Work Text:
The sun had just barely set when they made it home and they breathed a sigh oThe first time it happened, Bug didn't have a choice in the matter. The decision has been made for her and that was it. That day they snuck out of the house to hang around an abandoned building near the outskirts of the city, they knew that they weren't supposed to do that with the Hollow disease still running rampant, but Bug wanted to pick some plants there and add them to their herbarium. E was absolutely going to get in trouble, the new plants in her collection were worth it though. He wanted to get back home before sunset, maybe then his parents wouldn't notice and he'd get away with sneaking out. As she ran towards her house the sun was going down, maybe she'd get away with just a simple reprimand if she got back before it got dark?
The further they ran the more obvious it was that they wouldn't make it in the window they were less likely to get in trouble. If only e was able to fly properly instead of just floating... His parents could, his oldest brother Cicada could and while Ant, the middle sibling, was bad at it, he could also fly. It was just Bug who couldn't do it properly yet, but at the very least the ability to float was stopping her from getting her head smashing open as she tripped on rocks and trash people left on the street.
The sun had just barely set when they made it home and they breathed a sigh of relief. Maybe eir parents wouldn't be mad, e reached for the door handle and tried to open the door. Tried. The family spaceship was parked outside and he knew his parents wouldn't lock the door if they knew one of their children was still outside. Bug looked through her pockets and in her bag, but it seemed like today she forgot to take her keys with her. Dread started pooling in their stomach, which was odd, it was just a locked door. E knocked on the door, Bug heard footsteps, but they didn't seem to be moving towards the door. He knocked again and again, and again. Yet nobody opened the door.
"Cicada! Ant! I know you're inside, open the door!" she yelled out after noticing one of the windows was open. "Come on! This isn't funny! I'll flush your toothbrushes down the toilet if you don't open this door right now!"
"Bug! I was so worried" their mum's voice rang out through the window, they looked up, but it was impossible to see their mum's face from the angle they were standing at. "Where were you?"
"By that abandoned building, the green one. Can you let me in? I think either Ant or Cicada locked the door and I don't have keys" e explained, walking backwards a few steps so e could see the woman through the window.
"I'm sorry darling, but I can't."
"What?! Why?" he shouted in disbelief. "Did they bribe you? That's not fair!"
"No, Bug. Sweetie, I just found out I'm infected with Hollow" she said, her voice shaking like she was crying. Bug gasped with fear. "You need to run from the planet before it's too late, I was going to ask one of our neighbours to take you with them, but Cicada told us that you know how to steer a spaceship. God, I should be mad at the three of you, if not for the circumstances all of you would be grounded until you moved out."
"No, mum... I- I can't- what am I- mum!" she cried, tears flowing down her face. They tried to wipe them, but all they were able to achieve was smearing them all over their face.
"It's o- okay. You'll be fine" the woman said in a shaky tone. "I'll throw you the keys, can you catch them?"
"Maybe" e sniffed and got ready to catch them. His mum threw them out the window and he just barely missed them, the keys clattering to the floor. "I love you!"
"I love you too! You need to leave!" her mum was now clearly sobbing. Bug started the spaceship and looked at their house for the last time. All of eir family would be dead soon and e would be the only survivor. He slowly flew away, with no real experience steering and tears blurring his view he didn't want to crash right away. Maybe that would have been easier than the reality, Bug didn't even get to say goodbye to anyone.
When it happened the second time she was just as scared, she noticed signs of Hollow quick. A neighbour caught it, the family they were staying with assured that if that man isolated himself the disease wouldn't spread. Bug knew better. People on Anrokka thought the same thing, but they were all gone now. This time though, e had a choice. He could stay on this planet until the situation got dire or... he could leave. Bug's mum wasn't there to instruct her whether to leave now or wait, she had to make that decision herself.
Their hands were shaking when putting the keys into ignition, they couldn't do this again. E decided to leave in the middle of the night to spare the family e was staying with the stress, e said. He knew that it was because he couldn't deal with the fact they might ask him to stay. This planet was just infected with Hollow, but the disease spread quick. It didn't have a lot of time left. Bug couldn't deal with it, she was just a kid. They were terrified of repeating what happened on Anrokka. So e left. He left with basic supplies in his family's spaceship. Bug was scared, but she couldn't do this again.
It kept spreading, not every planet they went to was infected, but they couldn't rest. There was always a feeling in the back of Bug's head telling em that e wasn't safe, that e had to leave. It also felt like betraying his family, he got away while they had to stay on Anrokka, slowly dying due to Hollow. It didn't matter whether the planet was infected or not, the guilt was making her too sick to stay anywhere for long.
When on one of the planets they visit they hear about sculk they don't see another option other than running again. Learning that Hollow was just one variant of the disease brought em even more fear. What if he didn't recognise it in time? What if she would be stuck on an infected planet against her will?
They didn't see another option than leaving as soon as they heard even a rumour of someone being sick. No other idea came to mind as a solution, besides running away was all that Bug knew how to do.
After some time it just becomes routine, e visits a planet, leaves as soon as e thinks that there is a possibility of the disease being on the planet. It was tiring, but he couldn't bring himself to care. Bug didn't even care that the fuel in her spaceship was running low, that she wasn't prepared to leave. Maybe the energy for that left them a few planets ago, bringing themself to care was too difficult nowadays.
Bug never left a note or stayed in touch with the people e met, e couldn't. He tried to convince himself that he didn't care what happened to them, but the knowledge that he kept more and more people to die was eating him alive. So she kept leaving, maybe if she kept telling herself that she didn't care it would eventually come true.
When Bug met Doe they realised a few things, that girl was amazing and she was a much better person than they were. Doe didn't run away from her problems, she actually tried solving them. She was also the first person e kept in contact with since leaving Anrokka. Being close to someone again was terrifying, but it was exciting at the same time. She didn't even realise how much she missed being able to talk with the same person on a regular basis until the option was available again. Just complaining about regular teenage stuff was enough for Bug to feel overjoyed for a long time. When the two of them started dating they were scared, they loved Doe, but what if they messed up? What if it would get too much and e would be running away not just from Sculk, but from her girlfriend too? He talked with her about it and each time she'd assure him that it was fine to be scared, but she wanted Bug to talk with her when something was wrong. She was great, Bug didn't know how she had gotten this lucky to even meet her.
When they heard about a neighbouring planet showing signs of Sculk they were ready to do the same thing as they usually did. Leave and not turn back. E was talking with Doe on the phone as e packed eir things into the spaceship when eir girlfriend fell silent.
"Hello? Are you there?" he sang into the phone. "Did the line cut again?"
"...Bug... Aren't you tired?" Doe's shaky voice answered. "Why do you keep doing this?"
"What? I don't get it" she chuckled nervously. "Doe?"
"You keep running away! I know you feel bad about leaving, so why do you keep doing it?!" Doe yelled loud enough that Bug had to move their phone away from themself. "You could help them."
"How? How could I help them?" e spat out, eir free hand curling into a fist. "I'm barely an adult! What do you expect me to do?!"
"Anything!" Doe cried out. "You know there are programs to help those people, you- you wouldn't even have direct contact."
"I can't!"
"Why?!"
"I- I just can't do it" he shouted with tears in his eyes. "Goodbye, Doe."
With that Bug disconnected the call, she leaned on the spaceship and let her phone fall to the ground. It was the first time the two of them fought, they didn't know what to do. Maybe Doe was right, e couldn't keep running away forever, eventually e would run out of places to run away to. He picked up the phone and went inside the spaceship, he needed to calm down. Maybe think this trough, maybe Bug would listen to Doe and stay.
In the end she was too weak, she couldn't stay somewhere she knew was infected. They texted Doe a short 'I'm sorry' and got their spaceship ready to leave. Seeing another planet slowly get smaller and smaller was never easy, but e knew that being trapped on one would be worse.
Landing on Dimis-4 wasn't his plan, he was going to a planet further away when the ship started having technical difficulties. It wasn't a reason to worry, it wasn't new when her parents got it and she wasn't the most careful person when she first started piloting it. A short stop on the oddly coloured planet wouldn't derail anything, but the ship breaking down somewhere in the void of space certainly would. Bug learned over the years how to fix minor things and if it wasn't something they were able to fix themself they could call Doe. It was very simple. It was something e has done plenty of times before.
E was breaking into the atmosphere when the ship started to fully break down. Bug cursed and gathered all the necessities she could carry in her hands, as the ground rapidly approached the ship got hotter. They kicked open the hatch and watched their family's spaceship loudly crash and go into flames. Bug could only watch. E was floating downwards, unable to say anything. The ship was the last thing he had from Anrokka, he had nothing left now. A few meters off the ground Bug couldn't bring herself to fly anymore and she fell on the ground, luckily for her with just some scratches and bruises. They looked at their surroundings with a dazed expression and when their eyes fell on something blue, their breath hitched. No. No, no, no. Nonononono.
Sculk, this planet was infected with sculk and e was stuck. His phone was in the ship, he couldn't call Doe to get him. Bug was actually stuck, she couldn't run away. They wanted to kill themself, anything to get away from the sculk. The cave was dark, covered in the shimmering blue substance. They couldn't turn their gaze away. Then e noticed something inside, a body.
"No..." Bug whispered with tears in his eyes. Seeing another life taken by sculk was awful. She got up on shaky legs and walked towards the cave, maybe she could still do something. When they got to the body they realised their chest was still moving. Maybe e could still do something. Bug couldn't just leave that person to die, he had enough blood on his hands.
She was stuck, but she still had to do something. No matter how terrifying it was.