A/N: Now, I'm bringing this story back, but I'm writing 2 different versions. This one is Night's POV, and the other will be from Roxas's. I'm so sorry about the long hiatus, but I'm busy. I have school, work, studying, family drama, and other things going on, so…yeah. And besides, my writing skills have greatly improved since I first wrote this fic. Enjoy~

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the story & the dragons.

The Experiment, Night's Story

Chapter 1

I perched in the tree, my claws digging into the bark silently as I waited alongside my partner. We were waiting for the right time to break into the facility that lied before us. We knew when to sneak inside; it was just a matter of waiting. This facility needed to be destroyed, along with any and all experiments they've created. The scientists here had been creating awful creatures and performing horrid tests on them.

I had caught wind of this place while performing recon in town, and had informed my partner of the information I had obtained. He and I agreed to destroy the building as well as end the suffering of their experiments. This leads to our current situation.

A sudden scream of agony inside the lab made both of us snap our heads up in alarm, and I looked into my partner's deep blue eyes. We nodded in unison and then launched ourselves onto the roof, landing lightly on the cold concrete. The moonlight was hidden behind the night clouds as we dashed to the air vent, where I opened it using my claws and strength, and then my blonde partner dove inside with me following.

"Where do we go first?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"Control room. We need to deactivate their security system and distract the guards somehow," I replied with a hushed tone. I took the lead and had my partner follow me to the control room, where a bored-looking guard was sitting at the control panel, flipping through a magazine. The blonde looked at me and I nodded, so he dropped out of the vent and killed the guard with a quick snap of his neck.

I hopped into the seat at the control panel and began to rapidly type as I hacked through the system's security barriers. I deactivated the security system, unlocked the door to the lab, deactivated the iron barrier inside the lab, and even unlocked the safe in the room. As soon as it was opened, I slipped out of the seat and opened the safe, removing a flash drive with some possibly good information on it. Once it was inside my pack, I nodded to the blonde and he grabbed the dead guard's radio, handing it to me.

"Attention, all guards: there has been a break-in out at the west gate. All assistance needed, please report there now for back-up!" I shouted into it, and there was a crackling reply in confirmation that they would all head out there. Shortly after I clicked off the radio, we heard the guards stampeding past the room and out to the west gate. When the footsteps had faded away, we snuck through the hallways, making our way to the lab door as the screams became louder and more frequent. Upon reaching the entrance to the lab, I paused.

"Be careful in there," I warned my partner. "Remember, even though I deactivated the iron barrier, they can still capture us if they get too close."

"Don't worry, Night. We're here to destroy the lab, easy as that," he shrugged.

"I know that, Roxas, and we're also going to rescue any experiments like us if they're here," I reminded him. "Come on, let's go." Right before I could open the door, however, an ear-splitting, blood-curdling scream of pure terror and agony sounded from inside the lab. Roxas paled considerably at the sound, and I felt a chill run down my spine. I slid through the door, the blonde boy following, and we entered a scene from what should have belonged strictly in a sci-fi movie.

Several scientists were lying about, dead, as several more were attempting to contact the guards. The rest of them, at least 18 of them, were gathered around a tall, raging redhead that had a black, armor-plated, reptilian tail and long, slender, black wings. His eyes were completely black, no white visible within them, and he was visibly shaking with fury. The redhead's stance was protective, his gaze fearful, as he snarled and attacked the scientists as they edged closer with syringes and iron-laced nets. A small, dark form lay unconscious in an iron cage behind him, and I gasped in horror when I realized what it was.

"Night? What is it?" Roxas breathed when he heard me.

"I'll tell you later, but we need to help them, now," I growled, and darted out of hiding, the blonde right on my heels. Together, we killed the remaining scientists, even the ones trying to make the emergency call to the guards. When they were all dead, Roxas cautiously approached the newly changed hybrid as I stood back and watched.

"Easy now, we're not going to hurt you. We're here to help," my partner murmured. He had his hands held up as if surrendering, but the redhead tensed as Roxas inched closer. A rumbling growl emerged through the man's bared teeth, warning the blonde to stay back, but Roxas instead came a little closer.

"Careful, Rox," I cautioned, and he flicked the tip of his tail once to acknowledge me.

"I promise, we're not like them," Roxas swore to the man. "We're only here to help. We'll destroy this place when we get you out." His words seemed to reach through to the redhead, and he relaxed slightly. Suddenly, the man's eyes briefly turned into green human ones, but then he passed out. Roxas darted over and caught him before he could hit the floor, however. Once that was taken care of, I quickly went over and smashed the lock on the cage, picked up the dragon inside, and then nodded to Roxas.

"I'll set up the bomb, you watch these two," he said, and carefully set the man next to me before digging through his pack, his black combat boots crunching as he walked along the broken glass on the floor. His hooded trench coat brushed some of the debris as he moved, and then he pulled out the bomb I had made. As he set it up, I gazed at the black dragon's unconscious form.

"You're safe now, Shadow," I murmured. "We'll take care of you."

"It's all set up!" Roxas called to me, handing me the detonator.

"Good job, now let's go home," I said, and he nodded, spreading his silver wings. We crashed through the ceiling of the lab as we each held the victims of the experiment. Once out of the blast range, I pressed the button on the detonator, and there was an explosion. When it ended, all that was left of the large building was a smoldering crater in the ground.

As we flew home, I thought curiously about how my twin brother, Shadow, had ended up here in the human world. Why was he here? How was he captured? Is the redhead his partner? All these questions and more whirled through my mind as I glided through the early morning sky.

We finally arrived back home, a tree house high in the woods of Twilight Town, Roxas landed first, carrying the redhead to a pile of deer and rabbit skins near the window and laying him there. I placed Shadow next to him, carefully folding his wings for him, and turned to my blonde partner.

"Let's get their wounds taken care of," I said softly, and he nodded once before retrieving a bowl with some water, a few cloths, and some of our medicinal herbs. "Mind cleaning his wounds?" I asked, gesturing to the redhead. There was a faint tinge of pink of his cheeks as he nodded again, and I couldn't resist teasing him a bit. "You like him already, don't you?"

"What? No way, Night, I don't even know his name," he argued, the pink on his cheeks darkening slightly. I fixed him with a firm look as I paused in cleaning Shadow's wounds.

"Roxas. There's nothing wrong with liking him. If he becomes your mate, then so be it," I shrugged. "I approve of anything you do, as long as it's the right choice in the long run. Remember, we're partners. We share that bond."

"Right…" he sighed, and we resumed cleaning their injuries. After a short silence, Roxas asked, "How do you know that dragon?"

"He's my twin brother, Shadow," I murmured, lowering my gaze. "I didn't even know he was in the human world. I thought he was still back home, watching over our clan. I'm just glad I found him, but I would prefer it wasn't under these circumstances…"

"I understand, Night. Remember Ventus?" he reminded me quietly, and I mumbled in acknowledgement. "Well, hopefully I can see him again someday, just not have him freak out about my wings and tail, among other things."

"I know he'll accept you, Rox. He's your twin, after all. It'll probably take some time for him to forgive you for not seeing him sooner, but he'll forgive you," I told him. We fell into silence after that. When we were done cleaning their wounds from burns, needle marks, cuts, and the like, I applied some marigold paste to each one, and covered the larger injuries with some bandaging. By the time I had finished, I was about ready to pass out, but then I glanced over at Roxas; he was already fast asleep. Sighing, I situated myself by Shadow, lying next to him and waiting patiently for the unconscious pair to wake up.

X*X*X*X*X*X*X

The sun was setting by the time Shadow started to stir in his sleep. I heard him whimper softly in his slumber, but the sound grew into a fearsome snarl before his eyes snapped open, rage and fear burning in them. I swiftly pinned the black dragon, even trapping his tail with my own so he couldn't budge.

"Shadow! It's me, Night! You're safe now!" I shouted at him over his snarls. Shadow calmed down the instant I said he was safe, and his thrashing ceased until he was still.

"Night…?" he uttered, looking bewildered. "Where am I? What's going on? What're you doing here?"

"We saved your ass, along with the human I'm assuming you're bonded to," I replied, gesturing to the sleeping redhead. He nodded, but his eyes widened in horror when he saw the wings and tail.

"What happened? And who's 'we'?" he questioned.

"I'll explain once your partner is awake, and the other one who helped me is my human partner, Roxas," I told him, pointing at the blonde. Roxas was awake by now due to Shadow's snarls, and was now watching us as we talked.

"Ah, so you're the one Night was sent here for," Shadow said. "Roxas, is it? I'm Shadow, leader of Diamond Clan and Night's twin brother."

"Nice to meet you. Night never told me before we rescued you that he had a brother, let alone a twin one," Roxas greeted, shaking hands with the black dragon and giving me a pointed look.

"It never came up!" I snapped defensively, frowning. A small groan interrupted our little spat, and we all looked to see the redhead was waking up. "Shadow, quick, pin him! Remember to pin his tail, too!" My twin swiftly pinned the man, wrapping his tail over the redhead's right as he started to thrash and snarl, his eyes opening wide. His eyes were completely black with no visible white, and, like Shadow's has earlier, they burned with rage and fear.

"Axel, it's Shadow! Calm down, we're safe!" the black dragon yelled over the redhead's snarls. Like with my brother, when the word 'safe' had been uttered, the man visibly relaxed, his eyes changing to green human ones. They were almost cat-like in appearance, I noticed. As he began to cease his thrashing and the snarls quieted down, the man stared at Shadow as if in a daze. But when the daze ended, those emerald orbs darted about the tree house, panicked.

"Shadow, where are we? What's going on?" he demanded as Shadow stepped back from him.

"Guess it's time to explain," I muttered, and the redhead's gaze snapped to me.

"Who are you? And what do you mean, 'explain'?"

"Name's Night. I'm Shadow's twin brother and deputy to Diamond Clan," I replied. Roxas stepped forward to introduce himself.

"I'm Roxas, Night's human partner," he greeted. "Or rather, once completely human." At the man's curious look, the blonde sighed, and then gestured to his silver tail, as well as opening his wings slightly.

"What the fuck?!" the redhead yelped, but that's when he took notice of his own wings and tail. "What happened to me?!"

"That's what I'm going to explain," I said. "But first, what's your name?"

"Axel," he replied. "Please tell me what's going on. I don't know what happened after I was tortured in that lab."

"Well, let's actually start from the beginning, with Roxas and me," I began. "Roxas and I were the first ones to be changed. When I first bonded with Roxas, we had a great life. Everything was simple. I had no worries about being captured. I was certainly suspicious, of course, but didn't often worry about it. His family had accepted me because I protected him, especially from bullies. This was how it was for ten years. He was eight when we met."

"Wait, but Night, you left the Dragon Realms thirteen years ago," Shadow interrupted. "What happened?"

"I'm getting to it," I snapped. "Anyway, it was when Roxas turned eighteen and he moved out from his family's home that things changed. Drastically. We were at his apartment one night, about to go to bed, when we were captured by some thugs. I tried fighting them off, but one of them snagged me with an iron-laced net. All dragons know that iron is their greatest weakness, so when I was captured in the net and thrown into an iron cage, I freaked. I began to have a full-on panic attack until they jabbed me with a powerful sedative. Roxas was struck over the head and hence knocked out as well, and then we were taken to the old mansion near here.

"We were tested on for six months, being jabbed with needles, tortured with different devices, and put through rigorous exercises before they were able to create the technology and biological advances to splice DNA. And what did they do? They took a sample of my DNA and spliced it into Roxas's, and made him a human and dragon hybrid. When my partner was changed, he became extremely powerful, and they had forgotten to put iron cuffs into the table when they chained him there, so when the splice had fused with his DNA, he snapped. He killed all of the scientists, rescued me, and then we fled, destroying the lab as well as everything and everyone in it.

"Roxas was thinking strictly primal instinct, so he hid us from being captured again by remaining in the trees, tending to my wounds until I healed. Mind you, I had been unconscious throughout all of this, so when I woke up three days later and discovered his wings and tail, I was shocked and horrified. I felt awful that I had let this happen, but Roxas, being the greatest partner anyone could have, assured me he never has and never will blame me.

"After I recovered, we built this tree house, some furniture and such, and I trained Roxas on how to fly, fight, and things of the like. We've been living here for two and a half years now. And that's the story," I finished.

"So, I'm a human and dragon hybrid now, too?" Axel asked in a small voice.

"Yes and there's a lot to explain about what to expect," I answered. Looking at Roxas, I said, "Mind telling him?"

"Sure," the blonde shrugged, and sat up from where he was leaning against the wall. "Basically, you're no longer completely human, obviously. This means you can't return to society. If you try, you'll be captured again and experimented on even more. It sucks, I know, but I have a secret for you once we begin training. Anyway, some things you need to know about being a human and dragon hybrid with Shadow is that you now control all elements, including light and darkness. The only thing with that is that you never use darkness. It's only to be deflected if need be, never used. If you try and use that element, it will change you into a dark being."

As Roxas continued to explain, I pulled Shadow off to the side, motioning for the blonde to continue speaking with Axel as I went. Once we were out of hearing range, I fixed Shadow with a serious expression.

"Are the others here?" I whispered.

"Yes, but I don't know if they've been captured yet," the black dragon breathed. "Last I heard, Kikoku was partnered with a boy named Sora. This was about five months ago, a month before Axel and I were captured."

"Damn, I was hoping they wouldn't be here…" I hissed in frustration. At my twin's puzzled expression, I sighed. "They might all have been captured. Those scientists had to realize that there are more than just us. Do they all have human partners?"

"Now of that, I'm uncertain," he replied softly. "I just know that Rose, Sky, Denkou, and Kikoku are also here, and that Kikoku's partnered to Sora."

"Shit, then we have to find out as soon as we can, before any more hybrids are created," I said, and my brother nodded.

"Hey, Night!" Roxas called to me. I looked up to see him and Axel watching us.

"What's up?" I asked as we rejoined them.

"We should probably take Axel out for his first run, huh?" he suggested, and I nodded.

"Yeah, let's go," I agreed.

A/N: And that's the first chapter, rewritten! R&R, peeps!