, after working up enough courage. "I won't go into detail about it, but it's something I still have a lot of feelings about."

"Poverty in and of itself is nothing to be ashamed of, so we assume there were other issues." Leif said. "Not that we'll force you to divulge, of course."

Mothiva nodded. "Every day was a struggle for us. I'm not ashamed of the fact that I came from nothing, but I still remember how hard those days were, and how I never want to go back to them."

"So that's why you're afraid of having your spotlight stolen."

Mothiva nodded sadly. "It's completely irrational of me, I know, but I had to fight and scratch so hard to get to where I am, and any time I get the notion that no one's interested in me it sends me spiraling. I'm just so afraid of losing it all to a more talented up-and-comer."

"...Like us."

"Like you." Mothiva sighed. "I hate to admit it, but the three of you really are better than us, and it kills me to think about."

There was another pause as Leif thought of what to say. "Well, for whatever it's worth, we don't think any of us are in it for the fame, at least. Kabbu most certainly isn't, Vi is mostly interested in money over renown, and we honestly prefer keeping a lower profile."

Another pause. "I guess that does make me feel a little better, hearing that in a non-confrontational way." Mothiva said.

"Exploration is always a collaborative effort." Leif continued. "Getting the glory for making a major discovery is all well and good, but in the end what matters is helping out other bugs and making life better for all of us, and teams large and small all contribute to that."

"I suppose you're right." Mothiva said. "I don't know, I've had this problem for so long I don't know if I can just get over it like that, but I do feel better having talked about it a little."

"Just keep reminding yourself that helping others is its own reward and you'll be cured of your debilitating anxiety in no time." Leif replied dryly, grinning at the other moth.

Mothiva giggled. "I have to give you credit, Leif, you're pretty funny when you want to be."

"Yes, strange how charming someone can be when you just have a regular chat with them in a non-confrontational way."

"You could probably be less of a tease, though." Mothiva grumbled, to which Leif grinned devilishly. "Now come on, let's keep moving."

"Mm, let's."

---

"This tunnel goes on for a little while, huh?" Mothiva asked aloud.

"At least there's nowhere to go but forward." Leif replied. "Just keep walking and we should eventually hit an exit."

"Unless we hit a wall."

Leif chuckled. "At this rate, if that happens we'll just make our own."

"Truly a man of action." Mothiva quipped.

"More like a man of no patience for walking all that way back."

"Just don't cause another cave-in with any stunts." Mothiva said, grinning.

"Perish the thought," Leif replied. "Zasp would dig our corpse out of the rubble just to kill us again if that happened."

"Hee hee, that he would."

Leif paused a moment as he had a thought. "You know, on the subject of Zasp, what's the story between you two?"

"Hmm?"

"How long have you been together, stuff like that. We figure it's only fair after you got to pry into our love life."

Mothiva turned bright red at the inquiry. "W-well, we're not really together together, but-"

Leif blinked. "Oh, sorry, we just kind of assumed."

"It's fine, it's not an unreasonable assumption, just-" Mothiva sighed. "I don't know, we're in a weird spot right now."

"How so?"

"I trust Zasp implicitly." Mothiva said. "He's one of the only bugs I do. He's always had my back for as long as I've known him, and I'm comfortable sharing my worries with him."

"Sounds like a pretty stable foundation for a relationship." Leif shrugged. "So what's the problem, do you just not like him that way?"

"I, mmh." Mothiva rubbed her arm nervously, blushing quite vividly. "I do, actually, but I'm worried. We both lean on one another so much as it is, I'm afraid that if we got serious, it might turn into a kind of toxic codependency."

"Ahh." Leif nodded. "Not an unreasonable concern, we suppose."

"Plus, I think Zasp keeps some distance between us because he's afraid of feeling like he's taking advantage of my trust." Mothiva continued. "It's...complicated."

"Seems pretty simple to us." Leif said. "Both of you want the other but are too afraid to make a move. Pretty cut and dry as far as we're concerned, one or both of you just needs to buck up and take the plunge."

Mothiva whined, stopping in place to throw her shoulders down dramatically. "That's so hard, though."

Leif shrugged unsympathetically. "When we and Muse courted each other, it took several moons of nervous flirting to even get to a point one could consider a first date, but once we took our relationship more seriously we both agreed that we should have tried much harder, much sooner. Sometimes you just have to swallow your fear."

Mothiva sighed. "You're right, I've just never been very good at being brave in these sorts of scenarios."

"How about this," Leif said with a wry smile. "If you ask Zasp out on a proper date when the five of us reunite at the end of all this, we will personally buy our whole team front-row seats to your next concert, and make Vi say something embarrassing in full view of all your fans. Deal?"

Mothiva couldn't help but laugh. "She'll never agree to that."

"No, but we thought a joke might help you internalize how unserious all this romance stuff really is."

Mothiva sighed. "You're right, I guess I am just overthinking things."

"Seems to be the biggest problem facing lovestruck bugs these days." Under his breath, Leif laughed knowingly to himself. "Maybe the two of you should compare notes."

"Huh?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Weirdo." Mothiva said, trailing off as her antennae twitched. "...Hey, do you feel a breeze?"

Leif had to pause and focus, but definitely felt a faint draft coming vaguely from the direction they were moving in. "...We do. We must finally be near the exit."

Mothiva's relief was palpable. "Finally! This dank cave has probably ruined my complexion."

"Getting flushed with fear and embarrassment probably didn't help either."

"And whose fault is that, exactly?" At any other point that would have been a genuine, indignant question from the diva, but Mothiva's tone was playful and she wore a smile on her face.

Leif smiled back. "We'll almost miss being stuck in here with you," he admitted. "Having a civil conversation with you for once has been nice."

Mothiva blushed. "Well, admittedly, I could probably stand to be a little nicer to the three of you."

"Just a tad."

Mothiva chuckled. "At any rate, I'll try and stop being so awful to you guys all the time, you deserve that much at this point. Just try and keep a leash on that Vi a bit in turn, okay?"

"Eh." Leif shrugged. "We'll do our best, but she's not THAT spiteful. She'll maybe still have a grudge, but she's at least getting better at knowing when to behave when someone wants to bury the hatchet. We're sure she and Zasp have had an equally good time as the two of us."

"Hopefully not too good," Mothiva giggled. "I get jealous easily."

"We never saw your name on him." Leif grinned back. "All's fair until you actually make a move. Maybe we'll even make a pass at him if you don't, just to kick you into gear."

Mothiva laughed. "Really, now?"

"Why not? Zasp is plenty handsome, and everyone loves a good rivals to lovers dynamic."

"He'd never go for it." Mothiva replied. "Not until he can pay you back for the loss you served him in the eating contest all those moons ago."

"Heh. We look forward to seeing him try." Leif said with a smile. "Now come on, let's get out of here."

~

"Oh, thank the goddesses you two are here! It's been hours! Are you unharmed?"

The network of tunnels the explorers had been trapped in ran through a largish mountain, so after making their way outside, it was a simple matter of following the exterior to familiar territory for the wayward members of Team Snakemouth to find their way into the arms of a frantically worried Kabbu, who had broken down at the sight of them and rushed to embrace his friends.

"We're fine!" Vi chirped. "It'll take more than a lousy cave-in to bring me down."

"We'll be less fine than we were a second ago with the way you're crushing us, though." Leif affectionately snarked.

Kabbu self-consciously released his hug of his friends. "S-sorry! I just, I've waited for you here for so agonizingly long, and the loneliness caused my mind to wander and I started to panic even though I tried extremely hard not to and-"

Leif put a hand against Kabbu's mouth. "It's okay, Kabbu, we understand. We can hug more later when we're less tired, if it helps you feel better."

Kabbu gave a tearful look. "...More hugs later would be very nice, thank you."

"Speaking of later," Vi chimed in. "How late is it, anyway? You said a few hours, right?"

"It's been more than a few hours, the sun should be setting soon." Leif said. "Our bedtime senses are tingling."

"Maaaaaan." Vi whined. "Walking home in the dark is such a pain. We didn't even do our mission for today!"

As disappointment began to set in, though, an unfamiliar - and truly surprising - voice spoke up: "We, uh. We have a spare tent we could pitch if you want."

Team Snakemouth fell dead silent, all turning to look at Mothiva, who was ardently refusing to look any of them in the eye in turn. Kabbu, Vi, and Zasp all looked shocked by the offer, though Leif wore a knowing smile.

"...What?" Mothiva snapped, blushing indignantly. "I'm...trying to be nicer to you guys, okay? Accept my generosity and don't complain!"

Kabbu blinked, saying nothing. Vi opened her mouth to say something, but Leif stepped in and put a hand on her shoulder, silently shaking his head. She briefly pouted, but eventually relented. "Meh, whatever. Free stuff is free stuff."

"...Indeed." Kabbu said. "We appreciate the offer, Mothiva, inexplicable though it may be. Thank you."

"It...it's not weird!" Mothiva said, blushing harder. "You Snakemouth guys are idiots, but you helped me reunite with Zasp and got me out of that cave, so I owe you one. That's all!"

"I think you owe us a lot more than 'one'." Vi couldn't help herself.

"Just...just take the stupid tent and we'll talk about what else I owe you later!" Mothiva barked, quickly turning on her heels and walking away. "Zasp! Give them the spare tent, I'm going to go set up ours and go to bed."

"Uh...sure." Zasp answered, still mildly dumbstruck by what had just happened. "Here, I guess." He handed them a collection of unconstructed tent materials before quickly following after his partner.

There was a moment of stunned silence left in the wake of what had unfolded.

"...What did you DO to her?" Vi asked, turning towards Leif.

"Nothing she wouldn't have done herself after eventually realizing that carrying her grudge against us was a waste of time and energy." Leif said, grinning. "She's honestly not that terrible deep down, her real self just takes a little while to show itself."

"At any rate, we shouldn't turn down a generous gift like this." Kabbu said, hoisting the tent kit. "I will get this set up for the three of us, and we can worry about our unfinished mission tomorrow morning."

"We'll help," Leif said. "You've probably been sitting here catastrophizing for most of the day and could use the extra hand."

"...Thank you." Kabbu replied, sighing.

"I'll get some food out!" Vi said cheerily.

And so Team Snakemouth got their things together for an unplanned night of camping, chatting eagerly while they did about the bizarre new leaf Mothiva had seemingly turned over.

---

"...I'm glad you're okay." Zasp said.

"Better than okay, honestly." Mothiva replied, breathing a small sigh. "I didn't think I would feel so much better after having talked to a Snakemouth for so long, but I'm honestly kind of excited to try giving them another shot."

"They seem like they'd be good friends." Zasp said. "Aside from their idiosyncracies, I guess."

Mothiva giggled. "True." Her eyes drifted down Zasp's body. "...Leif mentioned you hurt yourself in the cave-in. Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine." Zasp said. "I tried kicking the rubble out of the way and tweaked some nerves in my leg, that's all. It hurt for a little bit but Vi forced me to rest a bit and I've been fine ever since."

"Oh. Well that's a relief." Mothiva sighed. "I'll have to thank Vi for looking out for you, I suppose."

"You really are a changed bug."

"Hush."

Zasp chuckled. "Jokes aside though, I'm really glad you're alright."

"Me too." Mothiva said. "...About you, I mean, since with how I am it'd be easy to get confused."

"Well, I'm sure you're at least a little glad you're unhurt as well." Zasp replied. "Just think of what the fans would do if a landslide ruined that pretty face."

"Heh, they'd be toppling whole mountains down left and right." Mothiva blushed. "...Hey, um, Zasp."

"Hm?"

"What...are we?"

Zasp thought hard about that. "We're a team. Partners."

"Well, have you ever, uh. Wondered what else we could be, if we wanted?"

Zasp immediately knew what she meant. Learning that she reciprocated his feelings for her after all gave him no shortage of relief, but now that she was gearing up to make the first move, he smirked. Time to have some fun with her. "What, you want me to get up on stage with you? I'm pretty sure that would be a disaster."

Mothiva blushed. "W-well, I'm sure we could get you up on stage if you wanted, but I was talking about, mm. Something else." Leif was wrong, this was still really hard.

"Alright, let me guess again." Zasp smirked. "You wanna upgrade me to a business partner and start giving me a cut of your music profits."

Mothiva flushed further. "Th-that's not it either! If you want some money, all you have to do is ask!"

"I'll keep that in mind." Zasp smirked. "That doesn't bring me any closer to knowing what you want us to be, though."

Mothiva pouted, blushing even more. "I'm...trying, okay? It's hard."

"It's alright, Mothiva, I'm just teasing you." Zasp put a hand on Mothiva's shoulder. "Though, if you need a minute, maybe you could try again to find the words you need when we get back to town."

Mothiva shook her head. "N-no, I--"

"Over dinner."

Mothiva froze. "...Huh?"

Zasp smiled at Mothiva. "I love you too, Mothiva."

Mothiva turned the reddest she could ever remember being. "......Huh??????"

Zasp leaned in and gently kissed Mothiva on the cheek. "Just say 'it's a date', we'll talk later in the tent."

After several more seconds, Mothiva blinked several times, snapping back to reality. "...U-um, yeah! It's...a date, I guess? Dinner sounds good!"

Shaking herself off, she hurried after Zasp into their tent, extremely eager to continue their conversation.