Looks like fanfiction is screwing up to me. Nearly every story I click on I end up getting an error message. I assume this is happening to everyone else. Anywho, last update this week. Enjoy! Might be a few spelling errors, didn't proofread it cuz I'm in a hurry.

Chapter 29

Cosmo the Bodyguard

It only took Cosmo just a few hours to move in with Kali. That conversation he had with Cynder really spooked him. The way she talked to him was just intriguing, he couldn't believe what happened. Spyro asked him what was wrong, but Cosmo managed to pull off the excuse that he was excited. Spyro ignored it after all, but he didn't know what had just happened to Cosmo just then.

When Cosmo arrived at Kali's home, music box in paw, he couldn't help but smile. It certainly was bigger, and there was something about this house that made Cosmo think of Kaida. He couldn't place it but for some reason he felt like he was at Kaida's. The house wasn't the same as hers so it wasn't that. The house was only one story and contained three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a good sized living room, a kitchen that just seemed to sparkle, and a well used closet in Kali's bedroom. The living room contained two couches and two rocking chairs with cushioned footrests in front of them. A faded blue mat laid under all the furniture and the dark gray carpet laid underneath that. A fireplace sat in front of all the furniture a few yards away. All homes contained a fireplace for there was no air condition in the dragon realm of course. Random paintings hung on the tan colored wallpaper on the wall. The paintings almost looked new. A hung on the right side of the fireplace, it read nine forty eight. The fireplace itself was made of dark red bricks, the wood inside it looked unused. White lamps sat at both ends of all the furniture, they sat atop a small polished wood table. The wood seemed to be colored darker than what Cosmo was used to seeing. Cosmo saw all of this when he entered the house.

"Well, what do you think?" Kali asked, seeing Cosmo's face. His face was one of surprise and appreciation. "This is the living room. The door to the right," Kali pointed to the right wall at an open doorway. "Is my bedroom. That's where I sleep. In that bedroom is my closet and one of the bathrooms." Kali looked at the door toward the left of the fireplace. It was open too. She pointed and continued, "That's the kitchen, you're welcome to eat anything you find . . . unless I say otherwise but that shouldn't be a problem right?" Then Kali pointed to the left wall at another open doorway. "That's the hall. It's small and holds the other two bedrooms and the other bathroom." Then she turned back to Cosmo. "Well, that's my house. I hope you enjoy it."

Cosmo looked around the living room for a few seconds then finally replied. "It's great Kali. Thanks." Then Cosmo noticed a few more things he missed. There were two windows beside the entrance. He looked through them and saw the empty road. In between the two windows was another tan couch, bigger than all the others and this one had a few stuffed animals on the back part of it. The stuffed animals was leaning up against the window for support so they wouldn't get in anyways way, unless they fell off. Beside the couch was another table which some random decorations etched into the legs, stars to be precise. A white, silky table cloth covered the top of it but it looked like it wasn't being used at the time for nothing else was on top of it other than another lamp like the other ones. Then Cosmo noticed the ceiling fan. It looked like there was dust on it though. It wasn't what Cosmo was used to, but he knew he would adjust.

Kali smiled at Cosmo's expression then walked toward her bedroom. "If you need me I'll be in here."

"Hey," Cosmo said as he noticed something.

Kali stopped and turned her head. "Yes?"

"Where's Isis?" Cosmo noticed that she was missing . . . again.

"Don't worry about her, she can never stay in spot. She's bound to pop up sooner or later."

"Aren't you worried?" Cosmo replied. He sounded as if he was more worried than Kali.

"No," Kali replied. "Isis knows how to keep out of trouble. She used to be an alley cat so she's more than capable than fending for herself if she needs to." But what she didn't know was that Isis used to be dragon. She never told her about the truth. "Well, you can sleep anywhere you feel like sleeping when you get tired. And again, there should be something in the kitchen when you get hungry. But just a heads up, keep an eye out for spoiled food. I haven't been home in a month."

Cosmo nodded. If it had been a month then he felt better off by not eating anything until Kali got all of that straightened out. He really wasn't that hungry at the moment anyways. Before he left Cynder's she gave him a big meal of steak, lamb, deer, heck even some stuff Cosmo didn't recognize. But it was all good. He only had a small glass of wine to wash it down. He wanted wine for some reason but he didn't want to mess himself up. He never understood how some people could just make themselves get drunk. He didn't like the feeling of waking up in the middle of a street with a dress on and a major hangover on top of that and have no idea what happened last night. It was just stupid in his eyes and it only got people killed or thrown in prison.

He wasn't sleepy at the moment so he decided to explore some. He made his way into the open kitchen to find that it was dark. He on the wall beside him and saw a flick switch. He flicked it to the up position and the lights on the ceiling turned on.

The kitchen was a bit smaller than the living room. It had a dark hardwood floor with a light stain near the corner of the kitchen. He guessed there must have been some sort of spill there. The left side of the kitchen contained the stove, fridge, a counter with some cabinets underneath it along with some overhead cabinets that held plates and silverware. There was also a sink with a window over it that looked out into the backyard. There was also type of bar on the wall to Cosmo's right. It was small but was big enough to hold up to three dragons. It was quite interesting for Kali to have something like that. The counter had some basic kitchen supplies on it, a bread box, jars with different spices on them, kitchen knives, empty glass jars bundled together in the corner, and a small notebook that was titled 'recipes'. On the right side of the kitchen was a large wooden table. There was a larger than average bowl on top of it which held some fruits like apples and oranges. Six chairs were set under the table to sit on when eating and another ceiling fan was over the table, similar to the ceiling fan in the living room, but this one had some lights on it to help illuminate the table. The backdoor was located directly behind the table with another window beside it.

Satisfied, Cosmo went back into the living room and turned into the hallway to his right. The hallway was short and on the left wall was a doorway which led into the bathroom. There was a faded yellow bathtub inside with a shower head over it. A square counter was on the left side with had a sink and a mirror hung over it. And of course, the white toilet in between the sink and the bathtub.

Cosmo turned back around and went into the bedroom on the opposite side of the bathroom. The bedroom was about as large as Cynder's bedroom. The bed inside it was big though, almost like a king size to Cosmo. And comfy too. There was a rocking chair next to the bed and a window on the far wall which only looked the building next door. There was a painting over the bed that looked like a tall looming waterfall crashing into the basin below. And not to forget the clock like the one in the living room on the wall on the opposite side of the bed. A fancy looking dresser sat below the clock. On top of it was an empty treasure box. This was where he put his music box, beside the little treasure chest. This was going to be his room for right now.

Cosmo withdrew from the room and checked out the last one at the end of the short hall. It seemed to be the same except it was missing the rocking chair and the painting. It had a clock, but it wasn't ticking like it should. The dresser under it didn't have that little treasure chest either. But the window had a better view of the street. Although Cosmo wasn't into dragons being able to look through the window and see him so he preferred the other room.

The last room was Kali's, but he decided to leave her alone for right now. Instead he walked back into the living room and sat down on the left couch in front of the fireplace and relaxed.

The next morning

Cosmo opened his eyes from that strange dream he had. He couldn't remember the details, but it had something to do with Cynder. He shrugged it off and realized that he fell asleep on the couch.

"Blast it. What's up with me falling asleep on couches instead of beds?"

Cosmo sat up, rubbed his eyes, and looked around. Everything seemed quiet, and it must have been morning considering all the light that was in the living room. He looked up at the clock and it was only ten minutes past ten.

Cosmo shakily stood to his feet. He wasn't fully awake yet so he was still a little unsteady. Then he noticed a piece of paper on the small table beside the couch he slept on. He didn't remember seeing it there before so he took a look at it.

The note read, "Cosmo. Me and Isis went to the market to get some good food. We'll be back after a little while. In the meantime, please don't go running off like you did with Spyro and Cynder. I don't want to worry. Oh and good morning and stuff."

The last part made him grin. He put the note back down and looked over at Kali's room, the last room he had yet to get a look at. He walked over to her room to find the door was open, so he peeked inside. The room was bigger than the one he claimed last night. The bed was on the left wall and was big enough for two dragons to sleep on and there were two dressers the same as the one's in the other two rooms. Above the dressers was a large mirror and beside the mirror was another clock, same as all the others. Since dragons didn't where clothes, he wondered what the dressers were for. To the left of the dressers was the closet. It contained Kali's random belongings whether they were souvenirs from a market or just stuff she wanted to keep with her. Cosmo didn't want to go snooping around though. On the other side of the closet was the bathroom. It was similar to the other one, just bigger and had more stuff in it.

There were two paintings in the room, one over the bed and one beside the door. The painting over the bed was scenery of a grassy meadow with a gentle breeze blowing against the treetops in the background. A few light clouds covered the sky and it looked like there were a few dragons in the distance just enjoying each others company. The other one was a painting of a Kali look alike. Her blue scales, her purple underbelly and purple wings. Her tail looked like a feather at the end, just like Kali's did, and her blue eyes just seemed to sparkle with delight. Kali was standing beside another dragoness. This dragoness had silver scales and her underbelly was a tinted blue. Her horns were straight and they looked like they had some silver coloring in them. The dragoness looked familiar, too familiar.

Cosmo brushed it aside and left the room. He was getting bored so he sat down on the couch, paws on his cheeks, and waited.

And waited.

Until finally around twenty minutes later, the front door opened and Kali entered the house. Cosmo looked back to see her carrying a load of bags on her wings. Cosmo immediately got up and made his way over to her and started taking some of the load off her.

"Thanks," Kali breathed in for some fresh air. "It was startin' to get kind of heavy."

"It's no problem." Cosmo grabbed as many bags as Kali would let him. "Where do you want them?"

"Kitchen counter," she said. The two of them made their way to the counter then both of them began placing the bags on it. There were eight bags in all. "Phew, thanks for the help Cosmo." She scratched a spot behind her left horn that itched and continued. "So, how are things so far?"

Cosmo opened his mouth, smiled, then went on, "It's great Kali. I couldn't ask for more." He looked around and noticed that the cat wasn't around. "Where's Isis?"

"Cynder's," Kali replied. "Heaven knows why."

Cosmo stayed quiet while he watched Kali put the food she got from the market in their appropriate places. She put the meat in the freezer to begin with. Then she walked over to the table on the right side of the room and picked up the bowl with all the fruits inside it. She examined the fruits, took a sniff, then brought the bowl over to the trash can and dumped all its contents. She brought the bowl to the group of bags on the counter and looked through a few until she found the fruit. She then managed to place all the fruit she had into the bowl then placed it back on the table.

"Glad you didn't eat any of that. It was spoiling."

"It's all right," Cosmo replied not knowing what else to say at that particular moment. He watched her put a jug of milk in the fridge, along with some cartons of different kinds of juice. Then some cheese in a drawer and some tomatoes and grapes went on the bottom shelf of the fridge. She closed the fridge then began restocking the cupboards. Then Cosmo found himself just staring at Kali. Her blue scales was just beautiful to Cosmo's eye, and her belly made his heart rate increase just by looking.

"What am I doing? Why do I find this exciting?" Cosmo forced himself to look away. What was happening to him? Did mating season affect males too? Even if it did, the season wasn't even here yet, so why was he admiring Kali? Then the thought of when they first met came to his mind. Not the battle, the kiss Kali shared not once but twice. Cosmo sighed deeply. Was he falling in love? Was he so used to being a dragon that he started to like nearly every female that crossed his path?

"Cosmo!" Cosmo snapped to attention. Kali was looking at him with a face he seen a few times from Cynder before. "You alright?"

"Yeah," Cosmo replied. "Just thinking."

"Alright, just making sure. You just seemed to be in another world for a second." Kali finished putting up some wine she bought in the cupboard under the bar then asked with a concerned tone. "Are you happy here?"

Cosmo looked up at her then slowly smiled, "What makes you ask such a silly question? Of course I'm happy. I have more than a few friends and those friends wouldn't ever mind if I lived with them." That wasn't what Cosmo wanted to say exactly, but it had the same point.

Kali frowned in return. "Do you really think so?" Cosmo looked up at her eyes as she continued. "Do you really think of me as your friend?"

"Of course I do Kali."

Kali's voice seemed to shrivel up, "But . . . I tried to . . . hurt you. I threw you in a prison and didn't even bother to visit you."

"Kali," Cosmo interrupted making her stop. "It wasn't your fault. You had no choice but to do that because Phantom made you. You let me escape remember? I was stuck between a rock and a hard place and you helped me, not once but twice."

"Twice?" Kali seemed a little less upset.

Cosmo nodded with the same smile he shown her earlier, "You helped me out of the forest, and you gave me a place to live. What more could I ask of you?"

"But . . . you already had a place to live, or I thought you did. Did you?"

"Yes, but there was some . . . complications so to speak. Cynder convinced me that I would be better off right here for a little while until she gets some things cleared up. I didn't want to get in her way so I took you up on your offer."

Kali went quiet for a moment. She made her way back around the bar so she wouldn't have an obstacle in her way while she spoke. "But it wasn't my idea at first." She admitted in a quieter voice. "It was Isis's idea."

"Isis? Well, it doesn't matter right now."

An hour passed after that conversation ended. Cosmo was sitting on the couch, bored out of his mind and silently begging whoever was listening for something to do.

Kali was in her bedroom for the moment, probably reading a book or what female dragons did in their privacy.

Then Cosmo heard something. Finally something to do! But he didn't even know what it was yet. He listened again, and found out there was a knocking on the window behind him. Cosmo looked, and it was Isis looking through the window, using her paw to knock on the glass. Cosmo made his way to the door and opened it for her and let her inside before closing it back again.

"Hey," Isis simply greeted.

"You little bugar. So it was your idea for me to come live here now was it?" His voice was a little on the quiet side.

"What?" Isis replied in her usual sound of tone. "Well, only reason why was because of Phantom. When Phantom finds out Kali is missing from the prison then he'll most likely come looking for her here. If you really want to know your part in this, you're like a bodyguard for her right now."

"What? Are you insane?" Cosmo was a bit louder this time and sounded offended.

"Hey, now is a good time to put all that training we did to good use. You wasn't training for no reason you know and I certainly can't protect her."

Cosmo tried to object to that, "But, I only know three elements so far. My training isn't even done."

"Three elements is more than what ninety percent of the residents in Warfang knows. So if you were to get into a massive battle, you would have one of the highest percentages of surviving. This bodyguard job is just part of your training." Isis looked down for a few seconds then continued. "And I wanted someone to talk to. Someone like me and you're the only one who fitted into that."

Isis walked over to the couch and jumped on top of it and began curling up. Cosmo quietly walked over to her. "So being a bodyguard is like, my job?"

"You can say that," Isis replied as she closed her eyelids. "You know, being a cat has its advantages, but it has its disadvantages too."

"How so?" Cosmo asked just to hear what she had to say.

"Well, did you know that cats sleep for an average of twenty hours a day? So if you'll excuse me, I have a nap to catch up on."

"Really?" Cosmo asked as he thought about that fact.

Isis shrugged her shoulders the best she could, "How should I know."