For all of us

The thundering voices of the giants has begun to deafen, and the flashing lights of all hues has stopped. The giants murmur to themselves in and begin to stop away from the grass. In their wake is a holy land of sugar and new homes for the people of the land.

Standing atop a blade of grass is the greatest scout of the Imperium of Ant's. They look out upon what the giants left behind, checking to see if the beasts are circling back as they sometimes do. He sees no giants and with a wave of his hand he signals the others to come from the grass.

"Come my brothers and sisters!" yelled the small black ant on the long blade of grass. "The great giants are gone and the spoils they left will feed the imperium for months."

"Are you sure they are gone for good brother?" asks a much smaller ant standing on the ground below.

"Yes, little brother, the great ones have left, and all is open for us." the scout ant speaks with confidence and holds a smile on his face as he looks down on the ant below.

As he says this many ants come from the shadows of the grass.

The moon hangs in the sky, the burning summer sun set hours ago. Before the sun rises again the ants will have conquered this new holy land.

The lead scout stands at the front of hundreds of his brothers and sisters. They stand on the precipice of a red solo cup, as the giant ones call it, and come up with a plan to move the grain flavored liquid ambrosia inside back to their home.

"Okay my siblings we will work as a team, there is much to gain for the Imperium and not much time before the burning sun rises." Scout looks upon his siblings standing a bit larger than them. "I will split us into two teams."

Smaller ants looked around uneasily at the prospect of splitting the group in the stomping grounds of the giants.

"Brother..." a meek ant said standing the shortest of them all "is it wise to split the group? What if the giants return and we are separated?"

Scout regarded him with a thoughtful look upon his face. He thought of a year before when he was but a small ant amongst the crowd on a crusade much like this. He thought of his fear and anxiety. How the terror of the giants made his legs weak and shook his confidence. When his fear reached its peak, he remembered what the lead scout had said to him.

The old ant stood in front of his siblings, Scout amongst them. The old ant saw the fear in the crowd and chose his words carefully. Thinking on what is best to imbue them with confidence they sorely needed for the night of work they had before them. He gave a genuine smile and stood taller with confidence and began his speech.

Scout now repeats the speech to the ants before him now. Adopting the same look as the ant he proceeded.

"We stand at the beginning of a great crusade for our people. We are the ones who feed the workers below. We feed our glorious God Mother so she may grow our vast imperium. The stories of our deeds are told for generations to come." he pauses and looks to the smallest ant and motions him forward.

"All of us have an important role to serve our kind, no matter our size, no matter how brave or strong. We are brothers and sisters, our bond makes us strong, and we will overcome threats that tower over us with the might of gods." he inhales the warm night air and releases a chant so loud the insects across the field can hear it.

"For the imperium! For the Queen! For us all!"

The other ants cheer so loudly it sounds like the roar of a larger beast, startling the other scavengers that has come to feast.

Scout gave a proud smile before turning around to face the ambrosia and directing the ants where to go.

The ants split into two teams to cover enough ground before the sun rose. Scout led Team Alpha to collect the liquid ambrosia. Team Bravo was headed by the tiny ant Scout and brought to the front with him. Tiny's goal was to go around and collect any loose food that was fast and easy to bring back to the imperium. Everything was going as planned, they were making great progress, until they heard the thundering of the giant's footsteps.

Tiny was instructing bravo on moving giant kernels of popcorn back to the entrance of the imperium. His fear of leading was great but he still felt the confidence scout had put in him. After the first thundering step however, his confidence wavered.

The giant was larger than Tiny could ever imagine. This was his first time seeing one, he had only heard them moving. Its legs were massive, and Tiny could not see past its waist. Its legs were covered in a green cloth and had large, solid black boots, perfect for crushing his brothers and sisters. With a panic he screamed to his people.

"GIANT! RUN RUN! BACK TO THE HOLE!"

In a panic the ants scrambled, trying desperately to use their scent of smell to find the trail home but their fear clouded it. Some ran and hid in the bag of popcorn or other discarded wrappers on the ground. This proved to be fatal for them all.

The giant reached down with a titanic gloved hand and snatched the bag with the little ants inside. They were thrown in a black bag of darkness; the others knew this meant they would never be seen again. The ants scattered hoping to escape the void within the bag or the crushing step of the giant.

Tiny felt hopeless and stood frozen in fear and self-doubt. He had failed his people; he failed his siblings. Many of the other ants came from the same clutch of eggs. They have known each other their entire lives. Now many will be lost, they will run into the grass and be preyed upon by larger insects or crushed by a giant. Tiny began to resign himself to his fate, as if his death would bring back what was lost.

As Tiny sat in defeat, he heard a voice behind him call his attention upward. It was Scout sprinting in his direction calling his name.

Scout had heard Tiny's scream across the field. All of Alpha paused and looked to him on what to do. It pulled him back to a year ago before he was the lead scout, before the old ant had died, after he had given his life to save Scout.

After the old ants impassioned speech, he sent the ants forth to collect the spoils of the giants for the Imperium. He stopped Scout as he left and asked him to stay with him through this crusade. Scout spoke to the old ant on what it meant to lead and what it meant to fail.

"You must stay calm and appear fearless even in the face of death." the old ant placed a hand on his shoulder "the ants that follow you will look to you on how to act in the face of tragedy. Do not give into fear and panic or we are all lost." his words resonated with Scout.

Scout climbed to the top of the cup to see towards where he heard Tiny's call to run. He saw the giant coming, leaning down and dooming his siblings to the void.

Panic crept in his chest, but he knew it meant death was assured if he gave in. He swallowed it down and looked to the ants that followed him.

"Go to the entrance everyone! We have gotten all we can by the grace of the Queen!" He looked back towards the giant and then back to his fellow ants "Run now all of you, leave what you have waste no time!"

Scout quickly climbed down the side of the cub after he gave the order. He knew that he must save his siblings from the giant. He felt fear for his life, but even more for Tiny and the others. He used that fear to run faster than he had ever run before.

Tiny watched as Scout tore a path through the towards him. He grabbed him tightly by the arms and forced him to his feet.

"Move little brother, we have to get home now!" Scout pulled him up and made him run in the direction of the hole. "Any others that can hear me follow my trail, head back home!"

Tiny struggled to keep running, he wasn't as experienced dealing with his panic like Scout. He stumbled and rolled through the dirt before Scout had to pull him up.

They came upon the cup again, the other ants had gone, Tiny knew they drew closer to home, but the panic did not subside. The thundering grew louder behind them, the giant was closing in on them now. He was not chasing them, but he had now regard for the creatures he crushed below. Much like how a God regards the creatures below it, insignificant.

The giants foot crashed in front of them blocking the path forward. They had to wait for him to move or risk crossing near his foot which could mean death. Scout was willing to take that risk.

They moved along the back of the giant's foot, as they di he shifted and took a step forward, crushing blades of grass next to them. They scrambled away in the direction the boot had been before, stumbling from the shockwave of his heavy step. Tiny picked himself up and rush forward, but he could not see Scout. He turned behind him to find him, he saw a pink mass that smelled of sugar. The lines from the bottom of the giant's boot were imprinted on top of it. Trapped on the side of the mass was Scout. He was stuck and could not move.

Tiny ran to his side grabbing and pulling him, trying with great desperation to save Scout.

"Run little brother leave me." Scout said, head turning to look at Tiny " there is now escaping this, I have seen many ants die this way."

"No we can eat around it or pull it apart" Tiny said with panic heavy on his voice.

"No we cant, it will not pull apart, the giant will see me here and throw me to the void and crush you." His voice was level like he had no fear for the fate that awaited him "please little brother" he placed a free hand on Tiny's arm "you must go, we cannot lose more on this crusade."

"We can't do this without you brother." Tiny said to him "you are the best of us, I led us to panic. I led so many to death and now you want me to let you die to."

"You can take my spot; you can be what I am and more. I was small and full of fear when I was young too." Scout looked sad and spoke softer " a year ago, before you were born, the old scout gave his life to distract a spider that had cornered us. He left this all up to me and I led our siblings into a panic and lost many."

Tiny had heard stories of the blood bath of the last large crusade but hadn't known Scout was a part of it.

"Listen little brother we all start small and with great effort we can rise above it all. Above failure, fear and panic..." he pauses " we can be so much more if we push through that fear." Scout raised his voice and looked sternly into Tiny's eyes "I am afraid brother, terrified of the unknown and failure. I do not show it because I need to rise above for those who follow me." He takes a long-ragged breath " You can't be fearless, it's impossible we all are afraid and rightfully so. All you need to do is use the fear as motivation, as a drive to push forward. Fake the confidence and fake the bravado and push forward. The ones who follow will do the same, it starts with one but spreads to all, just like panic."

His hand dropped from Tiny, and he looked past him, in the direction of the hole.

"Please go brother, go home and live your life. Push forward and never look back. You will overshadow me; you will be stronger than me. Leave brother."

Tiny looked to his brother and looked back towards the hole. He felt the panic over taking him but tried to push it down. With a deep breath he pushed it down and looked back to Scout.

"I'll do my best; I don't want to let you down" Scout looked back at Tiny after he heard his words.

"You will never fail me as long as you try brother." Scout gives a warm smile and begins to chant loudly. " For the imperium! For the Queen!" before he finishes Tiny yells " For us all!"

They smile goodbyes to each other and Tiny runs towards the hole. Before he enters, he stands and looks back to Scout. He can't see him, but he gives a little salute to his brother and climbs down the hole.

An old ant stands upon a long blade of grass, the giants have stomped away, and the warm summer night is upon them. He looks on the spoils left in their wake. The crusade begins yet again for the Imperium of Ants. He motions the ants below forward and climbs down. He calls for them to prepare for the path ahead of them. He looks at his younger siblings sees fear upon the faces of them all.

He smiles at this, remembering his first crusade. The fear he felt then. He remembers the words the lead scout said to ease his fear. He was so tiny then but has grown since then.

Tiny looks at his younger siblings and with a smile, repeats what he was told all that time ago.