It was cold, all he could feel was the cold. He was surrounded by utter darkness but it was as he could see everything. It was just black, void of any color. He knew where he was, on the knife's edge of death and life. In limbo, it was the source of his power. He had visited this place many times before but never when he actually belonged here.

Suddenly, a box of light appeared in front of him. Curiously, he looked further in. He soon realized that it was a memory.

It was a image of Cynder during her time as the Terror of the Skies, but it was that time in between missions. The few times they could let their love hang out, show their affection without scrutiny. Other boxes of light began to appear and began to slowly move past him. This was his life and it was going by.

This wasn't his life though, it was the life of his darker side. Those fifteen years weren't filled with the memories he wanted. They were filled with the cruel enjoyment of someone else, someone that loved death. Young, old, male, female, it didn't matter to him. Hundreds of dragons faces were looking at him as they went by, all of them were already dead.

"Not all of them." He knew who it was. "There is still those three." The frames passed on his companions. Ardere, Frost and Aurora. "You saved them."

"Not the best time to be praising me." He let out a sadden sigh. "I failed them anyway."

"Did I miss something or are you drowning yourself in fake guilt?"

"I'm dead, nothing I can do anymore." He swiped at the memories, making them continue down the endless path. "Why do you care anyway? You want to kill them."

"I may be the dark side but I still have a heart."

"An empty one at that." Eclipse scoffed at him. His darker side grabbed the stream of memories and flung them backwards. He stopped it on the original image of Cynder.

"I loved her once then she betrayed me. I was hurting, all I wanted to do was lash out." He explained. "You can call me whatever you want, but I am not heartless."

"She's most likely dead by now just like Spyro." He grabbed the memories and allowed them to restart. He sighed and began walking the opposite way.

"That would be for the best." He sighed in a dampened tone.

"Now you two can be reunited in the afterlife." He stopped at the memory of Aurora looking up at him. "I'll be alone." A tear dropped off his face and landed soundlessly on the ground.

"I'm sorry." He put his paw on Eclipse's shoulder.

"What is there to be sorry for? I wasn't as good as I thought I was." More tears began to pool on the ground.

"I caused all of this."

"What?" He stopped the tears, casting a look over his shoulder at him.

"I used all my energy to summon her. I caused her to attack your camp. I didn't think she would have that much success. I didn't think she would be filled with my jealousy." His explanation rocked Eclipse to his core. "I didn't want her to kill you."

Eclipse shoved him away, his anger turning into uncontrollable fury. "You did this?" He stalked closer to him. "How could you betray me like this?" He grabbed him, pulling him closer to him. "We made a deal." He pushed him away again, this time he feel to the soundless ground.

"You think I meant for this?" He gestured around him.

"You wanted this! You wanted me dead." Eclipse pounced on him, pinning him where he landed. "I can't begin to describe what I want to do to you."

"I know a way out."

"I do too but I'm dead! Dead!" He shook him violently.

"Don't you want to see her again?"

"Of course I do but I will not let you trick me again." He punched him, then brought his blade above his eye. "I will make you suffer."

"Hear me out." He pleaded. "No tricks I swear."

"Your word means nothing to me." He stared down at him, all his rage building up inside him. Fury sparked in his eyes and with a scream of pure, animalistic rage, he brought down his blade.

He missed.

It landed next to his head, barely touching him. He got off of him, scream again and punched the closest memory. He then realized that it was the one of Aurora from before. It shattered like glass, falling to the ground. He fell to the ground besides the shards, letting his tears return. "What am I doing?"

"Your angry, enraged. You know how I felt after the siege." He was now standing over him, a saddened look on his face.

"Great, I become more like my monster the more I stay here."

"Are you ready?" The memories collided together, building something before his eyes. Together they formed a pitch black doorway. He stood up and peered into the infinite abyss, wisps of death reached out for him. He smiled knowing that he's had this fate since the very beginning. He looked back at his mirror image, but he only looked away.

"This is really it huh?" He fiddled with one of the wisps, twisting it between his talons. "The answer to one of the greatest questions asked."

"There's another way." The black door moved away, bringing the wisps with it.

"What is this other way?"

"You have to make a deal first." He fully turned to face him.

"With who? You?" He scoffed at him again.

"Yes." He only took on a serious expression.

"I learned what happens when I make deals with you." He began walking back to the black door.

"You can see Aurora again." He stopped in his tracks

"You really are desperate aren't you."

"Walk through that door and I go with you. I want to live as much as you."

"What's this deal?" He sighed, facing him again.

"You have to promise me one thing. Whenever you face an enemy you can't beat, you let me take over."

"I do that and you will lock me away."

"No I won't, you'll retain control whenever the battle is done." He looked sincere.

"Someone's out there you want to kill, isn't there?" He raised an eyebrow.

"If there was someone to kill, I would've killed them by now."

"You seemed to have missed Spyro then." Eclipse gave him a witty smile.

"I don't want to disappear Eclipse. I don't but if I bring us back then we're in danger of something far worse than dying again." He put a paw on his shoulder again. "There are somethings that even the darkness fears."

"What is it?" He asked wondering what could be worse than death. He didn't know that his darker side could acknowledge fear and that definitely scared him. He wanted to know what he fears worse than death, something told him that he didn't want to know

"If you listen to me then you won't have to know." He held out his paw for him to shake.

"How do I know you'll keep your end of the bargain?" He looked into the crimson eyes of his counterpart, searching for any sign of misdirection.

"I have no reason to betray you." He let out a impatient sigh. "Eclipse, I won't betray you again. I have nothing to betray you for."

He reached out and took his paw, sealing their deal in limbo. He watched his eyes but they were empty of any emotion. There was nothing there that told him that he was lying or that he truthful. The black door came back, the wisps slowly retracting into the void. The door shrank into the ground before rising up again with a blinding white light.

"You'll be in a lot of pain when you go back. Being stabbed that many times isn't exactly pleasant."

"It'll be worth it." His smile returned though this time it represented his joy.

"Make it count."

He cast another look back at his counterpart but he was gone. "Thank you." He stepped through the door of light.

All he felt was indescribable pain all over his body. He wanted to scream in agony as the darkness only made it worse. Every movement it made inside him shoot immense pain into his skull, it was difficult to keep himself from moving. It was the only thing he wanted to do, his body wanted to reach into the wound and pull out whatever was in there. He was second guessing his decision to come back.

He felt every stitch the darkness made, piecing him back together like a plush doll. His flesh was being woven back together at an excruciatingly slow rate. He thought he was dying all over again with how bad his entire body felt. He felt the darkness swallowing the poison on his shoulder, making it evaporate like water. There was a slight feeling of relief before it was overtaken by the feeling of the darkness rebuilding the melted scales. He felt like vomiting out the pain but he firmly resisted it.

Seconds felt like minutes and minutes felt like hours, it was the worst thing he's ever felt.

Finally the darkness faded, the pain following seconds afterwards. He slowly opened his eyes and saw the living world again. He couldn't see Aurora anywhere, instead only Frost and Ardere around the fire. They were speaking in hushed voices, he wanted to yell to them but he refrained. He had been dead for almost an hour.

He looked at where the chest wound used to be, only to see a large scar had formed in its place. His counterpart told him that it was the best he could do but Eclipse didn't care. He was alive, and he needed to find Aurora.

He searched for the feeling in his legs, trying to move his talons as he did so. He felt his front talons move the grass around them, shortly followed by his back legs. He found the will to try to stand but his legs continued to defy him. He heard his blade rustle the grass somewhere out of sight which was shortly followed by his back legs beginning to move. He rose his back end off the ground, sliding his front half into a tree. Finally, his front legs pushed the rest of him off the ground. He was back among the living.

"By the ancestors…" Frost's voice reached him as he looked around. Both their eyes were wide in shock, Ardere's mouth literally hanging open. "...how is it even possible?"

He slowly approached the two. His legs began to wobble but Ardere caught him before he fell. He looked at him in surprise, Ardere was actually helping him. The red dragon nodded at him before setting him down in front of them.

"You died, I watched you as you died." Frost's voice was suspended in disbelief, he looked like he's seen a ghost.

"I did die." Eclipse assured him, still not quite sure how to speak to them. He felt like a ghost, like he was both here and not here. He felt both the unnatural chill of death but the same warmth of being alive. He felt the pain of being put back together and he still had intelligent thought. "Then I came back."

"What was it like?" Ardere finally spoke but continued to stare into the fire.

"It was cold and dark. I saw my life move past me, all fifteen years of it." He explained, getting closer to the fire. "I wasn't the only one there."

"What do you mean?" Ardere finally met his eyes.

"My darker half, the one you know as 'The Father of Darkness', was there." He explained, the cold slowly faded from his bones. "We talked and he told me everything."

"What do you mean by 'everything'?" Frost asked.

"He told me that he invented that dragoness that attacked us. Said he didn't mean for her to kill me." He poked the fire with a stick, sparks flew up into the black sky.

"Is he still in there? In you?" Ardere's anger slipped into his words, Eclipse shared his feelings.

"Yes but we have came to a mutual agreement."

"Does it involve me lighting him on fire and watching him burn?" A small plume of flame fell out of his mouth.

"Unfortunately, no and all you need to know is that he won't try anything like that again." He picked himself up, steadying himself with his renewed legs. "Where's Aurora?"

The two exchanged glances, before Ardere looked back into the fire and Frost to him. "She ran off after staying with your body. She was breaking down and we know better than to try and comfort her after something like this." He gestured to his pool of blood behind them. The Terror's body was noticeably missing, along with any actually sign of it's death. The only thing left to catalogue their fight was his pool of blood and the cracks in the trees. "She likes to grieve in peace."

"I need to find her." He looked around for any hint of her white scales.

"Be careful with her. I don't know how she might take it." Frost walked over to him and pulled him into an embrace. Eclipse let himself be wrapped in the blue dragon's wings, it wasn't the right time to complain about being touched. Besides, he liked being able to feel more than pain. "Thank you."

Frost released him and he shot off into the forest. The sounds of the camp slowly faded as he expanded his search for the dragoness. He searched behind every tree, every rock and in every tree top. He listened for the slightest sign of her presence but it was like she vanished. He tried calling out for her but she either didn't hear him or didn't think it was real.

He was well away from the campsite until he found signs of her presence. Talon marks were slashed through a tree, followed by several more. He followed the trail of violent grief, it lead him to a small clearing. The treetops formed an open sky that revealed the star sprinkled sky. She laid down in the grass, surrounded by a plethora of different colored flowers.

He held his urge to run to her, to grab her and throw her into the air. His happiness threatened to boil out into the open. He emotionally prepared himself, different versions of this conversation played out in his mind. He had no idea how she would react to his resurrection. He took a deep breath, released it, then slowly proceeded into the field. His mind was spinning a mile a minute, his heart was going every second.

"Aurora?" He softly called out.

"Get out of my head." She replied, shielding herself with her wings. "Please."

"Aurora, it's me." He called again but she only hid her face further. He heard her low sobs, breaking his heart as he did. He sat down in front of her, peering down at her shaking form. "Look at me."

"I don't want to, I don't want to see it again." Her crying had broken up her words, her front legs held her wings over her face.

"Don't cry over me, just smile." He reached out and put his paw on top of her's.

"I won't, I won't smile until you come back." She sniffled.

"I miss your smiles." He leaned down to where her face would be, looking for any sort of entry.

"I miss you."

He removed her front legs from her wings, then slowly pushed past them into her protective bubble. Her cheeks were still damp with tears and her eyes continued to produce them. Her sobs were barely audible and her body shook with every breath.

"Open your eyes for me. Let me see them." She hesitated at first, pressing them shut even harder. Then her eyelids softened, and slowly revealed the eyes that captured him in the first place. They shot open in surprise once she saw him. Surprise filled those blue spheres as they stared at him. She shot up, breaking her wing's dome, and stared at him in disbelief. She looked over his whole body, as if she wanted to make sure everything was there.

"H-H-How?" She took steps away from him, he could see that she didn't believe in his existence. "Y-Y-You can't be real." He matched her steps, slowly approaching her. Her body had stopped shaking and her tears have stopped. Her teeth gritted and her eyes closed, she was remembering everything before. She sat down but kept her eyes on him as he got closer. He reached her and she put her paw on his chest, slowly feeling out the scar. "It's impossible, I watched-" He closed the distance between their muzzles, silencing her worries with his lips. Pulling her closer to him with his wings, he kept her there but she didn't try to pull away. She was kissing him back. For the first time since his release, he felt complete.

He slowly pulled away from the kiss and rested his forehead on her's. "And I would do it again."

"Please tell me you're here to stay."

"I can't stay here, I have to bring to Warfang remember." He smiled as she let out a small laugh.

"Don't you leave me like that again."

"Yes ma'am."

"I thought I couldn't order you around?" She laughed again.

"Dying changes you like that." She playfully hit his chest. "Too soon?" he laughed

"Definitely."

"I won't leave you." He promised, staring into her eyes.

"Good, because I need you with me." She back at him, worry filling her eyes.

"Do you love me?"

"I think that question is invalid." He looked at her.

"Say it."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

They stayed like this until they were interrupted by Ardere and Frost. The two dragons had apparently been watching since Eclipse first walked out of the trees. Aurora was blushing the entire way back while Eclipse only tugged her close to him. She batted Frost away when he began making jokes about it but Eclipse knew it was in good fun.

They wouldn't actually begin sleeping next to each other until a month later when Eclipse would have a nightmare about the Terror. After that his nightmares stopped, instead he would sleep peacefully. Of course Aurora turned bright red when she woke up and found his wing over her but she didn't complain. Frost and Ardere also attempted to scare her awake, but he quickly put a stop to it with a innocent but threatening growl.

Eclipse had earned Ardere's respect for what he did for Aurora that night. He also apologized for how he acted towards him initially, saying that he was only acting out of fear and hatred. Frost had appreciated what he did, eventually the both of them would become his friends.

The next few weeks leading up to their arrival at Warfang saw a gradual drop in grublin attacks. With the last one happening three weeks before the end of their journey. None of them ever came close to ending one of their lives as the Terror did. He was constantly reminded about that night with his scar but Aurora was there to help him through it.

In many ways the journey with them saved Eclipse. He would've killed himself if Aurora didn't step up to go with him. He would've lost himself if the three of them didn't let him in. He didn't have a purpose until he fell in love with Aurora and became friends with Ardere and Frost. It revitalized Eclipse for the new age of peace and he would go through it again if he had to.