"Why did this happened?" Ember screams, she had killed Flame, the Dragon she loves and her best friend. Ember tries to scrub Flame's blood from her claws in a chilling rain, but to no avail. "WHY!" Ember screams at the Cynder as she collapses into the small puddle, Ember hadn't made it far from where she had slit Flame's throat before collapsing.
"I'm sorry-" the Terror mentally starts before Ember interrupts her.
"You said that he wouldn't be harmed!" Ember growls, not knowing who to focus her rage upon.
"He wouldn't have been harmed if you had just trusted me!" Cynder growls back. "Because you just had to take back control at the same time as me, your body couldn't do two things at once, so it compromised. You have no one else to blame-"
"Just…. Just go" Ember whispers out. She knows that Cynder, if she really is Cynder, is telling the truth, she only has herself to blame. She had seen the trust that Spyro and the one inhabiting Cynder's body had in one another, it was clear that their feelings were genuine.
Understanding the gravity of the situation, and knowing that Ember won't be able to help her fulfill her plans any longer the Terror leaves Ember. The connection was still there but unfulfilled; she could come back, not that there'd be any point to doing so anymore, her plan had failed and caused much unnecessary bloodshed. Once again, Ember was truly alone; having betrayed her friends, her mentors, her guide, and finally herself. Ember no longer had anyone she could turn to; no one to guide her, no one to show her the path forward, no one to help her stop the corruption of the land.
The Blackflames of Darkness had taken a toll on her body, the spirit who had helped her had suppressed the exhaustion for Ember; Ember collapses in the street, there's no one around to save her from the hypothermia from the rain. So Ember struggles to her feet, barely conscious as her vision fades into and out of darkness, and stumbles home.
{~~~~~~~~~~~}
"I can't believe it-" a voice whispers over Flame before getting cut off as he painfully slips back into unconsciousness.
"Will he live?" another indistinguishable voice questions as Flame fades back in, his eyelids too heavy to even consider opening to signal that he's awake.
"He'll live, somehow. Whatever that boy did stitched the wound back together and removed most of the blood from his lungs, I was able to pull the rest out with my magic. Assuming he wakes up all that will remain is a scar, have you been able to find it? Have you found the monster that did this to him?" Flame starts to recognize the voice of the nurse Aqua, he must be in the infirmary.
"That monster was Ember, and no. She disappeared afterward, the Terror must have completely consumed her to cause her to do such a thing. After what she did to Terrador, and now Flame…. Saving Ember might not be possible" Cyril coldly condemns.
"Then you had better work on catching her, Nix is guarding the other young Dragons so you need to get back out there and find her before she kills someone else" Aqua commands with a seriousness that few have ever heard in their lives.
"Yes, ma'am" Cyril mutters leaving the room despite having just received orders from someone who dropped out of the Guardianship program.
"I'll be back soon, stay put you unconscious-four" Aqua chuckles darkly, stepping out to go do something.
As she leaves Flame finally regains the strength to open his eyes, immediately he hops down from the bed as his strength suddenly returns to him. Flame looks around, he had known about Red's stay here, but Terrador's and Spyro's surprised him. Breathing a sigh of relief Flame sees no visible injuries on his mentor, but the partially melted plates of armor beside him signify a pitched battle.
"What should I do…" Flame mutters, he wants to go help find Ember, but maybe that's best left to the older Guardians.
"It seems that they've considered that taking Ember alive might be impossible; if you want to save her, you'll have to leave now" Red surprisingly speaks all around Flame. Flame whips towards him in surprise but finds Red still unconscious, or at least pretending to be.
"I'm sorry everyone…" Flame says leaping out the window and taking off into the clearing night sky. Cold rain still drizzles across the smoldering Dragon's scales, but the pain does not inhibit him. He will save Ember, no matter what it takes.
Although he doesn't know where to look, something draws Flame back home, he knows that she'll be there. Quickly Flame lands outside their shared home and goes to enter the door before taking a quick look around him, it seems that no one else had thought that she might go straight home after what she had done.
Flame is briefly excited to see that the door is unlocked before remembering that he had left it that way when he left, locking and bolting the door behind him Flame decides he doesn't want to be interrupted. Flame quickly ascends the stairs finding himself stumbling, despite the return of his strength his mind still isn't completely back yet, good thing he didn't fall out of the sky…. Flame regains his footing and quickly proceeds back outside the door to Ember's room, the door still has its lock melted away but Flame knocks anyway.
Ember was nearly unconscious on the bed, but her mind was drawn back into focus at the knock. Ember's heart stops, the consequences of her actions had come; her betrayal of the Guardians, her rash believing of Terror-Cynder's story, and Flame's murder. There was nowhere she could hide, no one she could turn to, her life is over.
Opening the door and stepping through, "Ember?" Flame softly speaks. The room was dark once more, but Flame can still see a vaguely Ember looking shaking form.
She's hallucinating, yes that must be it, Ember thinks to herself in her first coherent thought since she's had since Flame's death. With what little strength she has remaining Ember rolls her head back over and tries to shut the intrusive thoughts out of her mind. Flame sees her turn back over, sighing silently to himself Flame approaches the side of the bed Ember's facing away from. Flame stands there looking over Ember's barely breathing form, wishing that he could have done more to protect her, before things got so bad between them. There's only one more thing Flame can possibly do to reach her anymore.
In a daze, barely aware of his own actions Flame reaches a paw over her shoulder, barely laying any pressure on her. Ember rolls over throwing his paw away, trying to banish his haunting presence "your not real-"
"Of course I am real" Flame reassures sliding his head next to hers. "I promise" Flame whispers as Ember tenses up at his touch, "I'm here…" Ember groans in a weak protest, as Flame runs a paw along her shoulders, just trying to ensure her that he's here. Ember reaches out her paw desperately; the Blackflame, Ember's actions, and bonding with Terror-Cynder had broken her more than just emotionally. Ember's mind is slipping away, she can only just barely feel who's ever found her; Ember needs help that Flame can't give, but maybe there is something he can do.
"Ember" Flame gently whispers in her ear, she gives only a small shutter in response "can you hear me? I'm okay, we're safe now. You don't have to be afraid anymore" Ember doesn't respond, Flame's voice can't reach her; he'll need something stronger, more physical. Flame moves in closer to Ember, jumping up into the bed with her, Flame lays down with her drawing her in a tight embrace. Ember's eyes open slightly but she falls away again, Flame almost gives up hope when suddenly her claws grip into his hide.
Ember's still there, but he needs something stronger, something powerfully emotional that can bring her back to him. Flame sits up and pulls Ember up with him, laying the Dragoness against his smoldering chest. Casting aside his indecision, Flame whispers the truth "I love you." Flame plants a gentle kiss on her forehead, her snout, and finally, her lips. This is wrong, Flame's taking advantage of what's happening to finally express his feelings. But he can't think of anything else that he can do, so Flame closes his eyes and hopes that this will be enough.
{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}
The Darkness closes in around Ember's mind, slowly eroding her sense of self. Without Cynder the power of Darkness is consuming Ember, but Ember has no reason to stop it; she's betrayed everyone she's ever cared about trying to protect them from a threat that Ember's no longer convinced is genuine. Ember understands that the Terror still poses a threat, but Ember's the only one who killed Flame. Ember slit his throat, it was her claws that killed him, it was her selfish desire to not listen to either of her mentors that got Flame killed.
When Ember had started to catch feelings for Flame months ago she pushed it, and him, away. In place of them Cynder had arrived, mentoring Ember for her final confrontation with Terror-Cynder and in a single second of weakness Ember had destroyed everything in her life. Ember had suspected that there was something going on with Flame, for years now she's suspected that Flame's been in love with her, but Ember's always pushed it away. They were raised as siblings, even though they both always knew that they weren't related, it doesn't make it anymore right. Despite that fact, Ember knew that neither of them could ever push the feelings fully away; and it was not lost on Ember that the only thing keeping her from fading completely was thinking about him.
But Ember'll never see him again, all that's left was Flame's lifeless corpse and the blood running through her claws. She'll never feel his presence again, somethings moving her, but it's probably just one of the Guardians coming to arrest her, she is a murder after all. She'll never go to the Café with her friends ever again, she'll never talk with anyone at the Temple again, she'll never…. Be again.
"It's warm…." Ember mutters, the presence had wrapped itself around her. Maybe it's not actually a person, there's no one who would ever show her this kind of kindness again, no one would shelter her from the consequences of what she had done. But the presence wouldn't go away, pulling her close Ember's head starts to get fuzzy, she can't tell whether or not she's waking up or finally fading away.
Ember's eyes start to fade into the dimly lit room around her, she's back but only just barely, she could fade back away any second now. A warm gentle wetness lands on her head awakening Ember if only a little. Then her eyesight's blocked by something red followed by another kiss. Finally as Ember starts to turn to investigate Flame kisses her, his lips are dry, cracked, and unmoving. But the passion and need were all it took to awaken Ember, her eyes final open and she's finally aware. Flame's eyes are closed and his lips were just barely brushing hers, but his intent and love were crystal clear "Flame I-" Ember slurs her words attempting to convey something.
Flame pulls his mouth away and draws Ember against his chest again, "shhhhh…. We'll have to go back, but only when you're ready."
{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}
"I'm not sure the chains are exactly necessary."
"She requested them" Cyril explains to Volteer. Just after dawn Flame had carried Ember back to the Temple, he carried Ember down to a small cell-like room before being whisked away by Aqua because of his injuries. The two Guardians were standing outside Ember's cell far below the city streets in a stonework room. Behind them is the door leading back into the maze of the Temple's passages, they weren't deep enough to reach the unexplored ruins, but Nix stands guard outside in case anything tries to capitalize on today's chaos.
"But what are we going to do? Legally she should be tried for the attempted-murders of both Terrador and Flame and conspiracy to commit the murder of Cynder, but that would be…." Volteer trails, everything had happened so fast, it was hard to think that this could have happened.
"With Terrador unconscious leadership falls to us… we have to make a choice" Cyril responds darkly. "If tried…. The gentlest punishment might be spending decades in prison."
The door behind them opens revealing Cynder flanked by an annoyed Nix "don't just ignore me young lady. She wants to kill you, you shouldn't…"
Ignoring the older Dragoness, Cynder asks "I want to talk to her."
Surprised "she's barely capable of talking as is, and she's after you. It's unsafe-" Volteer starts.
"Wait-" Cyril interrupts. "Ember hurt Terrador and Flame, but you were her true target. Ember needs to face the consequences of her actions, but Flame won't take any serious action if we give him the choice, and Terrador is still unconscious. I think you should make the choice about what's going to happen to her" Cyril explains to the surprise of his friends. Cyril had been the most opposed to Cynder's acceptance after she had been freed from Malefor's control and he hadn't had much of a relationship with her after that time.
"I want to know exactly why Ember's done all of this. She seems convinced that I'm the Terror and that she's been working with the real Cynder, I think she's been manipulated." Cyril looks to both Volteer and Nix with a confirming nod, and opens the door leading into the cell.
The cell was dimly lit by a single natural torch, the only thing in the plain cell is the pink Dragoness Ember, crudely chained to the wall. Ember's breathing was light, but steady and she's aware. Ember's head raises woosingly as if drunk, but she recognizes Cynder and lightly growls only to wince and lay back down. Her head was spinning and Ember shuts her eyes trying to push out the pain.
"Stay safe young one" Cyril advises closing the door behind Cynder. Cynder relaxes once it's closed, she wants to talk without the Guardians listening in.
"Ember" sternly starts loudly. Ember covers her ears as the sound echoes in the small sound-proof room. Whispering much more quietly "Ember, look at me." Ember whimpers and vaguely turns to look at Cynder, "I know what happened, I know what happened to your parents. I know what I did to them and I know what you saw, you saw me brutally murder your foster-parents and you think I killed your biological one's too. In my youth I was transformed into that monster that lead to the genocide of much right of the Dragon race, but Spyro saved me. Do you understand what I'm saying, Ember?"
Ember barely responds with only grunt, Cynder steps into range of the chain and Ember tries to struggle to her feet. Failing and falling back down Ember growls "why should I believe-"
"Because you've been manipulated" Cynder finishes approaching Ember's reach. "Let me guess, your here for revenge aren't you. She told you that you could avenge everyone that I killed? That you could protect the world from my corruption? We can't bring back the people that were lost, I'm just trying to do everything I can to make up for my past atrocities that-"
"What about Spyro?" Ember asks, staring forward at nothing.
"I-" Cynder stops her shoulders slump. "I don't want to be alone, is that so evil of me? I love him. Do you know why we kept our presence in the world a secret?" Cynder growls through her teeth, "because of people like you." Ember's perks up in surprise, "did you really think that your story was that unique? I killed thousands and I made many orphans. You were manipulated, ask yourself this. You know of my deeds, my power; if I wanted Spyro dead he would be."
Ember is silent at Cynder's verbal lashing, nothing she said was untrue. Surely there were many others that could have been used this way, Ember doesn't have anything that made her special. "I just wanted to…. I thought I could protect everyone-"
"You didn't protect anyone, you put everyone in danger and nearly killed Terrador and Flame." Ember whimpers, she's screwed up on an unimaginable level. Ember's finally figured it out, she's talking to the real Cynder, she had been tricked into serving the Terror of the Skies all along. "But do you know what you can really do to help?" Ember raises her head expectantly, she'll do anything to make this right, to do right by the people she loves. "Help us stop the Terror; we know she's not what she seems, she's a master of manipulation. She's lost both of her aces in the hole, you and her ability to control me. Help us stop the Terror of the Skies and I'll see what I can do to convince the Guardians to forgive your crimes."
Ember seems ready to accept up until the possibility of her pardoning, "how can I accept that…. I've hurt so many people…" Ember cries, how can she just sweep this under the rug?
"Then struggle to make it right, work for it. The Guardians pardoned me in hope that they could use me in the war against Malefor, you aren't as naturally powerful as me, but maybe you can fight in this next conflict. What do you say?" Cynder prompts, she knew that she was leading Ember on with her words, but it was better to have more allies than having to execute her.
Swallowing loudly and slowly struggling to her feet, pulling her chain taunt, Ember looks Cynder in the eyes with all the strength she can muster. "I will, I'll make this right, I'll do my best-" Cynder responds by cutting the chain on Ember's neck with her tail-blade. The moment the magic-damping chains were severed the Blackfire gently comes to life, not immolating her body but small wisps of Blackfire rises off her scales.
Cynder steps back in surprise, but somehow Ember has the powerful Darkness under control; Ember also seems surprised, Terror-Cynder had claimed that she shouldn't be able to use it without help. Ember gets it back under control and the Darkness fades away from her pink scales. Maybe after having just barely survived the ordeal this was her reward. Cynder smiles in response, this might be exactly what they need to turn the tides against their enemies.
Not trusting her enough to take her eyes off Ember Cynder knocks on the door with her back paw. Cyril reopens the heavy door, surprised to see Ember freed, "Ember here is going to help us destroy the Terror as repayment for her actions" Cynder quickly explains. The adults all look weary, disbelieving that it would be that easy to turn Ember back to their side. "But I think that there's something else you need to do before we can stop the Terror."
{~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~}
The Elder Guardian Terrador was unceremoniously laying on the ground next to the window, there's no bed strong enough or large enough to handle his massive bulk. He was still a little hazy, but Terrador had awoken about an hour earlier. Red had returned to unconsciousness in the far bed and Spyro had arrived unconscious in the bed next to him. How could this have happened? How could the innocent cute child he knew become such a force of murderous rage? Were they really that neglectful of her? Their attentiveness had fallen off of Ember because of how far the others had progressed, but were they really so negligent that it had gotten one of their students killed?
"Come on, you're miraculously alive, I need to do an inspection-" Aqua the Dragon opens the door to the infirmary, practically dragging Flame in despite the assurances that he was okay. She stops seeing that Terrador is awake "never a dull moment" she shakes her head leading Flame to a bed. "Wait here, please" Aqua requests as Flame lies down on the bed before turning back to Terrador.
"What happened to Flame? I had heard that he was injured-"
"He died, but he's better now" Aqua darkly jokes, what on earth had happened to any of her patients; one was an unknown creature faking a Mind-Down, the purple Dragon was actually suffering from a Mind-Down after resurrecting Flame, Flame was saved from death's door and he then immediately proceed to run off after his friend, and Terrador has suffered mysterious burns from Ember's Blackflame. Aqua silently examines Terrador's back but it seems that his armor had protected him from being burned by Ember. "Stay here and relax, I'll officially discharge you when I have time to examine you properly.
Terrador nods obediently as Aqua turns away towards Spyro, he was unconscious since he had healed Flame but he seems otherwise healthy. Flame on the other hand is much more concerning, Flame had snuck out when she wasn't looking not long after she had finished drawing the blood out of his throat and lungs. After she had used her Water magic to draw the blood out, she had gone outside to dispose of the liquid and when she returned he was gone. Aqua squints questioningly and Flame tries to hide from her gaze, sighing "did you find her?"
Flame looks up in surprise "yes…. Something was wrong with her, but I was able to bring her back."
"Good, let me take a look at your neck again, Spyro somehow healed it but I'm worried it might tear back open" Flame complies rolling onto his back and stretching his neck out to make it more accessible.
As Aqua feels the scar tissue surrounding where Ember had slashed him, the wound that should have taken months to scar over like this was healed instantly. Despite trying to, Aqua can't find a physical reason to keep him here in her care, despite that "I want you to stay here until Spyro awakens. If you have a reaction I want to know immediately."
"Spyro? Did you say that Spyro was the one that healed me?" Flame asks feeling his own neck, the large scar was easily find-able although Flame didn't realize that it was there until just a moment ago.
"Yes, Spyro healed you, Cyril has a theory but he refused to elaborate about what he thinks happened. You should thank him when he wakes up, it seems that he put himself in a lot of danger for your sake."
"For my sake?" Flame wonders, Flame had met Spyro a couple of times while he was at the Temple, but he wouldn't consider them particularly close friends or anything. Maybe this is just the kind of person the purple Dragon is? "What do you think? He didn't mention anything that-" Flame stops as he hears someone walking outside the room.
Aqua also hears the two approach, stepping in between the door and her patients as the door opens. Walking in is Cynder and Ember, flanked behind them are the remaining adults, the only one missing is Nix who had continued her patrols. Everyone who is awake is confused, so Cynder quickly outlines what had happened "I talked her down. With every piece of information available we found out the Terror has been manipulating her for a long time now. She's coming with us to finally put a stop to all of this, but I figured you'd appreciate a moment to talk with her" Cynder address Terrador.
"I would, thank you. Ember, come here if you will" Terrador beckons the young Dragoness over while sitting up himself.
Hesitating for a moment, Ember complies, everyone in the room remains silent and half considers leaving to give the two privacy. "Master Terrador I'm-" Ember starts before Terrador lunges forward and drags her in close to his chest.
"I know you are, young one, I'm just glad the two of you are safe" the usual stern and judgmental Terrador softly whispers. The genuine kindness that she had betrayed brings tears to her eyes, "I now know exactly what's been happening to you these past months, I'm sure it's been hard on you. We abandoned your training in favor of others and failed to encourage you to pursue any other path in life, we should have been there for you when the Terror first arrived. The Terror drove the wedge, but it was our neglect that allowed her to in the first place; I'm sorry that it took such a sacrifice from everyone to allow me to finally realize that after all this time. I'm sorry that I was so closed off that you felt uncomfortable talking to me about something so important and dangerous. I'm sorry that I wasn't blessed with the knowledge and foresight of my predecessor to know about your exploitation, I'm sorry you've had to suffer through all of this alone." Terrador doesn't dare cry, lest it undermine the last bit of his personal stability, but he does let Ember go from his embrace.
But Ember doesn't let go of her mentor, barely getting the words out around her tears "I… I'm sorry, for everything I've done." Everyone looks on in shock, Terredor had been a stable, almost emotionless, rock in many of their lives. Seeing him act like this and show genuine feelings of regret and pain was something few of them had ever seen before.
Except for Aqua, there was a reason she had wanted to work for him at the Temple, under that cold stony hide was the heart of a Dragon that cares deeply about those around him. Aqua shakes her head in disbelief, having those brief moments of genuine feeling were tough to come by with him, but he doesn't deserve her staring at him like he's putting on a show. Aqua turns back to the mysterious Dragon Red, still shrouded in his black cloak, because they feared disturbing him might cause him to reawaken. Aqua uses her Water magic to check his vitals again, and once again finds him unconscious for the time being, but just as Aqua is about to move on she spots something. "You little weasel" Aqua mutters loudly, attracting attention from the silent group, removing a piece of paper from the supposedly unconscious bipedal Dragon's cloak.
"What happened?" Terrador immediately asks all business struggling to his feet.
"Absolute fucking bastard…" Aqua continues to mutter, the adults get to watch the younger Dragons' surprise, Aqua had been known to drop her professional demeanor at times. Sighing in annoyance Aqua holds up the paper Red had planted for her to find, "this guy is still pretending to be unconscious. Looks like he's got a message for us" Aqua passes the note to Volteer, who in turn passes to the Elder Guardian.
Sitting back down on his haunches Terrador clears his throat and reads the note, "I see that you've managed to overcome what might have been the greatest hurdle to your survival. If you want to finally put this threat to rest you'll have to travel to the Dark Spire found in the desert in the east, I will be able to return to the world once you do so." Terrador trails off before growling loudly, "what is his angle…?"
"This is Red?" Cynder clarifies.
"Yes, this is the same one who attacked both of us, it seems that he wants the Terror to fail. His actions encouraged you to return to the Temple to help stop Ember, his attack on the Temple put us on high-alert and when he reawoke he warned me of Ember's attack, and now it seems he's telling us where to go to finally stop this threat" Terrador observes.
"Mmmmm…." Cyril starts. "I don't think he's trying to trick us into exposing ourselves anymore, it seems that he's had every opportunity to attack and destroy us. Trust would be a strong word, but I think that we can believe his word and directions."
Terrador sadly nods, "if we do this we'll have to commit, we don't have the man-power to protect our base while attacking theirs. But we can't commit all of our resources either, from Cynder's testimony there's another organization that seems to also wish out downfall." Terrador turns to Cynder, passing direction over to her "the Guardians are out of commission for the time being, once again I'm afraid that we'll have to rely on the younglings once again to protect us all. Cynder, who should go?"
Cynder nods thankfully, a month ago the Guardians were still afraid of her, but the extraneous circumstances seem to have changed their minds. "Me and Spyro, once he wakes up of course, Flame and Ember will also be coming with us. Sparx and Zoe will stay here to prevent being taken as hostages. Nero, Volteer, and Winter will stay here to protect the Temple, their power combined should be enough to stave off any threats" Terrador looks surprised at Cynder, Ember had conspired to murder her "Ember needs to repay for her actions. And this is a justifiable revenge."
"And how do you feel about this?" Terrador asks turning back to Ember who had hid near Flame's bed.
Ember's eyes are dark and downcast. "I want to stop them, she tricked me into hurting my friends, I want payback" Ember explains slightly disturbingly.