Hey guys. Sorry if all these super quick updates seem strange. But I'm just a bit motivated, and I'll bet your probably thinking 'shouldn't she be in school?'. No? well I'll explain anyway.

See, I got all my work for today in Digital Media done yesterday, so now I have most of the period free. So I brought my hard drive, that has all my stories copied on it, to school, and decided to work on it now. So… tell me what you think.

The kids returned home after their discussion. They behaved as usual; eating their dinner quietly and trying to block out their siblings ever-relentless teasing and taunting. Then after a quick bedtime story, it was time for sleep.

Joyeeta went to her youngest sons room, seeing him sitting on the edge of his leaf bed. "Gupta?" she called over to him from the doorway, and he turned questioningly, although he knew very well what she was there for. "It's time for bed."

As he laid down, she walked over and pulled the thick cottony blanket up to his chin. "Comfy?"

He nodded, feeling guilty. Even if he hadn't snuck away yet, he still felt bad. "Mommy…"

"Yes sweetheart?"

"You-" he swallowed down her nervousness and fear. "Y-You'l always love me… right?"

She looked very startled. "Of course! Where did you get the idea that I wouldn't?"

He shook his head. "No reason. Just… making sure." He sighed again, heart beating faster with fear. "No matter what, right?"

She smiled softly. "No matter what." He stifled a yawn with one paw, and her loving smile widened, gazing at her baby with adoring eyes. "Go to sleep now. You need your rest." She bent down and nuzzled his face, planting a kiss on his forehead.

"Ok…" she got up. "Mama?"

"Yes?"

"I love you."

She smiled. "I love you too. Now got to sleep." And she shook the small torch, embedded in the dirt wall, out, enveloping her child in darkness, completely unaware of the regretful tears leaking from his eyes. In guilty despair, he turned on his side and curled up, pulling the covers over his head.

"I'm sorry…" he whispered as her footsteps got far away. "I'm so sorry…" and he was asleep.

-Later-

The group of fireflies hovered outside the burrow, arguing in a chorus of high pitched and chatters that none but they understood, arguing about who should have to go inside. Normally, had a little kid offered them nectar berries, they would've 'excepted', taken the fruit and never come back. But those little tykes were a lot smarter than they looked, with the big innocent eyes and manipulatively sweet smiles.

They'd agreed to give the insects their berries when, and only when, they began to lead them north, considering they couldn't see in the dark. They would get their rewards when the sun came up and they could see clearly.

Eventually getting tired of delaying, knowing they might be deducted for being late, one of the smaller ones rolled his eyes and fluttered silently into the hole in the ground. She passed many rooms, glancing inside. And on the sixteenth or something room, she found him. The young badger cub was still sleeping soundly, tucked under his warm blankets, a sleepy smile on his face, indicating good dreams.

Wasting no time, she landed on his nose and started jumping up and down. It took a few minutes, but he eventually woke. He sat up slowly, rubbing his tired eyes, which crossed to look at the tiny glowing bug on his face.

He stopped at his parents room, where he could just make out the silhouettes of his parents curled up together on their bed, completely unsuspecting. "Please don't worry." He murmured nearly silently, barely enough for even he to hear. "I'll be back soon… I hope."

The little firefly squeaked at him and headed for the door. He followed, making sure to keep his footsteps nearly silent. He was almost to the door, when- "Gupta?" he turned, eyes wide. Krishna, the only decent one of his sisters, stood in the doorway to the kitchen, holding a rock cup. "What're you doing up?"

"I- um…"

She coughed slightly. She'd been suffering a bit of a 'pre-Christmas' cold for the past few days. He'd completely forgotten she liked to get herself some tea in the middle of the night to help with the annoying cough that kept her awake.

"Well?"

"I- please don't tell mom!" he begged. "Please Krissy, don't tell! If she finds out, she'll never let us go!"

"Us?" she inquired. Oops.

"Um, well we…"

"You're sneaking off to do who-knows-what. Something to getcha off the naughty list, right?"

His jaw dropped. "Do you read minds or something?"

She managed a weak, hoarse laugh. "No."

"So will you will tell? Please don't!"

"Well…" that would be the responsible thing to do. But she didn't want to crush her baby brother's dreams or break his heart. Well… any more than the others had.

"Please Krissy?! We want Christmas so bad!"

How could she say no to that? "Alright. I'll stall. But no promises that they won't find out."

"Yes!" he hugged her, and she carefully set her cup of tea down. She wrapped her arms around her baby brother, smiling, although trying not to breathe on him too much.

"You're welcome. Now go on." He smiled widely up at her.

"Thank you Krissy! Thank you!" he stood on his tiptoes to kiss her cheek for half a second, before rushing for the door. She smiled tiredly.

"You better bring me a sugar plum!"

"Kay! I promise!" and he was out the door.

They met in a moonlit meadow with a perfect view of the sky, each of his friends accompanied by firefly escorts as well. "Everyone grab what they need?"

They all nodded. "Food, mah scarf, meh brotha's fav'rite Christmas orn'ment-"

"What's that for?"

She shrugged. "Just wanted ta get back a'im."

The insect, who she taken to calling Glowbot (even she didn't know where she came up with it. It just sounded kinda cool, she supposed), chirped at her from her shoulder. "Alrigh. Les' go. These lit'l buggers won' stick round fereva." She pulled out the pretty painted pinecone and laid it down on a nearby rock.

So they set off, following the big, bright star in the sky. It was nearly impossible to miss, unless you closed your eyes. They went along, the main swarm of fireflies flying up ahead, but the little ones that had come to retrieve them for the journey stuck to their shoulders. They didn't know why.

It had been bout five hours before they noticed the sky lightening. Just slightly; it was still dark and it was now more of a midnight blue than a raven black, but still. They kept going for another fifteen minutes, before they decided it time for a small break. All practically collapsed gladly, leaning against a tree, trying not to let their eyes slip closed. They had only got half a night of sleep; they were exhausted.

After sitting for a while, trying to get their feet to stop hurting, they forced themselves up again. They now had only two days till Christmas morning; the sun was beginning to rise. Just the tiniest tip of it was visible, but still. So that left them a little under forty eight hours to make it there and prove to Santa that they weren't bad kids.

After the sun had risen fully, the fireflies got uncooperative, demanding their pay so they could go back. "Urgh… fine!" Raz dug into her pouch and threw down about thirty of the little black berries, a whole feast to the fireflies, down in the snow. They happily worked together to gather them and left.

"Good grief." She grumbled. A small squeak suddenly caught her ears, and a tiny spot of green became visible before her. "Glowbot?"

"Sparkle?" that's what Gupta had called his.

"Lightning?" apparently, their little escorts had grown fond of them the past seven hours. They each had one sitting on their shoulders, squeaking adoringly.

"Al… right then." It looked like they had seven more members on this quest now.

How was that? Didja like it? Sorry, I just had to make one likeable original character. Review please!