TLoS: Challenge of Hearts (Chapter 10)
Chapter 10 More Time Alone
Spyro and Cynder had succumbed to exhaustion as they both lay beside each other, feeling the now cool remnants of their activities against their bodies, neither one with the will, or the energy to worry about anything but each other. They had been alone in Spyro's room for hours, and the afternoon sun set the room in a near black state, making it harder to find where Cynder was if she so decided to move. The two young dragons had both well past their energy would allow, but Cynder had laid atop Spyro for a while to say the least, both dragons had no idea how long it had been, they just knew that it was the best time of their respective lives.
Spyro had given in to his primal instinct, the one telling him to seize the moment and take Cynder as his own, but not once had the purple dragon considered taking the female's virginity. But something in the back of his mind was saying that everything was going to be perfect, he knew that Cynder was. But he still felt the slight tap that was Cynder's tail against the side of his head, reminding Spyro that she was still there if the time actually came for them to finally leave.
Occasionally Cynder would stop twitching her tail, causing Spyro to think that she had given in to sleeps embrace, but sure enough, after a few moments of stillness, the back dragoness would restart the monotonous tap that held Spyro in limbo between sleep and pure ecstasy.
Cynder had no thoughts whatsoever past Spyro. She had no idea what had taken over her, but the black dragoness' mind only contemplated one thing. Spyro. Seemingly instinct alone was driving the female into whatever her actions may have been, that was until she felt Spyro's nose brushed against her womanhood. It was then that her own actions suddenly came back into existence, finding that her own free will had a chance again. But as she stared at the purple dragon's extension, pulsing inches from her face, her thoughts became useless once again.
After what had become an unknown time to the dragoness, she felt her mind become functional once more. The magnetic feeling towards Spyro was almost non-existent past her own wills. She believed that they were one, but Cynder felt that she had self-control over herself once more. As if the release she felt as Spyro dug deeper inside of her womanhood was exactly what her body yearned for. Yet she knew that the urge would come again.
* * *
Flame shifted his gaze from Ember's form for a moment to watch as the shadow of the dragon temple just crept towards his position. They had been deserted for hours, but Flame had spent most of that time in isolation with the sleeping Ember nestled against him. The pink dragoness had given in completely to Flame's help much faster than usual, but she was lost, detached from the world.
Ember had lost everything. She felt like just giving in to deaths embrace and letting herself go from the world. Her one love picked another, and then left her to die out in the wilderness. Ember tried to run every possible scenario through her mind as to if anything would happen, but nothing came out. Her entire existence had revolved around becoming Spyro's mate, but that single dream was shattered much like her body and mind. She had truly lost everything.
Then Flame had turned up and tried to make everything better for her, or at least try and keep her alive anyway. But he came for the soul purpose of helping the pink dragoness, keeping her alive just because he chose to.
The pink dragoness awoke slightly, just to shift into a more comfortable position beside Flame, resting her head around her far side to hide any emotion it might show, but it gave her time to think. This wasn't the first time that Flame had helped her through a time of need. The last time Flame came to her aid was after Spyro gave one of his many countless speeches to her, denying any feelings whatsoever. As Ember soon found herself almost bursting into tears, there was Flame. Willing to try at anything he could to get Ember to calm down.
Constant thoughts continued to bombard Ember. Spyro was as good as dead to her, and the only one to blame was Cynder. The black dragoness that caused her entire life to seem worthless, she would've killed her on the spot if it wasn't for Spyro. But it was proved that if she did manage to kill Cynder that Spyro would only hate Ember in return. But either way, her life seemed pointless when the only one that anyone could love, was taken.
Cynder's thoughts then turned to Flame, she almost felt sorry for what he had to go through. As everyone else was going after Spyro, Flame ended up doing everything alone, the crimson dragon had no-one to talk to. The only time he ever was with another dragon would be at mealtimes when he chose to sit next to Spyro. But Flame never got a word in because every other dragon was glued to Spyro. Yet Spyro was his best friend. Ember found it amazing. Through all that the purple dragon unintentionally took from Flame, they still managed to stay good friends.
The pink dragoness pulled her head around to look at Flame, who immediately started staring at the crawling shadows once more as she did. This caused her to smile slightly. He was looking at me. Ember then felt Flame slightly loosen his embrace with his wing. After the many hours of no movement, Ember felt that her energy was renewed. She still hadn't gathered the strength, or will, to stand, but enough for her to ask a few questions.
"Flame," She started, causing him to immediately look down at her. "Why are you helping me after all I've done to you?" Ember immediately thought that it was a stupid question, the answer she had was because the dragon race needed as much help as it could. But it was when Flame took a deep breath and looked towards the sky that made her reconsider.
The crimson dragon paused for a moment, contemplating the options before him. Flame could admit to his feelings and risk losing Ember as a friend completely, or he could lie and continue to live waiting for the right time to tell her. "I ca- It's bec- I want-" Flame couldn't find the right answer, and he knew that there was no escaping the question because Ember wouldn't be able to move well enough for at least another half day, but at least he could wait until then to think of an answer. Maybe Ember will figure it out tomorrow.
Flame continued to glance between Ember and the crawling shadows that had reached his forepaws, immediately cooling the dragon's battle hardened limbs. "Flame?"
"It will be dark soon, and it will get too cold for you with only me here." Flame stood, wanting to get some distance between him and Ember before something else came up.
"Where are you going?" Ember asked, tightening her form as much as her injuries would allow.
"I have to make a fire or else you'll freeze."
"What if you-"
"I'm going to find some wood, try to stay warm but I'll try to be back quickly. Stay in the sun for as long as you can." The crimson dragon turned away from Ember, causing her to glance at the ever approaching shadow.
"I don't want you to go, Flame!" Ember shouted as loud as her voice could go which, at the moment, wasn't much louder than her normal voice. "Flame?" He was gone.
Ember stared off in the direction that Flame had taken, feeling the chilling winds brush past her. Why did he run off like that? She thought to herself. Why was he staring at me anyway? But no matter what the dragoness thought, Flame was gone.
The male dragon searched as fast as he could. Not only did he want to get back to Ember, but he didn't want her to feel deserted. Despite the fact that she was almost entirely helpless against the rest of the world, Flame had no choice but to leave her to gather what she essentially needed to survive. But between his thoughts and assessment of each piece of wood he came across, Flame tried to find a better answer to Ember's first question.
Flame collected several rather large bits of lumber which he thought would burn relatively well, leaving very little smoke to be found. Although there hadn't been a lesson on staying hidden from the enemy, Flame had learnt over time that certain types of wood would burn at different rates, depending on the amount of smoke created. But after the ten minutes or so he was away, Flame was happy with what he found.
Ember, on the other hand, had never been so cold in her life. The shadow of the castle had engulfed her completely. But it was lucky for her that Flame emerged from the forest, carrying several smallish logs on his back, held in place by his tail. Flame quickened his pace at the sight of Ember, yet remained steady enough to not lose control of his collected kindling.
"Are you alright Ember?" He asked, trying to take her mind off the fact that it was cold. But he received no answer in response, only leaving him to work faster on building the fire. "It'll just be a minute." Flame quickly glanced back at Ember, who seemed to be crawling closer to where the fire was soon to be. Flame fiddled around with the bits of wood until they were set in a small uneven circle, then released a stream of fire that immediately lit the piled wood, sending a wave of heat around the area within moments. "There." Flame commented almost proudly.
Ember continued her move to beside the fire, lying on her side around it to absorb the maximum warmth that was radiating outwards from it. "Thank you." She said quietly, which was completely missed by the male dragon, who walked around to the far side of Ember and draped his wing over her once more.
"It is going to be a long night." Flame told Ember. "If you start to feel cold again just say so."
Ember looked back at Flame, but said nothing. The look in his eyes was one completely unknown to the young dragoness. It was something she had never seen before. She had seen fear, anger, sorrow and hate all before, they were all too common amongst the war against Malefor. Yet, what she saw in Flame's eyes was nothing like it. There was a hint of sorrow, but beyond that Ember couldn't tell.
Flame glided his wing further across her body as he tried to move more of himself against her. Ember believed that he was just trying to keep her warm, which was why he went to get materials for a fire. But Ember could tell that there was something that Flame wasn't telling her. It was in his eyes.
"Flame," Ember whispered. "Why are you doing this for me?"
"Because I wa-" Flame hit the invisible wall that stopped him from talking again. "I ca-" It was then that Flame stood up and took a few steps away from Ember, taking the pink dragoness by surprise, causing her to curl herself closer to the fire. Just say it! You know what the answer is going to be. Flame shouted inwardly at himself.
"Where are you going?" Ember quickly spoke out, watching as Flame paced back and forth across her vision.
"I don't know, I can't think straight." Flame paused for a moment and faced Ember straight on. "You should be able to walk fine tomorrow, if not then I'll bring Sparx and he can heal you, but until that time I just can't answer that question..." Flame turned away slightly. "I need to be sure that it's right."
"Know if what's right?" Ember asked, almost lost by Flame's rambling. "What's wrong Flame?"
"I-I don't know... Well, I do know, but I can't ju-" Flame paused for a moment. "It's you, I can't put things together like I used to. During the war it was easy, there was nothing to worry about, but this is different. Life has changed so much in such a short time." The crimson dragon took a few steps closer to Ember. "I've been lost on what to do lately, it's as if everything I ever had to live for doesn't exist anymore. Like I'm on my own in this world now."
Ember couldn't help but feel for Flame. She had the exact same point of view, if not just for a different reason. But they were one in the same. Ember felt lost because the only thing she thought she lived for was Spyro, and Flame at that exact moment was no use to anyone in the entire realm. "I know how you feel..." Ember spoke slowly, causing Flame to stop completely.
"No, you don't... How could you know what it's like to have nothing? Do you know what it's like to have no choice in what path your life takes? Do you know of the curse I live that is every single day? To have a choice that doesn't matter. To know that you will live life alone for eternity..."
"I know what it's like. I have nothing, that is why I told you to leave today. But you were never going to, right?" Flame simply shook his head. "I needed you then, and I need you now Flame. It's cold..."
Flame turned away for a moment, but then remembered what he had said only moments ago. The crimson dragon reluctantly stepped back to Ember's side and lay down against the dragoness, who snuggled against his side trying to regain some form of warmth once more. The fire was nice, but it didn't warm her completely. "Thank you." She said softly, looking back at Flame who refused to look at her. There was a slight grunt in response, but Ember didn't pay any attention to it. I need you more than you know Flame. I only wish you could see that.