After writing 'Greenest Pastures', I watched the entirety of the Legend of Spyro game cutscenes on Youtube over the course of a week, which not only put me in loop with characters and events, but also gave me all the more inspiration for slice of life romance with these two.
This story will focus entirely post-game of Dawn of the Dragon, and will have five chapters, following the course of a full day.
Slowly but surely, the early morning sunlight illuminated the floor piece by piece, corner by corner. The light permeated through a trio of tall windows encircling the room, bringing heat with it, and replacing the night air with a comforting warmth.
Like a theater curtain being lifted, a scene began to reveal itself in the morning light. In the very heart of the room was a pair of young dragons, one purple with golden highlights, the other a deep black with red tones. The former, a male, was curled up around the other - a young female. His body nested hers - his wing a blanket, his tail a safeguard from movement during the night.
As the light reached the young purple dragon's face, his cheek gave a small twitch. By the time his brilliant horns were lit, he opened his eyes. Glancing around his surroundings he took in the familiar walls, as well as the dragon dozing peacefully in his coils.
"...Cynder?" The purple dragon whispered. There was no response but the subtlest of twitches from the dragoness's eyelids.
"Cynder." He called again, a little louder.
"..."
"Come on, Cynder, I know you're awake."
"...Do I have to be?" Cynder replied, her voice graveled and her eyes clenched in the morning sun.
"Technically, no." Spyro answered. "But as long as I'm around, I'm not going to let you sleep in until midday all the time."
"Hmm...I'm not a fan of that reasoning, try again." Cynder said flatly, rolling her shoulder blades and readjusting herself against Spyro's side with a content sigh.
Spyro glared at her with a patronizing expression. It was only the third morning they'd had since Malefor's defeat, but the purple dragon was already discovering how stubborn the black dragoness was outside of life-threatening situations, as well.
"Cynder, you know full well I'm no good at staying in bed once I'm wide-awake." Spyro said. "You might be able laze around, but I want to get up and do something."
Cynder replied by nuzzling her snout deeper into Spyro's chest, trying to hide her face from the assaulting light. Spyro continued his prying glare, but struggled to not cave to the adorable sight.
"Myou anna ow shometing?" Cynder asked through a muffled voice.
"What?" Spyro asked, unsure if he was responding or asking for clarification.
"Right now you're not the 'Purple Dragon of Legend'." Cynder stated, freeing her mouth. "You're an extremely warm, comfortable bed set."
Spyro blushed.
"And last time I checked..." she continued with a yawn. "...comfy bed sets don't talk. And they certainly don't tell their occupants to get up."
"Alright, well, let me ask you a question now." Spyro responded, now sporting a smirk. "Are you sure you're not just feigning laziness so you can get away with cuddling a little longer?"
"...No..." Cynder said under her breath, not even sounding convincing to herself. "...Okay, maybe a bit of both."
Spyro couldn't help but beam. He bumped Cynder's snout with his own, and now it was Cynder's turn to blush.
"You know I love you, Cynder," Spyro said softly. "But there's a whole lot more to that than just relaxing together. I don't want to miss out on all these gorgeous days we've been having lately, especially since we fought so hard together to keep them."
Cynder let out a defeated sigh.
"Alright, alright...you know, it's totally like you to guilt me into things." She said with a grumble. Reluctantly she pulled herself from the male dragon's embrace, stepped out onto the warm stone floor, and stretched out her limbs and back.
"You know, you could have just gotten up earlier and said 'deal with it'. I'd have complained and given you those disappointed eyes you hate oh so much, but I'd have gotten over it. Eventually." She added.
"But then I'd be the bad guy." Spyro pointed out, retracting his wing and doing a stretch of his own before standing up. "You've got to do things of your own accord, Cynder, isn't that the whole point?"
"How you can be so pretty to look at, but at the same time be such a manipulative twerp is so beyond me." Cynder teased.
"It's a gift." Spyro admitted, following in toe as the black dragoness emerged from the relative shelter of the Temple Tower, and out onto a stone balcony overlooking the region.
Like a vision from a dream, the valley surrounding the Dragon Temple was a peaceful collage of nature at its finest. A few puffy clouds lazily drifted along an oceanic blue sky, and green-covered mountains touched the heavens on the other side of an endless meadow of lush flowers. The pleasant sounds of birds chirping and the wind gently rustling the healthy leaves of the summer trees was extremely calming, almost hypnotic.
"To think we almost lost all of this only a few days ago." Spyro contemplated, his eyes in a trance.
"You were amazing, that's for sure." Cynder said, smiling and placing a claw over Spyro's. "I know I couldn't be prouder. And I also know everyone else feels the same. You did the impossible, multiple times, and I especially have to thank you for that."
Spyro was jostled from his thoughts. He turned to gaze at Cynder with puzzlement.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"The 'Purple Dragon of Legend' may have saved the world from Malefor's destruction, but it was Spyro the Dragon who saved me from myself, protected me from harm, and chased after me when I didn't want to be chased."
Cynder squeezed Spyro's claw and paused for a moment, as if unsure how to word her next thoughts.
"You are the reason I'm here, the reason I finally had the blinds taken off my eyes from being in the dark for so long. This new world, where you and I are together - you created it through your own determination to save not only the world, but to save me. So I'll say it again - thank you, Spyro. You could have given up on me a hundred times, but you never did. Of all the things you've done, I think that's the most heroic of all."
Spyro had begun to open his mouth to modestly deny credit, but Cynder's tongue beat him to it. Before he knew it, he was trapped in a deep kiss that shot heat to the very tips of his wings. After a few moments, Cynder withdrew and gave the purple dragon a glowing smile.
"...I guess what I'm trying to say is, I love you too, and I could never see it any other way." She said, nudging her head underneath Spyro's chin in a loving embrace.
"Cynder, I-...I don't know what to say." Spyro murmured, closing his eyes and returning her embrace.
"Well that's just fine, you don't have to say anything." She said dismissively. "You've said how you feel numerous times in your actions up till now. Like I said, I just felt it was time I shared my thoughts a little more deeply as well. It's only fair, right?"
Spyro said nothing. He simply nodded with a glowing smile, which Cynder mirrored back.
"Alright," she said suddenly, taking off into the air with a flap of her wings, and hovering a few dozen feet above Spyro's head. "So. Please do enlighten me, mister sleep-in police, what did you have in mind for today?"
Spyro's emotionally-charged face turned into a playful one, and he shot into the air to join his mate - matching her altitude.
"First off, how about a little exercise?" He suggested. "My joints are cramped from you laying on them for nine hours."
While Spyro laughed immediately upon seeing Cynder's shocked expression, the black dragoness scoffed loudly.
"Excuse me, you're lucky the Former Queen of Darkness finds your peasant body comfortable enough to lay against in the first place." She shot, crossing her upper legs. "You should be grateful for those cramped joints."
"Oh, should I?" Spyro said sarcastically, all too much enjoying the rise he was getting. "I mean, I wouldn't mind if you weren't so boney, you know?"
"What was that?"
"You know, your horns, tail and claws - all even sharper than mine. Makes cuddling a little difficult sometimes." The purple dragon went on.
"Why you-"
"Kinda like hugging a porcupine, really."
"Oh, that's it. Dragon, you've just sealed your fate!"
Her playful attitude now brimmed with irritation, Cynder shot through the air like a bullet, headed straight for Spyro, who quickly took off down towards the green lands below the towering temple.
The morning air was now filled with another sound asides those of nature - that of Cynder rattling off all the things she'd do to Spyro as soon as she caught up, and Spyro's genuine, joyous laughter.