Sorry for the delay. I have had some problems which I'm not going to share. Also this is not the last chapter as I had previously said. It original was, but it was too long so I split it up. Next chapter is the final one. Please R&R.

Chapter 10: Vain Hope

A week had passed since Spyro and the Aquamarines returned to Warfang. Pika and Ray went out for the day to spend some time together while Sunflare was trying to find out through connections who had hired the Black Claws to kill Spyro, and Moonicus was playing with Veil who had an impressive vocabulary for a young dragon. Spyro was in his room morning for his lose of Ember.

Moonicus and Veil where playing a game of chess at the time and Moonicus was surprised at how well he grasped the game. Of course like all younglings, they didn't exactly remember all the rules for each piece or care for that matter.

"Hold it there Veil," Moonicus said, "Knights can only move three spaces and have to move to the left or right on the last or first space."

"I thought…this guy did that," Veil said pointing to the Bishop.

"No," Moonicus chuckled, "That guy moves diagonally and can only stay on one color square."

"This is confusing," Veil replied.

"You want to go outside?" Moonicus asked him.

"Can we go to the temple?" Veil asked.

"Sure we can go visit the Guardians," Moonicus said.

"Yeah!" Veil shouted.

"Ok," Moonicus responded, "Let me go ask your father first. Stay here."

Moonicus walked up the stairs to where Spyro's room was and knocked on the door.

"Spyro its Moonicus," he said through the door, "Is it alright if I take Veil up to the temple?"

"Sure," Spyro replied sounding depressed and tired, "Just try to be back before nightfall."

"We will," Moonicus answered, "Don't worry. How are you holding up?"

"Not as good as I like, but a bit better than yesterday," Spyro said.

"Ok well get some rest, you sound really tired," Moonicus advised.

"Thanks," Spyro replied.

Moonicus left and told Veil that they could go. Veil cheered with joy as they left the house. Cynder was walking up to the house as the two were leaving the garden.

"Hello Moonicus," Cynder greeted.

While Cynder was at the temple she got to know the Aquamarines a bit when they visited with the Guardians about the payment and possibility of another job offer.

"Oh hello Cynder," Moonicus replied, "How are you today."

"Some as usual," Cynder replied, "And who is this?"

"I'm Veil," Veil proudly said.

"Well aren't you cute," Cynder said, "So who's your daddy?"

"Spyro is," Veil stated.

Cynder replied, "Really?"

She looked to Moonicus who mouthed the word "adopted" and Cynder nodded.

"Is your daddy home?" Cynder asked.

"Yeah," Veil replied, "But he is really sad."

"Hey Veil, can I talk to Cynder alone for a second?" Moonicus asked.

Veil nodded and ran into the garden and began chasing butterflies.

"He is so cute," Cynder said.

"You can say that again," Moonicus replied, "Listen Cynder, Spyro is really depressed and is still getting over Ember."

"I know that," Cynder responded, "I wouldn't expect someone to get over their mate's death in just a week. I expect it to last for at least a few months, but I'm here to see if I can help him at all."

"Well I sure hope you can," Moonicus said, "Good luck. You are going to need it. Ok Veil let's go."

Veil stopped chasing the butterflies and ran up to Moonicus and said good bye to Cynder.

Cynder entered the house and went upstairs to where she guessed was Spyro's room. She lightly knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

"Who is it?" Spyro's voice sounded.

"Spyro?" Cynder said, "Its Cynder."

"Come on in," Spyro replied.

Cynder slowly opened the door and what she saw was very surprising. The room was a wreck. Books, and scrolls were everywhere along with pillows that made up his bed. Spyro was lying on the wooden floor curled up in a ball with pictures of Ember all around him.

"Spyro I'm sorry for your loss," Cynder said.

"She's in a better place now," Spyro replied, "She always told me how much she wanted to meet the Ancients and the Ancestors." Spyro began to break down again, "I guess she has now."

Cynder lay next to him and wrapped a wing around him. Spyro didn't resist the motion, but leaned against Cynder. She held him close as he released his emotions. After some time he began to calm down and rested his head on the ground. Cynder laid her head next to his and gave a weak smile and he returned with a weak smile.

"Thank you Cynder," Spyro said softly, "Thank you for always being there even after what I did years ago."

"Please don't bring that up," Cynder replied.

"I'm sorry for that Cynder," Spyro said.

They were both silent for a minute before Spyro asked, "Cynder would you…um…mind helping me with Veil? I don't think its right to have him grow up without a…you know…a mother figure…"

"I would love to Spyro," Cynder replied, "Is this also a way of asking me out?"

"Wow, you can read me like a book," Spyro said a little embarrassed.

"Sure," Cynder said.

Spyro slowly moved in to give her a short kiss.

Cynder couldn't help, but feel guilty. When he broke the kiss she sighed and said, "Spyro, I…have to tell…you something."

"What?" Spyro asked unsure of what was happening.

"You know the rumors of the Shadow killing Ember right?" Cynder asked.

Spyro nodded his head.

"Ok," Cynder said taking a deep breath to calm herself, "Well when I came home a few weeks ago a purple dragon was at the door and asked for Flame. I took the message and found out that Flame hired a group of dragons to kill you. I left Flame and went to Ember to warn her. When I told her she wasn't acting like herself. She was acting berserk and attacked me. I saw that her eyes where clouded. She was about to kill me and I defended myself and killed her. I'm so sorry Spyro. I truly didn't mean to kill her, but it was the only thing I could do."

"You killed Ember?" Spyro asked.

"Yes, I'm sorry Spyro," Cynder said as she began to weep, "I'll just go. I understand if you never want to see me again."

Cynder was already up and walking towards the door. Something held her back though. It wasn't a forceful grip, but one of pleading. She turned to see Spyro's tail wrapped around hers. Spyro looked up at her with fresh tears in his eyes.

"Cynder," Spyro started, "Thank you for telling me. It must have a great deal of trust in me. I will return that trust. Ember would want me to find another. She wouldn't like to see me drowning in sorrow for the rest of my life. I still do have feelings for you Cynder. I still love you."

"I love you too Spyro," Cynder replied as she approached him.

She sat down and Spyro locked lips with her.

Moonicus and Veil where just entering the temple when they ran into Flame who was searching for Cynder.

"Well hello Flame," Moonicus said.

Flame put on a fake smile and said, "Moonicus how has it been going for you?"

"Fairly well," Moonicus replied.

A high pitched growl came from Veil who glared at Flame. The little dragon was in a fighting position with his wings spread, but low to the ground as was his body with his legs ready to throw his body forward, his tail with the silver spike shining in the sunlight ready to thrust forward at his enemy.

Moonicus strongly said, "Veil! Stop growling it's rude."

"Bad dragon," Veil growled, "I feel bad in him."

"What are you talking about?" Moonicus asked, "I'm sorry Flame. I'm not sure what he is doing."

"It's ok Moonicus," Flame said as he began walking into temple.

When Flame disappeared inside Moonicus turned towards Veil who was watching the entrance to the temple.

"You now that was a very mean thing to do Veil," Moonicus said.

"He's bad," Veil said, "I feel bad stuff in him."

"Let's go to see Ignitus, maybe he can tell me what the heck is going on with you," Moonicus said as they entered the temple.

Sunflare was at the temple at the top of the city's height. He had gone to the temple to hopefully find information about who had hired the Black Claws to kill Spyro. He had spoken with every dragon he met and had no luck. Sunflare went to see Ignitus and hoped that he could help.

"Sunflare," Ignitus said with a hint of surprise, "Come to collect your reward."

"No, but I wouldn't mind getting it for the group," Sunflare stated.

"Well what can I do for you young dragon?" Ignitus asked.

"I'm looking to find the dragon who hired the Black Claws to kill Spyro," Sunflare informed Ignitus, "Would you be able to help at all?"

"What makes you think that a dragon tried to have Spyro killed?" Ignitus asked.

Moonicus and Veil were just entering when Sunflare answered, "They attacked us multiple times demanding that we turn over Spyro so they could kill him."

Ignitus looked at Veil worried that the dragon might pick up on what they were talking about. Sunflare was wondering what he was doing until he looked back and found Moonicus and Veil.

Moonicus said, "I'll take Veil around the temple for a while."

Veil strongly said, "No. Who is trying to kill daddy?"

Ignitus looked into the Pool of Visions that was moved to this temple and starred into its depths for a good ten minutes when he came out of the trancelike state.

"It's Flame who hired the dragons," Ignitus said with confusion.

Veil closed his eyes and when they opened a few seconds later they were a black color that shifted and moved. The three dragons watched in horror wondering what this could be. The Shadow appeared as it pulled itself from Veil's body and it stood as tall as Ignitus.

Veil spoke, but his voice was deeper sounding than his child voice, "Go home and let no one bad in."

The Shadow dissipated into smoke and Veil's eyes returned to normal.

"What did you do?" Sunflare asked, "What was that?"

"I told my Shadow to guard daddy," Veil said.

"Let's get home," Moonicus said to Sunflare.

"Agreed," Sunflare replied.

Moonicus picked up Veil and placed him on his back and said, "Hold on Veil."

The two dragons left the temple and took to the air returning to Spyro's home.

Spyro and Cynder were in the living room of Spyro's home sitting on the large pad. Spyro's head was rest on Cynder's lap looking up at her. Cynder looked down at Spyro while she stroked the back of his head. His eyes were drooping and he yawned.

"Looks like someone's tired," Cynder commented.

"A bit," Spyro chuckled little.

Cynder said, "Well get some rest. I'll be here when you wake up."

"Thanks Cynder," Spyro said.

"You're welcome," Cynder replied as she lowered her head to give him a kiss.

They broke a few moments later and Cynder stroked lower on his neck which caused him to make a light growling sound. Cynder smiled as he fell asleep. She hadn't seen him so relaxed before. That was understandable since when she was with him fighting Malefor there was no time to relax and after that he was with Ember.

Cynder knew Spyro wouldn't be as happy as he was if Ember for quite some time, but she would do her best to make the time they spent with each other enjoyable. She loved this, being with him was her dream.

Suddenly Sunflare, Moonicus, and Veil burst through the door. They quickly got in and closed the door. Cynder looked at them with concern.

"Spyro is alright?" Sunflare asked.

She nodded and said, "He just fell asleep. Don't wake him he needs some rest."

Sunflare nodded and motioned to Moonicus that they should leave. They did so and when they were down one of the streets Moonicus asked, "So where are we going now?"

"To find the two lovebirds," Sunflare replied.

The next day Spyro asked Sunflare to take a walk with him. Cynder asked that the rest of the Aquamarines follow her as they made sure Spyro would be safe in case of an attack some distance behind them.

"I'm confused about all of this," Spyro said, "Why would Flame hire a group of assassins to kill us?"

"Moonicus knew Flame pretty well and remembered that Flame had a crazy abstention with Ember," Sunflare explained, "When the two of you were together it made him furious and he forced himself to action and sadly Ember died from it."

"Do you think if we weren't together that she would be alive?" Spyro asked.

Sunflare sighed and slowly responded with, "I try not to think of that question and instead I look back on the good times that I shared with Aquamarine."

Spyro nodded.

"You are very lucky," Sunflare stated, "You are lucky to have another female that cares about you so much. I hope that you both will be happy together."

"How did you know?" Spyro asked.

"Yesterday we came in and saw you asleep and Cynder asked us to let you rest. It's the little things like that which tells you about how much they care," Sunflare replied.

Cynder entered Spyro's mind and a warm feeling came over him. He was lucky.

"Thanks," Spyro said.

"Anytime my friend," Sunflare replied.

"Well, well, well," Flame said as he came up to them, "Just the dragon I wanted to see."

Sunflare took a step forward, ready to counter any damage Flame would do.

"I know you tried to have me killed," Spyro said softly, "But you ended up killing Ember."

At this point Cynder had rushed up to Spyro's side wrapping a wing around him and putting herself slightly in front of Spyro protectively.

"Traitor," Flame spat in anger at Cynder.

He looked back to Spyro and said, "First you steal Ember and now you steal Cynder."

"I chose to leave you and be with Spyro," Cynder shouted.

"You are a traitor that's what you are and always will be," Flame growled, "Just like you betrayed your race to serve the Dark Master."

Cynder's head lowered and her expression showed the pain from the past.

Spyro stepped forward and growled, "You are here for me Flame, leave Cynder out of this."

"Try and make me," Spyro dove at Flame who took to the air.

Spyro looked up to see not just Flame, but the entire Black Claw assassin group. The Aquamarines were quick to respond and Ray fired off a series of missiles. The Black Claws evaded the missiles and attacked their enemies.

Flame dove at Spyro with claws ready to pierce scales. Spyro avoided this and swung his tail, knocking Flame off his course. Flame landed on his side, but quickly got back on his feet. The red dragon glared at Spyro and fired a jet of flames at him. Spyro responded with his own fire that quickly overwhelmed Flame's causing him to evade the deadly fire.

Sunflare threw himself into the air, picking up speed with every beat of his wings, heading toward Twilight. The cloned purple dragon noticed this a moment too late as Sunflare's left horn entered the side of his back. Twilight screeched in pain and thrust his tail at Sunflare connecting with his back right leg. The two broke apart and waited for the next move.

Pika was already attacking Rosa again and the advantage since Rosa lost her Hades Stones in their last battle. Rosa was still a capable fighter though. Rosa was determined this time not to lose so easily and was on the offensive not letting Pika counter her. Pika was being pushed back, but had yet to take a hit luckily.

Moonicus starred at Rex waiting for the loaf's first move. Not to Moonicus' surprise Rex attacked with his body instead of his element. Rex swung his strong limbs at Moonicus who evade the attacks. Moonicus fired icicles at Rex, which dug into him driving him into anger in which assisted Rex's attacks.

Ray waited for T9 to make the first move. T9 deployed his missile launchers to trick Ray and fired his lasers housed in his eyes. Ray prepared for evasive maneuvers and executed them when he saw the lasers fly from T9's eyes. Ray responded with an earth missile. The dense stone at the center of the earth energy field that surrounded it flew through the air towards T9. The earth energy exploded against the metal hide denting it. Ray noticed this and utilized this to his advantage and continued his assault.

Veil rushed forward to reach Spyro and help against the one who he sensed darkness in. He was stopped though by Cynder whose tail blocked him and pulled him close to her.

"Let me go," Veil demanded.

"I'm sorry Veil," Cynder said, "You could get hurt. Your father doesn't want you to get hurt."

"But he get hurt by bad one," Veil argued.

"Who's the bad one?" Cynder asked.

"Flame," Veil said, "Bad in him."

Cynder's eyes widened, "I'll help your father just stay here."

Veil slowly nodded. And Cynder rushed into Spyro and Flame's fight. Cynder dove head long into Flame's side leaving a series of gashes from her horns. Flame cried out in pain and took to the air.

Spyro was about to follow when Cynder stopped him saying, "Spyro wait."

Spyro looked at her and asked, "What is it?"

"Flame possesses dark powers," Cynder shared.

"How do you know this?" Spyro asked.

"Veil said he sensed evil in him," Cynder informed.

Rex continued to assault Moonicus who evaded blow after blow. Finally one connected with Moonicus' side throwing him a good ten feet backwards landing about a foot from Veil. Rex approached Moonicus and was about to strike the white dragon when a black smoking ball exploded against Rex's chest blinding him for several moments.

At this point Moonicus was trying to stand up, but it was apparent to him that the strike had broken his back left leg. Veil stood in front of Moonicus, which caught Spyro's attention.

"Oh no," Spyro said, "Veil! Get back!"

Veil growled as the black smoke faded away.

Rex looked down at Veil and chuckled to himself, "Bye bye twerp."

Rex raised a claw about to swing when Spyro reached into Convexity and shouted with his distorted voice, "Get anyway from my son!"

A beam of Convexity energy blasted out of Spyro's mouth and shot towards Rex. Rex looked over and saw the purple energy beam just before it ripped through his body. Rex's body fell to the ground with a surprised look on his face.

Spyro looked over to Cynder and said, "Stay with them and make sure Veil doesn't get involved again."

Cynder nodded and ran over to them as Spyro made his way to the other fights.

He reached them and shouted, "This is over. I'm tired of you guys."

Spyro then fired another beam of Convexity at T9, which as it did for Rex blasted through his body, despite the metal plating. T9's body fell with the loud sound of rock striking metal and the metal denting. Rosa quickly took to the air as did Twilight a moment later, both fleeing as quickly as possible to avoid the same fate as their two comrades.

Spyro fired beam after beam of purple energy into the sky all of which missed their target. Firecurse who was wounded pretty badly, slowly made his way over to the others. Pika and Cynder had placed Moonicus on Ray's back for the trip back home. Sunflare was bleeding badly, which was noticeable even though his scales were nearly the same color. Spyro offered Sunflare some help, which he reluctantly accepted. Slowly they made their way back to Spyro's home.

"What are you going to do about Rex and T9 back there?" Sunflare wheezed.

"Well the Council is going to try to place me under arrest again, but the Guardians will believe me and everyone here are witnesses, which is some overpowering evidence against any crazy ideas."

A dragon landed in front of them causing them to stop.

"Flame?" Spyro asked.