Summary: In the midst of the Christmas party that is held in the Winter Tundra castle, Elora exited it into the chilly cold in order to take a breather and reminisce the unforgettable memories, which tugged at her heartstrings until she had Spyro on her mind. Unfortunately, he is stricken with the flu. In spite of his sickness, he ensured his seemingly quiet moment with her is definitely worth it.
Love Sickness
It is that time of year again and to celebrate, Elora, Hunter, Bianca, The Professor, Zoe and the other residents of Avalar made a decision to throw a Christmas party at a castle that is located in the Winter Tundra home world. Everyone from all over the Dragon Realms, Forgotten Worlds and other realms and worlds transported themselves with the use of portals or travelled to the venue without any form of transportation.
As the party progressed into the late, starry night, Elora stepped out into the freezing cold and made her way to the peak of the flight of steps. Once there, she brought her walking to a complete standstill and remained still at the centre of the floor in order to keep her mind at ease and to look back on the nostalgic memories she held dear to her heart whilst she let her eyes slowly wander around, taking in the spiritual, picturesque scenery. The next thing that occupied her mind is the purple protagonist, Spyro. If it weren't for him and his dragonfly sidekick, Sparx, Avalar would have still been plunged into disarray and total chaos thanks to Ripto and his dinosaur henchmen, Crush and Gulp.
It is Winter Tundra like she remembered from all these years ago. It composes of the winter setting, hence its name, which consists of a blanket of powdery, white snow, smooth, slippery and thin ice, an innumerable amount of arctic, glacial mountains (which were in a combination of various shades of blues and whites from the lightest to the darkest) on the horizon as far as the eye can see, a few vegetation and a breathtakingly beautiful, midnight sky. In this third and final home world of Avalar, there is a grand, colossal castle with a long, marble floored stairway and the tall, super portal that leads to Dragon Shores that is located at the bottom of the stairs. Outside of the castle there are two caves and a secret waterfall. Furthermore, the only fodder that freely roamed the area were penguins but unlike normal penguins, they are incredibly microscopic. However, they are easy enough to make out if they were observed from a distance. In a nutshell, it's basically a winter wonderland.
Due to the long absence of villains after Spyro's prowess from numerous years ago, it's like as if Ripto and his dinosaur cronies never set foot here and the entire home world still remained intact, despite the mass of devastating damage they left in their wake in the past.
Due to the unforgiving icy climate and temperature, the faun wore a forest green coat along with a silvery zip and a snugly, comfortable hood with a matching woolly scarf around her neck and cotton gloves to keep her warm and cosy as well as stopping herself from catching nasty illnesses she least expects them.
In spite of the fact that Spyro is still a young dragon (or a teenage boy due to his age), she fell in love with him in the good old days of the past when he is a child at the time and assumed that he is kind-hearted, caring, cute and handsome regardless of his cocky, arrogant and overconfident attitude, being irresponsible, headstrong and courageous, having little regard for his own safety, his stubbornness and being naive. She wanted nothing more than to spend time with him and get to know him more but deep down, she had the desire to make a confession to him. Conversely, she is afraid that he will reject her and won't return his feelings. Little did she know that his sickness and stubborn pride might possibly interfere with their romantic moment together.
Back then when Avalar is under Ripto's ruthless rule, his arena is previously at the top of the stairway and now, the double doors to his villainous lair are no longer there and the citadel has been refurbished and remodelled to the denizens' liking.
Everything is quiet and serene outside the regal citadel, save for the creaking of the door opening followed by the approaching sounds of little pawsteps, frequent abysmal coughs, fiery sneezes, hacking, wheezing and sniffling sounds that came from behind her. That's when those awful sounds finally got her attention when she spun around to face none other than the famous dragon hero and her old flame (pun intended), Spyro, but not as she knew him.
She is overjoyed to see him outside in the sub-zero cold which is equivalent to the usual temperature of a freezer or a refrigerator since it is ironic that her current thoughts were relating to him but his lethargic and poorly mood told her a different story. There is just something about his expression and how slow his movements were that tells her that he isn't himself.
The Spyro she knew didn't have a high fever, swollen fire-breathing glands which were caused by his sore throat, have a pale, but frail, purple skin, bloodshot, watery and puffy eyes, a flushed face and a reddened snout, which is leaking an excess of gooey, but viscous, mucus like a tremendously strong gush of crystal-clear, hygienic water pouring from a tap. Though, dragons were stereotypically known as the fire-breathing owners of the skies and fearsome terrors to creatures everywhere, the dreaded flu has rendered him weak and feeling shattered. Not only that, but it deprived him of his fire breath and his inner strength.
Despite his sickly state, he is dressed warmly for this particular occasion. A traditional, red Christmas hat is sat on his head, covering his yellow-coloured, mohawk-like spikes except his golden horns, not to mention he wore a violet, woolly scarf that wrapped around his neck and a pair of lilac mittens which hid his petite claws and razor-sharp, white talons.
"Hey, Elora. What are you doing?" He greeted in a shallow, croaky and cracking voice as he approached the Avalari faun. Alas, he is starting to lose his voice with every word that is released from his petite jaws. His mittens touched the frigid and snowy floor with every step he makes. However, he is moving more sluggish than usual which is comparable to a regular speed of a slug or snail. To top it all off, his achy muscles, bones, haunches and shoulders prevented him from walking at a normal pace. Once he reached to where his old friend is, he brought his short journey to a halt and stood beside her.
Hmm… that's peculiar. Spyro's voice is much different than usual. Now's your chance, Elora! Just tell him how you feel and show him your pearly whites. Oh, I hope he feels the same way about me. Elora thought to herself, concerning the purple protector and her personal feelings about him as soon as she heard his low, throaty voice. "Oh, hello, Spyro. I'm just enjoying the view." She swivelled her head around and flashed him a smile, flaunting off her pearly white teeth and dazzling cerulean eyes.
"Is there something on your mind lately?"
"It has been so long since our first encounter, hasn't it?"
"It sure has. Even though you and the others have redirected Sparx and I from Dragon Shores, I still haven't regretted our first meeting. In fact, it's one of the best adventures we've ever embarked on. But what are you going on about?"
"We've been through so much together." Elora added, attempting to move the conversation on to her passionate feelings for the ailing, purple dragon. "Do you think we're—" Her eyes lit up with hope when she deliberately made eye contact with the reptilian, courageous saviour even as they sparkled colourfully in the moonlight when it reflected in her eyes.
Before the reddish-brown-haired, azure-eyed faun had the opportunity to complete her sentence, Spyro instantly cut her off, clearly not liking the idea of forming a romantic relationship with her or any female for that matter. "Elora, we're friends and nothing more."
"I'm really sorry that I'm trying to take our relationship to the next level."
"That's okay." Spyro whispered hoarsely with a frail, sickly smile as his words slurred into one another before he feebly coughed, coughing into his front, right mitten before he sniffled nasally, but thickly.
This triggered an awkward silence that occurred between them seeing as they ran out of things to say and they're unsure of how to resume their chat. Elora is minding her own business, fiddling with her fingers while Spyro succumbed to the symptoms of his illness, coughing harshly into his mittens in short, dry and spasmodic bursts whilst they wracked his miniature chest and body. They were described as dry, painful coughs with harsh, unpleasant sounds. As the cough attack continued, he shut his eyes tightly in order to suppress the pain that harmed his lungs and his fire-breathing glands. Unfortunately, his horrific hacking coughs were sounding increasingly painful and sickening by the second with each cough that expelled from his throat.
When his coughing dwindled to a minimum for the time being, he gradually opened his eyes and hacked in a disgusting manner before clearing his throat, which is clogged up with mucus congestion. Out of all the times to fall ill, he fell ill a small number of days ago before Christmas Day. As much as he hated being unwell, he knew he must do all he can to cope with his ailment.
After hearing him coughing disturbingly which interrupted their brief silence, Elora had a gut feeling that her soon-to-be boyfriend is feeling under the weather all of a sudden, which caused her to forward her compassionate question to him. "Are you all right, Spyro? You seem a bit out of it and your coughing sounds unsettling."
Attempting to get himself out of his non-drowsy mood, Spyro tried to keep his head up high and made eye contact with his Avalari friend through his fatigued, amethyst eyes. "I'm fine, really!" He forced a smile in an attempt to conceal the pain he suffered from the influenza and attempted to pretend that he is fine. He turned his head aside and he elapsed into a series of coughs again as he coughed roughly into one of his mittens. Unfortunately, due to the force of his dreadful coughs, they wracked his small frame. Once his horrible coughs subsided, he cleared his throat before composing himself and removing his mitten from his reptilian lips. "You don't have to worry about me and besides, I've been through worse things than this." He added with a weak smile across his scaly face to make it look like he is feeling all right.
Elora may have her hopes up earlier but fortunately; she isn't giving up that easily. She may have witnessed an unromantic guy telling fibs but she had a hunch that he is trying to be secretive about his sickness from her. Thus, she used this opportunity to persuade him to reconsider.
Still unconvinced that nothing has ailed her stubborn companion, Elora knelt down to his level and softly placed one of her delicate, feminine hands on his exhausted, aching haunches or shoulders, trying her hardest to obtain the truth from him. He may be determined to not let it slip but that didn't stop her from gaining what she desired, even if it means poking her nose into his business. "Spyro, don't lie to me. I know there's something wrong with you and furthermore, you're not acting like yourself. Is there something you're hiding from me?"
Aware that he couldn't keep up with the charade any longer, Spyro heaved a reluctant sigh that resulted in him wheezing a teeny bit before confessing to the auburn-haired, blue-eyed faun. He is never fond of telling the truth to his friends and the other denizens which relates to his affliction. Therefore, he didn't want any sympathy from everyone he knew since he disliked getting bombarded with unwanted attention. "I came down with the flu and I've been sick ever since."
"Why didn't you tell me this sooner? We could have postponed the Christmas party since you're poorly."
"There's no need. I'm certain that I can pull through, it's no biggie."
"There is no shame in telling me that you're ill but you shouldn't be outside in the frosty cold otherwise your sickness will worsen."
"I already told you, I'm okay and there is nothing that's gonna stop me from staying here, not even the flu."
On the verge of becoming fed up and frustrated with the sickly saviour's stubbornness, she instantaneously placed her feminine hands on her hips and shot him a stern stare while she scolded him but not in a shouting kind of fashion. "No, you're not all right. Spyro, listen, this for your own good. You must return home, get plenty of bed rest and save up your strength. I appreciate that you're keeping me company but I cannot bear to see you getting any sicker." She continued, as if she is engaging herself in an extremely long rant. In reality, she is doing all she can to talk some sense into him. "I can understand that you have a tendency to put others before yourself but receiving help is just as acceptable as offering help to citizens in need. I know you're not used to obtaining help from people that are willing to aid you and you don't like being bombarded with sympathetic comments but please, have some decency to take care of yourself."
Despite the meaningful message, it's not getting through to Spyro. He is about to retort and on the verge of continuing to fire a sequence of contradictions in the faun's direction but he refrained himself from counteracting with an angry reply of his own, not knowing how to go forward with the conversation. The discussion soon came to an abrupt halt when Elora spotted a mistletoe being tied to the top of the staircase, which leads up to the Winter Tundra castle. Currently, the mistletoe is suspended from the roof of the fortress' entrance and exit over the pair of pals.
"Oh, look! There's a mistletoe above us!" She exclaimed with sheer happiness in her pleasant-sounding, feminine voice, pointing in the direction of where the mistletoe is located.
Not liking where this discussion is going and the fact his intuition tells him that this isn't going to end well, Spyro made a decision to make a run for it and ditch his soon-to-be soulmate whilst he nearly faltered in his words, trying to make up an excuse as he goes along but to no avail. "Er… I, uh… I gotta go!"
"Oh no, you don't! You can't leave." Elora promptly grabbed Spyro by one of his teeny wings to prevent him from escaping while he sprinted on the spot, intending on darting down the flight of steps. Noticing that he had no chance of fleeing as much as he wanted to, he slowed down his running to an absolute stop and spun around to look like he is standing on the opposite side of her. Even though he is feeling rundown, his sickness hasn't actually sapped his energy entirely and he had enough strength to sprint off. "This is part of tradition and escaping from an opportunity like this isn't the spirit of Christmas. Do you know what we do when we're under the mistletoe?"
"Erm… give it to charity?"
"No, think harder."
"Set it on fire?"
"Nope. We kiss, it isn't rocket science to know this."
"Uh… I really should be going now."
"I hope you don't have anything against mistletoes and Christmas traditions if that is the reason why you're disinclined."
"No, it's just that… uh…" Spyro stammered, having a difficult time of finding a decent excuse and a way out of this situation he is trapped in. He muttered the last five words underneath his breath since he didn't want his old friend to hear the reason why he is opposed to kissing. After all, he has an aversion to sentimental things and occasions. Due to his flu and his sore throat, he is unable to increase the volume of his voice. "…that I'm not ready yet."
Thankfully for the poorly, purple protagonist, Elora failed to hear his words, which resulted in her requesting for him to repeat his sentence. "Can you please repeat that? I didn't quite catch that."
"I'm worried that our friendship will be ruined."
"That is nonsense you're spouting about, our friendship will still remain intact. Hmm… it is not like you to have pessimistic thoughts. Whatever happened to the dragon I met who can face whatever challenges, enemies and obstacles the world can throw at him and be prepared for the worst? Not to mention, a dragon who doesn't think negatively?"
"But that's—" Unfortunately, Spyro's protest got cut short when he felt a series of irritating tickles which were prickling his nostrils and sinuses which will soon develop and materialise into a fiery sneeze. He turned his head aside to avoid reducing his friend to a mound of smouldering ashes before he lifted one of his mittens to his reddish snout whilst he threw his head backwards and intakes a ragged breath of air. "Atishoo!" Consequently, a powerful torrent of fire is suddenly expelled from his nose, followed by a great deal of perfectly repulsive snot whilst he squeezed his eyes shut. "…different." After that scorching expulsion, he opened his eyes, regained his self-control and rotated his head around so it seems like he is looking towards his buddy.
"Bless you, Spyro." Elora responded, knowing that it is polite to answer to anyone who sneezed. This caused her to flinch straight away at the same time as the adolescent, reptilian redeemer let out a sizzling sneeze from his reddish snout without warning.
"Thanks."
"It is my pleasure."
"Tradition or no tradition, I don't think this is right. Have you ever thought of what will happen if we end up being a couple? This could ruin my reputation or yours. There's no doubt that everyone in the Dragon Realms, Avalar, Forgotten Worlds and the other worlds will make contradictions about us. What's even worse is Gnasty Gnorc, Ripto or any villain will take advantage of our relationship if they find out that we're together. Besides, don't you think that we're too busy for this kind of thing at the moment? Let's face it; we're too occupied with our own schedules. I've got world-saving to do while you're doing political stuff or whatever that you're doing."
Putting her plan into action with the purpose of persuading the celebrity hero to return his feelings, Elora pouted and gave the purple dragon a look that is similar to a puppy in the best way that she could. The way she uttered those words, it's like as if she is actually whining or pleading. "But it's Christmas. Will you please be so kind to kiss me?"
"Oh, no. Not the puppy dog pout! Anything but that!" Spyro yelled in a moaning tone of voice with displeasure, but he ensured that he raised his voice without straining it; otherwise he'll lose his vocal chords. He attempted to resist the puppy dog pout by not giving his mate eye contact but unfortunately, no matter how much he tried to look away, his efforts were in vain. Therefore, he had no choice but throwing in the towel. "Ugh… fine, but I'm not gonna like this." He grumbled underneath his breath, sighing in an unwilling manner that caused him to wheeze a little bit.
Regardless of his resentment to the aspects of romance, Spyro unwillingly agreed to share a smooch with Elora, just only so he can get this done and dusted. She knelt down to his level, closed her eyes and puckered up her lips before drawing closer to him. Spyro, on the other hand, started to back away from her, clearly disliking the idea to be involved in this nightmarish situation… or so he thought. Furthermore, he didn't do this just to please her. He made an attempt to move his face out of the way in various different directions but it is no use. In his point of view, he is doomed to waste his life away in this sentimental moment and their lips are inevitable to make contact.
Just when their lips were inches away to be locked with one another, he raised his one of his mittens as a gesture to pause that soon led to him suffering from another bout of ghastly coughs. Unlike the earlier cough attacks; they were a mixture of hacking coughs and productive coughs. As much as he didn't want to be caught up in this sappy mess, he never wanted his affliction, especially his terrible coughing, to hinder his moment with the unofficial leader of the Avalarians.
His hacking coughs were described as dry, painful coughs that are repeated often and his productive coughs were coughs with expectoration of material from the bronchi, not to mention they were wet and gross with a hint of mucus. As he kept coughing painfully and revoltingly into his front, right mitten, each cough wracked his pocket-sized body as they sounded progressively more insufferably and disconcerting with every passing second and he closed his eyes with the intention of repressing the pain. Once his coughing dwindled to nothing, he regained his composure and rubbed his light yellow-tinted chest in a circular motion as if he is trying to calm himself down. For a second there, he thought he could never stop coughing.
"Sorry about that, Elora. My lungs acted up again." He apologised with a frown, feeling guilty that his intolerable coughing has disrupted what appeared to be an affectionate kiss between them.
Regardless of the draconic defender's apology, Elora took it lightly as usual given that she couldn't stay irritated at her flu-stricken pal. Ever since she is fully aware of his nasty illness, she's been sympathetic towards him. "That is all right, Spyro. We can start again as soon as you stopped coughing."
"As far as I know, I think they're all gone for the time being."
"Everything is going to be fine. Furthermore, you're a fighter; I am positive that you will get better. Shall we resume our kiss?"
"Why not? I suppose I'll get it over with."
And with that, Elora gently picked Spyro up and pulled him into an embrace and their lips drew closer and closer until the point where they met. Spyro wrapped his little, reddish-brown wings around Elora's waist and chest whilst her arms and hands were cuddling his small head as well as closing their eyes, savouring the tender moment. Of course, he never desired any part of this but there is no way out for him due to the sacred Christmas tradition. Breaking it would be against tradition and will definitely tarnish the Christmas spirit. None of them want to let go of each other and wished they could remain like this for all eternity. When their lips parted and they loosened their grip, they breathed heavily as they catch their breaths. Unluckily, the purple dragon has been breathing like crazy the most or rather gasping for breath, due to his sickness. Since the experience is overwhelming and unexpected for him, he felt he is going to pass out.
Since he is still in the green-clothed faun's arms, Spyro's innocent, amethyst eyes locked on to hers whilst he tried to gasp in small, hitching breaths as if he is short of breath, wheezing with the effort. "You know… I think… you've… caught… my flu… now."
"Spyro, all it matters that we've spent some quality time together and Christmas isn't just about the presents, decorations and festive parties, it's enjoying the company of our friends and family in harmony as well as happiness. Sure, I may get sick from sharing a smooch with you but the influenza usually lasts for a couple of days anyway." Elora beamed, lightly placing Spyro down which caused him to land on the smooth, ice-cold and frozen floor on all four paws before rising up to her feet as she explained the true meaning of Christmas in full detail. She soon came to the realisation that she seemed to have forced him to share a kiss with her that she felt obligated to ask for forgiveness from him. "I'm terribly sorry, Spyro, for forcing this on you when you're ill but this is a Christmas tradition, we don't have a choice." She said in a quiet, crestfallen tone of voice that is almost like a whisper, expressing her regret to him.
Exhaling in and out a couple of raspy, ragged breaths, Spyro eventually managed to catch his breath before shaking his head and reassuring her that she didn't need to make a fuss regarding the previous incident which occurred a small amount of seconds ago. "Don't worry your little head about it but you could have kissed somebody else underneath the mistletoe. Aren't you scared that you might catch what I've got? I might be contagious and I can't risk infecting you."
"It's very sweet of you to care about me and the influenza is nothing to be afraid of. Moreover, it's one of those illnesses that won't kill me."
"You kinda sound just like me but the way you said it, it sounds… erm… what's the word? Uh, 'Academically'."
"I suppose I will take that as a compliment." Elora replied, a light-hearted grin is playing across her beautiful, womanly lips. In order to lighten the mood, she teasingly poked at Spyro's ruddy snout, which resulted in him giggling a teensy bit in a childlike, good-natured manner. "The night is young but so are you, literally."
Because of his sense of humour, Spyro continued giggling at the faun's good-humoured act, which resulted in a few dry coughs being forced out from his reptilian gullet as he coughed into his front, left mitten. Once his brief bout of coughing has diminished to complete nothingness for the time being, he collected himself as he snivelled nasally. Seeing as his snout is still blocked up with snotty congestion, a snorting sound can be heard in the process when he snivelled earlier. "We should really head back to the party and join with the others. I'm sure they're wondering where we've been."
"I couldn't agree with you more. Do you require anything from the buffet table?"
"A cup of—" A single abysmal hacking cough abruptly ejected from Spyro's reptilian lips just before he finished speaking out his words. Speaking of his hacking cough, it is described as a strident cough that sounds excruciatingly painful and usually grates against anybody's ears. Since it is excessively raucous and sounds disturbingly painful, it reverberated off the ice-cold mountains, bounced off the waterfall and caused Elora to shudder. Not because of the arctic weather but due to the fact the horrendous sound that came from the flu-stricken defender's lungs which resulted to an uninviting shiver that chilled her to the bone. Thankfully, he coughed into one of his lilac-coloured mittens to prevent him from infecting his chum. It didn't take long for him to compose himself from his extremely bad cough. "…water would be nice. Sorry Elora, I didn't mean to cough like that." He fixed his ailing, amethyst eyes on the Avalarian faun in an expression that is somewhere between an apologetic frown and a grimace, feeling guilty that his very bad cough might have possibly threw her off balance.
"Not to worry, you're still succumbing to the flu and we all experience that sometimes. That is the reason why you are constantly coughing. Sadly, it's the bane of our existence."
Recalling that affectionate smooch from not too long ago, Spyro put two and two together and he ultimately came to the conclusion that he and his past ally is officially a pair of lovebirds, whether he likes it or not. "About that kiss, do you think we're—"
"Yes, Spyro, it is what you think. We're officially girlfriend and boyfriend but for now, we must keep that a secret in case it might sully our reputations and so the antagonists wouldn't find out about this." Elora nodded, confirming her answer to Spyro and cutting off his sentence in the process. Not only did she did that, but she also thought ahead just in case they face the consequences that could possibly lie ahead in the future.
"That sounds good enough to me, I guess. Although, I wouldn't be so sure if our friends and the public will approve of this. Initially, I didn't approve of us being a couple 'cause I'm not a romantic guy and I had tons of doubts that this will never work out but then again, I'm never fond of the thought of Hunter and Bianca being together either, let alone go on a date 'cause I still didn't trust Bianca in the past and I'm worried that she might hurt him." Spyro replied slowly in a shallow, croaky voice, rambling on to as he suddenly had second thoughts about their relationship, the fact their passionate bond has rekindled and revealing the truth he had bottled up within him. Becoming aware that the temperature has dropped rapidly in terms of the frostiness and arctic conditions, he swiftly moved on the conversation on to other matters as he shivered violently due to the climate and the symptoms that accompanied with his illness. "Not to change the subject or anything, we'd better hurry back inside before we both get frostbite and my flu gets even worse that it already has been."
"I agree with you." Elora nodded with an amiable smirk, sharing an agreement with the little purple dragon. "I'll fix you up a cup of tea mixed with lemon and honey, it should relieve you of your symptoms and your coughing."
"Yeah… I like that." Spyro whispered in a breathless tone of voice, a feeble, weary and sickly smile slowly creep across his reptilian lips. He felt like his mind is at ease when the green-clad, sapphire-eyed faun uttered those reassuring words that seems like music to his ears, not to mention they soothed him and relaxed his whole body in ways he couldn't imagine.
With Elora's human-like arm and hand resting around Spyro's neck and his tail curled around her waist, they walked side by side as a pair to the entrance of the castle where their colossal circle of companions are waiting for them inside. By the time they came within reach of the doorway, they stepped in without hesitant and shut the double doors on the way in. He may be an unromantic guy most of the time but this particular night has certainly changed his opinions about love.