TLoS: Challenge of Hearts (Chapter 2)
Chapter 2: Training
Cynder and Spyro reached the training room several minutes after seeing Flame and Ember leave the temple. Both dragons continued in silence, avoiding each other's gaze as they walked side by side. Cynder was aching on the inside to tell Spyro how she felt, but little did she know that Spyro was too thinking the exact same thing. They both liked each other, yet neither of them knew it.
Cynder was thinking of a way that would force Spyro to make a decision on whether he liked her or not. But everything came down to the reason that he might not forgive her. So, the black dragoness huffed silently, dealing with her boredom with dreams of her and Spyro being together. Flying in circles around each other, running through the dense forests that surrounded the DragonTemple and sleeping beside each other in their own room. But Cynder's imagination could only stretch so far, as the Spyro in her dreams never said a word, much like the one in real life. Although this would seem like an upset, Cynder liked, in a way, having Spyro silent beside her, it gave her time to enjoy their brief time together.
"Just down the end of this hallway is the training room." Spyro said suddenly. Cynder perked her head up looking down the seemingly endless corridor.
He spoke to me! Cynder became almost ecstatic with the opportunity to have another conversation with Spyro. What should I say? Cynder quickly glanced over at Spyro, who was still staring straight down the corridor. Say something before it's too late! Cynder looked straight ahead. "Why did they make this place so big?" Damn.
"Before Malefor was... Awakened... this place was filled with dragons from all over the land. Or, that is what Ignitus told me..." Spyro took a deep sigh.
"You miss him, don't you?" Cynder looked at Spyro who was actually staring back at her. "I shouldn't be here. Ignitus gave his life so that you could free me."
Spyro's eyes widened. "Don't talk like that! It's my fault for not paying enough attention."
Cynder stepped before Spyro, forcing the purple dragon to a stop. She took a deep breath and store straight into his deep violet eyes. "Spyro... Don't blame yourself for this. He gave his life for us to escape, and because of Ignitus's sacrifice, the Dark Master was defeated."
Spyro didn't know what to do. Cynder managed to become so serious, yet honest all at the same time. And all he could do from her statement was agree. Spyro nodded slightly, and Cynder returned to his side once more. The two continued on down the corridor, soon reaching the training room.
Cynder immediately sat down, just on the inside of the room, leaving Spyro to continue on alone. Until he turned to look at Cynder, noticing that she wasn't at his side anymore.
"Why did you stop? I thought you wanted to come here..." Spyro glanced around the training room again, noticing that the entire room had changed completely since he had last been inside it. Many months ago was his last training session, and that was done by Ignitus, teaching Spyro last resort moves using most of his flame power.
"I did... But it's more fun if you have a training partner." Cynder stood from her position and headed towards Spyro, who hesitantly backed away slowly as the black dragoness inched closer to him. "What's wrong Spyro, afraid that I'll beat you?"
The purple dragon had never actually been beaten in a one on one training session. Only when two or even three of the guardians teamed up were they able to beat the young purple dragon. But Spyro knew that he could beat Cynder easily. Only when she was in her possessed form did she stand any form of a challenge, but Spyro never wanted to think about Cynder like that again. Spyro had also never backed down from a challenge, and this time was to be no different.
"Ok, you're on." Spyro lowered his head and spread his front paws slightly, readying for an attack. "Say when."
Cynder stepped closer to Spyro, slowly making her way around to his tail. Spyro steadied his position, preparing for Cynder to make a strike towards him. The black dragoness continued around Spyro until she was directly behind him. Cynder leapt into the air, just above Spyro. "Ok, now!" Cynder started to fall onto Spyro's position but only when she got within inches of the purple dragon did he move.
Cynder landed on the ground and quickly whirled around, trying to find Spyro. But the only image she could make out was a small purple blur. Cynder stuck out her tail, making sure that the bladed edge wouldn't slice right through the purple dragon. But Spyro easily dodged around Cynder's tail, continuing on his circle around the black dragoness. Yes, he was toying with her, but Spyro didn't want to really harm the one he secretly loved.
Cynder pulled her tail back within the purple tornado. Pondering her next plan of attack against Spyro, Cynder unfurled her wings, trying to gain speed herself using Spyro's power. The black dragoness instantly shot straight up into the air, falling back down as a crumpled mess of limbs and wings. By his act only, Cynder landed directly on top of Spyro, putting them both face to face against each other, Cynder on Spyro.
The black dragoness instantly put all of her power through her forelegs, pinning Spyro against the ground, leaving him with no option but to submit, unless he wanted to harm Cynder in their duel. Spyro struggled against Cynder's efforts to keep him pinned, but to no avail. All Spyro could do was lay there, stuck to the ground. He felt Cynder's hind legs find his own, and immediately pinned them against the ground too, placing their bodies against each other, everything of Spyro's was either pinned against the ground by Cynder opposite limb, or held in an awkward position between the two dragons.
"Looks like I win this time." Cynder continued to hold Spyro against the ground. She had no intention of letting him go, as the closeness was something that she had dreamt of, but was never able to achieve.
Spyro tried once more to release himself from against the ground, but his futile effort proved useless against Cynder. "I was only going easy on you Cynder."
The black dragoness continued the pressure against Spyro's body. "Sure you were Spyro. I'll believe you." Cynder ran the tip of her tail against Spyro's ribs, she was going to enjoy having Spyro in such a vulnerable position wile it lasted. "But for now, I won..."
Spyro loved the feeling of Cynder rubbing down his side. Almost a little too much for his own good. Spyro felt a strong pressure build near the base of his tail. Having his body so close to Cynder's made it hard enough for the purple dragon to control himself, but her continued touch drove him over the edge. Spyro knew that he was in trouble at that moment, yet Cynder continued on with only the intention of annoyance on her mindset.
Spyro's eyes widened on the thoughts that Cynder might have if she found out that he actually enjoyed being that close to her, but it was only a matter of time until she would feel his member press against her body. The purple dragon knew that he had to act quickly to avoid being caught.
Cynder looked away from Spyro's side and glanced towards his head, finding his eye's unusually wider than usual. She loved the colour of his eyes, such a deep purple that was so kind, yet deadly at the same time. Cynder lost herself for a moment, just staring at the purple dragon, until she felt something press against the side of her leg.
The black dragoness thought nothing of it, thinking that it was only Spyro's tail trying to find a way to get her off, so she continued her assault against his side, making the moment as uncomfortable as possible for Spyro, until the pressure continued to build against the side of her leg.
"Spyro, you're not going to get me off, so you can stop trying to push me off with your tail."
Spyro thought about a way to get Cynder to leave him alone, but the only way he could think of was to hurt her. "I'm sorry Cynder..."
Cynder looked at Spyro strangely. Why would he be apologising? He hasn't done any- Cynder felt an unnatural heat grow from underneath her paws, at first it was just annoying, but within a few seconds the heat became unbearable. Cynder let out a slight yelp at the increasing temperatures, but leapt from her position away from Spyro, only to watch him scamper off through the entryway, saying nothing on his way out.
The black dragoness tried to take off after Spyro, only to recoil from her burnt paws aching with contact against the cold floor. "Spyro? Where are you going?" Cynder took a deep sigh, and eventually she sat on her haunches and licked her burnt paws, cringing even as her tongue made contact with the injured scales.
The purple dragon moved faster than even he thought possible. His claws skidded against the hard marble flooring, leaving him to crash into the wall on more than one account. But as long as no-one saw him in his moment of shame, Spyro was happy.
Spyro continued to run towards his room, eventually reaching seclusion without anyone finding him. Although there was nothing he wanted more than Cynder, he was still unsure of her thoughts about him. It was a hard thing to think about. Maybe she did it on purpose...
Cynder gingerly got to her feet, and tried walking out of the training room, only to collapse after her third step. Maybe he doesn't love me... Why else would he do this. Cynder lay on the ground keeping the underside of her paws from contact. This is hopeless. Cynder unfurled her wings once more, and slowly lifted herself off the ground. The amount of strain it put on her wings was great, but the pain was much less than what she would be put through if she were to walk. Cynder had no clue on where Spyro had gone to, but she wanted to get off her feet, so the black dragoness headed to her room.
Spyro lay on his bed, waiting for his member to go back inside of his body. Did she see it? The purple dragon had been trying to calm himself over the whole ordeal ever since entering the safeness of his room, yet as much as he wanted to hide the truth from Cynder, he wished that there was another way. I have to know if she's ok. The purple dragon slowly made it to his feet, checking to make sure that he was covered again, and then made his way outside to try and find Cynder.
"I should've known better... Of course he doesn't like me... Why else would he force me to do this?" Cynder was slowly making her way up the stairs heading towards her room. All she wanted was a place to sit down and rest her straining wings.
Cynder continued on despite the pain it caused her, knowing that if she was to make any contact with the ground it would either be more painful, or less than graceful than her reputation would allow. The black dragoness found herself struggling up the final set of stairs that led to the living quarters, only to be confronted by Spyro.
The purple dragon knew that Cynder was in pain at that moment, because he could see her eyes filled with pain and unsteady wing beats. "Cynder, I'm sorry... Bu-"
The black dragoness ignored Spyro and continued on her way, flying around the purple dragon, Cynder headed down the corridor.
"I know that I shouldn't have done what I did. And I'm sorry... But I-"
Cynder now had tears in her eyes, and despite the pain it caused her, she landed on the ground and turned around to face Spyro. The pain in her feet adding to her already swelled eyes. "You what Spyro? Why did you have to do that? Never once did I attempt to hurt you!"
"Cynder, it's not that... I-"
"You what Spyro? You didn't want me to be that close to you? Didn't want anyone to know that I was laying on-top of you?"
"No, I liked-"
"Just forget it Spyro... Forget that anything happened today." The black dragoness turned away and started limping down the corridor.
I can't leave her like this... Spyro quickly jumped to Cynder's side, causing her to stop and look back at him. "Let me help you..."
Cynder knew that there was only one option to Spyro's offer. She would accept his help no matter what had happened, just to be closer to him for the extra moment or so that she could. Cynder didn't know how Spyro could help her, but would accept anything that he offered.
Spyro assumed from Cynder's silence, and lack of movement that he was to help her. The purple dragon moved closer to the black dragoness trying to think of the best way to carry her.
"Your going to have to lie on me again..." Spyro sunk low to the ground so that Cynder could step over him.
The black dragoness slowly lifted herself above Spyro with her wings, and slowly started to sink into a comfortable position on the purple dragon's back.
Once Spyro felt that he was holding her full weight, he slowly started on his way down to Cynder's room. The black dragoness held tightly against his sides, which he almost expected as if to steady herself, but there was something about how she was holding him that made the purple dragon feel uncomfortable. Cynder had placed both of her forelegs on each shoulder, but it wasn't along the top where she held him, but slightly on the side as if trying to feel each of his muscles work as he carried them both down the hallway. Her hind legs, however, were placed firmly on Spyro's back, keeping herself as far away as possible from him. But for what reason, he didn't know.
Cynder enjoyed the closeness to the purple dragon, much like how she did when they had finished their little play fight. But soon enough, Spyro reached the entrance to Cynder's room, and knelt low to the ground, allowing Cynder to slide off his back and disappear inside her room without saying a word.
Spyro turned away and headed back to his room, wanting nothing more than to rest after his first, in what he would love to be, many days alongside Cynder. Although he still didn't know how she felt about him, he could feel that there was something between them that only had more to go.