(Well, I'm back, I was trying to work on my other stories first, but that's sort of failing, as you can tell. Oh and yet another quote, I plan to use a different one for each chapter, but don't worry, with that as the case, this could reach over sixty chapters, not that it will, but can. For a response to Alpha Kyogre : you know what? I might have subconsciously had that in mind, seeing as how I too have watched it, but I've only gotten to the first few episode. But unlike Chima, both sides of the phoenixes are in the wrong, as you can tell with the parts about the kings. To Htffan951 : yeah, I do seem to have a problem about rushing when it comes to my stories, and yeah, I do admit, the part with Ruby flying away was short, perhaps I could actually work on the abruptness of the situation to my advantage, You know, I'm not sure but either RubyxShard or RubyxBomm might happen. And thanks for the reviews, they do help out a lot.)
"Some words, I've found, carry more weight than others. There are even words that, like literary oxen, bear enormous loads of meaning and metaphor. Yet there is no word, in any language, that carries more weight than this one: friend." Merlin's Dragon trilogy book 1 chapter 32 (T. A. Barron)
Chapter 3- life after the war
"Ignitus was a dear friend and excellent guardian," Terrador was saying to the crowd that had come to the memorial for Ignitus. "He always knew what to do in a situation and made sure that our world could be saved." Terrador stepped down, not wanting to continue.
Spyro reluctantly walked up to the podium where he was to address the public, "Ever since I first met Ignitus, he was always there to help. Sure, at first, he was rather hopeless, but after learning about me, he lightened up. He got me on the right track to stopping the end of the world. And at the very end, he gave his life to make sure me and Cynder could face Malefor. Without Ignitus, we would not be here, in fact, he should be the true savior of the world." Spyro had spoken as much as he could; this was not a topic he wanted to continue, so he had shortened his speech.
Cynder took a deep breath and walked to the podium, "While I didn't know Ignitus as much as Spyro or the guardians did, I do know just how great Ignitus is."
Cynder was cut short as a voice yelled out from the crowd, "Get off the stage, you aren't worthy to speak the name of Ignitus!" Cynder looked through the sitting dragons and saw that the voice belonged to an earth dragon; she would have to keep an eye on him.
Cynder continued after smacking her tail blade on the ground, creating a ringing sound, "As I was saying, I could tell just how great Ignitus was. He accepted me when no one other than Spyro would. Ignitus knew that my bond with Spyro would help us stop Malefor and encouraged our bonds to grow. In the end, he sacrificed himself for our safety, he truly is a hero."
"Get out of here, Terror of the Skies!" Cynder flinched as the same earth dragon from earlier called her by her former title. Sulking, she walked away, remembering just how she had earned that name.
Spyro caught up with her as she was entering the temple, "Cynder, you know you can't just dwell on the past. It will only be forgotten if you let it be." He tried to say reassuringly as he draped a wing over Cynder.
"Well, you haven't had to live with the fact that you've betrayed your own species and have killed many of them. You don't know what I've got to live through." Cynder snapped, shrugging off his wing.
Spyro walked ahead and turned around to look into her eyes, "That is true, I haven't done what you've done, but that doesn't mean that it can't be forgiven. And that includes you; all you have to do is forgive yourself."
Cynder stopped in the corridor outside the room that they had shared. Ever since she and Spyro returned yesterday, they had gotten mixed reactions from the citizens of Warfang; some had hailed her as a hero, and yet, others refused to even look at her. Cynder wondered just how long this would go on; would she ever be free from the scorning looks from dragons that she wronged?
Spyro noticed her demeanor, "Come on, let's go to the market." He said, hoping to cheer her up.
Spyro led Cynder back outside just in time to see the crowd disperse for the end of Ignitus's memorial, and Cynder breathed in the air, "At least the war is over. Now we can tend to any odds and ends we have." Cynder then said quietly, "Including forgetting my past."
Spyro heard her however and shook his head sadly; this was not going to be easy for the dragoness. He then thought about Cynder saying that there was no more war; thanks to his dream, if he could call it that, he wasn't so sure that their peace would be lasting. While Spyro wanted to tell Cynder about his dream, he didn't want her to worry. In fact, he didn't want anyone to worry, not so soon after Malefor's defeat. So he kept quiet about the dream and the prophecy that came with it.
Cynder noticed Spyro being deep in thought, and said cheerfully, "Come on, we don't have all day."
Cynder then spread her wings, preparing to fly down over to the market. She hoped things wouldn't go badly, but considering how a majority of the public felt about her, who knew how things would turn out. Spyro followed behind her, hoping to distract himself from his worries. They landed after a few minutes, and Cynder looked around at the stands; the local moles were selling all kinds of things, from jewels, to the crystals that healed dragons, to food, and weapons.
"So where should we start?" Spyro asked, not paying any heed to the mixed looks from various dragons.
Cynder shrugged her wings, "I don't know, I've never been somewhere like here before."
"Me neither, I've never had a chance to do something without it being in the middle of the war or something." Spyro looked around, curious as to what to do.
At that time, five dark-green shapes walked out from behind them in an alley; it was the earth dragon from the memorial and presumably his friends. "So the Terror of the Skies sticks around. Do you have a death wish or something?" The dragon said threateningly.
Spyro growled out, "Are you blind? Cynder is not that same dragon; she is just as much of a victim as anyone else."
"She killed many dragons, and now she has to pay, with her life." The dragon said stubbornly, pacing forward.
Spyro took a step back, they were outnumbering him and Cynder, and moreover, he didn't want to fight another dragon, "Malefor was controlling her, she was just his puppet." He tried to reason. The earth dragon wasn't listening, and he gestured with his tail to his gang, and they made a circle around the duo.
"Uh, can we kill them?" Cynder asked, sincerely confused and worried about the outcome.
"No chance, that wouldn't do us any good." Spyro replied, and thought of a way out of this mess; they could always fly away, but their foes would just chase them, or they could fight back, resulting in ancestors knows what, or they could defend, getting beat up eventually. It was obvious that this earth dragon wanted Cynder dead, and wouldn't stop until vengeance was his.
Just then, a voice called out from the rooftops, "Ahh, Quake, cut it out. Haven't you ever learned to stop bullying people?" Spyro looked up to see two fire dragons, an electric dragon, and an earth dragoness. The voice belonged to one of the fire dragons, the male one, for that the other one was a dragoness.
"Flame," Quake growled, "Stay out of this, this time. That dark dragoness is a monster, and she can't be here any longer.
Flame and his friends flew down and landed next to Spyro and Cynder, "That's nice and all, but seriously, does she really look all that dangerous to you?" Flame said sarcastically; Cynder eyed the scene around her with worry and interest, not sure on what to do.
Quake growled even more, "You and your friends have gotten in my way for the last time. Get them boys." The earth dragon ordered to his goons. However, he didn't anticipate his 'friends' to back away; outnumbered and outpowered, Quake was soon alone as he stared down the six dragons.
Quake ran off, knowing that it had become a fight he couldn't win, "You haven't gotten away with this yet, I will get that terror out of our city even if it's the last thing I do!"
Flame yawned, "Bye bye."
"I guess the bully will never learn." The fire dragoness said nonchalantly.
Spyro took a good look at the four dragons; Flame had golden wings, crest, underbelly, and his horns and tail tip matched Spyro's. Flame's eyes were as red as his scales. The fire dragoness was more pink than red and that included her wings, and her crest (of which was mostly on the top of her head but with a few spikes on her tail) was purple, her underbelly was as tan, and her horns were shaped like Spyro's as well. Her eyes were an aquamarine color, and she wore a heart-shaped pendent on her neck. The earth dragoness had forest-green scales with a brown underbelly, her horns were shaped like that of a ram, she had no crest, and her tail tip was a club. Her wings matched her main scale color. And lastly, the electric dragon was a bright yellow, but his wings, and underbelly were a shade of blue. His crest and horns were black and shaped like Spyro's, and his tail tip was shaped like a sphere, of which glowed yellow.
Spyro blinked at the group of four, "Uhh, thanks. I don't know what would have happened if you didn't show up."
Flame smiled, "It was nothing, we handle situations that Quake causes all the time. He and his lackeys just love causing problems for people, and yet, they always run away when outnumbered. Well, everyone knows who you two are, and I'm sure you know my name if Flame. These are my friends, Ember," Flame nodded to the pink dragoness, "Atom," he looked at the electric dragon, "and Vyne." Flame pointed out Vyne, whom seemed a bit shy with new people.
"I never would have thought that I could have met the great heroes Spyro and Cynder. Say, I don't suppose you two were taking that month off for, uh, personal needs, eh?" Atom asked rather curiously.
Spyro glanced at Cynder, "Uhh, no. In fact, we don't even know what happened after saving the world; we just woke up a day or so ago." Cynder was surprised when a hint of pink showed through Spyro's purple checks, it was obvious that Atom's question made the hero embarrassed at the hidden meaning of it.
"Well, if you ever need help, don't be afraid to ask us." Ember said, turning around.
"Well, actually, yeah. We are rather new to living here, mind showing us around?" Cynder asked.
"Sure, it's not every day that we get to talk to the two dragons that saved the world." Atom replied.
Cynder smiled on the inside; these dragons didn't care about her past. Flame seemed to notice her reaction and said, "Don't worry; we shall be your new friends."
Spyro smiled, it seemed like a good start to living after the war to him.
(So, what do you think of this chapter? I feel like I'm forgetting something about this chapter, but I'm not sure. Well, we all know what Flame and Ember look like (hopefully) but just in case, I gave their descriptions. I'll be getting back to them in chapter five, but chapter four will bring us back to Ruby and Shard. Oh and I'd like to thank the song Planet Net, by the Subdigitals (Code Lyoko) for helping me with this chapter, it's rather fitting. If I'm missing anything that I was going to say, i'll tell you in the next chapter)
