Sorry to all of you who don't like this, but…. There is going to be a little Inter Species Romance in this one…. I'm also sorry if it seems like that went way to fast, but trust me! ALL WILL BE MADE CLEAR!

Trust me! You'll love all the twists I have planned for this story!

Elijah sat with Emily for nearly an hour, up until the rain passed, and was replaced with clear skies and bright sunlight. Emily was the one to break the silence, moving off him, she sat up and asked, "So, can you tell me more about that Memory?"

Elijah's first thought was to say, "No."

He saw her disappointment, and reconsidered. After a moment of thinking he sighed and said, "Well…. I guess I can. With you. Can't start a relationship with secrets, now can we?"

She smiled, and asked happily, "So, what are those necklaces you have in your pocket?"

"Well, we called them Dog-Tags, all soldiers had them. They identified a soldier, that way, if he died, you knew who it was, and could tell his or her family."

"Why did you keep them? And where did the other ones come from? We only saw you grab one."

"Well, where that Memory ended wasn't the end of my time there. I wandered that forest for 2 days before I was picked up and taken to a Temporary Base. In my time there, I made a few more friends." Elijah said, deciding the leave one part out.

She caught on immediately, and asked, "What are you not telling me? No secrets, remember?"

He sighed, defeated, and said, "That was where I met my wife."

He looked up and saw a confused look on her face, and realized the word Wife might be different here, so he said, "Uh, I think you would call it a mate?"

Her eyes widened, and she said, "Oh, you have a mate?"

"Had." He corrected, and saw her turn sad, more so than even he was. He also noticed the slightest hint of nervousness.

"It's ok, I've moved on for the most part. I'm not even sure we loved each other. When I think about it, about her, I only find joy in the things we did, not in her. Just like our wedding, we went and pulled a prank on our C.O. and we got him really good! We put firecrackers in his desk, and rigged them to blow when he opened it!" He was smiling, and staring off into the distance, but then he turned more neutral again, "I don't really know what love is, so I had to assume that's what it was… but, it doesn't matter. She's dead, and there's nothing I can do about it."

Emily was slightly surprised by the sudden, and very blunt, change in attitude.

"She died in the attack, just like my friends, and all because of my own mistake." By this point, he was fighting the tears that threatened to escape his eyes, and unable to make eye contact with her, but he continued, "They came out of no where… just, BAM! A dozen choppers are raining hell down on base. I was assigned to one of the few Anti-Aircraft guns we had, but I was so worried about screwing it up, that I screwed it up." He pulled the tags out of his pocket, and looked at each one before continuing, "I hesitated in my shot, and fired to late, and our armory went up, and as some of the bullets flew, one hit my closest friend, Peyton. The next to go was my wife, a rocket hit near her, but it was the Shrapnel that got her. The next was Trent, he was shot during the second wave, along with Dillan, who died shortly after him."

It was quiet a few moments before Emily responded, "I'm sorry."

"It's fine, it doesn't bother me as much as it used to." He said, and couldn't help but feel happy at her next words, "Well, you'll forget all about it now, because now your not alone."

She then brought her head down to him, and nuzzled his cheek. He smiled, and returned the affection by wrapping his arms around her neck, just below her head, and pulled her head closer so he could kiss the top of her head.

"Alright, let's get going now, shall we?" Emily asked, but Elijah had one last question, "Wait, do we tell others of this?"

"Uh, yeah, why wouldn't we?"

"Oh, I don't know, they might not approve of it?"

"Who cares if they don't approve of it?" She asked, a slight reassuring tone in her voice.

"Good point. Let's get going, then." He said with a smile, then began to climb down. She jumped off, and hovered right behind him, and taunted him, "Your slow, come on!"

He didn't reply, but tried to descend faster. He slipped once, but was caught by Emily, who of course, teased him for it.

When he made it back down to the balcony, she landed next to him with a smile, and he rolled his eyes before walking inside. He made it probably half way down the hall when he heard a pained roar that echoed down the halls.

"What the hell was that?" He asked in an only mildly interested tone. His mild interest changed when she said, "That was a Dragon Battle cry! Something must be attacking her!"

He mumbled a few curses, and took off down the hall. Sure enough, sounds of battle were soon heard, and as Elijah came running into the room, he saw an impressive sight.

There were charred ape bodies everywhere, at least 2 dozen of them, and at least another dozen that had been cut up or stabbed by the sharp tail Lillian had. However, even having taken all these down, Lillian still lay in a pool of her own blood, with one, massive cut from her shoulder to nearly a foot further down her back.

Of course, she had other wounds, but none of them large enough to be considered fatal to a dragon her size.

3 Apes remained, and they stood over her. Elijah quickly drew his pistol, and fired 3 times, killing all three apes. He then ran towards Lillian to inspect her wounds. As he approached, she opened her eyes, and smiled at him. She went to say something, and tried to raise her head, but as Elijah reached her, he pushed her head back down and said, "Don't move or speak, conserve your energy."

Elijah then slung his backpack off, and set it down, pulling out the small amount of medical supplies he had. He mumbled more curses, and said to Emily, "I need you to go find me anything we can use to wrap this with! Curtains, Blankets, anything! Quickly!"

She nodded, and shot off down a hall. Elijah then started trying to stop the bleeding as much as possible, by taking a shirt out of his bag and pressing it to the wound. As he did so, she growled in pain, so Elijah said soothingly, "I know it hurts, I really do, but I promise I'll try to be as gentle as possible."

She did not respond, but let loose a shuddering sigh. Emily returned about 10 minutes later, dragging a massive curtain made of a soft, silky material.

He tore a large chunk off, but before putting it on, he said, "Ok, Lillian, this is going to hurt, but I need to apply some disinfectant to the wound."

Before he could do anything further, a voice stopped him, "By the Ancestors! What happened in here?"

He turned to see Spyro approaching, and he responded, "I don't know, I just came in, shot three apes, and now I'm trying to stop Lillian from bleeding to death."

He then turned back to Lillian without waiting for a response from Spyro, and asked, "Ok, are you ready?"

She nodded weakly and closed her eyes. Elijah brought out the medical disinfecting Spray from his medical kit, and he wondered if there was enough in the little bottle to get her entire wound, but then he started.

She roared in pain, but stayed somewhat still, but another set of voices interrupted him again, "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR DOING?! SPYRO, STOP HIM!"

Elijah glanced over just in time to see Spyro flare out his wings as a sort of barrier, stopping Terrador's charge. He knew they were having a conversation, but was no longer listening and went back to work, now wrapping the cloth around her as best he could, then motioning for Emily to lift her up a bit so he could actually wrap it.

When he finished, he turned to see that Spyro and Terrador were still arguing, so Elijah stopped it by saying, "Ok, I've done as much as I can right now, get her a real doctor."

Terrador looked at him, surprised, and asked, "Wait, what?"

"All I can do without further supplies is disinfect the wound and stop the bleeding. She needs some of those healing crystals you guys use, to heal her more permanently." Elijah responded, slightly impatient.

When Terrador didn't move, Elijah said, "Fine! I'll go find them myself!" And he took a step away, but was stopped by Lillian, who said weakly, "Wait."

He turned back around, and walked back over, kneeling next to her head.

She opened her eyes, and looked at him before saying, "Thank you."

Elijah smiled, then patted her head a few times before saying softly, "I'm going to go get a healer, ok?"

She shook her head slightly, wincing in pain, but then said, "No, let someone else. Stay with me, please."

He glanced at Emily, who looked back, and reluctantly nodded before leaving the room. Elijah sat down next to her head, and stroked her head, ignoring the blood that now covered his arms, legs, and hands.

Soon, Spyro and Terrador left, leaving him alone with her. It was this way for nearly two hours.

By this point, she had regained enough energy to speak properly, and she said, "Thank you for saving me."

Slightly surprised by her voice, Elijah stumbled on his words, and he found himself nervous, "Oh, uh, yeah, no problem."

"But, why? I attacked you earlier, but yet now, I owe you my life."

"What? You don't owe me anything, I'd save you any day." He said, then quickly added, "Same with any of the others."

"You don't understand, do you?"

"Understand what?" He asked, confused.

"Well, a dragon isn't compelled to save another creature unless they love it in one way or another, as a friend, sibling… or something more, like a mate."

"Is this the same as your idea that scars were Attractive?" He joked, and got a smile from her, but no laugh, as it would hurt to do so. Then Elijah continued in a serious tone, "Well, I'm not a dragon."

She scoffed and said, "Good point, but the concept is similar."

Elijah realized what she was saying, and tried to think of how to get out of answering.

Luckily, the door opened seconds after, and a healer came in. He pushed Elijah out of the way, but not in a rough way, more gentle like. He allowed himself to be moved, and the healer inspected the wrapping around the wound.

The healer himself was a medium sized, male, blue dragon that stood about 8 feet tall when standing.

The dragon turned to Elijah, a surprised look on his face, "This is really well wrapped, but even so, it shouldn't have stopped the bleeding as much as it has. What did you do to make it stop?"

At first, Elijah was confused too, but then something clicked, and a memory flashed in his mind.

"The disinfecting Spray I used has a chemical that accelerates the Clotting process."

The dragon only became more confused, so he attempted to explain, "The disinfectant I used didn't just kill any infection forming and clean the wound, but there was another chemical that made her blood clot faster, and therefore stop the bleeding."

The dragon understood only the first part of it, and asked, "What do you mean, 'Clot'?"

"Oh, there are very small things in all of our blood that join together at the site of a cut and stops blood from leaving the body and- Wait! Now's not the time for a lesson in Biology! Heal her!"

The dragon nodded hastily, and said, "I need some time, leave the room, please."

Elijah complied, and walked out the door, closing it behind him with a hollow sounding thud. He stood in front of the door for a few moments, as his thoughts went back to her questions. Elijah wasn't stupid, he knew how to put two and two together, but her questions had him stumped.

It wasn't the answer he was confused on, he knew damn well What she was implying. He was confused as to what he would do with that answer.

He already had Emily, but then Lillian too? Lillian was an entirely different matter, as she was larger than Emily. When she stood, he came to her shoulder, but when Emily stood, she was about the same height.

For a brief moment, a thought crossed his mind, how would we end up mating? He shuddered at the thought, but then realized he didn't do so because of the thought of them mating, only because of the probability he would die…

He pushed the thoughts aside. Maybe I can talk to someone about it. He thought, then walked off down the hall.

He ended up lost.

As he wandered alone, he found himself to be hungry. As his stomach growled, and quite loudly, he set his backpack down and pulled out a strip of dried meat and started chewing on it. He kept walking down the halls, trying to find anyone, but soon found himself at a set of stairs.

However, these stairs went down, and there was no light at the bottom.

It was eerily silent, and the darkness loomed like a bottomless pit. Elijah cautiously pulled out his flashlight, and shinned it down. It went down probably 40 feet before there was a wall, and on this wall was an ominous looking metal door. The door was small, clearly not made for dragons to use, unlike the rest of the temple. He walked down, and approached the door. There was a handle, and he twisted it.

The door clicked open slightly, and as he pushed, it squeaked open. He looked around him, still needing the flashlight, and found himself in a long, stone tunnel.

He was about to close the door, but because of his 'cautious' nature, he checked the other side of the door. He sighed in relief at having done this, as there was no handle on the other side.

Relief was quickly replaced by suspicion, and he asked himself quietly, "Why isn't there a handle on this side?"

Next, he noticed claw marks.

Then, he wondered why he hadn't seen them before, as they were everywhere. Big, small, long, short, vertical, horizontal, on the walls, on the floor… absolutely everywhere.

Elijah drew his pistol, and after checking his clip, he continued down the tunnel. He found nothing but tunnel for what seemed like hours of walking, but soon found a wall.

He looked for another passage, but found none. Confused, he turned around to head back, but was met with another wall. Startled, he backed up to the other wall he found, but met no resistance, and almost fell.

As he regained his balance, he looked around, and saw a room of stone had replaced the stone wall. He also flicked off his flashlight, as this room was already lit up by a massive crystal in the middle of the room, about 12 feet wide, and 18 feet tall, and a Rhombus like shape.

It was purple.

Within the crystal, Elijah could see something. Mesmerized, he approached it, holstering his pistol, and clipping the flashlight back onto his backpack.

As he approached the large, glowing, purple, floating crystal, he was able to identify the thing inside the crystal.

It was a dragon.

It was just a little larger than Emily, and appeared to be purple in color, but Elijah figured it might have just been the Crystal that made it seem that way.

Then, he thought, maybe the dragon is making the crystal that color…

As he came up to it, he felt heat radiating off of it. However, not intense, painful heat. It was a welcoming heat, the kind you would hope for after a cold winter day.

Elijah reached up, and touched the crystal.

Everything went black.

He then heard a voice, an evil, and dark sounding voice, "Why thank you for freeing me, simple human. Now I can finally finish my mission and destroy Warfang and the rest of the world! But first, I think I'll start with the guardian's…."

Elijah opened his eyes as the voice faded out, and he found himself floating in the middle of an endless purple expanse. Elijah knew what had happened.

He just traded places with the dragon inside…. And unleashed hell apon the world.

He sighed, and closed his eyes, letting his thoughts wander. His thoughts mostly consisted of Emily and Lillian, and after what felt like days within that Crystal, he found himself liking the idea of them.

Although, who wouldn't? After spending days in that Crystal, Elijah was a little crazy, and literally anything seemed better. But, because that's what his thoughts kept going to, that is what he wanted.

Of course he tried to fight it on the first day, he didn't even know them! But, as time went on, and his mind began to slip, he made up personalities for them.

But he never opened his eyes.

Then, a sound interrupted his thinking. At first he tried to ignore it, but then realized it was more than a sound, something was in here with him.

He opened his eyes for the first time in days, and saw a small object about the size of a bowling ball, and resembled a ball of light. However, when he stared into this light, it didn't hurt his eyes or make his vision spotty like it would normally.

It floated in front of him, and shimmered slightly. Mesmerized by it, Elijah reached out to touch it. Then, he stopped himself, remembering the last time he did something like that. But as he pulled his hand away, the small light moved slightly, towards him, then up and back, and made a small noise that resembled a Bird chirp.

To Elijah, the action seemed reassuring in a way, almost like to was telling him, 'It's ok, touch me.'

Elijah reached out, and again, hesitated, leaving his fingers hovering inches away from the orb. He felt a heat coming off it, but it was welcoming. However, not the welcoming type he felt from the Crystal, this was different.

He just didn't know in what way.

He touched it.

He immediately felt something, almost like a rush of knowledge, and thoughts flowed into his mind. He now knew exactly what this orb was.

It told him that when the Evil Dragon Malefor escaped, he couldn't escape with all his powers, and so it remained here. And now Elijah could escape with these powers. However, within this information, he was asked to make a choice, leave with the powers of Ice, Poison, and Shadow, and have a dragon's body, or leave with none as a human.

Elijah liked the concept of being a dragon, but still preferred to be a human, as this was his form. He enjoyed his, even if comparably fragile, strong body, he had worked on it for so long. He enjoyed the way he did things in his body, running, breathing, talking.

Hell, he even enjoyed crapping with his body!

He had lived with this his entire life, and couldn't imagine having to do anything in another body.

So, he decided to look for option three, if there was one at all. Of course, it wasn't easy to find, but he got it. Option three had a few drawbacks, including no poison or Ice power, as that required a dragon's form to use. However, the Shadow was another story…

He could use that, but his mind would have to change a bit. He would have a dragon's mentality added to his own, as his human mind alone wouldn't process the new ability. He made his choice, and the orb split into 3 sections, and two floated away, but one stayed in front of him, and it changed from a bright light, to an orb that Elijah couldn't ever truly describe to anyone else. It was a shadow, but it floated, had no form, but was physically there, had no color, yet it absorbed all color.

He touched it, and it disappeared. Nothing happened.

Then, he heard a loud crack, and it was followed by another, and another. Then, he heard a shattering sound.

He was falling.

He hit the ground.

Elijah took a deep breath of cool, damp air, and looked around. He was no longer in a cave, but a large stone room with a metal door on one end. Confused, he stood up, and heard crunching beneath his feet. He looked down, and saw shards of Crystal all over the floor.

He walked up to the door, and tried to twist the handle, but it did not budge.

"Hey! Someone let me out of here!" He yelled, hitting the door with his fist. He heard sounds on the other side, like voices, and then sounds of running feet. However, these steps faded, as they were leaving the area, not coming towards the door.

With a sigh, Elijah pulled out his pistol, and fired at the handle twice. As the handle rolled around on the ground, the door swung open slightly, and Elijah pushed it open, just in time to see 15 Apes turn the corner in the hallway in front of him. They filled the hallway, 7 with spears making the front row, and a group of 8 Archers behind them. Elijah was at an extreme disadvantage in these tunnels, as he couldn't get around those spears.

Plus, he had nowhere to hide from those arrows.

As they came to the entrance, one ape called, "Drop the weapon! We outnumber you! You don't stand a chance!"

Elijah knew he had enough bullets to kill them, but what if there were more? He would have to find a more peaceful way out of this.

"And what happens if I do?"

"You'll be taken to the holding cells for Malefor to Question." The ape replied.

"And if I don't?"

"Well, first off, you will die, and second, your fellow guardians and friends will too." The ape said with a sneer.

What? They have my friends? He thought, but actually said, "Ok, I'll go along."

He holstered his pistol, and walked towards them, where one ape stepped forward, a piece of rope in hand. They pushed Elijah down the hall after binding his hands, a little to tight in Elijah's opinion, until he came to a massive room, easily the size of 2 football fields, and probably a hundred feet high.

Inside this room were a number of large cages, and within these cages, he saw first a few dragons and Cheetahs he didn't know, but soon, he saw the cages containing familiar faces. However, a number of them were still missing.

Dead or escaped, Elijah did not know, but Drake, Ron, Chandler, Gloria, Emily, and Aleah were not there. Of the faces he did see, Spyro, Cynder, Terrador, Cyril, Volteer, Tristan, Hunter, and Lillian he did recognize, and all their eyes were on him. They were split between 3 cages, and he was thrown into the one containing Lillian, Hunter, and Tristan.

"By the Ancestors, you're alive!" Lillian said, jumping at him and wrapping her wings around him and holding him to her chest. Elijah struggled to breath for a few moments, until she released him. As he caught his breath, Tristan approached him, a concerned look on his face.

"What the hell happened to you?"

"Well, Spyro and I we-"

"No, they already told us about that, I mean, why did you go missing?"

"Uh, well, after helping Lillian-" but was interrupted and corrected, "Saved Lillian"

"Ok, after saving Lillian, I got lost, and ended up inside some sort of tunnel. I touched a crystal, apparently traded places with this Malefor Dragon, and got stuck in the Crystal for a few days." He said, but out of fear something would overhear them, he left out the new ability that he had yet to figure out.

"A few days? What're you talking about?" Tristan asked, confusing Elijah. Lillian explained it to him, "Elijah… you went missing almost 2 months ago."

His jaw dropped.

"Wh-wh-" He said, but could barely form the thought, let alone the word. When he finally composed himself enough to think properly, he asked, "What happened while I was gone? Where are the others?"

"Well, Aleah and that group escaped the attack, but Hunter and I were caught."

"And what about Emily?" He said, slightly worried, but hopeful as well. He saw looks of disgust replace their expressions, and Lillian told him, "Emily? That traitor is working with Malefor! She sold us out, she brought Malefor into the city, and Helped him take us all captive!"

Elijah was shocked a moment, then a brief second of disbelief flashed through him. That was quickly squished by the angry faces that told him it was true. He sighed heavily, and said, "Well, so much for giving a relationship a try."

"What? A relationship? You wanted to become her mate?" Lillian said in disbelief and jealousy.

"What? No! You see, humans have different guidelines for relationships. We start with dating, in which we engage in random activities such as dinner, that way we can get to know each other, and figure out if we really like each other. And if we do, then we take the next step."

She seemed to relax a little, but still had something on her mind.

He was going to ask her what it was, but a massive door was swung open on the other side of the room, and a loud voice was heard, "Where is he!?"

A few voices were heard, and within moments, a massive, Purple Dragon came into sight. The dragon was similar to Spyro, the differences being his Darker scales and his eyes.

"Hello, Elijah. How in the world did you get out of there?" He asked, but didn't let him reply, and said, "No matter, come along, small human."

Elijah cautiously walked out of the cage, and towards the dragon, who stood at least twice his height. Without a word, the Dragon turned and started walking, and Elijah followed. Both were silent for a few minutes of walking, but soon Elijah asked, "Where are we going?"

"To catch a view." The dragon replied, and Elijah figured he would just have to wait and see. While they walked, Elijah looked for any way he could get out, and while doing so, he saw Emily down one hallway. She looked at him, and her eyes went wide, surprise, shock, fear, and sadness in her features. Elijah stared at her blankly for a few moments, then his expression turned to disgust as he remembered what she did. Her face fell in shame, and Elijah looked away.

Malefor laughed evily and said tauntingly, "Don't take her betrayal personally, I forced her to do it." He then whispered to Elijah, "She thinks I have her family…. But they died long ago…. And, quite Ironically doing the same thing you are."

Elijah didn't respond.

They soon came to a door, and the Dragon opened it to reveal I balcony. As Elijah walked out, it was dark outside, but no stars shone. As he looked down, he saw thousands of campfires, and three times that many tents, and each tent was home to orcs, apes, Hounds, everything Elijah had trained to fight.

"Oh my god…" Elijah mumbled, and the Dragon Chuckled evily and said, "Yes, quite impressive, isn't it?"

Elijah didn't respond to the question, and instead asked his own, "What do you want with me?"

"I want you to help me."

"Why would I help you to destroy the world that I currently live on?"

"Oh, no, my goals have changed since then! You see, I could have destroyed it weeks ago! But I want to rule over it now, not destroy it. And you can help me… even have your own part to rule as your own!"

"And what of my friends?"

"Well, most of them have to be destroyed, but as for Emily… you two can live together happily for the rest of your lives."

Elijah scoffed, and said, "What? Under your rule? Never doing anything but sitting around in fear that you might one day come down and kill me?"

"Is it not easier than trying to beat me?" The dragon said, and Elijah thought a moment, but after a few seconds, Elijah turned away and leaned on the rail. He said slowly, "Well, I have a quick quote for you, it comes from a man I can't remember the name of, but it goes like this, 'You can't fall if you don't climb.'" This gave Malefor a false sense of victory, thinking that Elijah had accepted. But, he was pushed off that hope when Elijah continued, "'But there's no joy in living your whole life on the ground'"

With that, Malefor growled, and said, "Fine, you'll die in a cell, just like the rest of them. And escape isn't possible…. The cages are bound by Magic, and are unbreakable. I even went so far as to get one specially for Cynder, and now she can't use her Shadow Element and slip out. Face it, you've lost."

A few minutes later, Elijah was back in the Cell, but with a number of cuts and a bloody nose.

"What did they do you?" Lillian asked, concerned, but Elijah, who was looking up and pinching his nose, said with a laugh, "Ha! You should see the other guy!"

He received a few chuckles from the cages around him, but a new voice was heard, "Elijah? What're you doing here? He promised you'd be safe in that Crystal!"

"Why? So you can betray me anymore than you already have?" He said bluntly, no emotion but anger and disappointment. She looked away a moment in shame, and Elijah waited her response.

"I'm sorry… but he has my family, and for a while, he had you too. He threatened to kill you if I didn't help him. But he promised if I did, you would stay safely in the Crystal until this whole thing ends, along with my family!"

Now Elijah couldn't help but feel empathy for her, as she turned away again and said, "I couldn't let you die…" and a tear fell from her eye.

Elijah sighed heavily and said slowly, "Emily…. Your family is dead."

She looked at him and said, "What? No! They're alive!"

Elijah shook his head, but said nothing afterwards. She looked at him in horror, and more tears formed in her eyes. She then whispered, "Then I did all this for nothing? When I could so easily have just taken you out of the Crystal?"

Elijah didn't respond, and fought the urge to feel bad for her. Then, Cynder spoke, "Your not the first one he has corrupted."

Realization came across all their faces, except Elijah's, and while they all seemed untrusting of her, they seemed a little more understanding.

"Wait, why am I the only one who doesn't know what that means?"

"I'll tell you later." Cynder said.

"Yes, later. I have to go before I am found." Emily said sadly, and before Elijah could tell her otherwise, she ran off. Elijah turned and looked at Lillian, who still had a concerned look, but now some jelousy was there too. She sighed, and said, "Come here and let me clean you off."

"Excuse me? I don't need to be cleaned, first off, and second, how in the hell would I get a shower in this place?"

"I wasn't referring to the use of water." She said in a Matter-of-Fact tone, and Elijah's eyes went wide. She started towards him, and he said, "No no no no no! You're not doing that!"

She smiled evily, and said, "Oh? And who is going to stop me from doing so?"

He looked at Hunter and Tristan, who were smiling and suppressing laughs. No help there, he realized. Then, he realized he had no help anywhere.

"Oh shit…" He whispered, and tried to dodge her pounce, but she caught him with her wings, bringing him to the ground. He sighed, defeated, and didn't try to fight her as she pulled him closer.

However, when she licked him the first time, he started struggling again. Her tounge was slimy and rough, and her saliva stuck to him. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, though, as her breath could have been bad, but wasn't.

It sort of smelt like burned meat…

She licked the blood off his face, arms, legs, clothing and skin alike. When she finished, she released him, and he scrambled away, stumbling a few times, and he received a few laughs from onlookers.

Annoyed and embarrassed, he went to the opposite side of the cage, which was about 30 feet by 35 feet, and sat down facing the other direction. Lillian felt bad for him, and gave the onlookers a glare, and they all stopped smiling and looked away. She walked over to him, and sat down in front of him. She licked him again, but this time in a gesture of affection, and laid her head down in front of him. Elijah tried to stay upset, but when he looked at her, he saw that she truly was sorry. He smiled slightly, and patted her snout a few times before leaning down to kiss her between the eyes. She purred softly, but stopped when Elijah pulled away from her.

"Ok, I have a plan to get out of here, but I need some time. Do you guardians have some sort of code you can use?" He asked, hoping against hope that the answer was yes. She hesitated a moment, but then raised her head and nodded. Elijah then whispered, "Ok, I need you to tell Terrador to ask Cynder how she uses her Shadow Element, and if she can teach me."

Her eyes went wide, then a devious smile reached her features. He watched as she made a few dozen carefully made movements, and Terrador Nodded before whispering something to Cynder. After a moment, she whispered something back, and so Terrador made more movements. Lillian then whispered to Elijah, "She says that you need to picture a shadow, and then focus on it. Imagine it making your movements, but also that you are making it move."

Elijah tried to do this. He felt nothing, but kept trying to picture himself as seeping into the shadows and slipping out of the cage.

Frustrated, he growled and opened his eyes. His eyes went wide, and he stopped the growl, as he found he was outside the cage. For the second time today, every eye was on him. Elijah smiled broadly and said,

"Who's ready to get out of here?"

It took nearly 10 minutes to get everyone out and now to make a plan.

"Ugh, this isn't going to work without a map of some sort!" Elijah said, frustrated after the Third attempt to make a plan.

"Hey! What the hell is going on here?!" Yelled a gruff voice behind them, "GUAR-" Called the voice, but was cut off with a strange sound and a gurgle. Elijah turned around, pistol drawn, to see an ape guard with a Sharp, Green tail sticking out of his chest, and a Familiar Green Dragoness behind it.

At first, his reaction was happy, but then he remembered, and his anger flared slightly, although less so because of what she did. As she ripped her tail out of the ape with a terrible schlick sound, it fell forward, and they saw Emily's face.

Apparently Elijah was the only one to see the sorrow, regret, and pain on her face, because he heard an angry growl come from the group behind him. They began to surge around him, but he stopped them by putting his arm out and saying, "No."

They didn't move, and Elijah walked towards her, ignoring the confused looks he was getting from his friends. As he approached her, he had an understanding and sad look, but also a stern and accusing hint to his features. She had a shameful look about her posture, and her face was filled with sadness and Regret, but also a hint of a new purpose.

The part that told him this was the new sparkle in her eyes.

He stopped 3 feet infront of her, and said nothing. There was so much that needed to be said, but no way to say it. Her head dropped, and she said, "I'm sorry."

Elijah heard all the truth in her voice, as well as the sadness, and decided to try some thing. He took a step further, and knelt down. He put a hand on her chin, and pushed her snout up while also standing up himself. When their eyes were level, he pulled his hand away from the bottom of her snout, and placed it on her cheek.

"I didn't know what the deal with Cynder is, but I can tell you from personal experiences you aren't the first one to do something bad for their friends and family. After that base attack… I went searching for the people that did it, and when I found them…. I found their families…." He was struggling to speak, and tears welled up in his eyes.

Her own eyes went wide as she realized what he had done. Elijah sniffled, and wiped the tears away before stepping back.

"I'll make it up to you. I'm going to get you guys out of here." She said confidently, and her eyes sparked in excitement.

He smiled, and said, "Ok, can you get the everyone out?"

"I can do more than that, I can get them weapons."

"Good." He turned to the group behind him, and he said, "Ok, she's going to get us weapons, and then get us out."

"Why should we trust her?" Asked someone.

"Because I trust her." He said confidently, then added before they could Protest more, "Alright, let's get going!"

"Your not going ANYWHERE!" Boomed a deep voice, and Elijah had to avoid a bolt of lightning. A massive, purple dragon emerged, and he had a Sinister grin on his face, and he laughed evily.

Elijah took action immediately, calling, "Follow Emily, and get out of here!" He said, pointing at the group of civilians and guards, then pointing at the guardians, Spyro, and Cynder, "You guys! We're going to keep him busy!"

"Are you, now?" Malefor said tauntingly.

Spyro charged the dragon, using a Comet Dash to close the distance, while Cynder shrunk into the shadows. Elijah walked over to the dead ape, and picked up his sword.

It was remarkably well built, light but strong, and razor sharp on both edges. It was probably almost 4 feet long, and probably 2 and a half inches wide at the hilt, and it gleamed in the low torch light. Over all, it was a simple build, but it was made to fight, not show off.

Kind of like Elijah.

He smiled, and a voice brought him out of his thoughts, "If your done examining your shinny new sword, would you mind joining following?"

He saw Hunter had said it, and he was going with Emily and the others.

"No, I'm staying here to fight that Purple son-of-a-Bitch!"

"What? No your not, your not strong enough to fight him!" Said Emily, who was standing not far away.

"What? I'm the only one who can beat him! Besides, I have a few things to get back at him for."

"No, your coming with us." Emily ordered, but Elijah shook his head and replied, "No, I'm not. I'll see you back in Warfang. Now go!"

He didn't wait for a response, and turned around, running towards the fight.

In the time he spent admiring the sword and arguing, Malefor had held his ground, despite being attacked by 6 Dragons.

That was all about to change, as Elijah entered the fight.

He ran at the dragon, and was surprised to find that the dragon was much more observant than he expected, and had to jump over a tail swipe. As he came within striking distance, he narrowly avoided a claw aimed at his throat, and he struck out at the paw that had swiped past him. He caught Malefor on the wrist, but it wasn't a clean cut, just a scratch. Regardless, it still hurt the dragon, and Elijah soon noticed a slight limp.

He couldn't admire his work for long, as the dragon had just knocked down Terrador. The dragon did not get back up.

He certainly tried, but having 2 Broken legs and wings in even worse condition, he couldn't even move. The next to fall was Cyril, who had been flying above the battle firing Ice Spike with astonishing accuracy, but was hit hard by one of Malefor's fireballs.

Seeing her downed allies, Lillian rushed over to them, as did Volteer, leaving Spyro, Cynder and Elijah to fight him. Elijah took the lead now, angered by seeing his friends fall. Spyro and Cynder, who had already taken a beating from the relentless attacks, reluctantly let him.

"Elijah! Stay back! He's much stronger than all of us, why would you be able to defeat him?" Lillian said, unintentionally insulting him. Elijah did not respond, but instead allowed a new feeling to take over, similar to the one he felt while fighting off the apes in the town.

This time, however, he had a dragon's mentality added to his own, increasing the energy he got from the rush of adrenaline. It was a rush of energy, and everything he did sped up, while everything else seemed to slow down.

Is this how dragons fight? He thought, then smiled and began his own barrage of attacks on the dragon.

He charged the dragon, and saw the dragon's tail coming at him low. He jumped over it, and after predicting the dragon's tactic, he moved the sword down, cutting clean through his tail, about a foot behind the sharp tip.

The dragon roared in pain, and blood went everywhere as it gushed from the wound. Elijah kept running towards him, and ducked under a paw as it swiped at him. As he passed under it, he brought his sword up again and cut the inside of Malefor's leg. Then, continuing the attack, he quickly sliced at the dragon's stomach and other leg.

Enraged and injured, the dragon kicked at him with his rear legs, catching Elijah's Left shoulder with a claw. Elijah cried out, and staggered out from beneath the dragon, who then swiped with one massive paw.

But Elijah wasn't done yet.

He quickly bought the sword out, pointed towards the paw, and impaled the paw. As Malefor roared in pain, Elijah left the sword stuck here, and drew his knife. He ran towards the distracted Malefor. He jumped at him, and stuck his knife into the dragon's side, and used it as a grip to quickly swing up onto his back. The dragon began using his wings, batting at him with them. One devastating blow caught Elijah on the chin, and his knees crumpled beneath him. But, he held on with his hands, despite the nausea, spotted vision, and unbearable headache.

He pulled himself up, and used his knife to stab at the dragon's throat.

But he missed.

His vision was blurry and spotted, and he couldn't see right, so he missed. He also missed the other wing that came at him, knocking him from the dragon's back. He hit the ground With a thud, and went unconscious.

Lillian watched the impressive display, as did Volteer, but Volteer had a new plan.

"Lillian, get him out of here, and take him somewhere safe! He needs to advance his powers and skill to defeat him."

"What about you guys?" She asked, but he shook his head and said, "No! Just take him and go!"

Then, Spyro came up and said, "I agree, take him and get out of here! Go to the mountains!"

Reluctantly, she sighed, and ran over to Elijah's limp body, and picked him up with her wings before setting him on her back. She then took off running towards the door. Malefor was to busy fighting Volteer, Spyro, and Cynder to notice them leave, and they met no resistance.

That is, until she ran into Emily again.

"Ok, the Civilians and other guards are out and headed to the City again. Where are you going?"

She sighed and said, "Look, I don't want to say this, but I need your help getting Elijah out of here and past guards."

"Woah, that's pretty trusting of you. Thanks for the-" but was cut off by Lillian, "This isn't me trusting you, it will be a long time before that happens again. This is me being forced to rely on you because I don't know how to get out and past the guards."

She looked a little ashamed, but nodded and said, "Ok, follow me."

They ran for nearly 20 minutes, running into 4 total apes, but killing each quickly. Now, they were on a Balcony, and Emily said, "We have to fly out, your too big to use the tunnel."

"Won't I be seen?" She asked, and Emily responded, "Of course, but your with me, so they won't stop us."

"Us? Your not coming." She said bluntly, but Emily convinced her by saying, "Well, if I'm not with you, they'll stop you, and attack you. How well can you fight with a human in your claws?"

She sighed and nodded, and after moving Elijah to her paws so she could fly, she took off, with Emily following.

Lillian practically held her breath as she flew over the area, and she noticed curious stares. She let out this breath when she finally passed over them, and within minutes they were on the horizon, miles away with no signs of pursuit.

They flew for hours on end, and they flew hard, only landing when absolutely necessary. Elijah didn't wake up, however, and it was scaring the two. Emily offered to carry him, but Lillian's response was always no. Her reasoning changed, however, from the fact she didn't trust her, to the fact that she wasn't big enough to carry him.

On the most recent rest, Lillian told her, "I know you want to prove yourself loyal, but now is not the time, right now I need you to shut up and let me focus on flying."

Emily didn't respond to her, but also didn't ask anything again.

Elijah woke up nearly two days later, in a cave. Elijah didn't open his eyes, but instead studied everything around him.

He heard at least two other creatures in the room with him, as he could hear their heavy breathing. He was also covered, but not with cloths. Aside from the fur blanket he had around him, he wore nothing, and that's not what worried him.

What worried him, was the fact that he just cracked his eye open enough to see that Lillian and Emily were with him. And 'with' was an understatement.

They were both curled up next to him, one on each side, and Emily's head was on his bare Chest, and Lillian's head was right next to his, with her snout touching his ear.

He tried to think of a way out, but after a few minutes of thinking about it, he realized he didn't want to get out. He enjoyed the attention, even if there was an immediate danger that one could roll over and kill him.

When he decided it was time to wake up fully and get some answers to the questions he had, he used one hand to brush the side of Lillian's snout. As her eyes fluttered open, she quickly jumped up, waking Emily.

"By the Ancestors! You finally awake!" She said, excited.

"Yeah, I'm awake. How long was I out?"

"2 days, almost 3." Emily responded.

"Wait, why are we here? Where are we? What happened to Malefor?" He asked, frantic, after the memories came back to him.

Their nervous faces did not help to settle the pit he felt growing in his stomach, and Lillian said, "Well… after you went out, Volteer sent us to keep you safe up here, until your ready to beat him completely. Train with your new power, your sword, stuff like that." Then Emily added, "And how did you get that power, by the way?"

Elijah sighed, and before saying, "First, can I get my cloths back?"

Sorry, it's kind of short compared to the last chapter, but I thought that was a good place to stop. I'm also sorry for the relatively long wait, but I had to revise and rewrite multiple times to make it just right, although I still feel like it went WAY to fast. I think I'll try to keep a pace after this one, and I there won't be any chapters like this again.

But either way, tell me what you think of it!

A quick thank to The Silent Insomniac, one of my favorite writers and follower of this story, as it was he who accepted to help, and while he doesn't know he helped, You did! THANK YOU!