The night had been long and cold. Tremor had spent the entire time pacing back and forth along the walls surrounding his friends. There had been no signs of any wolves around or the missing black dragoness. He sighed for the millionth time that night and stared down at his fellow guardians. The fire that Flame had managed to start burned slowly, much to their relief. Ember had been able to heal Spyro's wounds and restore some of his lost energy before she began to grow tired herself. The group had finally curled up together for the night and were sleeping soundly. At least from what he saw.
Down below, Candice watched as the earth dragon paced throughout the night, his silhouette visible against the night sky which was full of stars. She was only able to see his face when he made a pass by the fire. Each pass he made, he would glance down at her, pause for a moment then move on. Each time, Candice pretended to be asleep, keeping one eye cracked slightly to watch him.
After his twelfth pass, Candice sighed sadly. She felt like a hole had been burned through her chest leaving an empty void where her heart was. "Why do I feel this way?" She thought to herself as she stared into the fire light. Her thoughts drifted back to earlier that day. She had meant what she had said to him when she apologized. But it was the sudden kiss that shocked her. Her cheeks began to burn again as she remembered the sensation that swept through her body. The feeling that someone had cared enough about her to make such a gesture was unfamiliar, but also not at the same time. But the fact that it had been from Tremor still troubled her.
Candice huffed a cloud of ice in irritation. She had never liked Tremor up until Gaia had been killed. And even after that she had never considered him as a potential, if at all possible, boyfriend. She couldn't deny that she did worry about him, but she was unable to understand why. Yet he had somehow developed feelings for her and had expressed them so boldly and openly. She had kissed him back, and this made her even more furious because she had enjoyed it. Did she ever enjoy the feelings she got from having her lips pressed against his and her tongue exploring the insides of his mouth. The dragoness had been completely at peace during that moment of ecstasy. It felt right. But her mind wouldn't let her be at ease.
"I just don't understand it." The dragoness whispered to herself as tears began to form again. "I never cared what Tremor thought before. So why do I feel so bad about this?" She curled her tail around herself and turned away from the fire. Tremor wasn't going to be the only one not getting sleep that night.
When the dragons awoke the next morning, it was already midday. Flame gathered everyone together, anxious to leave the barren tundra. There was no food around so the dragons had to fly hungry. Exhausted as he was, Tremor assisted in carrying Spyro along when Flame began to grow tired. The purple dragon remained unconscious throughout the flight over the ocean. As soon as they saw land, the formation began to descend onto the beach. Tremor dug the group an alcove in to the side of the high cliffs to shelter them from the wind and sand blowing in their faces.
"I'm going to head inland a little bit and try and find anything decent to eat." Tremor announced after the girls had finished making Spyro comfy and starting a fire. "Any requests?" He said with a half-hearted smile.
"How about two tons of sheep." Ember suggested, her stomach roared loudly.
"I'll see what I can do." Tremor chuckled. He headed for the cave entrance. Candice watched him out of the corner of her eye. When he was gone she spat a cloud of frost across the cave.
"Hey, what gives?" Flame asked looking at the frozen patch on the wall.
"Nothing." Candice muttered and rested her head on her paws.
"Are you sure?" Flame raised a brow. "You and Tremor haven't said anything to each other since your..."
"Flame?" Ember interrupted and gave his cheek a warm lick with her tongue. "Would you be a dear and go help Tremor with the hunting? I'm sure he could use the extra help."
"That's a good idea." Stella nodded taking the cue from her friend. "Liun, you should lend a hand too."
"Me?" The black dragon raised his head. He had been laying in the corner by himself away from the group.
"Yeah. Go on." Stella nudged him hard to get him moving. Reluctantly the black dragon followed the fire guardian outside before taking off into the early evening sky.
When they were certain the boys were out of earshot, Stella walked over to Candice. "Are you really alright?" She asked. The ice dragoness huffed a cloud of ice and turned away from them to face the wall. Stella sighed. She wanted to help her friend out but felt that she shouldn't push her at this point. "Well, whenever you need someone to talk to, I'm here."
"We all are." Ember corrected her. Candice remained silent. She squeezed her eyes shut and did her best not to start crying again. She wanted to talk to someone desperately. But how could she tell them? Her best friends and fellow guardians. Candice gritted her teeth and three tears froze at the rims of her eyes.
Stella started to walk away when she heard Candice whisper. "Thank you."
"Any time." The lightning dragoness replied with a gentle smile. "By the way..." She went back to Ember for a moment before returning to the ice dragoness. "You may want to keep this." She suggested before walking away. Candice turned her head to see the bouquet Tremor had made for her. She stared at it for several minutes. The flowers were all different colors and sizes with the smaller ones lining the sides of the larger ones. She squinted at the message inscribed on the stone band, holding them together.
I'm sorry. I Love You.
At first Candice didn't know what to say or do. She couldn't truly say anything; not in front of Stella and Ember. She felt her heart jolt and her stomach fluttered. Candice sighed and drew the bouquet in close to her with her wing. She put her nose up to the flowers and smelled their fragrance. They smelled wonderful and the scent relaxed her. Her thoughts drifted back to the earth dragon. He really wasn't all that bad was we? She inhaled the aroma, deeper this time and sighed loudly. Ember and Stella glanced over at her for a moment but said nothing. Candice let the scent of the flowers over take her senses as she drifted into a light nap.
Several more hours passed. Ember, Stella, Sparx and Candice had all fallen asleep. They awoke at the sound of flapping wings at the cave's entrance. Flame and Liun landed, both carrying a different prey item in their jaws. A dead five-soot shark dangled from Flame's jaws, blood and water still dripping from its teeth. Liun trotted proudly over to the fire with a large tuna dragging along beside him.
"Wow." Ember nodded praisingly. "You boys made off pretty good."
"Yeah." Flame smiled as he set his shark down. It was then Ember noticed the burn mark on the fish's back. She looked up at Flame who grinned sheepishly. "Sorry. At least it's partly cooked already."
"I hear that shark fins are supposed to be the best part." Stella licked her lips ravenously.
"Where did you hear that?"
"The dragon elders in my home city." She smiled proudly.
"I guess we'll have to find out then for ourselves." Flame dragged the shark over and set it down next to Liun's tuna. "Turns out Liun is a pretty good aim with his black lightning attacks."
"Is that so?" Stella looked over at the black dragon with an inquisitive look in her eyes. "He's never mentioned anything about that to me."
The black dragon smirked. "Now I can't just go around and try and show off for a guardian." He laughed. "It wouldn't be right if I somehow showed you up."
"Oh you think so huh?" Stella rose to her feet and brought herself nose to nose with Liun. "You seem so...confident." She began to circle him flirtatiously, brushing her sides and tail barb against his sleek black scales. "I guess that I'll have to take you up on that challenge some time." Liun just gritted his teeth against the torturous pleasure. At last Stella licked his cheek before kissing him on the eyelid.
"Well, what do you say we get this cooked up?" Ember suggested and breathed more fire onto the pile of driftwood they had collected earlier. Flame and Ember roasted the fish quickly and divided the pickings between them. When Candice received her portion she suddenly sat upright.
"Tremor!" She gasped. "We have to save some for Tremor."
"Save...what...for me?" The dragons turned to the mouth of the cave. The earth dragon trudged into the light. He had several vines tangled around his body in an attempt to make a harness.
"What the happened to you?" Flame raised a brow.
"Nothing." Tremor shook his head. "Just been dragging these bastards for the past three plus hours." He turned and pulled hard on the vines. Behind him was a large chunk of a tree, split in half and used as a sled to carry his catch of the day. One large cow and four medium-sized sheep.
"Dear ancestors!" The guardians gasped. "Where do you find them?"
"Just mingling about aimlessly." Tremor shook himself free of the vines. "Catching them wasn't a problem, getting them back here was another story." He gave an exhausted laugh.
"Well we hate to make your efforts go to waste." Ember cringed, not wanting to hurt the earth dragon's feelings. "But Flame and Liun just brought back their food."
"Oh." Tremor wore a blank stare. "Well, then if you wouldn't mind cooking one of these up for me..." He dragged one of the sheep carcasses out from under the vines that held it down.
"I suppose I can do that?" The dragoness smiled. "Just bring 'em here by the fire and I'll get to work on one for you."
"Thanks I appreciate it." Tremor yawned loudly. He hadn't slept for going on two and a half days. Candice noticed the way he sort of swaggered over to them but remained silent. Her eyes drifted to the spot where she had been sleeping and saw the flowers still laying on the cave floor. She gave a startled squeak and bit her lower lip, hoping that he wouldn't see them. Unbeknownst to the ice dragoness, Tremor did notice, but showed no signs of it. He clumsily handed his sheep off to Ember who burned the fur away with her breath.
Tremor lay down in front of the fire while the dragoness seared his food for him. The flames danced around before him casting hard shadows around the walls and ceiling of the cave. He could feel Candice's eyes on him. It took every bit of willpower he had left not to glance over at her.
The cave was silent except for the crackling of the fire and sounds of the young dragons gorging themselves. Tremor was halfway through his sheep when a loud groan grabbed everyone's attention. Spyro's eyelids twitched and his nostrils flared.
"Is it breakfast time yet?" He mumbled and opened his eyes. "Something smells good."
"Spyro! You're awake!" Sparx exclaimed excitedly.
"You've been out for a couple days now." Ember said, relieved that he was finally awake.
"A couple days?" Spyro blinked a few times before rubbing his eyes. "Where am I?"
"We're back on the mainland." Flame explained. "Ember and I found our way into the fortress and found you." His tone darkened. "You were pretty messed up though Spyro. We almost didn't think you'd make it."
Spyro listened with a blank stare on his face while his mind slowly came to grasp what was going on. All at once he was fully awake. "Cynder! Where's Cynder?" He looked around the cave but found no sign on his black dragoness. The guardians all looked at one another. None of them really wanted to tell him the truth. At last Tremor spoke up.
"We couldn't find her. We believe she may have broken out but we aren't positive."
"But if she got away, why wouldn't she come back to us?" Spyro half whimpered half choked. He suddenly felt very alone and empty.
"We don't know buddy." Sparx shook his head.
"It was just a guess." Flame sighed. "It's also a possibility that the wolves took her away. We found them trying to carry Liun off." Spyro, Flame and Ember all looked at the black dragon who looked more bored than concerned.
"Then we have to go!" Spyro was already on his feet and aiming for the mouth of the cave. "We have to find Cynder!" He took one step and his legs buckled. He hit the ground with a loud thud and Ember helped him sit up.
"Spyro, you just woke up. You need to rest for a little bit longer." She said sternly.
"I don't need to rest!" Spyro protested. "We need to find Cynder! If the Dark Master has her, then there's no telling what he'll do to her!"
"We know." Stella jumped in, trying to calm the purple dragon down with her gentle tone. "But you need to rest first so we can all look for her together."
"There's no time!" Spyro snapped. He was struggling to get back up but his body wouldn't respond. "I can't lose her! I can't lose her to the Dark Master!" He hung his head pleadingly. "Not again. You don't know what it's like when Malefor turns someone you care about into a monster."
"Spyro, buddy." Sparx rested a hand on his brother's shoulder. "You can't help her if you're not at full strength man. I know it's going to be hard, but your buddies seem to know what they're talking about. I suggest you listen to them."
Spyro wanted to cry but restrained himself. "Alright." He sighed. "I will."
"It's a good thing too." Liun smirked. "You wouldn't do anyone any good going out in the stat you're in."
"Liun!" Stella scolded sharply.
"What?" Liun shrank back slightly. "I was just saying when he's weak he shouldn't be over exerting himself. I mean, it's not healthy for a dragon to be stressed out, because it can lead to serious health problems if it continues for too long." The guardians all looked at each other. They knew he had a point but didn't like the way he was putting it. "Seriously, it's common knowledge Spyro. We all learned that when we were hatchlings."
"Liun, that's enough!" Stella hissed and bolts of electricity crackled between her teeth.
"It's okay." Sparx waved a hand, calming the lightning dragoness down and stopping his brother before he could say anything. "I'll handle this." He floated over to Liun who cocked his head curiously. Sparx brought himself close to the black dragon's face and crossed his arms for a second thinking to himself. The guardians glanced at one another again, unsure of what the dragonfly was going to say. "Ahem." Sparx cleared his throat. He leaned back before throwing a hard punch into the black dragon's eye. Liun roared in pain and staggered back several steps, clutching at his face. "You have no right to talk about our parents like that when you know nothing about how Spyro and I grew up!" Sparx shouted angrily and pointed a punishing finger at the dragon. "Spyro never knew any other dragons growing up until he met Ignitus! So you had better watch what you say!"
"Why you insolent little insect!" Liun glared at him. His eye was throbbing and watering from the pain. He sprang after Sparx and snapped at him. The dragonfly easily dodged him. The black dragon bared his teeth and black flames licked at the sides of his mouth.
Spyro saw what was coming. "No!" He cried. All of a sudden he sprang forward and threw himself in front of Sparx as the black dragon released a blast of shadow fire. Sparx watched with wide eyes as his brother hit the ground hard. Spyro groaned, his right arm and belly were badly burned. "Spyro!" Sparx hovered beside his brother. "Aw man, I'm sorry!"
"D-don't be." Spyro forced a laugh through the pain.
"Sparx, let me see him." Candice rushed over the them and looked closely at the burns. Spyro's scales were already charred he was beginning to bleed. "I can help, but it's going to hurt." She warned. Before Spyro could say anything she breathed a cloud of frost from her jaws. The vapor made the burns throb even more. Spyro screamed and tried to sit up but Candice held him down. After a couple seconds, the purple dragon's side went numb. He gasped for breath as Candice covered his burns in ice. Ember watched closely, waiting for Candice to move aside so she could contribute to helping heal Spyro again.
Candice stepped back and turned and icy glare on Liun. "What the hell do you think you're doing, using your powers in a place like this? And at such a time! Sparx didn't deserve that and neither did Spyro! Now Ember has to help him again! After we all busted our tails to help him recover not even two days ago!"
"Hey, I wasn't the one who struck first!" Liun growled at her. "It wouldn't have happened if Spyro had just stayed out of the way! Or better yet, listened to his friends like he's supposed to!" The black dragon's eyes narrowed at her. "I suppose I couldn't blame him though. I wouldn't want to listen to you either, seeing as how Tremor can't stand listening to a preachy bitch like you. It's no wonder a weakling like you couldn't even beat that wolf on your own. Even in you're own territory where you supposedly have an advantage. They sure picked a winner when they chose you for guardian."
Liun slammed into the wall of the cave. The impact caused the walls to shake and the black dragon slumped to the ground. Everyone's eyes were as wide as saucers. Liun shook his head to try and fight the dizziness. He looked up as Tremor walked up to him, his lips curled into an angry snarl. Liun had never seen the hit coming. He tasted blood and a couple teeth fell from his mouth.
"Let's get something straight here." Tremor growled, bringing his nose to Liun's as he got up. "No one talks about Candice like that. And if anyone does, it's going to be me and no exceptions."
Behind him, the other dragons looked at Candice. The ice dragoness's mouth hung open in shock and her cheeks burned red. Even though she had treated Tremor the way she had, he was still willing to defend her honor. And he had moved quick to do it. She had never known he could move so fast. At last Candice couldn't take the churning of her stomach and the throbbing of her heart and she had to turn away.
"Do I make myself clear you sorry excuse for an ashtray?" Tremor reared back to reveal his true height and leered down at the black dragon.
Liun hissed and shoved the earth dragon away from him. "Do you want to go claw to claw with me, guardian? Because I will make short work of you!"
"That actually sounds like fun." Tremor spread his wings wide. "I would absolutely love to see you try. I'd be more worried about what I'll do to you."
Liun spit and hit the earth dragon in the chest. "Tremor, you've been up for two days straight on guard duty and out hunting. You're exhausted and hungry, so I would be willing to bet that you wouldn't fare to well against me right now if ever."
"Tremor..." Candice took a step forward. She didn't want him to fight. Liun had made Tremor's handicap clear. The earth dragon drew a wing back without looking at her, cutting her off in mid-sentence.
Tremor wore a haughty smirk across his face. "Well then, if that's the case and you think you can beat me..." He raised a paw and gestured for the black dragon to charge him. "Then come prove it."
"Your funeral." Liun snarled and lunged for Tremor's throat.