The Legend Of Spyro: Love And War Book 2

by Spyro and Cynder lover

Continuation Of Book One! With Malefor returned to normal, Spyro and Cynder in love, and everyone now back to their normal lives, another threat; Flint, the new Dark Master, will put everyone and friendships to the test, mixing lies and threats against one another. Death is around every corner, lives at risk, and sometimes, not even being dead means you're forgotten.

7. Chapter 7: What To Give Up For Power

Chapter 7: What To Give Up For Power

"Malefor... hey Malefor," A voice called, waking the sleeping dragon. Grumbling as he woke, he already knew who the voice was, and opening up his eyes to say something to him, he stopped as he brought up his head. He wasn't in his bed anymore but rather in the training room with Spyro standing in front of him while he laid down on the floor. "You wanted me to teach you about your dark powers didn't you? If you need to go back to bed, it's fine. I would like to spend some time with my lover too." Shaking his head as he didn't remember ending up here, he decided to say yes out of fears that he wouldn't get another chance like this, "No no no, its... it's fine. But, going back, what were you talking about? With controlling my powers and all, are you able to help me?"

"Isn't that why we are in here? Carith did say you were acting strange when you woke up. Something on your mind?" Spyro asked. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. I was up quite a lot last night. Luckily I didn't wake Carith but, I was scared about the future and all. She said something to me and, and made me think that at any point, the past could easily repeat itself. I've told you I need this power, and that still stays true, but now, I'm more desperate for it then ever."

"Alright, well then, I can get back to what I was saying before," Spyro paused as he walked to the middle of the training room. Standing to his paws, Malefor then soon followed. Looking over at the door, their lover's had entered in, laughing and giggling about what ever they were talking about. He sighed, glad to see they were okay, but even to him, something didn't feel right. Looking back at Spyro, he looked at him and he listened to him continued, "Alright, so first things first. You need to look for the power within your body. Shut off all other elements and only focus on the darkness. When ever you feel it, you need to use it." Malefor was unsure if he would be ready to do such a task even with previous use of the dark power, "But what if I lose control?"

"That's what I'm here for. You lose control and I can take enough dark power away from you to keep you stable," Spyro said, calming him down a bit and with Carith in the room, he felt a little better as he knew that he would need to impress her as well to earn both a kiss from his lover, and it could be a huge step to gaining Spyro's friendship. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes, he tried to do what he was told. Shutting off all other elements, he concentrated on only his dark power. Feeling the evil force from within, he slowly started to use it. His purple body dimmed to darker purple scales and he could feel the power growing more and more inside of him. Opening his eyes, he looked at his paws and saw he had accomplished the power boost. But just as he went to celebrate, something froze his entire body, and it wasn't Spyro. He struggled to gain control over his paw as it started to raise over Spyro's head, and he struggled to stop it. Lashing his paw at him, he dogged and growled, "Malefor! What are you doing?!"

He couldn't even speak. Seeing how defense Spyro was, and the fact he couldn't control his body made him scared out of his mind. No matter how hard he tried, his body worked on its own, as if there was someone else moving his body for him inside his own body. Malefor's mouth opened and fire burned within it. Just as before, no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't do anything about what was happening. Just as he was about to gain control, he black out. He heard the sounds of fighting for a split second and then, nothing. Seeing if he could move his paw, he succeeded very easily, but pain shot through his body just as easily as well. Opening his eyes once again, he laid on his side on the floor. Picking himself up with a small growl from the pain, he staggered a little, feeling a little light headed. Looking over at Spyro, blood dripped down the side of his cheek as if he were attacked by someone. "I should've killed you! And to think I trusted you with this kind of power!" Spyro spat, but Malefor barely knew what was happening as he was still coming back from losing control. "Spyro... what... what are you... talking about?" Malefor asked, looking at his arms to see he had returned to normal, but he was still being hostile towards him. "Don't try and act dumb. You want this power so damn bad, work for it yourself. I'm not about to help you if it means putting others in danger!" Spyro spat at him once again. "No, wait! Spyro...! Please...! I don't understand, what happened?!" Malefor cried, watching as Spyro walked over to the girls who sat at the door. "How can you blame me for this!" He growled once again, wanting a clear answer of what happened, "You said if anything happened, you would help with that! Why are you turning away from this now when I need your help the most! Why are you acting like I'm supposed to be a pro at this?!"

"Enough, Malefor! Sorry, I meant to say, Dark Master. We've all already seen what you really are, and he proved me right. I already know everything I need to and there isn't anything you can say to change my mind," Spyro growled, sitting down next to his lover and fighting back and forth with him. "Does that mean that yesterday was nothing more then I lie?! Is anything I'm doing even matter to you?! Are you just trying to keep my happy because you are scared of the, Dark Master?!"

"I've always hated you. Nothing you've done has changed that. You gain the power of the darkness and then what? The dark master already told me everything he could do with that kind of power and I believe him, but since you are both the same dragon, I believe both of you."

"Name one thing I've done after I came back that still makes you think I'm the dark master?!"

"How about when your tried to kill Ignitus?"

"I thought he was the Chronicler! You even helped me!"

"And yet it still shows that you're nothing more then a monster."

Malefor clenched his fist with rage, feeling as if all the time he has spent trying to get Spyro's trust was nothing more then a waste. He sighed as he felt like he had finally just given up, but even when he told himself he shouldn't, he kept coming back to what his lover had said last night, and it burned at him ever single second. Trying to calm the situation down, he went to speak, but Spyro stopped him from doing so, "We are done, Malefor. You don't need power if you have nothing to fight for. Your dream is just that."

"Nothing to fight for, what do you... mean? Carith?"

He hadn't seen it, but she was scared of him. Her eyes, her body, the constant shivers. He was in horror to see he had caused that to her, but he barely remembers ever even doing something that could've caused her to become so scared even after she was so joyful. Reaching at a paw to her, she shuck from that as well, causing him to freeze in place and feel the same fear she had. Spyro shuck his head and said, "Training or not, you still posses the dark master, which means you are nothing more then a threat. Try and gain some of your power by yourself because I'm not going to put everyone else at risk for something you should've done yourself. Stay away from us until you can learn to control... him." The three turned and walked out of the room, leaving Malefor alone and frozen with all kinds of emotions from what had just happened. But after his confrontation with Spyro, all he felt was anger, but it wasn't his anger. To him, all he wanted to feel was sadness, but something else was completely consumed by anger. Because their was more anger in his body, the dark aura slowly came around his body and all kinds of emotions started to get to him. He was scared, sad, and angry, and he had nothing to really do about it. Placing his paw back to the ground, he blink, and everything went black for him.

Inhaling deeply and opening his eyes wide open, Carith cried with joy as she was standing on top of him, "Malefor!"

Coughing over on the side of the bed, his breathing slowly started to come back to normal as he laid on his back on the bed. He looked up at his lover for a couple of seconds as his breathing was still pretty severe, but he needed to know if it was her. Making sure she was real, he reached up and slowly put a paw on the side of her face. The feeling of her scales as she rested her head on his paw caused him to sigh hugely. Taking his paw down from her cheek, she laid down on his chest and nuzzled her head underneath his. He smiled wide and as she subsided from the nuzzle by pulling her head up and looking down on him, he asked, "What happened..."

"You... you started to... to glow with darkness again."

"I didn't hurt you did I!"

"Hehe, no no, don't worry about that."

"So... it was just a dream...? Alright... next time I see Ignitus, I'm going to kill him for real this time for being such an ass."

"Why, what did he make you dream about?"

"I... I woke up in the training room and Spyro said he would help me with my powers. You came into the training room with Cynder, laughing about something. After Spyro said that if anything went wrong with me controlling my dark powers, he would help me... I remember trying, then... everything went black. I woke up on the floor and... I had realised that, I wasn't able to control my dark powers. Spyro yelled at me, saying how he never really cared at all about me, and how he has only been saying that he trusted me to keep me sane... You were scared of me... you left with him and his lover. Before he left, he said that, I should stay away from you all until I learn to control my powers... is there truth behind the dream Ignitus gave me? Does he know something I don't?"

"Don't let him get to you, just keep being you. Even if you were to turn, you would never hurt me and I know that for a fact. And I also know that you are strong enough to prevent any one from being hurt when you turn into the dark master. Ignitus was probably just being a big old jerk about it because you were joking with him from before. Tell you what, next time when we see him, maybe you could convince Spyro to help us all team up and make him pay."

"Sounds like a lovely idea. Getting Claire in on the joke would be fantastic, since he loves her, it would be really easy to break his spirit."

"So, do you want to do such a thing today, or wait till another day? We've already visited the Dragon Temple which was an amazing sight to behold, but with that out of the way, what could we possibly do now?"

"Well... I was... I wanted to spend the day training with Spyro to help me control my dark powers."

"Is there anyway I can convince you to stay in bed with me."

"I'm sorry... The sooner I get my dark powers under control then I swear I will spend even more time with you. You said that I started to glow with... darkness, again, and I'm not going to risk anything. And, I need to talk with Spyro again, I... I want to know if he's telling the truth. I mean, what if it was like before where he said he trusted me, then I pulled a prank on him, and then I lose his trust all over again so easily? I know his fears of what I might do if I have his trust but, wouldn't that mean he will never trust me no matter what I do? Does that mean there really is truth behind that dream Ignitus gave me?"

"I have trust that Spyro speaks the truth. And if he doesn't, me and Cynder are very good friends. I can always see if I can ask her if her lover is telling the truth or not. And remember, Spyro doesn't trust the dark master, that doesn't mean he doesn't trust you. Everyone is just scared of the dark master, not you. It's not your fault. He seemed really sincere about what he had said to you. So, as much as I hate to agree, you talking to Spyro some more today might be the best thing for you to do."

"Thank you for your support, my love. And, sorry if I scared you."

"Malefor, it's fine. I will just make sure to tell Spyro about what happened."

"Hehe, great, I'm sure to die in my sleep tomorrow if you do that."

"It might push him more into helping you control your dark powers."

"Might. But you're also sure I didn't hurt you? You aren't hiding it?"

"You would've know if that happened. Trust me, I would've snitched you out to Spyro so fast."

"Damn... You and Cynder are relentless when it comes to making me feel bad."

"Well, before you go talk to Spyro, I could make you feel a lot better."

"Oh? And how's that?"

"Well, since you are already trapped, and I haven't been kissed yet today..."

Leaning her head down to kiss him, she gave him a small kiss. Pecking his lips as of a tease, she pulled back and joked with him, "I'm only giving you a small little taste. Only because I'm still recovering from you slashing my side with your tail blade."

"What?!"

"Hehe, this is going to be so easy."

"Ugh... No kidding."

Getting off of her lover, he rolled over on to his stomach and looked at that ground for a second, scared that he actually did hurt her. Looking at her blue body, he checked to make sure if he did. Looking at her as she laid on her stomach, he looked up to her head, down her body, and finally checked her tail. Carith giggled slightly with a blush, not really knowing what he was doing aside from what she was seeing. He sighed softly as he didn't see anything, and she didn't seem scared of him, so he had hoped that nothing bad happened. Standing up to his paws, he jumped up off the bed and onto the floor. Turning around and looking back at his lover, he asked, "Are you going to join me?"

"Well, since I know you are going to visit Spyro, why not. Me and Cynder can talk some while you speak with her lover," Carith agreed, scaring Malefor as he thought back to the dream.

Maybe... maybe Carith shouldn't join me. What if Ignitus was trying to warn me? Should I say something? I already told her about my nightmare but, what do I know is a nightmare and what is Ignitus trying to tell me something?! Malefor thought, thinking back and forth on what to do which started to make his head hurt. Opening the door, Carith looked back to see her lover struggling, and she asked him, "Malefor, are you okay? If it's about the dream, we can talk about it."

Turning around and looking at his lover as she stood at the door, he shuck it off for now. Walking over to the door, he tried to play off that nothing was bothering him, "What? Of course I'm okay. I'm not about to let that dream get to me. If Ignitus wants to act that way, I'm not going to let that stop me from doing what I do best."

"What do you do best?"

"Annoy Spyro of course. He's such a heavy sleeper so I know I have to wake him up again."

"Maybe he is finally trusting you enough to just sleep in and not have to worry."

"Hopefully."

Walking out into the hallway with his lover, she shut the door while Malefor walked over to Spyro and Cynder's room. Reaching the door with Carith following behind, he reached up to grab the door knob, and froze for a second as his paw trembled, scared to ask for training as it would only make his nightmare come true for him. But he had already told his lover he was fine, so he couldn't back down. Grabbing the door knob with his paw, he twisted it, and pushed the door open very slowly. Looking into the room, the two were laying peacefully with the only sound coming from their breathing. Seeing the two curled together and sleeping with slight smiles, he once again found himself wanting to back away, but he couldn't. If my nightmares can cause my darkness to emerge, then I have to get my powers under control before I hurt someone, before I hurt Carith, He thought to himself, continuing to fight forward and forget about the nightmare. Thinking he would have some fun with it, he just barely raised his tail blade from the ground, but he remembered what happened last time and quickly put it back on the ground. Instead, he woke him up the old fashion way. Putting a paw on his shoulder, he whispered, "Spyro, Spyro, can you wake up for me."

Grumbling as he was so completely cuddling up with his lover, Spyro growled, "What do you want, Malefor?"

Taking his paw off his shoulder, he apologized, "Sorry to wake you I just, I was wondering if you would help me, with my dark powers today? If you want to. I don't want you to be mad at me when you wake up so if you need more sleep, I can train some before you wake up, if that's okay with you."

"So you just got my trust and now you want to learn how to use your dark powers?"

"Well... only if you trust me. I remember what you've said, and I know it looks bad but... I just need to talk to you about what... happened."

Opening one eye to look at him, he asked, somewhat scared to know, "What, did, happen?"

He swallowed hard, scared to say now. Spyro sighed, knowing he was going to have to get up either way. Taking his head off of his lover's, he nuzzled her gently with his nose against her cheeks to wake her. She smiled from the feeling, and after a little, he stopped and put his head down on his paws sideways so he could look at her with a smile. Cynder didn't know Malefor was in the room and she giggled from the awakening, "Alright alright, I will wake up... but I'm so comfortable... your scales are just so, I don't know, smooth today... If it's about Malefor, don't worry about it, we can trust him. And look on the bright side, if he does something bad, guarantee it's going to be because he only pecked his lover on the lips."

Malefor smiled, glad that she thought so highly of him, and no one else said a word as Spyro wanted to say something, but she had already spoken once again before he could tell her, "Don't worry about him and just go back to bed with me. If he does anything bad, you can blame me, but I know for a fact we will be fine."

It's good to see Cynder really does trust me, Malefor thought with a smile.

"Well, it's actually funny, Malefor is uh, well, ruining our sleep once again."

"What?"

Opening up her eyes and looking over to see Malefor standing close to the front of the bed, she blushed a little, knowing that he heard what she said. Trying to play it off like nothing happened, she changed the subject to get everyone's mind off of it, "What is with you, Malefor? You steal time away from me and Spyro yesterday, and now you are trying again? I'm sorry, but he is trapped here until I say otherwise."

He didn't want to interrupt her moment and the sleep the two could have, but it was urgent, and he needed to find a way to get Cynder on his side. The only thing he could really think about was talking about how the girls could all spend time together, but instead of avoiding the truth, he was honest with her, "Sorry, Cynder, I truly am. It's just, something happened when I woke up and I need Spyro's help from it. I need him to help me train with my dark power."

"Wait a minute," Spyro said, trying to holed back his growl as he stood up on the bed, "You said something bad happened, and now you are more desperate then ever for me to help you control your dark powers. What did you do? What happened and what aren't you telling me. I can't help you if you keep secrets from me."

Shaking his head with a sigh, knowing he would've had to say something sooner or later, he admitted what had happened, "I had a nightmare, about you helping me control my dark powers. In the end, I failed. You said no matter what happened, you'd be there for me, to save me, if anything went wrong. I remember trying, then everything went black. When I came back, i was on the floor. I had attacked you. You, Cynder, Carith... you were all scared of me. You told me, you told me that I should, stay away from everyone until I learned how to control my powers... Was my dream right?"

"That's what you are worried about? A little nightmare? Malefor, come on, nightmares get to me all the time. We will just have to beat Ignitus to the ground and make him apologize for what he did to you."

"Spyro, Ignitus knows everything. What if he was trying to warn me about something... what you really are doing to me?"

"Malefor... You better not be trying to turn against me. You better tell me now so I can know if I should just go back to bed."

"No I'm... I have my fears, same as anyone else. I'm scared that you are just saying you trust me, so that way, I would never turn because it would help keep him away. I feel like at any point, I could lose any bit of trust I have for you, even after I've tried so hard to gain that trust from you. So I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me you still trust me, even after the fact that the darkness started to... take over my body... during my nightmare."

"What?!"

Malefor opened his mouth to continue, but he already saw the look on Spyro's face. The fear, the anger, him moving his tail blade to the other side of his body as if he was ready to use it. Letting his body go a little limp, he knew his fears were true, even after everything Spyro had said, he knew he would never truly trust him, "While in the nightmare I was scared, and alone. Those feelings came back to me in the real world and I... well... I woke up with Carith crying over me as she protected me from going any further into darkness then I had... I thought I had hurt her but... I don't know if I did or not."

Walking into the room and sitting next to her lover, Spyro looked at her and she assured him, "He didn't hurt me, Spyro. I was frightened, that's all. His paw came close to slashing at me but, when his paw touched my chest, he eased up a lot. I'm not saying that to cover for him. Hehe, he's already checked out one side of my body and I would be glad if he checked out my other side as well."

Tapping his claw on the edge of the bed on what to do, Spyro looked back at Malefor and asked, "You've had experience knowing what it feels like to be controlled by the darkness. Why didn't you stop yourself when you knew it was taking over? I know it's a dream, but when Ignitus gives a dream, you can still control it anyway you choose, so why did you choose to follow it?"

"Well because, I was excited. I was hoping that this, dream, was finally something nice for me to enjoy. So, I went along with it and, I had fun up until I was controlled. But, I, I didn't feel anything. One moment I was fine and then the next it, it was like I was being taken control over and I wasn't even able to see it. I know that sounds wired but... I don't really know how else to say that," Malefor explained, not knowing that he had gone through the same thing before.

"Actually, I have."

"What? What happened?"

"We were coming back from a mission the Guardians sent us on to see if there were any survivors. We ended up finding a Hatchling and I gained my time powers back as well at that point to protect them. When night came, I thought it would've been a good idea to train using my abilities. One of which, was the dark power. Cynder saw the dark power consuming me, and I didn't even know it was taking over my body until she helped me. My mind, and body came back to me and, it was wired because it felt like I wasn't ever even in trouble in the first place."

"When else did you train with your dark powers?"

"I didn't remember much after that point of training my dark powers."

"So, does that mean, since I've gone through the same thing, I should be able to control my dark powers after all?"

"No."

"What? Why not?"

"Because the only way I actually gained my powers was because the dark master sliced at my lover and left her for dead! If it wasn't for that explosion of power, I might have not been able to do much to keep you away from her while I healed her. But if you are so hell bent on getting these powers of yours, lets change rolls real quick so you can understand what I had to go through!"

The way he spoke about what happened, Malefor heard him say that it wasn't the dark master's doing, but instead, it was him, and he knew it more then anyone. He knew it was too good to be true on the trust Spyro had promised him, but what was strange was the look on Cynder's face, almost as if she was surprised by the way he was acting as well. They all didn't understand why he was mad about what he had said, but they didn't understand why he was pinning the blame on Malefor once again. Sitting down on the bed with a sigh, Spyro spoke, "Sorry. It's just... going after dark power will never be as easy as it sounds. I don't want something bad to happen to you because if it does, then we will just mess with the peace in the world we have right now. And even for me, I know, something will happen, and we will have to fight off what ever threat it may be."

"That's why I will be there for you, so we don't need to worry about the threat for more then a second."

"I want that too. Malefor I... I do still keep my promise to you, and I do still trust you, even after hearing you had a little accident with your dark powers. But if at any point in your life that dark power hurts the one you love, I don't know if I will ever forgive you. But since Carith told me you went to claw at her in your sleep, only to find out it was her and your paw rested on her, well... then I guess you are the Malefor we know."

"Then why did it look like you were going to attack me?"

"If I was going to attack you, I would've done it in my dark form to make it easier on me. And even if I would've tried to jump at you, Cynder would've wrapped her tail around mine, or even on my leg and kept me from trying."

"So then, even after what I said... about my fears... tell me the truth Spyro... am I right?"

"No, Malefor, you aren't right. The thought never even crossed my mind to be honest. I was, actually up for quite a bit thinking about the future and all because, that's just what I do... And, while I was thinking, I was also thinking I should train you to become stronger in case something does come our way. I was thinking of doing it today anyway so, since you want to train as well, it works out for the both of us."

"Really?! You'll, you'll really train me?!"

"I don't know. Happy, Malefor gives me the jitters."

"The jitters of, you were wrong about me being evil and you just don't want to admit it?"

"Yeah... I guess you could say something like that."

"But wait, Spyro... my nightmare, what if...?"

"Don't worry about the nightmare. If anything bad happens, I will help you."

"Sounds like what that dream Spyro told me as well."

"Then if you don't want to train today, you can get out of my room."

"No no no I'm just, I want to make sure everyone is safe."

"From who? Are you calling yourself evil?"

"I'm not evil... Okay sometimes... in my room..."

"Oh Ancestors. Look, just, go to the training room and I will be there shortly. Try warming up a little as I'm not going to go easy on you in your training session, understand?"

"Right!"

Turning around with his lover and walking out the door and towards the training room, Spyro shuck his head at the way he always talked about what he does with his lover. Watching as the two walked out, he wanted nothing more then to just lay back down as he was so comfortable, "Now that I've started trusting Malefor, I've become more and more relaxed. It sucks that he wants me to train him today but, what do you say we sleep in tomorrow?"

"I have no problem with that. And who knows, maybe this training will help with us being able to just lay in bed. If anything happens, make Malefor take care of it. But knowing you, you'll jump up to protect anyone even if Malefor was going to fight someone," Cynder giggled as even she knew that a threat Malefor could handle, her lover would rather handle it then him.

"You have to be sure, that's all I'm saying. So are you going to join us in the training room?"

"Of course. I'm not going to let my girl sit by herself. Me and her will talk bad about you two behind your backs."

"What? What did I do?"

"You stood up when you should've been cuddling with me, mister, 'I trust Malefor completely but I'm still going to get defensive when I hear about the darkness'."

"Oh yeah... sorry."

"Spyro, it's okay, I'm only teasing. Just remember this moment; Malefor could've easily done something or another. But instead, he came to you as soon as something happened to him when it came to the darkness. It just goes to show that he really is scared to turn. I'm not going to blame you, hearing that Malefor had a run in with the darkness, I thought he really was turning, but he had Carith, and now he needs you."

"Alright... Is there anyway that kind could apologize? I feel like you are disappointed in me and well, that's one of my worst nightmares. Is there anything I can do?"

"Hehe, I'm not disappoint at all. But, if you do want to do something for me, I guarantee you, after Carith helped Malefor, those two were sharing a loving kiss with one another in the morning, so now I want mine."

He smiled at her. Rolling her over with his wings, which took little effort as she let it happen, she laid on her back with Spyro standing above her. She bit her lip seeing his body once again as he stood over her. It made her feel as if she had nowhere to go aside from being forced to kiss him. Pushing their lips together with one another, her head laid softly on the bed. The feeling of the comfort from both the bed and the kiss made her want to yell at Malefor for ruining such a good time. She wasn't mad at him at all, she just wish she could spend more time with her lover. Taking his lips back, the two smiled, and Cynder asked for a favor, "I know Malefor just had a little nightmare and all, but he's ruined so much time me and you could've had. You think you could, get him back for me?"

"Hehe. I don't know, you slapping him would probably do more damage then me punching him," Spyro chuckled, causing Cynder to giggle as they remembered back to that moment, "But, if you let it slide this one time, I will as well. I would feel bad beating him up after he came to me for help. The darkness is a scary thing and, it... I know it's going to sound bad to say, but I'm glad he was scared. Because he was, it's just another thing that shows and tells me, 'Why should I even worry?'."

"There's the Spyro I know and love. And I agree with you. But if he does start glowing like the dark master again, what will you do?"

"You've saved me once before, and I know what it's like. I will do everything I can to keep him safe. But only because your friendship with Carith is very important to me, and because I know it keeps you happy. And not because I'm developing a small hint of allowing Malefor to be my friend... that's not a reason why I'm doing this at all..."

"As long as you trust him, I'm am absolutely fine. I can tell you weren't as scared from before because your body had eased up a lot since the other times we have slept. And since I almost always sleep with my head against your chest, your heart was slow and easy, like you were a lot calmer now that you trusted him. And I want to know, how good did you sleep because you now trust him?"

"Well I... I actually slept a lot better, to be honest."

"And nothing happened when you trusted him. Well, aside from that darkness from the nightmare but come on, we have all had nightmares that mess with our heads when we first wake up. Remember that one nightmare that scared you so bad you fell out of bed? I can't tell who was more scared, me or you."

"And it just shows that he really is just like everyone else... Well, lets get this over with. The sooner we do, maybe the sooner we can lay in bed together and talk till night comes. Then, hopefully we can get a full, uninterrupted amount of sleep."

"Sleep? Cuddled up to you? With us kissing till the sun goes down? Now you are just teasing me."

"Hehe, I will make it happen one day, I promise."

"Oh, a promise my lover just gave me. Then I guess I shall be looking forward to this day."

"Hehe."

"How come you aren't training? It would've been fun seeing you flex while you fought," Carith somewhat hinted to him as she sat near the entrance door and her lover sat near the middle of the training room.

"You remember how I talked about how lightning would strike me if we were to do what ever we doing? It was like, lighting in a bottle or something. Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that, knowing my luck, I would train like, a little bit, then get instantly shot down like, in the heart or something, and then get finished off by Spyro because, well, it's, Spyro," Malefor laid out the whole plan of what would happen if he tried, and even though she opened her mouth to say something, she closed it, somewhat knowing he wasn't wrong to assume the future.

"I don't know. Why would he waste so much time helping you train when he could've killed you a long time ago and spent more time with his lover? Sounds to me someone is become more buddy buddy with you."

"Buddy buddy? Please, the dude lied last time about trusting me. Yeah yeah, I know what I did was still probably scary because of his fears and what not but like, what about me? I don't want to die. To him I'm like a, a piece of grass that he just steps on without thinking twice. Maybe I should train some more and put him in his place if he ever tried anything?"

"So now you are trying to train to become more powerful then Spyro so you can beat him? Sounds like you are wanting Spyro to kill you. But then again, you were able to overcome his power when ever you had that brawl with all the Guardians and those others. All you would've had to do was attack and stab him and you probably would've won. What happened with that?"

"I... I couldn't do it. Part of me wanted to do it because it would've been funny to see Cynder going on a date with another Dragon while Spyro watched with jealousy. Hehe, but then another part of me knew that he would've kicked my ass if I did something like that. And then there is this other part of me that just, couldn't do it. To me, if I would've done it, what would've made me any more different then the dark master?"

"One: The dark master was a pretty ugly guy, so, that's also kinda another like, one percent reason why I didn't want to become your lover again..."

"Because of my looks?!"

"No no no... Okay, yeah, that is a reason, but it was mainly because I had like no where to kiss you on your mouth that wasn't like your lips. You had horns growing out your horns. But now with all of them gone, your face is smooth, the only horns you have that need to be there are on your head and now when ever I look at you it's... it's good to know that I can wake up and say to myself, 'Damn he is handsome, and he is all mine'."

"So you never cared for me... only my looks... Carith..."

"Don't you dare try and guilt trip me on this one. I still loved you and I said one percent."

"Loved me? You laid away from me in a corner."

"Because I would only cuddle with my lover, not the dark master, which is why afterwards, I always cuddle with you now. And don't place the blame on me, you could've easily laid down next to me and cuddle up with me. I wasn't going anywhere anytime soon."

"You so would've dumped me if I did that."

"Can't dump the dark master if I was never with him."

"Okay... yeah, very true."

"And why do you think I was so up and loving on you after you had turned back? I knew it was you and I only ever loved you. And even if you didn't turn back I... I still would've wanted you back either way. I'm glad you did though. Keeping things the way they should be after so many years... But I wonder, what stopped you from leaving when ever Spyro yelled at you? Almost everyone was your enemy at that point so... why didn't you..."

"Well..."

"And I'm not saying I'm upset or anything, it's just that you didn't leave and all I wanted back was you and I hope that you weren't thinking that way because I know how bad it may sound, but I'm not trying to sound rude and I hoping I'm making sense..." Carith said in almost one breath as she made it sound bad and wanted to correct herself before she made him feel bad.

"Carith, it's fine. If you didn't love me, you wouldn't have stayed and helped me through the beginnings when I came back."

"Oh... thank the Ancestors."

"But the truth is, I probably wouldn't have left even if I wanted to. Hehe, for one, you were blocking the door, and two... if I would've gotten to the door I... I would've seen you as I did... I knew I made a mistake the first time by leaving you and I know for a fact I wouldn't have made the same mistake again... Hehe, also also, Spyro surely would've killed me if he saw I had broken your heart and left you all by yourself."

"Well I'm... I'm glad he was there to help you, even when all seemed lost."

"Yeah but, it's all because of Cynder, and, well... I wonder how much trust is from him."

"I said you had all of my trust, Malefor," Spyro spoke from the door as him and his lover walked in, "Cynder trusts you all the way and so do I. Plus, worrying about what you do in life takes time away from my lover, and I know for a fact you feel the same way. Plus, remember back, the whole thing with the leash? Yeah, that leash will forever be on me for as long as I live and love."

"I'm just making sure, alright. Last thing I want is to die."

"If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead already."

"Wait? What? Didn't you want me dead like, all the time?"

"True, but I found it would be more fun to hurt you day after day, then I would just simply kill you."

"Great. So is today going to be another one of those days where you want to kill me but your just going to hurt me really, really badly?"

"Unfortunately, no. Carith is watching and so is my lover so, you're getting out easy this time."

"Well, that makes about half the bones in my body feel safe today. But either way I know we are going to train so, what are we doing."

Pecking his lover on the cheek, she smiled at Spyro as he walked away and up towards Malefor. Sitting down next to Carith, the two girls watched as the other two went back and forth, picking on one another, "No way are you that dumb. I just told you in my room."

"You said what we are doing, you didn't say how we are doing it, smart ass."

"Alright well we can do one of two things: You use your own dark powers and try to control them or, I can infect you with my own dark powers to reactivate yours and we can see if you are able to fight off the darkness. But doing that would show you can prevent darkness from in outside force, but you will need to learn how to control the darkness from within. So I guess first we start easy before we try anything else."

"Okay... What's the first step?"

"Well, the first thing we could do is you can try and draw all the darkness out from within, or even at the very least a little, but either way, all the darkness is going to want to come out at once. At that point, you have to know how to control it before it takes over. So from the years that you've tried to fight the dark master's control, you should have some idea on how to fight it. Am I correct in assuming?"

"I mean... It's kinda one of those things were you know how to do it, but then you don't do it for a while and then you forget so... no... I don't really remember much of how to control my dark powers. I remember how to control my powers just not, the dark kind."

"You are hopeless."

"Hey, hope is still in the word hopeless so, I have something going for me."

"Well, here, I want to get you motivated some more to use this kind of power. But first, I want to see if you can hit me with your powers."

"Hit you?"

Standing in front of Malefor with his back to the gem room, he took a couple more steps back and explained, "I also want to see if you can anticipate my movements. It will help me better understand how far you are in training. You were able to anticipate my movements when I was using my time power, so now lets see if you can now."

"Okay... I guess."

"Okay, start off with your ice. Hit where ever you want. And if you are the dark master then I only want you to hit my head or heart, understand?"

"Alright."

Looking at where he would use his ice powers, Malefor was confused as Spyro didn't even look like he was preparing for an attack. His body stood there and Malefor knew even with his stance he would have no time to react to his attack which gave him the perfect idea, I know he is going to dodge so I guess the best place for me to aim for is his arm. That way he can't move if I was to get a hit off him. Looking at his head, he watched as Spyro followed his eyes, anticipating his movements, and he relied on that fact. Looking at his head, their eyes connected as they looked at one another and he quickly took his chance to shoot his ice shard at his arm. Quickly looking over and spitting out a shard of ice, it hit him. Spyro didn't even dodge. The shard dug into his arm as blood spilled out the front and back of his now open wound, forcing him to growl in pain as he fell to the ground.

"Spyro! I'm sorry I, I, I thought you would avoid it!" Malefor cried, running up and reaching down with his paw to help him, "Please, forgive me."

Spyro slapped his paw and went back to putting pressure on his wound as he growled at him, "I knew you would go for the attack! You're just like the dark master! And you always have been! I can't believe I've ever trusted you to even live up to this point!"

The words he spat at him were almost the same words from his dream which made him freeze, scared to even move thinking that his next move would cause something else to happen that he wouldn't have control over. His body started to shiver and sweat, his heart started to race so quickly as he wanted to apologize but he remembered what happened in his dream, and it scared him. Neither Carith nor Cynder knew if Spyro really meant what he said. The blood was real, his voice and anger sounded real, but what stood out the most, was his smile. The girls looked at him with wide eyes, wondering why he was smiling. A small chuckle emerged from his mouth and quickly became a laugh. Even from how loud his heart was pounding in his ears, Malefor heard the laugh and saw Spyro losing it for some reason.

"Wha...what?"

Spyro couldn't stop laughing as he tried to explain what had happened, even though he wished he hadn't as he wanted to play it off a little longer, but didn't want to hurt him too bad, "Malefor, I'm sorry, I'm sorry I had to man. Come on, don't blame me. You were like, walking into that so easily and I knew for a fact I could get you... Hahaha... Aw, man."

"You... You were joking?!"

"Hehehe, look, Malefor, I'm sorry I just, oh man, oh, I couldn't. I just could not make fun of you."

"You son of a, Bitch. I woke up in tears and fear after that dream and you're over here making fun of me."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I swear... Hehe... I just wanted to make a little light of that situation. I'm only picking on you now because I know here soon, we are going to have to get serious anyway. And your little ice shard," Spyro paused as he pulled out the ice shard from his arm, spilling blood onto the floor and causing everyone to shiver, but as he tapped on his arm and healed the hole completely, he washed off the blood with water from his mouth and it was all gone, "You think that little thing will hurt me."

"But... How? Even in your normal form you would've felt it?"

"Oh yeah, I still felt it, but only barely. I saw your eyes last second. Just as the shard neared my arm, I directed some of my dark power to protect my arm from harm. So by the time the shard hit me, I didn't feel a single thing. Well, aside from the small little pinch when it hit me but, you know, I was fine."

"How... how does it feel to have power like that?"

"It's pretty overwhelming to say the least. When I first starting training, I never knew I would be able to get this strong in the first place. I always wanted to be strong enough to take any hit no matter what it was and get back up without a problem, even if that hit was from the heart, and, some how, I was able to achieve that power."

"And, the power, where you can control earth from the ground without touching it, how did you manage that?"

"That came after I gained my dark power. I just learned it after that and it just came to me on how to do it. But since you brought it up, we can start off small, get you warmed up a little on your powers before we jump on the darkness controlling."

"Sounds like fun. So, what do I do first."

"Alright, you are going to want to control all of your energy from one ability into a single claw. Think of this energy channeling like lining up your shot. When ever you are locked onto a target," Spyro paused as he demonstrated, turning to the opposite side of the door and pointing at claw at the floor, he lifted his claw up and a small circle of the floor came up from the ground, "Then you simply pull up your target. You can do something similar with any ability with lightning or fire, but there is a range as to how far this can go so no, you can't look up at the moon and split it in half with this ability."

"Hehe, okay, I think I understand what to do."

As Spyro put his paw to the ground, he told him what his task would be, "Alright, so to understand the control and to not destroy some more of the training room, I'm going to give you your first training lesson. Use what I've taught you to now try and push the little circle back into the ground. You do that, and we can move on to some other things I can teach you."

"Alright, I will try."

Looking at the circle, he thought about everything Spyro was teaching him and did exactly as he was told, going step by step even in his mind, Control all your energy into a single claw. Raising his right paw up, he pointed one claw at it and tried to channel all of the power to it. Think of this energy like lining up a shot, and when ever you lock onto your target... you simply pull your target, down. Slowly moving his paw down to the ground, the circle of the floor slowly followed as well. Trying not to get to excited and mess everything up, he maintained his concentration. Performing perfectly, the circle of the floor fit right back into the ground, and Malefor looked at Spyro with joy, "I did it! I actually did it!"

"Hehe, Alright alright, calm down. You did good, and I will admit that. Now, we are going to try and destroy objects using the same technique," Pausing, Spyro used his paw and lifted it up past his neck and the small circle of the floor came back up in the same spot, and he continued, "Alright, so now this one is a little more difficult, and to be honest, I haven't really trained all that much on it. While I was awake some of the night, wondering what to do with my powers, Ignitus talked to me a lot in my thoughts. I did still have some questions and I asked him as I woke up in the middle of the night a couple more times. And, Fortunately for us, you have to have more then one ability to do this."

"Why? I mean, aside from earth of course but, does that mean that earth isn't needed?"

"Earth is only needed for what we are doing, but what we are going to do is make a necessary reaction to our powers. Basically what I'm trying to say is that, while trying to think of one element, you need to think of another while in possession of the other to cause a reaction, which in return, the reaction will explode, depending on what element you are using."

"Dude, you sound like Volteer right now and I'm... I'm not following."

"No worries, I will just try and demonstrate," Looking at the circle, he raised his paw and pointed a claw at it and continued to explain as he did it himself, "So, grab the concentration of your earth ability. Then, try and grab the concentration of another ability, which I will be using fire. If you compile the two together, the fire has nowhere to form so..."

"So the fire from in the middle will continue to circle and form a ball of fire and gas until it expands and explodes!"

"Wow... nice job."

The circle of the floor started to glow red and burn from the heat. With the gas of the fire from the inside expanding, it exploded from the inside, completely destroying the circle of the floor. The fire bubbled like lava as it laid on the floor. Putting his paw down on the ground and using his water ability, Spyro quickly put the fire out as he knew they were going to need as much of the training room as possible. As the water hit the burning hot lava, it hissed and steamed into the air, and while that was happening, Malefor was already ready to try it himself but wanted to wait to make sure he did everything right. With the fire extinguished, he looked at Malefor and told him, "Alright well, now it is your turn. Give it your best shot."

"Yes! I mean... yes sir."

Doing the same thing as Spyro, he raised his paw and pointed a claw a little more left to where they had originally done it before. A small circle of the floor came up from the ground which Malefor once again screamed with joy in his mind for doing so easily now. Now with the circle above the ground, he had to remember everything Spyro had told him just like before to make sure he didn't screw up, Grab the concentration of the earth that I now have... then I need to think of another element... which, since he used fire... what about lighting? Using the two abilities together, nothing had happened, and he had wondered if he was doing something wrong. Just as he thought he had failed, a bolt of lightning shot out from almost every angle of the circle, hitting the walls floors, and ceiling. Another bolt came right at Malefor and hit him right in his chest, sending a jolt of electricity all around his body. His body shivered all the way up his spine, making him stand stiff after the lightning was gone. Easing up his body, he sighed and murmured, "Ouch..."

The girls both giggled at his little shock, and so did Spyro. Putting his paw back to the ground, he looked at Spyro, wondering how he did, and he was very happy with his words "Hehe, shocking, isn't it? I never would've thought lighting would've worked but now there is just a bunch of holes in the little circle. You've been doing a very good job so far, so now I think we can get into something a little more, dark."

"Are... are you sure? I... I don't think, well, I know i should be, and I even asked you but, maybe we should just keep training some more before we try messing with the dark power."

"I wouldn't have suggested it if I didn't think you weren't ready. You can do this. And if you ever feel scared, Carith is right near the door. She will come over if you need her, and that's what she's here for."

"Alright... but..."

"Don't worry about the nightmare. Right now, we are just going to focus on what we have been doing now; Controlling your ability at a certain point in your body."

"Okay... if, if you think I'm ready then I... I have faith."

"Alright, good. So first, we are just going to start with something as simple as your shoulder, okay? So what I'm going to do is I'm going to control the darkness for you first and get it into position. After that, you have to control it to protect you. If you control it well enough, you'll be fine, but if you can't, it is really going to hurt when my claw goes through your shoulder."

"Okay... wait, what?!"

"Trust me, if you have the darkness controlled at your shoulder, you'll be fine. Now, when ever you are ready."

Taking a big deep sigh, he nodded at him. The two girls watched and had listed to what Spyro had said, and with every second that passed by, seeing as his claw touched Malefor's shoulder, Carith shivered more and more, thinking about how close the darkness was to his brain. Cynder looked away for a second and looked to see that Carith was just as worried as she was, but she trusted her lover and tried to calm her friend down, "Carith, it's okay, I promise. Spyro would never do something that would put us in danger so he must have a plan in case something goes wrong. And then again, seeing how well Malefor has been doing, I'm sure we will be fine. I trust Malefor can do it."

Cynder's words helped her a lot more then she thought it would've, and Carith took almost the same sigh that Malefor had took just before. Trusting in her friend's words, she thanked, "Thanks, Cynder. Spyro and Malefor have been doing very good so far with one another, and the fact that he is teaching him something that could destroy just shows that he does trust him. I told Malefor, after we had woken up, that I trusted Spyro and... I still do."

"He's never disappointed me before in my life. I have faith in him, just like how I have the same faith in Malefor that he can do it."

"Yeah, you're right... Come on my love, you can do it."

Feeling his claw touch his shoulder, Malefor swallowed hard, but he put his trust that Spyro wouldn't lie to him about helping him if anything happens. The darkness traveled from Spyro's claw and right into Malefor's shoulder. The sudden feeling scared him, but what scared him most was the fact that he could feel his darkness from inside him coming towards that side of his shoulder. Even as scary as it was, it felt, strange to him, and it was a feeling he never knew he could feel from the darkness, "That's... That's wired. The darkness it, it feels, warm. It's as if I'm putting my shoulder in front of a fire."

"You wouldn't be wrong about that. Fire and darkness are almost exactly alike. They both have the power to devastate and destroy, but at the same time, they have just the same amount of power to create. And when you control the darkness, it has a warm feeling to it which I believe is to keep you safe no matter the temperature. When Ignitus helped me in his dream world, the darkness can protect from a mass temperature gain and drop," Spyro explained, not even knowing the darkness could do such a thing, and he never even thought it to be possible.

"What else can it protect you against?"

"I didn't know this but, the darkness can protect you."

"What?"

"If say, you have a wound that you couldn't heal because you either couldn't make it to a gem or something to help, the darkness would slither out of your scales and clean you of blood and seal your wounds as if nothing had happened. I didn't believe it at first so, I had to make sure. And sure enough, after I put a wound in my arm, the darkness healed it and the blood."

"The darkness can... heal? The darkness protects you from temperatures? What else did you learn?"

"Well, even as strong as I thought I was, I didn't know how wrong I was. Ignitus showed me this new form of fire simply put: Purple fire. You have your base red fire, which can evolve into blue fire, and finally evolving into purple fire. Same goes for other elements changing in color as well."

"Blue fire?! Purple fire?! Is it even possible to reach such a thing? Even as powerful as you are now, how strong you are when you use your dark power, is gaining such a power even possible? And, for me, does that mean such a thing is out of my reach? And, did he tell you how powerful this, purple fire, was?"

"Lets just say, it could put the temperature of the sun to shame."

"What?! That hot?!"

"I was surprised myself when he said that as well. And the feeling of the purple fire was almost, indescribable. He told me no matter where the fire was: Water, inside ice, it would always stay the same temperature. And don't ask me how Ignitus learned of this but, for every ability, they also have their own blue and purple to them. Ignitus used the purple lightning on himself to restart the nerves and his own heart without any side effects what so ever."

"Restart his own heart? Aw man, if only it didn't work..."

"Malefor."

"Dude, I'm sorry, I'm just joking. But one thing I have to question, how exactly do you have ice which is already blue, and make it, well... blue?"

"I asked him the same question, and long story made short, you will know. I'm curious to know what purple ice can do. If purple fire and purple lightning have such a strong presence to them, along with the fact that they each have their own unique ability, some of which not even Ignitus knows, it really makes me wonder what else this ability could help us do in the long run. How easy it would be to end any threat with a single ability?"

"First, when you mean end, you mean like, I turn bad and you disintegrated me kinda end?"

"Well... no, maybe not that kind of end. I just mean like, making sure that who ever we fight that is a dragon knows that they should never do what they were doing. But if it was you, and you did turn bad, then oh Hell yeah, I would go full purple fire mode all day until I knew the job was done."

"Ass."

"Joking, I'm joking."

"I know you are because this brings me to me second question. You said, 'what else this ability could help, us, do'. Now when you mean, us, do you mean someone else? Because I know for a fact you'd never take Cynder into battle, and you would never say that to my lover, so, the only one left in here is me."

"Don't bring that up. I said us because I meant it, and if you keep bringing it up and smiling about it, I won't ever say, us, ever again."

"Oh, come on, don't ruin the fun, Spyro. You know I'm me, and I know you're you. You said you trusted me, and you being here right now helping me learn so much about my powers, it's a dream come true. And by you being here, I know you trust me. What else could I possibly do to show you that I am who I say I am? If its about that... incident, that's Ignitus's fault. He pushed me into that, and I couldn't do anything about it."

"No, it's not that. If anything, what happened actually made me trust you even more, and it also made me want to train you."

"So... all I have to do is keep almost turning and you'll trust me...?"

"No... It's about what Carith said. How you touched her and it calmed you down. Like I said, I trust you, I really do. It's just, going to take me a little bit of time to process the fact that you are living in our home. From the very beginning my mission was to stop you, and now, I'm over here training and helping you get stronger. It's just, wired to me. But the creepiest thing of all, is when I make you... Ugh, smile."

"What's wrong with my smile?"

"When I used to think, Malefor, I always thought of tall dark and ugly. By now, since you look tall purple and slightly better, it's wired seeing you smile. I'm not use to saying the words smile and Malefor in the same sentence. But I guess I better get use to it because you smile a lot, as well as joke a lot."

"So, you still hate me because I smile and joke?"

"No... I... Look... I want to know who you killed on the day of the raid on the Dragon Temple. Sorry, I meant the dark master. I just need you to remember back and tell me if you recall anything that happened where a, a dark creature or, someone killing someone before you were captured by the Guardians. I know you don't want to look back but, I need to know."

"I mean... I... I can try... What exactly are you looking for?"

"A yellow dragoness."

"Oh... you're talking about Ersa?"

"I need to know if she died on that day. Ignitus said he looked back and that she did die, but I'm not convinced. Please, I need to know if she died or not that day."

"Alright... I will... try."

Taking his claw off his shoulder to let him concentrate, all Spyro could do was hope that he would finally be able to have a sure answer once and for all. Watching as Malefor closed his eyes, his heart could only beat faster, wondering what he could've been seeing from his visions. Malefor's eyes clenched slightly as if he saw something bloody, or even deadly. Seeing that only demoralizing what he was hoping to hear or see. Opening his eyes and taking a small sigh, he frowned having to remember what he did, what he did to the Guardians. Looking at one another, Spyro's heart skipped a beat, wondering what had happened. The joy and hope he had was completely diminished as Malefor spoke of what happened, "I'm... I'm sorry, Spyro. She was attacked by quite a lot of dark creatures. As she ran, the dark creatures followed, and as she got to this, tree, so did the dark army. After that, nothing but darkness... Once she got to that tree, all I saw was darkness, nothing else."

"Damn it!" Spyro cursed.

The sudden out burst scared the three others in the room, and mainly the girls as they didn't really know what was happening as they were having their own conversation. All that Malefor could do was sigh sadly and apologize for what had happened, "I'm... sorry. I never intended to go after her. The dark master's main goal was to go after the eggs and that was it. But, sometimes, the darkness gets blood thirsty and finds anything they can kill. I wouldn't have been powerful enough to stop it... I couldn't even stop myself from hurting the Guardians."

"I know... I know what happened. They were able to seal you as they fought. After they sealed you away, they all retreated back to protect the eggs. Ignitus saved me, but when he came back, he couldn't save the others, so he flew away and towards that mountain where he sealed you away... All you thought about at that time was trying to prevent me from ever living. You didn't really have control over the darkness... But now, I have to figure out a way to tell Volteer that I got him excited to see his lover again but it was all just a lie... He will never trust the purple dragons after this, especially not me..."

"Well, maybe he will thank you for being there for him at the very least?"

"Not, Volteer. Think of it as if he was you, and I tricked you by saying how Carith was alive but she really wasn't. How do you think you would've reacted from something like that? You would've given up completely knowing it would never be true, and that's exactly what will happen to him. He will give up, thinking he will never see her again... and unfortunately, it's true... Ignitus had even looked back himself, Volteer saw it, and even you saw it... it's just... I can't believe she's died."

"Maybe... maybe there is someone else out there for him?"

"What if Carith left you and I said that? Your room would've been lit to Hell from fire if I tried to convince you to find someone else."

"Hehe, well I mean, better fire then darkness, am I right?"

"Yeah... But even I know it wouldn't really be fire."

"Well, that's why I wanted you here, to make sure that something like that never happens again. But, going back real quick, does that mean, because she's... died, do you blame me for it? It's, understandable if you do, and, I'm sorry, I truly am. But does that also mean, because she's died, you'll still have some hate towards me..."

Spyro sighed, somewhat frowning as he told him the truth, "I'm, sorry too. But, because she is died; yes. I do still have hate towards you. Now, before you go moping around and crying to your lover, I still do trust you. I do still, somewhat, care, about your well being. But, to tell you the truth, if Ersa never died... I might've been a lot quicker to make you my friend. But because she's died, I have to focus all my time on trying to keep Volteer from going insane when I tell him, which I just, I can't do it, I just can't..."

"I... I understand... But, if you need help, I will be there too. Volteer might've lost someone, but he still has all of us, right? Hehe, and look on the bright side, maybe if you train me some, he will get out all his frustration on me, and I can just use the dark power to cover the spots he hits so I won't feel them. Then maybe he will calm down and we can talk to him. But that's hopefully worst case won't happen scenario."

"What else do you think could happen? There is nothing good that will come of us telling him his lover is dead, no one would ever take news like that well. Ignitus has shown me his power, and if he ever lost his lover to someone... I couldn't imagine what kind of crises we would have to deal with. There would be no recovering from that one. And, we can't keep going through one crises after another thinking everyone will make it out. Unless we are powerful enough, there is no telling what could happen."

"But aren't I just died weight to you? What could you possibly need me for?"

"Backup, cover, protection, something I heal or do something else, almost anything that can help insure that everything turns out okay. This would never happen, but say I was with Ignitus on the other side of the earth. I would in trust you to keep everyone safe until I got back, which means if you were ever attacked, you'd need the strength, power, and intelligence to keep everyone alive. Volteer would be with you so you don't need to worry about Intelligence, but now we need to work on strength and power."

"Hey, when ever you are ready to get back to the darkness training, I'm ready when you are."

"Alright, but I need to show you what kind of power you could have, and then I want you to show me how powerful you can be, okay?"

"Um, okay. How are we going to do that."

"Look at the wall opposite of the door, away from our lover's. You are going to try and destroy that wall with any means that isn't your abilities."

"Please, that's a..."

"Without moving from your spot."

"Totally ass kind of training, is what I was going to say. How do you expect me to do that?"

"If your fist travels fast enough with enough force, anything can be possible. But like I said, I will show you first so you can understand what I'm talking about. Now don't be upset if you can't do it as I have to use my dark form in order to do this. This is kinda like how you have to focus on using one ability to try and master it. But now, for this, you need to try and concentrate on not using an ability at all. I learned this when I watched Ignitus destroy... sorry, I meant to say, obliterate, a mountain just by flicking his claws at it."

"What? Dude, no way he did that."

"His power is the only thing that makes me want to train more, to prevent him from being able to over power me in any fight. I have to make sure I'm stronger then him. But going back, as I watched him, it was wired to me that he wasn't using an ability at all, he was just using the shear power of his claws. So, for this, me and you are both going to learn a thing or two today. Both are going to be on how to use power without using your abilities, and how to control the dark power. Now I should be asking, which I've asked before so I already know the answer, but... are you ready?"

"I'm sure I've answered before but to make sure I get some training out of this, yes."

"Alright, step back. I'm going to see if I can't use this power."

"Wait wait wait!"

"What?!"

"Well uh, you know, I think I should go first."

"What? Why?"

"Because if I'm lucky enough, I can show off my power in front of Carith and then start flexing afterwards."

"And what could you hope to gain from doing this?"

"Hehe, lets just say, my hatchling dream will hopefully be just all the closer."

"Ancestors no."

"Bam, goes the training room. Bam goes to very sweet kiss with her. And then..."

"Crack!"

"Crack?"

"Crack as in the sound I will do to your neck if you don't shut up!"

"Jealous?"

"Disgusted... But please, I will definitely get there with Cynder before you do."

Malefor's laugh filled the room, making the other two girls look at him with wide eyes, wondering what he was laughing at.

"Your lover has officially gone crazy," Cynder giggled, poking fun at her.

"Hehe, great. Something else I can be excited about when I go to bed," Carith said with a smile, and not with sarcasm which confused Cynder.

"Wait, are you... are you being serious?"

"Crazy Malefor means for some crazy love."

"Oh... didn't think about that."

"Are you done?" Spyro asked with a raised brow, and surprisingly to Malefor, he was smiling from his laugh.

"Sorry, um, it's just funny because, hehe, how old are you? You're like, sixteen years old, I'm in my thirties. I have, and should have, a way better chance to have, a hatchling with my lover. And you're smaller then me, so, yeah, I think the little ones of this age need to learn a little more disciple... and maybe even some hormone control," Malefor teased him, causing Spyro to blush from embarrassment as well as make him grumble a little when he brought in how young he was.

"One, I'm only like an inch smaller then you. Two, why are you telling me how to control my hormones when you can't control your dark power?! And third... You're in your thirties? So sad. Good thing for me. And all because I'm sixteen doesn't mean anything. I'm mature enough and I know how to treat my lover. If I wanted to make her my mate or anything further, I can. But I guess since I'm sixteen, and I don't have my hormones under control, why don't you learn this by yourself then?"

"Oh so it's like that?"

"Hey, I have things to control as well so, I guess I should focus on myself first before helping you."

"Fine, fine, I'm sorry. You're lucky you hold all this power or else I wouldn't need to agree with you."

"So you are admitting you are using me?"

"No. I said i didn't want to agree with you, never said I didn't want to work with you."

"Well, lets see how your words fair in the future. But if you are done acting like yourself, can we get back to what we were doing?"

"Yeah, sorry."

"Okay, now where was I?"

"You were going to use your powers to destroy the wall opposite of our lover's. But now the more I think about it, the more I really wonder how Ignitus was able to do such a thing. I mean, if it was like a tree or, knocking over another dragon, I would've believed you, but... a whole mountain? Are you sure he wasn't just playing you for a foul?"

"Positive. Remember when we had that all out brawl? He used the same flick against me but with less power... And he also only tapped my head, I'm guessing so he wouldn't kill me. I'm sure if he used the same amount of power he used against me that he used against that mountain, well, splat pretty much. There is no way I would've been able to face something like that."

"Jeez... Well, if you think you can do something even as close to how he can do, go for it."

"What happened to you wanting to try first?"

"I don't know how to do it. Yeah you explained it but, now that I'm thinking about it, what if you flick your claws, and then your body, or even your paws blow up or something from doing it wrong? I'm definitely not going to be the one to go through that sort of pain. I'm just going to watch you and cheer you on from the side lines."

"Great. Moral support is definitely what I want when my paws are gone."

Malefor could only give an open mouth wide smile, giving him two claw up, causing Spyro to roll his eyes. Turning his body away from Malefor, Spyro looked and focused on the wall in front of him. Taking a couple of steps back away from him, Malefor watched and studied what he was doing, wondering if he would be able to copy what he was doing. Taking a deep breath in and then out, Spyro's scales turned dark along with a dark aura following up his body. Use shear power... Hehe, easier said then done, He thought to himself as he raised his paw up. Everyone watched with the girls wondering what he was doing, and Malefor wondered how he would pull it off. Moving his claw into position, some of his dark power started to surround more near his claws. Here goes nothing... He thought, pushing his claw at the wall in front of him. To his surprise, it worked. But even for him, it worked too well. The entire ground of the training room cracked along with the walls. The gust of wind that erupted from his claw hit the wall with enough force to completely destroy the wall in front of him. His breathing grew heavy from what had just happened, along with the sudden amount of power that exploded from his claw. Powering down and returning back to his normal form, he tried to catch his breath as he looked at his paws. Malefor's heart skipped a beat from the power as well, scared to even joke about being the dark master anymore. His... power... plus my skull equals... He stopped and swallowed hard just thinking about it. Even the girls were surprised by that kind of power, but for Carith, she shared the same thoughts that her lover had. Spyro's gotten pretty powerful since he first fought with my lover... I hope nothing will anger him into trying to kill my love, but then again... I know he never would... he wouldn't, Carith thought, swallowing hard as well, but she still did trust his words that he said to her before, so she wasn't too scared. Giving some time for him to cool down before he approached, Malefor took a couple of steps and asked, "You uh... feeling okay?"

Putting his paw to the ground, Spyro could only sigh from his display of power, and he told him the trust, "No... no, not really."

"What? Why? Spyro, that show of power was incredibly. You were even able to use a move that you saw Ignitus do from pure memory."

"It still isn't enough. I used almost all the power I had while still trying to withstand in my dark form. This. This, display, is nothing compared to what he can do. If I would've gone all out and used all my power and the dark power, and with some training, most I could do is destroy some of this building and crack the rest. I only destroyed the front of the training room and cracked everything else around us, that's it."

"Spyro, what's wrong? No one else in the world can do this. Why are you so scared and worked up with power that is compared to the Chronicler? Or is this because you still think that I'm the dark master and you're scared you won't be powerful enough to beat me? If this is about me being the dark master again, you have to tell me. That is something I know we can move past, I know we can."

"It's not about the dark master... I told you, I trusted you, and I didn't lie about that. It's because... I told Ignitus I was scared that he could one day become evil if something happened to Claire or if she left him. That's one reason. But, another reason is... what if something comes out of nowhere? With Carith, the random ape attack started this. Your surprise attack against the Dragon Temple got thousands killed, even supposedly Ersa. You even surprised attacked me and Cynder, in, Warfang. We are never prepared for anything, and I have to make sure that I am. Peace or not, something will happen and if we just sit here, if I go out with this power now, I won't be able to keep this peace."

"You aren't doing this alone though."

"You still don't know how to control your dark powers. The dark master was probably the most powerful Dragon to ever live, so until you get your dark powers, you won't be as strong as him. I have no issue with you controlling your dark powers anymore, I just have a problem of what it might do to you. This power that you are so impressed by, wasn't given to me. I've had to give up my mind, my soul, and even almost my life for this power, and that's why I don't want to train you. I don't want you to go through more when you and everyone else all have already gone through enough. That's why I don't want you to help me. I don't want to put you at risk and something happens to you that happened to Carith and the Guardians..."

A frown formed on Malefor's face, but even somewhat of a smile as he was glad to hear that he wanted to do what Spyro always does. But he didn't want him to keep doing things by himself. Putting a paw on Spyro's shoulder, he tried to convince him to change his mind, "Classic Spyro move to put someone else before himself... But you don't need to worry about me. Trust me, in a fight, even the dark master needed companies to help him in a fight, even now, I need someone else to be there for me to help me through life. Having someone by your side during battle is just like that. And think of it like this, two hundred apes. You could fight them of course, but what would you rather do; Fight two hundred apes and get to your lover in an hour or so, or have me fight one hundred, you fight another hundred, then we get back to our lover's in minutes?"

Looking at him, Malefor new he started to get his attention and he just needed to push it a little more, "With your speed, me training to be that fast along with the dark power, who would rival us? Even for Ignitus, he might have power and all, but two of us, fighting in dark forms against him? If you had fifty percent of his power, and I had the other fifty, us working together would equal his power. There are so many benefits for us working together... Another benefit is, well, if the darkness ever does return, I could learn to control it, and we would never have to worry about such a thing again since, well, I am in control after all. Think of me as like the dark master but I still have everything about me, just the power of him."

"Hehe, well, you are right about many things, but maybe not the dark master thing. Mainly because if you return back to how the dark master looked before, ugh. I don't think we would ever be friends in the future."

Pulling his paw down and off his shoulder, Malefor asked, "I didn't look that bad."

"What? Not being rude, but it looked like someone smeared their paw on the front of your face. You looked terrible. Now that you look like a normal Dragon, it's near impossible to tell you really are the dark master, but back then, I can't believe Carith let you kiss her. And your voice was so bad, I honestly needed like some subtitles or something to figure out what you were saying."

"It was not that bad."

Looking over at Carith, Spyro called out and asked her, "Carith! Be honest, wasn't the dark master side of Malefor like, super ugly?!"

"Hehe, yeah, it kind was! When he kissed me, I was a little disgusted, but when he was back to normal, dear Ancestors I can't describe how much better it was!" Carith giggled back as she answered his question, "I even threw up in my mouth a little."

Looking back at Malefor, Spyro looked at him with a raised brow, wondering what he would have to say to that. He could only roll his eyes and smile, "What ever man. Luckily, now I like super handsome. I could walk out on the streets of Warfang and pick up a girl right now if I wanted to. All I would have to do is flex, tell her I'm a purple dragon, and bam. I would be such a magnet for women. I mean, I did have a lot of girls hit on me before everything happened."

"Hehe, yeah, I remember. When Carith came by, the Guardians tried to turn her away by saying you were doing something," Spyro chuckled from the memory, which made him somewhat smile even more as he remembered the talk he had with Ignitus after reading on his past, and he never knew he would actually be able to talk with Malefor himself.

"Telling you man, if I wasn't such a man, I could've had like, fifty girls in my room. Apparently, one of the girls I brought back trying to find love, well, she was so hot, Cyril froze up so bad with a blush, the Guardians all wondered if he really had frozen the inside of his body. It took Ignitus lighting fire to his butt for him to finally snap out of it."

"Hehe, poor Cyril. But it's wired, I didn't know Cynder was alive back then."

"Cynder wasn't... oh, haha, Cynder was the one who Cyril saw?"

"Knew it."

"What ever... But... hey, Spyro, we've been talking about the past a lot and well, you are right about things that I could prevent. But with you here, I'm sure we can make this peace last, along with this power me and you both have. So... I... I am ready to start learning about my dark power. Hehe, yeah, i know I keep saying I'm ready but, I was scared to be honest so I tried to stall but... I need to fight this fear... just... just promise me, if... if anything goes wrong..."

"It's okay... you'll be fine. I will be right here with you to help you. Carith is right here as well so you'll fine."

"Okay... okay... I'm ready... what is the first thing I need to do?"

"Alright, first, it takes a lot of concentration. I'm going to let you attempt this a little at first. If you feel even a slight tingle in your body, try and calm yourself down to prevent the tingle in your body from going any further. The tingly feeling in your body is the darkness trying to form, but the problem is, the darkness will start forming around your heart before it forms anywhere else. If I see you having even a little of trouble, I will tell you to calm down just in case, and if you don't hear me, I will take over."

"Okay... what is it exactly I need to concentrate on?"

"This is where the hard part comes in. For me, I was easily able to take control over the darkness from my emotions. The emotion that must take priority when you go into your dark mode... is sadness."

"Sadness?"

"Sadness is the opposite of anger. The darkness tries to feed on any negative types of emotions. I have been able to keep back my darkness from consuming me when ever I've gotten frustrated before. This is just one of many reasons why it is so difficult to control the dark power, this is why it is so difficult to achieve. When in the dark mode, you have to remain concentrated on the saddest memories you can think of to keep yourself from being consumed."

"Is... is there no other way?"

"Well, I've been able to use my dark power without having to think of a sad thoughts to a degree. In the middle of a fight, if I get close to losing control, or I think I might, I think of the scariest, and saddest thing I can think of. That's why using this power isn't just something I like throwing around. But luckily, I can help you to where you might not have to think of sad thoughts when you use it. Well, for the beginning at the very least."

"So, I have to think of the saddest memories possible to keep myself from turning. When I have the memories in my mind, what do I do next?"

"Next, is the power up. Remember the tingle? You need to find that. You'll know when you have it when you feel the need to hurt or kill something. That's just what the darkness wants, but you can control it as long as you keep those thoughts in your mind. But the problem is, the darkness can mess with your emotions, making your sadness feel like pure and painful depression. And if you don't want that to happen, then the darkness can easily take over with the lust to harm or kill."

"Wait wait wait... how... then... how... how were you able to master this then? There's... this sounds impossible."

"Cynder was a big help. For me, when I first got this power, my sadness and anger was just enough to balance each other out so I didn't have to worry."

"Balance?"

"Yes. This is something I almost have the hang of which is why I can easily access it. The reason it was balanced before was because the sight of what happened to Cynder and seeing that from my fear from the White Isle, combined with the fact that I wanted nothing more then to kill the dark master, both my sadness and my anger were both getting attention as to say. And because they were so evenly balanced, I was able to control it so well that day."

"Don't tell me, in order for me to master this power, I have to... go through the same."

"Absolutely not. No one deserves to go through that, especially not you."

"Oh thank the Ancestors."

"But with that being said, you have a thirty-three percent chance to get it wrong, with the other being you are consumed by your sadness, and the other being your are consumed by the anger from the darkness. This Dark power is nothing to play with when you first get it, and it takes time to understand, but when you have it, it can give you power beyond what was thought possible."

"Spyro... now I'm not so sure. I've just got back and, I... I don't want to lose everything again... maybe... maybe we should just wait for another day."

"Malefor, it's fine. I'm here for you, just as how Cynder was there for me that day as she is every day. Trust me. After all, I do trust you. The least you could do is return the favor."

Malefor sighed hugely as he started to shake, scared to know if he would mess it up, and there were pretty high odds he would. Thirty-three percent chance split three ways. Which means, I have a sixty-six percent chance of failing... and from what Spyro had said, either way could end in a disaster... He thought to himself, only causing him to sweat and shiver more then he was before. Knowing he was scared of the power, Spyro decided it would be best if he delayed it just a little bit longer by showing him how to do it step by step once again in front of him, "Hey, Malefor, it's okay. I will give you some more time to calm down, and in the meantime, I will show you how to do it, okay?"

"Yeah... yeah, okay, yeah... sounds nice."

"Alright. So first, for me, I find that tingly feeling in my body, which isn't the hardest thing to find since it's always in the same spot in my body, and it will be in the same spot in your body as well. The tingle is located right at my chest. So, I'm going to grab that tingly feeling," He paused as his chest started to turn black along with his head, then his body, and after a bit, everything around him was consumed in a black aura with his scales turning black as well, "Right now, I don't need to think of sad or angry things as I have control over it, but this would be the point for you to do so. And if you wanted to, you could make your eyes pure white for intimidation I guess."

"But, before, your dark power didn't start in your chest or your head, so, why did it now?"

"I can control the dark power, remember. I can have the darkness start at any point of my body in order to protect it. The tingly feeling in my chest is just what activates my dark form compared to just using a small portion of it. But I also can control where the darkness goes when I start to power up. I chose to make it go to my head first so I could concentrate on well, concentrating first. And like I said, practice makes perfect. Everything has something more to it, just like how you can upgrade your abilities to blue, and then purple, and maybe even further, who knows... which makes me think... what if there was another form to the darkness?"

"Why would you want to know that? If this form is already difficult enough to control and you haven't completely mastered it, why would you want to push yourself even further?"

"Because, this dark form can already give me such a big power boost. If I was able to kick off these training wheels, being my simple dark form, and evolve into a darker form that has an even bigger multiplier, then I could be unstoppable, maybe even unbeatable!"

"You want to evolve into a darker form? Spyro, that sounds like the dark master kind of thing. I don't think evolving the darkness is such a good idea."

"I'm not going to be evolving the darkness, just find a way to make the darkness more powerful with me still being able to control it. Think of how fast I can move and fight when I'm in this form. A stronger, more powerful form, me and you, it wouldn't be a fifty fifty against Ignitus, it would be like a, seventy seventy against him, and with even more training, we could reach the unstoppable point in a matter of only weeks! It would only take weeks to get to where we need to be!"

"That is a good idea and all but, wouldn't it be better to work with your normal powers now? If you get strong with those powers and then work on a new dark form, then you'd be a whole lot stronger, and you'd know the difference. Along the way you could also learn about the blue and purple elements. Plus, it's even safer that way as well. You don't have to tamper with the darkness so much in order to get easy and fast results. And I have also mentioned, it is very dangerous."

"Malefor, what are we going to do if say, the destroyer came out the ground right now with a dark army of thousands and the apes attacked Warfang from behind? It took all of what Warfang had, along with me and Cynder's help to defend against that army and the destroyer, along with the Guardians and the moles. We wouldn't be able to make it out of something like that... and even if we did, who would be the one to die? There would be a death, and I wouldn't be able to handle the fact that I could've done something about it."

"You are suggesting an all out war when there isn't even a dark master any more. The destroyer was destroyed when it fell into the volcano. Without a dark master, there is no dark creatures. And if there was an attack by an army of apes, we are all well enough off to take care of an army of apes. There is no need to take risk if we don't need to take them, that's all I'm saying. And if this is about Ignitus again, we all heard what she said, there's no way that would happen, so why are you so worried?"

"I just told you why I'm worried! I'm not going to sit on an opportunity to get stronger! We've all been able to make it out with a single scale, but I'm not going to lose someone else because I couldn't do something about it. And what if there is a darkness threat out there I don't know about? You remember, the dark spots? Anyone could've gotten to them by now, just like that dragon. My hope, with this power, is to take the darkness away from a dragon, to save them from what could happen. What if you were infected by the darkness? You would turn if you didn't know how to control it, but I could take that power, and we wouldn't have to worry about it ever being a problem."

"Spyro..."

"I don't care what happens to me, I will bounce back from it. Simple exposure to darkness won't kill me. I can use what I've learned to try and improve without it being a problem. So what is the problem here? There is just too many benefits then set backs for such a thing to be explored! This is my chance to hit gold with this power."

"I don't trust the darkness, Spyro. And messing around with it is just... it's crazy to think of. I understand where you are coming from but... just... promise me... as soon as you feel something wrong, anything out of place with your emotions or heath or, anything! You stop right then and there. No questions, no answers just... I want to make sure you don't get consumed like how I did... the darkness always finds a way to mess with your mind."

"Alright, I will promise to make a deal on that."

"Please... and if you don't, I'm going straight to Cynder, understand? You don't want her to be disappointed in you, right?"

"Hehe, hell no."

"Alright... please be safe."

"Are you, feeling okay? You're starting to scare me... oh no, don't tell me you're turning into a Volteer?!"

"Spyro, it's the darkness. You are about to try and push its limits and if something happens... I'm just scared."

"Don't worry, I will be fine, I promised."

"Alright... When ever you are ready, I will, stand back and watch. Maybe I can gain some information out of this from watching, but that's if all hopefully goes well."

Malefor did just that. Taking a couple of steps away from him but still ready to his side to help Spyro out in case anything happened, and unfortunately, he couldn't shake the feeling that something would happen. Spyro smiled at him, and he gave some what of a weak smile back as he was too concentrated on preparing himself for the worst. Taking a deep breath in, Spyro closed his eyes, and took a breath out. As long as the sadness I feel is stronger then my darkness, then I will be fine, He thought to himself, as his body started to glow with darkness. Swallowing hard and watching as he went for it, Malefor started to shake up even more. Feeling the darkness start to get a little out of control, Spyro quickly thought of a sad thought, Remember what happened last time you lost control... don't let that happen again. The darkness around him started to glow a little darker then before, and without knowing it, he smiled. His scales started to turn pitch black, and everything to him was going smoothly. The power he felt in his body was nothing he's ever felt before. His body slightly grew, as he was now just as tall as Malefor. His wings and tail grew in size as well. Sighing as the power started to feel too much, blue flames burned out from his nose. I... just... need control... He thought, but just as he started to try and control the power, his body locked up on him. What, the, hell?! Trying to open his mouth, or even trying to move any part of his body, he completely locked up. After trying for a little bit, he was able to open his eyes, and soon after he was able to open his mouth. But when he spoke, his voice was deep, menacing, and the sound of his growl was enough to send paralyzing fear to anyone, "What is wrong... with my body!"

His growl scared everyone. The voice was unlike anything they've heard, and even for Malefor, that voice was scarier for him then listening to the dark master himself. Taking his time to approach him, every step Malefor took, his fear only grew, as that voice, it was burned into his brain even though he only heard it once. Standing next to his side, Spyro turned and looked at him. Looking into his pure white eyes, his pitch black body and dark aura that surrounded it, Malefor froze up, and to him, his heart felt as though it had stopped. As the girls watched what was happening, they tried not to make any sudden movements, hoping that Malefor knew what to do as they didn't know how to help. The growl that escaped from his mouth was just as scary as if he was speaking. Spyro turned away from him and looked back at the ground, continuing to growl as he was starting to lose control, Damn... it... I... can't hold... this form at all... I... I can't... lose control! Seeing his body flex from the pain only made his fears grow. But he couldn't give up on him. Malefor reached up his trembling paw and gently rested it on his shoulder. Feeling what he did, and seeing it at the corner of his eye, Spyro growled, "Malefor, don't!"

The darkness slid off his body and up and on Malefor's arm. Most of the darkness quickly went from Spyro's body to his. Malefor cried with fear, quickly taking his paw off of him. His breathing grew heavy as he looked at his paw, seeing the darkness growing. His arm was now completely turned into a dark purple version similar to the dark master.

"Malefor!" Carith cried, running up with Cynder a couple of steps.

Seeing as her lover's body teased up, Carith's heart almost dropped. Turning his head, Malefor looked at the two girls, and the right half of his body had been consumed by the darkness. Even with one half of his body turned into his dark purple scales, tears still ran down both his eyes, only fueling the tears in his lover's eyes as well.

"No no no, no, not again!"

---

"Why are we playing this... game?" Terrador grumbled, sitting next to Cyril in the Chambers.

"Oh come on, it's not that bad of a game. And plus, Ignitus is too busy explaining what the Chronicler is to Claire, Volteer is stuck in all of those books he is reading, and me and you need to be out here in case anyone needs us. And maybe at some point in time, those other four will come down and say hey. Now come on, let's play," Cyril explained in detail, raising up one paw as his body faced his friend.

Terrador could only grumble again but it was the only thing to do to pass the time. Turning his body over and facing him, he raised his paw and asked, "Tell me how to play this game again? I know Malefor made it up but still, it confuses me every time we play."

"Okay well, at first he called it rock paper scissors. But then he decided to mix things up to make it more fun... also because you yelled at him for the name and how it worked. So, he then called it Ignitus Carith Malefor."

"Such a stupid ass name."

"Hey man, he came up with it, not me. But basically how you play is, Malefor beats Ignitus, Ignitus beats Carith, and Carith beats Malefor."

"I find it funny how he came up with a game where his lover is beat by his own friend."

"Hehe, well, maybe he will change things up. And you remember when you told him that, Malefor looked at Ignitus and told him to that if he ever would really try..."

"Yeah yeah, I know. Broken back, snapped spine, something along those lines. I think he got that out of a book... I remember something about a, bat, guy, or a, bat... Something with a bat. He said that he would be Bane and Ignitus would be Batguy if he tried to hurt her... What ever, lets just get this over with."

"You meant to say, Ignitus would be Batman, and Malefor would be Bane who broke Batman's back but, what ever. Ready?"

"Ready."

"Malefor, Carith, Ignitus, and..."

"Wait!"

"What?"

"What are you doing?"

"Playing the... game... you said you were ready."

"Last time I checked, I can make a rock in my paw, but another Dragon? How do you expect me to do that?"

"Oh yeah, right. Malefor is rock, Carith is paper, and Ignitus is scissors."

"Why don't we say rock paper scissors then? Why do we have to call out their names and make it sound dull?"

"You're a mean one, mister Terrador... Alright, we can do it your way, okay?"

"Lets just go."

"Alright... rock paper scissors, shoot!"

Cyril threw paper and Terrador threw rock.

"Yes!" Cyril cried with joy for winning.

"This is stupid," Terrador grumbled from losing.

"Don't be a sore loser."

"It shouldn't matter what you throw, rock should always win! You put rock on a sheet of paper, it's not gonna go anywhere. You hit rock with scissors and it would break it! Nothing in this game should be more powerful then rock, it just doesnt make any sense why he would come up with a stupid game!"

"Well I mean... you already told him that... remember... and I uh... just said that a couple seconds ago? That's why he changed it to uh... Malefor Carith Ignitus..."

"I'm not playing anymore."

"Oh come on. Anytime you play something, it always has to be best two out of three. So come on, just one more."

A small smirk went across Terrador's face and he changed his mind, agreeing with him, "Sure, why not, lets go again."

"Oh... okay. Alright, here we go. Rock paper scissors..."

"Spyro!"

"Malefor!"

"Ha! I win."

"What? No the Hell you don't."

"I used Spyro, Spyro beats Carith, Malefor, and Ignitus."

"Spyro isn't even in the game, you can't use him. And plus, Ignitus would win no matter what since he is the Chronicler."

"Ah yes, two things wrong with those two things. One, we are talking about Ignitus, not the Chronicler form or side of him. And two, if it is a game then it can have rules changed in it. How else do you think the game was made? Lots of games change their rules from time to time so I just changed things up myself. And plus, come on, we all know for a fact rock beats anything... in this case, Spyro."

"What? How?"

"Think about it, rock would obviously destroy scissors, and if you put paper on rock, it would just sit there and later get blown away by the wind. But if you put rock on paper, the paper would be stuck under a rock with no way and nowhere to escape. The rock also isn't a real object so saying you are suffocating it doesn't really make sense. So, by definition, and smarts, rock would always beat paper... and scissors."

"Hey, like I said, that's something you'll have to talk with Malefor about, he made the game. Which still is also why he changed rock paper scissors to, well, you know."

"I'm going to yell at him when I see him for making such a stupid game."

"Just wait until we bring up the whole, hide and don't get your tail lit on fire game."

"Yeah, if I remember, I'm going to slap him for that one. Why did I agree to play that game?"

"He tricked all of us. But we said he could choose what kind of game we should play and well... he chose."

---

"So... basically, the Chronicler is, well, all knowing. I can read thoughts, make dreams, record dreams, actions, one's past, abilities, anything that has to do with dragon history, I will know it all," Ignitus explained to Claire as they laid in bed together, snuggled up with one another in the Sleeping Chambers, "I've also gained extraordinary power for being the Chronicler. I'm able to duplicate myself, run faster then the speed of light, have enough power to punch a nice hole in the earth, and even have a time power that can heal any and all injury. Which I gave the time power to my son as well."

Claire blushed slightly, but the more and more he spoke, the more and more she feared about what he could've heard or seen, "Wait so, that would mean that, everything I'm thinking about, everything I've said, everything I've... done. You'd know about it. That also means you watch over other lovers while they... kiss and later... have... a hatchling?!"

"What?! No no no, nothing like that at all. The Chronicler doesn't handle stuff that has to do with love as it is none of the Chronicler's business and it would make them feel... well... uncomfortable to say the lease. The Ancestors handle that kind of thing. The only real time I would see if someone was kissing... or worse, is if I focus on them mainly. That's why I accidentally see Malefor kissing his lover, or, Spyro kissing his because before I walk in or do anything to help, I see if they need any help. Luckily, I don't have to worry too much when looking towards those two but as time goes on, I know that i will need to be more careful..."

"And what about... you... knowing about my... thoughts and actions?"

"Oh, don't worry about that. I don't and can't see, hear, or read any of your thoughts, actions, or conversations in order to keep our relationship fresh. And not to spoil anything in case you said something. I actually put this into place when ever I rescued you from those dark creatures. After I went to bed, I had a clone of mine get help and the Ancestors said they would take care of it."

Claire sighed hugely, glad he wasn't able to know what she had said in that hallway. While the two continued to talk, Volteer was reading almost four books at the same time, learning and researching anything and any possibility that he could find that would help him find his long lost lover, Ersa. Even an outside source, that ring with the darkness, the help of the apes, Ignitus's help, no one would understand, comprehend, fathom, or even acknowledge the fact that she could even be alive! But no, I...! None of it will help me and every time I think about it, I always come back to my only source, helper... friend... Spyro... Spyro is... the only way I can think of finding her... He... he knows... he... He wouldn't let me down... Volteer finally tried to calm himself down with the issue he was having and decided it would be best if he had help from Spyro himself on his investigation to find, Ersa. Right now, I need to be planning on what I'm going to do or say to her when she gets back... yes, of course. What will we do, what will we invent, what will we... Will we... could we, I should be asking... could we... be lovers if I find her? As Claire talked to Ignitus, he both listened to her speak, and he listened to Volteer fight back and forth with him on the whole thing with his dead lover. Volteer I'm... I'm so sorry, Ignitus thought to himself, as listening to everything Volteer wanted to do with Ersa when she came back only made it more difficult for him, knowing that the day would come when he would have to tell him the truth.

---

Malefor tried to fight back against the darkness, but it only delayed the inevitable. The darkness slowly crept around his body, trying to infect the other half of him. No... no, ancestors please! Malefor cried in his thoughts as he felt himself losing control over his body. But his eyes went wide as he remembered what Spyro had taught him. I have to think of the saddest thing possible! I... I can't keep it from going any further! If it reaches my heart, or if it consumes my chest where my dark power is stored... Carith... Malefor cried, shaking his head and remembering back to everything that happened when he was the dark master. And one thought that helped the most, was when he raised his paw to his lover.

Malefor raised his tail blade up, ready to stab Carith. Ducking her head, she cried in a whisper, "Malefor... what... what are you doing?"

"Getting rid of the past for good! You've ruined my life, now, it's time for me to ruin yours!" He growled, slashing his tail blade down at his lover.

"Malefor!" Carith cried.

"No!" Malefor cried out loud as he remembered every detail and fear on his lover's face.

The darkness was pushed backed by a lot from just one thought, but it continued to try and fight back as it infected him as it was a lot stronger then the normal darkness. Spyro could move his body again, and seeing Malefor struggle to keep control, he yelled at him for it, "You dumb... Son of a Bitch!"

I have to get this darkness out of me...! But... how! Spyro growled, pulling his paw up and remembering back to what Ignitus had said to him.

"But the dark power is apart of you. Think of it like fire or ice, it's just something you've learn to control. Like how you learned to create water from using two abilities at the same time, the darkness is no different." Ignitus said.

Like how I learned to control two elements at the same time... the darkness is no different...! Ignitus... you really are... a genius! A small ball of fire spun around in his paw. The fire grew as big as his paw before blue fire spun around and ate the red fire. Soon following, the darkness from his paw went up the ball of blue fire, and spun around it, eating away at the blue fire. The darkness around his body slowly went away as it was all being channeled into the ball. Almost all the darkness from his body now circled around the ball, making it pitch black with small blue flames and red fire spinning out of it as it spun. Spyro growled even more as he had to remain concentrated on controlling both of his powers while at the same time, still being under attack from his darkness. I can't hold this... for long. Using the blue fire... and the darkness...! I... just need... to get... rid of it! Looking at the hole he had made in the training room, he used all his force to move his body to his side and throw the ball as hard as he can out the hole in the room. Hitting the ground as he did, he coughed up some blood. Cynder saw his condition and couldn't stand it any longer, so quickly ran over to him. Standing over his body, she draped a wing over his back and cried, "Are you okay?!"

"Malefor..." Spyro growled, trying to stand up and regain control over his body.

Looking over at Malefor, she saw his condition was getting worse as the darkness was starting to grow a little further then before. Looking back down at him, she gave the bad news, "He isn't doing well. The darkness is about to cover the other half of his body... You.. You don't think..."

"The dark master."

Standing up to his paws with the help of his lover, he was quickly knocked back down to the ground from an explosion that lit up the sky in white for a second. Everyone fell to the floor from the explosion, and Spyro covered his lover with his wing from the wind that whipped in from outside. Covering his face with his wing, he tried to sneak a peak at what had happened. Taking his wing down, he froze up, scared to know what caused it. A cloud of red and blue fire with black covering most of it flew into the air. Even from where he was, he could feel the heat coming from it. He shuck it off and looked down at Cynder. Picking his wing up and looking down at her, he asked, "Are you okay?"

She groaned slightly, "Yeah... what was that?"

"I don't know. But for the time being, we have something else to worry about."

Standing up on his paws, he helped his lover up, and the two watched in dismay as Carith stood in front of her lover, trying to get him to fight it. The two walked up, and looking over at Spyro, Carith cried, "Spyro, please... please help him... I'm begging you."

Anger went across Spyro's face as he approached Malefor. He looked at Spyro with tears running down his eyes and the darkness slowly moving more over his chest. Putting his paw over his right shoulder, the darkness crawled from off of Malefor's body and on to his. The darkness slowly disappeared off Malefor's body, giving him back his natural purple color. With the darkness off his body, Spyro now had to fight with it himself as he took his paw off his shoulder and tried to concentrate and fight back, not letting it get control. He was successful in doing so, but not completely. The anger he felt was very much there from what he had done. As his body returned back to it's normal purple color, Spyro showed his teeth and he yelled at him out of anger, "I could've had it! All the power, I felt it, and I could've achieved it! But you had to get in the way, almost like you knew I would achieve the dark power! And you know who knows about the dark power! The dark master! And it's all because of you!"

Malefor's heart dropped as he could see the anger in his eyes, how serious he was when he spoke that name. Raising his tail blade to his side, Spyro yelled at him again from the after effects of the darkness, "The dark master always gets in the way every step of the way! I keep holding myself back from killing you, thinking your a good guy! You should've been the one to die that day! If only the Guardians and Carith didn't intervene! No one is intervening this time."

Heading his words, seeing how desperate he was to kill him, Malefor cried as he back up, "No! Spyro, you're wrong! I just... I just wanted to help! All I've ever wanted to do since I got back was to help. I've tried and tried to help you. I've searched for any moment to where I can help you. I even wanted to train Cynder with her wind ability because I just wanted to help... please understand that."

"There is only one thing I've ever understood, and that is, you are the Dark Master! And you will never change! But I can fix that!"

Taking another couple of steps forward, Malefor's back hit the wall. He started to hyperventilate as this was almost like his dream. He was shunned and yelled at even though he just wanted to help. His body shivered, sweat of fear dripped down his entire body. All he could do, with his back to the wall, was put his wings around the front of him and let tears run down his eyes as he shivered. Seeing the condition her lover was in and what he just went through, Carith felt terrible seeing him how he was. Sniffles and mumbled pleas were all she could hear from her lover as she watched him shiver and sweat from fear. As Spyro walked up to him with tail blade by his side, Cynder stepped in front with a scared look on her face. He opened his mouth to say something, but then he closed it and growled at himself, as if he was fighting himself. Moving her paw to the side of his cheek, she took the opportunity to try and calm him down as well as herself. Putting her lips on her lover's, she was gently with it at first, but what had happened made her push more into the kiss, which only made it feel better for the two. The kiss felt even better over time as she could tell that even her lover was getting into it. Pulling back away from the kiss, she prayed that would've helped, and it did. His anger was completely gone, but now the memory of what he had done.

"Malefor's never going to trust me after today, is he?" Spyro mumured, feeling terrible that he wasn't able to stop himself from saying those things, "There was so much for me to deal with and... the darkness got to my head... And now look what I've done. He was just trying to help."

"He's just scared, my love, we all were. He doesn't want to die, and you, the anger, the darkness in you, wanted to kill him... he's just scared. Go talk to him. He needs to know how you really feel," Cynder suggested, and he nodded at her and agreed to do so.

Carith walked a couple of steps towards him and it only made it worse for her as she could hear his cries and pleas more clearly. His body never gave up when it came to his shivers, nor to his nervous sweats. Looking over to see the other two were walking up towards him as well, she quickly ran over towards the two. Stopping Spyro before he could go any further, she begged, "Spyro, please... he isn't the Dark Master... I swear... He... He's just scared."

"I know... and... I'm sorry. I wasn't thinking straight when I said what I said. I was focusing on the darkness and him and... it was too much, and I spoke at the wrong time. But don't worry, I will make it up, I swear. I don't want to let two dragons down today... Ancestors only knows that Malefor probably hates me for what I've done," Spyro murmured a response, knowing and feeling responsible for what had happened.

"You... you still trust him?"

"I never didn't trust him... What was said was just my darkness combined with my anger, and even some fear as I didn't know what to do... When I'm done talking with him, I will... I will understand if he hates me afterwards. And I'm sorry to you as well. Putting him in this situation takes time away from you two and, I shouldn't be doing that."

"Hehe, Spyro, it's okay. Just... please... help him go back to his normal self. Seeing him afraid again makes me think... makes me think of when he came back... I'm just scared that, this time, he might really leave out of fear of hurting one of us."

"I won't let that happen. Just, be ready to give him a kiss, okay? He's earned one for sure."

"Hehe, ready on that one."

The three slowly approached Malefor as to not alert him of their presence. As they did, he continued to weep against the wall, and it had seemed that his body had somewhat subsided from the shivers that he had. He had seemed to be calming himself down a little which would hopefully make it easier to help him. With Cynder to his right and Carith to his left, Spyro and the other two stopped right in front of him, still able to hear his tears and murmurs. Wondering what he should do to keep him calm, he went to raise his paw, but stopped it midair. Placing it back down on the ground, he couldn't think of a way to help him without scaring him, so he just did what came naturally to him. Trying to keep his voice as soothing and as calming as possible, he spoke, "Malefor... everything's okay."

The voice was soothing enough to even make his lover feel calm, and almost the same for Carith. His voice seemed to have helped slightly, but Malefor still cried and pleaded for mercy, "Spyro, I'm sorry, I swear... I never... I never wanted this to happen... After... after everything I've, I've gained back, after everything that I've been through... I never wanted this to happen... I never wanted to encounter the darkness ever again."

"Malefor... I'm not blaming you for what has happened. If you don't trust me then, just open your wings and let me show you."

"No...! I'm... I'm sorry I... I can't. This day alone has been nothing but a bad day for me. The nightmare, the darkness, you wanting to kill me... then, the darkness again, and even now, you still want to nothing more then my death... Please just... don't kill me... I'm trying... I keep trying but, nothing ever works... why...? Is it because... I'm meant to be the dark master...?"

"Malefor... Don't bring up those kinds of thoughts."

"What else could it be?! Even though I was brought back from the darkness, it has always found a way back to me... it has even found its way to other dragons who later found their way to me. Why shouldn't I bring up the truth... I can't get away from the darkness... I can't get away from the darkness... and I guess... you just saw it before I ever did."

"What I saw was nothing more then a selfish desire to kill you out of hate because of what happened to my lover. I've read your past, I know who you are. And right now, the only thing that I know right now, is your attitude. Bringing up the fact that you should be the dark master? After everything he put you through, your friends, your lover... And you want to go back to that?!"

"No...! I just... what else am I supposed to do... the darkness will find its way back to me someday... and I won't be able to do anything about it..."

Taking this opportunity to try and help, Spyro moved forward a little bit more until he was right in front of his wings. Sitting down right in front of him, he sat there, raising his tail blade to his side, he spoke, "What do you think I'm training you to do? The darkness is a beast that can be tamed. I wasn't successful, and because of that, I hurt you... and I'm sorry. You've never done anything to hurt me after you've came back, and you've tried everything you could to show me your aren't the Dark Master... I should've taken everyone's word for it sooner."

Malefor's wings slightly opened, and Spyro was now able to see his purple eyes and somewhat of his frown. Even though he had opened his wings slightly, his eyes looked over at the tail blade that was raised to Spyro's side, as if he was going to hurt him or worse. A sigh of sadness escaped his mouth as he closed his eyes and murmured, "I don't know who you truly are... But actions speak louder then words... But... I would rather leave then be killed... please... that's all I'm asking."

His eyes slowly opened after his sentence ended. As Malefor looked at Spyro with the sadness and the fear in his eyes, something inside him clicked. The way his body shivered, the faint but easy to see tears that he had shed that fell from his eyes and to the ground, and his eyes all completely demolished of life showed something that he had never thought Malefor ever even had. His eyes went slightly wide as he couldn't believe this was the first time seeing this, and he drifted off just thinking about it, I knew Malefor was a good guy from the books but... just like when we were attacked by those apes on our way to the Dragon Temple, just like when he slipped up and yelled at Ignitus, and even now... He isn't just a one sided joker... and... and it took me this long to realise it... even after how long he has been trying to show that to me... and I just ignored it... The look in his eyes now, the fears... I've been as scared as he is... I know... what it feels like. Making up his mind on the whole situation, he moved his tail blade in between his wings, and as Malefor closed his eyes, he murmured, "I love you... Carith."

Carith took a step forward, scared to think Spyro was actually going through with killing her lover, but thinking about it, she didn't want to think he would, especially after everything he just went through. Taking the step back, she bit her lip, wanting this all to be over so she could have her lover back; having him hug and kiss her like they use to. Her body shivered for those desires to once again be fulfilled by her lover, and all she could do was hope, and put trust into him, hoping he would make the right decision. Feeling the tail blade touch his chest, Malefor thought more and more about it as if life was flashing before his eyes, and as he thought about it, he knew he didn't want to die, but it was to late to react as Spyro's tail blade had already rested on his chest. He waited for him to stab him through the heart, but nothing. He felt the warmth from the tail blade, but other then that; no pain, no threats, nothing. The only thing he really heard was how hard he was breathing along with how hard his heart was hitting against his chest. Opening one eye, and then the other, his eyes went wide, and his wings went numb as they laid on the floor. What Spyro had done really made he believe that he trusted him, but, he didn't understand any of it, "But... You... I... The... The darkness."

"You were right, Malefor... I should've gotten over myself a long time ago. Part of me just wanted to be right so I could kill you and move on but, it seems that wasn't the case. The Guardians weren't going to have it, my lover wasn't going to have it, and I damn well know your lover wasn't going to have it, and for that... I'm sorry... I'm sorry for putting you and your lover through more hell even though you have all already suffered enough... I know sorry won't fix what I did but... we still have the rest of our lives to make it up... right?"

Malefor was at a lost for words, wondering if he was still in the dream and he was just getting a better ending to what he had witnessed before. A slight chuckle escaped from Spyro as he joked, trying to cheer him up from what had happened, "If your heart beats any faster, I won't be the only one breaking the sound barrier around here."

"But..."

Pulling his tail blade back to the ground, he apologized once again, still feeling terrible for what had happened, "When you first came back, I never really saw you as anything else but a single shell. You were either the Dark Master, or just a single minded joker with a lover. But... looking past that, you've shown me time and time again that... you are just as much of a dragon as me or anyone else... The only difference between us and the Guardians is that, unlike those other dragons, we respect our lover's, hehe, am I right?"

Once again, Malefor was at a lost for words. To him, it was like Spyro had completely changed his view on him, but he didn't understand why he did or even when. He didn't believe it, he couldn't believe it, which made him believe this was just another dream that he was being tricked into. But... even if this is, a dream... and Ignitus has control over it... there is nothing I could do to prevent what he has planned... But... there's... there's no way this is a dream... it can't be... not after what just happened. The feeling, the darkness, the reaction and help from Spyro it's... it's all too real, He thought to himself, making up his mind that this wasn't a dream. Knowing that Spyro wasn't the only one he probably scarred, he looked over to Cynder, and somewhat murmured as he spoke, "Cynder... I'm... I'm sorry..."

She could only giggle, knowing what he was probably thinking, "Malefor, I took off my chains for a reason, and I have no intention of ever putting them back on... and I never will. I don't fear the dark master any more. Hehe, to be honest, the only fear I have, is when ever you joke sometimes. I was for sure Ignitus was going to kill you with that third base joke you kept pulling on him."

"Even after what happened... you trust me?"

"Why shouldn't I? You were infected with the darkness, it's not like you were trying to use the darkness to harm someone. Instead, you fought against it, and for me, that just shows me even more that, taking off the chains is just another step towards how right I really am; About how you really are a good guy. And I'm not the only one who knows this. Even the Guardians would've done everything they could've to help you... And so would we."

The more everyone talks about what had happened and how they don't hold what happened against him, the better and better he felt. His breathing had started to slow, he slowly started to regain his smile, and even his heart was slowing back down to a normal pace. Almost all the fear he had left in him that held him back from being truly comfortable was what his lover thought of him. Looking at her, she could only smile while he tried to do the same. Opening his mouth to apologise, he wasn't able to speak a single word as his lover had already spoken, "Don't say your sorry. You didn't do anything wrong. But... after what happened... I'm going to need a lot of love from you. And I'm talking like, once we are done, we are going to have some dry lips, understand."

"Hehe, I promise... Thank you, Carith."

Focusing his attention back on Spyro, he had finally completely calmed down and his smile had returned along with everyone else's. Giving out a slight chuckle, Spyro opened his mouth to try and make a joke to lighten up what had happened. But surprisingly to him and the other two, Malefor had draped his wings over Spyro's back, putting his head over his shoulder. Spyro's eyes went wide from the sudden hug, but after what had happened, he could understand why, but he didn't understand why he wasn't hugging Carith. It didn't take long for him to find the answer as Malefor murmured it over his shoulder, "Thank you... for trusting me. I... I didn't want to die... I can't... I still have that dream I need to fulfil... remember?"

Pulling away from the hug and putting his wings back to his side, he received a smile from Spyro. Looking over at Carith and back at Malefor, Spyro apologized for getting in the way of his dream, "Sorry about that. I know I, said it before, about me trusting you but... Give me this last chance to show you that I'm sorry... And I hope that one day, I can be there for the special day when your dream becomes a reality... And I hope you can be there for me too. So what do you say we make our dreams a reality one day?"

"Hehe, sounds like a Hell of a good thing to agree to... But I also want to make sure that, if I do make a joke, bringing up the darkness or anything like that... I will always joke about something like that."

"I know I know. You'd never put your love in danger. And I know you don't have good control over your dark power so, if you ever need help, training, or just want to sit down and talk, I'm here for you. I might not be able to be as much help when it comes to talking compared to your lover but, I can still be there if you need help with a problem that could threaten you, my lover, your lover, our friends, or even this peace that we have."

"I will be ready to help and fight by your side when ever you need me, I promise. I mean, hehe, after all, you do live right down the hall from me."

"Hehe... yeah... But, once again I'm... I'm sorry for putting you through the same nightmare you just had. I'm sorry I put you through more fear and sadness even after you had returned. Can you forgive me for that?"

"Spyro, I don't even know if the Guardians have forgiven me for the years of trouble I've put them through. Even what Ignitus pulled with that nightmare, I don't blame him, and I don't blame you for getting defensive. It was my fault any of this ever happened. And thinking about it now I... I miss every second when I'm not with my lover, or the Guardians, or even you and your lover. That's why I like waking up every morning and heading down to the Chambers because... I never knew I would have my life back... I never knew I would be able to talk to my friends again... my family."

"And behind all of that darkness, I never knew you were really just a dragon. I believed that you were just born a monster, and reading your past, I didn't know what to believe since the story about what had happened wasn't true. But I see now what the truth really is. So from now on, when we visit the Guardians... You don't have to worry about anyone hating you. And if you still have doubts, I'm sure they will always be willing to talk to you."

"Hehe, I don't know man, being in a room with Volteer?"

"Why are you picking on him?"

"Because, I can't tell which way he swings if you know what I mean."

"He had a girlfriend."

"Yeah well, him and Cyril use to fight like an old married couple."

"Great, so what does that make us?"

"What are you... oh Hell no. Never mind, you ruined it. Since you brought that up, I will give Volteer a pass for now. But until he gets a girl, I will always hold true to what I believe."

"Fair enough... I just find it wired that you're standing here talking to me and not your lover who was probably more effected by this then me."

"I just... I wanted to make sure we were cool with one another... I... I didn't want to die... unlike the dark master who wanted to destroy the world, I have too much to lose. I've almost been able to heal my bond with everyone after what's happened and I was afraid I was going to lose yours, your lover, and my lovers trust for who I was... I just want to know, one last time, of the truth, that we are not enemies anymore."

"No, we aren't enemies."

"Does that mean!"

"No, we aren't friends either, not yet. You have to earn that. So for right now, I would say I'm more then neutral towards you. So, basically, trusted."

"Hey, trusted sounds way better then death bed."

"What?"

"Spyro, please. You can't look me in the eyes and tell me with a straight face that you didn't want to kill me in my sleep when I first came back."

"Ahem... uh... Got me there. Thank Carith and Cynder. If it weren't for those two, I probably would've killed you in my hallway."

"Well... I think I need to go and thank them personally... Thank you for all your help once again, Spyro."

"Any time. Just uh, get ready for me to embarrass you every second tomorrow in front of the Guardians. I'm going to tell them ever little bit about how you cried with your back to the wall."

"Mother... fine, what ever. But knowing you and Cynder, drama is always around the corner for you two, and I will be ready for it."

Walking past Spyro and patting him on the shoulder as he walked by, Malefor walked over to his lover and sat down in front of her with a smile. His lover giggled slightly with a smile seeing him smile in a happy manner. To her, he didn't seem afraid anymore. Feeling the warmth of his paw as he placed it over hers, she shuck her head slightly, and his head tiled slightly, wondering what he did wrong. Opening his mouth to ask, his lips were covered by his lover's in almost in instant. Cynder giggled seeing the two, and looking away from them, she saw her lover looking over at her. Raising a claw, she waved it towards her, wanting a kiss as well. Chuckling with a smile, he walked over to his lover. At the same time, the other two had pulled away from their kiss with slightly faster breaths. Putting their forehead on one another, Carith joked, "After all that... you only put your paw on mine... and you think that will cut it...? You don't know what I desire... do you?"

"Hehe, we aren't in our room yet are we? I promised you when ever we got to our room, I would give you the kiss you desire," Malefor said, reminding her what he had promised her, and thinking about it, she knew it would be really embarrassing getting into such a kiss while the other two were still right next to them.

Looking over at the other two and seeing Spyro stand in front of his lover with a smile, she knew exactly what they were planning on doing as well. Looking out to the massive sized hole in the training room, she saw the sunlight slowly start to disappear as the sky went dark with the only light being from the moon and the stars. She knew it was time to get to bed, and hinted towards Cynder as she said, "Hey, Cynder. I know you'd like to kiss Spyro now but, it's late already so, would you rather kiss on the ground, or on a comfortable bed?"

Cynder giggled as she looked at her, "Oh, I see, you get to kiss your lover, but I can't kiss mine? What, the kiss was so bad that you think I'm going to have the same experience with my lover?"

"Hehe, Hey, it's your lover, not mine. I just wanted you to know that me and Malefor are going to head to bed. It's been an, eventful day to say the least. And last thing I want now is for something else to happen."

"It's not even that late, and I'm barely tired. How come you two are going to bed so early?"

"Well... we won't go straight to bed. I want to talk with Malefor about all that's happened."

"Oh no..." Malefor murmured with a frown.

"Hehe, don't worry, it's nothing bad I... I just want to hear your voice again, that's all."

"Oh... thank the Ancestors."

Giggling slightly at her lover's reaction, she focused her attention back towards Cynder and continued, "And with today out of the way, hopefully tomorrow will be a lot better. Things have been a little crazy over this last week with Spyro wanting to kill Malefor, those dragons, the apes attack on our way to The Dragon Temple, and even what happened now. I'm hoping that things will calm down after all of this... and I'm... more scared then ever of losing him."

"Carith, I promise, I'm not going to ever try and kill him ever again. You don't need to worry," Spyro promised.

"I know, and I hope Cynder gives you a nice kiss for that. But... it wasn't really you who almost took my lover away from me today. So, just for a little bit, I don't want Malefor to train to use his dark powers for a couple of days, please. I don't want to keep him away for too long as I know how much it means to the both of you... just, be careful when you do. And, Malefor. If you go behind my back on this..."

"I won't I won't, I promise. If it weren't for Cynder and your help, things would've gone way differently anyway," Malefor promised as well.

"Yeah, you would've cried for a whole lot longer," Spyro joked, messing with him about what had happened.

"That power was pretty strong, and I'm pretty sure if I let it take over, I would've been able to kick your ass. Then we would've seen who was the real cry hatchling here."

"You choose power over love, and I will choose another man over you, understand?" Carith threatened with a smile.

"Yes my love! Sorry my love..."

The three shared a small laugh with one another from Malefor's reaction, and a couple seconds later, he joined in on the laugh too. As the laughing died down, Malefor took the opportunity to put his body against the side of his lover's. Draping his wing over her back, he went to wrap his tail around Carith's, but she beat him to it by wrapping her tail around his. Spyro wasn't about to be beat, so he did the same to his lover. Putting his body against her side, he draped his wing over her and went to wrap his tail around hers. But just like Carith, Cynder beat him to it as she wrapped her tail around his. Feeling the warmth and the embrace of their lover's bodies, Cynder and Carith yawned, feeling tired now compared to before. The two girls smiled at one another and Carith thanked her for talking with her, "Thank you for talking with me, Cynder. It's nice being able to talk to another girl around here, and it doesn't have to do with man stuff."

"Hehe, you're welcome. I had a fun time too. But, it felt kinda lonely without, Claire. We need to find time to take her off of Ignitus's paws and talk some more," Cynder suggested, trying to holed back the smile she had as her smile was already big enough.

"I'm sure we can. Maybe tomorrow, depending on what's going on. But, any time, I'm down to hang out with you and Claire."

"Agreed... And, I guess that kinda gets me a little excited now. Since Spyro trust Malefor, me, you, and Claire, we could all just walk around and talk..."

Spyro and Malefor opened their mouths at the same time, remembering what happened when they did that the last time. But the two girls cut them off by saying in unison, "Inside the Guardians Building."

The girls giggled at one another while the other two sighed with comfort.

"So, tomorrow then?" Carith asked.

"Absolutely," Cynder agreed.

"Then I will see you in the morning... oh and... give Spyro a well deserved kiss for not killing my lover, okay?"

"Hehe, I think I can make sure it will happen. And reward your lover with a kiss for being so strong and fighting back the darkness."

"You already heard what I wanted from him, so I'm sure I can make that happen all night."

"Hehe, then I won't keep you. Goodnight you two."

"Goodnight, Cynder, Spyro. See you both in the morning."

The two nodded with smiles, but before she was able to turn, Malefor said something to Spyro, "Hey, Spyro... I don't want to be wired in saying this but, seeing how easy I could lose my life, not from you of course I... I wanted to know if maybe one day, me, you, and the other Guardians all have a guy's day out. What do you say to that? It could be in the Guardians Building or even out in Warfang. Ignitus can keep watch over using his powers so the girls can have a girls day all to themselves."

"Hehe, I don't know when we will be able to but, why not. When ever we have the time, we can all go out and do that. And it does sound kinda fun. And to make sure it does happen, I promise that, one day, we will have a guy's night out," Spyro promised, seeing Malefor's face light up with a bright smile.

"Thank you, Spyro... And I guess for the time being, we will see you tomorrow?"

"Hehe, I'm always right down the hall."

"Hehe."

Turning away and walking with his lover towards the door, Spyro watched as Malefor talked to his lover with a big smile, almost as if he was talking about how he didn't kill him. As he opened the door for his lover, the two walked out and went towards their room, keeping the door to the training room open so the other two could easily walk out. Looking around the room and away from the door, Spyro sighed as he said to himself, "How am I ever going to fix this?"

"Is fixing and fighting the only thing you think about," Cynder whispered, hoping she could tease him some to make it more of a romantic night, and rubbing her side up against his only helped what she hoped she could accomplish.

"Well, with a voice like yours and a body like yours, sometimes the only thing I can think about is how long we could kiss for."

"You want to find out?"

"Absolutely."

Walking with his lover out if the training room, she nuzzled her head on the side of his cheek and went back towards their room. On their way out, he closed the door behind himself with his tail blade and stopped in the middle of the hallway. At this point, Cynder rested her head on the side of his neck so she didn't really know what he was doing as she had closed her eyes as well just thinking about him. Spyro looked over at Malefor and Carith's room, and he thought about what had happened and that promise he made to him, I can't believe I ever doubted him. Even after everything he tried to prove... even after that promise he kept to me to keep Cynder safe while I was knocked out... Makes me feel even more terrible for what I put him through over the week he's been here. Opening her eyes and noticing they still hadn't moved, she picked her head up off his neck and looked at him. Seeing the confusion and somewhat sadness on his face, she asked, "Are you okay, my love?"

He broke from his thoughts and said, "Yeah I just... let's talk about it in our room."

"Okay..."

---

"So... The Chronicler has all these amazing powers, has his own personal island, knows everything thing in existence, and could've done or chosen any one he could've in the world, but he chose me... I know for a fact I'm not the prettiest girl out there no matter how many times you or anyone else tries to tell me that. You could've gone with someone with a simple past, someone who wasn't already so lost from what happened back then... So why choose me?" Claire asked, begging to know the answer now that she knew what he really was and what he was capable of doing.

"Well... I never really look at myself as someone who could have what ever he wanted. It's true, I could look into someone else's past and find out who would be the easiest for me to have but... that just doesn't sound right, it doesn't sound like I actually care for them. It just sounds like I'm looking for an easy girl and an easy relationship, but that's just not who I am."

"Hehe, I don't know, when you found me, I was pretty easy for you to get to me."

"You were afraid, and I couldn't leave you there. Even though I didn't know who you were, I still trusted you enough to use my powers to bring you back and help you. And I'm glad I did everything to help you. If I had chosen someone else, where would you be? Who would you be with? Would you really be happy where you were rather then being with us?"

"It's funny you say that cause, when I was here, and I saw Malefor, all I wanted to do was kill him and leave. I never really ever wanted to hurt any of you. But now, even after what's happened, him explaining himself, the way he acts, the love he has towards his lover I... I forgive him for what happened, and I feel terrible that anyone would have to go through what he went through. And to be honest, I'm scared that one day, we will go back to the way the past was... The darkness, the death and then... I could even lose someone else I care about... I could lose... another..."

"Another? Are you, talking about me?"

She sadly nodded, thinking back to the dark past that she had endured, but luckily, Ignitus's words were more then enough to cheer her up, "On my word, I promise, we will never have to go through such a thing again. Even as powerful as I am, Spyro still gave me some cuts and scrapes while we were fighting which means he is a lot stronger then he thinks. No one in this world is close to his power, aside from Malefor if he keeps training, and even still, he is on our side, he's our friend. With those two fighting together, along with the Guardians, what could stop them?"

"Well, when you put it like that, doesn't sound as scary anymore... But, I still want to go back to what I said before. Why choose me? What do I have that all the other females out there don't?"

"Hehe... well, you can call me cheesy on this as, this is probably something Spyro would say but... I guess the reason is because, you are the only dragoness in the world that has stolen my heart. No other dragoness out there has and, I don't plan to keep looking. No other female out in this world can steal me away so easily except for you. And, after the night, that we shard in that room I... I knew I had found where part of my heart went... and all I had to do was get it... And with you by my side, I succeeded."

"That was pretty Cheesy. After all, how could you say part of your heart was with her if she already had a lover, signifying that your heart never really was with her and that implies you are trying to be romantic," Volteer quickly interrupted as he quickly mouthed off a sentence without stopping, but before Ignitus could even respond, he quickly apologized for his actions, "Sorry, I've been reading a lot of books, and to be honest, my butt is pretty numb, and I haven't been able to sit right at all making me think that I'm not going to sleep well tonight, and it's going to keep me up all night. But don't mind me... I was just... jealous... that's all."

"Jealous...? Jealous about what?" Ignitus asked as he looked over at his yellow friend.

"Oh uh, nothing. I was just, mouthing off words without even thinking... forgive me."

Seeing Volteer frown as he looked back down at his book, Ignitus knew what and who this was really about, and he couldn't blame him. The only thing I could hope to do is help him find someone else. When Volteer lost Malefor, Ersa came along and cheered us all up. And now that she's gone, he is going to need someone else to cheer him up, the same way she did, Ignitus thought with a frown, hating the fact that he has to keep her death a secret. Sighing sadly as he thought about it, he looked back over at Claire and froze. He couldn't understand what he had done. She was blushing, but at the same time, a couple of tears ran down her eyes, and she looked dumbstruck. Swallowing hard and thinking he had done something wrong, he opened his mouth, but was quickly made quiet as she raised a claw up and put it on his lips. Taking the courage to say something, she took a deep breath in, and then out. Putting her paw back on the bed, she spoke, "Now that you say it, I think I found a part of me that has been missing as well. A part of my heart that was once broken, and the only one who could fix it, was you..."

Giving him a nice nuzzle on his cheek, she still smiled with a couple of tears as she screamed at her self in her thoughts, Kiss him kiss him kiss him! Why won't you suck up and do it! Pulling away from the nuzzle, she sighed once again, angry at herself for not going through with it. I'm going to need some help from the girls on this one, that's for sure... After he said that I... I want nothing more for us to do right now then to kiss! Ugh...! Maybe... maybe next time... hopefully. Going back to what the Chronicler could do, she changed the topic as to not fuel her anger for not saying what she could've, "Sorry to, go back to the whole, Chronicler power thing but... what else can the Chronicler do? You mentioned he was blue and that you changed your scales from blue and then back to your red ones. So does that mean you can, change your body or something?"

"Oh of course. If I wanted to, I could even make myself look muscular if I needed to. I just keep myself looking this way because I like being old fashion."

"You can... make yourself look more muscular? Could you uh... show me? If you don't mind."

"I don't see why not."

Flexing out his muscles and using his powers to help, his body and muscles were just as flexed and ripped as Spyro's if he were to flex. Claire's mouth opened as she almost practically drooled seeing his body. Looking at him, she saw everything she could've wanted in a man, and she thought about how he looked for a while, His muscles... his body... his... handsome face... I... Did I... die? Am I dead and just dreaming of this... perfect man? Seeing his body, he stopped flexing and returned his body back to normal. But even though he did so, she was still almost drooling as she looked at him. Blushing slightly as she looked at him the way she did, he chuckled, "Oh come on, I'm not the best looking dragon in the world."

Without even thinking twice, she closed her mouth to swallow before slipping up and saying, "Take me..."

"Wh... what?" Ignitus stuttered with a big red blush that showed even through his scales.

Hearing what she said and seeing his reaction, she blushed just as hard and quickly tried to cover it up, "Oh, no no no, I meant, could you, take me, to the White Isle someday for a tour or something? Not the uh... hehe, other thing..."

Which I still totally would've agreed to, She agreed with herself, blushing still and somewhat having a smile as she hoped that one day, she could use those words again. No doubt in my mind. If this peace continues, and we have nothing to worry about, then one day, I will tell him, and I know... I know for a fact, I can have the greatest life one could have... even after... what happened with my previous lover... I can't let that happen again... never again. Shivering from the thoughts, Ignitus ignored his embarrassment in order to help her out. Putting a paw over her shoulder, she looked up at him to see he was concerned. Smiling from his help, she snuggled her body up against his again and laid her head underneath his as she whispered, "I'm fine... thanks to you."

The silence that filled the room with the enjoyment she had being curled up in the warmth of Ignitus was short lived. The door to the Chambers opened with Terrador and Cyril walking in, both yelling over at Volteer about the game they were playing.

"Hey, Volteer! Isn't it true that rock will always beat paper no matter what since I'm sure rock is heavier than paper!" Terrador called out, adding onto the noise as he also shut the door behind himself after the two had walked in.

"And can you tell, Terrador, that paper will always beat rock because paper can cover rock completely!" Cyril called out as well to his yellow friend.

"Well technically speaking, this was a game formed by Malefor, there for, it has its flaws. It's unbelievable you two are fighting over something so understandably stupid. Of course, by what I go off of, rock will always beat paper. But if you really want to understand the game, ask Malefor himself. And he did change the rules to Malefor Carith Ignitus so, the game was specifically meant to fail the minute he made it," Volteer explained his idea on the matter, almost none stop talking about it back and forth with the guys as the two walked over to him while he sat near the pile of books.

Claire started to growl from the amount of noise everyone was making as she was just having one of the greatest day's of her life, which was now being ruined by those three. Ignitus swallowed hard, somewhat hearing the growling over the yelling, and feeling it from the bottom of his mouth. Pulling his head down and moving it beside hers, he looked at her and she did the same to him. She then frowned and sighed, not wanting to show her anger. He could only chuckle with a smile as he gave her permission to shut them up as he had the exact same reasons for anger as she did, "You know, you don't have to go easy on them. I was enjoying myself quite well and they just charged in here, yelling and screaming, ruining my time with you."

He said exactly what she was thinking, which made her question whether or not he really was reading her mind, "Wait a minute... I thought you couldn't read my mind and yet, you were able to figure out exactly what I was thinking. Is there something you want to tell me?"

"I've just been seeing and observing your actions and feelings. Similar to how my son does with his lover, he sees what she likes and doesn't like to make her as comfortable as possible, and to avoid anything that might make her feel worse about herself. So I've been doing the same."

"Oh, someone is putting a lot of thought into me... You sound like a man to me."

"Hehe, thank you. So, what are you going to do about the noise?"

"Well, I was hoping my red guardian could help me with that."

"At your request."

As the two talked it over, the three were still going on about the game which lead to them then talking about another game that Malefor had came up with that almost destroyed the Dragon Temple. Ignitus chuckled while Claire giggled, having their plan made up, they found a perfect way to shut the three of them up. Ignitus was the first to start the plan. Looking at the three, Ignitus called over to the three with a demanding voice, and his chest puffed out, making him seem more threatening, "Terrador! Volteer! Cyril!"

His voice made the three close their mouths very quickly. They all looked over at him in unison, scared to think about what they had done wrong. Surprisingly, with his chest puffed out the way it was, it made them even more scared, and the intimidation worked on the three. They swallowed hard as they then all focused their attention to Claire who laid her head down straight on the bed with a frown. Her frown then turned into a small smile, but seeing that frown, they all shivered, scared to know what she told him. As Ignitus continued to speak, they all focused their attention back on Ignitus, "How dare you act like this over a game! Interrupting my time with Claire is not something that can be punishable be banishment, Oh no, I would never do that. But it is punishable but having endless nightmares, paralysis for the rest of your life, constant pain that you will feel all throughout your body...!"

The three all almost cried with fear running down their faces and bodies, knowing that he could actually do this to them if he wanted to. He continued with one last thing that could happen, but he also gave them a way to make up for what they did, "But even worse then that... I will make sure to have Malefor... and Spyro, give you a twenty-four hour, seven days a week, one full month, of training...! But there is a way out of this... It's late. So, come over her, apologize to Claire, or I will for sure get Spyro down here right now and tell him what you did to my lov... To Claire...! He would understand...!"

They all almost heard the slip up, but they couldn't tell if it was from their fear, or it's just what they thought they heard. Even for Claire, she wasn't afraid at all so she heard him loud and clear with her head laying underneath his. She shuck it off though as she believed it was just her imagination, Ignitus... really has acted like, he really loves me. And, I guess with the thing with my old lover, and now with Ignitus... I... could I just be imagining what he said? She tried to look up at him with her head still laying down on the bed, but she couldn't see if he was blushing or not. And even if she could see from almost underneath his head, all she would see are his red scales. The three Guardians all got up and walked over to the front of Ignitus's bed, all ready to apologise for being so loud and disruptive. As they stood in front of his bed, Claire picked up her head and joked with them, "You know, because you three just ruined that moment for me and Ignitus, now I'm kinda wishing I did kill one of you back when I was an assassin."

She was scared to death to joke like that as death was always so serious to her and everyone she's ever known. But from her memory, she remembered what Malefor and Spyro had talked and joked about, so she wanted to try and loosen up a bit and see what they would've said. Taking a quick peek at Ignitus, she heard him chuckle with a smile, and even the Guardians all pleaded for life, apologising for their actions.

"What?! I was reading my books and these two came in screaming. Kill one of them, not me," Volteer pleaded.

"Well I uh... I'm sorry, I didn't know you were having a special moment and I promise it will never happen again," Cyril apologized, and taking a quick look over at Volteer, he growled through his teeth, "Thanks, Friend."

"This was on all of us," Terrador sighed, feeling bad for interrupting the two, "We are, very sorry for our intrusion, Claire. It was a silly game that we took too far and we wish for you to spar our lives... If that is what you wish."

Claire could only giggle before laughing at the their reaction to her words, making them all sigh, hoping that meant she did forgive them all. She felt bad for putting them in this situation and apologized, "I'm sorry to scare you all like that. And don't worry, I won't let anything happen. All though, then again, maybe something should happen to Volteer. Maybe a, month of training with, Spyro?"

"What?!" Volteer cried.

"Throwing your friend under like that was pretty selfish if I do say. I can't believe you would do such a thing to your friend like that."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I swear, I just... I haven't, i wasn't thinking straight when I said it."

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

As Volteer looked over at him, Cyril had a small frown on his face. Standing next to him, he whispered to him, "Turn around real quick."

Volteer did as he was told and the two turned away from everyone else. They ducked their heads slightly, and Cyril asked, somewhat already knowing what could be on his mind, "What's going on? Hehe, I mean, you throwing me under like that sounds like something you would've done in the past so... Is there something about the past that is making you want to relive it? We are all joking here, and if it's a joke, I'm fine. I just want to know if you're okay."

He sighed, knowing that someone would've noticed he wasn't doing so well, and he explained the reasoning behind it, "I've read so many books over my life time, I've done so much research on the body of a dragon and, it just doesn't make any sense. I'm... I'm not going to go into detail about everything as to bore you. Spyro and, some what, Ignitus, have been helping me a lot. But, I don't know if I can keep going knowing that Ersa could be dead... I'm... I'm scared I'm getting my hopes up only for them to be crushed all at once."

"So Ersa is on your mind again?"

"Like I... I just want to know. From you. What do you believe. Is she died, yes or no?"

"Volteer I..."

"Cyril... You've seen how she is. You've seen the time I've spent with her. I want just one answer. Is she alive, yes or no?"

"Volteer, I'm your friend. And telling you no to her being alive is something I can't do. You know I will always say yes."

"Even if you are just trying to be helpful, I want to know from you."

"Then... I will say yes. I've seen who she is, how smart she can be. I... I will say, yes."

"Alright..."

Pulling their heads up and turning back around, the three were watching as if they were waiting for something to happen.

"Well, looks like I'm never going to find someone," Terrador sighed, completely confusing the two.

"What?" Cyril and Volteer asked in unison.

"Me and Terrador had a bet going on. He said that if you two kissed, Terrador would find a lover, and I won," Ignitus chuckled, seeing the two look at one another with blushes before looking over at Terrador and growling.

"You're such a bitch," Cyril cursed.

"I didn't know what was about to go down. Plus, we were bored while you two were whispering about running away together," Terrador laughed.

"I'm not that kind of guy, alright. When ever I find a lover, I'm make sure it's known that I'm not like that."

"You don't have to search far, she's, I mean, he's, right beside you."

"Terrador!" Volteer growled.

"Alright alright, settle down. Terrador, you don't know what the two were talking about and I can assure you, it isn't something that should be joked about. Trust me, it's... it's just... Look, just forget about. I've already talked with Claire a little while you two were talking and she says you all get a pass. So you can all sleep easily," He paused as he looked over to see Volteer looking away somewhat with a frown, "Especially those who need it."

The three all nodded and went to their respective beds. Watching as Volteer laid down, Ignitus thought more about his situation, knowing exactly how he must be feeling, Even with the war being over, some wounds can't heal. I know how you feel, Volteer. You never brought it up until now because you believed she was alive. You never brought it up because you know, deep down, that you didn't want to find her dead. And now that you are faced with such a problem, all your emotions are coming back to haunt you over your love for her. And if the day comes where you find out the truth... I will hopefully have the power to help you, to erase the memories of your time with Ersa's. As everyone had laid down in different positions, all with their eyes closed ready to sleep. Claire did the same as she nuzzled her head underneath his neck before laying her head down on his paws, and eyes closed, she whispered, "Hehe, at least now I can have my moment, can't I...? Goodnight, Ignitus."

"Goodnight... Claire," Ignitus whispered, still eyes wide open, thinking about such a thing.

Would I really erase his memory of her, and have everyone act as if they don't know her either...? Even after the war is over, there is always a problem to deal with. Always having to do with love. And what if I ever lost, Claire. Would I really want my memories to be erased so I wouldn't remember such a time where I kissed and laughed and joked with my... lover? No... no that wouldn't work. I just have to keep thinking of something else, anything else to help him, Ignitus thought, laying his head down over Claire's and closing his eyes. You know what you need to search for, but where... I was able to find Spyro and Cynder, and I can find Ersa if she's out there... You haven't given up Volteer, and I will try my hardest not to give up as well... even if with what I've seen and read. Falling to sleep with everyone else, he relied on his clones to take care of everything while he slept, hoping there would be a sure answer to the truth of what happened to Ersa.

---

With the two laying curled up in their bed, Malefor smiled with an evil grin as a spoke out loud, almost as if he wanted he lover to hear him, "Good, this is, very good. With everyone's trust within my grasp, I can finally resurrect my dark forces without worry, and with the training of the darkness undergoing, soon, the world will rightfully be under the rightful control of the true master, Malefor!"

His eyes adjusted over to his lover's to see she was surprised, but it didn't take her long to realise what game he was playing. All she knew was, she wanted to play along. Gasping and putting a paw on your chest, "No... it's not true. I have to go and tell Spyro right away!"

Standing up and moving one paw forward, a wing blocked her path. She turned her body and looked right into his eyes, still seeing that smile even as she did. Blinded by his purple eyes, she didn't realize his wings had blocked her from both sides. She didn't realize it until last second when is wings rested down onto her back. Looking over to her left, and then right side, she looked back at him with fake fear on her face, and he growled softly with a smile, "You're not going anywhere."

Putting his paw on her chest, he didn't have to apply any force for her to fall back. Falling to her back on the bed with his wings slowly laying her down on her back, she looked up to see her lover was above her with a grin. Putting his paws over her two paws, he laid them down against the bed so she couldn't use them. Pretending to struggle, she playfully growled at him, "You have to let me go sometime, and when you do, it's over. Lover or not, you have to be stopped."

"The only thing that needs to be stopped are those lips from blabbing about my plan."

"Hehe..." Pausing, she raised her head slightly up to his mouth and whispered, "Do, your, worst... and also your very best... make sure to do your best."

"Fine. But you asked for this."

Locking lips with his lover, her head went back against the bed with his going forward to push into the kiss. Even though she tried to pretend to struggle to make it more romantic, the kiss drained a lot more energy out of her then she thought. Feeling the comfort of her lover, both in embrace and lips, she felt like falling asleep right there while he kissed her, and she dozed off during the kiss. As his lips pulled away, she was able to wake herself back up and apologize, "Malefor... Sorry, I... I was enjoying that a little too much..."

"Hehe, it's okay... I understand. I'm pretty tired too, and, to be honest, I would've fallen asleep on top of you but, our little nosey neighbor down the hall would totally come in and joke all about it and embarrass us for days."

"No he wouldn't . And if he did, I could always get Cynder to help me with that."

"Cynder knows how to make him do what she wants with a simple word."

"Breakup."

"Oh yeah. It's even a scary word for me to hear."

"Well, can my, Malefor, hold off on his dark army creation for another life time?"

"Hehe, of course. Plus, I have another things that I need to, create, with my lover."

Her face lit up red with embarrassment from what he said, and he didn't realize it until he saw her face. His face went red, if not, more red then her face and quickly explained what he was trying to say, "No, wait, I'm sorry! That's not what I meant! I meant, creating my relationship with you, creating my life with you! Not the uh, other thing, not, uh, you know... It's just..."

Getting my hopes up like that, Carith grumbled in her thoughts with a small blush. She giggled seeing how nervous she was and felt bad that he was stressing again after what happened, "Malefor, my love, it's okay. You shouldn't keep stressing like this. Today wasn't good to you at all, but luckily, I was there, and so was Cynder. And most of all, I'm pretty sure, your friend, was there too. Spyro doesn't want to admit it but, give him some more time, and you could be on your way to his complete trust and friendship. Well, you already have his trust but, you just got that last obstacle."

"Yeah... just one more. I wonder how he will treat me tomorrow, how he will see me... When I was afraid, it was like he treated me completely differently, as if he saw something that I wasn't seeing. What do you suppose made him change his mind so much about me? A lover's kiss is very powerful, powerful enough to take away the darkness from me completely and to bring me back. But for Spyro, Cynder kissing him would not have done all that... So, what do you think did it?"

"I thought he had talked to you about it?"

"I remember him saying how he saw me as nothing more then a single shell. I was either the Dark Master, or I was just nothing more then a joker, but he saw past that. I hate to put Spyro's trust of me to the test but, the jokes we just had, about me making a dark army, I want to see how he reacts to it, I need to know if he's telling the truth or not. But, I believe he is. When he approached me, when he apologized, he was scared, and not of me... but, what I was going through. It looked like he felt bad for... me."

"I trust him, I really do. He did poke fun at you for what happened, but he didn't rub it in your face, and he didn't make you feel worse about yourself. He was there to support you, and, unlike the old Chronicler, I feel like the past has changed, and Spyro is your new Chronicler. He's the friend you deserved; the one who watches your back while you watch his. I'm sure it took time for you and the Chronicler to become... enemies, but with Spyro, it's just going to take time for you two to become friends."

"I can only hope."

"Well, since you aren't, doing anything else to me," Carith slightly murmured her last words with a slight blush, but she quickly changed the subject, "Sorry, what I meant was, since we aren't doing anything else, you just want to go to bed? I would feel bad if I fell asleep once you kissed me because I feel like it would make you feel as if I weren't enjoying it, and trust me... I most certainly was."

"Hehe, alright."

Taking his wings back and pulling his paws up, she rolled over onto her side and watched as her lover laid down a paw away from her. He pulled his wing up and didn't have to wait long for her as she was quick to snuggle up against his side. Snuggling her body down his side, she laid on her side with her head next to his paws. Draping his wing over her back, she laid her tail over his. Laying his head down over his paws, she gently nuzzled the top of her head against her lover's cheek and whispered as she closed her eyes, "Goodnight, my love."

"Goodnight, my love," Malefor whispered, closing his eyes with a smile, feeling her head on the side of his cheek.

Please, Spyro, tell me, show me, that you really mean it this time... It would really help, and change the way I view, and hope to see the future with my lover... And since that little race is on, I should start thinking of her as my... my... I... I need to really prove myself if I ever what to call the most beautiful dragoness in the world, my mate... But, I can do it... it's my dream... just like with my, hopeful, future, Hatchling dream,, Malefor thought with a warm and hopefully smile. Hoping tomorrow would bring something good and new to the world, he, along with his lover, slept both happily.

---

"So, what's going on?" Cynder asked, spinning her body around and facing the front of the room as she laid down on the bed, talking to her lover as he approached the bed, "You were pretty happy one second, giving Malefor so much praise for what he did, and now it seems like you're regretting it. I sure hope that's not what you are thinking though."

"No, I just, didn't want to talk good about Malefor anymore then I had today," Spyro chuckled, jumping up to the left of his lover before walking around to her back and then her right side, he laid down beside her and with the two facing one another, he continued, "I definitely trust him now, and, I didn't want him to possibly over hear while we were in the hallway. And, I also wanted to see what you'd say when I said, you were right about him all along."

"Fears blind the mind better then any other emotion some days. I should know, so I'm not going to pick on you about it... Well, maybe not too much."

"Hehe."

"So, what did he do that changed your mind about him so drastically?"

"Well, from the time we were ambushed by those apes, and even now, I saw something that I never thought I would see in Malefor before. He has this, side, to him, that I didn't know he had. Like me, when someone he cares about is in danger, he goes into this, mood, that I usually go into. With the apes, he didn't think twice when it came to protecting everyone, knowing he would have to run, jump, and possibly fight at any point, but he didn't care, he did it."

"And if say, an ape attacked from the front, and Malefor was on the back of the group, he would've had to run all the way around or jump over everyone as quick as possible to save them?"

"Exactly. And there were so many apes there, and he might've had to do that. And he probably thought about it as well. He knew it wouldn't be an easy task, but he did it any way. He put everyone else's life first, and his second. And even in the training room, he knew the darkness was infecting him, and even after he was darkness free, he stayed away from everyone out of two thing: One, was because he didn't want me to kill him, and the second... can you guess?"

"Um... Because... he didn't want you to kill him a second time?"

"Hehe, I guess that would mean there are three reasons. So, that would mean, the third reason he stayed away from everyone is because he was afraid the darkness would come back and he would hurt us. His back was always against the wall, with his wings covering his entire body. And, instead of letting his tail blade hang outside of his body, he kept it close to him. Even when I tried to help him, he never moved his tail blade. I thought he was just trying to show me he wasn't the Dark Master, like, as if it was an act but... even I knew it wasn't."

"He definitely went through a lot today. Carith played a big part today in helping him, but you, you really surprised me with how helpful you were. If it wasn't for you, things could've gone completely different. Malefor might've even left out of fear, and I'm pretty sure you saved him from doing such a thing."

"I could only hope I did. Even though it was my fault for trying to push myself to get stronger. If I hadn't went for that boost in power, he wouldn't have had to go through that."

"But if he didn't, you wouldn't have trusted him as much as you do. He wouldn't have shown you that he was listening, he was trying to control it to help you and everyone around him. And that little, ball, that you made in your paw, that I'm pretty sure destroyed half the world, you would've never known how to make it."

"You saw that?"

"How couldn't I have. Even I saw it at the corner of my eye. But, going back, I was taught that, sometimes, things happen for a reason, and it's best to let those things happen. It is terrible to hear what happened to Claire's lover, and I can't say what would've been best for her. But, with where she is now, this family, having Ignitus as a lover, I would say that, she deserves this life for what she's been through."

"So I'm spilt with the decision of: Should I tell Malefor he is my friend now, and try my hardest to believe him even if I see the darkness? Or do I continue down the path of him working his way up to my friendship?"

"Spyro, you remember the day when I thought I had cut you? But it turned out to be that Damn arrow."

"How could I forget the fear on your face from that day. It wasn't an easy day for me either."

"Well, Ignitus told me that, if you would've told me you loved me, everything would've actually been a whole lot worse. Going back and revisiting the past, you also remember when we tricked Sparks with that poison and he flipped out and told the Guardians?"

"Hehe, Yeah."

"Well, if we were in love, I never would've ran away when I heard what you said in your room, or, things would've been different entirely, and we would've never experienced that, and neither would have the Guardians. Cyril didn't trust me, remember, and after that day, he really felt bad and apologized. If that day would've never happened, Cyril probably would have a way different view on me then he does now, and I wouldn't have even known."

"Ignitus told you...?"

"He told me about how, no matter how or when I wanted to tell you I loved you, it would end in a disaster, because I would miss something or, something else would happen from a different past or future. I was scared, and, I felt like that meant that I was never meant to be with you... and... when I came to that realisation... I wanted to give up... Then, the day came where you told me you loved me and I... Hehe... I couldn't say no to you."

"I'm... sorry."

"It's not your fault. Blame your father, he was the one who wanted to demolish my hopes of being with you."

"Hehe, I will remember. Me and Malefor should get some revenge on him tomorrow for what he did to Malefor and you."

"But, this goes to what I feel like is with Malefor. You tell him he is your friend now, and miss out on the growth, the opportunities you could've had to show that, he really isn't evil. Everyday we weren't in love was another growth for me wanting to love you. Every night you didn't leave, you training to keep me happy, choosing me over all those other females that blocked the streets when we came back from helping the parents Hatchling... It was just... I was entirely too lucky to find you."

"Those were the days, weren't they... As much as I loved the time we shared, I feel like, after saving Malefor, times have been more memorable."

"How so?"

"Well, back then, there wasn't much, light, even after what we had been through. The Guardians were sad, the future that we thought we were going to have was shattered, and... it was a dark time. Every time you were in pain, every time you thought you weren't loved, the times you thought I would leave you I just... I wanted to kiss you... and tell you, everything was okay... but I was just as scared as ever. But now, I can kiss you when ever without worry. The Guardians are happier then before, Malefor's been a big help, and Carith, you and Claire are having the times of your life and I... I... I'm glad things are moving in the right direction... and I hope I can keep this right..."

Putting a paw to the side of his cheek, the two smiled at one another, and a single tear went down her eyes as she smiled. Finally having the time she wanted, this special moment, she didn't waste the opportunity to have it. Moving in and putting her lips over her lover's, she closed her eyes as he did the same. Slowly pulling her lips off his, she went back in for another kiss, and then another, before finally pulling her head back. She opened her eyes at the same time as her lover's, and she giggled, seeing a tear go down his eye as well.

"I love you," Spyro whispered.

"I love you too, my, Purple Guardian," Cynder giggled, causing Spyro to chuckle.

Moving her paw and putting it back on the bed, she nuzzled her head underneath his neck before laying her head down on his paws. Snuggling up together, he put his wing over her back, and he rested his head over hers. Resting her tail over his, she purred happily from the feeling that his body gave off from his scales, and she whispered to him again, "I have to agree with you. Times now are way better then they were back then... and, I would call the past trash but... you were always there so... I guess the past wasn't bad for me at all."

"Hehe, we both think the same then. Without you, I would've given up a long time ago."

"Hehe, and we both act the same too... I would've done the same."

"And... as I talk to you I... I feel terrible for putting Carith through that fear. She trust me, and I know she tries to but... I would've been the only monster on this planet if I took him away from her... I need to apologize for making her feel that way. I know how it feels to be scared of the death of your lover, and no one should go through it... Me and Malefor will make sure of it... I know we will."

"Sounds to me that tomorrow is going to be another step forward."

"Hehe, yeah, I would say so. The only fear I have no is, the whole Ersa situation... That will be a step backwards if she's dead."

"Well... I believe we will think of something, but for now, lets enjoy this night."

"Yeah, that kiss you gave me almost made me cry from how good it felt."

"When you kiss someone you love, you just get that sensation... Promise to do it again in the morning? And I don't mean a regular promise, I mean a Spyro Promise."

"Hehehe, so now I have my own promise now? Well then, I, Spyro Promise to do it again in the morning... there's definitely no way I'd miss out on my time with you."

"Never again... Spyro... You don't have to make Malefor your friend right away because taking your time won't be such a bad thing. Just, please, trust him. You two can accomplish anything together, and with your training, you helping to train him, those dark times... I'm just... scared that we will have to go back to a time of war, corruption, and lies... I'm scared of who we might lose in the future..."

"I... I know. But, I do, Spyro Promise, I will do everything I can to keep such a thing from happening... Making Malefor my friend and, trusting him, bonding with him about the world and thoughts could seal the peace we need in this world... Hehe, I mean, he is a joker so, this shouldn't be too hard to do. Just, sleep easy my love. No matter what happens tomorrow, just know, me and Malefor will be there to protect our peace in this world."

"Thank you... Spyro... And, I think I'm also going to sleep pretty easy knowing I can wake up to a kiss from my lover in the morning."

"Anything for you, my love."

"Anything? Be careful when you give a girl like me power."

The two laughed slightly, trying to forget about what the future could hold. With the laughing died down, the two closed their eyes, and Cynder whispered as she nuzzled her head for a second against her lover's chest, "I love you, Spyro... I will, kiss you, in the morning?"

"Anytime for that matter... I love you too, my love," Spyro whispered, moving his head up slightly a pecking Cynder on her forehead before laying his head back down over hers.

"Such a tease..."

As Cynder dozed off, falling into a peaceful sleep, Spyro had a thought on his mind before he had fallen to sleep, It's you and me Malefor, against the future. I need that side of you again. If we trained some more, maybe I wouldn't even need my dark power. We wouldn't have to worry about corruption or, darkness or, anything for that matter. Terrador, Cyril, and Volteer could all find lover's, who are loving and caring like Cynder, Carith, or Claire... If we keep this peace, it can happen... we can do it... I believe we can... But, what do you think... Malefor?