ugh, i was supposed to have this done sooner, but getting doesn't exactly help... anyway, this chapter is mostly meant to further Ignitus' side of the story so far.

Chapter 37: Positive events happening for the moment.

Location: Riftside safe area.

Date: January 10th, 8:45 AM

Character: Spyro

Spyro sighed, looking at the crystal Flame had giving him the day before. Flame said that Terrador had given him the crystal so that he could contact the Guardians every now and then to tell them what was going on.

At the moment, Spyro was debating whether or not to contact them and tell them they had found Cynder at last.

He looked at her. Cynder was peacefully sleeping next to him, huddled against him. She was smiling a little, but Spyro could tell that something was bothering her.

Spyro shook his head. Damn, first Cynder spent most of her life in absolute hell, now she finds out that her father is the one that tried to end our world. It's like bad luck follows her wherever she goes. He coiled up a little tighter around her, watching her carefully. But that shouldn't matter. She's a good person, and that's all that matters.

"Glad you found her?"

Spyro looked up. Flame was standing in the doorway, looking at Cynder. Spyro smiled. "What do you think?" he asked. "This is the best thing that's happened to us since we came to this world."

Flame smiled, walking towards them. "I agree with that." he said, looking at her. "Spyro, have I ever told you how lucky she is to have a mate like you?"

Spyro snickered. "Flame, me and Cynder aren't exactly mates quite yet." He said. "I think I already told you that we don't want kids yet."

Flame nodded. "Yeah, I know. But the two of you are close enough that it hardly matters."

"Huh…?"

Spyro looked at Cynder as she raised her head, eyes half open. He nuzzled her. "Good morning, Cyn." he said quietly, licking her.

Cynder purred slightly and looked around. "Oh, hey Flame." She said, looking at him.

Flame sat down, smiling. "Long time no see, Cynder." He said. "You okay?"

Cynder nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine." She said. "A little shaken from the things I've seen, but other than that I'm fine."

Flame smiled wider. "Good. You know, after that whole incident in the portal, I thought you were goner."

Cynder snickered. "For once, I think Malefor helped me out in some way, intentionally or not. He wanted me for something, and that was the only reason Cauldur's soldiers didn't kill me. I think I got lucky."

Flame laughed. "Yeah, no duh." He got up. "I'll leave you two along for now. Oh, and Light needs help with something. I think it has something to do with that fight of yours."

Spyro growled. "Great, just freaking great."

Cynder looked at him. "Hey, at least you two didn't kill each other."

Flame sighed. "Actually, Spyro nearly killed Light with a convexity blast." He said.

"Was that necessary to mention, Flame?" Spyro asked.

Cynder sighed. "Well, I'm not surprised. I mean, he is the most skilled in the world." She said, rubbing her head underneath his jaw.

Spyro nodded. "Yeah, good point…" he said. He folded a wing around her. "Not that it matters now. All I care about at the moment is that you're safe."

Flame smiled, then left.

Cynder smiled, then stretched and got up. "We should go see what Light wants. If it's this early in the morning, than it's got to be important; usually he sleeps for an hour longer than anyone else… I think that's because he works himself to near exhaustion nearly everyday."

Spyro sighed, getting up. He wanted to lie there longer with her in his arms, but then again he couldn't just stand around doing nothing. "Okay, let's go." he said. Cynder started walking to the door when Spyro folded a wing around her again. "But I would like to spend more time with you later." He said, kissing her.

Cynder giggled. "Yeah, me too." She said.

Location: Flint Hospital.

Date: April 2nd, 12:01 PM

Character: Carlos.

Carlos sat down in the lobby, watching people come and go like they did everyday. Silently, he wished that he had the same freedom. He wished that he could be on the outside looking in instead of being on the inside looking out.

He sighed, getting up and walking toward the stairs to go back to his room. Along the way, he stopped by the cafeteria and picked up some juice and a small bowl of cooked beef. Normally he wouldn't get any meat, but he's been low on energy lately so he decided that he might just be low on protein.

He kept walking, going up two more flights of stairs and down three or four hallways until he opened the door to his room.

He didn't see the small red dragon in the room when he first walked in. He walked in, shut the door, and sat on the bed.

"You look tired."

Carlos yelped and looked around. The small dragon was lying on the table next to the computer Carlos had, looking at him with half closed eyes.

Carlos groaned. "Of course I'm tired, you overgrown salamander! I haven't gotten any sleep last night!"

The small red dragon growled. "Shut up!" it growled. "I really don't like being called names, for your information!"

Carlos sighed, moving so his back was against the wall. "Please, just leave me the hell alone, okay?"

"You're the one that brought me here." The dragon said, growling. Or at least, it sounded like a growl.

"Will you stop growling at me, for crying out loud. I'm only sitting here."

"What the heck are you-" another 'growl'.

Carlos realized what he was hearing. "Why don't you come over here." He asked.

The dragon looked at him, then it jumped from the table and landed on the foot of the bed. "Okay, why do you want me over here?" it asked.

Carlos pushed the bowl of beef toward it. "If you're hungry, than go ahead and eat." He said.

"Oh be quiet. What makes you think that I'm-" yet another 'growl'.

"That."

The dragon sighed, then it promptly took a chunk of meat out of the bowl and swallowed it whole. "Okay, thank you." it said between bites.

Carlos opened the bottle of juice he had gotten and took a sip. "So, you mind explaining why you're here?"

The dragon looked at him. "Well, you brought me here, for one thing-"

"No, I mean, you don't look like something that-"

"Someone."

"What?'

"I'm not a thing, Carlos. I'm a person as much as you are."

Carlos groaned. "Look, what I'm trying to say is you don't look like you're from around here, and what I mean by 'here' I mean on this planet. So why the heck are you here?"

The dragon sighed, then took another bite. "Well, I'm looking for someone. Is today the 29th of December? I saw the calendar last night, but I might've read it wrong… that and you're little panic attack this morning knocked it down."

Carlos looked at the calendar. Sure enough, it was on the floor. Carlos walked over to it and picked it up. "Well, it isn't December. It's isn't even fall yet. It's the second of April."

"Damn…" the dragon said. It looked thoughtful for a moment, then it looked at Carlos again. "Okay, how long has it been since Cauldur's attack on Rivin on February 11th?"

"And how do you know these exact dates?"

"Just answer the question."

"Just a couple months."

Carlos heard the dragon mutter. "Okay, so I still have time…"

"Alright, now why look here? And more to the point, why did you come through that weird portal thingamajig?"

The dragon sighed. "Well, to answer your second question, it was the first chance I got. From where I came from, the only way I could get to this world was to use a portal created by Dark Magic. Which was a bad thing, seen as one, I can't use dark magic, and two, while dark magic itself isn't evil in the slightest, practically everyone that's used it was consumed by the darkness and turned into evil creatures that wanted nothing but death and destruction, or chaos or whatever else they wanted that they couldn't get beforehand." The dragon took another bite. "Believe me when I say that the portal you opened was a godsend."

"That doesn't answer why you think the person you're looking for is here."

"I don't think. I KNOW they're here."

"They? So, it's more than one?"

The dragon nodded. "Yes, there's two, to be exact. One in particular I'm a bit more worried than the other, but all the same I have to find them both."

"So you took my… whatever it is and just used it without my consent?"

"No. You opened that portal all by yourself."

"But I don't even know what this is!"

It sighed, taking another bite. "Ah, well in a few cases it does pay to be ignorant." It said. The dragon took another chunk of meat and pushed the bowl towards Carlos with a paw. "You can have the rest. This is your meat, after all."

Carlos pushed the bowl back. "Nah, I don't really need it. You can have the rest. I had breakfast this morning. You, on the other hand, didn't."

The dragon nodded. "Well, truth be told I didn't have anything to eat for a few days, so this is really helpful." It pulled the bowl back and bit into another chunk.

Carlos sat back down. "Look, lizard, I don't know where you came from, but why is it so important that you had to take the first chance you got? It could've easily ended with you in a garbage compactor or a nuclear reactor."

"Why do you keep calling me names?"

Carlos shrugged. "Well, if you have a name, you haven't told me yet."

The dragon sighed. "Good point there…" it said. After a few minutes it said, "My name's Ignitus."

"Okay, Ignitus, got it." Carlos looked at the now empty bowl. "Do you need anymore meat? The way you wolfed that whole bowl down you must've been really hungry."

"No. I'll be fine for now." Ignitus answered, jumping down from the bed. "Why are you in a hospital, though?"

Carlos sighed. "Ignitus, let's talk about that later."

"Fine." Ignitus answered. "Though, where am I supposed to hide?"

"As long as it isn't under the bed I don't care."

"Why would I pick under the bed?"

"Hell, I don't know! I was just saying!"

Ignitus sighed, jumping onto the computer desk again. "Fine, I'll just stay here until I figure something out."

"And what if a doctor comes in?"

"I'll just freeze him, hide, then unfreeze him." Ignitus answered.

Carlos' jaw dropped. "And if the doc DIES?"

"He won't." Ignitus replied. "Think. I've I could age a door handle, then rewind time around it so it's good as new, should I be able to freeze time itself around a person temporarily?"

Carlos gave up and lied down on the bed, picking up his book. "Fine, if you think it's safe, than I won't stop you." he said.

Ignitus nodded. "I didn't expect you too."

Carlos just opened the book and looked out the window out of curiosity. It was still cloudy as hell.

Not that it mattered to Carlos. He was stuck in a hospital, so the weather doesn't really do much to affect him.

Carlos turned back to his book, trying to find the page where he left off. Great. First, incredibly weird rumors start flying around about zombies, now a dragon shows up in my hospital room out of a weird portal that my powers somehow created.

What could be worse?