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Chapter 10

Persona

The dragoness let out a sigh of frustration as she walked down the halls of the temple. "Why did she have to be so…so…" She bit her lip. Why did Shaylus have to be so stubborn? She was just looking out for the dragoness. But what did she do? She went up and talked to the purple dragon! Zaze, of all dragons! She shook her head. That kindness of hers was going to be the death of her. He was dangerous. If it was Spyro then she would have encourage her. But it wasn't. She stopped walking and looked back. The temple grounds were a fair distance away from her now. She could still head back and talk to Shaylus. Or she could just keep walking and let the dragoness learn her lesson for a change. With a scoff, she decided with the latter. Shaylus was too nice for her own good. This would serve as a good lesson for her. Now that her mind was finally at ease Aurora wondered what she was going to do now. The dragoness had planned to stick around with her friend for the whole afternoon but since their disagreement earlier happened, that went down the drain completely.

"I wonder what Trax is doing…" Last thing she could remember was that they left Trax and Steppe together at the training dojo. Steppe wasn't exactly the most outgoing dragon out there, so he would have probably opted to stay at the library. Trax must have been walking around doing Ancestors know what. That was when something caught her eye. "Steppe?"

The earth dragon looked like he was pleased with himself. He walked with a skip in his step and was beaming. "Oh, hey, Aurora!" He greeted her with a cheerful smile. "What's up?"

The dragoness eyed her friend curiously. "Not much. What are you happy about?"

"Oh, nothing really." Steppe then broke into an excited state. "It's just that I managed to meet him!"

"Who?"

"Crombe!" Aurora gave him a confused look which prompted him to add, "You know, the dragon earlier from class! The one you thought would fall flat on his face."

"I see." The dragoness shook her head. "Did something happen? How did you meet?"

Steppe looked down the floor, not wanting to remember the memory. "Vein and his lackeys were bullying me again."

"They were!?" Aurora exclaimed. "Where are they? I'll go give them a piece of my mind."

The earth dragon waved his paws, trying to calm his friend down. "No, no, no! It's alright!"

"Huh?"

"You didn't let me finish! Vein and his lackeys were bullying me again earlier. I was doing some homework at the library. They thought it was fun to bother me. You know how it goes." Aurora nodded, listening intently. "Well, there was me being tormented right? The next thing I know, Crombe comes around the corner and basically tells Vein to knock it off."

Aurora was taken by surprise. "He did? Just like that?"

Steppe nodded. "Yeah! I was like: either this guy is brave and is confident in himself, or he was really, really, really stupid.

"What happened then?"

"Naturally of course Vein wasn't having any of it and decides to have 'fun' with him instead. I took cover as the sparks began to fly. Crombe he just…" The dragon tried to find the right words and in the end said, "He just stood there! He looked bored! Vein tried to smack him with his tail, and then Crombe just slips by like water. He missed and he was this close." The dragon raised his paw to emphasize his point. "This close to each other, and he missed. He ended up smacking his friend."

"Wow…" Aurora was genuinely amazed. "That must have hurt."

"It sure looked like it did. Anyways, of course Vein wasn't all too happy about it. So he decides to go all up in his face and spit out fire."

The dragoness blinked. "In the hallway?"

"Yeah, I had to close my eyes. There was no way Crombe could have dodged that. He had to take it."

"What did he do then?"

"Fire was raging in front of us but eventually it was cut off. That was when we saw it. Crombe had managed to set up this earth wall between him and Vein in under that short amount of time and acted like it was nothing. The look on Vein's face was priceless! He was scared stiff. Crombe didn't miss a beat."

Aurora looked at Steppe who was happy retelling the story. "Well, I'm glad he came then; saved me the trouble of having to talk some sense into those idiots."

"I appreciate the concern," replied Steppe. "But the best part in all of this is that: I managed to get him as my mentor!"

The dragoness blinked. "…What?"

"My mentor; you know, teach me stuff!"

"Are you sure, Steppe? Crombe doesn't seem like the teaching type." She then thought for a moment and then added, "Nor the social type either."

The dragon looked down the floor. "He said yes…I think, so I guess that counts. You know the odd thing though."

"What is?"

"He seems to know Zaze. I mean, I think they were friends."

"Well, you could try asking him that when you start having lessons from him."

Steppe smiled. "I will." The earth dragon then decided to change the subject, "So, what are you doing here anyway?"

Aurora sighed. "Ms. Nice Dragoness back there decided it was a good idea to talk to Zaze."

"She really went through with it?"

"Yeah…I kept telling her no too."

Steppe looked at Aurora curiously. "Why are you so against it anyway? Zaze seems like a nice dragon."

"Not you too!" The dragoness' shoulders slumped.

"What? The Guardians seemed okay with it; even Spyro and Cynder!"

"It's just that…" Aurora closed her eyes. "I just don't trust him, alright; especially the fact that he IS the Dark Master isn't helping."

"Didn't they say he used to be—?"

"Look, can we not talk about him, please?" Aurora asked, cutting Steppe off.

Steppe eyed her curiously, but decided to drop the subject. "Alright; you don't have to be so touchy about it."

Aurora just shook her head. "So where's Trax? Didn't you two leave with each other?" She then let out a chuckle. "Or did he run off when Vein appeared?"

Steppe shook his head. "He wasn't there with me, sadly. And you know Trax, he won't leave me with him."

"I know, I know. I was just kidding. Do you know where he went?"

The dragon sighed. "He went off to try and talk to Volteer."

"He's still on that?"

"The guy's persistent, I can tell you that much."

Aurora frowned. "I wonder what it will take for him to realize he's not Guardian material."

"Maybe when Volteer tells him?" Steppe looked out the window, noting that the sun started to cast orange streaks on the sky. Afternoon was leaving and evening was fast approaching. "Aurora, do you really, honestly, think Trax has a shot in this?"

"Being a Guardian?"

Steppe nodded.

"Honestly, why not?" Aurora stood next to Steppe and stared out the window. "I just hope he doesn't give up halfway."

"It's really that hard huh? How does it work exactly?"

"The Guardians are the ones that choose apprentices; that is if they still don't have a clear choice for who they want to succeed."

"But if they do, they don't take apprentices, and straight up train their desired successor, right?"

Aurora nodded. "Pretty much."

"Do you think Volteer has someone in mind already?"

The ice dragoness shrugged. "I'm not sure. There aren't any electric dragons that stand out to me at all."

Steppe then thought for a moment. "Does Spyro count?"

"Huh?"

The earth dragon looked at Aurora curiously. "Does Spyro count? I mean, can purple dragons be Guardians? Isn't that kind of…" He thought of the best word to use. "Cheating?"

"I…" Aurora shook her head. "I don't know. I don't think it would be. Why would it be anyway?"

"Good point."

That was when a loud grumbling came from Steppe's stomach. The dragon smiled sheepishly. "That was me."

Aurora smiled. "Fine, let's go grab something to eat."

0

"I am so glad that you're talking now, Zaze."

The purple dragon chuckled. "Were you guys really that concerned for me?"

"Of course!" The fire dragoness placed a paw on his shoulder. "You're our friend, Zaze! And friends always help each other." She then shook her head and looked at him flatly. "It was a bit challenging though, seeing that you were brushing us away."

Zaze hung his head and apologized. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do it. I just needed…time alone."

She waved a paw at him. "It doesn't matter, Zaze. It's all behind us now."

The dragon smiled and the two of them kept on walking. "Thanks for keeping me company, Ember."

"You're welcome."

"Why aren't you with Flame, though? You two are always together."

The dragoness shrugged. "I met with him earlier. He mentioned something about hanging out with Crombe today..."

"Crombe?" Zaze's brow rose. "Are you sure that was him?"

Ember chuckle, and looked at him. "Zaze, don't be like that. Crombe is a friend of ours. If anything he's in the same case as you."

"I know, I know. I don't really understand why though." Ember faced him, prompting to continue, "I never really saw Crombe and Latis together. Yet, he seems to be taking this hard."

"Don't be presumptuous, Zaze." The dragon turned to face her and saw that she had a serious expression. "Crombe was there when you…"

"When I…what?"

Ember sighed. She was a bit apprehensive saying it, seeing as that Zaze finally cheered up, but he was kind of asking for it. In the end, she decided to just say it. "Crombe was there when you broke Latis' heart."

Zaze blinked, caught off guard by the statement. The memory came to him and a pang of regret washed over him. Even Crombe was more sensitive than he was. He had to give the earth dragon more credit.

Ember cleared her throat, knowing that her answer brought some bad memories to Zaze. "He was the one that comforted her. And I guess they kind of bonded there."

The purple dragon nodded. Memories of Latis resurfaced in his mind. "I miss her."

"We all do, Zaze."

"I…I wish I could have apologized."

"For what?"

"For saying what I said." The purple dragon walked over to the balcony and looked out to the sky. "I mean, I like Latis…but…"

"But not the same way, she thought of you, huh?" Ember asked, standing next to him.

"Yes." He faced Ember with a solemn expression. "I really thought of her as a younger sister." The dragon sighed. "It's probably because I never had a sister."

"Maffrin's past isn't all that great, huh?"

Zaze nodded. "I guess I really didn't think of her romantically because of the bad past I had."

"You had, or Maffrin had?" Ember asked him.

"Ember, I and Maffrin are—"

"No, Zaze. I'm asking you. I'm asking 'Zaze'.Who do you think you are?"

The purple dragon looked confused. "I-I don't know what you mean."

Ember placed a paw on his shoulder. "You have two lives now, Zaze. You can either continue living as Maffrin, or you could continue living as Zaze. You should choose one and let the other rest. You can't live with both. You can either be the sprightly bright dragon we all know and love and tried his best, or be the purple dragon that everyone feared, and killed…Latis."

Zaze looked at her and thought for a moment. "If you put it that way, it seems like the right choice is just to be…me."

"But who is 'me'?"

"I…" Zaze turned back and faced the horizon. The sun was now casting its orange streaks across the sky, signaling the coming of the evening. "I don't know."

"And that is good," Ember said, "You're not supposed to know outright."

Zaze chuckled realizing the situation he was in.

"What's so funny?"

"Since when did you start sounding so…wise?"

Ember smiled. "You kind of rubbed off on me."

"I think I need to step up my game then. I can't seem to fix my own problems, yet I can solve other dragons' problems so easily."

"We're your friends, Zaze. You don't have to do this alone."

The purple dragon smiled warmly. "Thanks. I never expected finding myself would be so challenging."

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