It is amazing how a single night can change everything.

And not necessarily for the better.

Spyro certainly had the dreadful feeling that things were going to change on that night. He could not shake away the feeling that everything was going to get worse after that night, as Kallag looked at him with hatred, and Gaul continued to look at him with what Spyro could only assume was a huge disappointment, before the purple dragon and his grey companion were both scout back into the village.

Gaul guided them back into the hut, while everyone around them looked their way, and many of them whispered between with each other, all of them sharing what they thought they knew and what they heard, all of them wanting to know what exactly happened. Some of them seemed like they had a vague idea of what had happened already forming on their minds.

They did not went back to the hut were they usually stayed though. This time Gaul took Spyro to another hut, one even bigger than Spyro's, and which was reserved for Gaul to have his meetings with his generals and other important individuals. Spyro didn't reflected at this at the moment but, much later, he would find out that there was a reason why Gaul was taking him there.

Perhaps it was because of those whispering and the way they were looking and pointing at Spyro that Gaul decided to put guards on each entrance of the hut for the entire night. Or, perhaps it was because he wanted to be sure that Spyro would not go away and cause even more problem.

Either way, it seemed that he at least considered it for a little bit, when Gaul told that extra guard to keep an eye on the two dragons all night as they slept, and he did told them that they would sleep now. He was still not yelling, and neither did he sounded angry, but Spyro preferred he did, because the way he spoke, the disappointment on his voice, was much, much worse.

Spyro curled into a ball as he slept on the night, with Aerea by his side and his father going out to do something else without even talking to Spyro one final time to wish good night. Spyro nearly felt like whimpering and sobbing himself to sleep, but he decided that it was better to just sleep and get this over with.

Maybe he would wake up and find it was all a bad dream.


It didn't turned out to be a dream.

Spyro became aware of this as soon as he woke up and the guard of last night was still in there, looking at him with a serious expression as he waited for Aerea to wake up as well.

She wished good morning to Spyro as soon as she woke up and looked his way, but it was clear that this morning was anything but good for the purple dragon. He was looking down and looked miserable as the wind dragoness stood by his side and walked to him, nuzzling him softly to try and make him feel better.

They did not had a meal with Gaul, and instead they were both brought fruit and fish for breakfast, and told to wait for Gaul to call for them both. They even offered Spyro a book for him to read as he waited, probably upon the orders of their king.

However, Spyro didn't felt like reading today, even if it was a volume of the Adventures of Crash Bandicoot that he never read before. He just didn't felt like reading anything now. He thought he would not be able to truly appreciate the act of reading as he usually did. Heck, at this rate he would hardly even been able to concentrate enough to read properly. His eyes would just skirmishing through the words without actually reading anything. It happened before, and that was why Spyro knew it would be useless trying to read.

All he truly did was look down as he waited for the moment when his dad would finally call them both to talk to him. And he spent a whole amount of time dreading what Gaul would say once they were before him.

Funny how your mind could always think up the worst possible results when you knew you were in trouble.

Spyro had always considered himself a bit of an optimist. He would not have been able to live his life so far if he was not able to be optimistic about things. However, even he found it hard to imagine anything but the worst possible outcomes for this meeting with his father. He could only imagine what his father would say to him once he was before him.

It was with dread that Spyro heard the guard coming to inform him that Gaul was ready to see both of them now. Spyro nearly felt like a condemned man walking to his execution as he and Aerea were both take to Gaul's presence.

The wind dragoness once more surprised Spyro by touching his tail with her own. This caused Spyro to blush, as his instincts told him that touching tails was an important thing, even if Spyro himself had not lived among other dragons enough to know what a big of a deal this was.

It did made Spyro feel slightly better about what they were about to face.

That was, until they walked into the room where Gaul waited.

Oh, no! What is HE doing here!? Was all that Spyro's panicked mind could think. His stomach dropping several feet underneath the surface of the earth as he saw Kallag in there, standing by Gaul's side and looking at the two dragons with a lot of contempt as they made their way into the room.

Spyro looked down, avoiding that gaze. Aerea, on her end, glared back at the ape, looking at him with a challenging expression.

Kallag's scowl deepened as the gray dragoness gave him that look.

Gaul, on his end, remained impassive in the midst of all of that, as he simply looked at the two dragons. Spyro looked at the ground, at his own paws, while Aerea continued to have a glaring contest with Kallag, showing no signs she would look away from those hateful eyes. Both of them, however, looked in direction to Gaul as he spoke, his voice as serious as it could be, but gentle.

"Now... about last night." He looked at the two dragons in the eye. "Would you two mind explaining to me what exactly happened?"

"Are you seriously asking that, Gaul?" Kallag said before either of the dragons could answer to the bigger ape's question. "I think it's pretty obvious what happened last night."

He turned his gaze to Spyro, and the purple dragon cowered in face of the beams of hate projected from them on his direction.

"You 'son' has finally shown where his true loyalty lies." Kallag said, "With his own people. What is actually not that much of a surprise. I have been telling you for years that he can't be trusted, and it seems that last night finally proved it."

Gaul didn't looked away from Spyro and Aerea, as he spoke in an icy tone:

"Kallag, I'll inform you when it is his turn to talk, until then, I seriously advise you to keep your mouth shut."

Kallag scowled at the ape king as he was told off. He did obeyed though, as he didn't said any more words. Aerea had a smirk on her muzzle as she saw that crimson ape being put on his place so swiftly. Spyro, on his end, could not smirk, as he was still looking at his father, who looked back at him as he, once more, asked what happened.

Spyro soon was explaining to Gaul what happened last night that led to the outcome that Gaul himself witnessed.

Spyro told him about how they were enjoying the party from afar after they left Gaul, and how Spyro tried to teach samble to Aerea, and they both ended stumbling and ended up hearing of Kallag's plan to kill the prisoners without Gaul's consent. They decided to act to save the lives of the dragons, taking all of the measures to ensure the safety of the village and themselves, and how everything went downhill when someone noticed the dragons were gone and sounded the alarm.

"So... that was it." Spyro concluded, looking down as he didn't dared to look at his father, feeling ashamed of what he has done, even though he knew that saving those dragons' lives was the right thing to do.

Gaul looked at him for a few moments, before turning his gaze to the ape standing by his side.

"Kallag..." Gaul said, looking at the crimson ape, who looked back at him. "Did you really plotted to kill the prisoners against my orders?"

Kallag's answer was immediate:

"No, my king. I would never dream of disobeying your orders."

"Wha...?" Spyro said, looking at Kallag in shock.

"You liar!" Aerea said, practically screeching as she looked at Kallag. "You did planned to kill them! Spyro and I heard it all!"

"Oh, really?" Kallag said, looking at the gray dragoness. "There are anyone else who heard it? Anyone who can confirm what the purple dragon just said?"

"I can!" Aerea said without a hint of hesitation. "I was there and I can confirm that you and those two bastard friends of yours were plotting to murder those defenseless dragons together!"

Kallag didn't seemed fazed at all, and he just looked at her with a serene expression.

"Oh, so the purple dragon has his accomplice vouching for him? Well, that certainly means a lot, doesn't it?" He said, a smirk on his lips as if he knew he was making a point. Aerea looked like she was ready to jump at him and slash that smirk clear off his face with a swipe of her claws.

Kallag then turned back to Gaul.

"You are not seriously going to take the word of those dragons over mine, are you, my king?" He asked, and Gaul looked back at him.

"It is the opinion of two people against your own." Gaul said to him coldly. Kallag was not shaken.

"Do you want more witnesses? Well, you can ask the two apes who those dragons claim to have seem with me last night. They will confirm that we never talked about killing the prisoners or anything similar. Then it will be three against two, no?" He said.

"Those two were in on your stupid plan!" Aerea said to the dragon accusingly. "They will go along with whatever you say!"

"You mean, like how you are currently doing for your purple friend?" Kallag asked her, matter-of-factly. He then turned back to Gaul, and asked him to "listen to reason" and "not believe the words of the two dragons who so clearly betrayed them".

"I trust Spyro." Gaul said, and this surprised not only Kallag, but Spyro as well. "I know him."

"Well, maybe you don't." Kallag said to the king of apes, "Maybe you never really knew this dragon as well as you have convinced yourself."

Gaul said nothing in return, and only continued to look at Kallag coldly, while the crimson ape continued:

"Gaul, I this dragon who you've spent the last fifteen years calling your son has finally showed that, even if you trained him and made him obedient, his loyalty to his own kind will always surpass any bond that you thing you have built." Kallag said to Gaul, "So, thinking like this, this betrayal from his part is not really a surprise. Now, the only question left is, how to deal with this and make him pay for turning on us. Now, if you would accept my humble suggestion..."

Spyro dreaded what kind of suggestion Kallag would say on the grounds of "making him pay", and he was glad that, before he could give any, Gaul cut him off.

"That's enough, Kallag." Gaul practically growled at the smaller red ape through clenched teeth. "Remember where you stand."

Kallag seemed to remember, as he remained silent.

"I brought you here to hear your side of the story and to confirm Spyro an Aerea's. I've done that, what means that your part in here is done. You can leave." Gaul said to him. "You can leave as well, Spyro."

Gaul's voice was much gentler as he spoke to the purple dragon, but it was also serious, as there was still the fact that Spyro did something that produced serious repercussions. This was enough for Spyro to still feel like he was in deep trouble.

Kallag, on his end, bowed to Gaul, before making his way out of the hut, having time to spare one final glare at the purple dragon and his gray friend on his way out, casting them both pure poison with is gaze. Spyro shrunk under his eyes, while Aerea glared at him with fire in hers'.

Spyro waited until Kallag was gone, because he didn't wanted to leave the hut at the same time as him. Actually, he felt like waiting for a while before going out, to be sure that Kallag was gone and that he was not waiting for him just outside with his weapons ready to behead him.

The events of last night seemed to work to reinforce Spyro's fear of Kallag...

"Aerea." Gaul said, as the two dragons were both getting ready to leave. "I need to have a word with you."

Spyro looked at Gaul in surprise. He was confused, as Gaul had just told that they could leave, and that was when Gaul clarified to his son that he wanted to have a word with Aerea alone. This caused the two dragons to share a look, but Spyro eventually did as his father requested of him, and he was going to give the two of them the privacy they needed to talk.

"But be back in twenty minutes." Gaul said to Spyro as he was making his way out. "I need to have a word with you afterwards."

Strange how such a casual phrase could sound more threatening than the nastiest death threat of the world.

Perhaps it was the tune his father used, which didn't let Spyro forget that he was still in trouble.

With this, Spyro had his head low and was saying a "yes, dad" as he made his way out of the hut. He decided to just take a walk through the village, as he did when he had too much time to kill and didn't felt like reading.

However, Spyro regretted it.

It was no news to have people looking at him with mistrust and even anger. Spyro grew up with it for as long as he had lived on that village. However, this was the first time that it was so much anger directed at him at once.

Once more, Spyro's own sensitive ears worked against him, as they allowed him to get every single word that they were saying about him as they looked his way. That was how Spyro knew that they all heard everything about last night already.

Well, part of it, anyway.

They all knew that he and Aerea had both freed the dragons. However, they didn't knew the details behind this. They seemed to think that he had done it because he has decided to side with the dragons rather than the apes. To them, this was the first sign of something that they, apparently, always suspected.

"We cannot trust him." Someone said.

"Like we ever could trust someone like him."

"Of course he would turn on us at some point."

"Maybe now Gaul will finally get rid of him now."

"If he does, then I'll finally be able to sleep with an ease mind."

"If he stays in this village after this, I know I won't."

"There is no way any of us could possibly trust him after this."

"Are you saying you ever trusted him in the first place?"

"Of course not!"

"There is no way we could ever trust a dragon."

Spyro kept his eyes down, and he tried not to hear to all they were saying, like he had done many times before. However, today it seemed to be particularly hard to just ignore them and brush their words off. It was hard to just ignore all of their words on how he "betrayed all of them", and how he "finally showed his true colors".

It was just hard.

And, of course, fate seemed to want to make it all worse for him. So, it sent Zeggor.

The ape who, just two days ago, walked into the village in shame after trying to trick Spyro, was now as arrogant as he ever was (and Spyro could not believe how he never noticed how much of an arrogant piece of dung the ape was), and he was making pressure on Spyro as much as everyone else with his words.

He would not stop bragging to everyone how he escaped certain death when Spyro tried to give him as food for the owlbear after he attempted to allow him to join his crew.

"I was just trying to be nice and give him the benefit of doubt." Zeggor would say to everyone around him, as he had each one of his arms around a female ape, who were all over him. "Well, I guess sometimes you do pay the price for your kindness. I should have listened others when they told me not to trust him. Well, that's life, I suppose. I certainly learned my lesson."

Oh, how Spyro wanted nothing more than to go in there and smack Zeggor all over the head with his paws, and then with his tail, and then use both of his hind legs to kick the ape as hard as he could right on his arrogant behind. He would like to see if anyone would think he was cool once he had his butt handed to him by a dragon.

However, Spyro refrained from doing it. He knew that it would only make his situation with the rest of the tribe even worse.

But... did it even matter at this point?

Everyone was already looking at him as if he was a traitor. A look that, thinking about it, was not very different from the look that everyone always gave him. As if they never trusted in him at all in the first place.

"I knew we could never trust someone like him."

Spyro's heart was fill with disgust.

Disgust towards every single one of those apes who never trusted him. Who never gave him the time of day. Who never even gave him a chance, and just judged him for being a dragon and for the color of his scales. None of them ever even tried to know him. They just took one look at him and assumed that they knew everything that there was to know about and that Spyro was not worth their time.

None of them ever looked at him as if he was anything more than a dragon.

Only his dad did.

And Sparx.

And Aerea.

Aerea. Spyro could not help but think of her, and of how kind she was to him and how she was ready to act on his defense literally a few seconds after meeting him. She was kind to him, and she gave him the friendship and comprehension that all of those apes have, for so many years, denied him.

Spyro didn't realized how precious that was until that moment.

He now treasured Aerea even more than before, and he felt like he needed to tell her that.

This was what made him turn around after his short walk across the village and make his way back to the hut, not minding the looks and whispers of the apes.

They no longer mattered.

Spyro arrived right on the time that Aerea was coming out of the hut, her head down.

For a moment, she and Spyro crossed paths and locked eyes. However, the gray dragoness looked upset. So much that it made Spyro worried.

She looked down again, and she walked past Spyro without saying a word. Spyro was about to talk to her, when he heard his father's voice calling his name. The blue ape was standing at the entrance of the hut, looking at Spyro with a serious expression as he called him inside.

As they both entered, Spyro was about to ask what made Aerea upset, but Gaul silenced him with a "I'm disappointed with you, Spyro", as he had the most serious expression that Spyro ever saw him make, and this seemed to kill all of the questions the purple dragon was about to ask.

"What you did last night was reckless." Gaul said to him, "So reckless that I honestly never imagined you would ever do anything like it."

Spyro looked up at his father, saying that he did it to save those dragons lives, and that he was careful to not let them know the location of the village. He tried to say it all to his father in hopes of proving to him that he was not the one in the wrong... well, not completely, at least.

However, it seemed that the matter Gaul was more worried about was:

"That dragon saw you." Gaul said to Spyro. "He saw your purple scales and he knows what you are. And I am sure that he will tell the other dragons."

"Spyro can, you imagine what will happen if other dragons believe him?" Gaul asked to his purple dragon son. "What will happen if this information makes it to the higher ranks of the dragon army? If it makes it to Malefor himself?"

Spyro knew. He knew it because Gaul always made sure to paint a vivid image of the consequences of what could happen if Malefor found out of the existence of another purple dragon, one that could possibly oppose him.

It would basically be like having a giant target painted on his back for the rest of his life.

"You have put yourself in an unbelievable amount of danger, Spyro." Gaul said to him. "I'm honestly worried about what will happen next. We may need to move you to another village, just as a precaution."

Spyro continued to look down, as he took in what his father was telling him.

As he heard that, his eyes widened.

"Wait, move from the village?" Spyro asked, surprised. "To where?"

"Somewhere you will be safe." Gaul said to him. "I can make arrangements as soon as possible."

"But, what about my friends?" Spyro asked, "What about Sparx and Aerea?"

"Sparx is an adult, you can talk to him and, if he wants, he can come along." Gaul said to Spyro.

"Aerea too?" Spyro asked, and then Gaul's expression changed in a way that gave Spyro a very bad feeling.

"She can come too, right?"Spyro asked, and Gaul looked at him for a few seconds, before sighing.

"Aerea will be leaving the village today."

Spyro felt his stomach drop when he heard that.

"What...?"

"She will continue her travel alone." Gaul said to his son, turning his back to him. "She will receive rations for a few weeks of travel and then she will continue on her way."

"S-she is leaving?" Spyro asked, looking at Gaul. "She decided to leave?"

There was a little more silence, before Gaul said:

"I told her to leave."

"What!?" Spyro said, looking at his father. "Why!?"

"It will be better if she is not around you." Gaul said to his son, as his back was turn to him. Spyro, however, would not just accept this answer. The purple dragon was soon demanding to know why it was that this was happening. Why was one of his two only friends being forcefully kicked out of his life.

Gaul said something about her presence being dangerous, but it was so cryptic. Spyro came to understand that Gaul blamed her for the events of last night. After all, she was the one who convinced Spyro to free the dragons.

Spyro still didn't accepted it, and he told his father that she was only trying to help, that she was only trying to prevent Kallag from killing those dragons without need, and that he didn't understands why his father was so high-strung on her because of it.

Gaul said something back to Spyro, and Spyro tossed an argument back at him. That discussion was starting to get heated.

"Spyro, you don't get it!" Gaul practically yelled at his son. "We can't trust someone like her!"

That last phrase struck Spyro like a rock to the head. For a long moment, Spyro only looked at his father as he said those words.

Words awfully similar to the ones he heard the apes say that morning.

Spyro was shaking.

"Oh... so, we can't trust a dragon?" Spyro asked, his voice denoting his hurt. Gaul looked at it.

"You know that's not what I meant."

"Oh, it isn't!?" Spyro demanded, looking at the ape whom he, for so many years, called his father. "Because that was what it sounded!"

"What I mean is..."

"What you mean is that dragons cannot be trusted!" Spyro said to him. "Just like all of the other apes of this damned village! None of them ever trusted me, just because I am a dragon! None of them ever cared about me! And neither did you!"

"Spyro!" Gaul said, looking back at the purple dragon. "How can you say that? I raised you!"

"You mean you domesticated me!" Spyro said to him. "You made sure that I would be obedient and not be a problem to you! You made sure I would be tame and that I wouldn't know how to fly or use any elements! That's what you did!"

"Spyro!" Gaul said, looking at Spyro as he looked back at the ape with teary eyes.

"Wasn't it!?" Spyro demanded of him. "Didn't you kept me from learning the elements because you wanted to be sure I would not be able to burn the village down!? You said I didn't needed to learn elements because I would live a peaceful life and I would not need to fight! Well, I assume that a mascot who cannot bite you back is much easier to manage, is it!? And that's why you don't trust Aerea, is it? Because you didn't mad her obedient and she could bit you if she has a reason, right!?"

"Spyro, do not distort my words, you know how much I hate when people do it!" Gaul said to him. "And don't call yourself a 'pet'! You are much more than that for me! I'm your father, dammit!"

That was when Spyro said something he thought he would never, ever, say.

"NO, YOU ARE NOT!"

It was Gaul's turn to be stunned into silence, as the purple dragon continued to glare at him while shaking slightly.

"You are not my father!" Spyro yelled at him. "You are just some ape who my mother trusted her egg because she was dying and had no other choice! Stop acting as if you are anything other than that!"

Spyro didn't even waited for any form of answer from Gaul. He just turned tail and dashed out of the hut.

"Spyro!" Gaul called him, but Spyro didn't looked back at him. He continued running ahead, not stopping for anything. Not even when he nearly bumped into a familiar grey form, who moved out of the way as soon as the purple dragon passed, and Spyro didn't even stopped to see or acknowledge who it could be. He just continued to run as fast as he could, without looking back.

"Spyro! Spyro, come back here this instant! SPYRO!"

All of those cries went ignored by the purple dragon, who continued to run forward as fast as his four legs could carry him. Hot tears streamed down his cheeks as he ran away.

Away from Gaul. Away from all of the apes who mistrusted and judged him. Away from the village.

He just kept running, as he just wanted to leave every single one of them and never come back...