A/N:

This is a spin-off based on my Legend of Crystal series. It's badly written, extremely angsty, and has a meh plot. But if you like TLOC, knock yourself out. Just don't judge my current writing for this silly emo story I wrote when I was 13.

I did have a partially finished rewrite for this, written around 2013-14, but I'll probably never publish it. If you're interested, it's on my profile, take a look at the Drive link.

My eyes glowed white and off my scales radiated a pitch-black aura. I hovered above the ground and glared down at Cynder, the rubber-band like magic that emanated from our necklaces and held us all together glowing green and crackling with vehement force. Everything seemed to blend in with the scene around me—the line of fire that shot towards the sky, the blackened environment, the death that swirled around us, consuming us. I knew I looked like a demon, something unnatural, something to fear, but I didn't care.

I just didn't want to believe it... he couldn't be gone. He couldn't be.

I felt like everything had shattered. Everything had crumbled to dust. I needed someone to place the blame on, somebody who I could accuse...

The voice, filled with fear, called me out of my frantic thoughts.

Cynder.

Yes, her. This was her fault! If it wasn't for her, Ignitus could still be alive! Her face seemed to show no emotion, but... did her eyes just sparkle? They did! She's still on Malefor's side! She betrayed us and killed Ignitus! He's dead because of HER!

I suddenly felt rage and hatred, and in the back of my head, I heard... laughing? Evil laughing... I didn't pay any attention to it, just turned my thoughts towards Cynder.

"This is your fault!" my voice yelled, distorted. "You've been planning this from the beginning! You're still allied with Malefor; you've always been allied with him, and you murdered Ignitus! You murdered everybody!" A growl emanated from my throat. I glared down at Cynder, my glowing eyes filled with hatred. Boulders began to levitate around me, swirling in circles.

Cynder's face showed hurt and pain. "Crystal, please, I didn't—" she began.

"SHUT UP!" I screamed and shot the boulders that floated around me at her. They hit her spot on, and Cynder was sent flying against the wall. Weakly, she stood up. She was limping; I had broken one of her legs.

"You're going to pay for what you did to him!" I dropped onto the ground and stalked over to her, picking up the pace until I slammed into her and sent her rolling. Before she could get up again, I slashed at her heart, leaving a deep cut that quickly began to bleed.

"Crystal, I'm sorry—" she tried again.

I hesitated. The aura around me flashed and began to fade. But all at once, the hatred came back. It was too late. I was already gone.

"Oh, she's sorry! She's sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry! Well guess what? SORRY DOESN'T CUT IT!" I grabbed the back of her neck and roughly dragged her towards the Belt of Fire. She tried to resist and break free, but she was too weak. I saw the fear in her eyes. She knew what I was going to do.

"Eye for an eye, Cynder. Life for a life, although yours is worthless!" I glared at her. "I can't believe I trusted you. You were my friend... but you're really just a murderer!" I screamed, before shoving her into the fire. Cynder screamed out, but within a moment it ceased.

My old self began to come forward again, causing the aura surrounding me to flicker and die out for a moment, but the demon that had possessed me shoved it back and the darkness took hold once again.

Spyro, who had been flying in silence during the events, suddenly came to life. His aura faded completely and he landed on the ground.

He stood still for a moment, as if recollecting his memories, before whirling around.

"No! Cynder!" he cried, before turning to me, "What did you do to her? !"

"I killed her," I said simply, no remorse in my distorted voice. "She deserved it, can't you see? She's worthless. She's stupid. She's a worthless, stupid killer. I put her out of her misery." I looked dismissively at my paw.

Shock was apparent on Spyro's face. Shock and disbelief. "No...you wouldn't do that!"

"But I did. And did you hear her scream?" I asked with a malicious laugh. "She was a coward, and she died like a coward."

I found myself on my back in a moment. Spyro had tackled me. "You're not Crystal! You can't be! You're possessed, Crystal, Malefor's possessed you again! You have to regain control!" he yelled, glaring at me—well, not at me, but within me. At Malefor.

I didn't even hesitate this time. There was no going back now. I was stronger now in my new form, so with a heave, I shoved him off me and sent him flying.

"I might have expected this betrayal from Cynder, but not from you. Did you somehow get mixed up with the darkness as well? You wanted Ignitus to die, didn't you?" I taunted.

"No!" Spyro yelled back, standing up. I could sense his fear, his remorse.

"Lies! Lies, lies, lies! You're a LIAR! I see now, it was both of you together! You both killed him! You lured him here because you knew this would happen! She turned you to the darkness and convinced you to help kill everybody! It's your fault everybody's dead! All these years I trusted you, trusted you with my life! I thought we were siblings, I thought we had a bond, but I was wrong! You mean nothing to me! You betrayed me!" In a split second, I had crossed the gap between us and struck him, leaving a slash on his face.

Spyro didn't fight the blows and eventually elements that came next. For ancestor's sake, he didn't even block. I rained down fire and earth on him, blew icicles his way, and shocked him with electricity, but still he did not fight and he did not die. With a fearsome blast of earth, I knocked him over.

"You used to mean everything to me! But now you mean nothing!" I cried at him, but he only cringed and weakly looked away.

"You're a murderer! Just like Cynder! And you deserve to die! Did you hear me? YOU DESERVE IT!" I slashed at his neck, cutting the life-vein.

Spyro stared at me. His eyes showed sadness, but that was all. Just grief and sadness. The life slowly left his eyes. After a moment, he closed them and didn't open them again.

The world suddenly reeled, and I was filled with pain. I heard his voice echoing in my ears, not saying anything... just his voice. It sounded happy at first, but then he began yelling. He sounded angry. Finally, he gave a sorrowful cry and that was all. I felt my body glow a light lavender shade, and then something snapped in my head and I passed out.

When I opened my eyes again, I didn't remember what had happened and my scales were no longer radiating black. Ignitus was dead, I could remember that, but everything following that was foggy.

As my vision began to adjust, I suddenly noticed Spyro, leaning against a rock wall, bleeding and seemingly unconscious.

"SPYRO!" I cried, getting up and running over to him. He was limp, he wasn't breathing. I put my paw over his heart but I couldn't feel a beat.

"Spyro..." I said with a sob, and then it all came back to me. Everything.

I had killed him and Cynder.

"No... no!" I jumped away from the body as if it were a hot coal. I didn't do this. I was just having a nightmare, one long, terrible nightmare.

But it wasn't a nightmare and I knew it. This was really happening. I had killed my brother and my best friend, murdered them both, and there was nothing I could do about it.

I walked back over to the cold, limp body and collapsed beside it. Tears welled up in my eyes and burst forth. I didn't want to believe it. How could I have done that? How could I have killed them?

"Spyro... No..." I said, my voice shaking.

I turned and gazed up at the sky, tears still streaming out of my eyes. I heard a burst of thunder and light rain sprinkled down onto me. The rain wassad. It just felt sad. I could sense sadness from it. It became more violent. Lightning flashed across the sky and rain poured down out of it.

I rolled over and looked at the Belt of Fire. I considered getting up and throwing myself into it, but I didn't have the will to leave Spyro's body alone. I didn't want to do anything but lay there and wait for what was sure to come.

I turned back to Spyro's body and curled into a ball. I would suffer. I would look at him and suffer and know what I had done. It was the least I deserved.

I lay there in the rain for an hour. I had stopped crying after a while, but I didn't stop hurting. I could feel a dull ache in my heart for one moment, which in the next moment was more pain than I could live with. I was a murderer, I had killed Cynder, I didn't kill Malefor, but worst of all, I had killed Spyro in cold blood. I was possessed, true, but I could have stopped it and I didn't. I wished I could run away, run back to Warfang and wait for death there—or, a better punishment, live and live with it—but I couldn't leave Spyro. He was dead, I knew, but I just couldn't leave him there to be engulfed by the flames alone. And anyway, it was better the Guardians didn't know what I had done. They might have the feeling that I had failed, but at least they wouldn't be tortured by the thought that I had murdered whatever hope was left.

My vision grew brighter, with a red tint. The Belt of Fire was beginning to expand. Just as it was predicted. I edged closer to Spyro's body, touching his paw.

"I'm sorry, Spyro..."

I closed my eyes as the warmth consumed me.