TLoS: Challenge of Hearts (Chapter 11)
Chapter 11 Costly Mistakee
The night was short to say the least for Ember, the constant thoughts about Flame almost driving the young dragoness insane. It was only yesterday that the male dragon came out of nowhere to care for her and effectively save her life. But it wasn't that thought which crossed her mind. It was something else.
Flame had shifted his position many times during the night, ending with the crimson dragon lying on his side with both of his forepaws around Ember's neck. Although the warmth was nice compared to the chilly air temperature, she couldn't help but think that he did it on purpose. Flame's reaction when he woke up would be more of an indicator as to if the action was intentional. Yet Ember almost felt comfortable having the male dragon like that around her, but it was when the feeling in her hind legs came to that something didn't feel right.
Ember was stuck in the grip Flame held around her, for she risked waking him if she was to move, so the pink dragoness tried to figure out what the strange feeling was. Ember twitched her tail slightly, feeling that it as unbound by everything besides her own form, so the young dragoness slid her tail out from between her legs and felt around for the source of the discomfort.
The pink dragoness slid her tail across the back of one of her legs, feeling nothing but the flawless scales that lined her form or at least that part of it anyway. Ember then checked her other leg, but as she rubbed down the back of her hind leg, she slid across something else. Something, not hers.
As Ember followed Flame's unknown limb back towards his body, the grip he held around her neck tightened greatly, causing Ember to jolt her tail backwards straight between the crimson dragon's hind legs.
There was a sharp screech as the male dragon shot awake and jumped several feet away from Ember, hiding the front of his body from view. "What did you do that for?" The male dragon forced out between very faint whimpers.
"If you hadn't of started hugging me during the night maybe it wouldn't have happened." Ember then realised what it was of Flames that was poking into her.
"I didn't mean to do that! I can't help that I never sleep still!"
Ember lowered her head back down to the ground and straightened her form to face the male dragon. "I'm sorry Flame, you just took me by surprise, that's all... I didn't mean to hit yo-"
"Just forget it." He said quickly, cutting off the dragoness. "Can you walk or do I have to go and get Sparx for you?" Ember aligned all of her limbs with her body, and uniformly applied pressure to each leg, raising her body off the ground slowly. "Good, can you walk?" The fire dragon quickly spat out, much to the dragoness' dislike, but she couldn't blame him really. Ember then picked one of her forepaws off the ground, promptly falling face first against the flattened grass where Flame had been sleeping. Flame sighed and turned back to Ember. "Hang on, I'll be back in a few minutes..."
Flame unfurled his wings and gingerly picked himself up from the ground, hopping slightly with his hind legs. "Flame... Wait."
"What is it now?" He said impatiently, struggling to keep a straight face after being hit in his dragonhood.
"I didn't meant to-"
"Yeah, I know, you said that already..."
"But I want to make it up to you..." She answered back quickly. Flame paused for a moment, then refocused on taking off towards the dragon temple. "Please..." Ember called out. Flame dropped his wings and tucked them against his side once more.
"I'm listening."
"Flame, I know that I haven't exactly been acting like a friend lately, and some of the things I've done to you recently haven't been called for at all." Ember paused for a moment.
"Ember... What are you saying?" Flame replied, still thoroughly agitated.
"I- I... I don't know. It's like what you said yesterday, about not being able to put words together."
"Well when you think of it, you can tell me. But right now I want to get out of here in one piece." Flame turned around and flared his wings once more. The way the morning light refracted off the male dragon's scales made Ember lose her train of thought. Flame twisted his neck around to face Ember. "Don't worry Ember, I get it. But if you hit me like that again there'll be no point anyway. Your right, I shouldn't have come, I should've left you out here alone, cold... See you back at the castle, if you make it!"
The male dragon tucked his legs and coiled himself to leap from the ground. "Flame wait!" Ember helplessly called out as the male dragon soared over the surrounding trees. He thought that I did it on purpose... He thought that I didn't want him that close to me... The pink dragoness lay against the ground, feeling the last waves of heat coming from the dying fire behind her. "I love you..."
Flame winced each time he flicked his tail to change direction. "If she doesn't want me near her, then I'll get as far away as possible." Flame said to himself. "I was an idiot to think that she would ever change... She'll never love anyone but Spyro. Good riddance to bad company," Flame continued to speak, trying to convince himself otherwise. "I never loved her... How could I?"
The crimson dragon landed in the foyer of the dragon temple and headed up towards his quarters, wanting nothing more to do with anything. He truly felt like there was nothing left for him in the world. As Flame walked up the stairs to reach his room, the hallway was blocked by almost every single dragoness in the entire temple, all standing in front of Spyro's door. What's going on now? He thought to himself.
Some of the female dragons noticed Flame enter the corridor, but many just stayed their position. That's it. Flame thought to himself. "Do you all want to know what Spyro's doing? Or at least why he's hiding?"
"How would you know Flame? You've been out all night!" One of them harshly shot back.
"Your right..." He replied quickly. "I have been out all night, but it was a waste of my time like I thought it was in the beginning. But that doesn't matter, my time was useless to begin with."
"No question." Another dragoness answered, only further infuriating Flame.
"That's it, out of my way!" He said harshly to the gathered dragonesses, but none even flinched. "Move before I make you!" This time Flame accompanied his threat with a fierce growl, forcing all of the dragonesses to press up against a side wall, making a clear path for the dragon to walk down.
As Flame walked past each of the dragonesses he could hear the endless supply of whispers, but he could only pick out a few words between the entire group, but as Flame reached Spyro's door, he stopped and turned back to the gathered dragonesses. "You'll find that chasing Spyro is pointless now as he already has chosen who his mate will be."
"And how would you know?" A third dragoness shouted out from way down the end.
"Because he told me!" Flame shifted his weight to one side, ignoring any pain that came from his hind section, and kicked towards Spyro's door with all of his strength, knocking it down with a mighty thud. Flame then turned around and headed back to his room as the group of dragonesses just watched, shocked by his actions.
As the gathered dragonesses heard Flame's door click shut, they all rushed into Spyro's room and found him lying on his bed with Cynder beside him. As Spyro eyed all of the unwanted visitors inside of his room, and they all stared at Cynder, the purple dragon only had one reaction.
* * *
After several hours of loneliness, Ember finally decided that she had two choices. No-one was going to help her as only two dragons knew of her location. Spyro and Flame. Spyro would probably tell the guardians as to where she was, but at the risk of Ember attacking Cynder again he would be hesitant towards informing them. And Flame, whom Ember had finally found feelings for, thought that she still wanted none other than Spyro. Why didn't I say it when he was here? The pink dragoness thought to herself. Am I going to get back? No, I have to... He must know.
The injured dragoness picked herself off the ground once more, ignoring anything that her sore limbs managed to cry in objection to the movement. She didn't care what it cost herself, Ember just didn't want Flame to do anything he would regret.
Ember remembered the last time she hurt Flame emotionally and it almost drove the male dragon mad. Although this time was more of a physical hurt that she inflicted on Flame it wouldn't be much better on him. The pink dragoness prepared herself and took a deep breath. Ember lifted her right forepaw mere inches off the ground, feeling uneasy on her feet, but stable enough to be productive with movement. Ember stepped forward slowly, then lifted her other leg, taking only half steps towards the dragon temple. The pink dragoness found it easier than before to walk, as she mainly didn't try when Flame asked her to. There was nothing more she wanted than to spend more time out in the wilderness with him, but that wasn't going to happen.
After what seemed to Ember as countless minutes of walking, the pink dragoness heard the faint sound of an aggravated roar. The dragon temple is still miles away. Ember thought to herself, wondering what was going on, but she feared for the worst. I'm coming Flame.
* * *
Every single dragoness that stood in Spyro's room was blasted with supersonic sound waves that even Spyro didn't know existed. Yet he managed to control the power so it only affected those standing before him. All of the gathered dragonesses shrieked from the beyond deafening sound, but in Spyro's opinion, he didn't care. They were leaving.
Countless colours shot out into the main hallway and towards the main foyer area, others took flight out the window shooting around the massive temple into their respective rooms. Once his room was cleared, Spyro stopped the flow of power and sat back down on his bed. I must ask where that power comes from. The purple dragon thought to himself.
Cynder lay down against Spyro in confusion, she saw him open his maw and prepare for an attack, but nothing came out. "What was that Spyro?" She asked quietly.
"I don't know Cyn. I guess that sound is another form of an element, I'll have to ask the guardians about it next time." Spyro looked towards the now open doorway. "Although I do want to know who did that. But I guess that we don't have to hide anything anymore." The purple male said with a hint of joy. Spyro wanted something like that to happen so they could be seen in public together, and nothing happened throughout the discovery so Spyro was almost happy that his door was broken down. The guardians however wouldn't be so impressed.
"At least I can do this whenever I want to now." Cynder replied softly, licking the side of Spyro's cheek.
Spyro gave a short laugh before hearing several pairs of footsteps down the hallway. The clicks of the dragon's talons were significantly louder than that of a regular dragon, which led Spyro to worry immediately, the guardians were here.
"I want to see every single dragon in the main foyer immediately!" The earth guardians booming voice rung throughout the entire corridor and branching rooms. There was no movement or sound to be heard. "Now!" Terrador shouted out once again. This time, however, the light clicks and screeches of the old doors were heard, as one by one the dragons emerged from their respective rooms and moved down the corridor. Not a word was said between any of the dragons, beside the guardians, who counted each one as they passed. Soon all but Spyro, Cynder and Flame had passed. Terrador opened his mouth once more to shout down the corridors.
"I think it would be better if I talked to them." Cyril said to the earth guardian. "Volteer, you go and fetch Flame while I talk to Spyro and Cynder. Terrador, you should watch all of the dragons downstairs before something else is said. Maybe you can figure out who did this anyway." Cyril pointed to the broken door into Spyro's room, receiving a nod from the other guardians.
"Very well. I assume that Flame has hidden himself inside his room. Either that or he left the temple because I remember seeing him flying back, but that leaves me to ask where Ember is." The electric guardian answered back.
"See if you can find that out, and if you do, then we might need to send out a search for her." Volteer nodded once more as Cyril disappeared into Spyro's room, leaving Volteer to talk with Flame, and Terrador to keep all the others in line.
Cyril stepped inside Spyro's room to find both him and Cynder lying against each other on his bed. Of course Cyril expected nothing less from the two, as by what he saw of their future, as brief of an image as it was. The ice guardian prepared himself for what was undoubtedly to be a barrage of questions and complaints.
Volteer, however, had a much harder job of trying to talk to Flame. The electric guardian stood before the young dragon's door and tapped on it with a fair amount of force. "Flame, I need to speak to you about something." No answer. "Flame, I know what you may very well be going through at the moment but you can't let things like this eat away at you."
"What would you know about what I'm going through?" Flame answered back harshly, his voice promptly followed by a loud crash of what Volteer assumed was his bookshelf. "You have no idea on what is going on!"
"Flame, you can't let your feelings get the better of you! And I know how you feel because it happened to me when I was your age." The electric guardian admitted. "It isn't something to get your life lost over. Now you have to tell me where Ember is before something happens to her."
"Fuck Ember!" Flame shouted back at Volteer. "She wants nothing to do with anyone but Spyro. I went out there alone and saved her life, just so she could attack me when I was asleep!" There was another relatively loud smash moments after Flame finished speaking.
"Flame, open this door!" The electric guardian spoke sternly. "I know what Ember did to you was harsh, but her life could be at stake now. So you can either tell me where she is, or you can help us find her later." Volteer stood still for a moment, receiving no answer in return.
Good, her life is at stake. Maybe then she would reconsider what she did. Flame thought to himself. It's not my fault she's out there, I tried to help her and all she did was attack me. Although what she did was... No, it's her own fault! Flame was once again arguing against himself for what was the right choice in the situation. I'm not to blame here... Am I? The crimson dragon rhetorically asked himself. Ancestors... What am I to do? I can't leaver her out there. I've got to find her. The young dragon turned to face the window only to hear his door being ripped open behind him and an electric ark flying towards his position.
As the lights dimmed from the electric guardians shock, Flame's limbs were held against each other by several electrical arks. They didn't hurt the male dragon, but he was stuck in his position. "I'm sorry Flame, but you left me with no choice. Now, where is Ember?" Flame just held his tongue. Yes, he wanted to find and effectively re-save Ember again, but he wanted to talk with her alone. Volteer just sighed in response, picking up the binded male dragon and carrying him out of the room and into the main corridor. "You're going to have to fix that too." The electric guardian said with a slight laugh.