Work Text:
“What are we going to do with that glowing purple flower?” Conner asks as he flips through a biology textbook about herons and other birds, getting distracted by the plant on a desk in the corner. “It has been in the lab for, what, a month now?”
The flower in question isn’t exactly hard to notice in a dim lab, glowing brightly when the lights are turned off. It has a violet colour, the shade a little too vibrant for a common flower.
It’s why Sam brought it here. She found it in a small cave in Beaverton’s forest during her weekly hike, which piqued her interest. So of course she took it to the lab. What else would she do, walk past it?
“We will study it after we finish project Hoppers.” Sam answers her colleague’s question, confident of her future project.
“It better not be anything supernatural.” Conner mutters to himself.
“You believe in that stuff?” Nisha asks as she moves the whiteboard to a different corner of the room to make notes for her research on rabbits, giving him a weird look.
“A regular flower doesn’t glow like that.” Conner points out, glancing at it before turning back to his textbook. That purple plant, or whatever it is, is freaking him out the longer he looks at it.
“Hence why we’re going to examine it.” Sam says, already looking forward to it. For now, though, Project Hoppers is their priority.
They can study that flower later, when the time comes.
Titus watches with glee as the other animals force the human scientists, the ones who were dumb enough to invent such technology, to work on his robot human body. Oh, he can’t wait to squish them the first chance he gets! It’s what they deserve for squishing insects all the time!
It’s what every animal kind deserves…
“The robot is almost finished, your highness.” One of the ants informs him, addressing his king with the proper respect.
“Excellent.” Titus gloats, not even bothering to look at the ant, too focused on his plan and how he’s going to impersonate the human king. How does a human king
But first, some food.
For the first time as a butterfly, Titus is hungry. When he was a caterpillar, he craved nothing but milkweed leaves, and he had as many as he desired. Now though, he craves sugar, and there seem to be no flowers in here.
Until his eyes land on a violet flower on a desk in the corner of the basement, the only one present in this gross place. It looks gorgeous and delicate, blooming with pride despite its small size, almost as if it’s made for a king.
Titus feels his mouth water, genuinely smiling. Oh, it must have such delicious nectar stored in it! He may not have tasted his new craving yet, but his expectations are already high.
He flies towards the flower, landing perfectly in the center. He grips onto it tightly, not wanting any of the other insects to get their greedy hands on it. This is his flower, thank you very much!
“Your human robot is ready, King Titus.” One of the reptile queens informs the monarch butterfly, but he’s too distracted by his hunger.
“I haven’t gotten any nectar since my metamorphosis!” Titus snaps, annoyed that he’s being interrupted just before he can take a sip of the nectar. “At least let me eat first before I impersonate that stupid human!”
He’s about to sip from what he thinks is nectar, only for his vision to suddenly flash a bright purple, followed by a soft poof, catching him off guard. Titus decides to brush it off, about to turn his attention back to the flower only for his eyes to widen in shock.
“Wait, why has the flower died-“ Titus wants to ask, only to cut himself off when he sees that he doesn’t have his two shorter legs anymore. They look bigger, softer but thicker, not like a butterfly’s at all. And the now-dead flower has seemingly shrunk, or he has suddenly grown in size.
Wait…
He starts to feel his new body, one that very clearly isn’t a butterfly’s. His beautiful orange wings, as well as his antennas, are gone, like they were never there. His vision has changed too, now seeing everything in an image view instead of the panoramic view he was just starting to get used to.
Titus doesn’t want to admit that all of this scares him a little.
He starts to feel uneasy, as if many eyes are suddenly staring at him. Having to look away from the dead flower and turn to his left, the insect king sees everyone, especially those five stupid humans, stare at him he has suddenly grown another head.
”What are you looking at?!” Titus snaps, getting rather annoyed by the humans’ surprised faces. Ugh, he can’t stand those creatures!
”You’re…” Mabel pauses, not sure how to explain what just happened to the butterfly. “You have, uh…”
Titus wants to demand her to get on with it, until he realises something. Wait, they can understand him? How-
Then it dawns on him. Titus takes in his new body properly. His four long legs are now just two, his arms remaining somewhat the same, though they all look larger. Thick strands of messy black hair cover his eyes, forcing Titus to blow it out of his face. And he’s wearing…clothes? Just a simple black shirt and pants, with a long vest that has a familiar orange pattern on it.
It’s this that finally makes him realise what has happened.
He has turned into one of them!
He’s a human!
”Guys! Turn me back!” Titus commands the other animals as he clings to the desk for dear life, though it comes out far more panicked than than his usual threatening tone.
But instead of their compliance consisting of “Yes, King Titus.” or the likes, all he hears are chitters, hisses, chirps and other strange noises. Now Titus really stars to worry. Why are they making weird noises like that? And why do their eyes look so weird?
But before he can ask them anything else, those cowards leave the room, seemingly wanting nothing to do with him now that he has turned into the thing they wanted to destroy. Well, except for George of all animals, though he looks just as confused, if not worried.
For the first time in his short butterfly life, which has been extended to that of a human’s, Titus doesn’t know what to do.