Chapter Three: Planning a Romantic Night

Inside a room of the temple, Flame's eyes widened and his mouth hung ajar upon an awe-inspiring sight that he was seeing while Spyro's wide smile told the tale.

Positioned on both of Spyro's paws was an open box that withheld a gleaming golden necklace inside. Attached to the necklace was a gold heart-shaped pendant with, unbeknownst to the orange dragon, but noticeable by the purple dragon, engraved writings on the back.

Flame practically stammered on his words upon this display as Spyro noticed and chuckled.

"Huh? Huh? Isn't this the most beautiful piece of jewelry you've ever seen?"

Silence, with the awe-inspiring expression intact, Flame swallowed a bit of saliva before he managed to speak.

"I'll say it is."

Spyro snickered as he closed the box, placed it back in the cabinet and shut the double doors.

Afterwards, the purple dragon took note of Flame's awe-inspiring expression directed towards him.

"Flame, you alright?" He spoke, after managing a snicker from his maw, yet his concern masked his expression for the orange dragon.

Silence.

"By all the ancestors noble and holy, where in God's name did you get the gems to buy something like that?"

Silence issued from the purple dragon, yet a smug smile was plastered on his face.

"I guess it was my hero status." He spoke before patting the disappointed orange dragon on the left shoulder before making his leave.

But before he made his way out the door, he turned back towards Flame.

"Oh, Flame," He spoke, which got the orange dragon's attention. "What you just saw does not leave this room, understand? It's a surprise for our—Cynder and I--little romantic night."

Flame nodded.

"Oh, yeah, no, it's cool. My maws clamped shut on this one, man."

Spyro chuckled.

"Yeah, it better stay that way, too. See you later at training."

Flame nodded.

"See ya." He responded as he watched the purple dragon depart from the room.

At approximately the same hour, Cynder, who was waltzing the grassy landscape of the village area towards the temple with her pink dragoness friend, was arranging a romantic surprise of her own for her romantic night with the purple dragon.

Her only audience to bare witness to that surprise at the moment is Ember, who was finding difficulties containing herself of her excitement at the moment as the black dragoness took notice.

"So where is it? Whe—" She spoke out of excitement before the black dragoness intervened.

"Hey, hey, wou-would you calm down for a minute?"

"I'm—" Ember halted before, with her attention directed forward, closing her eyes and issuing a breath of calm from her maw to Cynder's notice. "I'm calm."

But the black dragoness grew unconvinced by that statement.

"You sure about that?"

"Ye—"

As her expression diverted for a while, Ember halted and sighed heavily to keep her excitement under control.

"Cynder, please don't ask me that again or I might lose my sanity."

Diverting her gaze forward, Cynder provided a nod.

"Fair enough."

"Thank you." She replied before, with her smile returning, issuing her gaze back to the black dragoness. "So where is it?"

"I hid it where Spyro wouldn't be able to find it." Cynder spoke in a smug tone.

Confusion masked Ember's expression while her left brow creased upon the statement. Yet, there was no actual answer to her question.

"Really. So, uh…whe-where is it again?"

Cynder chuckled inwardly before issuing her gaze to the pink dragoness.

"You really want to know?"

Ember nodded.

"Yeah, I really want to know."

"You think you can keep a secret?"

Ember, to the black dragoness' notice, hesitated upon the question before providing her answer.

"…Yes."

Cynder shook her head before diverting her attention forward.

"No, you wouldn't."

Slightly disappointed by the response, Ember spoke in her own defense.

"Y-Yes, I would."

"No, you wouldn't."

"And how can you know that?"

"Because you hesitated, that's how I can know that."

Ember was about to speak on the subject before Cynder intervened.

"Yeah, you and I both know that you couldn't keep a secret for that long. And even if you did, it's only a matter of time before it's just the slip of the tongue."

Ember grimaced.

"Oh, please." She spoke before halting Cynder and herself from walking any further as the black dragoness issued Ember her full attention with a smug smile intact to her face. "Enlighten me for a second: When was the last time that I ever let certain details slip through my tongue?"

"Okay. Last time you let something slip through your tongue was last year when you spoke of the secret intimacy between myself and Spyro, which kind of got us in some heat with Ignitus and the other guardian." She spoke without any hints of rudeness towards her.

A blush of embarrassment issued on Ember's cheeks upon the statement.

"Oh. Sorry about that."

Cynder would've snickered upon that statement, but unfortunately, her smug smile diverted to a frown to the pink dragoness' notice.

"Ember, there's nothing to be sorry about. Your slip of the tongue does not and will not change our friendship with each other. That was all in the past. Besides, I have no intention of holding that much of a grudge against anyone. Because, believe it or not, the more I hold grudges to someone, the more I'm reminded about the monster that I once was. I swore to myself that I would never become that monster again."

Silence, Ember issued a loving smile of compassion towards the black dragoness.

"Cynder, you never were a monster." She spoke as her gaze and smile slowly diverted downward for a while in thought. "If anything, it's the opposite."

Cynder knew where this conversation was going, but couldn't get a word out before Ember spoke.

"You know, back when I was young, I did have my first crush on the purple dragon of prophecy. It was a romantic dream come true. Truthfully, I grew envious towards you when you came back into the picture years later."

Then, an expression of both anger and guilt formed on Ember's facial feature to Cynder's notice.

"Ember—" Cynder started before the pink dragoness intervened.

"I mean, I even claimed that you stole him from me. Hell, I even—I even called you the terror of the skies, which is something that you loathed to be called for years. To me, that was not just a slip of the tongue, that was an emotion of envy."

"Ember—"

"A-And—"

"Hey!" Cynder slightly shouted, as Ember halted her speech out of surprise while the black dragoness issued a measure of calm and resumed in a soft tone. "I know what you're trying to say. Now the whole altercation between us came due to one's emotion of sheer envy. That does not make you a monster. You understand me? You say what you feel that needs to be said. Expressing emotions like that is what makes us normal. As long as you control those emotions, no harm will come to you or anyone else."

Ember knew that Cynder was right on that subject, yet she didn't get a chance to speak her words out of guilt before the black dragoness halted her from speaking with a slow gesture of her left paw.

"You do not have to be sorry for anything. Because it's like I said, everything is in the past. That's all."

Silence issued from the pink dragoness before a heart-warming smile appeared on her facial feature.

"Thank you." She spoke softly.

Cynder returned the smiling gesture before she and Ember resumed their approach towards the temple.

In a decorated room inside the temple, Ember's widened eyes of shock sparkled to a glittering sight before her. Within an open rectangular box that the black dragoness withheld in her two paws was a similar golden necklace with a gold heart-shaped pendant attached to it.

Unbeknownst to the pink dragoness but to the awareness of Cynder, the same engraved writing was embedded on the back of the pendant.

"Oh…my…God." Ember managed to speak while her maw remains ajar. "Is this for—"

She halted as she diverted her gaze to the black dragoness for answers, yet Cynder's wide smile has told Ember all that needed to be said at this point.

"No way." She said before diverting for awed expression towards the jewelry in the box.

Chuckling, Cynder nodded.

"Yes, way." She spoke before issuing her gaze to Ember. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

Ember nearly choked on her words before nodding in response.

Upon notice of the pink dragoness inability to speak at the moment, Cynder closed the box, and placed it back into the first shelf of the drawer before closing it.

Ember momentarily shook from her stupor and issued her gaze to Cynder, who immediately issued a stern, yet gentle warning to the pink dragoness not to ruin the surprise by telling anyone, especially her beloved.

Ember nodded in response as the two female dragons left the room to the corridor hallway.

Well, there you have it! But don't you wish that something like this could be longer? I do if I had found a way to apply more details. That's possibly one of the difficulties of writing a romance/drama story, but, oh, well. Also, thanks for the reviews, this really helps the inspiration. As usual, keep on the lookout for more. Ciao!

Next Chap: Spyro issues a heartwarming commitment to Cynder in regards to their future.