User blog:Redknight910/WWYD Hornet Billythehillbilly

Prompt:Not so Happily Married (Hornet)



I look at her for several long seconds, waiting for her to make a move. She reaches for her spear and I brace to throw myself at the window again. She froze, eyes widening with fear.

"You... you won't survive the fall." She says, looking me up and down.

"Well, I have to try something." I growl at her, still waiting for theinevitable burst of motion. If I have to fall to my death, I'm going to make her watch every second of it.

"Please." She says, eyes pleading. "Please just, just step away from the window." She takes several hurried steps towards me, and I run.

There's a faint buzzing right before the glass shatters, and I'm tumbling through the air. six stories up and I know this is going to hurt. Or maybe I won't notice. All I know is the feeling of the wind against my skin, cooling the hot trickles of blood the glass brought out, feels like freedom.

I fall for what feels like minutes, but is probably only seconds. I feel something slam into me, then the sensation of slowing and twisting, before there's a loud crack. I open my eyes, looking around in a daze, when I see her. My captor, curled up on the concrete alley, shuddering in pain. I pat myself down, realising I'm dazed, and my stomach's a little off, but not hurt.

Despite knowing I should run, that I should get as far from this cursed monster as possible, I can't help but check on her. As I approach, she opens her eyes, looking up at me. A shaking hand reaches out, but when I take a step back, it falls to the ground.

"Please...." The faint whimper is without any of her usual strength. I don't move, just look at her for several long moments. No one comes by, looks to see what's happening in the alley. It's just us.

"Why?" I ask, not understanding why she took the brunt of the fall. She opens her mouth a few times, but her voice is quiet, weak. I get closer, kneeling down in front of her.

"I... l-love... you." She mutters, bringing her hand up to caress my cheek.

"You have a strange way of showing it, you know." I tell her, trying to keep my voice level. Seeing her in pain like this, even after everything she's done to me, is difficult.

"I-I wanted to know... to know you'd be there -ngh- when I got back... if I got back." My brow furrows.

"If?" She looks up at me, trying to put on a smile.

"The honey bees. I've... I've made some powerful enemies with them. I wanted... to... to protect you. Us. I always tried to... keep them away from here. From you." I look at her in a new light, now partially understanding my imprisonment.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"Then... then why didn't you just leave me alone?" She winces, tears filling her eyes at the statement.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"I-I'm a hornet. Most of us... most of us don't have a lot of restraint." She chuckles for a moment, then groans. I debate calling an ambulance and leaving her there, just follow through with my plan and running away. But... but something doesn't feel right about it. About just leaving her there, alone.

<p style="font-weight:400;">With a sigh, knowing I'll probably regret it, I call out to the street, getting someones attention. They rush over to us, eyes widening as they see the wounded hornet on the ground.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"Please, stay with her for a minute. I need to find an ambulance." They nod, sitting next to her and holding her. I stand up, only to feel something tugging on my arm. Looking down she's still got my hand, looking up at me with tears in her eyes.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"Please..." she whimpers "please don't go." She starts sobbing, and my stand in stands up.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"You stay with your wife, I'll get the ambulance."

<p style="font-weight:400;">"But...."

<p style="font-weight:400;">"Don't worry, I'll be fast as I can." And with that, they take off, leaving me with the crying, wounded hornet. With a sigh I sit down next to her, holding her head in my lap.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"I like it when you hold me...." She murmurs, her body slowly calming down.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"Then why didn't you ever hug me, or kiss me, or touch me in any meaningful way that wasn't rape related?" She wipes the tears from her eyes, looking up at me.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"Because I didn't want your smell on me. I didn't want them getting your scent." I look at her for a few more seconds, before asking a question that's been on my mind.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"What in pandemonium did you do to the hive bees?" She winces, obviously not happy remembering whatever it was.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"I... I burned down their home." She mutters, looking distant for a few seconds. "It was an accident. They took my sister, tried to... make her honey headed. I was angry, and my mother was angry. We broke into their hive, started trying to get to the honey room.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"When we got there... there were vats of honey, some heated by fires. Mum got my sister out, but we were separated. I got cornered by one of the heated vats. I was scared, desperate. I...." She stops, looking me intensely at me for a few moments.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"I scared you...." She whispers, tears starting to pour down her cheeks again. "I made you scared and desperate. I made you do something stupid..." Any words she has after that are lost in sobbing gibberish. The ambulance arrives as she starts to calm down, and they look her over, before loading her onto a stretcher with a cast over her leg. One of them pulls me aside as they're loading her up.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"She's got a broken leg, a few cracked ribs and her stingers fractured. What happened to her?" I can't bring myself to look at the paramedic, telling him I fell out of the window, and she tried to save me. They look at me cautiously for a few seconds, before sighing.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"Well, I guess I should be telling you you're lucky for having such a loving wife. She's gonna be in hospital at least overnight. There's room for you in the ambulance." I shake my head, letting him know I'd rather stay here. Seeing her in pain like that is... it makes me feel horrible. The paramedic nods, patting me on the shoulder.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"Okay then, we'll have her home as soon as possible." With that he walks back to the front of the ambulance, getting in and driving away.

<p style="font-weight:400;">I could have gone anywhere, home, to a friends, a train station, anywhere. But I just went back. Back to the apartment I'd called a prison for months, processing what my former captor had told me. Was she really scared of the hive bees so much that she'd trap me and avoid touching me? What was she so afraid of? Then I remembered what she'd called her sister.

<p style="font-weight:400;">Honey headed. Was what the honey bees did to hornets and grizzlys really so terrifying to her that she'd burn down an entire hive out of fear? I had so many questions swirling in my head that night that I could barely sleep. The next morning I just meandered around the room. Some staff had come in to board up the broken window, but other than that I'd been left completely alone. That afternoon the door opened, the hornet slowly stepping inside.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"Are... are you still there?" She calls from the door. I step out from the living area so she can see me, and her eyes widen, but she doesn't move from the door.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"I... I was afraid you would have run. After what you did yesterday... I wouldn't have blamed you." I shake my head, walking over to her and throwing my arms around her.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"I couldn't leave. I wanted to, I think, but after what you told me... I had so many questions, so many things swirling around my head, I had to at least try to get back to thinking." She smiles at me, wrapping her arms around me.

<p style="font-weight:400;">Can we talk? Please?" I nod, helping her over to the couch.

<p style="font-weight:400;">After the two of us sit down she starts telling me the rest of her story. In her desperation to escape she tipped over a massive vat of boiling nectar, burning more than a few of the workers and soldiers. After that the boiling hot liquid caused some of the waxy hive to melt, spilling into one of the burners, and then it just spread.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"I'm a monster in the worst ways possible. And now, ten years later, I finally find a man I wanted to make my own and I... and I...." She breaks down into tears, collapsing on my chest. After a long minute of frantic sobbing she collects herself enough to finish her sentence.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"And I made you hate me so much you'd rather die than be with me." She's still sobbing, arms wrapped around me. We sit in silence for a time, her sobbing eventually claming down to long, heavy breaths. Finally, she looks up at me, scared.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"Now you know. Now I know. If you want to leave, I won't stop you. If you never want to see me again, I promise. You won't." She lets me go and sits up, looking into her lap. Everything she's done to me, cutting me off from my family and friends, locking me up in this apartment, all of it was to protect me. Except for a few things....

<p style="font-weight:400;">"Why did you pass me around with our friends? How did having me, prancing around butt naked, in front of your friends help in an way?" She sniffles, laughing a little, before looking back at me.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"That was... just me showing off. None of my friends have husbands, so everytime they came around I just kind of... got carried away showing you off." She gives me a serious look, "If you stay, I promise, I'll never do it again." I nod, taking that in.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"And the cooking?" She blushes and looks away.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"I-I never learned how...." Her voice quiets until I can't hear her anymore, but I think I know what she said.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"Okay. If I'm going to stay," her eyes light up as she looks back at me, "if, then we're going to need a few changes." She nods rapidly, lips splitting into a grin.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"Anything!" She cries, looking at me happily.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"First, I want to see my family, and any friends who haven't given me up for dead. I want a key to this apartment so I can come and go as I please." She nods to both my requests.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"Just... just be home when get back from work. Please?" She asks, eyes hopeful.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"We'll see." Is all I give her, causing her to drop her head slightly. "Second, I'll teach you how to cook. Most things are pretty simple, it's not hard to keep from burning a steak." Again, she nods eagerly.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"Okay, I promise, I'll learn, I'll learn to cook the best meals you've ever had." As much as I doubt that, I'm sure she'll try.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"And lastly, I want you to face the hive, and accept punishment for what you did to them." She gasps, her eyes widening.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"You... you can't be serious?!" She cries, looking at me like I'm a madman. "They'll dip me in honey for so long I won't be able to think!" She slides off the couch, looking up at me, eyes pleading, hands clasped together. "Please! Anything but that. I'll do anything!" She's on the verge of tears, but I hold my ground.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"If you don't, I'm walking out that door, and never coming back." She looks at me for several tense moments, before all life goes out of her limbs. She slumps down, head in my lap, and I can feel her sobbing.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"Okay. I'll do it. I'll do it for you." I run a hand through her hair, lifting her head up to look at me.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"You can do it once you're better. For now, let me take care of you. Those bones aren't going to heal themselves." She smiles at me, snuggling into my lap.

<p style="font-weight:400;">

<p style="font-weight:400;">A week later we're walking up to the hive, my hornet wife more nervous than I've ever seen her.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"If... if they turn me into a honey head, will you... will you stay with me?" She asks, looking up from the floor for a moment to meet my eyes.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"Of course I will. I'll be here for you, Anari, promise." She smiles at that, looking forward again with her head up now. We approach the throne room, every head turning to either look at us suspisciously, or outright glare at us. I just hold my wife's hand tighter, squeezing it to help calm her down.

<p style="font-weight:400;">We approach the throne, several armed and armoured honey bees closing in around us. The queen looks down and glares at us.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"You." She hisses, looking keenly at my wife. "Do you have any idea about how much pain you caused us?" She shouts, standing up and buzzing into the air. "You burned our home, scarred many of my daughters and their husbands, and now you come back here?" My wife flinches at every accusation, knowing they're all true, but when the queen quiets down, she looks up at the smaller woman.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"I came to apologise. To apologise, and accept punishment. Whatever you decide it to be." I queeze her hand and give her a smile, silently thanking her for being so brave.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"You're willing to accept your punishment for what you did? No matter what I decide is fair?" She nods, standing stock still, and practically crushing my hand.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"I will. Even... even if you... you glaze me." She queen looks surprised, carefully looking over the hornet.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"After what you did... after thinking you were saving your sister from some... horrid fate. You would accept that same fate as punishment?" My wife nods silently, and I give her a reassuring glance. The queen sighs, floating down to stand before Anari.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"Do you really think I would be so cruel?" She asks, hurt in her voice. Anari looks at the smaller woman with surprise, before she's pulled into a tight embrace, the honeyed breasts of the smaller girl leaking against her legs. "Did we truly leave such a hateful impression upon you?" Anari just stands, frozen for a moment, before collapsing to her knees, wrapping her own arms around the girl before her.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"I'm so, so sorry." She cries. "I promise, I'll do whatever it takes to make up for it. Just please forgive me for what I did." She buries her face into the queen's shoulder. The queen pulls away, smiling at the larger hornet.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"We always have need for more hands. So, we'll forgive you, if you help us for the next year. Whatever we need you to do, whether it be constructing new homes, feeding the little ones, or just mopping the floors. Okay?" Anari nods, pulling the shortstack queen in for another tight embrace.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"I will be the best outside worker you could ever ask for. I swear." She pulls away, smiling, drying tears that rolled down her cheeks. The queen nods, running back to sit on her throne.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"You start tomorrow, at seven. I will have someone waiting for you." Anari nods, taking my hand and pulling the two of us out of there.

<p style="font-weight:400;">As we're walking down the road back to the city, Anari sighs a deep sigh of relief.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"I can't believe I thought so badly of them for so long." She muses, leaning on my shoulder.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"See how much you can do when you actually talk to people?" She chuckles at that, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me tightly into her side.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"Yeah. Yeah, I do. I don't think your mother will ever forgive me though, no matter how much you force us to talk." It's my turn to chuckle, wrapping my own arm around her.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"Well, you did kidnap her son and stockholm me into loving you." She looks at me with hurt, worried eyes, and I burst out laughing.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"Oh, you are so getting raped when we get home." She says, punching me in the arm.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"Oh no, the beautiful monster's going to rape me, better run away while I can." I pull away from her and bolt off down the road, soon followed by a buzzing hornet. She scoops me off the ground and starts to fly higher.

<p style="font-weight:400;">"I don't think you're going to be running anywhere once I'm done with you. Husband." She mutters, kissing me on the forehead.