Loss and Gain

Got this out before I had to leave, woo hoo!

I hope you enjoy, expect another update after a week, when I get back.

All reviews appreciated.

Spyro ascended, then slowed, waiting for Cynder to reach him. Her wing beats were powerful. Each stroke had been honed over years of practice, even if the body she learned in was now gone. At this point, she was a much better fly-er than he was. She approached and stopped beside him.

"So, where to?" Cynder asked.

"I don't know. I mean, it's, ah, kinda nice right up here," he responded, "We could just fly around for now. And talk," he added.

She nodded a little and swooped up past him. He followed closely behind her, and the began to slowly circle the temple.

"Ahm...have any of those wonderful dragons caught your eye yet, Cynder?" Spyro joked.

"No. They did not."

"I'm not surprised; they couldn't have noticed you- since they wouldn't leave me alone."

"Is that why you're no longer in there?"

"Partly," Spyro admitted.

"Partly?"

"Well...you left. And Ignitus was busy. Nobody else in there is worth my time."

"Oh, thanks. It means a lot."

"I doubt it," he chuckled, "You have more important things to worry about than my opinion." Spyro began a descent toward an opening in the trees below. Faintly, he could hear water running nearby.

"Like what?" Cynder asked. She followed him downward, unable to think of anything, in her mind, that was more important than he was.

Spyro looked back to answer her. He opened his mouth to speak- but caught his wing on an extended tree branch. It pulled him backward and he fell toward the ground belly-up.

Cynder gasped and dropped quickly, pulling her wings and legs in flat to her body. She could see the tear in Spyro's wing. He couldn't possibly recover. She shifted in the air to dive beneath him. Flinging her wings out again, and coming to a sudden stop, she braced herself. He hit her hard. Cynder struggled against the weight, but her wings compressed. She fought in the air, but too late.

She spread open her legs, and the ground shook with the impact. The energy rippled through the flesh of her underside. Her scales diffused and absorbed it as it went along. Cynder could feel the movement about her bones. Moments later, Spyro hit upon her back, pulsing more waves through her. Spyro spasmed on top of her for a moment, then went still.

"Cynder...are you alright?" he whispered.

"Mhm," she grumbled, "What about you?"

He looked back, extending his wing. "I won't be flying back to the temple. But I'm better than I could be thanks to you."

"But if you can't, can't fly?" she mumbled.

"It's too late for that. I could be unconscious or disabled if you hadn't helped me."

"Maybe, but your wing-"

"Shh! It doesn't matter. What's one little tear when you may have saved my life?"

Spyro slid backward off of her with a slow reluctance, or so Cynder perceived it. He walked carefully around her once, stopping at her side.

"You...hit pretty hard. Can you stand?"

She pushed up to her feet, slowly rising. She smiled and nodded, looking up ever so slightly to make eye contact with him.

"Good," Spyro said, "Do you think we should try to find our way back?"

"No, it's probably a bit dark to find the way walking."

"Huh? But the moon is out in-"

"Ooh!" Cynder fell suddenly to the ground. One paw shot up to clutch her chest.

Spyro froze in place. "C-Cynder, are you alright?" he gasped.

"Y-yeah," she said, wincing harshly, "I must have, ungh, hurt a muscle when I landed." She dropped her paw and stretched out on the ground. "Mm...mhgm..."

"You're going nowhere while you're hurt, then."

"No," Cynder asserted. She turned over onto her stomach and began to rise. "It would be better if- mghm!" she shouted, falling prone onto her side again.

"We'll stay together here tonight. There's no other choice."

"F-fine,"Cynder whimpered.

Spyro watched her shift about. She curled up slightly and stared up at him. He nodded to her and lay across from her.

"Would you, ah, like to talk about anything?" he asked.

"Yes."

He stared at her, waiting for her to continue, and she stared right back, smiling idly. He frowned, and lifted an eye-ridge at her.

"Oh! You meant...no, I, uh, don't have anything specific."

"Then to answer your question from earlier, there are many, many things more important than what I think...of you."

"Tell me."

"Um, well," his voice trailed off into a distant hum within Cynder's head. Spyro looked down to his paws. He dragged them back and forth through the dirt, then lifted them up and inspected each in turn.

"Foremost your life," he said.

"What?"

"You can't just stay at the temple forever. Neither of us can."

"Sure, but what does that have to do with you?"

"I want the best for you, Cynder. You need to think about your future beyond this place." He gestured in the direction of the temple.

"I already am," she mumbled.

"Sorry, what was that? I couldn't hear you."

"I am looking forward, Spyro. But you probably don't want to hear about it."

He chuckled and shook his head. "Of course I want to hear!"

"No, no you don't..."

"Cynder, I care about you. You're the only friend I even have."

She quickly cast her eyes away into the forest. "Did you hear that?"

"W-what?"

"I thought I heard something but-" she stopped, a yawn pouring from deep in her throat, "Ooh...I'm getting really tired."

Cynder lay her head down onto her front paws. Her tail wrapped up around the front of her snout. Spyro thought she looked very cute that way, and smiled in spite of himself.

"Okay, you get some rest. And I will too."

"Um." She withdrew her tail for a moment. "It's kinda cold. Do you mind sleeping right next to me, or even...uh, around me?"

Spyro nodded and stood. "Anything for making you comfortable. I just hope you're able to walk tomorrow."

"Oh, I think I will be."

He approached her and lay on her right side, moving gradually over and against her.

"Is this going to help?" he asked, awkwardly rubbing his lips together and flicking his tongue against them.

"I don't know. Maybe a little closer?"

He pressed over against her, wrapping his tail around behind her back end and over top of hers. His face was near to hers, and he could feel her quick breaths against his neck.

"Better?"

"Much," she replied, "Thank you."

She lay her head over the top of his paws, and he carefully lowered his neck over top of hers. Spyro closed his eyes and whispered, nearly inaudibly despite the silence of the night around them, "I love you."