Araksis seethed in hatred as he sloughed through the deep winter snow of the Cosmodrome, his left hand clutched to his side. Winter howls filled the air preventing anything but the strongest of engines from being heard, while the rush of snow reduced visibility to the immediate area. The winter weather nipped at the exposed skin of his face, ice formed on the exposed carapace of his head as his 'hair' was beginning to meet a similar fate.

A growl from the stomach earned Araksis ire as he cursed and pressed the only warm spot on his side. An open wound through his combat suit oozing blood, warm blood. It was warm enough to keep him going, but it was also a weakness. Had he been in better condition, this cold environment wouldn't have proved to be an issue—Eliksni were notorious for living in inhospitable states.

Araksis stumbled out of his thoughts as his leg caught onto something hidden below. Sent forward into the snowdrift with the fridge temperatures nipping at him, and a shiver ran down his spine, causing him to thrash in a mad attempt to get up. "Ahhhh!" Araksis screamed with contempt into the howling weather. Loudly growling and hissing as he instinctively tried to use his lower limbs to aid him, only to be reminded of their docked state.

Cut off, capped, unable to grow back. After a moment, more of thrashing Araksis would stop, limp with his turned up towards the sky as the cold numbed his sensations. His seething rage was gnawing away with no outlet to express it. Time passed, eyes grew heavy, breathing shallow. Darkness crept in as the sky above him roared and moved. The darkness claimed him.

Araksis drifted into his subconscious, the deepest recesses of his mind. He found himself within his old home when he had been young, naive. But content, surrounded by family, he couldn't quite remember in full detail. Blurry figures moved past him, laughter, warmth. The crackle of fire filled his ears; with the swing of his head, he looked at the source. Fire. As the wood shifted within the roaring torrent, loud pops followed by embers emerged from the flames. Taking a step towards the flame, Araksis would outstretch his left hand, the feeling of warmth invigorating the nerves.

Closing his eyes, Araksis drank deep of the warmth and taste of ether-rich air. The crackling and popping grew louder while the taste of ether grew richer. Araksis opened his eyes with an audible gasp and sat up, his head swiveling around as he took in the surroundings.

Walls, ceilings with mixtures of dirt and rusted metal directly front of Araksis a center place of fire encapsulated by a metal-like device funneling out the smoke. A shuffle grabbed his attention as he saw smaller clawed hand fiddle with a small container device that oozed out ether. Following them up, Araksis met with the figure of a female eliksni with a delicate veil of cloth wrapped around her head. She was a dreg like himself. Their blues eyes connected for a mere moment before a pang on his left side caused Araksis to hiss and rear back his head.

"Oh no!" Spoke Araksis's new compatriot whose hands ran to his side, pulling away at bandaging to check his wound. More hisses escaped from his lips as he reared his head back in anguish, "Don't move; it's only going to make the wound worse." Those hands laid him back against the wall.

"Easy for you to speak," Araksis seethed through his teeth, clenching muscles within his body and cursing to hold back the motivation of moving; his wound seethed as the female eliksni applied some sort of gel to his injury. His compatriot, now finished with her gel application, then moved her arms across his stomach, tightly wrapping it in a white silken cloth.

"There, don't move for a while now, nothing sudden." The dreg spoke with a caring tone, "I don't think I can save you from bleeding out." There was a hint of playfulness to her voice as well.

Araksis slightly craned his head towards her blankly.

The female dreg stared back at him, her eyes remaining locked with his before nervously darting about, hands fiddling with each other, "Eheh, haha, it was a joke. I thought it was pretty good." Araksis stared back with moving eyes, observing her and their surroundings. A momentary silence passed, "W-well, I can see you are not interested in my sense of humor."

"We… Are underground, aren't we?" Araksis managed to sputter out.

"Ah, how could you tell?"

"I would be dead otherwise." Araksis dryly mused as he relaxed into the position, letting out a comforting sigh.

"Ah, I see."

"I believe I tripped on your hatch as well." Araksis mused, leaning his head back and closing his eyes, letting out a sigh, with the full expectation of the dreg to speak. Though when the words did not come, he would crane his head towards his compatriot only to find he couldn't, he couldn't move his limbs! Panic began to rise within him as he tried to open his eyes. This feeling wasn't right! With a sudden scream, Araksis shot up from his spot. His hands went to his chest, and then his head followed quickly by looking around his surroundings.

Araksis took a better note of his surroundings with a clearer mind and vision. The room was large enough to support a captain sized eliksni, scrap laid about as well a wrecked servitor its singular large optic a dull, faded purple- His eyes landed on his compatriot, in her hands was not one, but three sets of four glowing blue eyes wrapped up in the finest organic blue cloth, a cloth only ever provided to the young of his race, hatchlings. A sudden chitter and hiss caught his attention and swung down his head to the left, spotting not one or two but three hatchlings resting against him. Araksis's chest panged and thumped his eyes, observing the young. Gently he moved his left arm down to touch them, only pausing a mere few inches from their head before gently grabbing each of them and placing them in his lap. Several chitters and coos came from the young as Araksis gently stroked his hand across their cheeks.

"They seem to like you a lot." Araksis's head swung back to the female, hatchlings in hand as she came to sit by his left.

Glancing back down to the three in his lap, he made sure to firmly secure them in place with his left arm and allow them to soak up more of his body heat, as well as the heat from the fire. "You have hatchlings with you; why?" Araksis turned his gaze back to the female.

The female's head turned to the hatchlings nestled in her arms. "I- no one wanted them." She spoke with a sad tone.

The thought coursed through Araksis's mind. His mouth clicked as his right hand balled into a fist, "Impossible, only a fool would ever discard our young so callously."

A slight hint of hesitation came from his female compatriot as her voice cracked out with shame, "Times are hard and-" Her gaze turned away from the hatchlings and Araksis and towards her scattered supplies.

Only giving her the minor of glances with his left eyes, Araksis let out a heavy sigh, "You've been stealing, haven't you?"

"I- yes, I have been stealing. Sneaking supplies here to keep them fed and healthy. I want them to live."

Araksis cast his gaze back to the female; head cocked to the left slightly, "At the cost of the others?" The idea was repugnant. The concept was foreign to his people originally. The lush abundance of supplies on his people's homeworld and the care of the great machine had allowed his people to flourish in a utopia! When the great Whirlwind came, things had to be changed. New concepts such as theft came to his people. Sure, they still relied on a communal supply, but now there were restrictions and rules.

The female had turned to look at him directly, as she shook her head and gently caressed the three hatchlings within her arms, "N-no, I've only taken small amounts and, I-I've been scavenging elsewhere as well… I even found that wreck of a servitor over there. I haven't found the right parts to make it work yet, but if I can get it to work. Then I won't have to be sneaking ether here."

"How have you been able to hide all this?"

"Well, it's not very uncommon for Eliskni to disappear. Most don't care, and being a dreg, I… the risk is worth it, for them." The half-hearted answer was enough for now. Araksis would find out sooner or later the whole truth of the scenario.

"If you are caught, what will become of them? Are you so foolish as to become some great mother to our races young?" Araksis spat only to earn a hiss from the hatchlings in his arms, turning down to them for a second. He would sneer at them before gently stroking their heads.

"I-"

Araksis stomach churned, "I suggest you abandon them, kill them quickly, so they do not suffer, and return to whatever post you have within our house of devils, dregs like you and I are in no place to commit to such actions." The words Araksis spoke were forced out of necessity, survival.

The female snarled at him, chittering as she spoke, "No!"

"What?" Snapping back seemed to be the only logical thing for Araksis to do.

The honest hard look the female was giving Araksis was enough to begin lighting the smoldering embers within, "No, I'm not going to stop, I won't abandon them! These are our peoples' futures we are talking about and- To cast them aside is silly! If we just stopped fighting each other and we united all of the houses, all the ether could be shared and-" The female began to ramble, running off on tangents and silly ideas.

Araksis scoffed at the notion and rested his head back, "What a silly dream you have."

"What? Haven't you ever felt that way? Having a stupid dream for our people, the future, we will eventually die out if nothing is done. We can't even reclaim the great machine from the humans." The female snapped once more.

With a reluctant sigh, Araksis answered her question while picking up one of the hatchlings and lifting it into the air carefully, "Yes, I did."

"What was it?"

Araksis stared deeply into the eyes of the hatchling he held up high. He watched the small hands move, heard the chittering of innocence and the smile it no doubt had at the moment if its face were not covered. So unaware of the world around them. With a heavy-hearted sigh, Araksis relented and answered his compatriot's burning question, "To be a kell of kells, a legendary figure to unite all eliksni under one great banner made up of all the other banners of the houses! But look at me, look at you, we are the lowest of lows. We are but the dregs of our society. Failures! Docked! We will never amount to anything, simply be sent forth into a slaughter with no one to lead with an ounce of care. Forgotten to time." He spat with bitter rage as he gently brought the hatchling back into his lap.
"We can't let that happen, and you know it." The female stated with the firmest of tones, reminiscent of one Araksis himself had heard oh so long ago.

But the doubt in his heart did allow Araksis to give in to the female's words, "What would you suggest I do? My ambitions have been thoroughly stomped every inch of my life. You saw my condition, and you know what I faced. Barely alive as is, with you wasting precious ether on saving me!" Araksis spoke half-heartedly, his eyes looking to the floor away from it all.

"It's not a waste."

Araksis sighed and looked towards the female, a firm statement flowing from his lips, "Then, tell me. What. Will. You. Do?" He needed to hear it, a plan, something to grasp onto to keep the flames within lit.

"Well, if you help me, I'll help you. Together we are stronger than we are apart, and the extra hand here will help me raise these hatchlings and get the servitor repaired, then we can."There was a pause as she made a small gesture to the wrecked servitor, "Work from there, together we can accomplish great things."

"And the light-bearers?"

"We'll face them when they come, as they always do. But together, you and me. We'll beat them back. Show our people a brighter future."

"It's not unheard of light-bearers dying permanently by our race's hand. How do you suppose we do that?"

"You know that is only a small percent, such as Taniks, they are legends but are so far above what a dreg is-"

Araksis let out a chuckle which evolved into a full-blown laugh, tone excited, "I see, we find a light bearer and kill them? What a mighty task to place upon us. Perhaps I was wrong about you. Maybe you can be the mother of all hatchlings."

"Thank you."
The schemes were in place, ideas unfolding within Araksis's mind, a fire in his heart restarted started! Araksis would be a savior of his people and this female? She would be the greatest mother out there, and he would make sure of that! Together their dreams were possible, and what they could scheme together was beginning to take root within their minds.

Now.

They just needed an opportunity to present themselves eventually, and both were sure of the other that they could wait it out. Patience was a virtue.

The hours drifted by, the two have spoken little after that, the female eliksni in that time had brought in a rectangular device with a glass screen, and several eliksni crafted modifications to it. Araksis had seen this device before but hadn't known its name. Upon asking his female compatriot would explain it as an old human device, she scavenged from the depths of some ruins, a T.V.

The small device turned to life as Araksis cradled the three hatchlings in his lap, right arm snuggly secured around their tiny forms.

"I never got your name?"

"Lavimis, yours?"

"Araksis." Araksis gently rested his head against her as he watched the program on the T.V. play, some 'movie' as it was called, something about a santay claws played by an 'Allen'. He was a gift-giver of sorts, and how he died and was replaced by this 'Allen'. The movie was quite odd, but there was a bit of honesty. Hard work despite everything about it coming off as rather cheesy.

"How many did you say they made of these?" Araksis gently rested his head against Lavimis's, a small sigh escaping as he awaited an answer.

Lavimis let out a bemused chuckle, "Three, but I argue they don't get any better after the first."

Araksis snorted at the statement, "Ah, then why do we watch this?" He cast his glance down to the hatchlings smiling as he added, "Why don't we do something more worth our time, like tending to the hatchlings? That is far more productive."

"Well, aren't you having fun?" Lavimis asked curiously, "Also, we're currently underground with a raging snowstorm for the foreseeable future, and you are wounded. So until you are better and we need to get supplies, then, well. We watch movies with the hatchlings."

Araksis turned his head briefly to the crackling fire, "I feel as if my brain is rotting out of my head."

"You don't have to be sarcastic, be honest." Lavimis right had moved around Araksis back, pulling him further into her, increasing the warmth.
Araksis tensed up at the movement, the pang in his side thumping, but he managed to continue and answer, "Mmm, it is serviceable as entertainment. How many of these movies do you have besides these three?" Araksis paused for a second before adding, "Oh, I also feel as if this is rotting the young impressionable minds of the hatchlings; think of them."

"Well, that ruins I happened across contained many, many, of these useless things. I considered destroying them, but, well, I feel as if there is some charm that is lost if I were to destroy them." Lavimis let out a chuckle, "Oh, you are sooo concerned with the hatchlings, weren't you just a few hours ago suggesting I let them die?"

"Are you saying that the humans have produced something of value?" Araksis let out a dry chuckle at the notion in his mind, "Also, it was out of pragmatism, simple as it seems. I don't necessarily enjoy the thought of leaving young to die."

"Well, you and I both have different types of humor. It will be an honor getting to know yours." Lavimis jokingly snapped back.

Araksis scoffed at her futile rebuttal, "I wish the same could be said to you, your humor has yet to show itself." He kept his hand trained on the hatchling that was crawling across his lap and onto Lavimis's.

"Oh, haha, very funny. Just remember who is taking care of your wound."

"Oh, you scare me so much; what are you going to do then?"

"Mmmm, I guess I could place one of my very sharp and pointy claws into your side? Just dig it in there." Lavimis stated with an amused tone.

"Hah, you wouldn't." A chill ran down his sides, though, the thought being incredibly uncomfortable to think of; no one should have their wound poked at with a sharp object or even dug at that was for the field of battle only or torture when needed—the right time and place.

"Do you wish to find out, Araksis?" Lavimis stated with a semi-serious tone to her voice, enough to send another wave of chills down Araksis's spine.

Not wanting to be left, Araksis returned with his little sick joke, "Mmm, now don't tempt me to return the favor by peeling off your carapace."

It didn't seem to have much of an effect, as Lavimis played off of it quite nicely, "Oh, you wound me so, Araksis."

The two exchanged a few more jokes between each other as they enjoyed the warmth of the crackling and popping fire, the shifting of wood as it fell apart. The movie's sound, the hatchling's relentlessness, adorable nature, and desire to be close had all but helped them to forget the raging storm above. There were no worries that night.

Author's Note:

Well, here's a little side story for you all, a Christmas gift. A very raw, unedited, side story. Why? Because I felt it would be nice to drop one on Christmas day, that and loosely have it do anything with the holiday in question. Anyways, happy holidays, take care!