Dealing with Dark Spyro was not going to be easy. Malefor and the Warfang dragons had an uncomfortable truce now, but even combined they weren't safe.

Cynder realised, with a hint of reluctance, that she was counting herself among 'the Warfang dragons'. She'd been essentially rogue for most of her life, at least during the parts of her life when she had been in control of her own mind and actions. But between Imperia and Ember and of course Spyro, there really was no getting away from how much Warfang meant to her.

Was Imperia still a Warfang dragon? Or did she come under the Malefor side of this alliance? Cynder didn't know, and if Imperia was asked she'd probably say she was on both sides or something along those lines.

The group had moved from Malefor's library, or whatever he called the room they had been in before; now they were waiting in the entrance chamber for Terrador and the others to return.

Imperia, too exhausted to walk on her own, had been essentially carried by Cynder and Volteer; now she was lying on the floor. However, she just happened to be lying underneath the huge window that had the silver dragoness image on it. The sight amused Cynder, making her grin faintly; she was much less impressive at the moment then she looked in the image, but at least she was more alive. The rest of the dragons had set up in a rough circle; although everyone was standing slightly away from Malefor.

A few quiet conversations broke out, Cyril and Flare informed the remaining dragons what had occurred; Volteer, Imperia and a green dragoness with uncommonly long horns were making small talk and trying to relax. Cynder sat next to Ember, looking around the room and thinking. Ember spent most of her time looking at Cynder, although with a few glances at the others, wondering how she should start a conversation with the black dragoness. Cynder probably needed some relaxing small talk just as much as Imperia did, but she might also just want to sit in silence.

It wasn't very long before Terrador and a group of three other dragons walked into the room. Flare did a quick headcount as she walked over to him, soon confirming that everyone they had brought with them was present; plus Cynder, Ember, Imperia and Malefor. Twenty dragons in total.

Terrador swept his gaze over the group, stopping in surprise when he saw Imperia, then freezing entirely when he spotted Malefor. He didn't know how to react, there was too much that needed explaining. Fortunately Flare was ready to bring him up to speed.

"Terrador, I'm glad you're alright. We're all fine, but Spyro is still missing, we've agreed to give Malefor slight trust at least until the matter of Dark Spyro is resolved. Imperia is alive, and you don't need to worry about me trying to re-kill her, tempting though it was."

It was still a lot to take in, but Flare had given Terrador enough information to go on with. "Thankyou. Now, if Dark Spyro is our first priority I assume that you want to find him. How?"

"Search parties. Volunteers only." Cyril said. "Malefor will not be directly associated with them, and I personally will ensure full safety precautions are taken. We have knowledge of Spyro's likely behaviour, and we have narrowed down places to search."

"And when we find him?" Terrador asked.

"They report back to you, and if you're wise then you will inform me." Malefor said, nodding to Terrador.

"And then?" Terrador continued, inclining his head to the purple dragon respectfully.

Malefor hesitated slightly. "I'm not entirely sure."

"I can talk to him, but even if I get him to change back it's not a proper fix to the problem." Cynder said.

"Remember what happened to Imperia." Malefor said. "Even dragons he cares for are not necessarily safe."

"I can take care of myself." Cynder said.

"I can't." Imperia joked. "Especially not right now." She got a few glares, but also a few smiles.

"At least you survived, and I'm sure you have a story about how; I'll want to hear it later." Terrador said, looking at Imperia fondly. "But if talking to Spyro won't work then what are our other options?" He looked back at Malefor.

The purple dragon looked thoughtful, he opened his mouth to speak but Imperia interrupted him.

"I have a story for that too." The silver dragoness said with a smug look on her face. She reached up with a paw and the Dragonslayer, still glowing softly with energy, appeared for her. "Spyro was kind enough to leave this for us, after he had used it on me. I made sure not to charge it with my own magic, and as long as Cynder and Malefor didn't mess with it after I died then the magic in here is still Spyro's."

Cynder frowned. "So what?"

Imperia giggled. "Well, that means we can use this magic on the soul crystal; then we kill Spyro's dark side and revive him without it; just like we did for Malefor!"

"No." Malefor said flatly.

Imperia tilted her head. "What's the matter? The energy in the staff isn't mine." She lightly threw the weapon to Cynder.

The black dragoness caught it in her mouth and then transferred it to a paw. She could feel the remains of power humming within; it wasn't her energy either, and it did feel rather like Spyro's magic. She was far from okay with the thought of killing Spyro, even temporarily, but it had worked before on Malefor and Imperia… "Seems like the best plan we have so far, although I don't like it either."

"We don't know how reliable the crystal is." Malefor warned them. "I doubt it was meant for the strain of containing many different dragons over such a short period of time. Imagine if we killed Spyro and it shattered a moment later. No, I want this to be done with no killing at all, of Spyro or anyone else."

"We can at least have it as a backup, though. That's what we did for Cynder to make totally sure she'd be safe." Imperia pointed out.

"Oh thanks." Cynder said dryly. "Good to know you two had me well looked after."

Imperia glanced away awkwardly. Malefor reached out a paw of the Dragonslayer, and Cynder gave it to him with a hint of concern. She, Spyro and Dark Spyro might have been challengers to Malefor, but the moment she gave him the spear there was no doubt in her mind that he was the most powerful dragon in the world. Well… perhaps aside from Dark Spyro when he had been using the Dragonslayer.

Malefor waved the spear thoughtfully, not really knowing how exactly to wield it; but the potential it had was obvious, and disturbingly alluring. "I think it likes me, but the magic in here isn't mine." Malefor dropped the spear as soon as he could, before it tried to attune itself to his magic instead.

The spear vanished as it fell, reappearing after a slightly reluctant hesitation beside Imperia.

"We were the only three to touch it, so if none of us recognise the magic in the spear then it has to belong to Spyro." Malefor said. "That artefact is quite unsettling, I hope you'll look after it well Imperia."

"So we have a plan?" The silver dragoness asked hopefully.

"A backup plan." Malefor insisted.

"Okay, then what's our plan A?" Cynder asked.

Malefor sighed, admitting defeat. "I don't know… yet."

"We can talk to him." Cynder said. "That's a start at least."

"If given time to research his condition it would surely be possible to counteract the adverse personality impacts caused by the alteration to Spyro's physical state." Volteer chimed in helpfully. "Unless of course the powers of Dark Spyro are in fact innate and it is instead a psychological barrier that prevented the Spyro we all know and love from accessing them."

Malefor drew breath to comment on that, but Volteer was Volteer, and he was just getting warmed up.

"In the latter case it would surely still be possible to resolve the problem, but there is a distinction in causality between the scenarios that is worth pointing out for posterity, prudence, practicality and accuracy, and as a preliminary outlook on the overall state of Spyro's mental wellbeing with-"

"That's enough Volteer, please." Terrador said. "Save it for when we return to Warfang." He looked at Malefor. "I'd like to request that you come back to Warfang with us."

Cyril cleared his throat, clearly unhappy with the idea. "I know I'll get outvoted, but I would still like you to know I object to allowing a dragon who has proven himself to be highly dangerous and quite untrustworthy into our city."

"He could walk in anyway, or did you want to pretend that never happened?" Volteer retaliated.

Cyril growled slightly. "He bleeds like everyone else; it's just a matter of finding the right strategy." He narrowed his eyes at Volteer, but after the electric dragon glanced away Cyril turned his icy gaze on Malefor instead.

Malefor met Cyril's gaze evenly, unable to deny the Ice dragon's accusations, but also unable to kill him and still be trusted. For the first time Malefor saw the ice dragon on the same level as Spyro, Cynder and Imperia; as a significant threat but also as a worthwhile potential ally.

Cynder, however, had an unsettling flashback; she didn't remember exactly the words he had chosen, but the fire king Magmar had told her something very similar to what Cyril had just said. He had threatened her with a similar comment not long after he'd started trying to kill pretty much everyone she knew.

It was a meaningless thought. Cyril was nothing like Magmar, after all. At least… Cynder hoped he wasn't. She'd only just started to tolerate him existing.

Terrador spoke up, doing his best not to make this situation worse. "I share your concerns, Cyril." He looked back to the purple dragon. "You will be supervised during your stay, if you do decide to join us."

Malefor nodded politely. "I will come to Warfang, thankyou for the offer."

"The city will probably be almost as dangerous to you as you are to it." Cynder said.

Malefor sighed in agreement. "Yes, but I've done things to deserve that sort of treatment, both before and after I was overcome by my dark side; you didn't. I'll just accept it until we're done."

"Nobody deserves to be treated that way." Imperia said insistently. "You did your best, and I'll do everything I can to make sure nobody judges either of you unfairly."

"Actually you won't be doing much of anything." Flare said. "The moment we're back in Warfang you're going straight to your cell and spending your time there until we decide what to do with you."

"What, why?" Imperia looked bewildered. Flare pinned her with a stern glare.

"Because you betrayed us, you escaped, because you've caused a massive disaster, and because I don't want you getting yourself or others killed!"

Imperia hung her head. "Fair enough… But I can help, you'll-"

Flare cut her off again. "Don't try. I'm not going to negotiate on this one."

Imperia looked around for support, but didn't see any. Volteer and Cyril were in agreement, although the former did look a bit reluctant. Terrador looked neutral, and Malefor was certainly not going to give his opinion.

Cynder walked to the silver dragoness and put a wing over her slim shoulders. "I think you probably deserve this one. And besides, it'll keep you alive longer than the rest of us. Just think of yourself as Warfang's last hope if it makes you feel better. If we all die then you'll get to be speared again."

Imperia scowled. "I don't know how much of that was sarcasm, but I can tell you're teasing me."

"Don't worry." Cynder said with a playful smirk. "I'll make sure nobody judges you unfairly."

"Oh shut up." Imperia grumbled, but she couldn't resist giving Cynder an appreciative smile. "But thanks for cheering me up about this."

Cynder shrugged. "No problem. So does this mean we're all heading to Warfang?"

"Yes." Terrador said.

"Hopefully it won't be burned down when we get there." Cynder commented.

"That would be a bizarre action for Dark Spyro to take." Malefor said. "But… if he tried then he could almost certainly do it, so it would be wise for us to hurry."

Warfang was, to everyone's relief, not burned down and not in the process of being burned. The flight back had been tense and quiet, and even Malefor breathed a sigh of relief when they saw the city peaceful under the fading evening light. The group of dragons was met by a dozen guards from below as they were approaching the walls of the city. They were waved through, despite exclamations of worry at Malefor's presence; and eventually they all touched down in the temple at the centre of the city.

A pair of dragonesses waited for them, both pale in colour, one white and one silver. Both of them had needed to hurry out of bed in order to be there to meet the group, but it was impossible to tell that by looking at them as they were both perfectly composed.

Cynder and Malefor both faltered slightly, the silver dragoness looked identical to Imperia. Cynder had met Imperia's sister Altia before, but every time was still slightly unsettling. Malefor had only been told about Altia, and had almost doubted she was even real.

Altia's gaze swept over them all, counting quickly. As soon as she'd seen all of the Warfang dragons had returned, as well as Imperia, the wind dragoness stalked away without speaking so much as a word to any of them. The sight of Malefor, Ignitus, and Cynder seemed to have no effect on her.

The ice dragoness who had also come to meet them reminded Cynder very much of Asha, the fire dragoness from Shattershelf, as soon as she spoke. She had the same reassuring confidence and the same businesslike attitude.

"Welcome back to Warfang, I maintained a written report of everything that happened while you were gone and I can have it completed and summarised by morning. Is there anything that you need right away? Guard dragons? Medical attention? We can have a guest bedroom prepared, or a cell." She stared at Ignitus in particular, but was too disciplined to ask any non-urgent questions.

Terrador shook his head. "No thank you, Sheer. You've done well, I'll expect your report tomorrow but you can finish it in the morning rather than right now." He turned to the others. "You've all done well; you're free to go home. Report back here at midmorning when we will debrief, Sheer that includes you and Altia." He smiled, but then took a harder tone. "And no matter your personal feelings on this matter you are all forbidden from causing a panic about Malefor's presence in the city. It's no secret, tell others if you want or if you are asked, but do not incite fear."

He gazed around until he had seen everyone in the group nod. Malefor didn't nod, but everyone else did; even Cynder found herself nodding.

"Excellent. Rest well, we shall continue this in the morning."

Most of the group dispersed, with only the guardians, Cynder, Ember and Malefor remaining. Cyril summoned two of the guards from a nearby room and instructed them to keep watch over Malefor and take him to a room where he could stay for the night and then guide him back to the meeting room in the morning. Both of the dragons looked highly nervous, but did as they were told.

"Imperia, come on." Flare said, beckoning for the silver dragoness to follow her.

"Can I please not go to the cell… please?" Imperia asked sulkily.

"Cell. No negotiating." Flare said sternly. "But visitors can come if they wish." She said to the room at large, although mostly it was meant for Cynder.

Imperia sighed sadly, hanging her head and walking away beside Flare.

"I'm going to keep an eye on you for tonight, and organise a proper guard tomorrow. We can't have you escaping again." The rose fire dragoness said.

Imperia cheered up a bit at that, and cheered up more when Flare put a wing over her. "At least I won't be lonely, then." She purred slightly and swished her tail merrily as they left.

Cyril glanced at the others. "We should all get sleep. I expect we will have an exhausting few days ahead of us."

"To compliment the exhausting few days that we just went through." Terrador agreed. "I'm going to bed."

"So am I." Volteer said. "There are rooms here where you can sleep, Cynder, or you could go to Spyro or Imperia's homes, I'm sure they wouldn't mind. I'll be down the corridor left of the main entry way, just a short flight from here. Go there if you want to stay, if you need me for anything or if you'd just like to take a room close by." With that Volteer walked out of the room, leaving only Cynder and Ember.

"You can come to my family's home if you want…" Ember mumbled quietly, beginning to slink out and not really expecting Cynder to acknowledge the offer, let alone to accept it. However Cynder surprised her by darting to her side and walking with her.

"I'd really be grateful for that. Thanks Ember."

"Oh, no problem…" The pink dragoness said with a smile. "I think you're going to like it there, my parents are great…" She trailed off and stopped walking, a sudden look of horror appearing on her face.

"What's the matter?" Cynder asked, puzzled.

"I ran away from home…" Ember whispered, mortified. "They're going to kill me…"

Cynder frowned. "Seems a bit extreme. Do you want me to protect you? I'll try not to hurt them too badly."

Ember shook her head, beginning to walk again as she led Cynder through the quiet city streets. "Not literally. They're just going to scream at me, or maybe cry, and I bet I'll be imprisoned just like Imperia. Except probably not with any visits allowed. They'll probably throw me literally in the cell next to her if the guardians say they're allowed to."

"They don't sound very nice." Cynder observed.

"Oh they are, and I love them! And they love me, and that's why they're probably going to be so mad. Sort of like Flare was with Imperia. It's a protective sort of anger."

Cynder nodded. "I see what you mean."

"So, on second thoughts… You might want to go to Volteer instead, this could be a bit awkward. If you don't see me tomorrow you'll know I'm stuck in my room and not allowed to leave. Besides Volteer will probably be pretty lonely now that neither of his usual lady friends are around to keep him company."

Cynder rolled her eyes. "Do you ever not think about dragons having affairs with each other?"

"I wasn't implying that you'd sleep with him! Well, maybe the idea crossed my mind, but really all I was trying to say is that you two being together would be pretty cute. It's called shipping, and it's one of the most fun things in the world."

"Shipping? I thought that's what moles did with trade goods, sending them up and down the river to other cities."

"Oh that's the mundane kind of shipping. Shipping you with Volteer is the fun kind."

"No offence, but you're weird. I have nothing against Volteer, but I think I'll stick with you for tonight. Unless you get really unbearable."

"If my friends heard you saying that then they'd probably ship us." Ember laughed.

Cynder groaned. "There is really no way to win, is there?"

Ember giggled. "Not really. Although you can sit and watch as my parents kill me with words. That might count as a win for you, right?"

"I suppose so." Cynder agreed. But a worrying thought had just crossed her mind as well. "So… Do your parents think we hate each other? I mean, I'm not going to get screamed out of your house am I?"

"Oh…" Ember went into a sombre mood at the thought. "They think that we hate each other, but they've always said that they want me to reach my own decisions, they never really told me what they thought of you. I mean… they're smarter than I was a few years ago; when I first started hating you… so hopefully they figured out you were okay and they were just hoping I'd figure it out too…"

Cynder nodded, although she wasn't exactly reassured. She'd be surprised if anyone would allow Ember to be so angry towards her unless they were ignorant, cowardly, or they hated her too.

She would be disappointed if Ember's parents did turn out to be any of those things, but at least she still had Volteer's place to go to as an option.

Ember led the black dragoness to a much narrower street on the northeast side of the city, the walls meeting in an arch above them and blocking out the sky, but there were some warm yellow lights on in many of the windows, and softly glowing stones lighting the floor.

A shadow flickered over the alleyway, making Cynder nervous, but Ember seemed unconcerned and Cynder soon realised it was just a dragon walking in front of a fireplace in one of the windows.

The street was mostly quiet, but Cynder could easily tell that many dragons lived in this area. So this was where most of the dragons in Warfang stayed. Not at the dragon temple, and halfway across the city from where Spyro's rooms and Imperia's tower were.

Cynder could imagine this place being busy; there were plenty of nooks and open areas along the street where perhaps market stalls could be set up. It was, probably, a nice place; although Cynder had never liked crowds all that much and she doubted she ever would.

Ember walked up to one of the doors and stopped nervously, then she knocked. "Mum? Dad? I'm home."

Hardly a second later the door was opened by a friendly looking fire dragoness. Her scales were red, but her eyes and her mouth had a strong resemblance to Embers, a smile would look beautiful on her. Right now, however, she was not smiling; the expression on her face was a mixture of relief, shock, and outrage.

Before Cynder or Ember had time to wonder which one she would decide to act on first the dragoness threw herself forwards and wrapped Ember in an extremely tight hug.

"Ember! You're okay! I h-heard horrible things, after we were told what happened to Spark at the fire dragon city, I was so scared! Oh little heart, I'm so glad you're alright…"

The fire dragoness began to cry, and Ember also felt her eyes welling up as she remembered that her young cousin was dead. She buried her face in her mother's wing to hide the possible tears.

Another dragon walked up into the doorframe, also a fire dragon but one of the smallest adult males Cynder had ever seen. He glanced at Cynder, a look of surprise in his eyes which was soon replaced with gratitude. He then put a rather delicate wing on Ember's mothers back and nuzzled Ember's neck.

It was a few minutes before the fire dragoness was able to speak again. "Are you alright, little heart? Are you hurt? Where did you go? Are you hungry? Could you have caught a cold? Did they look after you in Shattershelf before that awful dragon went crazy? We were so worried when you wanted to go…" She began to fuss over Ember, checking her scales for scratches and trying to have a look in her mouth.

Ember blushed. "Mum… You're embarrassing me…"

Ember's mother narrowed her eyes, apparently now progressing to outrage. "We heard you were dying, we were worried sick, in fact worry is not nearly a strong enough word for it! We were- I don't even know what we were! Young lady, if you think that the worst thing that has happened these past few days is that you're getting embarrassed in front of your friend then you have a lesson to learn-"

She paused suddenly, as she finally took in Cynder. The black dragoness would have very much preferred to stay out of this, but it was too late to turn into a shadow now. She wondered how Ember's mother would react.

"Ah… hello. I'm sorry about making a scene, I hadn't realised…" She didn't let Ember go, Cynder wouldn't be surprised if Ember was stuck in that grip for a solid week, but she did lift her head and bow slightly to the black dragoness. "My name is Shira, and I'm guessing I have you to thank for bringing my little girl home safely."

"Mum!" Ember groaned, looking at Cynder helplessly.

Cynder was slightly taken aback, but she shook her head. "Ember could look after herself. Not extremely well, to be fair, but well enough to get by. In fact she saved my life."

Shira blinked at her. "She… oh…" Shira looked back at Ember. "You did?"

Ember nodded. "With help, yes. But Cynder kept me safe. The only bad thing that happened to me was getting locked in a room for a while."

"Aside from the near death incident at Shattershelf." Cynder put in helpfully. A comment which Shira did not seem to appreciate.

"Ember I can't believe you put yourself in so much danger!" She hugged the pink dragoness tighter.

For Ember's sake Cynder decided not to mention that Malefor was the one who had eventually saved Ember's life. She doubted Ember could survive the hug tightening any more at the moment. "She got hurt saving me, and I'll be grateful to her forever."

Shira nodded. "We all do foolish things and get hurt sometimes, but doing it to save someone else is a better reason than most of us can claim to have." She kissed Ember's head. "I'm so proud of you. I want to hear everything that happened. But for now the most important thing is that you're back."

"And that Cynder is my friend now." Ember said.

"Any friend of Ember's is welcome in our home." Shira said, letting Ember go and stepping into the house. She beckoned the young dragonesses inside, and after sharing a smile Cynder and Ember walked into the house.

It was a large place, and quite nice, flower patterned scorch marks burned on the stone walls and comfortable couches which also had the occasional burn mark on them.

The male dragon had moved to sit beside the fire and was poking it with his wing, he smiled to Cynder and then moved across to hug Ember for a few seconds, before returning to the fireside. "My name is Vulken. I'm Ember's dad, and I'm pleased to meet you."

"He's Spark's dad too." Shira said softly to Cynder. "Forgive him not being in the most talkative of moods." She saw a questioning gaze from the black dragoness and shook her head. "I'm not Spark's mother. Just Ember's."

Cynder nodded, not feeling a need to pry for any more information. The three of them sat down on the couches in a rough circle.

Ember had her own line of questioning to go through; returning to a normal speaking volume because it was a less touchy subject. "So you seem surprised that Cynder is now my friend, but not angry."

Shira laughed lightly. "Why would we be angry? We're glad to see you make another friend."

Cynder shrugged. "I didn't think I had a very good public image. Especially not with the parents of one of my most vocal… uh…"

"Haters." Ember offered. "Ex hater now. And she has a point. You knew I couldn't stand her, so why did you let me go and do it?"

"I didn't wonder much about what Ember's parents would be like, I just figured they'd hate me as much as she did."

"Oh I couldn't hate you!" Shira exclaimed. "I've heard more than enough about you from Imperia to know that you were good hearted and meant no harm."

Ember frowned. "Then why did you let me do bad things? I went way too far! I wanted to burn her and see her humiliated! She nearly strangled me! Couldn't you have told me she was okay, or at least ordered me to not be so nasty?"

"We could have tried, but would you have listened? You're a headstrong girl, and very determined." Shira said. "We talked it over a lot, and went to Imperia about it as well. We didn't want Ember to think we were her enemies too. Cynder, I owe you an apology for not directly intervening between you and my daughter. I was horrified when you left Warfang. I'll understand if you don't forgive me…"

Cynder shrugged. "You're forgiven. I forgave Ember and Imperia for all the misery that they caused me, so forgiving anything else is not a big deal."

This was greeted by an awkward and extremely guilty silence.

Cynder frowned. "I see that didn't help all that much to make you feel better. So… uh… You seem nice." She looked at Shira, hoping to get them into a friendlier conversation. She did want to make a good impression on Ember's parents. "What do you think about all of the things that have been going on with Malefor?"

Shira frowned. "Well, most of Warfang is just confused. Scared, a bit, but really we don't know what's going on."

"Honestly I'm not totally sure either." Cynder admitted. "But we have a sort of alliance with him at the moment. Dark Spyro is a much bigger problem. I think Terrador is planning to address the city about the whole thing tomorrow. Certainly he's not trying to keep it a secret."

"Malefor is here." Ember said. "Staying in the Dragon Temple for the night. I met him. He was… interesting. Scary, but not in a dangerous sort of way."

Shira opened her mouth, then closed it again, trying to decide what to say. "Well… I hope that you're right. Although there isn't much we can do about it until the morning, I suppose. You two must be tired, you need to rest."

Cynder nodded in agreement. "Yeah… Thankyou…"

"Come on." Ember said, she wrapped her tail around Cynder's paw and tugged her to her feet. Cynder followed along behind the pink dragoness, and Shira walked behind them.

"I'll bring you two breakfast, and we'll be just in the other room if you need us for any reason. Sleep well." Shira smiled softly as she stopped, watching the two of them walk through into Ember's room.

Ember's room also had flower scorch marks on the walls, and a fire set and waiting to be lit. Shira closed the door behind them and Ember walked to the fire, lighting it with a quick burst of flames. The room warmed up almost immediately, and Ember waved a paw over the fire, lowering it until within a few seconds it was just a glowing bed of coals.

"Your parents were great." Cynder said.

Ember blushed slightly. "Thanks… I think they liked you too."

"Little heart, though?" Cynder raised an eyebrow teasingly. "I hadn't thought your own mother would consider you small hearted."

Ember glared. "It's my nickname from when I was a hatchling, and it's not my real heart. It's for my heart shaped tail blade."

"I know, and I think it's cute." Cynder said, smiling.

Ember blushed a bit more, and then looked at the bed. "I'm so tired…"

"Nobody ever said running away from home would be easy." Cynder laughed, then she looked at the bed and felt exhaustion wash over her too. She'd barely slept in almost two days. She just wanted to curl up and sleep for a month. "None of this was easy." She hopped into the bed and curled up, and soon Ember turned off the lights and curled up beside her.

Cynder smiled to herself, she could get used to this sort of bed and closeness. If only Spyro was here too…

"Sleep well Cynder."

"I will."

In hindsight I'd shift scenes in this chapter back into the previous, and perhaps include some hints about what Hope is doing at this time. I don't think I'll change this now, and the story as a whole isn't going to be any different because of it; but some observant readers did wonder about the previous chapter being shorter and not having as much plot or character development as most do, and that is a fair point.

Another thing I wonder is if I might be providing too much fuel for shipping EmberXCynder. Although what is a fanfiction for if not suggesting the idea of two worst enemies having deeper feelings for each other?

As always thanks for reading, please do leave a review.

-4Dragons