Leaves, Wasps, and Butterflies

Author's Note: This fanfic may contain blood/violence etc. Read at your own peril. And without further ado -
Project X presents
Experiment No.646-AL
Classified Information
Experiment No.646-AL
LeafWing|Semi-Sucess|Nine|Female
646 was designed to be a clever,stealthy creature with the right abilities to take out the HiveWing Queen. With the combination of immunity to HiveWing venom, darkvision, and semi-strong leafspeak, 646 is well-equipped to take out Wasp.
Unfortunately, 646's genetics, though nearly perfect, contained one flaw: her 'freeze'. This imperfection may prevent her from accomplishing her purpose. Her behaviour, too, is worrying. Though clever, 646 cares little for anything except for her own survival. She is strong and vicious, aggressive to all, despite the training we have tried to install in her.
//Part One: Hidden//
-----
//Chapter One//
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"She's too risky. We need to wait till No. 647-DL has reached maturity, who we can send out with surety. 646 is just too much of a gamble!" Head Scientist Ash said violently, her usually calm face twisted with frustration.
"We don't have that kind of time!" hissed the dragon opposite her, Cedar, his mottled green wings flaring along with his temper. "It's only a matter of time before Wasp finds us."
Costus sighed inwardly from where he sat beside the regal Fire-Lily. There were five other dragons in the meeting hall, all seated on leaf-shaped cushions around a rectangular rug, and all were as riled up as a nest of hornets. Lately, these meetings had gotten to be more like shouting sessions than discussions.
As Project X's archivist, he was required to write down the results of the meeting. However, Costus often found himself doing very little writing and a lot of wishing that he could return to his rooms. 
He felt Fire-Lily shift ever-so-slightly, and Costus tensed. Fire-Lily never moved for no reason. 
"WASP HAS TERRORISED US LONG ENOUGH!" roared Cedar, actually leaping to his feet, his scarred face twisted in rage. "WE - "
He never managed to finish his sentence, as Fire-Lily silenced them all with a sharp smack of her tail against the ground. "That," she said quietly, "is enough."
Silkily she walked behind the dragons, circling them, her tail flicking, and her reddish-gold-orange scales bright against the greens and browns of her fellows. Cedar gulped and sat down, his head ducked, and his eyes cast downwards.
"We are all here for one reason," Fire-Lily started, her golden eyes sliding over the face of each dragon. "We're here because we will not let Wasp get away with what she's done. We should be united, not arguing like little dragonets."
She made a full circle and returned to where she had originally sat. "Ash is right. No. 646 is risky. But it is a risk we may have to take."
At those words, Ash nodded her head, and Cedar made a strangled noise in the back of his throat.
Fire-Lily sat down once again, elegant and perfect. "You are dismissed. We will continue this discussion tomorrow." 
Each of the dragons present bowed, and filed out silently. Costus was the last to go, and when he reaches the open tunnels, he shivered in relief. Being near Fire-Lily always made him feel like there were spiders crawling up his spine, and he was glad to be away from her and her golden eyes.
-----
Chains held the dragon down.
The dragon wanted to run, to fight, to claw and bite and kill. It wanted - she wanted - to be free, though she knew no place then the white stone walls of her prison. The dragon was currently in the second cell, where she was tied down, almost unable to move as the other, bigger dragons with the white bands around their horns moved around her, touching her and poking her and telling each other things about her.
There was a muzzle over her snout, covering her nose and trapping her teeth, and tough chains around each of her ankles, tight and holding her down. White leather straps tied one of her wings to her body, while the other was stretched out over a stone slab.
"If only she wouldn't fight so much," one of them said, carefully writing in a little book. "None of the other experiments were this...violent." He looked up, bright green eyes meeting the dragon's gold ones. His eyes were sad. Concerned.
The dragon tried to roar at him, but the muzzle muffled the noise. She tried to lash her tail, but it was pinned down, and the most she could do was flick the end.
"Indeed," the other dragon agreed, examining the dragon's wing carefully. "Costus, 646's wing will need stitches. Go get Vera, will you?"
The pale green-gold dragon nodded, and he disappeared out the door, his book in one talon.
"Now, about you..." the dragon remaining said, looking at her with an irritated look. "You'll need to be asleep for this, I think." He took out a flower from a white cabinet, and carefully walked over to her. The dragon watched him with slitted eyes. What was he going to do to her?
With the speed of a snake, the dragon had undone her muzzle and was shoving the flower into her nose. She tried to claw at it, but her talons were chained, and the scent heavy and thick. 
The dragon's world went black.
-----
She awoke with a roaring headache and a throbbing wing.
With a shudder she was on her feet, shaking, on alert and ready to strike. They might come at any moment for her! Then she would rip them and claw them and make them HURT.
For several tense minutes she stood there, her wing throbbing and her whole body stiff. But nothing came. There was only the flicker of the fire outside the glass of her space, and that harsh glare from the white walls. It was safe - or at least still.
The dragon sat down, and glanced around her space. It was big enough for her to run around in circles with her wings outstretched, and there were soothing green plants in rocky bowls. The dragon liked the plants. They were soft and friendly and didn't bite or hurt her.
The dragon was currently sitting on her bed of furs and soft cushions. This was her fifth bed. She had destroyed all the previous ones in fits of rage. Come to think of it, she felt like ripping into this one right now. But she didn't. Her wing hurt too much. Her entire body hurt too much.
She was used to pain, but that didn't help it hurt less. This particular injury had occurred when she had tried to escape by ramming herself into the glass wall of her space, the one that let the other dragons look at her. Particularly the one with the claw-marked face and the little one with the book. 
The dragon hissed, even though there was no one to hear her. She got up and took a long drink from her bowl of water. She was hungry. She was almost always hungry after being taken out, which made her wonder how long she had been asleep for. It was hard to track time, down here in her space. Every day was the same, except when they took her out to hurt her or make her do things for them. 
Tap. Tap. Tap. 
The sound of tapping claws on the stone floor was unmistakeable. The dragon stood up, alert once more. Perhaps they were bringing her food....or perhaps not. She was not interested in seeing them if they were not. No, no, no. 
At last the dragon came into view of the glass. It was the small one, the one who always looked at her sadly, the one who had big, soulful eyes and a pretty nose. Out of all the dragons here, he was the nicest. She decided not to growl at him. 
The dragon - Costus - slid a tray of food through the flap in the door. There was a talonful of fruits and several pieces of what looked like cooked fish. She refused to eat anything raw or bloody. 
She got to her feet slowly, and warily padded over to the door. Costus stayed there, watching her. It made her uneasy. 
"Does your wing hurt?" asked Costus. His voice was distorted slightly, but she could tell it was a nice voice. 
The dragon didn't talk much, so when she spoke, her voice was rough with disuse. "Yes." 
She didn't remember how she learned to speak. There were distant memories of a nest, and other small dragons, but those images had long since been replaced with white walls and the cold faces of the others. 
Costus's face crinkled with an emotion she couldn't name. Not angry, but not happy either. She hissed, upset that she couldn't remember.
She ate a fruit to avoid having to speak to him, and it was then that she noticed how oddly he was behaving. Costus looked up and down, and his whole body radiated anxiety. After making sure they were alone, he leaned forward, his breath misting up the glass.
"You don't belong here, Moth. And you'll be free before the week's out."
-----
Moth.
He had called her Moth. Moth. Moth. Moth.
After he left, she rolled the word around in her mouth, whispering it over and over again. It had a weight, a meaning, a something that made her feel warm inside, even if she didn't know why.
That warmth stayed with her the whole night, even if his other words faded in her mind. 
-----
Why?
Why had he said it? He could slap himself. He was so stupid, as usual.
Costus's room was quiet and private, tucked away in the far corner of the sprawling underground complex. Almost all the rooms around it were empty, bar one - the one where Cycad lived.
His messy, handwritten rough notes scattered as Costus paced around his room. He ought to pick them up, file them back in their proper places, but he was too stressed to stop.
He'd just wanted to console her. Turn the curve of her mouth upwards, see that fiery glint in her eyes again. He'd been calling her Moth for months, even though she wasn't supposed to have a name. Giving her a name would acknowledge that she was a dragon, not just a weapon to take down the HiveWing queen.
Costus sat down with a sigh and covered his head with his talons. It would be fine. She only ever really spoke to him anyway. No-one would know. The plan could still go ahead.
-----
//Chapter Two//
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She awoke the next morning with a bubbly feeling in her chest, a feeling new and undiscovered to her.
Usually new feelings were unpleasant or painful, but this one was different. It was...nice. How strange. She placed a talon on her heart and felt it beating under her scales. Had she eaten something strange? Was she getting sick? Growing another heart?
----
<tabber>
|-|// Characters //=
>> Ash
Female LeafWing. Head Scientist. Dark green with lighter patches and brown on her forelegs. Jade earrings in the shape of fern leaves. Left wing has several rips in the membrane.
>> Cedar
Male LeafWing. Mottled green. Scarred face. Named for the White Cedar.
>> Costus
Male LeafWing. Archivist for Project X. Pale green eyes. Pale green body, golden stripes. Hints of caramel colouration.
>> Cycad
Male LeafWing. 
>> Fire-Lily
Female LeafWing. Head of Project X. Glittering golden eyes. Vibrant red, orange and maroon scales, with tendrils of gold through them. Thought to have SilkWing ancestors.
>> Jarrah
Female LeafWing. Lives alone in the outskirts of the Poison Jungle. Dark colours.
>> Moth - No. 646-AL
Female LeafWing. Moth is short for 'Moth Orchid'.
 
>> Vera
Female LeafWing. Botanist and advanced healer.
|-|//Worldbuilding Notes//=
//spoiler warning//
*Project X's headquarters are somewhere near the west edge of the Poison Jungle
*
|-|//Plot Notes//=
//Spoilers ahead! (Obviously)//
Characters:
*Jarrah is old and blind
*Fire Lily actually has this big weakness no one knows about
*
Plot:
text
Jarrah
Jade Vine is related to Costus somehow?? "My little brother"
how many other tests were there? and what happened to them
|-|//Gallery//=
Base created by Fizzy!
Cycad fizzy ref.png|Cycad
Ashfizzybase.png|thumb|Head Scientist Ash
</tabber> 
Category:Fanfictions
Category:Fanfictions (Incomplete)
Category:Content (Cølour-Me-Shøcked)
Category:Fanfictions (Semi-Canon)