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Ashes hopped ahead of him and seemed, for her part, as cheerful and enthusiastic as she'd been when they met, if a little more eager to get to Dragon Beach already. Having been reassured that Spyro was every bit the hero she always imagined he was, she was satisfied.

She had peppered him with more questions of course: like if he was as good of a flyer as all dragons say, or as brave, and what he was like in private, and a few more personal questions about their time together that had made Flame flush up and give only the most fleeting, unspecific answers he could get away with before quickly changing the subject.

He wished he could share her enthusiasm, but his mind was busy replaying every memory he had of Spyro, every moment they had been together and every word that was said, in search for an answer. The answer to a question that had been bothering him for a decade: why Spyro had wanted to leave without him and why he had never come back.

It was one moment he kept coming back to: the night they had spent together in Dusky Woods. That's when Spyro had first told him he wanted to get off the island. That's when Flame had decided that he was going to become a whole new dragon.

That's when they had made that stupid plan.

It was late fall. The summer when Spyro had fished Flame out of that mud well had long since come to an end, replaced with rain, cold winds, the occasional snow, and more rain. But they had stayed friends. The more they hung out, the more Flame started to see glimpses of a different Spyro behind the façade everyone else saw - the dragon behind the sunglasses and the speedway records.

It had all started with an unplanned sleepover in Dusky Woods.

Spyro had decided one day that they should explore the mysterious old woods on the east side of the island. Dragons hardly ever went there, on account of the many stories of phantoms and gnorc-trolls that supposedly lived there. This had made the woods irresistible to Spyro. Flame, as usual, had been powerless to say no.

He didn't exactly believe in phantoms or gnorc-trolls, but had been relieved anyway to find that the Dusky Woods was just like any old forest and not at all scary in the sunlight.

Exploring the woods had been surprisingly fun, though. Spyro skipped through the piles of leaves and chased groundhogs around while Flame busied himself by sketching out the topography. Soon, he had another map for the growing collection in the old satchel he had started carrying with him. It surprised him that no dragon had bothered to make proper maps of the village outskirts yet. But with his and Spyro's expeditions, they would soon have all of the realm mapped down to the inch.

They were having so much fun that they didn't notice the darkness creeping upon them, and before they knew it, the woods were pitch black and finding their way back to the village would be impossible.

Flame, who suddenly remembered the stories of lost dragons and specters, had been petrified, but Spyro had comforted him. "If any ghost shows up, I'll torch them!" he promised, confidently. Torching things was Spyro's solution to most problems, but Flame wasn't sure fire worked against ghosts. But then again, there were no ghosts, so there was no reason to worry. But he stayed extra close to Spyro just in case.

Eventually, they had found a nice clearing bathed in moonlight, which seemed like it could make a good sleeping spot for two tired dragons.

It's not like they could have made it back to the village before sunrise anyway, and besides, Flame's mother was always too busy to care exactly where her son was, and Spyro didn't have one, and therefore, felt no concerns either.

It was cold of course, but Spyro had gathered some dry sticks and fixed them up a decent campfire. It was nice, lying there beside Spyro, looking at the starry sky and talking about which elders they liked the least, or which part of the realm they should explore next.

It didn't take long for their conversation to turn to Spyro's training, a subject that Flame had always been curious about and knew next to nothing of. "Do you really train with Tomas every day?" he asked, and Spyro nodded eagerly.

"Well, almost every day. I get the weekends off," he smiled. "I guess I got a bit of a head-start too, since my training started earlier."

Flame nodded, and felt a familiar sting of jealousy. Even as hatchlings, when they were barely a month out of the shell, somehow the elders had known that Spyro was the one that should be chosen and trained. Neither Flame nor Ember was ever even considered. They had been left in the nest. "It must be nice. Being the elder's great prophesied dragon," he said softly, making little circles in the snow with his claw.

"Mhhm... it's pretty neat," Spyro answered, then fell uncharacteristically silent. He was silent for a long time. Flame turned to the purple dragon and saw him staring up into the night sky, his expression vacant as if he was thinking about something deep in his past. His breath making little clouds in the cold air.

"Do you ever have trouble sleeping?" he then asked, suddenly.

Flame shook his head. He wasn't always good at remembering when it's bedtime, but once in bed, he usually slept like a log.

"Sometimes I just.... can't. I lie awake, worrying about stuff." Spyro turned to Flame, regarding him with bright violet eyes. "Are you ever afraid? Like, so afraid of something that you can't stop thinking about it?"

Flame was taken aback. What a stupid question! He was always afraid and Spyro should know that better than anyone. He was afraid of gnorcs and of gliding. He had been afraid of following Spyro into the deep woods and was afraid of getting lost on their way back the next morning.

But Spyro meant a different kind of fear. He explained how, ever since he was taken in by the elders, he had felt like an outsider. A feeling that had only deepened when he learned that his egg wasn't from the village. That he was found.

This feeling had grown into a fear, a fear that if Spyro ever failed at defending the village from gnorcs, if he didn't find all the dark gems fast enough, or if he wasn't the best flier, the elders would decide he wasn't worth the trouble. That they would tire of him and cast him aside, like his unwanted egg had been cast aside before he was even hatched.

"But that's so dumb!" Flame exclaimed before he could stop himself. Spyro just blinked in surprise. Flame had never disagreed with him before. Spyro had hardly seen him disagree with anyone before.

"I mean, not dumb, but you know..." Flame pinned his frills, fumbling over his words. "It's just that the elders would never throw you out. You're the greatest dragon on the island! You're their favorite, their prodigy! "

"Only as long as I do what they say..." Spyro muttered, pulling some grass from the ground with his talons. "At least you'll always have your mom, your sister, and a home. All I got are those boney old hens, and my sleeping spot in Dark Hollow."

Flame furrowed his brows. Was Spyro sleeping alone in the old Dark Hollow library? He had always assumed the elders would let him sleep in the temple with them. "Still, it's not like anyone's gonna throw you out," he said anyway.

"Well... Your mom kind of did. Threw me out, I mean."

Flame turned to Spyro. He was staring into the fire, a blank expression on his face. He had never considered that Spyro would feel like he had been shunned by Mother. Flame had always thought of it as a great honor, to have your potential recognized at such a young age. To be chosen.

"But it doesn't matter," Spyro continued, tossing some grass in the fire. "Someday I'll be off this miserable island."

Flame looked up. "You want to leave?"

"I wish I could." Spyro sighed, longingly. "I want to go live in Avalar, or even further away, in The Forgotten Realms. There are some amazing homeworlds there!"

"You've been to the Forgotten Realms!?" Flame blurted out, in shock. Only a few of the elders had ever been to The Forgotten Realms. Those old realms laid far beyond even Avalar and were shrouded in mystery. Flame had always heard that they were awful, dangerous places that no dragon in their right mind should ever want to visit.

"Oh, they're not that bad..." Spyro said, with a talon-wave. "It's a nice place, actually. There are lots of amazing realms to explore, and no dragons telling you what to do. I've even made a few friends there."

Spyro sighed and gazed up at the starry sky again. "I wish I could live there, but the elders would never let me go. They need their chosen dragon to defend the village and go do their stupid quests and everything else those lazy old hens can't bother to do themselves. It's in their prophecy-thing."

They were quiet for a moment. Flame didn't quite know what to say. What does one say to something like that? Flame had never in his life considered leaving the island. He didn't exactly like the village either, but the notion that it should be better somewhere else had never struck him. Especially with how alien and unsafe the other realms seemed.

"If it makes you feel any better, throwing you out is the biggest mistake mom ever made," he finally said to his purple friend. "Bet she wishes she swapped out our eggs when she still had the chance." He chuckled dryly, imagining her trying to pass off Spyro's egg as her own. Oh, how much happier she'd be with a son like him.

"Why do you keep saying that?" Flame turned to Spyro to see the purple dragon looking at him with a mix of concern and confusion. "Why wouldn't she want you?" You're her son."

Flame sighed. Spyro had never understood. Maybe he didn't want to understand. "The same reason everyone else dislikes me. Because I'm useless. Duh!" Flame waved his talon dismissively, wondering why he needed to explain to Spyro what every dragon in the village already knew and had known since he was a hatchling. "I'm a runt. I suck at everything. I can't breathe fire, I'm afraid of heights, I'm clumsy. I'm just... useless."

"Hey, that's gnorc-shit!" Spyro flared up. "If they think you're useless, it's just because they don't know you! You just need a chance to prove yourself, to show what you can do..."

"You mean like Red's Cave?" Flame quipped. "Fat chance. I couldn't even disable a few force fields. I can't do anything right. All I know how to do is paint and I'm not even good at that..."

"I think claw-painting is kinda cool," Spyro tried.

"Claw-painting is many things, but never has any dragon in history considered it cool, and I don't believe for a second you think it's cool. Or else you would be doing it too."

"But you're good at many other things!" Spyro said, then paused as he scrambled to think of something. "You chased off those mud-gnorcs when we explored Misty Bogs, didn't you?"

"Actually, you did that. I just hid behind a stump."

"Gems? We've collected so many gems!"

Flame sighed again. "You collected those gems. I mostly just slowed you down by skipping all the glide-jumps."

"Hey," Spyro got up, walked around the fire and sat down right next to the dejected form of Flame. "You're not useless, okay? You're just... you know, different. That doesn't have to be a problem."

He gave Flame an encouraging smile, but the red dragon just looked away. None of this was making him feel better, at all. But Spyro wouldn't give up so easily. He shuffled closer and nudged Flame's shoulder. "Come on, cheer up, dude. Okay, so maybe you're not the best fighter or glider, or maybe you can't breathe fire and maybe you're a little clumsy..."

Flame sighed again. "Is this going somewhere?"

"But you did follow me to Dark Mines", Spyro went on. "Even though you knew there'd be gnorcs and dark vine traps and whatnot. That takes guts!"

"I suppose."

"Not all dragons are big and powerful on the outside," Spyro explained. "Some are small but powerful on the inside. You might be small but it's like you have this, you know, strength inside you that other dragons don't have. You're like a ..." Spyro scrunched his muzzle, trying to think of something smart. Then he lit up. "You're like a little chili!"

Flame lifted an eyebrow. "A chili?"

"Yeah, you know, small but really spicy?"

The look of complete sincerity on Spyro's face, coupled with the thought of himself as a chili, was too much for Flame who burst out laughing.

"Hey, I was trying to be nice," Spyro tried defending himself in front of Flame who rolled around in the glass, but he couldn't contain himself neither and, before they knew it, they were both rolling around hooting like maniacs.

"The best part," Flame sat up in the grass, gasping for air and wiping a tear from his eyes. "is that this might be the kindest thing anyone has ever said about me."

Spyro looked at him, a glint of something in his violet eyes. Concern again, or maybe pity? "Well, I just wanted you to know that sometimes it's okay just to be yourself," he said.

He was trying to be nice, Flame could see that. And in a way, he had never expected Spyro to go out of his way to make him feel better about being his useless self. But that's just the thing, Flame didn't want to be useless anymore. Someone that Spyro had to go feel sorry for and his mother to be ashamed of.

"But what if I don't want to be me anymore," he said, sitting back up. "You have no idea what it's like, Spyro. To be the runt. The one everyone expects to screw up, and who always does screw up." He sighed deeply, then turned to the purple dragon. "I'd do anything to be like you."

Spyro didn't say anything at first. He just sat there next to him, eyes locked to the flickering flames. "Maybe you could be me." he then said, quietly, so quietly Flame could barely hear him.

Flame glanced up. "Excuse me?"

"It was just an idea," Spyro said, poking at a half-burnt stick. "I don't know. Maybe it was stupid."

"Tell me."

"Well..." Spyro turned him, a glint of mischief in his eyes. "Remember how I said I wanted to get off this island? And you want to be like me, impress your mom and the elders. I was thinking... Maybe we can help each other?"

Flame looked at him, confused. "Spyro, what are you talking about?"

"I could train you to be just like me." Spyro inched a little closer and laid a paw on Flame's shoulder. "Look, this whole hero gig, it's not hard. You don't exactly need a master's degree."

"It's not?"

"No! You Torch some gnorcs, collect some talismans. Anyone could do it but most dragons think they can't. But I'm telling you, it's easy!"

Spyro looked at him, a wide grin on his muzzle. "I can teach you," he said excitedly. "I'll teach you all my tricks, all my moves. You'll be the best hero the village has ever seen!"

"Yeah right..." Flame rolled his eyes, skeptically. "Maybe you can teach me how to shoot lasers while you're at it."

"I'm serious," Spyro said. "What you said about wanting to change, wanting to impress your mother and all of that. Of wanting to be a hero like me. Did you mean it?"

"Of course I did!" Flame wanted nothing more in the entire world. Ever since Spyro had been picked to be trained by the elders, he had imagined what life might have been like had he been chosen instead. Growing up in Spyro's shadow since he was old enough to walk, living with a sister who had made it her business to outshine him in any way imaginable, a mother who wouldn't even look at him...

"Are you really saying you can teach me this stuff?" He asked, meeting Spyro's eyes. He hoped that his friend wouldn't pull his tail over something like this. Not when he knew how much it mattered to him.

"I promise," Spyro said, looking at him with sincere, violet eyes. "If that's what you really want, then yes, I can teach you."

Flame nodded eagerly. "That's all I want in the entire world," he said, meaning every word. He was done feeling useless. If Spyro thought he could help him become a better dragon, it was worth a shot. "But even if you could teach me all that, I'll always be second best to you" he added, a little bashfully.

"Well, that's the other part of it," Spyro said. "I really want to leave, but if I just up and vanish today and leave the village undefended, the elders will definitely come after me. They'd find me in the Forgotten Realms and try to drag me back, and they'd be right too..."

Flame nodded slowly. "I guess...?"

"However", Spyro continued. "If I were to leave behind a successor, another dragon to defend the village and for the elders to send on their stupid fetch quests, they wouldn't need me!"

"Oh..." Flame sat back, the pieces falling into place. Spyro actually wanted Flame to replace him, to be the new hero in the village. To make him into the kind of dragon his mother could be proud of, the village could admire, the elders could respect. All so he could leave the island like he always wanted to. Spyro was offering him everything Flame had always wanted. Or at least, everything he had wanted since he and Spyro had been separated so many years ago, and when growing up, he had realized what a dragon was supposed to be.

He would never imagine that Spyro would be the one to help him reach his fullest potential. In the years, he had come to assume that Spyro was outshining him on purpose. At least that's how it had felt. Yet here he was, that very same dragon, asking Flame to replace him. In a way, it couldn't be more perfect. So why did he feel this odd sinking feeling in his chest?

"Listen, I know it's a lot to ask," Spyro said. "And I won't tell you that those fetch quests aren't annoying as hell, because they are. But you'll be a hero and..." he hesitated. "It's the only way they'll let me go."

Flame shook his head. "It's not the fetch quests. I can do that. It's..." he trailed off. "Would we.... still be friends?"

"Of course!" Spyro burst out. "We'll always be friends! And you can always visit me in The Forgotten Realms. The portals are always open."

"I guess..."

"Besides" Spyro added. "It's only until the elders find some new prophecy dragonet to sink their claws in. Maybe after that, you can move to the Forgotten Realms as well!"

Flame shook his head vigorously. "Oh no... I wouldn't set a claw in that place, let alone live there."

"Then I'll visit you," Spyro said, smiling. "Often... very often, it's just... I really can't stay here. But the only way I could ever leave is if the elders feel they have another dragon to train, someone to take my place, protect the village and all that jazz. And I know you can do it."

Spyro looked at him, purple eyes big and hopeful. And Flame knew even before he opened his muzzle that there was only one answer he could give.

"I'll do it."

Barely were the words out of his mouth before Spyro had pulled him in for a tight hug. "Thank you," he said, squeezing him so tightly he could barely breathe. "Thank you so much, dude."

"No... no problem," Flame managed, finding it a little difficult to speak all of a sudden. Not only because he was suffocating, but he had never realized how smooth Spyro's scales were before. How soft they felt against him, and warm. It was almost hypnotizing. What's wrong with you Flame?

Spyro let go of him way too soon. "We'll start your training first thing tomorrow!" he promised, beaming from horn to horn. "We're gonna make you into a proper hero!"

Flame nodded softly, wondering what he had gotten himself into.

There was simply no way he could ever be half the dragon Spyro was, not with all the training in the world, but Spyro seemed to believe it.

"It's a plan", he said, giving his paw to Spyro who shook it vigorously.

The sun had set completely. It was pitch dark and cold. Flame laid down in the grass and Spyro flopped down next to him, but any hope he had of getting any sleep quickly vanished since Spyro was way too enthralled with their new plan to stop talking. He talked about the Forgotten Realms, and what he'd do when he gets there, how it had worlds with three suns, robot spiders and castles made entirely out of crystals.

He talked even as the fire died down, and Flame was happy just to lie there and listen, but he did notice how Spyro seemed to inch closer and closer until he was leaning directly against Flame's foreleg. Then after a while, he went quiet, and Flame realized with a start that his eyes had closed. He felt the purple dragon's chest rise and fall against his flank, and there was no doubt Spyro had fallen asleep like that, with his head on Flame's side, and Flame had no idea what to do. For reasons he couldn't quite understand, his heart started beating really fast.

After a few minutes, he finally regained control of himself. It was no big deal. Spyro had just fallen asleep, on him, by accident. The most normal thing to do was simply to pull his arm out and let his friend rest in comfort.

Flame slowly pulled his arm out from under Spyro. Then he grabbed his satchel, then placed it under Spyro's head as a make-do pillow. He looked at the sleeping dragon and was struck by the sudden wish to move closer, to lie down right next to him, but he didn't.

Instead, he curled up between him and the smoldering remains of their campfire, not too close but not too far away either. He laid there, listening to the wind and Spyro's soft snoring and thought about how his life was about to change.

He imagined the shock on Ember's stupid face when she finds out that Spyro had been training him. And his mother embracing him, finally proud now that her son could fly and fight gnorcs. And those were all nice thoughts, but still, for some reason, he felt a sinking feeling in his chest. He pushed it away. He didn't have time for doubt. It was time to become a whole new dragon.

~ ~ ~

He woke up the next morning after a much too short night, shivering with a punishing headache. He groaned, blinking in the morning light and instinctively reaching a claw towards Spyro. But his paw found only frosty grass. He startled awake, realizing that Spyro's sleeping spot next to him was empty. Had Spyro left him?

"Spyro!?" he shouted, getting up on all fours. "Spyro!?

"Right here, bud!" He turned around and there he was, the purple dragon, wearing Flame's satchel on his side. "Hey this thing is really useful, I can see why you bring it everywhere," he grinned, nodding to the satchel filled to the brim with wild berries. "I got us some breakfast!"

Flame sighed in relief. It was the first time he had seen Spyro collect anything other than gems, and some breakfast would be nice. The berries did look delicious. He didn't even mind that his satchel was now smudged red with berry juice.

They ate their berries while the winter sun rose over the forest. Or well, Flame ate. Spyro was far too busy planning out Flame's new training program. "We should train every day if we can," he said. "I'll take you to some cool places around the realm. I mean, you've already been to Dark Mine, Crocodile Swamp and Dragonfly Falls, but oh, they're so many other places to visit! Hell, we can even go to Avalar! When you're ready of course."

He grabbed a stick and started to sketch out the island in the dirt, marking all sub-worlds and locations he wanted to visit with an X. Flame recognized some of the places, even if Spyro's version of the island wasn't very geographically accurate. But most of them he had never heard of. After a while, there were more X:s on the map than Flame could count.

Flame, on his part just sat there, listening and nodding now and then. He didn't feel he had much to add, even though the sheer number of locations was starting to worry him a little. Mostly, he just hoped that the berries he had just wolfed down weren't the poisonous kind. He recalled with some concern how Spyro had skipped most of elder Magnus' outdoor lessons.

"Oh, I'm sure they're fine," Spyro assured him with a claw-wave when he asked. "I tried some of them and they tasted good to me."

The walk back through Dusky Woods hadn't been the least bit scary. They found their way back to the trail without issue and didn't encounter a single gnorc. Spyro, however, talked the entire way. He talked all the way through the forest, through the swamplands all the way to the town center, adding three or four new names to the ever-growing list of realms and locations he wanted them to visit. "You'll love Haunted Towers," he said. "And we should visit Alpine Ridge sometime. Actually, we could check it out right now!"

"Right now?" The long trek back had drained what little energy Flame had regained after the easy night. He just wanted home to his cave.

"Yeah, why not!?" Spyro beamed. "We can use the portal in... Oh, wait," Spyro turned to the temple, then stomped the ground with his paw. "Oh, blubber-slime! I think I'm needed at the temple. I promised to help Tomas with one of his stupid experiments."

"Oh, that's a shame," Flame said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"No worries! We'll just start later tonight. Meet me outside the temple at sunset. By the Delbin statue, you know, in the courtyard. You know where that is?"

"Yes, but..."

"Awesome!" Spyro pulled him in for a tight hug. "See you there, Flamers! And don't be late!" He had hurried off towards the temple before Flame could remind him he wasn't allowed on the elder side of the island.

Walking home, Flame couldn't help but feel he was in over his horns. He couldn't remember the last time he had seen Spyro so excited, and he was always excited over something. Maybe he'd actually be able to teach Flame a trick or two, or maybe he'd get him killed. To Flame, both scenarios were about as likely. But a promise is a promise, he told himself, so he was going to give it his best. He wasn't going to let Spyro down.

He had barely made it through the door before he heard Ember's annoying voice.

"And, where have you been all night?"

"Me?" Flame looked at his sister, putting on the most casual voice he could muster. "Oh, I was just sleeping... at a friend's place."

Ember gave him an odd look. "A sleepover? But you don't have any friends."

Flame sighed, rolling his eyes. If only she knew... "Did you need something?"

"Nah, I'm just making sure you're good is all. You've been acting a little odd lately." She smiled at him, one of her fake, sly, and gross sister-smiles that she always seemed to use when she wanted to pry information out of him. "So, gonna tell me who your new friend is?"

"No, I'm going to bed." Flame pushed past her and towards his room, ignoring the suspicious look she gave him.

"Oh, by the way," he heard her say over his back, "If you see Spy', tell him we need to practice for First Flight Day."

Flame winced. Spy' is what the dragons in the village liked to call Spyro now, having all decided that two syllables were too many for a dragon as cool as him. "I'll be sure to do that..." he mumbled before closing the door to his room. For a second he had considered telling her that he and Spyro were friends now. And not only that, Spyro was going to personally train Flame to be a big hero like himself.

But it was probably a bad idea. She'd find some way to intervene, especially if she thought that Spyro would have less time for that silly First Flight nonsense. How Spyro could have agreed to fly with his stupid sister, Flame would never understand. He probably just felt sorry for her.

Then his heart dropped to his stomach as an uncomfortable thought took hold of him. Was Spyro training Flame just because he was feeling sorry for him? Flame quickly shook that thought away. Spyro was training Flame because he thought he saw something in him, he had said it himself. Besides, he needed someone to replace him.

Maybe he'd ask Spyro the next day, just to be sure. But on second thought, Flame decided it was probably best not to.

By the time he woke up, the sun was already low on the horizon. The orange light streamed through the cave opening and Flame blinked himself awake. He was still tired, especially as the berries he ate had interrupted his sleep many times with urgent calls to nature. His belly still revolted angrily when he sat up and pulled his furs off him.

He blinked himself awake. The sun was still setting outside. He had plenty of time left to sleep. And he was about to slip back under the covers when he remembered.

"Shit!"

He pulled himself off the bed and made for the door. "Shit shit shit..!" Spyro was probably waiting for him at the temple already. And he had promised not to be late!

Somehow, he had made it to the temple before the sun had set. He reached the courtyard where he spotted Delbin's statue at the center. Exhausted, he sank down next to the statue. He was a little surprised however to find that Spyro wasn't there yet, but he was sure he would show up soon.

Luckily, there weren't any elders in the courtyard either. He remembered very clearly how angry Tomas had been with him whenever he had tried to sneak over to the forbidden side of the island; how he'd drag him home by his horns to Mother. He doubted he'd get much better treatment today.

The sky was black and the stars had come out by the time Spyro finally showed up. Flame was almost asleep and had jolted awake when the purple dragon skidded to a stop in front of him. "Sorry, I'm late, but I did say after sunset!" He laughed and Flame sighed deeply.

At least Spyro was in good spirits. In fact, one could hardly believe he was the same dragon that had opened up about his fears in Dusky Woods. That had said he couldn't sleep because he had been rejected once by Mother and was afraid he might be rejected again.

"This is gonna be awesome!" he exclaimed, hopping up on the acropodium below the statue. "I've never been a teacher before, but I can't imagine it's that hard!" "Oh by the way, did you bring anything for taking notes?"

"Notes?" Flame frowned. "I didn't realize I should be taking notes."

"Good! Because being a hero is all about instincts! The dragonets in the village think it's all technique and memorizing different attacks and they're all wrong. It's about living in the moment! That's how one becomes a great dragon!" Spyro spread his wings dramatically.

Flame rolled his eyes. "If you say so, oh, great master."

"In fact, being a hero dragon is easy", Spyro continued. "Really, there are only two things you need to know to be a good dragon: to fly and to breathe fire."

"But those are the two things I specifically can't do!" Flame whined, a little exasperated. They weren't exactly off to a good start.

"Oh right, you do kind of have that against you." Spyro brought a claw to his chin to think. "Well, flying is basically gliding. And gliding is easy once you know not to be afraid of heights."

"And how do I know not to be afraid of heights?"

"Easy!" Spyro spread his wings and glided down from Delbin. "We just have to expose you to so many platforms and towers and other high up things that you'll get used to it!"

Flame gulped nervously. His pulse spiked at the mere mention of gliding, but he tried to keep a calm exterior. "And, ehm, my fire breath?"

"Oh, your fire breath will come eventually, and worrying your horns off over it won't help."

"But what if it doesn't?" Flame asked, thinking with a shudder about soft, old Magnus saying he didn't get it until he was a hundred. Flame was going to be sixteen this winter. What kind of sixteen-year-old dragon can't breathe fire?

"Well, then you'll be a hero without fire breath. It's not really a big deal." Spyro said, dismissing the whole issue with a wave of his talon, and already going back on that half of his first lesson. "The charge attack is more powerful anyway." he continued. "Hell, I cleared all of High Caves of gnorcs with nothing but my horns." He turned to Flame. "You do know how to charge attack, right?"

"I know the basic concept..."

"It's easy! Just point your horns forward and run into whatever you need to kill as fast as you can. It's good for tagging gnorcs and busting open metal chests. Watch this!"

Spyro got into position some twenty feet away from Delbin, then lowered his horns menacingly. He pawed the ground, once, twice then charged straight toward the great statue, ramming into it with such force that the ground shook and a few of the stone dragon's teeth fell from its open maw.

"I'm sure those were already a little loose," Spyro said, shaking some dust off his hide. "Now you try!"

"Now? No way! We're gonna get in trouble!"

"If you destroy it, I'll say it was me. Come on, Flamey, if you can't charge a statue, how are you gonna take out a big, mean gnorc?"

"But what if I like... break a horn?"

Spyro chuckled. "Horns are made for hitting stuff. Trust me, Flame, you're not gonna break them."

"Fine..." Realizing he had no choice, Flame lowered his horns and took aim at the statue. Just like Spyro had, it pawed at the ground, then bounded towards the statue as fast as he could. However, about halfway to his target, he must have tripped on a loose stone or something because suddenly he was flat on his belly, skidding on the cobblestone until his horns struck the stone with a pathetic ding.

"Hey, that was great!" Spyro's purple mug appeared above him instantly. "How about we try again. Just, you know, try to hit it this time." He nudged Flame encouragingly who grunted and slowly got up on his feet.

On the next attempt, Flame did hit the statue head-on. The impact was enough to send him flying back on his butt and made him all dizzy, but at least he hadn't tripped this time.

"That's awesome!" Spyro exclaimed, hopping from paw to paw in excitement. "What a smash! Had that been a gnorc he'd be like, so dead!"

"Yeah, well I bet it's a little harder when they're moving about and trying to fight back." Flame said, rubbing his head. "Is it normal to feel all lightheaded afterward?"

"You'll get used to it." Spyro gave him a paw and pulled him to his feet. "And that was a really good hit too! I can tell you're a natural."

Flame stared at Spyro in disbelief. All Flame had done was hit a statue, yet Spyro took it as definite proof that he could take on a real gnorc. "Thanks," he said, feeling his cheeks warm up a bit. It felt a bit peculiar to have someone believe in him so much.

They'd spent the rest of the night training. Spyro had taught him some more moves, like the dodge roll and how to use his wings to jump further.

Then he had promoted Flame from statues to sheep. There were plenty of sheep running about in the meadow around the temple, but this presented a new challenge since the fluffy little creatures would run away before Flame had a chance to headbutt them.

And the larger goats could really defend themselves! They would try to charge back at Flame! However, Flame had figured out how to use his roll to get out of the way of their horns, which made them a lot easier to avoid, and he had managed to tag a few sheep in the end.

Once he had mastered sheep, Spyro wanted Flame to try his horns in a duel against the master himself. Now, this was a frightening prospect to Flame, since Spyro was both stronger and faster than him. But as they butted horns, it quickly became apparent that Spyro was holding back, even though he pretended not to. Still, Flame had gotten a few good headbutts in, and actually surprised Spyro by knocking him on his rump more than once. And after an hour or so of playing, the two dragons were more equally matched.

"Don't you think it's time we try those bad boys against the real deal?" Spyro had asked after another session of intense horn wrestling.

He flopped down next to Flame in the grass, who was still panting. Every muscle in his body ached.

"I was thinking we could go back to Dragonfly Falls," he said. "There's a lot of great hills and stuff to soar from, or wait, Oh! Oh! We could go back to Volcanic..."

"Actually, I think I better get home." Flame said, looking at the sun which had begun to rise over the hills. They'd been outside the temple practicing all night.

"Oh, stinking ancestors... You're probably right." Spyro looked a little sad at first, then lit up. "But at least you got that statue good!"

Before parting ways, they had decided to try to meet much earlier, as soon as Spyro was back from a trip to Avalar (Apparently, he had to go find some very important orbs that were stolen the night before.)

Despite the day's minuscule achievements, Flame did feel a spark of optimism on his way home. A small hope that maybe Spyro might be able to teach him a thing or two.

~ ~ ~

The next day, Spyro was actually on time for once. In fact, he was already busy preparing his training when Flame saw him. He had a satchel of his own now, which Flame guessed he had "borrowed" from Tomas, and maps and other papers were spread all over the cobblestone, and his dragonfly Sparx were buzzing back and forth between the maps, sorting them all out.

"Oh there, you are. Finally!" he said, in a way that made Flame snort in annoyance, but then he pulled the red dragon close and pointed to the maps. "Check this out. It's our expedition all charted out!"

Before him were several maps he had taken from Tomas' study, completed with a few sketchy looking maps Flame suspected Spyro had drawn himself. A red line was drawn across the canvas, plotting their path, as well as some barely comprehensible notes he had scribbled here and there. But Flame didn't recognize the maps at all. It definitely wasn't any place near Dragon Village.

"It's Volcanic Isle!" Spyro exclaimed happily, having noticed Flame's confusion. "I've been through there a couple of times already, but you're gonna help me collect the last gems!"

"Volcanic Isle!?" Flame's heart quickened. "Don't you think that an active volcano is a little bit hardcore for our first trip? And how long were we planning to be gone anyway...?" Flame looked warily at Spyro's red line cutting across the maps. Even with his limited knowledge of the Volcanic Isle's geography, he could see the trip Spyro had marked out would take days!

"Oh, until dark maybe?" Spyro shrugged and Flame realized with a start that Spyro had no idea how long the trip he had so painstakingly charted out would take them. Suddenly, he's long, unplanned "vacations" to other realms started to make a lot more sense.

"How about, I handle the map stuff." Flame said, gathering up the various papers. "We'll hit all the locations you marked, but you know, maybe one per day?" Volcanic Ilse wasn't exactly an isle, but a peninsula connected to their island by the rocky bay not too far from the temple, which also explained why Spyro had been so keen they'd meet here.

"Sounds good to me!" Spyro said, beaming. And with that, they were off, in the direction of the huge, active volcano.

The expedition had gone exactly as bad as Flame had feared. The first location Spyro had marked out was a horrible place called Magma Falls, which Flame learned was essentially the inside of the island's volcano. Full of caves, mine shafts, and secret chambers. And yes, there was lava, or more specifically, magma, everywhere. Magmafalls. Magma-rivers. Entire lakes made of magma. Lakes that they often had to cross to proceed.

One such crossing required them to use a rickety old suspension bridge that looked like it would barely support Sparx' wait. It had taken 20 minutes before Flame had mustered up the courage to cross it.

Around the time they reached Molten Mount, the local populace, consisting mostly of rock dwellers, fire imps, and of course, lava gnorcs, had noticed the two interlopers. The lava gnorcs weren't actually covered by lava as Flame had feared, but strong volcanic rock. They could, however, spit lava which was just as bad.

Flame had been ready to take on gnorcs maybe, but not gnorcs spitting lava. He had cowered in fear while Spyro took them out. "I'm sorry, I don't remember them being having a lava attack last time I was here," he explained, and Flame wondered how that's a detail one could forget.

"You sure you don't want me to leave one of the smaller ones for you next time? You just have to charge them right on and they explode into a million pieces!"

Flame had agreed to give it a shot, and he was just about to charge the little lava rock creature when it saw him and with a frightening growl, sprayed a torrent of lava right at him. Flame had shied back with a yelp and gotten drops of lava all over his tail. Spyro had quickly dispatched the little creature with his horns.

"You okay?" he asked, eyes full of worry when he pulled Flame to his paws.

"I'm okay. I just got surprised." Flame said, looking away so Spyro couldn't see him flushing. Fortunately, dragon hides were pretty fireproof, but the lava had stung something awful. But not as bad as screwing up in front of Spyro.

"No worries, we'll try again next time!" Spyro had smiled.

Gliding had been out of the question, even when the floor wasn't literally made out of lava, and Flame had dropped more gems than he had collected.

It was late in the night when Flame came back from the trip, tired and feeling more useless than he ever had in his entire life. He had screwed up in every way a dragon can screw up.

They were sitting by the river in Dragonfly Falls, with Spyro swabbing Flame's burnt tail with a wet sponge when Flame had raised his concerns.

"You know I'll never be able to do what you do, right? I just don't have it in me."

Spyro put away the sponge and sat down next to Flame. "For all it's worth, I think you were very brave." He wrapped a wing over Flame, who felt his heart quicken a little.

"Do you wanna try again? In a different realm?" Spyro asked. "One without lava," he quickly amended.

Flame knew Spyro wouldn't hold it against him if he backed out now. He had given it his best try after all. He didn't owe Spyro to take his place.

Flame thought for a while. Then said simply "Yes. Let's try again."

The look of relief on Spyro's face was worth it. "I knew it'd take more than some lava burns to discourage my Flame!" he said, giving him an encouraging slap on the back. "But I think that we should stick to places on the island for a while," he added, pulling some maps out of his satchel.

Flame nodded quickly. As long as he didn't have to go back to Volcanic Isle.

~ ~ ~

He and Spyro had already explored plenty of sub-worlds on the island, but many of them still had gems left to collect, chests to unlock and some secret areas as of yet unexplored, so Spyro suggested they would start those places.

They returned first to Dusky Woods and Spyro found a few dark gems he had missed on their first trip, and was very happy about it. Then on to the swamplands, then they went to Coastal Remains and searched among the ruins for buried treasure caches, and lastly, they'd explore the jungles and valley surrounding Dragonfly Falls, where there were plenty of peaks and hills to glide from.

Spyro kept a watchful eye over Flame wherever he went, and insisted that they'd use their wings to clear the terrain as much as possible, or as much as Flame was comfortable with of course, which admittedly was more with every trip.

It was scary, but Flame didn't want to let Spyro down again. Instead, he applied himself as best he could. He searched inside for every bit of courage he could muster, and when that wasn't enough, then Spyro had a way to pull some more courage out of him, with a smile or a nudge or just the way he, despite all the times Flame tripped and fell and screwed up, remained absolutely convinced that Flame could do it. Unlike Astor, he never sighed, he never gave up, he never got mad or frustrated or bored. And when Flame failed, that was okay, because all he needed was to try again, and there was nothing wrong with that. Besides, it meant they could do another glide, and Spyro loved gliding.

His purple friend was either the worst or best teacher in history. Everything Flame did, no matter how small or insignificant, was cause for celebration. Every minuscule step, every platform he dared to jump-glide from even if it was just a few feet higher than the previous one.

His fighting had improved as well. With Spyro's help, he was able to dispatch a group of gnorcs as they tried to ambush the two dragons. Spyro had gotten most of them, but Flame could hold his own now and did manage to knock out one or two gnorcs with his horns. They weren't much different from sheep, he realized. At least not when they didn't spit lava.

He'd come home after their expeditions, sore and tired, with aching wings and aching paws, but much happier than he had ever remembered being in his life. This was just like when he and Spyro were hatchlings and they explored the village. This was much better because now Flame wasn't such a coward. He was finally worthy of being Spyro's friend.

The old Flame who liked claw-painting and drinking tea was dead, he would tell himself. He was a new dragon now, the kind of dragon he was always meant to be. Someone his mother could be proud of. He'd be ready next time Red came to take over the island, or gnorcs attacked. He wouldn't run and hide, or stumble into a force field and need to be rescued.

But Flame soon realized that the real reason he pushed himself to the limit every day, even when it got scary, even when it meant he had to soar across the sky and fight gnorcs, is not because he wanted to impress Mother. It was because he wanted to impress Spyro.

The next day when he met Spyro outside the temple, he had that mischievous glint in his eyes again. "As you may know, we've found every single gem on the island," he explained. "Me and Sparx have been talking... and we think you're ready for something a little next-level."

"We're not going to Volcanic Isle again, I hope," Flame said.

"Even better. We're going to Avalar!"

Flame had felt that their trips around the island had been challenging enough.

But Avalar was a whole different thing. At least adventures so far had been limited to the island. Flame had no idea what to expect in Avalar. There his maps would be useless. He wouldn't be able to get them back home if Spyro got them lost, which was not an unusual occurrence.

But Spyro had gone to Avalar countless times and had always returned with his scales intact. So Flame told himself it would be fine and followed Spyro to the Avalar portal.

The only way to get there was to use the portal gateways, the ones that only ever the elders were allowed to use. Spyro had lately been added to that list because it was just more convenient to let him teleport about as he wished to complete his quests. But Flame most definitely was not on that list.

This worried Flame. It did, however, not worry Spyro.

"Oh, keep your horns on, Flame! As long as you don't tell anyone, you'll be fine," Spyro had promised. "And anyway, it's not like they'd execute you for it! We don't do that anymore."

"So what would they do?" Flame asked a little warily.

"At worst, they'd probably try to excommunicate you," Spyro said with a shrug. "But if they tried to excommunicate you, I could always kill them all," he said with a smile. "So don't worry so much. Anyway, did you bring the maps?"

~ ~ ~

No maps that Flame had ever seen could have prepared him for a place like Avalar. The ordinary laws of physics just didn't apply here. There were floating platforms, entire floating islands in fact. There were four homeworlds in Avalar, and they were stranger things. Each homeworld was stuck in a season and time of day. You had Summer Forest, which, as its name suggests, was always sunny, Autumn Plains with its perpetual autumn, and of course, Winter Tundra, which was frozen in everlasting winter midnight.

Upon arriving in Summer Forest, the first homeworld, Flame noticed that it was populated, not by dragons, but a species of giant mice people who walked on two legs and carried pickaxes. They immediately flocked around Spyro when they arrived, chattering with their high-pitch voices. Tiny mice kids swarmed Spyro, petting him, hanging from his horns, begging him to show off his fire breath, which Spyro was all too happy to do. An older mice person who looked like he was fresh from the nearby mine presented Spyro with a few precious gemstones. Spyro clearly had been through before, and probably helped them with something important, given how they all adored him.

Flame had never seen such an odd spectacle in his entire life and had very deliberately kept in the background and out of sight. But then, to his horror, Spyro had remembered Flame was there too and waved him over with a big grin. "Hey everyone, I want you to meet my new friend, Flame!", ruining any chance to sneak away. "He's my new sidekick! You're gonna see a lot more of him!"

And that was all it took for Flame to be swarmed too. The mice were all curious about dragons and wanted to see his wings, his horns, and tail, and they all found it very curious that Flame was red, as they had imagined that all dragons were purple.

"Sidekick, huh?" Flame said to Spyro when they had finally managed to pull away from the furry fan club.

"Yeah, sidekick. I mean, we're more than just friends, right?"

"I suppose?"

"All heroes have sidekicks, but since we're both heroes, I suppose we're more like partners, right?"

Flame chuckled. "Well, I guess. Except if you go around presenting us as partners, people might get the wrong idea."

Spyro just blinked. "What wrong idea?"

"Well, you know," Flame rubbed his frills awkwardly. "Sometimes when people say partner, they mean that you're a little extra close, you know?"

But Spyro just looked at him, obliviously, so Flame whose cheeks were starting to heat up again decided to change the topic. "Hey Ehm, what was the name of the homeworld you wanted to show me?"

Spyro lit up. "Autumn Plains! Oh, you'll love it, Flamers! It's so cool."

"That's nice but... why are we going there?" Usually, when Spyro brought Flame to some new homeworld, he had some special, often dangerous purpose to the visit. Like fighting lava gnorcs.

"Well, I didn't want to spoil it for ya, but you're gonna help me find a gem."

"Just one gem?" Flame raised an eyebrow. That didn't sound so bad. Usually, Spyro didn't want to leave a world before he had collected a hundred or so at least. "At least there aren't any gnorcs there, right?"

"None. Just the gem." The purple dragon flashed him a mischievous grin and Flame felt his heart quicken.

He was more than a little nervous when they arrived at the arched gateway which would teleport them to Autumn Plains. But really, he told himself, how dangerous could a place called Autumn Plains be?

However, Autumn Plains turned out to be a very misleading name for the Homeworld, as Flame found out the second he arrived. For one thing, there were no plains anywhere. Instead, they came into a massive, grassy courtyard, guarded by massive walls with gold-plated ramparts. And in the middle of it all, a castle, the largest castle Flame had ever seen, with towers stretching so far into the sky Flame felt dizzy just looking at them.

"Let me guess," he said to his purple friend. "We're gonna have to climb that to get your gem?"

Spyro nodded with a sly smile. "Oh yeah."

Flame gulped.

A few hours of climbing later, the two had managed to scale the southeast tower, the tallest of all three. From here, Flame realized to his horror that the courtyard they arrived in was surrounded on all sides by a ravine so deep its bottom was covered by clouds.

And the gem Spyro wanted them to get waited from them on a tiny platform far outside the protective walls. Flame suddenly realized that Spyro had been talking about this gem before, and the glide to get to it. Apparently, he had tried himself and failed to reach it. Spyro, the best glider he knew, hadn't been able to get it. And now the crazy dragon wanted Flame to try it with him.

"I realize this flight might be a liiiiitle longer than you're used to," Spyro said.

"Ya, you think?" Flame quipped. His stomach clenched just looking at the gem in the distance. It was by far the most dizzying, terribly high up place he had ever been to.

Yet somehow, he had found the courage to jump with Spyro.

In that final moment, it was like another braver dragon had taken control of his body, made him stand on the edge next to Spyro, spread his wings and leap into the air. Yes, his wings had shaken like aspen leaves. Yes, it wasn't until Spyro nudged his cheek softly, and wrapped his wing over his shoulders and told him that they'd be fine, that he had found the courage to even creep up to the edge. But he had still jumped. Jumped and soared over the courtyard, over the castle walls and all the way out of the platform where they landed.

It had been the most frightening moment of his life. And also the most thrilling.

And barely had he caught his breath before Spyro had thrown himself over him and squeezed him so tightly he lost his breath all over again. "You did it, Flame! What a flight!" Spyro was more excited with Flame managing the flight than getting to the gem.

And there it was, the gem, pure white and glimmering in the orange sunlight. Spyro picked it up, admired it in his claws and then, with some visible reluctance, handed it over to Flame.

"You sure you'd rather not have it yourself?" Flame had asked. He could see the want in Spyro's eyes. This gem didn't mean nearly as much to Flame as it did to Spyro.

But the purple dragon just nodded, closing Flame's talon around his prize. "It's yours, mate." He smiled and nudged Flame again. He did wince slightly, however, when Flame stuffed it in his satchel together with the maps and the wrapped remains of their breakfast.

And he had been brooding over the gem all the way home, asking Flame several times to make sure it was still with them, and even stared suspiciously at every gnorc they passed, and even the mice back in Summer Forest.

Flame's knees were still shaking from the glide when he finally got home to the cave. He sank down in his bed and placed the gem on the nightstand next to him, and he had to admit it was a beautiful thing, all pearlescent white and shiny. In fact, it even seemed shinier than any other gem Flame had seen. And it was his.

He let out a deep sigh and wrapped himself in his furs, curled up and thought of, not gems or scary glides, but how Spyro had nuzzled his cheek on that tower.

~ ~ ~

"At this rate, you're gonna be a better glider than I ever was!" Spyro had told him a few days later when they walked home together from another trip to Avalar.

They had explored Crystal Glacier that day and Flame had surprised Spyro by coasting from peak to peak, and very elegantly too. Sure, it was mostly to avoid the ice rhynocs he knew lived in the caves below, but Spyro had been impressed. There was no doubt Flame had improved since the glide in Autumn Plains. It was not like his fear of heights was completely gone, but it was easier to suppress it and just trust his wings.

And having Spyro compliment him like that, with that glimmer of pride in his eyes, was worth every scary glide in the world.

"Thanks," he mumbled, his stupid cheeks deciding to blush up again so he had to turn away. At least he hoped his red scales might make it a little harder to see.

If Spyro did notice it, he didn't say anything. He just walked there, looking at Flame, a certain curious flicker in his eyes. Clearly, nobody had taught Spyro it's rude to stare.

"But even if I was as good as you," Flame continued. "Which I'm not, by the way," he quickly added, "they'll never believe I cleared the glide in Autumn Plains." He sighed, looking up at the stars. "I'll still be the same old useless Flame to them."

"Oh, we can fix that! You just need a chance to prove yourself!" Spyro went quiet for a few minutes, his nose scrunched in that way it did when he was thinking really hard. "I got it!" he then burst out so loud he made Flame jump.

"First Flight Day! Everyone's gonna be there. It's the perfect time to show off!" He turned to Flame, full of excitement. "Who are you flying with?"

Flame was taken aback. He didn't have anyone to fly with on First Flight Day. He knew it was supposed to be the biggest day in a young dragon's life, the ceremony where young fledglings like himself were expected to try their wings for the first time, in a flight from the highest mountain in Dragonfly Falls down to the village.

And Flame had decided a long time ago to skip it. Not only because it involved throwing himself from a mountain peak.

The tradition was that fledglings should fly in pairs so that if one were to lose their air, which sometimes happened, a good teammate might help you level out before you tumble to the ground. And if you have a mediocre wingmate, he could at least fly back and tell everyone where you went down.

On top of that, there was this silly, unofficial tradition in the village that held that your wingmate for First Flight Day ought to be an actual mate. A dragon who is very special to you.

Obviously, Flame didn't care about such nonsense, but it did mean that showing up without a wingmate would be much too embarrassing. And he had accepted a long time ago that his chances of finding someone to fly with were basically zero. It was also the reason why Ember had been so eager to fly with Spyro, although Flame doubted that Spyro knew about this little tradition.

For a second, he considered lying to Spyro and saying he had one, but what was the point?

"I ehm... I'm not paired up yet," he said honestly, hanging his head in shame.

"You are now!" Spyro exclaimed. "You're flying with me, bud!"

Flame looked up, blinking in surprise. "I... I am?"

"You're flying with me, and on First Flight Day, we'll win the race back to the village and show everyone what you're made of! I wanna see them call you useless after that!" he said, flapping his wings in excitement.

Flame looked at Spyro, confused. Had he forgotten? "But... aren't you flying with Ember?"

"Oh, Ancestors... I am, aren't I?" Spyro's wings dropped as he sat down to think. "Well, Ember's nice and all, but she's already a great flier. Whereas you could probably use a more experienced wingmate." He looked at Flame. "She'd understand if I flew with you instead, right?"

Flame knew that Ember would most definitely not understand. She was more likely to strangle the both of them if they asked. His sister had already told the entire village she was flying with Spyro. For Spyro to go back on his promise now, when everyone knew, would not only be a betrayal. It would be a humiliating betrayal.

"I ehm... I think she'd understand," he said, swallowed down a twinge of guilt. "I'm sure she won't mind."

"Oh, awesome!" Spyro pulled him in for another one of his sudden, rib-crushing hugs. "We're wingmates!"

Flame smiled, but inside his stomach was turning with worry. Flying and gliding were two entirely different things, and if he screwed up on First Flight Day, he would be ruining not only his own reputation but Spyro's. The ceremony was a once in a lifetime kind of thing. And there was still the possibility of his sister strangling him in his sleep over this.

"But what if I fail? What if I come last or crash or something?"

Spyro let go of him, still smiling. "You're not gonna fail", he said, looking at Flame with bright eyes full of confidence. There wasn't a trace of doubt in them. Spyro didn't know doubt. He had never felt it in himself and couldn't see it in Flame.

"But if I do?" Flame tried again.

"If you do, which you won't, we'll find some other way to impress your mom and the elders. There's no rush. I'm not gonna leave you until you're ready, Flame."

"You promise?"

Spyro nodded. "I promise."

Flame let out a sigh of relief, the knot in his stomach unraveling, at least mostly. "You know," he said as they started walking down the temple trail again. "They'll probably still call me useless, even if we win First Flight."

"No, they won't," Spyro said calmly. "And if they do, I'll rip their wings off."

Flame laughed, then fell silent when he saw the completely serious expression on Spyro's face. "I ehm, surely, it won't come to that."

"No, because we'll win. And we have plenty of time to train. When is First Flight Day anyway?"

"It's in a week." Flame said.

"Oh..."

~ ~ ~

By the time they reached the crossroads by the temple, where they usually parted ways, Spyro still had way too much energy. "Do you want to maybe take a trip to Dragonfly Falls, try your wings?" His energy didn't seem the least bit depleted by collecting gems in Avalar all day.

And as usual, Flame was tired and bruised, wings aching from all the gliding. "Maybe another time. I really need to get some sleep..." he said, looking longingly at the road home to his cave. Oh, that sweet warm cave. It was calling for him.

"Well, mine is closer", Spyro noted. He nodded to the lights coming from Dark Hollow in the distance.

"That's great for you," Flame answered, desperately trying to suppress a yawn.

"No, I mean, why don't you spend the night?"

Flame's heart skipped a beat and he looked up at Spyro. A flip inside him switched. From desperately longing for sleep, he was now wide awake.

"With you?"

"Yeah."

"At your place?"

"That's what I said, wingmate."

Something about the genuine expression on Spyro's face made Flame's belly flare up with a thousand butterflies. He seemed so happy, so carefree, as if this was the best idea he ever had.

"I guess!", Flame yelled back suddenly, louder than intended, loud enough to make Spyro flinch on the spot, "Eh, sorry, I mean ... I could skip another night without mom getting suspicious..."

"It's settled then!", Spyro decided and nudged him right against his shoulder, "Come on. Right this way."

And with that they were off, Flame at once sleepy and a little nervous, with an overexcited Spyro nudging him along when he felt he wasn't moving fast enough. About ten minutes later, Flame stood in Dark Hollow.

It truly was a magical place, a great grassy meadow nestled between two hills, an overgrown garden where ancient bookshelves fighting for space between overgrown hedges, all bathed in the warm glow from the lanterns and surrounded by stone walls. It looked even more mysterious now, under the dark blue sky and illuminated softly by the rising moon. Dark Hollow's library was closed to all but the elders, which had only added to the mysteriousness of the place, and the jolt of excitement of finally visiting.

Spyro led the way past the gatehouse into the inner sanctum where the massive library was located, and Flame was immediately taken aback by the sheer size of it. Bookshelves, taller than any dragon he knew stretching into the dark sky, row after row of books on everything from history to magic that immediately captured Flame's imagination.

"This is about ancient dragon dynasties in the far east realms," he said, grabbing a book from the nearest shelf. "And this is about elder Astor the first, who founded the village!" Flame had barely seen such a smorgasbord of history in his entire life. "Have you read any of these?" he asked Spyro as he perused through the self.

"Not really." Spyro shrugged. "I guess I'd be more interested in books if they were about fighting and such."

"Actually, a fair bit of these are about fighting." Flame said, leaving the shelf to go and sit down with Spyro. "I could probably find you a few of these that'd you'd really like."

"Ehem, maybe some other time." Spyro gave a polite smile and Flame rolled his eyes. Typical that the dragon least interested in reading gets to sleep in a freaking library.

Unfortunately, the larger inside section of the library was closed, the doors barred and they didn't even look like they had been opened for a long time. "I'll remember to ask Tomas for a key next time you're over," Spyro promised. "Hell, if you're lucky they'll make you sleep here too when you're a big hero."

Flame nodded absently, sneaking a few books into his satchel. He then sat down next to Spyro. "So, if the library is closed, where do you sleep?"

"Right there!" Spyro pointed to a corner between two hedges where a few furs were laid over the grass, along with a couple of old pillows and a lantern. There was also an assortment of maps, a pretty impressive pile of gems, an orb or two and some other talismans from Spyro's adventures laying around. This make-do bedding might be enough for a dragon sleeping in a cave, who could not afford a proper bed, but, not for one sleeping under bare sky!

"You really sleep outside?" Flame gasped. "On a couple of blankets?"

Spyro nodded. "Well yeah, the library is closed. And look, I got a roof!" he pointed to some planks laid between the two hedges.

Flame could barely believe his ears. "What are the elders thinking, making you sleep out here when there's plenty of room in the temple!?" he growled, thinking about how cold it must get on the long winter nights. "I should let mom know this is how they treat you! She'll have their asses for this!"

"Calm down, Flames! I can sleep in the temple if I want to, but I like it out here. It doesn't get too cold with the lanterns on and I like the sky."

"But don't you feel alone?" Flame didn't always like his family, but he couldn't deny that having a warm cave in the village, with a sister and his mom, was nice sometimes. He couldn't imagine sleeping alone, in an abandoned library, every night!

The hero shook his head. "I only feel alone when I'm around other dragons, really. I guess that doesn't make any sense, huh?" He looked away, picking at a loose scale on his tail, leaving Flame to try to figure out what he meant.

"Besides," Spyro's smile returned. "I got Sparx" he nodded to the dragonfly hovering next to his horn, who buzzed happily, then landed on Spyro's nose.

It was easy to forget the little dragonfly was always with them, and Flame realized he must have flown with them all the way from Avalar just to watch over Spyro. That must be a long flight for a little dragonfly.

"Well, when I'm the new village hero, and I'm in charge of things, I'll make them at least build a damn roof for you." Flame said, only belatedly realizing that there was no point in building a roof if Spyro was going to leave soon anyway.

Spyro nodded. And then there was an awkward silence. Flame listened to the frogs croaking, the crickets chirping, wind rustling through the overgrown hedges.

"You really think I can do this, huh?" Flame said after a while. "I mean, you're not just doing this because you're feeling sorry for me or something?"

"Not at all!" Spyro burst out. "I wasn't sure in the beginning, to be honest. I thought maybe after our trip to Volcanic Isle that I was asking too much of ya."

He then turned to Flame. "But then you started really improving. I mean, really really improving! You learned how to glide and fighting and everything. And then after that, I've mostly just been feeling angry about this whole thing..."

Flame tilted his head. "Angry? What do you mean with that?"

"I don't know..." Spyro turned away from Flame, picking up one of his gems. A bright red one. "Angry because everyone assumed you couldn't do these things, only because they never bothered to teach you the right way."

"And..." he sighed. "A little angry with myself I guess. Because I never noticed how people were treating you, not until I found you in that well."

"Hey, that's not your fault!" Flame said quickly, inching closer to Spyro. "I mean, you couldn't know. I didn't tell anyone. Besides...It doesn't matter, because now that I can fight and fly, they'll have no reason to make fun of me."

"They shouldn't make fun of you either way," Spyro said, abruptly. "There's more to life than fighting gnorcs and setting fire to things, anyway."

Flame snorted. Was this really Spyro talking? "Like what?"

"Well...," Spyro seemed a little taken aback by the question. "All the other things you like to do. Painting, and reading and... didn't you use to make cool dragon sculptures?"

"Yeah, but who cares about that stuff? I haven't painted anything in ages, and it's not like I'm gonna save the world with my sculpting."

Spyro went quiet. "I guess..." He picked up another gem, a deep blue one, and started polishing the shining surface with a thumb. Even though it seemed plenty shiny already to Flame.

He stepped a little closer to Spyro. "Hey, it's no big deal. It was probably just a phase anyway." He laughed. "I mean, a claw-painting dragon... It's good I outgrew that stuff, right?"

"Well, sure, if it was just a phase. But just because other people aren't interested in a thing is no reason to stop doing it if you enjoy it, you know?"

Flame didn't know what to say. Why was Spyro telling him this now? Why now and not several years ago? Spyro had always been as obsessed with tricks and fighting as all the rest.

"Besides, I kind of like that about you," Spyro continued. "You know, since I got chosen by the elders, you're kinda the only one who didn't make a big deal out of my records and quests and all that."

He looked up from his gem, his violet eyes glimmering slightly in the glow from the lanterns as he looked at Flame. "I don't know, it's kinda calming to be around you. There's no pressure, you know."

"You're not just saying this because you don't think I can be a hero right?"

"I think you can be whatever you want to. And you want to be a hero, so we're making you a hero. But that doesn't mean to have to stop doing things you like, That's just silly."

"Besides," he added, "you don't wanna become like me..."

"Why wouldn't I want to become like you, now?" Flame asked. Becoming like Spyro was the entire point! Had Spyro forgotten why they were doing this?

"Because you'll have no real friends, just a bunch of loser dragonets who want to be like you just because you have all the Speedway high scores or the biggest gem collection." He tossed the blue gem in the pile and sighed. "And it sucks knowing that if some other dragon were to come along, and get a bigger gem collection or bigger speedway records, they'd all be swarming him instead. And I'd have no friends at all."

Flame looked at Spyro. He didn't know what to say. Spyro had always acted like he loved being showered with praise by the village. The elders were talking about erecting a statue of him. Hell, he had even started signing autographs! And now he was saying that none of this mattered to him. So why the act?

"Well...ehm..." the red dragon inched a little closer, then, by some sudden surge of courage, laid a paw on Spyro's side. "At least, we're always friends, right?"

Spyro didn't look at him. "I don't know," he mumbled, then stayed quiet for a few seconds, long enough to send poor Flame into an internal panic. "I know I haven't exactly been great friend material these last few years." He sighed again and turned to Flame. "Do you want to be my friend?"

What a weird question! Of course, Flame wanted to be Spyro's friend. He nodded quickly.

A smile sprung to Spyro's snout. Before Flame knew it, the purple dragon had wrapped him a tight hug. Flame felt the tension in his shoulders unravel as he relaxed into the hug.

"At least I made one friend while I was here," Spyro whispered next to his ear. "So when I look back at all the years I had to spend on this stupid island, I'll know it wasn't completely wasted."

Flame's heart sank. What did it matter if there were friends if Spyro was still leaving? "I'm gonna miss you," he said softly to the other dragon. "I know you have to go, but I'm gonna miss you so damn much."

Spyro slowly let go of him, and the night instantly felt a lot colder. For a second he looked like he was going to say something, then his wings lowered and he looked to the sky where the light from the temple was glimmering in the distance, then back to Flame. "We should probably get some sleep."

The two tired dragons settled down in Spyro's makeshift bedding. Flame pawed in a circle over his spot, evening out the grass under the blankets. Then he lay down and curled up as close to the lantern as possible. At least the blankets were soft, and not frosty like he had feared.

He heard a quiet thump as Spyro lay down behind him.

Neither dragon said anything, but after a while Flame started shivering. The night was cold and the lantern didn't offer much warmth at all. Oh, how he missed his warm cave. He was never going to fall asleep like this.

"You cold?" Spyro's voice came from behind him.

"Nah, I'm good," he lied.

Then he heard shuffling behind him, and his heart froze when he felt Spyro's arm suddenly reaching around his chest, pulling him in. His first instinct was to ask what Spyro was doing, or maybe try to slide away from his arms, or whatever a normal dragon would do in such a situation.

But his body refused to move. Instead, an intimate warmth overtook him, filling his body like warm honey. It was Spyro's warmth, coming from his chest, his belly, his wings which he had laid so softly over Flame. It made him want to press himself closer against that comforting warmth. And then he noticed how incredibly smooth Spyro's scales felt against his own. Again, Flame couldn't help but shiver, but this time it wasn't the cold that caused his muscles to twitch. Spyro was holding him. He was actually holding him! Flame's heart was beating so fast he was sure his friend must have heard it. He didn't know what to do. He had never been so close to someone before. "Is... is this okay?" the bigger dragon asked, his breath washing warm against Flame's neck in a surprisingly pleasant manner. Flame peeked over his shoulder, back at Spyro, who spread his snout into a half-awkward, half-confident grin. Flame just nodded. Yes, it was okay. Maybe even better than okay.

Spyro pulled him in closer and his nose came to rest against the nape of Flame's neck. His eyes closed and his chest vibrated softly. Was Spyro.. was he purring? He was definitely purring. With his bigger body, he was able to almost wrap himself completely around Flame, making him feel so much smaller, which somehow, didn't feel so bad either.

It didn't take long until he felt Spyro's chest rise and fall with the soft tide of sleep, and Flame could hear his gentle snores. He showed no intention of wanting to let Flame go.

And after a while, even Flame started to relax, his eyelids getting heavier and heavier, the gentle, calm rhythm of Spyro's breath lulling him into a deep sleep.

And in his dreams, he dreamt of coming with Spyro to The Forgotten Realms.

~ ~ ~

"We're almost there now!" Ashes chirped next to him, pulling Flame out of his trip down memory lane. "I can't freaking wait!"

"Oh, good." He forced a slight smile, but his heart was still heavy from those warm memories. He already felt a lot colder again.

"Now we'll just take the shortcut through Dark Hollow and we'll be at the beach in no time! The right beach this time," she added the last part with a wink.

"Wait," Flame looked up, suddenly. "Did you say, Dark Hollow?" He looked around. He had been so deep in his memories he had barely noticed the gravel under his paws changing to soft green grass. In front of him, he saw familiar hedges around him, the torches glowing in the evening light and old bookshelves lining the even older stone walls. In front of him was the entrance to Dark Hollow's garden, where Spyro used to sleep. Flame suddenly felt sick.

"Do we really have to go through Dark Hollow?"

"But... It's the fastest way to the breach. Why would we go around?" Ashes gave him an odd look. She didn't know Flame had been purposefully avoiding Dark Hollow in close to a decade. How could she?

"Just bad memories." Flame said.

Ashes tilted her head. "Bad memories you wanna talk about?"

Flame looked down at his claws. "I'd rather not."

There was a long, intensely awkward silence. Then Ashes took a deep breath. "We could be late," she said. "But alright... If it makes you feel better, I guess..."

Flame breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank you."

---

Oh Wow, thanks for giving my story a read! If you liked it, give free to give me a fave or let me know what you think in the comments.Feedback, whether positive or negative, is great because it helps me improve!It usually takes me between one or two chapters to finish one of these so expect the next part out either this weekend or the next! (I always post on weekends!)'