PLEASE NOTE: This is a sequel to both Luckiest Girl in the World and Fear of Fate. It is recommended to read those before this one.
Cynder put her notebook down on the bedside table, finishing up her last entry in her journal. She looked solemnly at it, running a soft paw over its cover, before she was interrupted by a harsh round of coughing. The coughs shook her entire form, and her throat pleaded for mercy as each cough burned.
The black dragoness prayed it would all be over soon. She prayed for the ancestors to take mercy on her and let her go swiftly and calmly. She was on her deathbed quite early for a dragoness her age; most dragons lived well into their four or five hundreds; she was preparing to pass away at the age of eighty-nine.
Today was her last day; she had a matter of hours left, probably not even that. The nurses had predicted it for months, and over the last few weeks, she had been counting down the days until today: her final day left on this world.
With nothing left to think on, her life began to play before her eyes. She had begun life as Malefor's servant, corrupted the very moment her egg hatched. For many years, she had committed many dark deeds under Malefor and Gaul's names, just barely breaking out into her own mind every few years. Those moments, while a relief to her that she still had her own mind in some moments, were some of the darkest moments of her life, as she was subject to the grief and the pain of everything she had done and was going to do, all with a clear mind… all with her own mind.
Malefor had known this was happening, and tried hard to keep his hold on her. He called these 'moments of weakness', and would ridicule her every time it happened. He would order Gaul to whip her as punishment. One time when she had turned seven, she had vowed that the next time it happened, she would not grieve or experience guilt; she wasted enough time doing that each time she broke free from Malefor's grip. Next time, she vowed she would do everything she could to fight him.
And that's what happened. It was her ninth hatchday, and she broke free of his hold. Immediately, she started fighting, and she escaped from the Well of Souls. She didn't know what to do; she'd never spent more than a few hours in her own mind. She could feel Malefor pushing back against her mind, but she fought him with everything she could. It was exhausting, and even though she was free to live from her own mind, she still felt trapped. Every few hours, she would feel Malefor knocking at the deepest depths of her mind, and she would fight hard to keep the door closed.
On her third day in her own mind, she wondered what it would be like if this never happened to her, if she never had to fight so hard against Malefor. She wondered what she would be like without all this trauma, and without all the dark deeds she was forced to do. Surely, there had to be another reality somewhere in existence where that reality existed, where Cynder was happy, loved, and untouched by evil's claws.
She wanted confirmation. She needed to know if there was a Cynder like this. She knew the only way she could find out was from someone with mystic, arcane arts: a witch.
Cynder had heard off a village in the dark depths of the Devil's Swamp, one of the thickest, darkest, gloomiest swamps known to dragonkind. This village was supposedly occupied by a large group of witches, mystics, and dark sorceresses. Knowing that they would have some of the most taboo magic known to dragonkind, Cynder had wondered if maybe they would be able to show her alternate versions of herself in other universes.
So, she went on a three day flight to the Devil's Swamp, all while still simultaneously fighting off Malefor, and eventually found herself in the witches' village after a dragoness by the name of Rafa had pulled her out of the swamp waters after nearly drowning. There, she had given her a special potion that put her to sleep, and a necklace that she would rub on to meet another version of herself, and that she would smash if she wanted to leave the voidscape.
Cynder remembered how grueling and horrible that experience was. In the voidscape, she had been met with countless versions of Cynder that were just as traumatised and mistreated as she was, many of them being Malefor's servant, his daughter, his slave. She saw many horrors in that voidscape, many even worse than hers. Some of the things that those Cynders had been subjected to by Malefor were so disgusting that Cynder had wanted to throw up several times in the voidscape.
Throughout it all, she was adamant that she would find a Cynder untouched by darkness. She needed to see a pure Cynder, untouched by Malefor's darkness and the lust for blood that she had.
She counted one thousand, three hundred and fifty-three different versions of herself. She had spent so long in that voidscape that by that point it had drained her and destroyed her. She felt that there was no hope trying to look anymore. For well over a thousand Cynders, she kept telling herself 'one more, one more', only for it to be yet another dark Cynder.
So, Cynder had broken the necklace. She found herself waking up four days later, still in Rafa's room, and convincing herself that there was no hope, no way out of Malefor's grasp. She had thought of ending it all right there, but she never got the chance. Almost immediately, Malefor's forces stormed the village, burned it down, and recaptured Cynder.
There, Gaul had given her the worst beating of her life. She was chained up in a prison cell, chained by all her limbs and her neck, before Gaul walked in and whipped her to oblivion. Cynder still remembered the way he tore her back open with that whip, the way he beat her face into the ground.
She lay in that prison cell for weeks. As she lay in that prison cell, Malefor didn't touch her mind once. He was letting her rot in her misery. It was worse than having him completely take over her mind again. Her agony and self-hatred was overwhelming. This moment was single-handedly the darkest moment of her life. Nothing could and ever had beaten it, despite the many dark moments her future would bring.
Three weeks into her imprisonment, Cynder was extremely upset to find herself back in the voidscape, however this time, she was the one being visited. Mixed feelings overtook her. This time, it was a pure Cynder. Beautiful, glistening pale grey scales looked down upon her beaten, bloody, grimey black ones, and soft, yet freshly traumatised teal eyes stared down on her. Cynder had almost laughed, watching this Cynder seemingly experience every other Cynder's trauma all at once for the first time.
She should have felt relieved; this was what she had spent what felt like eternity in the voidscape trying to find. But instead, she felt hatred. She felt like the voidscape was making a cruel mockery of her. Pure Cynders existed; why was she not shown her? Why was she instead shown the worst of the worst, witnessing horrors she would not wish to describe to anyone else? And now, this pure Cynder stood high and mighty, toying with her, claiming that Malefor was a good person.
Their interaction had been short, with the pure alternate-Cynder claiming that she would continue her old streak of over one thousand Cynders, trying to find another pure Cynder, as if to prove to her that there was more out there. Cynder had been incredibly doubtful of it, but wished the pure Cynder good luck nonetheless. She didn't know why she had done that; even now, she still didn't.
Then, she had woken up in the middle of the night, finding herself back in the dark, gloomy prison cell. In that moment, she cried. She cried so hard that she cried herself to sleep.
The next week, she felt Malefor start to knock at her mind's door again. She was too weak to fight him. She completely gave up. She had let him in.
Cynder never broke free from Malefor's grasp on her own again. She became even more savage and relentless, and her bloodlust grew. For the next few years, she became even more monstrous than she once had been.
It was Spyro who saved her, knocking her down in the realm of Convexity in one of the most intense fights she'd ever had, before she felt the darkness leaving her body. She shrunk, reverting to the normal body of a twelve-year-old, and Spyro had rescued her, believing in her in a way that she never thought anyone would.
After she and Spyro had beaten Malefor, they had returned to Warfang, and tried to integrate themselves for the first time into regular dragon society when everything returned to normal. They went through school, they went through a regular teenage life. It was hard, due to Cynder's past title as the Terror of the Skies, as well as her trauma, both from Malefor's grasp on her, and what the voidscape did to her, but she made it through pretty okay.
She and Spyro had even become a romantic couple by the time they were seventeen. It was something new for both of them, but they were happy to try it, and it worked really well for them.
However, when she was twenty, Cynder had run into Rafa again, who was now living in one of the more unsettling suburbs in Warfang since the village in the Devil's Swamp had been burned down. The memories of the voidscape, which she had not even disclosed to Spyro, came flooding back with full force, and… for some reason, she felt the pull to go back.
She had gotten out of her darkness. She had outlived Malefor, been purified by Spyro, and given a true chance at life. She was even in a relationship with the love of her life. Thinking about all the times she had almost given up and tried to kill herself, she wondered how many Cynders were the same. She wondered how many were as hopeless as her, thinking there was no way they would ever get out.
She wanted to talk to them, to provide encouragement. She wanted to see all the Cynders find hope, get out of their dark lives, and move on and find happiness. She also wanted to find that one pure Cynder, apologise for how she talked to her, and even to say that she got out of Malefor's grasp. She was sure that the pure Cynder would be more than happy to hear this.
So, she ended up talking to Rafa, and convinced her to teach her the arcane magic to create the potion and necklace that allowed her to go into the voidscape. She got the hang of it pretty quickly, and eventually she was doing it all on her own at home, without any help from Rafa.
This consumed her life. It was slow at first, but it became more evident the more she continued doing it. It became like an addiction to her. Despite seeing all those awful horrors again, being subject to disgusting atrocities and many Cynders in horrific states, she wanted to keep going back. She felt like she needed to.
Spyro and Cynder were married when they were twenty-three, but it didn't last long. It was during their marriage that Spyro found out everything that Cynder was doing, as he hadn't lived with her until they were married. He noticed her slipping out into the spare room at night, fixing herself another potion as she whipped another necklace around her neck, before falling unconscious and entering the voidscape. Then, the next morning, she would be up and about and acting as if nothing had happened.
Two years later, Spyro had finally been able to get the information out of her, and while Spyro didn't know how to react, he tried to support her, but wanted her to spend less and less time doing it, as it was starting to get in the way of her life, her work, and her marriage. She was exhausted every day, and often found herself sleeping most days the more she entered the voidscape.
Eventually, shortly after his twenty-sixth hatchday, Spyro filed for divorce. The marriage was starting to get toxic, and the voidscape started to be the only thing on Cynder's mind. Looking back, it was sad at how little the divorce had upset her. She had been so unaffected by it, that now she truly realised how right Spyro had been when he was calling her constant need to go into the voidscape an addiction.
Before Spyro walked out the door after signing the divorce papers, Cynder remembered him suggesting that she got therapy. He was kind enough to actually help her find someone, and even took her to her first few therapy sessions.
However, they didn't last very long. Cynder completely stopped going to those therapy sessions two years after they started, and she could tell that Spyro was losing even more hope in her. They saw each other less and less, and by the time they were thirty, Spyro completely cut her out of his life. For the last fifty-nine years, Cynder had not seen Spyro once.
The rest of her life was… not really much of a life. She lost her job, and sunk everything into the voidscape. She then lost her house, since she wasn't getting any income to afford living there. She found Rafa again and ended up moving in with her, but even Rafa was realising that what Cynder was doing wasn't good for her. Eventually, Rafa passed away, since she was already quite old, leaving Cynder to live on her own once more. By this point, she was nearing forty, and she knew she needed to change something or otherwise she would end up on the streets.
So, she got back into work, finding a job that allowed her to work at the bare minimum hours needed, also at quite a low rate. She struggled to get by, but she never tried to get anything more than what she had, as she was still focused on her 'duty' to be in the voidscape helping out all those other Cynders.
It was only when she turned eighty-one that she felt something very wrong with her. She was extremely weak, and often felt very sore. She saw a doctor about it, and he wasn't sure what was happening. She saw many medical professionals, and all of them had no idea what was wrong with her. One doctor, however, had asked her what her life had looked like so far, and upon mentioning the super frequent usage of arcane arts, he was immediately concerned.
The doctor just happened to have a daughter who was a sorceress, not as skilled in the same magic Cynder was using, but she had a decent amount of knowledge in it. Cynder was heartbroken to hear that the constant use of this voidscape magic was shortening her lifespan significantly, and making her weak very quickly. It had been daily for almost fifty years by that point, and had taken hundreds of years off her life.
The doctor's daughter had told her she would be lucky to reach a hundred, but as she grew even weaker and spent a lot more time in medical care, the nurses were beginning to estimate that at her current rate of physical deterioration, she would only live to eighty-nine. Cynder was lucky she had finally decided to stop entering the voidscape after talking to the doctor's daughter, as continuing would have given her even less years to live.
Her life had amassed to quite literally nothing, and Cynder knew that she had ruined her life and done nothing with it. It was the most embarrassing thing she could ever admit. She almost wished she had killed herself all those years ago as a slave to Malefor. That way, she wouldn't have gotten so caught up in the voidscape, in alternate universes, and ultimately ruined the best things she had going in her life.
She had a husband. They were even mated. They weren't ready for kids at the time, particularly with Cynder's addiction with the voidscape. But all along, Cynder knew Spyro wanted to be a father more than anything else. She saw the way he looked at other families with young children, watching fathers play with their sons and daughters in the park; it was blatantly obvious what Spyro wanted.
And she couldn't give that to him.
Cynder just hoped that, wherever Spyro was now, he was with a lovely dragoness who was a good wife, and who was able to give him the family he so desperately wanted.
After a few more moments of silence in her thoughts, she heard a knock at the door to her hospital room. "A visitor? Uhh… come in?" Cynder croaked with confusion.
She gasped with shock when the door opened and purple scales walked into the room. She rubbed her eyes, at first thinking she was hallucinating. However, as the purple dragon in front of her spoke, she realised he was very much real.
"Hi Cynder, it's… it's been a while," Spyro said awkwardly, sitting down across from her bed.
"Spyro? What… what are you doing here?" Cynder questioned, tearing up slightly from seeing her old childhood friend, her old mate, here in front of her again.
"I… I heard about what happened, and… I thought I should probably come in and see you one last time," Spyro explained.
"If this is your chance to say 'I told you so', please don't. I'm very well aware I threw away my life and I was stupid to do that."
"No, far from that. You don't deserve that on your last day. I just… wanted to be here, as an old friend. I thought you deserved to see me again, particularly after everything we went through."
"It wasn't good, though. I ruined our relationship, our marriage."
"Cynder, just because it didn't end well doesn't mean there weren't good moments throughout our time together. Those later years of our childhood, in school together, being able to be normal teenage dragons, and the early years of our relationship. I admit, I still look back on those years fondly. They were good years, Cynder, and even though our relationship ended up in divorce and a lot of hurt for me, I… I can't not think of those years positively. We helped each other grow, we were there for each other, and we knew what we were going through, after going through the war together."
"You really mean that?" Cynder asked.
"Absolutely. Yes, what happened hurt, and it hurt badly enough that I felt I needed to cut you out of my life, but… I'm at the point now where I've learned to move on. You know me well enough to know I don't hold grudges. That still rings true now. There's no point holding onto a grudge on you now, particularly when I know you're already paying with your life for it. You deserve peace, and a good friend, and to my knowledge, you haven't had either of those for decades."
Cynder chuckled sadly, before nodding. She wiped her eyes dry from the tears that were starting to form. "I haven't had a true friend since you left," Cynder said, trying to hold in her sobs. "I can't even say I've really had many companions."
"Oh Cynder, what happened?" Spyro asked, his voice breaking as he realised how awful Cynder was feeling.
"I lost my job, and I lost the house, Spyro. I got so caught up in going to the voidscape, for days on end, just like I did when I was nine… it took control of everything, even worse than it had been when you left," Cynder explained. "I moved in with Rafa, the witch who taught me the magic to go to the voidscape, but even she knew that I was doing more harm to myself than was necessary. Coming from a witch who barely seemed to have any emotion or empathy, being this super mystic, old dragoness, I know I should've picked up that something needed to change. I should've known that I was doing something really stupid, but… I didn't listen to her.
"I eventually did get another job, but I was forced to do so when Rafa passed away, and I knew I couldn't keep this house if I wasn't getting any income. I knew I would lose it like my old one, so I got… a pretty horrible job… just to get enough money to get me by so I could keep doing what I felt I needed to do."
"What was the job?" Spyro asked.
"A janitor. I didn't get paid much, and no one really showed me any attention or appreciation, not that I blame them. I'm sure I looked pretty awful, being as emotionally and mentally exhausted as I was from being in the voidscape all the time, with all those other Cynders. I never wanted to get a better job, or tried to get a better standing amongst the rest of the workers around me. I swear they all thought I was on drugs."
"How long ago did you stop with the voidscape? I mean I assume you're not doing that anymore now that you're in here and… well, in your last few hours… minutes… I don't know how long."
"Eight years ago. When I was eighty-one; long story short, after lots of meetings with doctors and nurses to figure out why I was constantly weak and in pain, I met a sorceress who was actually the daughter of one of the doctors and she said I would be lucky to live to a hundred. However, as the years went on, the nurses anticipated that with my rate of deterioration, I'd only make it to eighty-nine, and then two months ago, they told me today would be my last day."
Spyro sat there, nodding in acknowledgement, not sure what to say. He grew even more awkward once Cynder started crying, lying weakly in bed as she hid her face behind her paws. Her sobs were quiet and frail, and each one hurt.
"I was stupid… so, so stupid. I wish I could take it all back," she whimpered. "I'm sorry, Spyro."
She heard Spyro shuffle forward, before feeling his soft paw stroking her forehead gently. "I don't know what to say," he murmured. "I don't know what I can tell you that will be helpful, especially since you're… passing on today. But… just know that I'm at least proud of you for going the last eight years without going into the voidscape once, even though it was already too late. I'm proud of you for at least realising at some point that it needed to stop, and that you stopped."
Cynder whimpered again, before weakly shuffling closer to Spyro. She looked up at him as he sat there gently stroking her forehead, and for the first time in over sixty years, she felt comfort. The eyes that stared down at her… it reminded her of their friendship, of everything that they had. It was good to have that again, even though it was only for a little bit of time, and even though Spyro had likely committed himself to another woman.
"Tell me about yourself, Spyro. I know my life is largely uninteresting, but… I'm sure you've gotten up to some amazing things since we were thirty," Cynder said softly through her tears. "Please tell me you have that family I know you always wanted."
Spyro smiled sadly, but fondly, as his eyes went distant for a brief moment. "I… I do," Spyro whispered.
"Tell me about them."
"My wife and I met when I was thirty-four. She's two years younger than me. Her name's Ember, and she… oh ancestors, she has the most amazing pink scales and blue eyes I've ever seen. I fell for her the moment we first met, and she did too. We were married three years later and welcomed our first clutch another two years later."
"How many do you have?"
"So far, three. We have fifty-year-old twins, thirty-seven-year-old triplets, and another set of twins that are seventeen years old. We're currently expecting our fourth clutch."
"Seven kids, with more on the way, wow," Cynder said with a weak chuckle; she could feel herself getting weaker and weaker very quickly. "Was… was being a father everything you hoped?"
"Everything and more."
"I wish I… could have mothered your children for you. That's one of my biggest regrets: not being able to… to give you the family you wanted. I'm glad you have an amazing mate who could do that for you."
"I would trade the world for her and our kids."
"That's… that's good to hear. How is… how is working with the guardians? I know you were working with them… all those years ago?"
"You haven't heard?"
"No."
"I'm also a guardian now. I've been promoted to the 'purple guardian'. They thought it would be useful to have a fifth member of the guardian team, as well as someone who is able to represent each of the main four elements. It was Terrador's suggestion."
"That's… really cool…"
Cynder felt her eyes drooping as her head slumped over. Spyro reached around underneath her head to catch it. "Cynder? Is this… is this it?" Spyro asked nervously.
"I think so," Cynder croaked, before another heavy coughing fit overtook her. "I'm scared."
"I don't think I'm ready to say goodbye," Spyro said.
"You already did."
"I know, but… not like this. Ancestors, this is… this is hard. It hurts to see you like this."
"Then don't look. Just… just hold me. Please."
Spyro didn't respond, but she knew he heard him by the way he rearranged his hold on her to hold her head close to his chest. She could hear his heartbeat and feel his chest expand with each breath. She looked up and saw him with his eyes closed, looking away from her, yet tears still slipped down his face.
"Thank you," Cynder murmured.
They lay there in silence for a few brief moments, and Cynder felt the peace and comfort wash over her, before after a few minutes, she breathed her last.
Spyro felt her go still, heard her exhale and never inhale again. He choked back his sobs, trying not to react too strongly in the infirmary. After a few more moments, he finally opened his eyes and looked down at her. Her dead eyes stared up at him, drying tear streaks running down her face. The soft, peaceful smile was still fresh on her face. It was haunting to see a corpse looking up at him with such a soft expression, but it also brought him comfort to know that she was at peace and in a comforting embrace from an old childhood friend.
He reached down and closed her eyes, before laying her head gently back onto the bed. He moved over to a table sitting in the corner of the room, before he grabbed a small piece of parchment and wrote on it.
Cynder passed away peacefully this afternoon at about half past four. She died in the embrace of a friend.
- Spyro -
He then laid the note down on Cynder's bed in front of her body, before he leaned forward and kissed her on the forehead. "Safe travels to the ancestors, my first love," he whispered, before he stepped back and left the room.
He advised one of the nurses walking past about what happened, who thanked him and immediately made her way to Cynder's room. Spyro continued his way out of the infirmary, before making his way back home.
Spyro was greeted by his two seventeen-year-old boys tackling him to the ground when he got home, hoping that he would join them in their wrestling match like he sometimes did. "Boys, please! Not now," Spyro said sternly.
His sons got off him, knowing not to mess around with him when he got stern like that. "Sorry, Father," the ice dragon, Sorlan, murmured.
"Is everything okay?" the fire dragon, Fobrial, asked.
"It's not anything that you need to be concerned about, okay? It's just… been a rough afternoon," Spyro explained. "I just ask you to please be gentle on your old man for today, is that okay?"
"Yes, Dad."
"Great, thank you. Is your mother home?"
"Yeah, she's in her room reading."
Spyro then made his way to their room, knocking before opening the door. "Oh, Spyro, how did it…?" Ember asked before pausing when she saw Spyro's face. "Is she gone?"
"Yeah," Spyro murmured, closing the door before sitting down on the bed beside his wife, who put her book down beside her as she gave all her attention to him. "She didn't survive my visit."
"Oh honey, I'm really sorry. Were you able to say everything you wanted to say to her?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I think so. She asked me about you and the kids as well. She was… very happy that I was able to end up with a family. She felt regret that she wasn't able to give me one, but seemed to get a lot of comfort from hearing I found someone who was able to give me one."
"That's… really sweet."
"I… I expected her to be jealous of you or upset that I found someone else, but… she seemed really supportive of it. The only negativity she really seemed to have was towards herself, which… I don't blame her. I just… I just wish there was more I could have done to help her, and to get her away from the voidscape sooner so she could have lived a longer, fuller life."
"You did everything you could for Cynder."
Just hearing her name finally made the floodgates crack. "I know, but I still feel like it wasn't enough," Spyro sobbed as the tears started to break free.
Ember shuffled closer to her mate, nuzzling him gently. "I know. There probably isn't much I can say, particularly since I never really knew her, but I'm sure she was just thankful to have you there in her final moments. To my knowledge, you were the last friend she ever had."
"I was. She… never made any more friends after I left her. I can't imagine how lonely she would have been, even with her every thought put towards the voidscape. She had to have noticed how alone she was. And… to never have another friend for sixty-two years… that's a long time," Spyro murmured. "I just feel awful for her. She never had a proper life. I just can't help but wonder if I could have helped her more, she could've found a much fuller life and not spent six decades wasting her life away like that."
There was an uncomfortable silence as Spyro paused, his sobs the only thing occupying the silence between them. Ember continued to sit there, leaning on Spyro. The purple dragon inhaled a few times, trying to find something to say, before he choked on his words and let the breath out again. Finally, he spoke.
"It hurt, seeing her like that," he whimpered. "She was so weak, so frail. I watched as she deteriorated in front of me. I held her as she died. I thought I would be fine, considering I already dealt with the heartbreak of leaving her, considering I already said goodbye. But I never thought I'd be saying goodbye to her like this. I never thought I'd have to hold her as she died. It's such an overwhelming experience, and it… felt wrong. When I looked down at her the moment she passed, I didn't know what to think. Seeing your childhood best friend lying in your paws, dead, staring up at you with those lifeless, glassy eyes…"
He couldn't continue as he fell victim to his tears. Ember reached forward and pulled his forehead to hers, and they sat there for a while as Spyro poured out his emotions. When Spyro was calmed down a little bit, Ember found the moment to be able to start speaking.
"She was more than just your childhood best friend, too. She was your first wife," Ember said softly. "I know it ended up in divorce and a lot of heartache for you, but I know you don't hold grudges, particularly towards her. I know your loyalty is towards me now, but it doesn't mean that she isn't important to you as well.
"You two spent so much time together, went through so much together… you had such a unique bond, and even with everything that happened, she was still important enough for you to want to go see her, and for her death to mean so much to you. That type of love is hard to extinguish. It may have faltered, and may not be romantic anymore, but I know you still cared for her for all this time.
"I may not have known her, but I know she was a good dragoness, and had everything not happened the way it did, you'd still be with her, with a very strong relationship and a very healthy family."
"Thank you, Ember," Spyro whispered.
"Anytime," Ember said, before leaning forward and kissing Spyro on the cheek. "I'll leave you alone now so you can grieve. Let me know if you need anything. I might start preparing dinner."
"Don't make too much for me; I don't think my appetite is too big after this afternoon."
"Sure thing. Now, rest up well, and try not to get too upset by this. You did everything you could for her back then, and right now, you did the best thing you could have done for her by just being there for her."
With that, Ember stood and left the room, closing the door gently behind her. He heard Ember speaking softly to Sorlan and Fobrial, probably letting them know not to disturb him for the rest of today. Then, he took his thoughts back to Cynder.
Ember was absolutely right in everything she said. While Spyro didn't feel anything romantic towards Cynder anymore, he still loved her. Their friendship had been too strong for it to be severed completely, and Cynder had never done anything to directly hurt him. The only reason Spyro had cut her out of his life was because he knew it wasn't healthy for him to keep trying to help her when she wouldn't accept the help. It wasn't healthy for her either. But throughout all of that, even after he divorced her, he still cared for her and wanted to help her, as a friend. That love had never left him.
He thought back to his days in school, where he and Cynder would stay up late studying together, where they would spar frequently and go a bit too overboard on the occasion, often ending up wounding each other. He remembered how they'd made a small group of friends who were all super close to each other, and how they had all betted that Spyro and Cynder would get together eventually. Their friends were ecstatic when Spyro had asked Cynder out, and even more so when he proposed to her.
He remembered all the times where they had been there for each other in the hard times. They had helped each other through their traumas from the war, and while Spyro struggled to help Cynder with her childhood traumas, he still did his best to help. He'd suggested therapy to her back then too, and back then, she actually took it. She had stopped going to therapy shortly after they were married, as her childhood trauma didn't appear to be affecting her as much.
Cynder had even helped him get through the death of his adoptive father, Flash. The blue dragonfly had gotten very sick, and he had succumbed to it pretty quickly. Spyro was twenty-four when Flash had passed, and Cynder was the first one to comfort him. She had even looked after Sparx, which was quite a big step for her since neither of them had ever really grown to like each other. Sparx had gone back to the swamp to be with their mother, Nina, after that.
That black dragoness had done so much for Spyro now that he thought about it, and while he knew he gave just as much back to her in return, it still hurt him that he couldn't save her from killing herself with the voidscape magic. Of course, he could never have anticipated that it would take so many years off her life, especially at the rate it did, but he knew it was still hurting her.
Dear ancestors, please welcome Cynder to the ancestral realm. Make sure she's well looked after, and that she's happy, Spyro prayed silently. She deserves it. She has not had an easy life, whether that be her awful childhood under Malefor, or her lonely adult years stuck in this addictive, obsessive cycle she had over the voidscape. I appreciate what she was trying to do in there, but it got way out of control, and it turned a good thing into a bad thing.
I truly hope she understands that I never truly hated her or wished ill on her. I hope she doesn't feel upset that I moved on to a different woman. I hope that she cherishes the friendship, the marriage, that we had, the same way I do. I still look back on those days fondly.
I pray that she rests well, and finds peace.
Well, this is a bit different isn't it? I thought it would be nice to look at one of the alternate Cynders that we met back in Luckiest Girl in the World for this one, and it just happened to work well for the idea I was slowly starting to come up with. It was nice to come up with another 'what if' situation, and explore one of the alternate Cynders a bit more too. Don't worry, we'll see LGitW-Cynder in this one as well, so this isn't too far separated from that world, although this story does focus on the Cynder from this world instead.
I also decided that it might be better to upload this one a chapter at a time rather than waiting until I've written the whole thing and dump all three chapters all at once (yes, there's three chapters for this one), particularly because of where this chapter ends as well lol. I'm almost finished Chapter 2 as well by the way, definitely over halfway, so you should hopefully be seeing that one soon.
Hope you guys like where this one is going, and I'm excited to share the rest of The Time Wardens with you. Stay tuned for next chapter! Have a great day everyone and feel free to let me know what you think!