*disclaimer* I do not own any characters related to spyro

A/N: Again, procrastinating can be a powerful muse…I continue this story in the T category for now… could change in the future... but here it is, enjoy!

As they sat and watched the sunset, Ferrous tentatively draped a wing around Emmaire's shoulders. She shivered at the touch, but didn't shy away. She yawned and unconsciously leaned against the earth dragon's shoulder, bringing a subtle smile to his face. She sighed softly and closed her eyes. Lost in the beauty of the moment, Ferrous was inspired yet again and began to weave another poem from his thoughts.

"As the sun sets on this past day
The colors fly free
The sky becomes like a canvas
For the world to see

As the sun sets and we all say goodbye
Our lives are changed, our dreams come alive
Though we can't just leave them, we must push on
They won't become real unless we strive

As the sun sets, beauty is revealed
For those who wish to view
Reminding those who have forgotten
It's always there for me and you"

Emmaire turned to look into the bright green eyes of Ferrous, awed by his sudden eloquence. "That was beautiful, Ferrous. Where did you hear that?"

He kept his smile and his eyes began to shine. "That was something I just came up with. You really liked it?"

She nodded. "Yeah. I never knew you were so good with words."

He turned his gaze back to the horizon "There's a lot of things about me you don't know," he mumbled under his breath.

The white dragoness yawned again. "Well, I hate to leave but I'm tired," she admitted.

Snapping back to himself, Ferrous offered. "Let me walk you to your room, I'm headed that way myself."

She giggled and let him place his wing back around her as they walked off the surface of the lake. They made their way out of the garden and into the winding corridors of the temple. They walked in silence; each keeping to their own thoughts.

Tell her! Come on Ferrous, she's right here, you can do it! The earth dragon's mind raced. But then again, tonight was the first night we spent together, she could think that I was rushing things and reject me. He battled against himself, trying to overcome his doubts to tell her how he truly felt. There's no reward without risk. You have to do it! He opened his mouth to speak but quickly shut it again. But what if she doesn't actually like me. I saw Cyril with her earlier. He could have told her to do this just to make me feel better.

Beside him, Emmaire was simply enjoying the feeling of his wing around her, the soft texture of it rubbing against her back. She wished that the walk would never end but all too soon they reached the door to her room.

Ferrous lifted his wing off her and folded it to his side. "Well, goodnight, Emmaire." He turned and padded over to his room three doors away.

"Goodnight, Ferrous," she said softly. Nudging open the wooden door, she entered the room and jumped straight onto the bed within. After pulling the thick blanket around her body, she stared out the window until her eyelids drooped and sleep over took her.

It didn't last. She twisted this way and that, suffering through one of the countless nightmares she endured over the past few nights. Her eyes shot open and she shivered as the remnants of the dream clung to her. Pulling the blanket tighter around her form, she found herself wishing that she was lying next to Ferrous. She heard a faint noise from the windowsill, but paid it no mind. It was probably either Wolfe or Star, checking up on the younger students. After calming her whirling thoughts, she laid her head down on the bed and fell asleep once more.

When she awoke, her gaze was drawn to the windowsill. Upon it sat a gray rose, almost silver in the rising sun. She smiled softly and thought to herself, I really am falling in love with him. And he's already in love with me, that's for sure. She giggled to herself as she thought of how many times he had tried to talk to her. He is pretty cute. She got off the bed and stretched out, extending her claws out in front of her. Once her muscles loosened up, she walked out into the hallway and noticed that Ferrous's door was open slightly. Curious, she stalked over and quietly stepped through the doorway. Ferrous was sprawled out on the bed comically, his cover hanging off of it and onto the floor. She looked around the slowly brightening room and saw a small row of the gray roses in one corner. She smiled and backed out of the room, closing the door silently behind her. She turned around to find Star watching her and she blushed. Star simply grinned and walked past her, humming a soft tune. Emmaire padded down the hallway towards the dining room for a quick breakfast before going to the Guardians for her training assignment.

Back in Ferrous's room, the earth dragon rolled onto the floor and strode to the door. He watched as Emmaire walked down the hallway and ran to catch up with her. He got to her side and smiled in greeting. "Good morning Emmaire."

She turned and smiled back. "Oh, hi Ferrous. Do you want to come with me to breakfast?"

He nodded. "Of course!"

They sat together and passed the time after breakfast with idle conversation, discussing the weather yesterday and such. "We should probably get to Terrador; it's his turn to give us an assignment." She agreed and they departed from the dining hall.

They entered the training arena and found Terrador standing before Flame, Ember, Wolfe, and Star already. They took their places; Ferrous next to Flame and Emmaire next to Star.

"Now that everyone is here, I shall give each of you your assignments," Terrador rumbled with a smile. "Now, I've heard that the boys enjoy their sparring fights, and so does Star," the gold dragoness grinned, "so today will be another day of training fights. Star, will be paired up with Emmaire first. Then Flame and Ember. And last will be Wolfe and Ferrous."

With the pairings announced, The dragons who weren't first flew to one of the overlooking balconies. Below them, the two dragonesses circled each other with their wings low to the ground.

Star initiated the combat by launching a yellow fireball at the ice dragoness. Emmaire shot an ice bullet to stop it and leapt forward into the air, raining ice down upon her opponent. Star raised her body temperature and melted the ice before it touched her. Keeping on the offensive, Emmaire circled her opponent in the air, sending multiple ice bullets cascading down onto the golden dragoness. Star dodged each one and launched a ball of light to intercept Emmaire's flight. Closing her eyes, Emmaire began to roll in mid flight, spinning a thin barrier of water around her body. The ball of light glanced off the water shield and smashed against the wall. She altered her course and dove straight at Star. Just before they collided, Emmaire halted her spin and blew out a fine mist of ice, freezing all before her. Star raised an earth shield just in time and the rocks blocked the ice. She blasted the rocks out from the shield and one of them clipped Emmaire's wing, twisting her sideways and sending pain shooting down her side. Star sprang forward and swung a fist at the ice dragoness. Waiting until the last possible second, Emmaire whipped her tail right behind her fist. She connected with Star's side and the golden dragoness fell, allowing Emmaire to place an ice bladed tail to her neck in victory.

Emmaire helped Star back to her feet and gave a weak smile. "That was fun…"

Star nodded. "It sure was, I never saw that coming."

They flew to the balcony to join the others as Flame and Ember dropped to the floor to take their place. Ferrous ran over to Emmaire. "That was quite a fight! Is your wing alright?"

She folded the limb to her side and smiled. "I'll be fine, don't worry. "

Star stepped over to Wolfe and the black dragon kissed her on the cheek. "It's okay, love. You can't win 'em all."

She nuzzled his neck and laughed. "I'm not disappointed, Wolfie. That was a lot of fun."

They returned their attention to the arena below and saw Flame pinned by Ember with a goofy grin on his face. Ferrous called out. "Come on ya big wuss! Just because she's your girlfriend doesn't mean you have to let her win!"

Flame just kept the strange grin on his face as they flew up to the overlook.

Wolfe flew down to take his place on the battle floor and Ferrous leapt down opposite him. "You wanna make this quick or do you want to drag it out?" Wolfe let a devilish smile creep across his features.

Ferrous growled at him. "Give me your best shot."

Wolfe laughed and leapt forward, claws extended for a brutal slash. Ferrous dove beneath the attack and fired an earth bomb straight into Wolfe's underbelly, sending the black dragon flipping through the air. "Nice move!" Still laughing, Wolfe flowed from the flip into a mid air roll and loosed a bolt of black lightning as he leveled out. Ferrous raised a rock from the ground to intercept the bolt and he dashed forward again, landing a crushing blow from his tail to Wolfe's hind leg. Wolfe was thrown to the ground and slid to a stop against the wall. "Ouch, that one kinda hurt a little." He released a maelstrom of wind from his wings, buffeting the earth dragon back further from his opponent. Rolling himself into an earth boulder, Ferrous cut through the wind and smashed into the source of it. It looked like a finishing blow as the boulder crashed into the wall and created a large dust cloud. As the dust cleared, the observers saw Ferrous standing in the center of the arena with his eyes closed, trying to find Wolfe with his powers. Then suddenly, Ferrous was knocked over onto his back and he found Wolfe's tail blade pressed against his throat. "Gotcha!" Ferrous growled in defiance.

"Are ya sure?" A pillar of earth launched Wolfe into the air and Ferrous leapt above him, summoning an earth flail and swinging it through the air at Wolfe.

"Damn!" Wolfe's eyes flashed once and he summoned a shadow of himself to appear just in front of him. He twisted around and bolted behind Ferrous with unthinkable speed. He clenched a fist and so did the shadow, both of them landing a blow to the earth dragon at the same time, making the flail disappear and driving the air out of his lungs. He dropped to the ground and struggle to take a breath. As soon as he inhaled, he was pinned by a dark mist. "That was good, Ferrous. You almost got me. If I hadn't pulled out my ace, then I would have been done for." The mist dissipated and Ferrous rolled to his feet.

"Man, I thought I had you beat there at the end. What was that?" Ferrous launched up to the balcony right behind Wolfe.

The black dragon smiled and a perfect copy of himself appeared beside him. "It's a shadow image. Copies my movements and still packs quite a punch."

Ferrous winced and rubbed his chest. "Don't I know it. That's quite a trick."

"Well I was hoping to keep it a secret from Star, but now I guess I have to show her how to do it." He turned to the gold dragoness, who walked up to him and planted a kiss on his lips.

"Yes you do have to now. That's too bad." She giggled.

Emmaire came up beside Ferrous and nudged his wing. He turned to look into her dark blue eyes. "Come on, let's go to the garden," she whispered.

He nodded and they excused themselves. As they walked down the corridor to the outdoor garden, Ferrous extended his wing over her.

They strode into the lush environment and Emmaire motioned over towards a tree with her head. They made their way over and sat down in the shade of the foliage. She rubbed her nose along Ferrous's neck, making him smile down at her.

Ferrous once again struggled against himself to admit his feelings. His courage eventually came to him and he pulled the ice dragoness closer to him. "Emmaire, I need to talk to you."

Her heart beat faster. Maybe he will. Oh, Ancestors please let it be so. "Yes, Ferrous, what is it?"

He spoke softly but firmly. "I've been thinking it over and everything that comes to me points to one thing. You. To put it bluntly, I'm in love with you." He sighed. "I tried for so long to get your attention but I never could get a word in before you walked away. I felt like such a fool to moon after you like that, but I couldn't help it. Then yesterday; I wasn't sure whether that was just you or if Master Cyril put you up to it to cheer me up. But I loved the time we spent together. And now I-" His words stopped and his eyes grew wide as Emmaire pressed her lips against his. When she pulled away, he nearly fell over. His shock was tangible as she smiled warmly back at him. "Em… wha… but you… I mean…"

She kissed him again to quiet his incomplete remarks. "You don't need to say anything more. I love you too. I wasn't sure until just now, but it's true. The flower this morning was what really did it though. That was so sweet."

"I'm glad you liked it. I made it myself, just for you. Terrador showed me how." He wrapped his tail around hers and she sighed at the feeling.

Yawning, Ferrous lay down on his back against the trunk of the tree and lay down on her side, placing her head on his chest. Worn out from their individual fights, they fell asleep together for the first time.