~Chapter 2~
Spyro was moving through the village as fast as he could, he wanted to get back to camp and leave this mess behind. Why was he forced to look for this murderer, because he was the purple dragon? He thought it was all over the moment they stepped out of the mountain. He thought Cynder could finally live a normal life with other dragons and he could go back to the swamp with Sparx. He was so deep in his thoughts he didn't notice the dragon in front of him, by the time he did it was too late. He ran into the dragon at full speed, knocking both of them over.
Spyro got up, not even looking at the dragon, and muttered a simple apology. "Sorry." It was barely audible and sounded rushed, but Spyro didn't care. He just wanted to get back to the only person he cared about in this camp and leave. He ran off towards the large tent in the distance.
The red fire dragon got up and stared at the purple dragon. "Some hero, he just slams into me and then runs off." The fire dragon shook his head. "I guess it's not important, what is important is telling Terrador that everyone's packed up." The dragon took one last look at Spyro before walking away.
Spyro finally reached the tent; compared to the others it wasn't any different. There was one defining feature though, while the others were dark tan, this one was pure black. Stepping inside, he saw that nobody was here. "Cynder told me she would be in here right now."
"If you're looking for the evil-she dragon, she's at your tent." Spyro recognized the snarky voice; he turned around and saw his dragonfly brother Sparx.
"Why is she there…actually no, a better question is why are YOU here?" Spyro was not amused by Sparx's snide attitude.
"Oh, so you don't want to see the brother you spent your whole life with." Sparx stared at Spyro with big puppy dog eyes.
Spyro groaned; he wasn't in the mood to deal with Sparx's sob stories. He exited the tent to get away from that headache; unfortunately Sparx had followed him outside. "Listen Sparx, it's not like I hate you, but after dealing with you for fourteen long years I think I deserve a break.
Sparx flew up to Spyro with a smirk on his face. "Actually it's been eleven years since we sealed away for three of them." Spyro wasn't interested in hearing anything else about the Night of Eternal Darkness. Everything that happened on that night still haunts his memories.
"Sparx leave me alone, I wish to talk to Cynder in peace." Once again Spyro ignored Sparx and tried to leave, but Sparx got in his way again. He was sick of listening to Sparx; he bared his fangs and growled at him.
Sparx eyes widened and he immediately backed away from Spyro, the dragon glared at him before walking away. "Jeez, what's wrong with him?"
"This place is a mess." Inside of a purple tent stood a black dragoness, looking around at the cluttered room filled with maps, evidence, and an occasional love note. She picked up one of the notes and stared at it for a second before crumpling it up and throwing it aside. "I wonder if he ever throws these away."
"Why bother, there's too many of them." The black dragoness jumped and turned around to see her good "friend" Spyro. The purple dragon immediately began to smirk. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you like that Cynder."
Cynder blushed and began to pout. "Spyro you idiot, don't sneak up on me like that!" Spyro couldn't help but laugh at Cynder's childish response.
Spyro wasn't the only one who changed, in the months after Malefor's defeat the two dragons were slowly being introduced into society. At first Cynder was terrified that the people would judge her for her actions. While they did blame her for a while, it wasn't long until other began accepting her. Cynder herself began to slowly open up and change, she became less resentful and more cheerful. She ran around Warfang laughing and smiling, enjoying the childhood she deserved.
Cynder's life was filled with happiness, but then the murders started. Cynder thought it was over, she thought she could finally live her own life. She outright refused to leave everything she had in Warfang. The Guardians literally had to drag her out of the city. If there was anyone who deserved to not be a part of this it was Cynder. After everything she went through, she deserved to live a happy life.
Spyro gazed at Cynder, trying to look hurt. "Oh I'm an idiot…..I guess you don't want me around." He sighed as he turned around to leave, unbeknown to Cynder, Spyro began to smirk. He began to mutter under his breath. "3…..2…..1….." He then felt someone's wing on his back. "Bingo." He spun around to look at Cynder only to see a large yellow face. Spyro jumped back in shock and stared at the large yellow dragon, he could hear Cynder giggling like a hatchling.
The elder dragon chuckled as he stared at the Spyro. "Were you expecting something else young dragon?" Spyro regained his composure and smiled at the two dragons.
"Well I certainly didn't expect you to be behind me Volteer; I thought you were still back at Warfang." Spyro's smile quickly faded into a puzzled expression. "Why are you here Volteer, not to sound rude, but you've kept yourself locked in your room for more than a month?"
A large smile spread across Volteer's face, he lifted his head up high and opened his mouth. "Well you see while you were busy running in circles I was employing, exploiting, harnessing…I ah yes utilizing my collection of ancient, archaic scrolls to research a strange phenomenon."
The two young dragons looked at each other with confused looks before Spyro turned to Volteer. "What kind of strange phenomenon?"
"If you're so curious then tell me, haven't you noticed the strange lunar anomaly?" Cynder looked at the two dragons with a confused look.
"I need my professional Volteese translator here." She giggled as Spyro rolled his eyes.
"He's saying there's something wrong with the celestial moons." Spyro still didn't understand why this was important. "Why are you so concerned about it is it serious?"
Volteer nodded. "It could be quite serious if my notes are correct, but it would be best if everyone heard it." Volteer exited the tent, most likely to search for the others.
Cynder looked more confused than ever, and Spyro couldn't blame her, they didn't exactly get any information on what was happening to the moons. "I'm sure Volteer will explain everything soon Cynder."
She smiled at Spyro. "I know he will, let's go catch up with him. Spyro nodded walked beside Cynder as they exited the tent. Cynder began to move a little closer to Spyro, he noticed this and blushed. She liked being next to Spyro, even if he was colder and more bitter than he used to be. They were good friends…..only friends.
The day they defeated Malefor was one of the happiest days of Cynder's life, her cruel master was dead, the world was saved, and the dragon she loved was safe. She stared at the purple dragon with tears in her eyes; one might have thought she was in anguish if it wasn't for the large smile on her face. She was flying with Spyro in skies above Avalar, the two in perfect harmony. Everything was perfect, except for the fact that Spyro didn't remember the words Cynder said after their final battle.
It didn't matter, what was important was that they were safe. Months passed, Cynder was slowly being accepted by the people, there was a big festival celebrating Malefor's defeat, and any of his army that was left was being stamped out. Of course there were small things like thefts, grublin attacks, and pirates but nothing too serious. Avalar was finally at peace and it strangely made Cynder happy, she could finally live a normal life.
Cynder felt she was ready to tell Spyro her true feelings, she's was ready to confess her love. She found the purple dragon sitting outside the temple staring at the dusky sky; he turned around to face Cynder. "Uh...hello Cynder, what are you doing out at this hour?" He sounded tense, there was something else she felt, but she couldn't put her finger on it.
"I wanted to tell you something, something really important." She looked at down at the ground blushing, she took a peek at Spyro's face and saw it was unchanged.
"What do you want to tell me?" Cynder knew this was it; she couldn't hold it in anymore, she knew she had to say it.
"Spyro I love…"
"I'm sorry." Cynder stopped when she heard those words; her smile disappeared, replaced with an uneasy feeling in her stomach. "I'm sorry Cynder I can't love you."
Cynder froze, she could have sworn her heart stopped, all of her dreams were shattered instantly. "Why…why can't you love me Spyro, give me one good reason!?" She knew she sounded like she was losing it, and inside it felt like she really was going crazy.
"I want you to live a normal life; I'm never going to be normal Cynder." "To me being the purple dragon is a curse, I don't want you to have to deal with another purple dragon." What was he saying, he's acting like he's going to be like Malefor!
"If this is about what Malefor said then it's not true, you're nothing like him!" Cynder couldn't stop herself from crying. Why wasn't Spyro listening to her?
"Even if I am nothing like him, not everyone is going to believe that, I just don't want you caught up in something that's related to me." Cynder gave up; she looked down at the ground and cried. She felt something touch her, she looked up to see Spyro's wing holding her. "That doesn't mean I hate you, you're one of my closest friends, I couldn't have made it this far without you.
She stared at Spyro; she couldn't say anything so instead she sat with Spyro and stared at the sky with him. Eventually she began to fall asleep, she felt someone pick her up and carry her back into the temple. She was placed in her bed and opened her eyes one last time to see Spyro smiling as he kissed her forehead. "Goodnight Cynder." She could hear the door gently close, even after everything that happened; a small smile appeared on her face.
Even days after the incident it still hurt to remember the rejection, but in the end she forgave Spyro. He was one of her closest friends, she couldn't hate him. "I think we caught up with Volteer and the other uh oh…" Cynder snapped out of her thoughts as she saw Cyril once again arguing with Volteer.
"Volteer when we said we wanted your help, we didn't ask for your worthless musty old scrolls." Cyril had a smug grin on his face, while Volteer looked mildly irritated he was still smiling.
"Why you self-centered, egotistical, conceited…I um…."
Terrador sighed and shook his head. "Cyril this is no time for your egotistical rants, right now Volteer has something important to tell us." Spyro and Cynder walked towards the Guardians.
Spyro looked at Volteer with concern. "You said there was something wrong with the moons, well what is it?"
The smile on Volteer's face finally disappeared. "This might sound absurd, ludicrous, nonsensical, preposterous, farcical…"
"GET TO THE POINT!" Everyone screamed at Volteer.
Volteer sighed, his face becoming serious. "It's the celestial moons, one of them is fading away."
