Eclipse collapsed in front of the central fireplace when they enter his room. His mind circling around itself, trying to establish who has control. The darker side of him was stubborn, he wouldn't give up to the light. He laid there looking at the empty space where the fire was maintained, he dared not move in case he hurt Aurora.

He could feel her watching him, waiting for him to say something. He felt like he could but when he opened his mouth, nothing came out. Fear gripped him as his memories of being trapped came back. He felt his breath become shallow and quick, followed shortly by the heavy thumping of his heart. He began to panic.

Stop. I was so close, you denied me killing her. She was not yours to kill. She wasn't part of the deal, only they were. I didn't think she was still alive. Yes you did, deep down inside you knew. His darker side released his grip on him. Eclipse released a breath he didn't know he was holding.

"You're sweating." Aurora worried tone finally reached his ears. His breathing calmed, his pulse slowed, his panic faded.

"I'm sorry." He sat up, and felt the cushion beneath him was, in fact, damp with sweat.

"There's nothing to be sorry for. It's not your fault." She began opening the curtains, letting the fading light flood the room. "You need to quit beating yourself up. There's nothing you can do to stop it from happening. Besides, you're still here aren't you?"

"We just got here." He gave her a grin.

"They could've kicked you out on the spot." She didn't sound like she was in the joking mood. The sunset gleamed off her scales, making her shine more than usual. She smiled when she saw the adoring look on his face. "You're doing that thing again."

"What am I doing exactly?"

"Looking at me like that." She giggled

"For some odd reason," He started, getting up from his spot on the floor. She met him halfway in the center of the room. "You always seem to look stunning."

"I like to think that you always think that."

"Guilty as charged." He leaned into her, planting his lips against hers. He felt his worries wash away, as if everything was already okay. You can't take this away from me. I may be your darker half but I don't wish to be lonely. We're actually agreeing on something aren't we? For now. She was the first to pull away, but the affection in her eyes told him that she didn't want to. "This place can be home."

"Yeah, it can be." She put her head on his shoulder again, while he wrapped his black wings around her. He looked out of the balcony expecting to see the darkening skyline but instead he found Spyro staring at them with a wide smile. He scowled at the purple dragon who only began to laugh. He let go of Aurora, bringing his full attention on his unexpected guest.

"Was I interrupting something important?" Spyro asked through his soft laughter.

Yes. "No, is something wrong?" Eclipse could feel Aurora's blush on his scales as she tried to it.

"You haven't happened to see Cynder recently have you?" He rubbed behind his ears. "I kinda need to speak to her."

"I haven't seen her at all after we left." Eclipse's answer seemed to perplex Spyro.

"You haven't seen her either Aurora?" She simply shook her head, earning a laugh from both of the dragons. Aurora hit Eclipse with her tail with a groan.

"She's been here with me the whole time." He smiled at him as he stopped laughing.

"Okay, thanks anyway." He turned to return to the sky. "When you two lovebirds are down here, swing by the great hall for food. It's the tall building with a dragon statue on it."

"We'll keep that in mind." With that he was gone into the wind. He smiled down at the dragoness still trying to hide her face. "If I didn't know any better, I would say you are trying to light me on fire."

"Shut up!" She swatted at him again.

"Let's go get some food, I know you're hungry." He heard her stomach answer with a rumble. "Oh my."

"Stop it! Between the two of you today." She ran out of the room and into the sky.

"You know you love me." He called after her, shortly following.

Cynder sat there conversing with Ember and Flame, mostly about the new dragons that arrived today. Ember couldn't stop asking about Eclipse, she seemed to have fallen in love with his description. Flame just listened to the two dragoness' gossip, picking apart his rabbit.

The three of them turned to see the group of dragons in question enter the hall. Cynder waved the group down, noting that Ember was practically bouncing with excitement. Eclipse and Ardere broke off from the group, heading for the main food table. Frost and Aurora sat on both sides of Cynder with smiles on their faces.

"Here I thought my room was great but this is amazing." Frost looked all around the room, seemingly admiring it.

"This was the longest and largest building project ever done by the moles here, taking nearly two years with dragon help." Flame responded while watching Frost's expression with amusement.

"Look at you reading up on your history." Cynder remarked with a smile.

"This place is interesting once you start digging." He returned the small. Eclipse and Ardere returned with more food, taking their seats on the other side of the table. Ember instantly poking Eclipse, like she was making sure he was real. She noted both his and Aurora uncomfortable looks as she did so.

Ember mouthed her amazement to Cynder when she saw his muscles shift. She could barely contain her laughter. Eventually Eclipse forced Ardere switch seats with him but that didn't end the poor dragons torment. Your so hopeless Ember. Ember kept trying to pet him with her tail.

Eclipse was practically begging her for help as well but she didn't feel like interrupting the gawking dragoness. It wasn't until Eclipse literally hopped over the table into the seat next to Aurora did she finally stop.

"Do you know if Spyro will grace us with his presence?" Flame asked her, diverting her attention away from Ember.

"I don't know, maybe."

"Spyro was looking for you a little earlier, said he needed to talk to you." Aurora informed them.

"Looks like he found you." Cynder followed Frost's gaze to the Spyro walking towards them. He looked like he had something on his mind, something important but she ignored it and went back to eating. Probably wants to talk about what happened with Volteer. I'll apologize afterwards.

He stepped behind her, inches from her ear. "I need to talk to you."

"I'm in the middle of something." She attempted to dismiss him but he only doubled his efforts.

"It's important, the guardians would be here if they weren't preoccupied." She looked at Eclipse, expecting him to say something. "We need him too."

"I'm not bringing him into the same room with Terrador, especially not within the same day." She tried pushing him away.

"This has nothing to do with that, there are bigger issues than the two of them." He sighed in defeat. "When you're ready, meet us in the guardian's war room." Spyro walked behind Eclipse, shortly after he got up and followed him out. They haven't used the war room since the end of the war. Everyone gave her a puzzled look. Why would they need Eclipse, he just got here. She recognized Aurora's look of worry. I need to be there. She got up and hurried out of the hall.

The sky was already filling with stars when she pushed the doors open. She saw the fading movements of two dragons flying towards the guardian's chamber. Cynder leapt into the sky, gaining speed as quickly as she could. She caught them as they landed, skidding to a halt beside Spyro.

"Glad you could make room for this." Eclipse snapped at her. She shuffled as she thought he was falling again but nothing happened. He seemed angry, focused on something going on in his head.

"What's happening?" She tried to find Spyro's gaze but to no avail. He stepped into the building, shortly followed by Eclipse. Cynder hesitated, asking herself if she should head back. Do I even what to know? She stopped the door before it fully closed. Yes.

She followed them into the war room in silence. Neither of them spoke to her, only the sounds of steps filled the space. A map of the continent laid flat across the center table, while a larger map of the world hung on the wall behind it. Small figurines marked locations on the map. A group of cheetahs were placed in what looked like Avalar, moles were mainly situated around Warfang with a few around the city. The dragons were the most spread out, having symbols over the majority of the continent. Special dragons were painted to represent the three guardians, herself and Spyro. She noticed that there were no pawns representing the apes or the rest of Malefor's forces. They don't know where the rest of them are.

"You're all here, good." Terrador's voice rumbled.

"Why are we here exactly?" She asked still looking at the map.

"Our scouts have reported that the Dark Master's army has disappeared. Like they've just erased themselves from the world."

"Isn't that good news?"

"No." Cyril stepped up. "Even after the Siege of Warfang, Malefor still had a sizable force. You all know this." Her male companions nodded in agreement. "An army this size shouldn't have been able to disappear like this."

"We think that there's a new leader and that they are preparing for an assault on the city." Terrador pointed on the map. "We figured that you three have the most experience out of everyone in the city.

"We're asking you to tell us who you think is in charge of the army and where they are hiding." Volteer paced back and forth along the back wall.

"Gual is dead, both of his top commanders have deserted, and Malefor was imprisoned by the ancestors." Spyro, looking down at the map.

"His fortress is in ruins, his allies left him after the event with Gual." Eclipse started circling the map. "There is a massive power vacuum in the remnants and who filled it is unknown to me."

"No one is left that would command that amount of respect and fear." Cynder looked between the two dragons, wondering what was going through their heads. Could there be someone that we didn't notice? Someone who flew under the radar?

"They're hiding in the mountains, that's where I would put them." Eclipse pointed at the mountains north of Warfang. That's where we fought the Destroyer.

"But it's flooded, we flooded during our fight with the Destroyer." Volteer pointed out.

"There's an underground cave system in those Mountains, both Warfang and Malefor used it during the war. It was partially mapped out by myself, I thought there could be a way into Warfang from below." Eclipse countered, tracing one of his talons along the ridge. "If it really is someone from during the war then they would know of them."

"I can't think of anyone that would know of the tunnels that is still loyal to him." Cynder was searching through her memories as quickly as she could.

"Armavir." Eclipse was still staring at the mountain ridge as he stated the name. He looked like he was deep in thought, almost like he was thinking aloud. "Malefor spoke of another dragon who would replace Cynder. I never saw him in the field so I thought it was just a scare tactic."

"Another dragon to defeat. This just got more complicated than I had originally hoped for." Terrador looked around the table to the dragons surrounding it.

"If it is this 'Armavir' and neither of you know anything about him then we're in the dark." Cyril reinforced Cynder's own concerns. He's unpredictable to us, a wild card. She looked at Eclipse, half hoping that he knew something. There has to be something in that head of his that knows Armavir. He looked up at her, exchanging glances.

One of his iris' is that deep red from before. She wanted to grab him and drag him out of the room before he did something regrettable but it wasn't the same. In the alley, his entire eye was red like when Spyro showed his darker side. Right now, only his iris was different. Is he controlling it? How? Questions began appearing in her head.

"One thing is sure about this. He's on his back feet, the army is still disorganized and since the fall of Malefor; demoralized." Eclipse brought his gaze back to the map. "We have time before he attempts anything of note."

"Why do you say this?"

"As bad as a tactician as he was, Malefor wasn't dumb. He would've taught him to make sure that any attack would be brutal with no margin of error. That's what he taught me." He explained.

"Obviously not very well." Terrador said to himself.

"Get over your petty hatred against me and focus on the bigger picture please." Eclipse corrected him. "The time frame is still too wide to give any exacts."

"If I remember anything about Malefor's tactics, it will just as Eclipse described. Brutal and he will overlook nothing. Especially if he knows that all six of us are here and that we know." Cynder looked away for Eclipse and back on the map. Her eyes were drawn to the mountain range where this threat could be. Shivers ran down her spine as she tried to imagine what Armavir might do.

"Thank you all for contributing. Myself and the other guardians must speak about this. We'll call upon you when we have need of you." The three younger dragons exited the room together, leaving the guardians to speak in private. Cynder noticed that Eclipse's eyes were now both silver and that he showed no sign of change. The three of them agreed to speak about this in the morning when they exited the building.

As Spyro took off, she stopped Eclipse and pulled him away from the door. She studied him for a long moment, wanting to make sure that he wasn't changing. Were my eyes playing tricks on me, I could've sworn one of his eyes were red before. His eyes were still their moonlight silver color, no color change whatsoever.

"You okay Cyn?" His nickname caused her to step back, confusion replacing the questions. Memories starting to assault her vision, replaying scenes of him being the caring dragon she knew he was. Even under Malefor's influence, he was kind to her, that shoulder she could shed her tears on. She hadn't even realized she was starting to cry. "What's wrong?"

He reached out, pulling her into his chest. She let him encase her in his protective embrace, his wings surrounding her. She remembered that feeling of being safe, she felt like he would protect her forever. She realized that she was jealous of Aurora, for having him as hers. She remembered what she saw earlier today, how much it broke her inside.

She wanted to stay here, under his cloak of darkness. A dark knight, ready to shield her from his creators. I still love him. Before now it was a question, now it was an answer. It was selfish to think that he would leave Aurora for her. She was the past he was trying to run from, that he was trying to overcome. But right now he's mine.

I need to stop. Part of her didn't want to pull away when she did, but she had to. "I'm sorry," She almost lost herself in his eyes. "you still bring back memories."

"It's okay, you do too." His response caught her off guard. I do? Her brain was wrapped in thought when she realized her body was moving. She couldn't stop herself when she started kissing him, but he didn't resist either. It was short, but the message still got across. "I shouldn't have done that." He looked ashamed.

"I'm sorry, I don't know what I was thinking." She too looked off to the side, cursing herself that she let it happen.

"I should go." He started to get up.

"Wait, I actually have something to ask you." She grabbed his arm.

"What is it?" He looked at her, when she let go.

"When we were in the war room, one of your eyes changed color. Was something setting you off?" The awkwardness still hung in the air.

"I was…" His voice fell. "...consulting? Referring? I don't know how to describe it." He scratched the back of his head. "My darker side is still very much a part of me. A little more than you saw unfortunately."

"What do you mean?" She circled in front of him, seeing that his eyes were different colors again.

"He's more of a separate entity than a different personality. He just happens to be in me." His nervous chuckle worried her. "We talk to each other, we often disagree on what to do and who to trust."

"What does he think of me?" She noticed the long pause.

"He's conflicted. Says he doesn't know what to think."

"What do you think?" Again, a long pause between her question and his answer. It was like he was searching himself.

"I don't know either." He reached out and placed a paw on her's. "Part of me wants this, to return to what we were. The other part thinks that I should move on. I don't know what's right, what's right for everyone. What hurts the least amount of people." He retracted his paw.

"You could never hurt me."

"I already did, twice." She knew what he meant. "I going to head to bed Cynder, I'll talk to you tomorrow." He lifted off into the sky and left her alone on the street. She didn't know what to do, nothing was solved. Only more questions, only more confusion.

Eclipse found Aurora sleeping by the fireplace in his room. He smiled at her steadily rising and falling chest, bringing his own mind to ease. She always had this peaceful aura around her, but knowing that nothing was worrying her made him happy. He laid down next to her, putting a wing over her. He looked at the unlit fireplace, wondering if he should light it.

The four of them always had a fire when they settled for the night. Even though he would always protest it, the fire brought him comfort. Those nights, under the stars with them were some of the happiest in his life.

That journey gave him a purpose he never thought he would have. To protect someone good. He would've drowned himself in that ocean if they weren't there. The fault of what he's done, all the fear he created, it almost killed him in the end. I should be dead, broken and forgotten in a ditch.

He heard the sleeping dragoness happily sigh beneath him. He smiled at her sleeping form next to him. Many conflicting thoughts raced through his head and for once his other half was quiet.

You're just as confused as I am. We are still of the same mind. What should I do? You're asking me for advice? Aren't we supposed to hate each other? I guess we should. He went silent after that, but he didn't stay awake long enough to know if he had an answer for him.

He found himself inside a tunnel. Descending darkness faced him with only the light from behind him providing any kind of good sight. He heard the sounds of footsteps resonating from deeper within. Every part of him was saying to leave but something was pushing him forward or rather, pulling him.

As the light of safety faded behind him, so did the linear seeming tunnel. Forks in the path brought him in almost every way, up and down, left and right. He manage to see symbols in the sides of the tunnels, ranging from simple shapes to complex designs. The same force that was pulling him deeper into the ground made him go down the diamond paths.

Usually, he felt akin to the darkness but this, this darkness felt unnatural. As if someone made it. He felt free but trapped at the same time, his breaths were getting more and more shallow as he continued. He was running out of air.

Someone was watching him from the shadows, they whispered in his ears, moved around him. Everything was pointing to him not being alone but he couldn't see anyone nor anything. The orange glow of torches were a welcome sight, relief swelled inside him. It was a short feeling.

It was a lone pair of torches in a vast cavern. There was no telling how far it went, the far wall was cloaked in the same unnatural shadow. He grabbed one of the torches from its mount on the wall and waved it around, trying to see further.

The previously unlit torches on the side walls began to blaze to life. They vanquished the darkness, instead changing the chamber to have a faint purple hue. Even the torch in his had changed color. Finally, the torches brought light to his fears.

A large, adult dragon stared at him from the far wall. The dragon's black eyes were locked on him, showing nothing but an infinite void. Their scales were constantly shifting colors, not one color stayed in the same place for more than a second. The dark energy crackled off of their body like bolts of lightning.

Behind him were two steel cages, each had someone he cared for. Both Aurora and Cynder sat alone in these cages. They looked like they've been beaten, bruises and cuts covered their bodies. Dried blood hid patches of their scales, painting them dark red.

"So glad you could join us." The dark dragon rumbled, a wicked smile slowly working across his face. His face looked of that of someone who was insane. "It can't be a party without the guest of honor."

"Release them." Eclipse demanded, taking small steps towards them. "They have nothing to do with this."

"Oh, do they now?" He began to laugh. "They're the reason you're here, are they not?"

"I'm here for you." He pointed at the larger dragon. Eclipse was already formulating a way to kill him without Aurora or Cynder getting hurt. Eclipse was now halfway into the room, easily within striking distance for him.

"I wouldn't move closer." His chuckling slowly ceased, replaced with a smile. Eclipse listen to him, stopping in the center of the room.

"Let them go." He growled.

"I'll let them go." A switch suddenly appeared in front of the dragon. The maniac eyed him with insane, excited curiosity. He placed a paw on the top of the switch, teasing him with it. "Only question is…" Something began to manifest itself besides the dragon. Shadows began to shift and move, it was building something. Don't move. It was two dragons, looking almost exactly like himself. It's only a dream, Eclipse. He's going to hurt them. "...who will you save…" His limbs were darkening, he looked into the eyes of both Aurora and Cynder.

"Save Aurora!" Cynder yelled to him.

"Eclipse!" Aurora wasn't a fighter, the choice was obvious.

Don't engage! I have to save her. He was already in motion, disappearing into a puff of smoke then shortly appearing in front of Aurora's cage. The imposters both converged on Cynder, easily overwhelming her.

"NO!" He was up on his feet, wings flared out, eyes scanning the entire room. It was a dream, only a dream. Aurora looked up at him with a concerned expression.

"Eclipse?" She sat up.

"I'm fine, just a bad dream." He reassured her. "Go back to sleep." She watched him for a moment before laying back down. He opened the door to the balcony, letting the fresh air fill his lungs. The sky was still filled with stars and the moons. Only a bad dream. It wasn't a dream. Then what else could it be? It wasn't real. Eclipse… He trailed off. What do you know? Eclipse, you have the power of foresight.