Chapter Text
Dying was different than Hornet had thought it would be. To start with, she’d always expected to die in battle, not sinking into the depths of the Void Sea after a failed attempt to rescue both her mother's homeland and the silken vessel who could have become family if given the chance. But even with that in mind this was strange. She'd expected dying to be like drifting into nothingness or, when she was being especially charitable, coming to be in some other realm where the dead resided.
Instead she found herself stirring to confused wakefulness feeling sore, uncomfortable, and all together wrong. Her carapace felt too snug, too tight, and everything hurt. Everything outside of her body felt weird and out of focus, like it was filtering through something that was blocking her ability to hear it clearly, but she did catch the occasional distorted voice. Had she survived somehow then? Made it out of the Void Sea? Perhaps Ballow had grown concerned and sent someone down to retrieve her? Staying too long in the Void could explain why her body hurt so much, perhaps? But then...
"Lace...?" She managed to choke out, her own voice sounding high and wrong in her ears. Something, or perhaps someone, pulls her close. But that can't be right...no one left in this broken land was big enough to hold her like this. She forced her eyes open, but even her vision was wrong, fuzzy and distorted like....like just before a molt.
That was what this felt like, the strange distorted feeling as her upper layer of shell started to peel away, but hadn't quite managed to completely unattach, leaving her with a fading too-small shell that pressed in and distorted her senses.
How odd. She had thought she was done molting. The molt that had happened not long after the stasis on her homeland had ended had caught her by surprise after having lived for so long, but they'd quickly been able to theorize that her physical aging had stopped when time in Hallownest had been frozen. She had assumed that would be her last one. Though she supposed another molt wasn't impossible, not with her unusual heritage, but she hadn't felt any of the telltale symptoms in the time leading up to her dive into the Void Sea. So how...? How long had she been out? And how did she get out of the Sea in the first place? Nothing about this situation was making any sense.
Groaning quietly, Hornet closed her eyes once more, earning her another quite muttering of words from whatever being was holding her. She felt like a kid again, bundled up against the chest of one of her larger mothers. Though...now that she thought about it, the voice was oddly familiar as well. Like something from a distant memory. This molt had to really be taking it out of her. Perhaps it had drawn up a fever like she'd been told her first molt had. Molting after taking a dip in the Void Sea couldn't be good for her after all. At least, wherever she was, she didn't seem to be in any immediate danger. Hopefully this molt would pass quickly and she could move on to seeing if her efforts had made the difference she'd hoped for. For now, though, she let herself drift back into a dreamless rest.
Awareness came in fits and spurts after that, her mind fading in and out as her body worked through what she was now certain was a very difficult molt. She tried to ask about Lace more than once, and about the other survivors, but she could never quite make out the responses she got in reply. She could only assume that her almost-shed outer shell was still blocking her ears. That or the fever she was sure she had was messing with her hearing. It certainly had her out of sorts in other ways. Her entire body felt off in ways she couldn’t quite explain. Like it was too small and full of a strange thrumming energy. She didn’t like it, but she knew that both the molt and the fever would eventually pass so she resigned herself to waiting.
Eventually, her waiting paid off. She wasn’t sure how long it took, not with how often she would sink into unconsciousness for untold amounts of time, but she was overwhelmingly grateful when she finally managed to wiggle free of the outer shell that had been keeping her confined. Relieved, she shoved the shed away from herself and fell back against the soft bed she’d been resting on, breathing deeply and relishing the lack of restriction. She was finally free of that blasted thing! She didn’t feel quite like herself again yet, but she still felt much better than she had since her dive into the Void.
Speaking of the Void, she really needed to check on Lace and the others now that—this was not her bellhome.
Hornet, whose eyes had finally slid open at the thought of what she needed to get done, froze for several beats before shooting to a sitting position and looking around in alarm. This wasn’t her bellhome at all! Where was—no…that didn’t make any sense! She recognized it now, the shape of this room, the curve of these walls, but it couldn’t be possible. Her childhood room in Deepnest had fallen out of use when she’d moved on to train in the Hive, and had fallen into disrepair not long before time had been drawn to a stop in Hallownest. So how was it here now in pristine condition?
Before she could spend any more time trying ro figure out what was going on the door to her old room swung open, admitting someone who threw her mind off track.
"Mom?" Her voice was too high, sounding like a child in her uncertain confusion. How was....Was she dead after all? Were those bugs that said the dead all went to a world together right? Perhaps the molt had been part of the transition to this world? "Mom!" Hornet broke free of the shock that had kept her frozen, scrambling to try and get to her feet and lunge towards the one person she'd missed longer than anyone else. She must have still been unsteady from her molt or the surprise because she found herself stumbling and nearly falling, only to be caught by her mother's large hands and pulled close.
"Careful child!" her mother's voice was chiding, but so so sweet. Even in her red memory the sound of her mother's voice had been faint and wrong, nothing like the deep tenor that was wrapping around Hornet's soul now. Hornet choked on a sob as she looked up, staring at the face she'd long forgotten, trying to memorize how her mother truly looked and push away the ingrained image of the dreamer's mask that had covered her mother's face in all her memories.
"I missed you so much, mom!" Hornet sobbed, claws clutching onto the red veil her mother draped over her horns and chest but refusing to take her eyes from her mom's face even as tears clouded her vision. "I'm so sorry!"
"Peace child," Herrah's voice shifted, soothing instead of chiding, and somewhat concerned as the woman moved to sit on the ground next to her daughter's bed and hold the girl in her arms. "I was only gone for a couple of hours. I am sorry I missed the end of your molt, but I promise I was with you for most of it. I know molts can be disorienting, but they do get easier as you–"
"No!" Hornet cut in, shaking her head. "Before that! You went to sleep for so long! I know you did it to protect me and everyone else, but you were gone! And it didn't even work! The infection still came back and then I had to let Ghost-" Hornet choked, voice breaking as her hands tightened their grip on the cloth under them. "I promise I wouldn't have let them if I hadn't really thought they could fix things! And they did! We were finally starting to recover when...when..." Hornet trailed off, aching grief breaking through her guilt and relief. Oh Ghost...and Holly....her poor siblings! She'd been trying so hard to get home to them, but that wasn't going to happen now. They were going to be so upset!"
"Child? Child!" Her mother's voice cut through Hornet's spiraling thoughts, drawing her vision back into focus to find the large face above her twisted in a strange combination of alarm, confusion, and concern. "Breathe with me, Little One," the larger woman instructed once she saw she had her daughter's attention once again. Hornet forced herself to follow her mother's steady-calm breaths, some shame creeping in as she realized she'd lost control as bad as she had.
"Sorry..." Hornet told her, head ducking down as she regained control once again. "I just-"
"Child," Herrah cut across her before she could continue, but that was ok. Hornet hadn't been sure how she was going to finish that sentence anyways, so she focused on her mother's words instead. "How do you..." Herrah trailed off, drawing Hornet's gaze back up to her face in time to see that confusion and concern were still warring there. "Did someone tell you about the Dreamer's plan, child?" Herrah finally finished.
"What?" Hornet asked, brow furrowing in confusion behind her mask. "No? I saw....I saw..." Hornet trailed off, finally registering how large her mother's face was compared to her. She knew she hadn't seen her mother's face for a long time, but the mask her sleeping body had worn had been around the same size, so why was it so big now?
"Saw what, Child?" her mother pressed, but Hornet ignored her, slowly looking down and taking in her own hands for the first time since waking up. Her hands. Small, unscarred, and uncalloused hands. That...that couldn't be.
"Child?" Her mother's voice drew her back into focus even as part of her mind started spinning through the implications of what she'd just noticed. "What did you see."
"I saw you go to sleep," Hornet told her. Her voice wasn't just small and childlike because she was emotional, she sounded like a child. Like she had as a child. "You, Monomon the Teacher, and Lurien the Watcher. All three of you went to sleep to become a seal that help keep Holly and The Radiance contained in the Black Egg."
"You saw that?" Her mother's voice shook, staring at Hornet like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "How did you-?" The queen of Deepnest cut herself off, realization lighting her expression. "Your father has visions."
"He does." Hornet frowned. This wasn't like any visions she had experienced before....or would experience? Whenever they happened, her visions always came when she took a moment to rest and always felt like she was watching a quick flash of one or several possible futures that could spell her death if she didn't find another path. They were short and never held anything emotional or super detailed. Mostly just the sense of dangerous spikes or how an opponent would attack. Nothing like this.
"You said you saw the plan fail?" Herrah's voice drew her from her thoughts once again.
"It did," Hornet confirmed, nodding firmly. "Not right away, but the seal didn't hold. The Infection started seeping slowly back out a little while before I fully matured so The Pale King froze Hallownest in time to try and stave it off as long as he could. But even that couldn't last forever."
"Before you finished growing?" Herrah repeated hoarsely, grip tightening on Hornet like she could protect her from the threat that would someday come. Hornet could only nod, her own mind a whirling mess of confusion that was quickly being replaced with alarm. If her mother didn't remember becoming a dreamer then could this really be the afterlife? According to Ghost Herrah had been somewhat aware the entire time she'd dreamt. There was no reason for her not to remember now unless....unless she wasn't dead. Unless neither of them were dead. But if they weren't dead then....Hornet looked down at her tiny, too-clean hands again. Was it possible?
"Mother?" Hornet's voice was off again, but this time it wasn't just because it sounded far too young. She sounded distant even to her own ears. "How much longer do you have before you're supposed to become a Dreamer?"
"Child, you don't need to-" Herrah began, but Hornet cut her off with a shake of her head.
"Please, Mother. How long?" The queen was silent for several beats before she let out a small sign and sat back, adjusting her hold on her small daughter as she did so.
"I am uncertain exactly how long, Child," she admitted. "The bargain was that I would get to witness your first molt. That has come and gone now, so it depends on what all your father and the other Dreamers need to get done before it is time." Hornet's frown deepened, fingers releasing their grip on her mother's cape to tap against it and the hard carapace underneath.
"Could you stall?" Hornet asked her, mind whirling. "Not forever, but for a little while? I know you made a bargain and honor says you need to fulfill it, but could you put it off for a little while longer?"
"I..." Herrah trailed off, taking in her daughter's expression. Eventually she let out a slow breath. "I will do my best, Child." She would need to talk to the king about her daughter's vision at the very least as well as make plans to be sure the child was given the proper care for that ability. That would take some time at least.
"Thank you, Mother," Hornet slumped, leaning her face against her mother's chest in relief.
"Of course, Daughter," Herrah reassured her, one hand coming up to cup the back of her daughter's head.
They stayed that way for several minutes, together, both running through different things in their mind, but eventually Hornet pulled back with a yawn.
"Alright, I think that's enough excitement for today," Herrah hummed, getting to her feet. "Molting is hard work and you need your rest to recover from it. I'll send one of your aunts in to wake you in several hours so you can eat something, but for now you should sleep."
"Ok," Hornet agreed, reaching up and nuzzling against her mother's face when the larger bug leaned down. "Goodnight, Mother."
"Goodnight, Child," Herrah repeated, leaning down and tucking her child into the plush cushions of her bed. "I will see you after you've woken and eaten." With that, the queen of Deepnest ran a gentle hand over her daughter's horns before standing and making her way out of the room. Her coming days had suddenly become a lot busier.