Merry Christmas to everyone! :)

Chapter Eight: Whirlwind's Visions

Camo was in his treehouse with Whirlwind, who was laying next to him on the bed. Her left wing was wrapped in gauze. She was asleep, but every once in a while Camo could hear small moans of pain. He wasn't surprised, as some of the vital membranes had been either pierced or severed.

God, this is so stressful, Camo thought. I just want this to end soon. Whirlwind and Cynder are injured, Spyro is worried sick—and so am I—and Aemus is still on the run! The freaking idiot has injured my mate, and I can't take that! He's also injured one of the greatest friends I'll ever know! Cynder doesn't deserve any of this. Her past is ruining her life, and I want that to end. I remember Malefor still, and I remember what both he and Kaos did to her. It's thanks to Kaos that Cynder was forced to reveal her secret to everyone else, which is something she shouldn't have had to go through. She might have given herself to him, but that was to save us, and I respect that. After all, we were all so tired that we could barely stand! Such a drastic length is worthy of something good coming out of it, but for Cynder, all that came out of it was Kaos causing double-crossing her and forcing her to fight us. Unfortunately, Kaos escaped, and to be honest, I hope we never see him again. But now this is all going downhill. We need to help Cynder through this, and I will stay by her side until the day I die. I hope I can help her through everything. But for now, I need to help my own mate through her pain. Please be all right, Whirlwind.

Suddenly he felt Whirlwind beginning to stir. He looked over to her and smiled as she opened her blue eyes. While they were not the sapphire-blue color that Cynder and Flashwing had, her azure eyes were, to him, even more amazing.

"Hi there," Camo said.

"Hi," she replied. "What's happened? Is anything wrong? Where is Cynder?"

"Hey, it's okay," Camo assured her. "Everything is fine. Cyn is all right. She's hurt, but she will recover from those injuries, as well. Cali said so. You're hurt, too, but it's only your wing, fortunately. It was Cynder who saved you, you know."

"I remember," she said. "It's just that I had a…dream…while I was asleep. In it I saw Cynder, and she was hurt. I couldn't take it, because she was bleeding so badly. Oh God, it was awful!"

"How did the dream end?"

"With her dying. And you know who was the one to kill her?"

"Aemus?"

"No. It was Spyro who killed her in my dream." Tears dripped from her eyes. "Camo, that's one of my worst fears. I've never wished for Cynder to be hurt since I became her friend. But it's not been the same, thanks to Aemus's arrival. Everything has become so screwed up now, and I'm not sure what this world is coming to. I want to just stop everything from happening, but I can't."

"Well, she knows that you're her friend," Camo said. "I'm very sure that she knows that. She loves us all, and we should love her back. We will likely never know the extent of her pain, but we can still help her through what has been happening. I don't know why Aemus had to come and hurt Cynder, and even now I am wondering why I haven't done more. I could fought Aemus so much more, but instead I just stood there and watched the fights. I wanted to get into them so I could help everyone, but I have fear inside me. I don't want to continue dealing with all this crap. Unfortunately, we have to. We're supposed to, and it's not because we're Skylanders. No way. It's because we care for Cynder. Her past has brought a lot of enemies to us, but none of it is her fault. If it weren't for her, we'd still be dealing with some of these guys, such as Deathmatch and Malefor. But thanks to her, they're gone, and we'll never have to deal with them again. I'm sure that both times Cynder saw either Deathmatch or Malefor, she was scared. I know she was with the both of them, and I'm not surprised. They were both demons of her past, and so is Aemus. Her demons are returning, which hurts her so very badly. But we can help her through it. We're meant to, Whirlwind. We became her friends, and because of that, we need to remain by her side until the very end. Do you understand what I am telling you?" She nodded. Camo sighed, knowing he'd renewed her faith and given her hope. He placed his head near hers. She hugged him close.

Camo had once believed it to be strange that he was the smallest of all his friends. And out of almost all of them, he was the only one who could not fly. And another thing I've noticed is that I'm smaller than the one I love. When it comes to all the others, including Cynder, they're smaller than their mates. I'm not. It was strange to me once, but now it's not. It's just the way I was made. Nobody judges me for it, and that's all that matters. At least I have somebody who loves me. That's all I will care about for now.

"So what should we do tomorrow?" Whirlwind asked. "I need to be checking on Cynder very soon. After all, she saved my life. It's the best thing I could do."

"Well, it's best to not do so today," Camo told her. "And when you do, just be careful. You don't need to be stressing yourself out. If you do something like that, we'll be one whole valuable member down. We don't want that one bit, now do we?" He stroked her cheek and then softly kissed it.

"No, we do not," Whirlwind softly replied. She kissed him back. Then she sighed. "Camo, could I tell you something? It's something I've held back for a very long time, and I think now is a good time to go ahead and reveal it to you."

"What is it?"

"I've been having dreams of Cynder being hurt for a long while, and now it seems that all of these dreams are beginning to come true. The last one nearly did, and I'm not lying to you!" Whirlwind's azure eyes were deep with worry.

"I know you well enough to see whether or not you would lie," Camo told her. "Just tell me, how long have you been having these dreams? And do you know if they can possibly tell the future?"

"I don't know," Whirlwind admitted. "I want to know, but I can't be too sure. I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault. Just try to think it through."

Whirlwind thought for a little while, and suddenly her eyes widened. "Oh God," she whispered to herself. She began shaking, and Camo had to place a paw on her shoulder to calm her down. "Camo, the last vision I had ended so terribly. It was so bloody."

"I know you might not want to reveal it, but could you just tell it to me?"

Whirlwind sighed, attempted to calm down, and then finally began: "It started with all of us together near the Core of Light. Even Drobot and Flashwing were standing there with us. It all seemed to be a normal day. Spyro and Cynder were loving one another, Sunburn and Sonic Boom were watching, you and I were just talking together, and Drobot and Flashwing were…well, to be honest, I'm not sure what they were doing. Hex was there too, just watching and smiling, which meant she was happy. But then there was this sudden explosion, and Aemus appeared. He seemed to be so powerful. He released this torrent of Ice at us. Spyro told Cynder to run, like the last time, but Aemus was too quick, as the Ice was only the diversion, as it was obscuring him from our view. He caught Cynder and through her into a rock. She was badly hurt, and then he suddenly slit her throat. I can't imagine what would have happened then before the dream ended. I just saw the blood dripping from her slit throat, and when I woke up, I couldn't stop crying. You were in the bed with me, but you didn't wake up, much to my surprise. But Camo, if my next vision comes true, I don't know what I'm going to have to do. I need to make sure Cynder is not hurt. I need to help her. I need to stop something like that from ever happening!"

Camo placed a small paw on her shoulder and hugged her. "It won't be happening, because none of us will be allowing such a thing. We love Cynder too much. She'll be protected until the very end. Don't you even worry."

Whirlwind nodded and smiled through the profuse sweat and tears.

"I just hope Aemus never comes back," she said. "I hope he realizes he'll never be able to win."

"Maybe he will," Camo said. "I would sincerely hope so. But I can't be sure, unfortunately. We can never be too sure. But we can keep hoping, and that's what matters most of all. Never stop having faith in what you believe and hope in."

Whirlwind continued smiling and kissed her mate. He returned the favor. They then decided to go to sleep, hoping to be awake and focused whenever they saw Cynder tomorrw. They knew she would be delighted to see the both of them. Both of them placed their heads on their paws, with Whirlwind being very careful as she got a little more comfortable because of her wing.

But rest did not come easily for either of them. Both of them had trouble going to sleep. Even after closing her eyes, Whirlwind could not sleep. And that was for only one reason.

She felt the cold air. It was something she could take. But she knew Cynder wouldn't be able to take it. Though she knew that Cynder wouldn't be able to take any sort of cold weather, she knew that this weather had been caused by someone else entirely. It had been caused by Aemus. And she knew he was around here somewhere, waiting for Cynder to arrive so he could kill her. But Whirlwind would not allow one of her greatest friends to be attacked and killed. She would save her before something bad happened.

She suddenly saw the Black Dragoness. She was shivering badly, and that let Whirlwind know she had to get her out of there quickly. She wouldn't let Spyro down.

They quickly ran down a hallway, with Cynder standing close. Whirlwind turned her head to see Sonic Boom, who was looking beaten. Blood dripped from her nose, which made Whirlwind cringe.

"You can't hide forever!" came the evil, dreaded, and cold voice of Aemus. "I will find you all soon enough! Don't you dare attempt to hide from me! It will never work! Especially when it comes to you, Cynder!"

Whirlwind looked around, hoping to find the monster before he found them. She wanted to warn her friends, but it seemed to be hopeless. She didn't know what a sign of his coming would be.

Oh good Lord, she thought to herself. I need to just listen and hope I can tell when Aemus is coming. Hopefully I'll be able to help both of them.

Suddenly she heard the clacking of claws, which caused shivers to wrack up her spine. It was a terrible feeling. Fear stabbed itself into her heart, which was already very fragile due to the stress.

"I've arrived," came the cold, menacing growl. "Fe, fi, fo, fum, I smell your blood, and now it is time I rip your hearts out! Welcome to the end!"

Aemus appeared suddenly right in front of Whirlwind. She saw Sonic Boom scream, and then there was the sound of gurgling. Looking over, Whirlwind found that Sonic Boom's throat had been slit. She felt terrible pain in her chest. Looking down, she found blood spilling out from a hole in the middle. As she collapsed and all went black, she saw Cynder's heart be ripped right out of her chest.

Whirlwind woke up and screamed. Camo shushed her and attempted to make her feel better. "It's okay," he said. "It's all okay."

"No, it's not," Whirlwind told her, sobbing. "I can't believe what I just saw. It was so terrible!"

"It's all right," he comforted. "I'm here, I'm still by your side. I will remain by your side until the very end." He hugged her close to him, hoping to make her feel much better. But it seemed to not work as well as he hoped. But he wasn't surprised. He knew that her visions were now tearing her apart, and knew she needed help. He wanted her to be safe. He wanted Cynder to be safe. And he decided right then and there that he wouldn't stop believing the both of them could be saved from the pain they were being forced to go through.