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'Why?' The dragon thought. 'Why do I fight, why do I have to do this day in and day out? It's as if my life was meant for nothing but the ways of war. The elders are absolutely incompetent and above all useless. They always call for me when they are in need, whether it be trivial, or massive. Do they not know I have a life of my own?

'They always say that they will give me a break in between each crisis, but they never do, no matter what they say. Even the trip to Dragon Shores nearly nine years ago went from vacation, to a large and annoying quest in the blink of an eye.

'Though I acted like I didn't mind doing it for the Avalarians; my expression, evidently fooled them. Because, even though I looked calm; underneath my skin, I was completely insane, and angry. The only person who knows how I feel is Sparx but, even he; my best and closest friend, he doesn't fully comprehend my thoughts and feelings, not like expect him to, but I feel so alone in this world.'

'If only someone out there was like me.' The drake was in a gridlock with what has become expected of him, and his wants, needs and urges. Ever since Gnasty attacked the realm of the Artisans, the young dragon's life was never the same. He did what he thought was right, freeing the dragons from their crystal prisons, and hunting down and killing Gnasty. Oh how he was praised, the elders awarded him, girls wanted to be with him, and guys wanted to_be_him. He savored every moment of it, never before had anyone of his age shown such audacity and courage in the face of evil.

A huge ceremony was held in his honor with food, games, drinks and numerous amounts of gems, gold, and silver were given to him. Everyone was chanting his name "Spyro, Spyro, Spyro!" He was in paradise. But it was short lived, a few days after the ceremony ended, the elders asked for him to come to them at the Dragon Council. There he was inaugurated and soon cast into long hard training exercises, which included tests of endurance, strength, and intelligence in the field of battle.

Spyro did this for almost a year, until one day training was canceled for the week thanks to a long thunder storm. At first he was skeptical when other dragons told him he had the week off. But, after consulting with Nestor; the head of the Council, he and Sparx took off to what he had hoped was a glorious vacation at Dragon Shores. But to his disappointment, another quest had found him. He was completely hasty about his journey to defeat Ripto, the crazed dino wizard, but when all was said and done he was happy that, unlike the last trip, he had made some 'useful' friends. And he enjoyed the time he had left in the week to its fullest extent.

A year later another series of unfortunate events occurred, involving all the dragon eggs to be stolen. The elders quickly sent Spyro, Hunter, and Sparx to another world, which Spyro believed that by now, he would eventually travel to all the new worlds, in no time at all. But after making a few new friends and defeating an overweight dragon by the name the Sorceress, he finally managed to get some time off.

That was, until Ripto came back from the grave to defeat Spyro; in a fashion that made no sense to the young dragon. But yet again the young one saved the day. A few years later an evil dragon by the name of Red, used Gnasty and his handy men to attempt to take control of the worlds. Spyro and Sparx once again saved the day. But at the end of that adventure Spyro noticed something. After he defeated Ripto, the celebrations had become not at all as long, or as festive. And this time there were none at all. This sort of behavior had become expected from him when there was a time of need.

He had wanted now for quite some time, to quit his job as protector, but his morals wouldn't let him, and neither would Sparx for that matter. Spyro sighed, longing for a much needed rest, and longing to take the armor that he wore off; he was sweating so badly that he might pass out. His armor was made of several pieces of quarter inch steal that was held together by small sections of chain mail and his helm all but covered his head. There were to holes that allowed for his horns to go through and a small gap above the base of the snout that allowed him to see; what little he could. He didn't wear the armor for protection from sword and spear like the others did, he wore it to cover his battle scars. The only one who knew about this other than himself, was Sparx, who had vowed to never tell a soul about it.

A bush rustled from behind him, quickly bringing him to his senses. Spyro whipped around prepared to fight whatever had attempted to sneak upon him, when out of the bush came glowing old Sparx. Spyro breathed a sigh of relief and sat down trying to calm down more.

"Everything alright Spyro?" The dragonfly asked. Spyro looked at his old friend who had been through so much with him, the once cautious and shy dragonfly had the face of one who had seen way to much blood shed in their life. Sighing Spyro replied,

"Everything is all right Sparx, I was just reflecting on some of our adventures we've had."

"Ya well we've had quite a bit of those, and I'm starting to think you need a replacement."

"Who? Flame?" Spyro said somewhat sarcastically, "Listen I know he has always tried to be like me but he's not, and you know that as well as I do. But all the same, I wish the elders would find someone new, whose childhood they could waste." Spyro said coldly. Sparx was taken aback by his friend's words, but they were true. After their encounter with Gnasty, his childhood never continued, he was thrown into war and never could enjoy himself.

In fact years ago, girls would fight to the death, just so he would look at them. But now when he tried to court a girl, they would shrug him off; even the ones who had screamed for joy on sight off him. Sparx looked at his friend and saw past the purple eyes that were concealed behind the helm; he saw what he was thinking.

"Look Spyro, I know you've missed out on a lot but, hey same here right?" Sparx joked, trying unsuccessfully to cheer him up. Spyro simply glared at the dragonfly, and wanted nothing more than to go back to his room, and sleep, something that had eluded him for five, long and stressful days. The dragonfly shook his head at his failed attempt for cheerfulness. Spyro turned and looked back towards the mountain peak off in the distance, looking at the Dragon Dojo that he had to call home, all though he absolutely disowned the place, for it was just too boring and to him, it was strangely undragonic. It was way too technological for there for it to be any dragon heritage; Spyro had longed for a more simple and natural home.

Sparx lightly tapped on the shoulder plate on Spyro's armor, trying to get him to talk, but it was useless. Sighing in defeat, Sparx settled down on Spyro's head.

Suddenly, Spyro did something Sparx had not heard him to in quite some time, laugh. Sparx flew up and hovered in front of Spyro's face; brow raised. Spyro laughed another second then used his left paw to slide the veil in front of him up, exposing a war torn face. His muzzle had a few cuts and bruises, but they were nothing compared to the scar that ran through Spyro's left eye and on up to his horn.

"What's so funny?"

"You!" Spyro said while pointing at him. He laughed again, before continuing. "You never quit trying to make everyone happy do you? That determination is what's funny."

Sparx laughed this time as well, now that he thought about it, he was humorous in a odd way. A thought popped into his head, and unlike his other ideas this one seemed to be a good one.

"Spyro, why don't we head back a little early, hum?" Suggested the golden dragonfly. Spyro stopped laughing and looked at his friend, had he actually suggested he do that? 'Sparx' He thought, 'You have finally gone crazy.' He shook his head no, thus shocking Sparks. "What! Why not! You of all people need a little break." Spyro just shook his head again.

"No Sparx, Elder Nestor would not approve of us leaving our duties improperly."

"Spyro I know for a fact that Nestor would not allow it." Spyro looked at him, both shocked and confused.

"Then why did you suggest it?"

"Because I believe that the Elders would approve of you having some time off." Spyro chuckled at the thought. The purple drake nodded, why not take a chance, he'd done that his entire life. Spyro unfurled his wings and took to the sky, Sparx following.

###

Spyro cracked open his eyes, for what felt like the first time in ages. The strain of pulling the world back from certain destruction, had taken quite the toll on the purple drake. It seemed as though the events of late, had occurred a millennia ago. Yet, it was only a few hours.

He looked about his surroundings, finding himself in some vast valley, of rich green grass, and a multitude of colored flowers. Ranging from deep blues, to vibrant reds, similar to that of which, was found in Avalar. The drake found the surrounding peace, to be pleasant.

Birds flew far overhead, dipping, and diving in the wind. Their song trickling down to the earth, like rain down a tree; abundant with leaves. He noted that the clouds that hung high above, were slightly tan in their coloration. As if they'd been painted by hand. He found the sight, ever so slightly odd, yet amusing all the same.

Rolling over, his gaze fell on the sleeping, shadow dragoness; Cynder. It was strange, that she'd been the one to nearly remove his existence from the world; not to mention, she'd also been his greatest fear. And still was, but, only when she was possessed by Malefor's touch.

But now, he couldn't stand to be apart from her. She was what his heart craved the most; what drove it mad with desire, and love. Yet, despite her curves, Spyro found her natural beauty, to be the most striking. It was odd once he'd freed her from Malefor's grasp, that she revealed her true form. After wards, he was reminded that; well, actual though that both him, and Cynder were the ones who'd have to repopulate the entirety of the dragon race.

At first he viewed it as his destiny, part of it anyway, to bring about the next generation of dragons. Yet, he began to develop feelings for the dragoness. Though, their development was hampered by Cynder's unwillingness to bond with those around her. Finding that solitude was a better medicine for her recovery. Spyro thought it to be silly, but, then again, she was distraught over her uncontrollable actions.

He now realized that perhaps, Cynder had the gift of foresight. And knew that because of who she was, would haunter her indefinitely. Thus, resulting in the crude remarks made towards her, whilst they were in Avalar. But, there were some things you just couldn't ask your friends. But, then again, she loved him.

Spyro knew she'd said that. It was the last thing he heard when he tried to reassemble the world. Those words, those three precious words; they'd given him the strength to perform such a miraculous feat. The only thing that troubled him was how they'd arrived back on the surface after that. Surly they should have been encased in stone, and earth.

But, he could inquire upon that later now, he was quite content in staring at the gorgeous being before his eyes. Cynder looked so peaceful when she slept. It was the only time she could find solitude when she had been the Terror of the Sky. Her chest steadily rising and falling with each inhale, and exhale. Spyro could only smile at her, once more finding grace in her natural beauty.

Ever so slowly, the dragoness' eyes cracked open; her body now content with the amount of rest it had received after the confrontation with Malefor. She felt the all to familiar feeling, of being watched; So it was apparent when she looked over at Spyro, she giggled sleepily.

"Morning beautiful, how did you sleep?" Inquired the purple drake, to which Cynder snorted in response.

"One of the best I've ever had."

"That's good, it helps when those that mean you harm are gone, doesn't it?" Spyro said jokingly; Cynder just rolled her eyes and looked upwards at the sky.

"Yes, it helps, quite a bit." They both sighed contentedly when Cynder finished speaking, thus making them look at one another in surprise, as their timing couldn't have been more dead on. The pair burst into a small bit of premature laughter; which was probably due to the odd faces they'd made, rather than the ironically timed sigh.

Once their laughter died down, they both looked up at the sky, admiring it graceful features it provided. A lone black bird flew high above, scanning its head from left to right; apparently it was looking for some unfortunate creature that would become its prey. Spyro noted, that it looked vaguely similar to the one Hunter had. But, he only assumed this, as his vision didn't work well from so far off.

Cynder stretched her limbs outward and upward; releasing a yawn as she did. Then, she rolled over onto her belly and from there, to all fours. Spyro did the same thing in order to keep up with Cynder; but he was more rapid and clumsy.

"You in a hurry, or something Cynder?" The drake inquired; Cynder only glanced at him.

"Kind of, I mostly wanna clarify if we are in fact on earth, rather than discover we're in the spirit realm."

"That makes sense, but still we just kind of woke up. Can't we just...you know...lay around for this day? I mean, we just saved the planet. Why can't we do that instead?"

"Because I want to know if we did in fact did save the realm, better that then find out were dead!" She responded sort of humorously. As she just had to restate what she said. Spyro simply rolled his eyes, acknowledging his dullness in asking Cynder why she wanted to do something, when she'd already stated why.

"Fine, I guess it's best to be sure of something, rather than being in doubt over...a quite troubling matter." The dragoness nodded, then leapt into the sky; Spyro trailing closely behind. It felt great to be free once more; Spyro hadn't felt so energetic about flying since he'd first learned how. That, or on some of the shenanigans that he and Sparx got themselves into back in the swamp.

The pair dipped and dived through the air; were ever Cynder led, Spyro followed close behind. They both began to feel like they were playing, rather than searching for any form of civilization.

Spyro just admired Cynder's grace; she flew so naturally through the air. Almost as if she'd been born of it. He was very fond of her, more or less, he loved her, and wanted nothing more, than to watch her, and protect her with his entirety; even if this meant his entire life.

Cynder wasn't as content with everything as Spyro was. She loved him, that was certain; after all, she'd said so deep within the bowls of the planet they'd called home. But, there was a nagging at her heart, the same feeling she got when Spyro had caught her leaving just before the night of eternal darkness. As little as it showed, Cynder did find herself attracted to Spyro after he'd rescued her. And, in her mind, she thought it best to leave him at the temple, to rid herself of the guilty feeling.

Malefor of course, had been drawing her back to his mountain. And used her affection to lure Spyro to the well of souls. Thus, another example of the darkness seeping through the cracks. She had longed to stay in Spyro's comfort, but at the same time, felt obliged to leave. As she reasoned in her head that because of what she did, that she didn't deserve him. It was a complicated emotion, and an even more complicated thought process to say the least.

And now, the same rotten feeling had made itself known to her once more. But, at now she could tell that Malefor's influence hadn't made its way through this time. Guilt was only what she felt, not darkness. It was strange, now that she had awoken, and blood flowing through her veins, that she felt a dormant presence in the back of her mind. She prodded at it, and found it to be the dark being that she became just before their duel with the Dark Master. She despised it.

But, now it felt different than before; she felt the presence of another mind after Spyro saved her, but it had been active, telling her to kill, and to return to the darkness. Needless to say, it made sleeping difficult when another mind plagued your thoughts._I wonder if Spyro deals with the same thing._She thought to herself. Thankfully the dark being didn't awaken due to her mental prodding. Rather, it seemed to shift, like a sleeping hatchling would, when trying to be roused by its parents.

"Hey Cynder! Look!" Spyro called, bringing Cynder from her thoughts. Down below was the cheetahs' settlement, covered in blazed huts, falling ash, and collapsing to the ground. They alighted by the scorched settlement, quite worried at first, considering that there seemed to be a void of lifelessness. But, then it dawned to them that the Avalarians had come to Warfang.

Then,hopefully, had survived with Sparx as their guide. They calmed down a bit, and began to look about, and plunder through what they could. Broken vases, burnt parchment, and scrolls. Not to mention an abundant lack of weapons, no doubt due to the inhabitants leaving.

Spyro did however find a large chest filled to the brim with gold, silver, and those life giving crystals that had helped them through their journey. He couldn't help but be fascinated with the assortment of colors; he began to shift through them vigorously.

Cynder on the other hand had found a slightly charred mirror; this gave it a dull brown look. She did make out her reflection in it, and was amazed at how preserved her face was, even after their fight with the dark one. Spyro's was scratched and cut; it also had a sprinkling of dried blood splashed upon it. It was then that she noted that her brackets were shinning like freshly polished steel.

"Ancestors, what kind of magic is this?" She asked to no one in particular. She glanced over her shoulder towards Spyro, and found him admiring a large piece of golden armor. He seemed not have heard her. Cynder faced the mirror once more, and gasped. "What in God's name is that?"

###

Spyro and Sparx quickly arrived back home in the Artisans' housing district. Oh, how that place had changed over the years. It had once been a simple, and pleasant place to call home, yet as of late, it has become a shadow of its former glory. For you see, technology, and advancements in science had brought great change to the Realms; which was warmly embraced by dragons near and far.

But the purple dragon and his glowing companion were quite sickened of what had become of their former home. No longer did dragons live in caves and the mighty castles; they were torn down to create space for the 'new' world, seeing as now castles and caves were, 'primitive'. It took the council a great deal of time to convince Spyro and Sparx that they should live in the 'apartments' or whatever the term for them was.

Their original reason for going to great lengths to persuade the two into living in the new constructions was 'reward for doing a good job'. Though later Spyro was told by Sparx (Who'd eavesdropped on the Council) that they didn't want anyone to think they let their hero sleep in caves.

'We are civilized beings' Sparx had quoted to Spyro, 'We cannot have those two living in the mud, whilst we live in cleanliness, do you know how awful people would frown upon us?' This enraged the purple dragon, and made him want to report this to his friends. But Sparx talked him out of it; he figured once the Council discovered he spoke of this, they'd make his life even more of a living hell.

This wasn't the only thing to change. A lot of the dragons that Spyro and Sparx met on their first adventure, had been well 'rounded'. But, they were still considered to be in good health, after all, they weren't skin and bone. But, thanks to the 'improvements' to the Realms, nearly all of the adult dragons had definitely become gluttons. A tragic mistake, considering the fact that, throughout the history of dragons, there have been rules to live by; as they provided a way to live a long life. So it was no surprise, that this had to be branded into the minds of the species.

One of which, was,_Hungry is your body, so at times you must feed, but gluttony makes fat dragons, who can't fly at their need._The duo had pointed this out at a meeting once, but they dismissed it and began to talk about politics. When Spyro pressed further on the matter, they sent him on a trip across the globe to collect some rubies and other gems. What for? Why bother asking, when Spyro and Sparx knew that dragons need gems to make their scales hard, and bodies healthy.

The living quarters were the two lived, were in a typical two-story, box shaped apartment complex. Spyro never bothered to acquaint himself with his neighbors, as he didn't care for remembering too many names. The only two he did know within the area, were the wannabe hero dragon, Flame, and of course, Ember.

"Man, this place just never seems to change..." Sparx said with a huff, just as Spyro touched down. The purple drake gave his glowing friend a quizzical glance, as if to ask further upon what he meant. Surely it had to be sarcasm, as this place constantly had new constructions popping up. "That was sarcasm Spyro, no need to look at me like I'm an idiot." The dragonfly said laughing. Spyro shrugged.

"Whatever you say bud." Spyro snorted as he looked around, a little down beat, considering where he was standing, happened to have been where the small castle in the Artisans' Homeland once stood. The Council really wanted to impress someone, as this whole place was situated not too far from the beach. Spyro frowned discontentedly, when the collapsing, rotting dock (that he'd spoken to the balloonist with) caught his vision.

He sighed, very loudly. "I've got to get rid of this..." Spyro spoke quietly.

"Get rid of what?" Sparx asked from behind.

"This ridiculous outfit."

"What for? You said you need it if you want to protect yourself from attaining any further damage to your body."

"Aye, I know I said that. But the fact is I-I've just out grown it. And on top of that, it chafes." The dragonfly began to speak but was cut off.

"Spyro? Is that you?" A feminine voice came from behind. Ember, the pink dragoness._Oh joy._Spyro thought, as he turned to answer her. But no sooner had he begun to do so, than Ember had him in a deep embrace. The metal plating of his suit actually creaked under the force she applied. "Oh Spyro where're you been? I know it's been a few days but, gosh it seems like a life time."

"I'd like to talk but, you're kind of crushing me."

"Oh, sorry." She released him, and he quickly and deeply inhaled. Ember sat on her haunches as Spyro dusted himself off. Sparx took to lying on an overhanging lamp, content with watching the nighttime moths fly to and fro. He paused when he heard Spyro gasp; and he quickly glanced down to see. "Is something wrong Spyro?" Ember asked with concern.

Spyro was frozen, yes this was the same Ember that had chased him nearly across the world, just hoping on the chance of him returning the love she had for him. Though he did always say no. Yet, now as they neared adulthood, Ember had definitely become quite the striking dragoness. Matured would be the draconic word, but according to something that Hunter would say, she had filled out. Spyro very briefly felt himself attacked to her, but batted the feeling down, reasoning that she was the first female he'd seen in days. So naturally her smell and appearance would seem tenfold what they normally were. He shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"Oh, nothing's wrong Ember I uh...just spaced out. No doubt having to stay awake for multiple days and nights." He lied.

"Oh you poor thing." The dragoness replied and made a move to hug the purple hero once more, but Spyro quickly jumped backwards; he still wasn't comfortable around her. Even though she'd said that she didn't like him that way anymore. Ember just stared at the stone floor, and sighed. "You still don't trust me, do you?"

"Forgive me Ember. I guess old habits are hard to break, trust me I didn't mean to offend you in any way." The dragoness slightly nodded, still a little hurt inside her heart. True she gave up chasing him and begging for his love, but as a drakka she couldn't help but feel attracted to him. Strangely, out of all the females that ever came Spyro's way, Ember was the only one chasing him; even after the others stopped caring. Why on Earth didn't he notice that? "Ouch!" Spyro suddenly blurted out as he reached for the back of his neck.

"What?"

"The helmet cut me." He replied rather bluntly. A small trail of crimson flowed across the metal along his back and shoulder blades. "But it's nothing I can't handle."

"Why don't you just take the silly thing off? Surly you've become too big for it...I mean not in girth, but overall. Ah, you know what I mean." Ember said, batting her paw in the air. Spyro simply snorted and shook his head.

"Spyro, you and I both know that there is no reason to deny ones'-self comfort. Please just take it off, if not the whole thing just that helm of yours? I find it rather difficult to speak to someone, whose eyes are concealed behind a metal mask." Spyro toyed with the notion to oblige to Ember's request. Though he didn't recognize it, deep within his own mind, he had the vague impression that once she saw how torn his face and body was she would leave

He finally decided that it couldn't do much harm to at least show his face. It only had one major scar that went across one of his eyes, which wasn't as bad as the others. One of the large scales of his underbelly was gone; another one was cracked. And riddled throughout his body were places where arrows, 'bullets' claws, and beams had torn through him.

Using his right paw, Spyro unlatched the helm, from the slightly crimson chain mail, around his neck. He then slid two talons through a small gap in the 'mouth' of the head cover. Thus parting it, and revealing his scratched up muzzle, and allowing him to remove the entire helmet from his skull. Once rid of it, he was surprised that Ember didn't gasp or turn away. If anything, she looked more concerned for the purple drake than before.

"Spyro I-I had no idea. This can't be from way back in the beginning can it? I didn't notice anything when Red was running amok."

"Well, you're correct on that Ember. This is actually from my more hidden escapades. Now days, the Council tries their hardest to keep me hidden. Sadly, it's working, as hardly any, no, all the females, but you, avoid me. As you can imagine, that's hard for me to deal with, especially since most of them use to ogle over me, like you did."

"Ah, I'm so sorry." She said tenderly and reached for Spyro's left cheek. But he sharply jerked away from the intruding paw. And once more, Ember looked to the ground, a little hurt by his distrust. And strangely, the purple drake began to feel like an ass for making her feel that way. Was he starting to like her? No, he couldn't possibly could he? After all, she had constantly thrown herself at him, but why was it that now, Ember seemed more appealing and easier to the eyes?

"Tell you what," Spyro began, thus earning the drakka's attention once more. "How 'bout I walk you to your home? Hmm...I-I mean it's something that a friend would do." Ember cracked a smile._Friend?_She thought.

"That would be lovely Spyro." The drake nodded.

"Sparx?"

"Yeah?"

"Go on home, I'll see you momentarily." Sparx pondered what had the two conversed upon; he'd drifted off their conversation, finding the nocturnal birds above to be more important for a dragonfly to watch.

"Whatever..." The golden spectacle rose from his perch and took off towards his and Spyro's quarters. Spyro turned around and motioned for Ember to join him, which she did. As they strolled along, Spyro couldn't help but wonder, why the hell was he suddenly gaining feelings?