'City is the same as ever' Cynder thought as the pair strolled through the streets. Repairs had certainly been finished when she was away. The wall had no holes in it now, the rubble of the golem was removed and presumably used for said wall. Even the mole houses were repaired. 'Now I think about it those should've been done a while ago…'

Cynder was brought out of her musing when Spyro started talking to her. "Sorry Spyro what was that?"

"I wanted to know if you wanted to see the new academy."

"Wait 'new'? What happened to the old one?"

For some reason Spyro became a little sheepish, which is NOT a good look on a dragon. "Absolutely nothing!".

"Uh huh" Cynder deadpanned. "And the sky is green, now what did you do?"

"Why does it have to be me that did something?" Spyro cried indignantly. "For all you know we could've just made a better place to learn!"

At the is point, Cynder knew he did something stupid. "You blew it up whilst training didn't you." It wasn't a question, just a statement of fact. Which was further proven by Spyro's wings dropping to the side as he slumped over.

"Yes", Spyro sighed. "But it wasn't just my fault. Volteer was there as well and he didn't stop me!"

Cynder just smiled. "You'd think you would have learned from when you decommissioned the training room the first twelve times. But no. you had to go and blow up the building." She said in a sarcastic tone.

"Ok you were as much to blame for those as me!"

That was a fair point. Since the only one who could really push Spyro was Cynder, they were the ones to spar for everything. Otherwise any combat class would just be a smackdown for any other students in the temple. 'Although it would've been nice to slap Embers attitude off of her face'.

"Alright I'll let up." Cynder conceded. "Now can we go to this post-Spyro academy then?"

Spyro groaned. "I am never going to live this down am I?"

Back with the Guardians and Calemvir

"Now the love birds are gone, shall we get to the real questions?" Calemvir asked, suddenly serious.

"I believe we should, yes," Terrador spoke. "I suppose the first thing to ask is why save Cynder? Not that I am not grateful."

"I suppose that would be because she earned it. She might as well have saved the world. Sure, I caught Malefor but if I were a second later, this world would be doomed and I would be floating in space. Spyro may have pulled the world together, but Cynder got him to where he needed to be. I'd say Cynder has earnt her break."

"It is good that someone outside of us understands this. Cynder needs all the allies she can get here." Terrador smiled sadly. "Too many of us are blinded by grief and anger. And I will admit I was against Cynder at the beginning, but now she has done too much for us to turn a blind eye any longer."

Volteer nodded. "Indeed. I do doubt many of us would be able to survive those experiences, much less so as to save a world that hates you."

"Mhm. So, next question?"

"What are you planning to do now that you are here?" Cyril asked cautiously. "We are still recovering from Malefor so we must know if you are in any way a threat."

"Good question. I am no enemy to you, nor do I plan to ever be. I will however hang around here. If my quarry is anywhere they will likely come here, or at least word of him will. This planet is far too large to search through for one dragon, albeit a rare one. Beyond that I don't know. Maybe I'll just follow Spyro and Cynder around."

"There may be a problem with that." Flare spoke up now. "If you were to be walking the streets like that, so soon after the war with the apes, people will demand an explanation. If the people were to start asking questions…"

"Not a problem." Calemvir interrupted. "I have a solution for that, although I will need Volteer's help for this."

"Volteer, do you have any issues with assisting?" Terrador turned to the Guardian in question.

"Do I have a problem conversing with a being from another dimension with different forms of altering magic, growing limbs and knowledge of a long dead civilization?" Volteer was essentially bouncing with delight. "I am barely restraining myself! Such a vast well of information!" He exclaimed.

Back with Spyro and Cynder

The two dragons had entered the academy a few minutes ago and had started the tour of the 'new' facilities. The restoration of the building had been completed finally so there were new places to find from before Cynder's… disappearance. Now the academy had finished refurnishing the classrooms so more students would be able to start in the upcoming year as well as more rooms for teachers. Beforehand the only teachers were the Guardians, as they were the only ones to not be afraid of Malefor during the war and were able to defend the dragon temple from invaders, at least until Malefor was able to return.

As the two were traversing the corridors of the academy, students were still going about their daily lives, moving from one class to another. Many of which noticed the black dragoness following Spyro. Most seemed to be shocked, scared, confused or a mixture of all three. Cynder noticed this and was wondering why. She continued to ponder this until Spyro spoke up.

"They thought you were dead", Spyro told her. Apparently he had seen what his friend was wondering about. "Despite what I and the Guardians told them, they really thought you were finished." Spyro's expression turned much darker now, anger swirled into being in his eyes. "Some dragons saw us leave for the mission before… He came back. When they saw us in battle armour, and only I came back, they thought I killed you."

Cynder stopped at that. Sure, no-one really liked her. It wouldn't be hard to assume they would think she was dead, they went on a mission, even dragons can die on these missions. But for SPYRO to kill her… That's not something she needed to think about.

"The rumours got ridiculous, ranging from me finally waking up and challenging you to a duel to end the 'Terror' once and for all and you seducing me into leaving the city before trying to resurrect Malefor with my body."

It was then that Cynder noticed that some of the dragons surrounding them were also looking at Spyro in fear, so she spoke her concerns.

"Spyro… what did you do to get them to be scared of you too?"

Spyro was silent for a while, seemingly pondering on something. After minutes of silence and walking, Spyro spoke.

"Lets go to my room for this."

So Spyro led Cynder to the dormitories, where they both sat down on cushions that Spyro dragged out. Spyro sat there for a while, collecting his thoughts while Cynder watched him, waiting for him to finally speak.

After a long silence, Spyro began to fill the void.

"It was around a year after you were taken…"

Flashback

Spyro was walking down to the arena. Ever since Cynder was taken by that 'Calemvir' creature, Spyro had been practicing his magic, attempting to improve himself so the situation he and Cynder were put in could never happen again. He had felt so helpless, Cynder was back to attacking him and Spyro had not even scratched the great dragon Malefor.

The past year had been lonelier than usual, since Cynder was no longer around and Sparx had decided to stay at home to take of Mom and Dad, Spyro was alone during his time in the academy. He didn't completely mind that though. He was somewhat used to it. Take away Sparx and he would have been alone in the Firefly Community (A/N Did that place have an actual name?)

But Spyro was more frustrated and angry than lonely. During the year he had been approached by a multitude of dragons praising him for 'Slaying the Terror'. He had explained time and time again that Cynder was still alive and he had not killed her. But then questions came around asking where she was if she wasn't here. The answer of "I don't know" seemed to concern the populace as questions of where Cynder was 'hiding' started to circulate. Some even had the audacity to claim Spyro was still under the witches spell.

"Spyrooooo!"

And there was Ember, in all her pink glory. Without Cynder to interfere, Ember had gotten much bolder in her attempts to seduce the purple dragon. She had started following him around, actively searching for him and even memorising where he would be and on what day/time. Mentally preparing himself for what was about to happen, Spyro turned.

"Hello Ember", Spyro greeted neutrally. "How are you?"

"Oh I am just wonderful now, Spyro"

"And why would that be?", Spyro grimaced, knowing what pink dragoness was going to say.

"Why? Because you're here and I'm here with you!"

"Well, this has been a pleasant chat but I have to go to the arena…"

"Well that's perfect as I'm heading that way myself!"

'No, you aren't.' Spyro knew full well that Ember only went to the arena if Spyro was on his way as well.

After five seconds, Ember was off on her tangent again.

"So Spyro, how have you been since Cynder vanished?"

"Well enough."

"Just well enough? You should be ecstatic! You finally got out and we can finally be together!"

Now, to understand why what followed occurred, take into account three things:

-1) Spyro had not been able to sleep lately. During the past year nightmares plagued his sleep. Nightmares of what was actually happening to Cynder and Malefor killing Cynder and Spyro both.

-2) Spyro had been called out for 'killing' Cynder a multitude of times over the years, but had restrained himself from acting on it because the Guardians had asked him not to. That and Cynder would undoubtedly hate it if he did so.

And 3:

Spyro was already pissed.

Spyro stopped walking, Ember stopping as well a small way ahead.

"Look at me"

Spyro's voice was near silent, Ember could barely hear it. It was ice cold, filled with restrained anger and pent up aggression from the whole year.

But Ember was oblivious to it, turning around happily like nothing was wrong.

"Yes, Spy…"

Ember managed to get that half sentence out before Spyro acted out. Within a second, Spyro's tail had wrapped itself around Ember's neck and held it tightly, choking her out. Ember was unable to breathe or react from the shock. Ember was still looking into Spyro's eyes. Pure anger and unadulterated rage shone brightly from his purple gaze. A years-worth of shit had finally broken over the damn, and Ember was the sole victim to it all.

"Shut up, and listen closely." Spyro spoke again, either not noticing Embers lack of air, or not caring. "I did not kill Cynder, Cynder is not here, Cynder is somewhere I can't get to. I am worried over her and I don't need some PINK PIECE OF SHIT TO TELL ME I SHOULD FEEL 'ECSTATIC' OVER MY BEST FRIENDS POSSIBLE DEMISE!"

Spyro was bellowing out each and every word, grabbing the attention of every dragon and dragoness in the corridor, if they weren't watching already. Noticing their audience, Spyro turned to them for their bit of his rage.

"SHE HELPED SAVE ALL OF YOUR LIVES, EVEN WHEN YOU ALL GAVE HER SHIT! NO. YOU GAVE HER WORSE THAN SHIT! YOU WOULDN'T GIVE HER ANYTHING EXCEPT HATE AND ANGER WHICH I WOULD FUCKING UNDERSTAND IF IT WEREN'T FOR THE FACT SHE SAVED YOU ALL! SHE FOUGHT AGAINST MALEFOR'S POWER AND WON TWICE! TWICE!"

Spyro's tail unconsciously was tightening around Embers throat, causing her to choke louder. Her eyes were now wide open in fear when looking at the one she used to 'love'. Adoration had quickly changed to horror and terror, tears streaming down her face. Similar looks were being held by the hundreds of students around them. Some simply had ran away from the aura of anger that had reached them from so far away while others were stood in place, unable to move from the overwhelming rage in front of them.

Spyro's scales were starting to shimmer now, darkening and brightening again, with thin wisps of magical smoke coming from beneath his scales. His voice became deeper, and echoed slightly, as if there were two speaking at once.

"I COULDN'T EVEN DO IT ONCE WITHOUT HER HELP. ANCESTORS I'M STILL FIGHTING HIM! SO IF I HEAR ONE MORE SLY COMMENT OR ONE CONGRATULATIONS ON MY FRIENDS MURDER…"

Spyro stopped for a second, the wisps of smoke dying down, scales returning to their normal bright purple. His voice remained the same however, still echoing through the halls.

"I will rip their eyes fromtheir sockets and shove them down your throat SO YOU CAN WATCH AS MY CLAWS TEAR YOUR CARCASSES OPEN!"

And with that, he dropped the pink dragoness he had in his tail, allowing her to breathe again. Ember coughed and spluttered as she heaved breath after breath, unable to stand on her feet due to the lack of oxygen and the world spinning around her. And Spyro dropped into the shadows, disappearing just like Cynder used to, to destroy another training arena.

Flashback End

"…The word spread about what I did, and the last two years I haven't been bothered about the rumours again. The rumours of me killing you were gone for a while but came back a while ago. That was also when I destroyed the training room."

Spyro sighed. "Even Ember has stopped now, just goes silent or runs."

Cynder was absolutely stunned. Spyro, her Spyro, had done that? It just… Spyro would never let himself do something like this, it just didn't seem natural.

"Honestly I didn't even mean to snap, I don't even remember doing any of it. I was just told by Terrador afterwards what had happened. Ember said that one line and I blacked out. When I woke up I was in a scorched arena, boulders and ice everywhere."

"Well", Cynder started, unsure of what to say. "At least we're partners in animosity as well now."

Spyro started to chuckle. The chuckle turned into a small laugh which evolved into a larger one. Cynder just watched in confusion, the joke wasn't that funny, why was he laughing?

"Sorry… hehe… Just, only you could listen to that and then make a joke." Spyro chuckled out.

Spyro suddenly leaned forward, resting his forehead on hers, with his eyes closed.

"Thank the Ancestors you're back, I missed you more than you know"

Cynder was also thanking the Ancestors, but instead was thanking them for Spyro closing his eyes so he couldn't see her blush heavily from the surprising contact. They just stayed silent in Spyro's room, slowly falling asleep after the surprising and exhausting day.

A/N Thanks storyreader21 and SandraCute for favouriting. Honestly wasn't expecting people to bother with this story. Might actually type down my other story ideas after this one is done.