XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXChapter 3XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"YOU KILLED MEEEEEEE!," yelled the Cheetah. Cynder was in pitch darkness with voices shouting at her from every direction scaring her more and more every time, "I'm sorry I didn't know...it wasn't my fault," said Cynder into the darkness hoping that would calm them down. "you killed me" "why" "you monster" "it's all your fault" "you did this to us," Cynder fell to the ground crying and covered her ears trying to muffle the voices, "I'm sorry...I'm so so sorry...It's all my fault...please...LEAVE ME ALONE!" yelled Cynder trying to get them to stop.

The voices ceased which got cynder to calm down a little, "Cynder?" Said someone from across the room. Cynder backed up a little waiting for some kind of horrific thing to come out of the darkness but, much to Cynder's relief, what came out of the shadows ended up being Spyro, "Spyro!?" said Cynder surprised. She ran towards him and pulled him into a hug, "oh Spyro I was so scared," cried Cynder tightening her hug. Spyro chuckled and hugged her back, "don't worry Cynder I'm here," Spyro's hand began to feel a little hard and squishy, "I'm here," whispered Spyro in a different voice.

Cynder's mood went from relief to horror as she slowly pulled out of the hug, before her instead of Spyro stood a cheetah cub about her size, his neck was cut more than half way across and gushing out blood, his hands were nothing but blood covered bone, his legs were burned and one foot was badly broken, his face was missing almost completely leaving only a bloody and burnt skull to look at, and his clothing was torn to shreds.

Cynder froze, her face white from what she was seeing, as the cub began to stumble its way toward her due to his bad injuries. The cub stopped right infront of her and held her face with his bloody, skeletal hands and leaned in to her ear, "WHY ARE YOU SO SCARED?AFTER ALL IT WAS YOU THAT KILLED ME...REMEMBER?" asked the cub.

The cub disappeared into thin air and Cynder was moved into what seemed like the inside of a hut, the room was small with rock littering the floor and a huge portion of the wall missing, "NOOOO PLEASE DON'T HURT MEEEEE!" yelled someone. Cynder looked to her right to see something that horrified her, a small cub was in a corner of the room with his face drenched in blood with a dead grown cheetah infront of him with chainmail armor and a sword and shield at his side.

Cynder tried to run toward him but she couldn't move only watch, she watched as a black figure came out of the shadows and Cynder's eyes grew wide. It was her from when she was still under the dark master's control, her claws were soaked in blood and so were her teeth. Cynder watched as she walked closer and closer to the cub stabbing him in the chest and lifting him up, fear and sadness was in the boys face as his life slowly faded away.

Cynder chuckled, "you will be a fine snack boy," said Cynder tilting her head to the side and opening her maw ready to take a bite of the boy. Cynder struggled over and over again trying to move and stop herself from doing that but couldn't seem to move, Cynder looked up at herself as her maw closed rapidly cutting his neck squirting blood all over the room.

"NOOOOOOOO!" yelled Cynder. She was back in the small cave with the wall of fire still burning, she was panting from what she had just seen and looked up at the slumbering dragon surprised that her yelling hadn't woken him up. Cynder took a deep breath and laid her head back down still scared at what she had seen and done.

Cynder heard faint whispering coming from the other side of the fire and slowly backed up trying to get as close to Spyro as possible. Cynder tried to hide herself under her wings but as she extended them they were stopped by something and so she looked back only to see that her wings were being blocked by Spyro's arm which was around her.

Cynder looked at herself and saw that Spyro not only had his paw around her but his wing was draped over her as well, not that she didn't like it, but this confused her. Last night he didn't even want to sleep with her and now he not only was sleeping in the same bed but he was holding her too, does he like me...or did he just do this so that I would calm down? Cynder thought about it but that only confused her further, even if he didn't like me he cares about me...doesn't he? why else would he do this.

Cynder shook her head, stopped thinking about it, and laid her head back down falling asleep within minutes having totally forgotten about the whispering or what she had dreamt about.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXmeanwhile inside Spyro's headXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"What are we looking for again?" asked the dragoness. Spyro had been looking for whatever creature was the one that had attacked Cynder and him trying to figure out why she had been so scared as to not fight back, "we are looking for a creature that has skeletal hands with a ring in one finger and is cloaked in shadow," said Spyro giving the best description that he could.

The dragoness looked back at the bookcase infront of her trying to remember any creature that fit his description and flew up to the highest shelf where there were many old scrolls, most of which looked as if they were thousands of years old. Looking through the many scrolls she brought her gaze to one specific scroll that looked as if it was older than anything in the that library and gently grabbed it.

The dragoness flew down to where Spyro stood and landed infront of him, "is this what you encountered?" asked the dragoness unfolding the scroll. The scroll contained a faint picture of a creature cloaked in shadows with skeletal hands and an orb of shadows locked in a ring, "yes that's it...what is it?" asked Spyro taking hold of the scroll and studying it further.

"It says here that it is called a ghrosthuretame...Shadow of the Death and Fear...I think" said the dragoness reading the name under the picture. Spyro looked down and continued, "the ghrosthuretame looks into your deepest fears and makes them come alive causing trauma and occasionally death to the victim." The dragoness took the scroll and continued, "This creature's origin is unknown but it is said that they gua" the dragoness stopped.

Spyro looked at her and asked why she had stopped only to have her show him a rip on the scroll, "seems that the years haven't been kind to this scroll," said the dragoness rolling up the scroll and placing it back on the shelf where she had found it, "I feel bad for your friend if she had to go through that," said the dragoness landing on the ground next to him.

Spyro wondered what it was that she had seen or how much it affected her mind, "she already feels horrible about her past, I just hope those creature's didn't make it worse," said Spyro making his way back to the exit. "well it was good to see you again Spyro," said the dragoness as she and the world around him started to fade away. "it was good to see you too, and thanks for the help," said Spyro walking inside the circle and fading away back into his dream.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXback in the real worldXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Cynder lazily opened her eyes and yawned still tired due to the little amount of sleep that she had last night, mostly because of the scare those creatures had given her and the nightmare she had. She remembered the nightmare she had and felt bad for what she had done to the boy and all those other creatures she had killed over the years she was still serving the dark master.

Once again the guilt was getting to her...the pain of having killed all those innocent people and having done nothing to stop herself from doing it. Spyro yawned and shook his head remembering what he had found out about the creatures that they had faced last night, Spyro looked down at Cynder and was about to ask her what it was that she had seen when she confronted them but was stopped by something that he didn't like at all.

Cynder was sobbing and considering how wet his chest was she had been crying for a while now, "hey Cynder...you okay?" asked Spyro concerned. Cynder slowly moved her head so that she was staring directly at his eyes, she had a tortured look on her face and the life and glow of her eyes seemed to have vanished leaving behind only darkness and pain.

"I ki-illed them," sobbed Cynder burying her face back in Spyro's chest, "I-I killed a-all of the-e-em," said Cynder crying more and more. Though she hadn't said who it was that she had killed Spyro understood completely, he had hoped that those dark memories of her past had been forgotten over the years that they had spent encased in that crystal but it seemed that they had stuck with her.

Spyro opened his mouth to say something but nothing came out, he felt sorry for Cynder and wanted to console her and make her forget about her past but he just couldn't think of anything to say that would calm her down so he simply rubbed her back and held her tightly. Cynder cried for what seemed to have been around an hour or so but after she stopped she only stood still in Spyro's hold sobbing only from time to time.

Cynder had calmed down about her past but after that she started to think about Spyro, I've killed so many people...so many dragons...I even tried to kill him...but why out of all the other creatures does he accept me, Cynder looked up at Spyro who had his eyes closed, He's always been so nice to me even though he knows what I was...what I am...he doesn't see me as a monster at all...why? I love you Spyro...even though I don't deserve you to love me back I wish you did...but still...why? why do accept me Spyro.

"Why?!" asked Cynder accidentally outloud. This snapped Spyro out of his thoughts and looked down at Cynder, "what?" asked Spyro not knowing what she had said due to him thinking about those creatures they had seen. Cynder looked down and buried her face in his chest again, "w-why," she started getting Spyro's attention, "w-why do accept me?" asked Cynder.

Spyro looked at her confused not knowing what she meant by that, "what do you mean?" asked Spyro. Cynder slowly looked back at Spyro and sighed looking a little sad, "why do you accept me when everyone else rejects me because of my past? If anything you should hate me like the rest," said Cynder sobbing letting a few tears fall.

"I do," said Spyro shocking Cynder, she felt her heart break into more pieces than she could count, I knew it, thought Cynder starting to cry again,he hates me like everyone else...but who can blame him. Spyro realized what he had done and smacked himself on the head,you IDIOT! here she is feeling bad about her past and you say that you hate her...Spyro you just dug your own grave...think...think I gotta say something before this gets worse!.

"I-I-I didn't mean that I meant tha-a-t...I would hate you if I didn't know you like everyone else," said Spyro hoping that would calm her down, Cynder's crying started to slow signaling to Spyro that it was working, "but I do know you," said Spyro with a calm and caring tone, "I know that you are the most beautiful and caring dragoness that I know...sure you're the only dragoness I know but...if I did indeed know any other dragoness I know for certain that she would be nothing compared to you."

Cynder sobbed and rose her head looking Spyro straight in the eyes, "and about your past...that wasn't your fault..you had no choice...and you really should forget about your past and see what could be in your future," said Spyro clearing away some tears from her face, "trust me Cynder...you may be evil to everyone else but to me you're the sweetest dragon I know, " said Spyro kissing Cynder on the top of her head.

Even though Cynder wished he had kissed her in the mouth she was still happy that he felt that way about her, he really does care about me...Thank you Spyro...you're more than I could ask for, thought Cynder cuddling with Spyro. Spyro silently sighed happy that he had gotten her to calm down, and even though he didn't mind the cuddling, Spyro slightly shook Cynder and told her that it would be best if they left.

Cynder looked disappointed but agreed and slid of the bed stretching her body, Spyro stared at her but quickly got of the bed and stretched as well. After extinguishing the wall of fire they came running out expecting to find those creatures but there was nothing other than the peaceful clearing with animals walking or flying around, the only sight of those creatures was the pile of burnt bones that were not far from the pond.

Spyro and Cynder looked at each other wondering what had happened but decided best to forget about it and focus more on breakfast, Cynder wanted to go and hunt for her own food but Spyro not wanting her to get hurt or loosen her bandages told her that it would be best if he did the hunting. Cynder looked annoyed but decided to let it be and walked over to the pond to get a drink.

Once she was done she turned around and saw that Spyro was carrying two rabbits and a deer, Cynder wondered how he had taken them down in such a small amount of time but shrugged it off and walked over to Spyro taking the deer off his back and began to eat it. Cynder left Spyro half the deer but he told her to eat the rest of it but she insisted and Spyro handed her one of the two rabbits and began to eat what was left of the food.

Spyro walked over to take a drink but ended up taking a bath instead, as he resurfaced he found Cynder on the ground holding her stomach and laughing. Spyro laughed and smiled at her, he was happy that she was back to her old self and had forgotten about her past...at the very least for the moment. "your lucky you have those bandages otherwise I would've pulled you into the pond too," said Spyro helping Cynder up.

He shook himself trying to get rid of the water ending up getting Cynder wet anyway, Spyro tried not to laugh and looked around seeing if there was anything that they could use as a land mark. "we could walk towards those mountains, maybe there's a trail that'll lead us back to Warfang," said Spyro looking at Cynder to see if she approved only to have her hit him lightly on the shoulder, "tag your it," said Cynder running towards the mountains.

Spyro and Cynder had seen some mole children play a game called tag while they were in Warfang, basically you touched someone and after that you had to avoid that person until he tagged someone else. Spyro laughed and ran after Cynder who was far due to her unfair start, they played this game for a while until they ran out of breath.

The sun was directly over them when they finally found a trail that seemed to go towards the mountains, "see I told you that we'd find a trail," said Spyro walking towards the trail. Cynder looked up and hoped that they would find shelter before night, she really didn't want to see those creatures again. The trip was peaceful and the trail seemed to be empty which was rather weird.

Cynder walked next to Spyro and thought about what it would be like when they finally got back to Warfang, I really hope people don't attack me...not that I don't deserve it, she looked at Spyro who seemed to be concentrating on the road,I could always just stick with Spyro...maybe I'll be okay with him...then again it is the dragon city...I've ruined so many lives...killed so many of our kind...I'll be lucky if I survive a single da...

Cynder's train of thought was broken by the sound of clashing swords and cries of pain which seemed to get Spyro's attention fairly quickly. Off in the distance they could see a destroyed wagon and some cheetahs defending it, though they couldn't make out the attacker from the distance, "Cynder I want you to stay here and hide, whatever happens, don't move, I'll go and help."

"Spyro no I won't leave you, we fight together," said Cynder slamming her paw on the ground which caused her to flinch due to her injuries. Spyro looked at her, "not this time Cynder your too hurt, I can't let you fight like this," Cynder looked down in disappointment, ".(sigh)...but, If you want you can use your breath power from a distance that way you'll be less probable to get hurt," Cynder looked up at Spyro with a smile happy to know that she wasn't completely useless in the state she was in.

Spyro, with Cynder following close behind, ran towards the fighting field where he could now make out who the attackers were. They were apes, but not the ghostly bones that they had fought, they were real apes like the ones he had seen before his imprisonment in the crystal, "I thought Malefor placed a curse on them," said Cynder being just as amazed and confused as Spyro.

"I guess after his death all his magic left along with him," said spyro. There were two bodies on the ground and only three cheetahs were still standing trying to defend the wagon the best they could, but that wasn't enough since they were surrounded by about twenty apes. Spyro snapped into action burning two apes that were fighting against the cheetahs, they didn't wonder about what had happened and went for another ape who was trying to sneak a barrel without them knowing taking him down easily due to him having his hands full.

The ape's numbers were dropping quickly with the help of Spyro, and Cynder who fired the occasional whirlwind or siren scream. The fight didn't last long after the two dragons arrived most of the apes fled but those who stayed were slain by either Spyro and Cynder or the three cheetahs, "thank you for the help, we appreciate it deeply," said a blue cheetah.

He looked to Spyro's left and saw Cynder hiding in the shadows, his eyes grew wide and he pointed the sword at her, "show yourself Cynder," he said with an aggressive tone. Cynder slowly walked out of the shadows and stood by Spyro a little afraid of what might happen, "hey she helped you just as much as I did," said Spyro walking between Cynder and the sword the cheetah was holding.

The cheetah looked at her and sighed, "you're lucky I don't hold much of a grudge against you," he said sheathing his sword, "Just like your appearance I hope your personality has changed as well," said the cheetah walking back to the wagon. Cynder sighed relieved that nothing bad had happened and walked over to the cheetah who was trying to fix a broken wheel, "thank you for not attacking me," said Cynder.

The cheetah ignored her and kept working on the wheel, "hey do you know how to get to Warfang," asked Spyro breaking the silence. The cheetah stood up and mounted the wagon, "this road will lead you through the mountains and after that it'll only be about a days journey to reach it," said the cheetah leaving with the wagon.

Spyro looked over at Cynder who was looking up at the sky, she had a look of fright as she saw that it wasn't long till the sun set behind the mountains, "hey do you know of any shelter nearby?" asked Spyro to the cheetahs. The wagon stopped and the cheetah looked back at them, "my village isn't far from here if you wish you can stay there for the night," he said looking to his side and taking out some sort of cloak, "here," he said tossing the cloak to Cynder's paws, "I may not have done anything to harm you but my people don't think the same as I, if you're smart you'll put that on," he said looking back forward and leaving once again.

Cynder grabbed the dark cloak and put it on the best she could, "I don't know about this Spyro...maybe we should look for a cave or some sort of cabin," said Cynder worried that something bad might happen when they get to the village. Spyro place a wing over her and smiled, "hey don't worry about it, just stick with me and you'll be fine," said Spyro.

Cynder thought about it and though his words were comforting she still thought that something bad was going to happen, I've killed so many...the whole village might turn against me...not even Spyro could save me from that, thought Cynder looking down at the ground, "hey you'll be fine...I won't let anyone touch you,I promise," said Spyro trying his best to cheer her up.

Cynder sighed and looked back up walking by the wagon with Spyro next to her, Cynder didn't talk the rest of the way and simply stayed quiet thinking about the worst thing that could happen once they got there. The sun had set not long before they finally reached the village, there were a few houses visible through the wooden wall that surrounded the village. The village was nice and looked like a good place to live but Cynder got worried once she saw the guards that were at the entrance.

The wagon stopped at the entrance and a gray middle aged cheetah stepped forward inspecting the wagon's contents. It didn't take long for his gaze to fall upon the two dragons who he studied sharply, he looked at Cynder more than he did Spyro. The cheetah approached her and with his staff he quickly lifted the hood revealing her face for all to see, his eye twitched and he backed away signalling for all the archers on the wall to aim at her.

Before any of them knew what was going on both dragons were surrounded by cheetahs holding spears and swords at their necks, "sir, these dragons helped us fight against the ones who attacked us, let them go they have done nothing wrong," said the blue cheetah still up on the wagon. The gray cheetah grunted and walked up to Cynder.

"Nothing wrong you say," he pointed his staff at Cynder, "well then tell me..who is this," he asked knowing fully well who she was. "she is a mere traveler, one of the two that helped us...she is just a black dragon," said the cheetah trying to cover for Cynder. "ohhhh, my mistake...but last time I checked there is only one dragon that bears that mark," he said pointing his staff at Cynder's forehead.

"She helped them," said Spyro trying to defend Cynder, "she's not a monster, she was being used by the dark master but those times are over she's not.." "A monster!?" yelled the cheetah cutting Spyro's sentence short, "why have you come here?" asked the cheetah pointing his sword at her. Cynder looked down, "I-I'm sorry, I know that what I did was a horrible thing but those times are over...let us go and we won't bother you anymore," said Cynder trying to back away only to be met by the end of a spear touching her neck.

"But" said Spyro getting the cheetah's attention, "if it isn't too big of a problem...would it be okay if we spent the night here?" asked Spyro. The cheetah looked angry but he thought about it, "...For saving my son and the supplies you can stay here for the night," he said turning around and walking back inside the village, "but I want you gone by first light tomorrow."

The soldiers stopped pointing their weapons at them and left back into the city, "you two are quite lucky," said the the blue cheetah dismounting the wagon letting others take what was inside, "my name is Thorin by the way," said the cheetah turning around taking the wagon inside the village. Cynder and Spyro walked in silence as one of the guards lead them to the inn of the small town where they were given one room each.

Cynder was a little scared at the thought of leaving Spyro but she walked into the room and lied down on the bed falling asleep almost instantly after the tough day she had.

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Sorry for taking so long to get this chapter up but it's summer, I just moved to a new house...and I'm kind of lazy...don't judge me. Anyway here is chapter...three I think...hope you enjoyed it.

By the way thank you for the ones that have been kind enough to leave a review.

Until next time, Peace