Because I've already written so much of this story, I figured I might give you an extra chapter. We return with Cynder, because why not? Anyway, I hope you enjoy, as always! And if you have any questions, critiques or suggestions to the story, please PM me or leave them in a review. I might not be able to respond properly to the suggestions, since I'm almost finished writing this story, but I might do some tweaks here and there to get some suggestions in there, but other than that, nothing will particularly change in what I've already written so far.
Cynder looked around, the bright blue sky rich and cloudless. The green forest below her was lush and vibrant, and as she flew for several minutes high in the sky, she saw the faint silhouettes of the buildings of Warfang in the distance. As she got closer to the Dragon City, Cynder watched as the lush green forest disappeared into flat, green grasslands, before eventually turning into the rocky and slightly sandy city below her. She spotted the Warfang Temple, with Spyro running frantically towards it, and she descended quickly to confront Spyro.
"Hi, Spyro. How are you doing?" Cynder asked, landing on the ground and folding her wings against her back.
"Cynder?! Where were you?! You had me worried sick!" Spyro exclaimed, whirling around to reveal his sweat-cloaked face.
"What, why?" Cynder stammered, unsure why Spyro would be worried.
"I thought the ape must have done something to you! I thought you'd been captured!" Spyro growled.
"I haven't seen the ape since it escaped from the prison. I've just needed to have some fresh air and time to myself. I'm scared. The way you were acting yesterday really worried me."
Spyro scoffed, rolling his eyes. "You, scared?! That's ridiculous!" Spyro chuckled, smirking.
Cynder glared angrily at Spyro. Spyro scoffed again and continued speaking, "I've been looking all throughout Warfang for you, Cynder! You could have told me or left a note to tell me you needed time out!" Spyro shouted. "I was this close to telling the guardians!"
Spyro jerked his head in the direction of the Warfang Temple as he spoke the emphasised word. Cynder stifled a laugh. "You're taking things too literally. A bit like that little dragonfly brother of yours." Cynder chuckled.
"Don't even get me started! I haven't been feeling like myself since that ape got into the picture!" Spyro shouted. "EVERYTHING WAS PERFECT BEFORE THAT APE SHOWED UP!"
There was a couple of gasps as many shocked faces from random dragons walking down the street stared at Spyro. Mutters of fear rose up in between them and they struggled not to scream. Cynder groaned as she brought a forepaw to her head, and Spyro let out a grunt as he glared at the crowd with frustration.
"Is he serious?"
"Are the apes back?"
"Are we all going to die?"
"Will there be another war?"
Terrador walked through the doors of the Warfang Temple and coming to Spyro and Cynder's rescue. "Calm down. There are no apes, you all misunderstood what Spyro said." Terrador said gruffly.
"He's right. For all means, we just heard the purple dragon's outburst and didn't even know the context. If anything, he could have been talking about a past event." a teenage electric dragon stated.
There were murmurs that rose up from the crowd, until an earth dragon walked up towards the electric dragon and smiled. "Guys, we all know that Shocker is fairly smart with his decision-making." the earth dragon said, making it seem like everyone should know the electric dragon, named Shocker. "Let's just go our own separate ways and forget what happened."
"Good idea, Stonebrawler." Shocker said, a smile pulling at his face.
Murmurs rose up from the crowd as dragons started to leave. Terrador walked towards Shocker and Stonebrawler, smiling gratefully. "Thank you, you two. I know you're both still quite young, but you really saved us one hell of a problem." Terrador thanked.
"You're welcome, Terrador. Anything for a guardian and the purple dragon of legend." Shocker said, bowing.
"And he has been known as one of, if not the smartest dragon of his age." Stonebrawler replied. "He's very well-known because of that."
"You don't have to rub it in, Stonebrawler."
Cynder scoffed as she caught onto Shocker's previous comment. Just like always, she wasn't mentioned, nor did she have a special title. There were the guardians, and Spyro was the purple dragon of legend, and even the elders had begun to come out of their refuge that the dragons in Warfang had made to keep them safe during the war. And she was just 'Cynder, former Terror of the Skies'. She knew that name would always be something that everybody would hold against her. And now she knew that Aaron knew about it, as well as most of his kind. She shivered at the thought. Aaron said it was just a legend back where he came from. The rest of them won't think I'm real, nor will they think Spyro's real. Cynder thought. It'll all be fine; just take deep breaths.
Her thoughts were interrupted by high-pitched squealing as Stonebrawler struggled to contain his excitement. "Wow! I'm really here! I'm really in the presence of the earth guardian! And even better, Spyro! I'm so excited!" Stonebrawler squealed, surprisingly high since he was an earth dragon, which generally had low, gravelly voices, even for someone of fourteen years old like Stonebrawler.
"Calm down, Stonebrawler. Show some respect at least." Shocker scolded, rolling his eyes.
"Oh, right! Sorry, Shocker! Er, I mean, sorry Terrador and Spyro!" Stonebrawler babbled nervously, bowing down beside his friend. "I guess I am still slightly childish in my behaviour…"
"Come on, there's no need for that." Terrador chuckled. "Just because I'm a guardian, Spyro's the purple dragon and Cynder the one that helped defeat Malefor, doesn't mean we need all that form of royalty."
Still doesn't mean we don't appreciate it. Cynder thought. I'm still picked on by others because of my past, even though that's very rare now that two years have passed since Malefor was destroyed.
Shocker and Stonebrawler stood upright, smiling at the three dragons standing before them. Shocker then growled in annoyance and brought a forepaw to his face as Stonebrawler started jittering with excitement. "Stonebrawler, calm down!" Shocker scolded before turning to look at Terrador, Spyro and Cynder. "I'm sorry. He's unusually shaky and nervous for an earth dragon."
"That's all okay. We don't like discrimination towards dragons, so we put that all behind us. They're just a dragon all the same." Spyro said.
Cynder felt like Spyro's words were also directed at her. He's probably got the way I treated Icebreath in his mind. Cynder thought, before sighing. He's right. I'm just doing what everybody does to me. Only in a different light. But cruelty comes in all different forms; I should know, being the former Terror of the Skies.
"We should probably go now, Stonebrawler." Shocker chuckled. "Mum and Dad are probably waiting for us."
"Alright! Goodbye, Terrador and Spyro and Cynder!" Stonebrawler called, chasing after Shocker and catching up with his more formal electric dragon companion.
Terrador let out a small chuckle at Stonebrawler's odd behaviour for an earth dragon, but then shook his head as his expression went emotionless again, turning to Spyro. "Spyro, how could you do that? You know we told everybody not to speak of the ape in public, and you literally just shoved it in everyone's faces!" Terrador growled.
"I'm sorry! I couldn't help it! I've been really stressed recently, that's all! I just…!" Spyro stammered.
"Stop right there, young dragon! I know you're still quite young at eighteen years old, but you need to be more disciplined and more considerate of your surroundings!" Terrador scolded. "You need to learn to supress your anger in specific environments where outbursts of anger could be incredibly harmful, just like your accidental slip!"
"I'm sorry, but you guardians are angry quite often, right?" Spyro asked. "And what about Cyril? He's always…"
"Shut your mouth, Spyro and come inside! We'll deal with this alone!"
Cynder's eyes widened. She hadn't seen Terrador angry so often, and he had just had two outbursts of anger within the past forty-eight hours. It seemed that everyone was stressing out with Aaron's appearance. She shivered as she wondered how the cheetahs would react when Aaron and Hunter got to the Cheetah Village in Avalar. While Cynder knew it was two or three days away from the place where she found Aaron and Hunter earlier that morning, she still knew that it wouldn't be long before Aaron was in the presence of strangers; ones that would criticise and judge him because he looked like an ape. Cynder knew he wasn't one. He didn't have the cruel heart of an ape, and he was very kind. He wasn't covered head to toe in fur, and his eyes were a beautiful brown, unlike the ugly pale eyes that the apes had. Aaron's shoulders weren't large and broad like the apes' were, and he didn't have a long snout. He was very different compared to the apes, and she hated herself for starting out with such bitterness towards Aaron. But she still understood why everyone thought he was an ape. He was bipedal, and did hold a few resemblances to the apes, although not much. Still, it was enough to convince even her that he was an ape at the start of all of this.
Cynder would have followed Terrador and Spyro inside, but she wouldn't dare eavesdrop on them, especially when Terrador was this upset. Terrador was hardly ever angry, but when he was, nobody wanted to mess with him, not even Volteer or Cyril. Terrador wasn't known for his anger issues, but when he was angry, he would become very aggressive and stubborn, not that he wasn't already stubborn. Cynder turned and walked away from the Warfang Temple. She decided she needed to be with a close friend, but Spyro was already taken away from her as Terrador needed to speak with him. Cynder didn't have many other friends that was available. She didn't have many friends in general. Many dragons were still very cautious around Cynder.
So Cynder decided to have a calm walk around Warfang to calm herself down, even though often, her occasional walks weren't very calming to her as other dragons who hated her would get in her way and say harmful and rude things to her. But she decided to do it anyway. There was nothing much else to do.
It was the middle of the day, however, meaning that it was the busiest time for the streets of Warfang, which were swarming with dragons. She looked ahead as she took a long walk throughout Warfang, twisting and turning throughout the maze of streets as she walked for quite a long time. She completely lost track of time. Not looking at the angry glares that other dragons sent her, Cynder kept her mind on other things. She thought of how she could make up to General Icebreath for everything she had said about him recently. She hadn't seen Cyril since the day before when he revealed that General Icebreath was his brother, but she knew that he would still be incredibly mad at her. She let Spyro's comforting words sink into her mind as she thought of the most important parts of what Spyro had had to say that night.
He's probably looking up to his older brother, Cynder. Plus, I have heard that General Icebreath had a difficult childhood. Maybe that's one of the reasons why he's hard.
He has better judgement than us. He's much, much older than we are.
He probably still doesn't trust you, for reasons I think you know about. I think you two just need to learn to put up with each other and trust each other. Maybe if General Icebreath learned to be a bit more open to suggestions, then that might help. Just give him a chance, and he might give you a chance.
Cynder looked down at her paws as they moved forward along the ground, thinking hard on Spyro's last sentence. Give him a chance… and he might give me a chance… Cynder thought. Oh, Spyro, I hope you're right about this.
And that was the moment that Cynder had one of the craziest ideas she had ever had. She knew where General Icebreath lived, and she knew she had to apologise and start again with him, and since the sun was starting to disappear over the horizon, perhaps she might make it to General Icebreath's home by the time he made it there after his work ended. After all, his house was closer to the prison than where Cynder was in the complete opposite side of the massive Dragon City.
About ten minutes had passed since the moon had risen and the sky had gone dark, and Cynder had finally made it to General Icebreath's house. She raised her paw to knock on the front door, then froze. What if he freaks out and gets angry at me? What if he attacks me? Cynder thought. What if he isn't even home? Oh, ancestors, this is so awkward.
Cynder turned and ran down the street, giving her a little more time to think things through. The streets of Warfang quickly emptied, and Cynder walked for thirty minutes around the empty streets of Warfang. She turned and headed back to General Icebreath's house, giving herself a mental pep talk as she walked.
You'll be alright, Cynder. It'll be fine. Just… be kind and… genuine about it. Let him know that you want to fix everything you've said about him. Cynder thought. You'll do amazing. I just hope that he listens to me and doesn't do what he's well known for. Getting angry.
Cynder made it back to General Icebreath's house, and she stared at the wooden door, which had light shining through the holes between the slabs of wood that made up the door, indicating that whoever was inside was still awake. Cynder swallowed hard. She knew she was nervous. Way too nervous. She knew that showing nerves wouldn't be beneficial for this attempt to make a friendship. She allowed Spyro's words to fill her head again, and when they disappeared, she lifted her paw, and moved it forward.
She knocked on the door, wincing when footsteps were heard. The door opened.
Oooh, cliffhanger! What's going to happen when General Icebreath sees Cynder at his door? You'll have to wait a bit for that because next chapter we're going to see how Spyro's doing with Terrador. I guess I'm kinda mean that way…