The dragon's purple paw tapped the door three times in quick succession, a large smile on his face. He stood back, waiting for the door to open and to see Cynder there. Every time Spyro saw her he'd fall for her again, her astounding beauty captivating him. He longed to hear Cynder's angelic voice again. They'd been together for two years now, and every date was special to him. As usual, he was looking forward to another date, his breath caught in his chest.

Spyro waited for a few seconds, but there was no answer. No sound from inside the building. Spyro knocked on the door again, and was again met with silence. He decided to try the doorknob, checking to see if it was locked. Maybe Cynder wasn't home.

The door was unlocked however, as it turned with his paw.

"Cynder?" Spyro called, inviting himself into her home.

Silence. He called out Cynder's name once again, looking around the house, still to receive no response. His heart began to race, fear rising in his chest. His breathing became fast and erratic, his chest burning as oxygen rushed in and out of his lungs faster than it should.

It was unlike Cynder to leave her door unlocked while she was out. It was unlike her to leave it unlocked at all. Spyro was the kind of dragon who was a bit careless and left the door unlocked while he was home, although he did lock it when he was sleeping. Cynder was always pestering him to keep it locked unless it needed to be unlocked for some reason, like if he was expecting someone. She was trying to get him out of the habit, so it was weird that Cynder had left her door unlocked.

Spyro just hoped she was asleep, because now he was starting to get worried. It was probably stupid to be so worked up over something like an unlocked door, but he cared for Cynder a lot. He loved her. She was his girlfriend. He would do anything to ensure her safety and wellbeing. The unlocked door and the silence was setting his nerves off, his heart hammering against his chest.

The purple dragon began to make his way around the house, looking for Cynder. It was as he got closer to her room he heard a sound coming from within it. The sound of soft, depressed sobs came from the other side, putting Spyro's heart in his throat. He hated seeing Cynder upset, and while she had her days, the purple dragon could tell that this was one of the worst, if not the worst. Although her sobs were quiet, they were definitely heavy, and it sounded like she was fighting to breathe.

He choked, not knowing what to do. But he was here, and Cynder probably knew it, as he had been yelling her name earlier. The purple dragon needed to go in and support her. Raising a shaky paw, he knocked on the door slowly. It was not the same excited knock that he had done earlier upon entering Cynder's house. It was worried, scared and cautious.

Cynder didn't respond to his knocking. He tried again, calling out to her. "Cynder? It's Spyro. Are you okay?" he inquired, nervousness edging his voice.

The black dragoness on the other end didn't respond, but her sobs did begin to die down at the sound of Spyro's voice. The purple dragon waited for her to reply, but after a few seconds of silence he tried again. "Cynder, are you alright?"

"N-n-n-not r-r-really…" Cynder sobbed, her voice broken and croaky.

"Can I come in?"

"Uhh… s-s-sure…"

Spyro gulped, not knowing what to expect. Cynder had moments where she would give into her anxiety and childhood traumas, but this was probably the worst Spyro had ever heard her. He reached up and grabbed the doorknob, twisting it and pushing the door open.

Cynder's room was in perfect condition, books stacked neatly in shelves and some framed artwork hanging on the walls: portraits of her and Spyro. In the middle of the room was her bed, which had been torn up, her bedsheets crumpled and ripped, her pillows spilling with stuffing. Lying on the bed was Cynder, who was an absolute wreck. Her wings flopped uselessly by her sides, her head in her paws, and her body shaking with each sob she tried to suppress. She lifted her head slightly, looking back at Spyro, revealing watery, hazy eyes. They were so bloodshot it was as if the sclerae were naturally red. Tears streamed down her face, and blood stained her lips and teeth, making it clear that she'd been biting down on them.

The purple dragon felt tears spring immediately to his eyes upon seeing Cynder like this. He ran to her side and sat by her bed, reaching forward and stroking Cynder's cheeks gently, trying to wipe the tears off her face, but as soon as they were gone they were replaced by new streaks of tears. Her body convulsed as she let out hitched breaths between her sobs, her chest rising and falling irregularly.

"Cynder! What's wrong?" Spyro whispered, trying to hold in his own tears.

"Everything. Everything's wrong…" Cynder whimpered.

"Why? What happened?" the purple dragon inquired, shuffling as close to her as he could, struggling to stare into Cynder's bloodshot eyes. "I can't help you if I don't know, and I just want to help."

"I… I just… I…" Cynder stammered, trying to find the words, before she burst into another round of fresh tears, moving herself closer to Spyro and burying her face into his neck. She clung onto him for dear life, her talons digging into his scales. Spyro winced at the discomfort, but he let it happen, knowing Cynder needed him to be strong and be by her side.

"Take your time, Cynder. You're fine. Just let it out."

The distraught dragoness' form clenched as a grating howl left her throat, her form shaking. Spyro's heart lurched, and he felt sick at the sound. It was such a terrible sound, and was almost scary. He hated seeing people upset, especially if it was Cynder. She was his girlfriend, his beloved. He'd do anything for her. He was terrified, feeling as if he'd failed. He'd never seen her like this.

"It won't stop! The t-t-torment j-j-just… won't… s-s-stop!" Cynder howled, her words slurred by tears. She brought in a heavy, hoarse breath, before speaking again. "Th-th-the nightmares d-d-don't end! It's b-b-b-been two years, and th-th-they don't s-s-s-stop! They leave and make me think they've s-s-stopped but then th-th-they j-just come back, a-a-and they g-g-get worse and w-w-worse each time they do! I hate it! I just w-w-want it to s-s-st-stop!"

"I… I…" Spyro stuttered, not knowing what to say. He didn't specialise in this. He didn't know what to do, and it scared him.

"A-a-and the j-j-j-judgements don't stop either! P-p-people still look at me f-f-funny! They still shy away f-f-from me! It's been t-t-two years, and they still th-th-think I'm that damned monster!"

"You're not a monster, Cynder. You're not a monster and you'll never be again. You're different now. You've changed. You're pure of heart."

"TELL THAT TO THEM!" Cynder screamed, clenching her claws into Spyro even more. "TELL THAT TO EVERYONE WHO CALLS ME 'SHE-DEVIL'! TELL THAT TO EVERYONE WHO CALLS ME 'TERROR OF THE SKIES', SPYRO!"

"They'll come around someday, Cynder. It'll all be fine."

"NO!" Cynder howled again, before she broke into a fit of heavy coughing. She moved away from Spyro, shrugging out of his embrace, and moving back. She stared down at her paws as they flexed, ready to tear at the bed sheets again. "No, it will not be fine… Nobody loves me, Spyro."

"But… I love you," Spyro pleaded, but his words went unheeded as Cynder continued venting.

"I'm a monster, even after two years. I may not kill people anymore, but I still look like a monster. And even though I am 'pure of heart', Spyro, I still did kill people! I killed… thousands, maybe millions of people! I killed all those innocent souls, and I don't know what to do about it! I can't not focus on it all the time! I want to, but I just can't!"

"Well just try and forget about it. Focusing on it could be what's causing it. Just forget about what you did."

The reaction that sparked from Cynder was not what the purple dragon was expecting. She fixed her teary emerald eyes on him with a savage glare, her bloodshot eyes making it all the more terrifying. A fresh wave of tears streamed from them, and her teeth were clenched, anger now filling her chest and contorting her facial expression.

"Forget? You want me… to forget about it? Just like that?" she muttered lowly, her voice broken.

"Yes! Come on, Cynder. I hate seeing you like this. I want to see you happy. I want to see you smile," he replied.

"Oh, I know what you want right now, Spyro, but does it look like I really care at the moment?" Cynder snarled. "I am doubting myself, guilt-tripped and in a broken mess, and you have the guts to come into my room, while I am in the middle of crying my heart out, and say what you want?! That you want to see me happy because it makes you feel better? Because it gives you the satisfaction of 'playing hero' and saving me again, just like you do every damned time I'm like this?"

"That's not what I meant at all, Cynder…"

"What about what I feel?! Does that matter?! I've been like this all day, Spyro, and you haven't done anything to help! You tell me to just throw it all away and smile like nothing happened, just because you want to see me happy, and then take the credit for it? No, forget the happy thing; you telling me to forget everything that happened is the first thing you said that was wrong!"

"But… how?"

"What are you, an idiot?! I cannot forget everything that I've done! I cannot, and I will not! Everyone I killed were people, Spyro! Innocent people, with family and friends, who all mourned for them! I killed people who didn't deserve it, and you tell me to forget that I did that?!"

Spyro just stammered in response, not knowing what to say. Cynder was really going off on him right now, her face twisted with uncontrollable rage as it swelled up within her. She pushed Spyro backwards forcefully, causing him to stagger backwards, before she made her way off her bed and began stepping towards Spyro, continuing to vent, spittle flying from her lips as she screamed.

"You tell me to forget it like it's nothing?!" she shrieked. "That's like telling me to forget every single soul I snuffed out, every single heart I crushed in my bare paws, every single child I ate! Like telling me to forget those souls even existed! I don't even remember them all, but I owe it to the ones I do remember to never forget them! I will refuse to forget, and I don't care if I stay upset because of it! I want the nightmares and this horrible feeling to go away, but I sure as hell will not forget those I slaughtered! It sickens me to know that you just want me to forget about them, just like Malefor told me to!"

"I'm not like Malefor, Cynder! I never meant 'forget it' like that…" Spyro started, but was quickly interrupted by Cynder.

"I don't care, you said it!"

"Let me talk, Cyn…"

"No!" Cynder interrupted again, shutting Spyro up. "Whenever you speak you make it worse!"

"I'm just trying to help you, Cynder!" Spyro yelled, emotion making his voice shake.

"Well you're not!" Cynder spat, slapping him violently in the face. "And if you were helping me, why is it getting any worse? Tell me that, Spyro! Explain to me, why I am still so upset?!"

"I… I…"

"Well say something, Spyro!" Cynder howled, her voice hoarse and croaky, her throat raw and burning from screaming so much.

"I… I don't…"

"For the ancestors' sake, Spyro! Just… Just get out!" Cynder screamed, causing Spyro to gasp in shock at the words that were like a stab to the gut, but what followed was even worse, a feeling that Spyro couldn't even begin to describe. "You know what? We're done! I don't need you around to make things worse! I don't need you to tell me to forget! I don't need anyone's shoulder to cry on, and if I do, IT'LL BE SOMEONE WHO ACTUALLY LOVES ME!"

Spyro suddenly felt the tears dripping down his face, as if he hadn't recognised them before. His heart raced a million miles an hour, terrified of the black dragoness standing in front of him, her enraged face completely filling his vision. He was backed up against the wall, tears streaming down his face and his chest burning, as if his heart had been torn out of his chest three times over. He hung his head down, his tears spilling onto his chest and his paws. Each tear felt hot like blood. He didn't move, remaining still as he sobbed.

"SPYRO, GET OUT OR I'LL MAKE YOU!" Cynder ordered.

The purple dragon looked up at her, tears blurring up his vision, but the angry expression on her face was still crystal clear. They stood in silence for a few mere seconds, before Cynder finally decided she'd had enough, raising her claw and slashing it across Spyro's face. His head recoiled to the side with the blow, before Cynder brought her other claw across it in the opposite direction, and with much more force, sending the poor purple dragon to the ground. Tears streamed down his face, burning as they trickled into the open wounds that now traced his face. Thin beads of blood also began to dribble down his cheeks, mixing with the salty tears and causing a hot, burning sensation to register in his mind.

With a whimpering sob, he looked back at Cynder, who was now looking ready to pull his insides out. "I will say it one last time, get out!" she snapped, before Spyro obliged, shakily standing to his paws and making his way out of Cynder's room.

As he walked along her hallways, he felt Cynder push him violently, urging him towards the door, wanting him out of her house. To Spyro, it was not just her house she wanted him out of, it was her life. The door that now loomed in front of Spyro represented their relationship, and he was being forced out of it. He didn't have the strength to fight back, so let Cynder shove him out and slam the door in his face.

Spyro felt the urge to tear down his emotional barriers then and there, but he wouldn't dare do it now that he was in the public, so he began to bottle his emotions up inside him, wiping his eyes frantically to stop the tears from coming, before scrubbing uncomfortably at his face to clear the thin streaks of blood that streamed from the claw wounds that marked him.

He ran home. Oh, how he ran, desperate for isolation. He didn't talk to anyone, he didn't greet anyone, he didn't acknowledge anyone. He didn't even apologise when he slammed into a group of young dragons around his age, three boys and two girls. All of them had collapsed to the ground with him, the appearance looking much like a domino effect, but Spyro didn't care. He'd just gotten up without a word and continued to sprint off, not even registering the complaints from behind him.

Faster than he had ever gotten home, he arrived, fumbling at the doorknob to open it, before stumbling through the door to his own home. Stumbling through the door to a new life. A single life. Cynder was no longer his girlfriend. She was his ex.

Ex.

The word itself was sickening. As soon as the word entered his head, his walls finally shattered. He slammed the door shut with a loud, distressed roar, which he held for several seconds, his throat raw and lungs screaming for air. As his supply of oxygen finally dwindled, his voice wavered, cracking and wobbling, before he was forced to stop, his vocal chords pleading for mercy. He couldn't breathe though, and his jaws remained open in a silent scream. Spyro clutched his chest, trying to force a breath, but he could not inhale. His body jolted every time he tried to breathe, but without success. It was as if a vice closed itself around his windpipe, stopping him from breathing.

After many seconds of fighting for breath, the vice loosened its grip, as a heavy stream of oxygen was sucked greedily down his windpipe, before it was let out again in another wavering howl.

He sat in the foyer of his home, a broken, destroyed wreck, tears and blood dribbling down his face. The mixture was now combined with mucus as his nose began running. He was an ugly sight, but he didn't care. His heart was broken. Torn into shreds. He'd worked so hard for the relationship, for love, but it had all died away, taking pieces of him with it.

Love.

The word echoed in his head after he thought it, and as the word continued repeating and repeating itself, his heart smashed into smaller and smaller pieces, until he swore it was unfixable. He never knew love could hurt so badly. He'd taken it for granted. He only knew how special it was now that it had been taken away from him.

Cynder was probably revelling in the fact that she no longer had him. She was probably happy. She had done this. She had broken up with him.

Without warning, Spyro punched himself in the head. What was he doing, making Cynder out to be the evil one? She'd already been through enough of that. But it still hurt that she had broken up with him.

But now the more he thought about it, Spyro began to wonder why. What had he done wrong? He didn't know. He'd done everything for Cynder. He'd tried to keep her spirits up, but in the end, nothing had worked. Maybe he was the evil one? Maybe he was at fault.

With a sniff and a broken sob, Spyro picked himself up off the ground, trudging slowly over towards his bedroom, before he flopped on his bed and buried his face into his pillows, sobbing into them. He'd given so much into his and Cynder's relationship over the past two years. He'd given his all. Now it was gone. How did it fall apart so quickly? Spyro knew words could be a sword but he didn't know how sharp that sword could be. It had cut into their relationship so badly that it now left them in two.

How had he stuffed up his words that badly that it had torn into Cynder like that? How had it suddenly become so harmful when he had only meant it for good? He'd definitely been misunderstood and he hated it. That misunderstanding had destroyed their relationship.

Spyro's sobs were low and choking, his vocal chords burning from his loud screams earlier. He didn't know what to do now. He couldn't imagine himself continuing on from this. He had hoped he'd never have to grief or mourn again. They were in a time of peace, and he'd mourned enough for Ignitus as it was. The next few days after the war and they had entered peace, Spyro had clung onto the fact that Ignitus would never be able to enjoy this peace with them, and the memory of watching him burn in the Belt of Fire had gripped him even more.

The purple dragon had always hoped the deceased fire guardian was the last person he'd ever have to mourn for a very long time. Now he mourned for Cynder, and the relationship they once had. But this hurt more than Ignitus' death did. This was different. It was an emotional, romantic attachment that he had invested so much into, ripped apart savagely from him, slicing his heart into pieces.

How had today turned from getting ready for a date to suddenly being single again? Spyro couldn't understand how quick those events had passed.

Spyro sighed forlornly, rolling over in his bed and trying to go to sleep. He spent the next thirty minutes crying, before he eventually cried himself to sleep, his tears drenching the bedsheets underneath him.

Welp, another oneshot done for a writing challenge on a Spyro Discord server I'm on, and the theme was separation, specifically related to Spyro and Cynder in some way, and it could only be done from the perspective of one of the two, so I chose Spyro. It's only 3.5K words so it's a bit of a short one but I like it, and I hope you all do too. This was fun to write. I also think this was my best attempt at capturing emotion so I'm really happy with it. And yes, this was much sad, but it's me so is it really that much of a surprise lol?

Hope you guys enjoyed it, and I'll see you later with another chapter of either Grand Elemental Master or Demonised. I'll see you around!