Snowflakes In Summer

Chapter One

Snowflake sat up fast and bonked her head on the treestuff ceiling with a hiss of pain. She had been sleeping in a hidden hole in the branches of treestuff interwoven with the webs, and no one had found her yet, so it was a pretty good hiding spot.

"Another nightmare." She muttered. It had been four years since Butterfly died, and she was STILL having nightmares about it! Admittedly, the years had been very stressful from running from the guards, trying to have enough food each day, AND trying not to be put on Misbehavers Way. Yes, she knew she would only be paralyzed for a couple of hours, but still.

"Welp, I guess it's time to eat." Snowflake said as her stomach growled loudly. She retracted her wings to look like a harmless little dragonet, grabbed shadows to make a wrist cuff, and her information triangle with a C for Citrus, her fake name, and a and b for absent, and Butterfly, her fake parents.

She hopped down the branches onto the web to descend to the first checkpoint. She got in line right behind azure and caterpillar green dragonets.

Luna noticed her first. "Oh, hey ABC."

"Hi Citrus." Blue greeted her with a friendly wave.

"Hey, guys." Snowflake got in line as Blue and Luna got checked out by the checkpoint guard.

"Names?" The almost completely black HiveWing asked boredly.

"Blue." Blue held out his right arm. The HiveWing examined his name triangle, grunted, and moved over to the bronze wrist cuff on Blue's left arm.

"I'm Luna." Blue's sister said.

"Ah," The soldier consulted a small rectangle of paper. "Metamorphosis today."

"That's right." Luna was trying very hard not to smile.

"You'll have a new one of these next time you come through here," He tapped her wrist cuff.

"I know." Blue's face fell.

"I'm S-Citrus." Snowflake held out her arms for inspection.

"Well, You may go." The soldier cleared his throat. "Hrm. Good luck."

"Oh - thank you," Luna said, startled. She dragged Blue down the hall.

"See you guys at the Cocoon!" Snowflake called. "Oh thank god, they're gone." She stretched her wings as soon as they disappeared around a bend. She entered the market after painting herself with dark blue and orange paint. She walked over to a jewelry stand and ducked behind it, removing her shadow wrist cuff. The shadows covered a light globe above a food stall two stalls down, and it was surrounded by darkness. Snowflake casually walked over to the stall, snagged a couple of fruits, flipped off the stall owner, and walked out of the shadows with her meal today, straight into a pair of HiveWing guards.

"Oof! Oh shit. Peace out!" Snowflake slipped under their wings and sprinted towards an exit, where Blue and Luna were just emerging.

It was time to use a power she hadn't used in a long time. She closed her eyes... and turned into a puff of snowflakes. They zoomed around Blue and Luna, through the tunnel, and rejoined together outside of the Cocoon.

"Bad idea! Bad idea!" Snowflake yelped as another HiveWing guard appeared around the corner she was about to fly around. She hurriedly flapped backward, turned around, and was surrounded by more guards. She landed, snarfed down the stolen fruits, and triumphantly flipped them off. Snowflake took the contact out of her enhanced eye, and the guards took a step back at her glowing golden gaze.

Snowflake sighed happily as the golden cracks filled her vision again. Strangely, she had missed this, and all the pent-up energy from keeping her abilities under wraps washed over her as the twelve guards all lunged at the same time after their eyes turned cloud-white.

Snowflake ducked under the first, smoothly grabbed his arm, and threw him at another, bowling them over like pins. She rolled under another's claws, kicked a crack in his stomach, jumped up, slashed at someone's tail, and froze the claws closest to her to the ground before the body even touched the treestuff. She hopped over a stinger heading towards her legs and bit on the sensitive end before freezing a snout shut. 'Five down, seven to go.' Snowflake punched the one frozen to the ground, knocking her unconscious immediately, and elbowed the one behind Snowflake in the nose.

Snowflake jumped over another's back, smashed her tail into his horns, and as one broke off, she landed on another's head, wrapped her tail around their neck, and swung them towards another guard. A sharp sting in her shoulder made her stumble, and the HiveWing crashed into the Cocoon instead, staining the treestuff dark red, the same color as the blood on most of her body that was dissolving the paint.

Snowflake glared at the dart in her shoulder. She yanked it out, throwing it in a guard's eye as she ran towards the last guard, ducking under another dart, and sliding under their chest. One of her many sharp horns slit open his stomach, and the guard screamed. He tried to claw at Snowflake's eyes, slashing one sharp claw over her glowing eye, and cutting the eyelid.

She reared up in a ferocious stance, slashing her claws in the air... and froze. The guard underneath her smiled dizzily from blood loss, closed his eyes, and stopped moving. She was dragged through the halls, with terrified SilkWings staring at her bloodstained claws and scales, all the way to Misbehavers Way.