Chapter Text
Almost ten years ago now, our world was overtaken by a heavy disease. A disease that eats away at the brain until your soul is gone, leaving nothing but a shell behind. All of the giants are gone, devoured by this sickness. But us Buggets, we live on. But for how much longer will we be able to?
“Malcolm,” her voice is soft, resting her hand on the others shoulder. “We don’t have much time left. They’ll be here any moment.
His voice is quiet, “Melon… I can’t…”
“Why can’t you?” Melon’s voice becomes firm with frustration and confusion.
He sighs, “I won’t… leave you here… to die.”
Her face falls at this and her eyes well up, “Oh, Malcolm…” she pulls him into a tight hug, “It’s all going to be okay… just—“ she takes a deep breath, “come find me when you get that cure, okay?”
Silence sits among them for a moment, “Okay.”
A clamor comes from a room deep into the house, a house atop a tall mountain, “Moon!” A woman yelled out, “What are you doing in there!?”
A short cicada stuck her head out of the rooms door, “Sorry, mumma!” Moon apologizes with a look of embarrassment on her red paint covered face.
Her mother stood silent for a moment looking at the child she bore be covered entirely in paint in both disappointment and fondness. “Come here, you should be glad your father wasn’t here to see this, you’re tracking red all over.”
Moon giggles, “Right, right, of course!” She rushes over ready for a hug before her mom dodged her.
“No, you don’t, missy! This is a new dress!” She sighs, that fondness being found on her face again, “Go get washed up, Moon.”
“Okay, mumma.” She’s still got that happy smile on her face as she goes outside to the pond, where her father told her used to be a bugget hotspot before the disease.
“Papa, you’re home!” She ran over and hugged the man.
He chuckled slightly, “Blue Moon, why are you wet?” Moon blinked and ran off with a giggle, “Moon? What did you do?”
“I did nothing~” she sang from the other room.
“Hmm, sure.”
“How was the trek up the mountain today, papa?” Moon returned from her hiding.
“Much better, the mechanism is going great.”
“Yay!” She cheers, “Can I play with your guns?”
“Do you mean look at my guns?”
“Yes, yes, look! I meant look!”
“Mhm.” He pet her head, “Go along, kiddo.”
Moon whooped and went to grab his guns, she ran past her mother coming out of the kitchen. “Oh? Look who’s home.” She walked over and kissed her husband on the cheek.
He grabbed her by the chin and kissed her full on, “Lily.” Their smiles both grew.
That was until there was a loud crash outside. The two instantly jerked towards the sound, “Moon, come here now!” Her mother yelled and Moon came running.
“What was that, mumma!?” The girl cried hysterically.
“Zombugs.” Her father answered, “Moon, do you have my—“ before he could even finish his thoughts, the zombugs burst through the doors.
“MUMMA!” Moon screams as her mother is tackled by the zombug, her neck getting torn open by its sharp teeth.
“MOON, GO!” Her father yells, pushing down the zombug’s coming towards him and his daughter.
Moon couldn’t help but start crying, but knew what she had to do. She got up off the ground and ran as fast as she could down the mountain.
She has decided that she can’t stop, not until she finds somewhere safe. Where would that be? She has no clue. But all she knows is, she can’t stop.
Rain has started pouring down, so Moon finds herself hidden under an old bridge, torn apart by metal and teeth. Thunder crashed down, puddles turned to ponds, and her wings were soaked. But, even within the storm, she could hear the slight movement of metal, things shifting around. So, she decided to take a peak and go out into the rain. After all, it is dangerous to stay in one place for too long. But as quickly as she stands up, she gets pushed back down as she bumps into something. Something hard. Something hard and moving, like a monster.
Moon looked up at the monster, sleek black and bright blue, with all the bravery she could muster. But was this truly bravery? If this thing killed her, she would be able to see her parents again. So maybe she should accept this fate.
A muffled noise escaped the monster before it brought what appeared to be hands towards its head and lifted its face off. Moon let a gasp escape her, “What’s a bugget like you doing around these parts?” It- he asked. It was someone like her, a bugget.