Author's note: I'd like to warn you that this chapter deals with themes that you may find disturbing.

Wow it feels so long ago since I found myself stuck on the third chapter of this story; these most recent two have been hard to write indeed. The end is harder than the beginning. Yes, the end, we still have several chapters to go, but this story is in it's final act now. That being said I do have a lot of material for a sequel... hmm...

But now it's time at last for the meeting between Hope and Cynder, and time for Hope to get his song:

Burn Your Name, by Powderfinger.

I recommend playing it now if you can, and playing it quite loudly.

Darkness shrouded the rooftops of Warfang, and even higher above it crept into the beacon tower and surrounded Hope and Cynder.

Warfang slept below them, most of the dragons were out searching for Dark Spyro, unaware that what they were looking for was here already. In the silence Cynder heard her breathing and his… and perhaps it was her imagination, but she felt like she could sense the heartbeats of everyone who remained in the city, slow and calm, not knowing of the danger.

She had to protect them.

The black dragoness was on guard, her eyes flicking to the large windows where she could fly to safety. By the time he'd crossed the room she could have vanished into the night sky; but Dark Spyro made no aggressive moves, he simply gazed at her, his eyes locked on hers as if he could see right into her soul.

"What do you want?" Cynder asked softly.

He took a step towards her, and Cynder took a step backwards, she could feel the power in him and it sent a chill down her spine. It radiated from him as if he was a magnet, which Cynder feeling both attracted and repelled by being close to him. Dark Spyro stopped, but his gaze didn't falter.

"Cynder… I came to apologise to you. I hurt you, I scared you, and I'm so sorry. I want to make everything alright again." His voice was gentler than she remembered, but it had lost none of it's potency.

Cynder opened her mouth to respond, but she held back on her immediate angry reply. In the darkness he looked so much like the Spyro she knew and loved, the Spyro who was hidden somewhere deep inside and fighting to come back to her.

Hope took this as a chance to keep talking, the words beginning to flow out of him in a rush of relief.

"I saw the way you looked at me after I killed Imperia, Cynder I'd do anything for you to never look at me like that again, I won't scare you or disappoint you again, I didn't understand then but I see now why it hurt me so much. Everything is so clear to me now, I know why I'm here. I don't care about anything else except you."

She felt a little glow of warmth in her chest, maybe she had a chance here. She raised a paw softly and Dark Spyro went silent. "I don't blame you for what you did. I know about the Dragonslayer Spear having a will of its own, and you were panicked and threatened. It was natural for you to lash out. But you don't have to hurt anyone."

Hope nodded. "I would never hurt you, you're the most beautiful and important thing in the world."

"You're coming on very strongly." Cynder said, flattered but disturbed. "And it's not just hurting me. I don't want you to hurt anyone." She told him gently.

He looked at her, confused. "Why not?"

Cynder opened her mouth, then closed it again. She didn't know how to explain to him why she didn't want him to hurt anyone. Obviously hurting dragons was bad, but Dark Spyro just didn't seem to understand that. He looked back at her, innocently unaware of her struggle, but then he smiled.

"I get it. You're confused, just like I was, and just like Spyro is. But you and I are the only ones that matter. I know it's hard to understand for you, but I can help. I can help you let go of all those things, just like I did. We can go away, just you and I. We can go anywhere, do anything we want."

There was something almost hypnotic about his gaze, he believed in himself so much. And it wasn't just that, it was that the things he was saying… they made sense.

Cynder sighed slightly, confused and annoyed with herself for being so tempted. She would have gladly come to Spyro with exactly the same offer at any time over the last several years, if she had known he still cared about her.

But now she valued Warfang, Imperia, Ember and the other dragons that lived there. And she knew that Spyro valued those things too. Hope was offering Cynder what she had thought she wanted, but it wasn't what Spyro wanted and she wasn't sure it was what she wanted now either.

She forced herself to look away from him. "I don't want to let go of things, I want to stay here and I want you to be here with me."

"Don't say that. You're talking about me like I was just Spyro. I know you're confused, but you've got to understand that. Come with me and I'll show you everything."

Cynder looked back at him, but she didn't meet his gaze. "If you're not Spyro, then who are you?"

"My name is Hope." He smiled brilliantly at her.

"Hope." She repeated, looking him in the eyes now, in her puzzlement and curiously she put her discomfort aside slightly. "Why Hope?"

Hope raised his head and puffed out his chest slightly, confidence surging through him when Cynder didn't seem to mind the name. "It's what I am. Hope for a perfect life, for a perfect future with you. You don't think it's a bad name… do you?" He tilted his head questioningly.

Cynder shook her head. The name was unusual, yet another layer of disturbing flattery. Just how obsessed with her was he? But still she didn't mind the name.

Hope nodded gladly, stepping forwards again. This time Cynder let him close the distance, she had her shadows to escape if she needed them. The dark purple dragon reached out to touch her face, moving slowly and reverently, as if handling something sacred.

"Come with me." Hope repeated. Cynder's scales tingled as his claw traced her cheek and stroked her horn. "It's time to break free. Everything that's holding you back is just illusion, shatter that illusion and join me. Join me Cynder."

"If I wanted to… then what would I do?"

Hope looked at her in wonder, overjoyed by her response. "Just let me love you, stay with me forever. You can do anything you want, I will always love you; just love me in return."

Cynder looked down at the ground for a long time, her mind was working hard to reach a decision but her emotions were in turmoil. Hope's paw continued to rest lightly on her face.

It all sounded so easy, so perfect; he was so sure he was right that Cynder found herself believing it too. But she didn't love Hope, she loved Spyro. She knew Spyro.

"And if I did, then what would we do?" She found herself asking.

Hope smiled. "Whatever we want."

"And what do you want?" Cynder insisted.

He blinked at her, not totally sure how to answer the question, but then his smile came back. "I don't want to destroy the world, if that's what you're asking. At least, not until we've had some fun with it. We will destroy it eventually of course. You don't need to understand yet, we have all the time in the world. Before then we can go and fetch Suna, he seemed to entertain you. We can go and see Ignitus once I find the White Isle." He stepped closer. "Does that make you feel better? As long as you trust me everything will be okay."

Cynder nodded almost imperceptibly, but Hope felt it through his touch.

The dark purple dragon stepped closer, his wing stroking hers. He shyly went in for a kiss. Cynder dipped her head, letting him kiss her head but not allowing him a proper kiss. His touch made her heart race and made her scales almost feel as if they were burning, but weather that was from desire or dread she couldn't tell.

Was his magic making her feel this way somehow? It felt like Hope's darkness was calling for a matching darkness inside her, but that darkness wasn't there. The Terror of the Skies was dead and gone; and the only darkness left in her were the natural flaws that everyone had. Cynder's in particular were pride, aggression and, although she would hate to admit it, fear. Hope was offering solutions to all of them. There was nothing for Cynder to fall into; no dark side to take control. If she agreed with Hope and chose him then it would be her choice alone.

Her tailblade gleamed with poison as she leaned into him, subtly allowing it to rest against his chest. Hope didn't even notice, he was too enraptured by her closeness.

But Cynder couldn't make the cut. The poison she'd chosen was a soporific, a simple poison that would knock out a dragon and put them in a forced sleep; it was the right thing to do… maybe.

Hope had healing, and with that might come a resistance to poisons. She could increase the dosage to make sure, but if that lead to even the tiniest chance of killing Spyro then she absolutely refused to do it. If she poisoned him and it only made him angry, however, then he might retract his offer or lash out at Warfang, and she didn't want that either.

She lowered her tail.

Hope, unaware of her internal struggle, gently tugged her forwards and down; a few moments later they were settled down beside each other.

It felt nice. Cynder was surprisingly comfortable, she had her shadows if she panicked and wanted to escape, but she felt safe. She hadn't realised how much she missed being near Spyro, even if it had only been a few days and even if Hope wasn't truly Spyro.

He kissed her again and she let it happen.

Her mind was filled with questions:

What if she said yes and joined him? Would she be able to stop him hurting others? Would he want too much from her or do things to her she didn't like? What would the others in Warfang think, and perhaps most importantly would she be able to cope with being so close to someone who was so nearly Spyro but at the same time so obviously changed from the dragon she loved so much?

Cynder didn't know the answers. Her emotions were running wild and she was torn between doing what was right for Warfang and figuring out what was right for herself.

She couldn't decide now, she needed to know more, she needed to be able to think.

Hope twined his tail with hers, wrapping around her body, closer and closer. She wanted this. Everything else could wait for one night.

Hope slept peacefully, he was an even heavier sleeper than Spyro; he was content and confident to the point of arrogance even in the middle of Warfang. He didn't wake up until well after dawn.

His eyes slowly opened and he saw Cynder sitting next to him, she'd had no difficulty in waking up first. Her tail was wrapped lightly around his waist but her expression was distant, staring at nothing.

"Good morning." He smiled at her with pure happiness, but she didn't return the smile.

"Hope, I can't be what you want me to be even if I tried. I don't want to. I love Spyro… not you."

The dark dragon blinked at her, uncomprehending at first. He slowly sat up and reached out to her, but Cynder caught his paw in her own and placed it back down.

"I know Spyro can hear me, I want him back. Please, you were happier as Spyro and so was I."

"Cynder why are you saying this?" Hope asked. "I thought you were understanding."

"I tried to understand, but what I've understood is that you don't care about others. It's not your fault, but you're… well… you really are a psychopath."

"I am not!" Hope shook his head. "I see things clearly. You're confused, clouded. You don't want Spyro back. I'll show you the truth, I will!" His voice was rising, but not with anger, he sounded more like a little dragon being told that it was their bedtime. "What do I have to do? How do I show you I care? I hurt Suna for you, do I need to hurt Ember? Altia? Cyril? I'll do it! I will! Anyone you say, I'll kill them. I, I can make us a place to live, any kind of place you want, you don't like the cold I can melt it all, melt all the ice in the entire world! Just tell me what you want me to do!"

He reached out for her but she once again stopped him. He kept speaking, trying not to panic.

"You'll be freer without them, all those bad memories that you have of your time enslaved. Concurrent skies, we can burn it to the ground; Warfang, Malefor. Destroy them and then once we find the White Isle we can erase them from history completely! It will be gone forever, all the things that ever brought you pain. Nothing is too much effort, do you see!? Nothing is too difficult if it will make you happy! I will do everything for you Cynder."

The promises washed over her, heart wrenchingly sincere, but chillingly insane and terrifying too. She shook her head. "You're bad for him, you don't belong. You're not needed."

"How can you say that?" Hope asked, pure hurt in his voice. "I love you."

Cynder felt awful, seeing how much pain she was putting him through, but she knew she was telling the truth. "You think you love me, but you only love what you imagine I am. You love black scales and the memories of how much I mean to Spyro. None of the things that make me who I am."

"No…" Hope shook his head. "You don't know what you're talking about!" He looked away stubbornly.

"I'm sorry." Cynder said calmly. "But the one who is confused isn't me, it's you."

Hope flinched at her every word. "I'm happier. I'm the real Spyro." He shook his head again.

"You're not the real Spyro. Please, give him back."

"You're… not…" Hope closed his eyes, his voice descending to a pained growl. He hunched down, his head bowed low as he struggled to keep control and to think.

Cynder waited, barely breathing, to see if Spyro was coming back.

"You're the one." He said.

Cynder felt a chill go down her spine, there was hostility in those words, despite how much steadier they sounded. Anger, suddenly turning towards her.

"I'm not the fake.You are the fake!" He looked up at her, his eyes burning with resolve. "I tried to show you that you're wrong, but you're not seeing it. The Terror of the Skies is the one, she's me but for you."

Hope moved fast, Cynder had a chance to dodge, but she forced herself to remain still. Hope's claws closed around her slender throat, cutting off her air. Hope's eyes were streaming with tears as he squeezed.

"I have to do this! I h-have to… I need your real self, she knows I'm right, she knows! She can un-say the things…" He began to cry.

Cynder held on, waiting. The pragmatic part of her mind pointed out that Hope had the physical strength to break her neck even without needing leverage, and that she really ought to be panicking. It also commented that this whole situation would have been avoided if she'd been able to bring herself to poison Hope sometime during the night. She mentally shouted for that part of her mind to shut up, she knew what she was doing.

And sure enough, his grip loosened.

Hope released her throat and fell onto his haunches, crying at her feet. "I can't… I can't hurt you even though you hurt me with the things you said… Please… Cynder please let me talk to her, please… she loves me, sh-she has to love me. I know she does."

Cynder rubbed her throat slightly, it had hurt. But she smugly told the pragmatic part of herself that she had indeed known what she was doing. She bent down and put a comforting paw on Hope's head.

"The things you want aren't real, Hope. But I am real, Spyro is real, and we were happy. Please… let me have him back."

"I don't want to go." Hope said, shaking his head. "The Terror of the Skies needs me, and I need her."

"She's gone." Cynder told him. "Spyro defeated her. She was never more than a puppet. I felt your magic calling to that part of me, the call was so strong; but the darkness isn't there. Like I said: the things you want aren't real."

"I need to think." Hope said in a groan. "I need time…"

"Spyro is fighting you. You want time to regain control and keep him down. You're not getting any time." Cynder said.

"I have to go." Hope said, turning tail and darting towards one of the tower windows. Cynder crouched, ready to stop him if she needed to, but Hope stopped on his own as he found himself face to face with Terrador.

Hope looked around in a panic, Flare, Volteer and Cyril had each moved into the windows, surrounding him.

"Cynder?" He looked at her miserably.

"You slept heavily. Once I made my choice I knew it'd be safest to go and get some help." She looked at the guardians. "I hope you've come up with a plan while I've been keeping him."

"Erm… We have most of a plan…" Volteer responded. He looked at Hope with curiosity, unable to resist a chance to examine the dark dragon.

Hope growled at them, a cornered rat, emotionally exhausted and struggling to keep control of his body away from Spyro; but he was still immensely dangerous.

Terrador spoke; his voice was deep, commanding, and reassuring. "Spyro we can help you. Give yourself up and everything will be okay."

"Terrador." Hope snarled. His gaze swept across all of the Guardians. "I wanted to deal with you one at a time."

"I don't think we can talk him down any further, he's as weakened as he's going to get." Cynder said.

"Very well." The earth guardian responded.

Terrador stepped forward, making Hope back away, but then the dark dragon growled and swiped viciously at him. Terrador blocked the attack instinctively, but Hopes physical strength was beyond the level of any normal dragon, even Terrador. He grunted in surprise and pain as the claws cut his foreleg and sent him reeling back. Hope followed up almost instantly with another strike, but Terrador was prepared this time.

He redirected Hope's paw away from himself, despite being almost uncontested in physical strength Terrador still knew how to outmanoeuvre someone stronger than he was. Hope was left off balance slightly, he went for a third attack but Terrador stepped back into a fighting stance, stomping his hind paw hard on the ground, three walls of rock sprang up around Hope. At the same time Terrador thrust his heavy tail out, his clublike tail blade hitting Hope's chest and sending him skidding back to hit the wall. With another paw movement Terrador brought the walls in and down, pinning Hope to the ground.

"Volteer, knock him out."

The electric dragon nodded, stepping forwards and putting a paw on Hope's head.

His plan was to stun Hope with lightning. It was a relatively simple technique to use, with the biggest difficulty being that the user had to get very close to do it. Cynder had been able to tell the guardians about her considering poisoning Hope, and Volteer had agreed with her that her poison was not ideal for what she wanted to do and assuring her that they had a solution.

It should have worked, it was safe, it had no severe effects, and it was easy to do in a non fatal way. Hope had his healing ability, but his brain itself was unchanged, and the electrical jolt would put it to sleep like any normal dragon.

But it didn't work.

Hope body crackled with lightning, lashing out at Volteer and forcing him back. Volteer gritted his teeth nervously, bringing his paw closer to Hope and trying to divert his lightning away. Volteer was skilled, he wouldn't be the lightning guardian if he wasn't, and given time he would have been able to get through Hope's defences and knock him out, but he had underestimated Hope's ability to counter him and his ability to fight back.

The earth trapping him exploded, forcing all of the guardians to cover themselves against shrapnel.

Hope rose up, lightning and fire crackled and flashed around him, then he looked up and his magic surged upwards, blowing the roof off the watchtower and exposing the morning sky.

The dark purple dragon crouched and leapt, trying to take off; but ice frosted over his paws and wings, spoiling his takeoff before he could melt it.

Cyril was looking grimly resolved. All of his worst fears about Malefor were starting to come true at the hands of Dark Spyro; and he was not going to allow it to go on without a fight.

Hope crumpled his wings, gathering magic, before roaring and releasing another explosion, of pure fire this time to blast away all the ice. Once again the guardians had to defend themselves; aside from Flare who calmly brushed the fire aside and stepped forwards, her feathery tail whirling around her, trying to present herself as the main target and give the others a chance to try their traps again.

Hope turned to face the fire dragoness, baring his teeth at her.

"I'm not ready to kill you yet. I need to be strong enough to do it with nothing but fire. Get out of my way, before I forget I wanted to challenge myself." He spat a fireball at her.

Flare shook her head, stepping aside and bending the fireball slightly to ensure it missed. Her tail danced and swirled hypnotically. "You challenged Magmar for me, don't forget that challenge Spyro. I certainly haven't."

"My name is not Spyro!" Hope roared, creating a shockwave that made the entire tower shake, it was going to fall if Hope unleashed another explosion. He whirled away and took wing, aiming to leap over Flare and get some distance, but before he could get far a coil of purple energy wrapped around him and yanked him back down painfully.

Malefor drifted down from above, looking at the dark purple dragon below with a calm gaze.

Hope's mind worked for a moment, struggling to process what he was seeing; but then his expression darkened with hatred.

"You! You killed her!"

The floor rumbled and jerked, forcing Cynder and the guardians to take wing, Hope remained hovering in the air as the tower fell to the streets, kept aloft seemingly by his own rage. Dark energy crackled and surged around him, he was regressing back to the form between Spyro and Hope, that dragon which seemed to radiate convexity and shadow; but his eyes remained yellow and furious, with only flickers of the white eyed gaze that might have shown he was shifting back to Spyro.

Malefor might not have realised immediately who Hope was referring to, but the meaning was clear, he gathered up his magic to deflect the attack. Hope was murderous towards him.

The entire world seemed to fold in around the dark purple dragon, sound and light being drawn towards his power; the others hurriedly flapped away, sensing that to stand too close could mean death.

With a horrible scream Hope unleashed his dark energy, a concentrated beam of convexity that seemed to cut the air itself apart as it struck Malefor.

The bright crystal shield Malefor had created from ice was obscured by the contrasting light and darkness of Hope's attack, the air seemed to vibrate and tear around where the two forces met. The convexity blast expanded out, obliterating everything in front of Hope and spreading out around him. Cyril almost found himself caught and had to also create a shield of ice. The convexity cut through it with ease, but Cyril had just enough time to dodge out of the way, only taking a small fraction of the force. It was still enough to burn a black mark onto his scales and nearly knock him out of the air.

How Malefor was surviving in the centre of that, Cynder wasn't sure.

The ancient purple dragon realised immediately that his ice shield wasn't going to hold back the beam. He rapidly put up a wall of earth as his ice evaporated, but was still blasted back by the effect. He placed another ice wall as his earth shattered, coasting back on the explosion each time he had to replace his shield.

Hope had no idea weather he was killing Malefor, he'd simply gathered all of his power and lashed out with it. What he did know was that he could do more, he was learning convexity more easily now in his dark form than Spyro had ever been able to do.

The beam of energy contracted, from a huge blast into a tight laser, all the energy directed straight towards Malefor.

Malefor realised what was happening and knew that he could not shield himself this time. He spread his wings, a shroud of smoke spreading out behind him, and in the moment before the beam hit him he closed his eyes.

The beam punched into Malefor's chest, so focused and intense there was no blood. Hope snarled in satisfaction and with a shift of his head he swiped upwards, his laser passing through Malefor's head, then slashing at his body in a zigzag.

But Malefor did not fall. The purple dragon was glowing with a soft gold light, unharmed. Hope roared in fury, intensifying his attack and training it right on Malefor's heart. Nothing could stand against his energy, but somehow Malefor was.

Cynder figured it out quickly enough, she wasn't falling for the same trick twice. She didn't even need to use her wind senses to know that this Malefor was a lightning illusion and the real one was hidden in the smoke he had created, watching and waiting for Hope to tire out. Hope, fortunately, was too angry to realise he was being fooled.

She darted over to Flare while Hope was distracted, hovering in front of the fire dragoness.

"Seriously, tell me the plan right now; and it had better be something more that hit him until he's unconscious."

Flare nodded. "Ignitus and Imperia are converting the protection seals of the Dragon Temple into a trap seal right now. Ignitus assured us he would be done by now, and I believe him. If we lure Dark Spyro there we should be able to bind his magic. Our job is to stop him escaping, keep him away from the rest of Warfang, try to tire him, and make him chase us into the building."

Cynder confirmed this with a nod. It wasn't much to work with, but it was a better plan than nothing. "Got it. Does Malefor know?"

Flare glanced at the purple dragon, his eyes were now open and also glowing golden, his copy was putting on the appearance of gathering power to keep Hopes attention focused on it. "Yes; he knows. He's our current bait."

Cynder and the guardians watched, none of them wanted to risk being caught in Hope's attack; it seemed that until he tired they couldn't interrupt.

He was tiring; they could all see it. Using so much convexity was depleting Hope's reserves of energy. He regained mana almost as quickly as he lost it, channelling magic through himself, but it still wasn't infinite and the convexity energy he was creating would eventually be exhausted. Then he would be left with only his natural, massive, pool of mana.

The knowledge that this wasn't working took over a minute to penetrate Hope's fury, by the time his convexity blast winked out of existence he was panting with exhaustion.

Malefor obscured himself in his smoke for a moment, switching back with his lightning copy while he considered his options. Malefor didn't exactly like being a hero or sacrificing himself; not unless it was done under highly controlled circumstances. He'd been left with no choice but to organise his own death once, and he wasn't planning to repeat that experience.

But Dark Spyro was focused on him, and they needed to get him into the temple; so it couldn't hurt too much to make him even angrier. Angry enough to hunt him down and try to rip him apart, at least Malefor found himself hoping so.

"Weak." He sneered. Acting dismissive came easily enough to him, but mocking was a new emotion and he wasn't sure he liked it much. Hope's reaction showed that he was making it convincing enough. "Weak and foolish. You're just an annoyance to be destroyed by me."

Hope growled and bared his teeth, looking shocked for a moment before outrage contorted his face. He could have fled, he had been planning to just leave and recover; Cynder had to be wrong, or the Terror of The Skies couldn't be gone; it was impossible that those things could be true but Hope needed time to think and figure out why. Now, those thoughts for what he ought to do were eclipsed; he was furious and he needed Malefor to hurt like he was hurting now.

Malefor didn't need to say or do anything more, he opened his mouth to continue to bait Dark Spyro, but the other purple dragon was on him already with a roar of fury.

Well I ran out of space in this chapter for the fight, so it looks like we're in for a big fight chapter next time!

This is the darkest that my story has gotten, at least I think so. I'd be grateful for feedback about it, I feel like it's going to be a love it or hate it sort of affair; and no matter which way you feel I'd be thankful for a review explaining why.

Thankyou for reading!

-4Dragons