A/N: Hay, Flare here, to anyone who is still reading: if you haven't noticed I've had an increasingly bad case of writers block. I keep trying to write this story and I've got alot of ideas for later on, but right now I'm finding myself rewriting or scraping a chapter all together because I don't like the way it sounds. Please just bear with me a little longer.


Chapter VII: Flare and Cynder

Sols' POV:

I was sleeping soundly when all of a sudden I felt something jab me in the side. I woke up immediately to find flare tossing, turning, and kicking in his sleep. He was dripping in sweat and mumbling something that I couldn't make out.

"Flare?" I asked quietly, almost afraid to wake him, but there was no direct response so I tried again a little louder. "Flare wake up." He groans in response then begins to growl menacingly in his sleep. "Flare please wake up!" I say as I begin to shake him.

All of a sudden his eyes shoot open and he jumps out of bed and lands looking at me like I was trying to kill him. Finally he sees that it was only me and he calms down. He shakes his head and sits on his haunches.

"Flare are, are you ok?" He's been scaring me with this dream he's been having and it's only getting worse.

" I-I'm fine." He says looking away.

"Then why won't you look at me?"

He continues to look to the ground as a tear streams down his face, but he quickly shakes it away and without a word heads for the door. Right before he grabs the knob an audible knock is heard from the other side.

"Flare, you up?" It was Spyro. "Hay, you ready to start the day, how are you gonna Finnish training if you sleep all day?"

Flare opens the door and nearly smacks Spyro in the face with it. "I'm not sleeping." He says as he begins to walk off.

Spyro looks at me shocked and asks "What's wrong with him?"

I can't even begin to tell him, I don't know how, Flare is weird about these things. He hates to share his feelings. He said something about making him look vulnerable and weak. I don't agree at all, but I do respect his feelings.

I shake my head. "I-I don't know."

Spyro looks back to Flare who just turned around the corner. "He hasn't treated me like that since the day we met."

"Hm, hay where's Cynder?"

"Still sleeping, she said she'd be down in a little bit."

"Alright, well what's going on today? You're still going to training this week?"

"Yeah last night we decided to train till lunch then go to the tower." Spyro explained.

"Hmm, sounds good, mind if I join you."

"Sure you can help, come on, Flare's probably already waiting."

I laugh. "Probably."


Flares' POV

I walk into the training room as the structure begins to fall. I've grown used to the loud vibrations it creates on its venture down as I sit on my haunches and watch it. Sol and Spyro aren't far behind me, as they walk in the statue finishes its descend.

"You ok Flare?" Spyro asked from behind me.

Looking to the ground I reply. "I'm fine." I'm a little calmer than earlier.

"You ready to start?" Spyro asks placing his paw on my shoulder.

"Yeah, let's do it." I say standing up and smiling, trying to keep any bad thoughts out of my mind.

"Alright fist things first" Solfie sits on the sideline while Spyro explains the situation. "We're doing basics... Basic combat, fighting styles, elemental attacks, etc. You've learned most of it on your own, which is impressive, but you still have much to learn."

"Well then, what's first?"

"Combat."

"Alright, this'll be fun."

"Yeah, let's get started." Spyro says as we begin.


Sols' POV

'Flare seems to be enjoying himself. I wonder why he acted the way he did this morning. I already talked to him about it. Was he hiding something from me?' I shake my head and look back to the were practicing elementals now. 'Flare seems to be learning really fast. It's like he already knew it a-' "Hay Solfie." "-Ah!"

Cynder laughs as she enters the room. "Awe what's the matter?"

"Don't do that, you nearly gave me a heart attack."

"What were you thinking about?" She asked curiously.

"Well I was thinking about how fast Flare was learning."

"Hmm." She says as Spyro shows Flare a combo and He mimics it almost perfectly. Slashing his tail to trip the dummy, then turning quickly to smash it to the ground making it bounce as Flare used an electric volt to throw it across the room making it disappear in a puff of smoke.

"Wow, I think your right."

"Yeah I know, he's been doing that all day."

"Really?" She says shocked.

It was quiet for a minute as she sat down next to me. I can't stop thinking about this morning and Flares dream. I thought he was over it yesterday when we talked about it, but instead it only got worse.

"Hay Solfie what's on your mind?"

I figure I might as well try to tell her without telling her. "What do you know about reoccurring dreams?"

"I know that they can have meaning depending on what it is."

"What about a nightmare?"

"Well like I said, it depends."

"Someone dying?"

"Who?" She asked confused and a little scared.

"No one, it was just an example."

"Oh." She said calming down. "Well at that extent, it could be telling a close future."

"That's what I was afraid of."


Flares' POV

Several hours later

As the clock tower rings, it says it's midday and training is just about over.

"Alright that's just about it, now Flare, use one of the abilities from today to kill that dummy." Spyro says as he points to the dummy who just appeared in a puff of smoke.

I nod. 'Ok one ability, but we learned so many, hmm, oh I know.'

I charge my Fire element and concentrate it into a ball, however I unknowingly charge my other element as well and create a large, bright, white ball of what almost looked like plasma. I blast it at the dummy and in a huge explosion, kinda like a firework gone wrong, the dummy is disintegrated on contact.

"Whoa." I say.

"What was that?" Spyro asked shocked.

"Heh, I'm not sure, but it was awesome."

"I've never seen anything like that before, what did you do?"

"Well, I tried to make a fireball but I think I made some sort of explosive."

"I'd say, if that dummy was real there'd be nothing left of it."

"Well I've worked up a pretty good appetite anyone else hungry?"

"I am." Solfie yells from the sideline.

"Alright, alright. I guess we're all kinda hungry then. I guess we're done today anyways, lets go."

I walk by Cynder and Sol who seem to be staying behind. "You guys comming?"

Sol begins to stand when Cynder grabs her paw and says "W-we'll catch up, k."

I look at Sol who's looking at Cynder like she's crazy. "Alright." I sigh. "I guess I'll see you there." I walk off to catch up with Spyro. Cynder's been treating me funny, maybe Spyro knows why.


Sol's POV

I know I'm switching a lot writers block sucks so deal with it, XD just kidding.

"What are you doing?!" I yell at Cynder because I'm starving and she's holding me back.

"Shhh, I've been wanting to talk to you about this but I didn't know how so I'm just gonna say it..."

"Well?"

"It's about Flare."

"What about him?"

"Well it's hard to say... I..." She stutters in her speach as she hesitantly begins to explain "Flare he, he scares me."

"What, why?" I ask slightly outraged.

"I feel like he's a walking time bomb. Like if I say the wrong thing he might get angry and turn into that, that thing." She says quickly.

I shake my head and sigh. "Cynder, the only thing I can tell you is what I said before, Flare is a good person, he really is. He would do anything for you, so long as you would do the same, he's ok."

"Yeah but-" Cynder began to complain.

"Just give him a chance, I promise you won't make him mad as easy as you think." I interrupt.

She hangs her head in defeat. 'Solfie knows Flare better than anyone, if she says I'll be fine then I guess it'll be alright.' "Alright, thanks Solfie, I'll try to talk to him more." Cynder says.

"Good, now come on I'm hungry."

"Hay Solfie?" Cynder stopped me.

"Yeah?"

If you don't mind, can you not tell Flare about this?"

I smile and nod to her. "Sure, it'll be our little secret."

She smiled and thanked me, then we left to catch up with the boys.


Flares' POV

Spyro was telling me what the plans were for today when the girls showed up.

"Hay Flare." Cynder says skittishly.

"Hay." That's weird, she never talks to me.

"I was just telling Flare here what we were planning for today." Spyro says.

"Mind filling us in?" Solfie asks.

Spyro nods. "Well, first we need to make up a list of everything we need to get for the tower, kinda like a to-do list. Then I guess we'll split up to cover the marketplaces, just to ensure we collect everything we need. If we have extra that's ok. So long as we have enough of everything and the tower is completely remodeled by the end of this week."

"Does that sound good to everyone?" I ask. The three of them nod. "Good, then that's the plan."


After we ate, we headed for the tower as planned. Once we got there we figured out everything we needed and decided to split up to cover the markets faster.

"I'm with Spyro." Solfie says quickly.

This confuses me slightly. "Uh, Sol I thought we would go together."

It's ok you can go with Cynder"

"But I barely know her."

"Good point, you'll be fine."

"But-"

"Bye Flare!"

'Ok now I know something's going on. I just wish I knew what.'


Cynder and I started walking towards our first stop on the other side of town. On our way there I figure since I'm stuck with her I might as well figure out what's been up.

After several minutes of silence I look at Cynder who had apparently been staring at me, because when I looked she quickly looked away. I shake my head.

Suddenly Cynder speaks up. "So uh Flare, how are, uh, things."

I sigh. "Are you ok?"

"Who me? Ya I'm fine, why?"

"You're actually talking to me."

"And that's strange?" She asked confused.

"Well considering you haven't talked to me since the day I got here I'd say-"

"It was the second day." She interrupted me with an almost shameful tone.

I blink a few times before asking, "...Why?"

"You mean you don't remember?"

"Remember what?"


Chapter 2 Flashback (A/N: The different italics stand for different voices.)

"Somebody help!"

"Hasn't anyone ever told you not to hit a girl?"

"Why don't you go back home to mommy and let the big boys handle this freak."

"I don't have a mom anymore, and I still haven't taught you it's impolite to hit a GIRL!"


"Don't fucking play dumb with me!...then you'll die where you stand..."

"Flare isn't here anymore."

Flashback ends


"After that I was kinda afraid of you. I guess I thought you were-"

"A monster?" I finish her sentence ashamed of that day.

"Flare."

"No, Cynder you're right, I'm nothing but a monster, and I know it."

"Flare, you're not a monster."

"You said it yourself Cyn, I'm nothing but a monster. I might as well be an equal to malaf-"

"""""SMACK""""

An audible smack was heard as Cynder slapped me with the blunt of her tail.

I pause for a minute and blink repeatedly before looking at Cynder, my eye twitches slightly. "What The Hell Was That For!" I yell, not quite angry, but still annoyed at the sudden pain across my face.

"You're nothing like malafor."

"You couldn't have just said that?!" I yell in confusion.

Cynder thinks for a second "...No."

I sigh and rub my face "That really hurt." I complain.

"Awe poor Flare" She teases me as she rubs her body against mine.

"Wow Cyn, I didn't know you cared about me like that." I laugh.

She looks at me darkly and says "You'll be fine." Then pushes me away.

Now, of course, my luck, I fall right into a fully grown, earth dragon, three times my size, who just so happens to be a total jackass. Again, my luck.

I turn around and start to apologize. "I'm sor-"

"You'd better be sorry, why don't you watch where you're going."

I look at the dragon with malice as I yell back. "How 'bought go fuck yourself."

"Excuse me? Who do you think you're talking to pipsqueak?"

"I think I'm talking to the oversized pebble that's standing in front of me."

"Why you little."

Suddenly Cynder jumps right in between us. Apparently he had completely ignored her existence till now.

"Who are you? You his friend?"

"Yeah, I'm Cynder and I'm the one who pushed him into you. We're both really sorry about that."

"I'm not fucking sorry!" I object.

Cynder snaps her tail blade to my neck and turns around to say "Shut Up!"

Without a flinch I begin to walk away, of course I was still watching that dragons reactions carefully, I don't trust him.

She turns back to the large dragon "like I said, we're really sorry, and it won't happen again."

"Hm, you think you're getting off just like that right? You're wrong, I know who he is and I especially know who you are. The way I see it, I'd be doing the world a favor by killing both him and the terror of the skies."

Cynder steps back shaking her head. "N-no."

The large dragon chuckles as he steps closer to Cynder. "Don't worry, I'll be sure to make it as painful as possible." He says as he raises his fist and tries to attack Cynder.

I react quickly by slashing my tail to intersect the dragons fist, then I uppercut him sending him back to the ground.

As he regains his composure he sees me standing defensively infront of Cynder, my wing almost pushing her away.

"I can't beleive you, even after all she's done, you still consider her the monster she never had control over. She aided the purple dragon in Malafors defeat. Infact without her, he wouldn't have been strong enough to defeat him. Cynder is not a monster, she never was, if anything she's a hero, and I'd be damned before I let you hurt her." I say defending Cynder, much to her surprise.

"I don't care what she does, it'll never make up for her actions, and defending her only adds to my reasons for killing you, the dark dragon in disguise." The dragon says as he stands up.

"So be it, I tried to reason with you-" I say as I slowly step into a defensive position. "But you're just too arrogant to see the truth."

"Grrah, I'll show you arrogance!" He yells out in anger as he charges me.

I watch as he runs towards me, he has a strong upper body, however he's well off balance and should be easy to throw around, even if he weighs a ton.

Once the dragon is in range I slash his feet out from under him making him fall in the air. I jump into the air and add to the momentum from his charge by head-butting him, making him crash, hard, against the wall of the building behind me.

As I land and begin to go towards the dragon, I suddenly feel my tail grabbed tightly. I turn angrily to see Cynder clamped down on my tail in her mouth. She shakes her head, implying that I've done enough.

I take my tail from her easily to avoid the blade. "Come on, lets get outta here."


Meanwhile in the shadows...

"Sir, the target may be stronger than we originally presumed, what are my orders?" A dark dragon speaks through a strange field of energy known as convexity.

"Noted, we may need to change our strategy. Is he alone?" A voice speaks to the dragon through convexity.

"No sir, strangely, he's actually with Cynder this time."

"Hmm, either way, fall back and we'll wait for him to stray from the others.

"Yessir."


We walk for a bit in complete silence. I still can't believe that there are people out there who still haven't forgiven her. It's unreal, after everything she's done to prove herself and people still think she's a monster. And what was that he said about me? The dark dragon in disguise? I guess I'm starting to get noticed for what I really am.

Suddenly Cynder speaks up. "Flare I-I wanted to say I'm sorry"

"Hm? For what?"

"For...what I said back there." She says both hesitantly and sorrowfully.

I shake my head. "Don't worry about it, if I cared about that, I wouldn't be here right now, I'd either be dead or out there somewhere alone."

"But-"

"No butts, I said not to worry about it."

She looks down and thinks for a while as we walk in silence. Suddenly she speaks up again. "Well, Thank you anyways" I look in her direction and she continues. "For what you said back there. You defended me when I needed you, and that's more than alot of people have done for me."

I smile. "Well everything I said was true and I hate when I see that people still haven't forgiven you."

"I-I didn't know you cared."

I sigh and look ahead again as we continue to walk. "Cynder If your nice to me and respectful, I can be the nicest and most thoughtful person you ever met, But as soon as you treat me like that asshole did back there, I'll show you what a prick I can really be.

"What about Viper?"

"Grr, he's an acception. I feel sorry for him, so I hold back and bottle it up, but even then I can only hold so much before the bottle breaks, and you and I both know what will happen at that point."

Cynder shakes her head. "I just wish I could fix what I did to him. I feel so bad about it."

"Have you told him that?"

"...No."

"Well I'm not telling you to go rush up to him and go on a huge rant about how sorry you are, but I would definitely consider telling him how you feel about that."

"I'm just, afraid to."

I sigh and try to change the subject. "Well where are we headed, cuz were almost there, right?"

"Yeah, I'll show you, follow me."


For the rest of the day me and Cynder explored the various stores and vendors around the market as we searched for many things we talked and had a lot of fun. It was getting dark so we decided to take what we got and meet up with the others back at the tower. Where Solfie and Spyro were already waiting.

"So how was your trip? As successful as ours I'd hope." I said to Spyro.

"Well we got what we could find, wasn't much. What about you?"

"We got the tables for the food, some of the drinks, alcoholic and non, and we even found someone who's pretty good to play the live music."

"Wow, that's awesome! What about you and Cynder, did you two get along ok?"

"Yeah, a lot happened but, we're cool now."

Spyro sighs in relief. "That's good, I was a little worried when Solfie sent you with her."

"Yeah, that confused me a little too."

Suddenly the clock tower chimed to indicate that it's almost curfew.

Cynder walks up to me and Spyro. "I guess it's time to head back now."

"Yupp, you coming Flare?" Spyro asked.

"Actually I had something else in mind tonight."

"Alright Flare, I'll see you tomorrow then"

"Alright, tomorrow morning." I remind him.

"Right, see ya Flare." Spyro laughs.

"Bye Flare." Cynder says as they both take off towards the temple.

I wave my wing from my head to my shoulder, kinda like a solute, then I turn to Sol.

"So I take it you had a good time with Cynder." She says almost innocently.

I smile evilly and jump at her to try to tackle her but she quickly dodged and took off with me in hot pursuit. It's still obvious she wasn't trying, knowing she's faster than me she always tries to pretend that I'm keeping up, but I know her game. I play along anyways.

She does several loops and spins as I follow and mimic her movements. Then I decided to see if I could actually catch her so I waited for her next loop, then sped up. I swear I nipped her tail before she got out the way. Suddenly she tackled me and we fell to the ground. Again we tumbled down the hill fighting over who would be dominate tonight. This time it was me as I pinned her to the ground at the base of the cherry tree.

I stare into her eyes again, like the water they are a calm and loving bright blue. Suddenly they closed and she began to lean towards me. I smile and am more than happy to share a moment of bliss as we kiss.

I lie down on her and begin to draw deeper into the kiss as it become more and more intimate. After a few minutes of this I decide to break the kiss, to her dislike as I hear a slight whimper.

I smile and stare into her eyes once more. "So exactly who's idea was it to send me off with Cynder, yours or hers?"

"What? I had nothing to do with that." She knew that wouldn't work on me. "Well maybe a little bit." I look at her with a look that says I'm not stupid. "Alright, maybe it was a lotta bit. Either way it made you two friends again didn't it."

"Yeah, I guess it did, but that was really sneaky."

"Well I can't be predictable all the time, that'd be boring."

I laugh. "You know I love you right?"

She smiles and flips me onto my back, kissing me again. It seemed like forever, that we lied there, enjoying each others company. Not that it mattered, I'd easily share eternity with her. She Broke the kiss, and curled up into my arms as we gazed at the stars until we both fell asleep under the moonlight.


A/N: I think I'm starting to get a grip on this writers block thing. Hopefully, if I'm right, things will start picking up. A lot of foreshadowing this chapter. I wonder if you seen some of it. Some is more obvious than the rest, XD. Anyways, Until Next Time:

Flare