Family is Forever

Chapter 21

A/N Well here's my new chapter and I'm glad some people voted on my pole to keep Kirk anthro or not and I've made my decision. As for the fighting it's over but we might see Demodius one more time but I'm not 100% on that. Also as I said check out Joelcoxriley's profile and find our love oneshots and feel free to give us suggestions on pairings if you decide to read them.

Chapter: 21

It had been three days since the battle and Demodius and the army hadn't been seen at all since. After Spyro had absorbed and crushed what was left of Malefor's dark essence they had gone back to find Glacia still with Kirk and he was still out cold. Everyone else had gotten through the fight with only minor bruises or easily fixed bones besides Spyro who had a lot of broken ribs from the tumble with Demodius. The Guardians were fine and had finally gotten medical attention thanks to Nick.

Kirk had been sent to what was left of the hospital since near the end of the fight it came under attack and half of it burned before they could take the fires out. Kirk hadn't moved since then and Glacia had come to see him every day, she didn't allow the kids to see him like this since they already thought he was gone and didn't want to get their hopes up in case he never woke.

In those days almost everyone who was alive who participated in the battle were hurt some much worse than others and the hospital was in constant use. Spyro and the Guardians had been the voice that kept the city together keeping the laws in check and assured everyone they were safe. Obviously some people didn't believe this since it was the second time the city had been attacked and the third time they had been threatened in the last few years. Morale was low but since apparently the battle was over and the army gone and the apparent death of Malefor the people were at ease enough to not leave or demand new leadership.

The homes were being built as fast as they could but many either had to live in emergency shelters or the temple which taken a beating from the battle but was still usable. It was so bad that when Spyro left to see if their houses were still standing but he sorrowfully found that their homes had been destroyed by the army and had to tell everyone the bad news.

The kids didn't enjoy the fact that they had to live in the rooms for much longer now but didn't openly complain knowing that it was their only option. The older dragons were at least allowed to live in their original rooms like back in the day before they had kids.

On the third day all the calming down had been done and the rebuilding had commenced but the with such a small amount of workers now from all species it went painfully slow and with the surrounding area burned wood was in short supply. They had sent out for help with the promise of gold and gems since that was all they had in quantity because it couldn't burn and most was inside the temple like a bank. So far no one had come and the Guardians were getting worried, they had been able to calm everyone down with the promise of new homes quick and if the promise wasn't carried out soon people would definitely leave for good. Spyro had suggested that it may be possible to use earth dragons to summon up bock building materials or bring up trees faster to get wood but the Guardians said "No, we don't have enough crystals to sustain that very long since pulling large quantities of rock or trees required a huge amount of energy from dwindling amounts of earth dragons"

By the third day there wasn't any hope that anyone would come to their aid until finally they saw something in the sky just under the clouds. It was far away and Spyro asked "What is that?" Nick shrugged and the two watched it approach until it suddenly came into clearer focus.

It was a Draggard blimp like the one Kirk and Spyro had destroyed in the Draggard attack and all Spyro could think of was "Oh no please don't tell me they've come to finish us off?" As it started getting close to the city it started drift down towards the ground and flew to the front gates of the outer wall. Spyro and Nick jumped from the balcony and flew to the front gate and it was just starting to open when they arrived.

They saw someone they had nearly forgotten from the Draggard war, they saw a friendly face as the door opened, he was red and wingless like all Draggard and Spyro said "Ferno?" Ferno smiled seeing his old captures "Hello old enemies it's so great to see you're still alive" Spyro walked to the now adult Ferno who towered over them by two feet and he said "Ferno? Why have you come?"

The red Draggard smiled and said "Why to help you of course, you send out messages for help and our council have agreed it's only right that we help you since you killed our original leaders" Spyro and Nick both were confused by this and Spyro asked "Why would you be happy for that?" Ferno chuckled "Our leaders were holding grudges that most of us don't remember and since you didn't attack us when we left we knew you never wanted the fight and so we think we owe some sort of compensation" Spyro sighed and said "Thank you so much friend, here I'll take you to the Guardians to set up a deal"

Spyro led him to the temple with his Guards and Spyro asked "Since when are you a diplomat anyway?" He smiled and said "Well it wasn't my first choice either but apparently since I was the only one you captured and got to know you a bit they thought I'd be the best diplomat" Spyro chuckled and said "Alright then"

When Spyro had given Ferno and his escorts over to the Guardians he left and Nick said "That was lucky" Spyro nodded in agreement and left with Nick to share the great news. When he reached Glacia's room he knocked on the door and she opened the door looking depressed like always since the battle and Spyro asked "May we come in?"

She let them in and they asked where the two kids were and she said "With Mist and Flame right now hanging out somewhere" Spyro nodded and said "At least they're coping well anyway did you hear, the Draggard have come to our aid" Glacia was surprised and said "What really? Of all the people to help" Spyro nodded in agreement and suddenly changed the subject "Glaysh, you ok… you know about Kirk?"

She sighed sorrowfully and said "I've lost him once and then he came back… sort of but I don't think I can handle losing him again" Spyro frowned and said "I'm sure he'll come back but if you need someone to talk to I'm here" She nodded truly appreciating this and he left.

Spyro was walking through the hall when a mole ran from behind him and said "Sir Spyro, the Guardians would like to speak to you" Spyro thanked him and turned around hoping the negotiations would be over so work could finally start being done.

He entered the meeting room and found Terrador shaking paws with Ferno and Spyro smiled knowing they had reached an agreement and heard Ferno say "As a show of our friendship we brought the first shipment along with us" Terrador said "Thank you so much we appreciate it a lot"

Spyro came close enough so both parties saw him and Terrador said "We've reached an agreement with Ferno here and they've agreed to help us with supplies and even said they'll help in the construction since we're so low on workers" Spyro thanked Ferno gratefully and Ferno said "It's the least we could do for everything that's happened"

Thanks to the Draggard shipments started flowing in including food and clothes for the cheetahs and moles and the city was slowly being brought back to its old self. Ferno had ordered his workers to set up camp just outside the city to conserve spaces and they even started planting crops and trees to rebuild forests. Through this time the citizens got to know the Draggard better and soon some were even thinking of staying in Warfang permanently which the Guardians took as a sign of a long running relationship between the two people.

Also during this time Nick and Autumn had announced they too were having a kid and everyone was overjoyed to hear this. This wasn't good enough for Nick though, his brother was still in a coma and he really wanted his last relative to be here for him. Glacia regretted this too and silently took a moment to talk to Nick about it and they shared their feelings.

Everything was starting to feel better around the city but way outside the walls miles from the city someone was having a much harder time with all this.

Out in the barren burned wastelands…

Demodius walked along the burnt ground with every step a loud crunch could be heard. After Spyro had freed him of Malefor he had left the city like promised and had wandered the scorched earth that he and his army had created. Every mile was a scar on his heart and the further he went the less he wanted to live. It didn't matter to him he was free of his former masters grip and right now that was all that was important. He would've been flying but he needed to conserve energy until he could find something; anything to eat and the high vantage point only made him feel worse.

All this he was ok with, he had survival training to survive days without anything to eat or drink but what was really gnawing at him was that he may have been free but he had no idea what he should do now. He never thought he'd make it this far but here was, living his dream to be free yet felt unsatisfied.

He travelled for hours like this until he could see on the horizon some patch of green signaling some life was there and picked up the pace a little with a fast walk. The promise of a possible meal made the walk feel longer but he didn't care he needed time to think.

He finally reached the green area and found a pool of water and took a refreshing drink making his dry mouth wet again. He looked around trying to decide what he should do and heard animals chirping and squeaking at the new stranger. He felt that in a way he deserved and it slowly gave him a head ache but the animals finally stopped as they discovered he didn't mean any harm… yet.

Demodius thought about Cynder and how he'd probably never see her again but it didn't hurt as much as he thought. He realized he was happy for her, sure she'd never be his but at least she was with who she wanted to be with and had a daughter something he could never provide back when they were together. He looked in the water to see his reflection; he saw no difference but a subtle hint of tranquility or happiness he couldn't tell he had never had much in his life to be truly happy for. Yes he had always felt happy to torture someone in the past but this was different like for once he felt like he might live honestly.

He took a deep sigh and instead of thinking to his past looked towards the future, maybe he could start a new life far from here and earn an honest living somehow... and maybe when he finally felt ready a mate that truly love him back. All the ideas flooded his head and he got up from and said "That's it, from now on that's what I'll do" he grabbed a squirrel to eat then prepared to leave to wherever fate would take him.

Well I hope you liked how I ended off Demodius' story because I did, I've always thought of him having a real a good side and I think I got him on the right path. As for the story I think I'll make one or two more at the most so we're almost there. Thank you so much for reading this far and I'd like to know what you think of what I've done.

Admiralkirk