==Hi, everyone! I'm really sorry that I missed an update on Saturday. It was a holiday weekend and we had family make a surprise visit, so I decided to take the time to spend time with them. But I'm back with a new chapter. It's a little bit shorter than they have been recently, but there just wasn't much more I wanted to introduce this time around. We definitely need to start developing the storyline, though, so I say after this we start moving things along. I want to explore the depths of the Hypnobrai Tomb eventually and start getting the characters into conflict as they grow up. Once again, this story will be a lot shorter than Collapse into Caliginosity, and the amount of conflict will be incomparable, too, but there is an agenda I want to follow and that includes getting the main ideas written to explain the backstory of these two Serpentine :) I hope that plan can be acceptable to you all as readers!==

San Holo - "Light"

Even if it makes me blind, I just wanna see the light. Breathing, leave it all behind. I just wanna see the light.

Collateral Damage

Chapter 3:

Not So Playful Play Date

Elapidae watched her mate walk away from the nest as she kept a constricting hold on her youngling. "No!" Gorgan begged, reaching as far as he could. "Don't leave me!"

"He'sss coming back, ssson," she soothed, turning him around so she could snuggle him lovingly. "You know he alwaysss comesss back."

Gorgan wailed until his mother's tender touches calmed him down like they usually did. The feeling of her glossy scales against his made him feel at ease. She took care of him like a guardian was supposed to. So when she sat down with him in her lap, she let him cling onto her as she cleaned him up for the day.

"We're leaving the nessst today," she hissed, hopeful for an excited reaction.

Her words made him open his eyes and remember earlier this very morning. He had gone to the mysterious dark cave and found that female youngling. They were having plenty of fun before her mother arrived and returned him to his rightful nest. After that, he didn't know what happened to her...Cleo. She was one of the only other younglings he'd ever encountered. Any others were the offspring of Elapidae's friends. That was one of the only reasons why he ever left the nest...Uh, oh.

"Your friend Ssskalesss hasss been wanting to play with you again," Elapidae continued, pulling him away from her so she could rub a speck of dirt from his snout.

"No, Mother!" he protested. "He'sss mean!"

She chuckled. "Ssskalesss jussst enjoysss roughhousssing. You will, too, sssomeday." Then she stood up with Gorgan in her arms, holding him against her shoulder.

Watching the nest be left behind, Gorgan internally dreaded spending time with Skales. He liked to grab and pull at Gorgan with the intention of just playing, but it just hurt when he did that.

Being unusually quiet, Gorgan watched the fissure in the Tomb's wall come into view. And as it got smaller and smaller in sight, the female youngling came running out with her older brothers right on her case. Gorgan gasped. "Mother!"

"What?" Elapidae replied, stopping.

"I want to play with her!"

She met her son's eye. "With who?"

"Cleo."

Elapidae turned around to see the little youngling be the center of attention among her brothers. Velsuki and Morisol sat down against the wall to keep an eye on them all. "How do you know who Cleo isss?"

Gorgan's lenses widened. He just accidentally revealed his secret of sneaking out of the nest.

"Well, I can't jussst have Morisssol and Velsssuki watch you for me. You can play with Cleo another time."

"But-"

"Ssshh."

Continuing the walk to Skales' nest, Gorgan was left to see Cleo get smaller and smaller against his will. He wanted to play with her again, but how could he convince his mother to make that possible?

At the nest, Elapidae settled her offspring down next to the other youngling. Skales was a little bit older and bigger than Gorgan, but his behavior was still just as vibrant and young. The moment Elapidae sat on the other end with his mother, Skales reached for Gorgan's head and pulled against its odd shape. Gorgan whined and tried to fight his hold, but Skales was stronger than he was.

"Ssskalesss," his mother warned him. "Remember what we talked about." Skales stopped what he was doing and let go of Gorgan...only to tackle him. Elapidae and her friend laughed as Gorgan was pinned down and sat on. Skales's mother reached over and pulled her son away so that Gorgan could be freed from the roughhousing. "You mussst lisssttten to me," his mother reprimanded, looking him straight in the eye.

In his state of minor freedom, Gorgan sat up with the intention of being left alone, but when he gazed up at the two adults, he witnessed Skales crawling off his mother's lap in pursuit of him. He could just feel his head being grabbed again even before it happened. To get away, Gorgan got to his feet and found the wall of the nest. "Gorgan?" Elapidae began. "He jussst wantsss to play."

The poor youngling didn't care about what everyone else told him. Skales was mean, and he was the one taking the brunt of it all. So he turned around and scaled the wall again, trying his best not to fall. He did it faster than before, almost astonishing his own mother by his amount of nimbleness. They watched him maneuver up and over until he abruptly disappeared.

"Gorgan!" she nervously exclaimed, getting up just to see him waddling away at high speed.

The rebellious youngling didn't look back. Instead, he looked ahead. It was an open area where he had a full view of Cleo being pulled around playfully by her brothers. All he really wanted was to see her again, even if it was only for a second. But he had to be quick. Elapidae was hot on his trail, probably wanting to snatch him up and take him back.

So he went as fast as he could until he made it. Morisol and Velsuki watched as he interrupted their children's fun by hugging their surprised daughter. They both looked at each other, humorously hissing at the occurrence. Velsuki knew who it was immediately, but Cleo was caught off guard. She'd met Gorgan only once, but she still hugged him back.

"Gorgan!" Elapidae called, approaching him.

He suddenly let go of Cleo and dashed away from his mother to not be caught. "Run, Gorgan, run!" Velsuki encouraged him.

"No, don't run," his mother diverted, increasing her pace for a moment so that she could at last pick up her youngling.

"No!" Gorgan squeaked, pushing against her arms.

"Ssstop," she hissed, reverting around to return him to the play date.

"Are you having trouble, Elapidae?" Marisol inquired.

"It'sss fine, Morisssol. I'm sssorry to disssturb your family," she insisted, walking past them all with Gorgan squirming with all his might.

"Isss that your friend, Cleo?" he asked her.

She looked at him with her crimson eyes glistening in the dimness. "I don't know."

"You went exploring with him thisss morning, remember?" Velsuki reminded her.

Her face suddenly lightened happily. She did remember him!

"Exploring? When?" Morisol questioned, confused.

"Elapidae doesssn't know, but Gorgan sssnuck out and found our den. I returned him without her knowing."

"Why?"

"Becaussse he wasssn't doing anything wrong. Cleo wasss jussst playing with him. Sssurely you remember playing with me when we were younglingsss, too."

He bumped his head against hers affectionately. "How could I forget?"

Short and sweet this time around. The next one should be longer. Thank you AuroraRain18, The Mayor Of Ninjago City, and RandomDragon2.0 for reviewing the last chapter! I will have another one ready next Saturday :)