Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC Regina and any alterations to the original storyline plot her presence creates to various readers amusement everywhere across the globe.

Light Shining Amongst The Darkness Prologue

It was the not-too-distant future and the once-mostly peaceful planet of Earth was now dominated by a ruthless alien species from another planet. By order of their leaders, the Overlords, the aliens had invaded the planet and had wiped out a majority of the Earth's population. They were more technologically advanced so the invasion was not met with much resistance.

There were two types of aliens and the humans came up with their names for them.

Skitters and Mechs.

Skitters were green, spider, and lizard-like creatures with long legs, huge fangs, and scary, black-eyes faces that made up a huge amount of the invasion. They spoke in a language consisting of mostly hisses, screeches, and clicks. On their backs, they wore big, parasite-looking harnesses that helped them give their strength and power.

Mechs were basically giant robots with advanced weaponry, and indestructible armor and were the main source of firepower for the Skitters.

Scattered throughout the planet only small handfuls of survivors remained of the human race. Ever since the aliens had come and taken their homes it seemed like all hope was lost.

There was nothing left but ruins and darkness.

It was two months after the extra-terrestrials had taken the planet and in the eastern part of the former United States in what was once New York there was a patrol of Mechs and Skitters scouring the city of Manhattan…or at least, what was left of it.

After the attack, the once-great city was destroyed and left in complete shambles. It, along with the rest of the planet, had pretty much gone to hell. It was a ruined city consumed by dust, rubble, glass, and smoke with hardly any humans left. Anyone who was found was either dead or dying since there were a few that survived. Those who were alive were either put to death or taken captive if they were not on the edge of death already.

The leader of this patrol was a Skitter who was called "Red Eye". He was given that name because his right eye was red and was the only Skitter to look that way. It only added to his already menacing appearance and made him more intimidating to the other Skitters.

As Red Eye continued to walk through the wreckage he looked down at everything that lay before him. Remnants of buildings, cars, and streets and a few dead humans lying scattered on the ground or being picked up and taken away by the Mechs. At the sight of such destruction, he felt a wave of sadness overcome him. Unlike the other Skitters in his patrol, he was actually against the Overlords and felt sympathetic toward the humans. He wanted to resist the attacks, but he had nothing to back his resistance. There was no way he could act just yet. So, unfortunately, he had to continue to stand by and watch as the carnage continued before his eyes and there was nothing, he could do to stop it.

Just then his sensitive alien hearing perked up as he heard what sounded like a cry in the distance. There was a human still alive somewhere near. The Skitter leader moved as fast as he could to investigate, leaving the rest of the patrol behind.

Red Eye didn't know how far he had gone until he found the source of the cry. As he laid eyes on it he stopped dead in his tracks.

What he'd heard was a small human child. An infant that was lying in a small bundle in the arms of a woman barely clinging to life, leaning limply against the wall of a decent-sized rock crevice to keep herself hidden. She was dressed in tattered clothes and much of her body was covered in blood and dust. Her hair was braided but parts of it were coming undone and there was dust and mud smeared all through it. It seemed to be that she had been on the run for quite some time.

Her head turned as she heard Red Eye approach. It was then the Skitter noticed she was not looking at him directly. Rather her eyes appeared clouded and distant.

Red Eye concluded that she was blind.

Because of the woman's loss of sight, she assumed that Red Eye was a human. Her name is Rosella and she's gravely wounded and weak and extremely fearful that she won't live for much longer. Her baby daughter is named Regina and is six months old. She knows the baby won't survive without her. The baby makes small noises and Red Eye can't resist peering down at the squirming bundle in the woman's arms as he hears it.

Without realizing that he's actually an alien, Rosella pleads with him to take her daughter much to Red Eyes' shock.

Startled, Red Eye stepped back. Him taking a human baby? There was no way he would do that! He couldn't! He didn't want to and even if he did there was no way he would be able to keep the child. The other Skitters would want to get their hands on her.

When capturing human children no matter how old they were the Skitters would place the harnesses they wore on their own back on the children, enslaving them and forcing them to work for the Skitters. If the baby was discovered the other Skitters would take her and either hill or harness her. Red Eye knew how painful that was and decided it would be better to leave the child and let her die instead of being put through that ordeal.

Rosella heard him move away and she became more afraid. She begged for her daughter's life and safety. She's literally begging Red Eye to take and keep her little one safe where she cannot.

Red Eye is left heavily conflicted. He now wanted to take the child, but if he did, what was he going to do with her? He couldn't just walk back to the patrol holding a human child. It would raise suspicions amongst the others, and they would surely kill her or harm her. He would have to keep her hidden, but where would he hide her?

So many of those kinds of questions ran through his mind. However, when he glanced down at Rosella, who was grief-stricken and had tear tracks along her dirty face, he felt pity for her. It was clear that she was dying, and her last wish was for someone, him, to take her baby daughter and take care of her.

Perhaps he was crazy or perhaps he wasn't, but, either way, Red Eye decided he would take the child.

Carefully, he reached out and picked up the small child bundle from Rosella's arms making a slight noise of comfort. The only thing he could do to communicate with her.

As he picked her up Regina began to cry and squirm and suddenly Red Eye had no idea what to do. Just as he began to panic Rosella reached up and laid a hand on her baby's stomach. Her fingers stretched out and the baby grasped her forefinger firmly with her tiny hand her crying only lessened a little.

"Shh, hush, Little Regina," she whispered. "You will be all right." She leaned forward and gently kissed the tiny hand wrapped around her forefinger. She then said head lowered, in a choked voice, "Goodbye, my darling girl."

Then, unexpectedly to Red Eyes, Rosella closed her eyes and even though her voice was shaky and weak, began to sing a lovely lullaby to help calm the child.

The mother's voice drifted on the last word and with a couple of short breaths, her eyes shut again her head starting to fall slowly down against the rock wall. The grip she had on her daughter's hand weakened and her hand inched down the infant's body until it finally dropped back down on the ground. Her entire body went limp and unmoving as she made no sound.

Red Eye realized what happened and let out a sad moan.

Rosella was dead.

Before he could really do anything else he suddenly heard the heavy footsteps of a Mech approaching in the distance. He had to go away and fast. He clutched Regina close to his chest and using his long legs jumped high into the air, flying into a small group of trees to hide himself. He backed against a tree and peered around the corner to ensure the Mech hadn't spotted them. Sure enough, the giant robot with its large headlights kept walking and did not indicate that it had seen them.

Just then Regina started to whine, and Red Eye could feel her small form shivering against his chest. He kept a firm hold on the child as he wrapped her blanket even more tightly around her to keep her warm. After that, she stopped moaning and seemed to snuggle up a little in her blanket.

Now that the Mech was gone Red Eye concluded he needed to get back to the patrol ship. He figured the baby was probably hungry and he remembered that he and the other Skitters had collected any human food they were able to find that wasn't destroyed over the last couple of days. Maybe they had something he could give her. With that, he and the baby took a longer way back around to the ship in order to avoid coming across other members of the patrol that were still scouting out and about.

Luckily, the ship was empty when Red Eye got there and immediately went back into the cargo bay. He looked around and found a bottle of honey water which he recalled hearing was just as good an alternative to milk for young children if milk was unavailable. Which in this case it was.

Relieved to have found something, Red Eye sat himself down on the floor against a wall and looked down at the baby in his arms.

Her eyes opened and he caught himself unable to look away from the tiny round face staring back at him.

Regina's eyes were violet which was a rare color for humans, and they were looking at him not with confusion or fear like most babies looking at someone for the first time, but with serenity, calmness, and contentment. There was a flicker of light shining in her eyes as well, a small smile creeping up on her little face.

Something awoke deep inside Red Eye as he gazed down at the child. He wondered if it was, perhaps, sentiment or possibly compassion. Whatever it was he was feeling it was something he had never experienced before…and he found he didn't mind it at all.

Carefully, he placed the tip of the bottle against Regina's lips and much to his relief started to suckle.

Red Eye held her close and started to speak to her in the Skitter language.

Quietly, he said "I know you can't understand me…but your mother is gone and I'm going to look after you now. Perhaps as you grow, I'll teach you my language and then you will be able to understand me. But I promise you, little one…I will take good care of you just as your mother asked. It's not going to be easy for either of us. These are dark times we live in…but I see something, a flicker of light in your violet eyes…and I believe that means something."

The Skitter tilted his head down and pressed it lightly against the human baby's forehead, saying "I think you can be a light shining amongst the darkness…Little Regina."

Authors Note:

The lullaby that would've been sung here is Safe and Sound by Taylor Swift. One of my all-time favorites by this singer. Taylor Swift forever!

I hope you all like this one! I certainly did while writing it for your vast enjoyment! ;D

For those of you just starting out with my stuff there are other works on my profile that may catch your interest. I highly recommend you take a look as soon as the opportunity presents itself to you. Who knows, you may be pleasantly surprised by what you discover.

Stay safe everyone. Especially with all of these crazy natural disasters occurring a lot lately due to global warming and climate change everywhere for sure. I swear it's like they're getting worse and worse all the time and it's like officials are simply just ignoring it or pretending it doesn't exist entirely just to go on with their daily lives. Especially those in multi-million dollar companies that rely on certain elements of our planet that we rely on to naturally keep us safe instead of adapting and finding new safer ways to keep in business. There are so many options out there where they can adapt, but they just refuse to see it because all they care about is money. Climate change is altering so much faster than anyone can really keep track of.

So, in light of all this, it is important to live life to the fullest as much as anyone can.

I know I am. ;) See you guys next time.