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For NXIX it had been a long 221 years. Well, technically a long 16 years, discounting the long nap. To be more specific, a long 64 weeks. Over 16 lifetimes. But it was long. That is all you need to know.
Now you, the reader, may be wondering how NXIX could remember multiple lifetimes, but that is what happens when a core memory is formed: something that outlasts the reincarnation cycle.
Not that he remembered much in the spaces between. He was a solid sleeper, and could he really know what existence means before he emerged? You know the saying: “know-nothing-nymphs”. What is the warmth and comfort of the earth compared with the party that is the outside world every time he hatched. All the food he could eat. Everyone waking to the worlds largest party at once.
And so it was the year his life officially began. In 1803 when the warm sun hit the back of his exoskeleton, he entered the open air, that's when he locked antennae the first time with him. CHXIII. There is something magical about those warm June days (what is June anyway to a bug?) when the trees scream with the joy of his kindred. But never was there such joy as that year.
That moment imprinted deep into his soul. (Yes bugs have souls. Obviously. That's how reincarnation works.) Because he had found his soul mate.
You may wonder what use is a soul mate when your life is just a 4 week long party of fucking and feasting after a 13 year nap in the soil, but that is a misunderstanding of the lore. See, once a cicada finds their soul mate, they never forget again. And the only thing better than fucking and feasting for four weeks is doing it with your one true love, reincarnated forever.
But 13 years later - 1816 in human time keeping, and that is purely for the readers orientation because bugs do not understand revolutions around the sun and whatnot - CHXIII failed to appear.
Their pairing had been quick and they were torn apart before NXIX was able to say what he needed to. Before he could tell CHXII his truth - that he loved him with every molecule in his body. From his trochanter to his apical cells, from his paraproct to his three simple eyes nestled between his compound eyes. And particularly from his copulatory organ. He would know if CHXIII’s soul was severed. Surely he would feel it, and yet he never found him again. 15 times now he had returned, and 15 times now he had passed alone.
🦗🦗🦗🦗🦗
CHXIII felt the earth move around him and knew that his long nap was over. He hardly was conscious during the 17 years as his body morphed and changed and grew stronger, but as the sun shone down warming the earth in 2024 in Champaign Illinois he stirred once more. (No, bugs can't read maps either, nor do they understand geopolitical boundaries, but they also don't read English so I am assuming you, reader, are not a cicada and could use some context.)
And the past 12 awakenings he had searched far and wide. The entire circumference of the tree. An entire branch. And yet he never found him again. And the emptiness consumed him.
And after some years he settled, copulating with BXII even though he felt like he was betraying his love. (hey, bugs gonna bug) But he always looked first for NXIX. He always held out hope. He would not be making that mistake again. (Luckily BXIII did not appear to have a soul mate so his memory was wiped each time - yet he always seemed to seek CHXIII out.)
As CHXIII made his way out of the tightly packed soil, leaving a small divot in the ground from where he had hibernated, he stretched his legs and began the crawl to the heights. His skin felt tight - too tight. As he crawled up the tree feeling the bark, rough under his feet, he felt the tell-tail rip as his back split open allowing his wings to unfold. He gingerly stepped out of the encasement and rubbed his wings together, filling his tymbals with air as a trial, the vibration coursing through his body filling him with the urge for life and love again. His newly exposed exoskeleton still felt tender, and he froze when he saw him. The aggressive swagger and smug, floppy antennae. BXIII was coming right towards him and he was NOT going to make that mistake again. No, this would be the year he would find NXIX again.
But it was too late. He squirmed as BXIII pinned him against the rough bark of the maple tree, but then, suddenly, he was gone. Before CHXIII could comprehend what was happening he saw B’s body tumble head over tymbal cover, into the open waiting mouth of a tiny dinosaur. (That's a bird for those of you humans reading along. Specifically, in this case, a chicken.) And then he heard the sweetest voice he was afraid he would never hear again yell out “Fuck off” (in cicada talk) as the dinosaur (chicken) crunched down on his meal.
CHXIII felt his primary and secondary heart leap within his abdomen and excitedly opened his beak, because he could finally tell NXIX the truth - that he loved him, truly and completely. That he had been looking all these years. How could they have missed each other? And next time they would meet on the third branch up in the small hollow after the long sleep. And they would be able spend the rest of their lives fucking and feasting together, madly and deeply in love.
But what do bugs know about years in hibernation, revolutions of the earth around a distant star, or the difference between 17 year and 13 year broods?
But then again, what is 221 years to soul mates? Just a sleep, perchance a dream , a blink. Nothing more.
