FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 17

"Oh boy!" Flare's excited shout bounced off the walls of the corridor leading to the Mess Hall like an echo of a small explosion "We're going to conspire!"

The dragon's three companions gasped faintly and scattered through the whole width of the hall, examining the illuminated by torches walls, coughing and whistling in a poor attempt to deafen the sound and pretend that they have nothing to do with the fire drake.

To the best of their abilities trying to ignore the suspicious stares thrown the way from people walking down the corridor.

"Cynder!" Flare jumped towards the black dragoness, patting her shoulder to get her attention "We're plotting an intrigue!"

Cynder cleared her throat, bashfully looking down the corridor, observing the people walking by while pulling at the choker around her neck. Surprisingly its silvery embrace felt way too tight all of a sudden, as if it was crushing her throat.

People were giving her and the fire dragon next to her hateful and scared glances. One particular cheetah caught her attention, his stark expression was intimidating. Her throat dried suddenly when she noticed the feline slowly jerking the material of his coat out of the way, revealing the hilt and a bit of a blade of a sword strapped to his belt.

"Together!" with this thrilled shout Flare appeared in front of her eyes

Cynder smiled, at least she tried to pretend that she is just as happy as he is, yet her emerald orbs still moved past his excited snout and landed on the cheetah.

His face was twisted in a wicked snarl, with a gulp and tense of her every muscle she noticed the feline tightening his grip around the hilt and pulling his hand up. The reddish light of a torch bounced off the silvery surface like the fiery red light of an alarm siren.

Then suddenly a feline, furry hand landed on the cheetah's shoulder, making him jump. The clawed hand dug into his flesh gently and another feline face appeared next to his, whispering something. The angry cheetah's long ears twitched at the silent sound of every word that was spoken.

The irate cheetah looked ahead, aiming his fiery eyes on no one else but Spyro. The sword slid back into its resting place, however the grip on the hilt became tighter than ever, almost to the point of the cheetah's own claws piercing the flesh on his hand.

The edgy feline looked at her, mumbling something under his breath that only his companion could hear. Four feline eyes were drilling into her skull, full of accusation and disgust.

The hate was so palpable that Cynder turned her eyes away with an intimidated wince. Listening to the sound of the cheetahs thumping boots as they continued on their way like a surgeon listening to the beats of a heart that he just revealed by cutting the chest open.

"All right people, show's over!" Sparx' voice boomed in the corridor

"Thank you in participating in this social experiment!"

The passersby who stood and observed their group with eyes that radiated feelings suited for a devil from the deepest parts of hell than an earthly being looked at the hovering dragonfly with interest and a slight shock.

Some of them did at least, most didn't care what the dragonfly has to say.

Sparx clapped his hands, as he spun around, sending glowing sparks everywhere "All thanks go to the Guardians for organizing this little survey!"

Ignoring the mumbles and he dashed towards Flare and hovered just in between his horns, patting his head appraisingly.

"And of course Flare who played his role of a dumb instigator. We just wanted to see your reaction when dealing with situation when there is a possibility that your favorite heroes can be lured into an intrigue by the evil minds. It had to be shocking, because no true intelligent bad guy would spill his plans like a total moron!"

"What?" Flare blurt out "Wha-afff"

The dragon's words turned into an incomprehensible grumble the moment Sparx dashed in front of his snout and hid one of his hands behind his back, grabbing and pulling the waggling draconic tongue. Goofily smiling at the slight commotion that stirred in the hall.

"You passed people! You didn't believe that your heroes can be swayed to the dark side which was so perfectly played by Cynder!"

"Spaahhssxxx, let go ofshh my tongshheee!"

Still keeping up the idiotic grin he was giving the people he put more strength into the grip, holding the shaky, meaty, wet, draconic flesh with all his might.

"Remember that this was just an act! Because as we know Cynder is no longer evil! I vouch for that! Me, the sceptic!" he shouted, not even for a second dropping the false, happy smile "You're part in this play was spectacular! Flawless! You haven't given to emotion in the face of sudden danger! You believed in your heroes! You kept a cool head! Important in this troubling times! Congratulations! The Guardians will be proud!"

People didn't share his enthusiasm, they were staring and mumbling between themselves. Dumbfounded and irritated, not knowing how to react.

With a practiced grin of a salesman Sparx meaningfully nodded at the end of the corridor from which the four of them came.

"Thank you for your support. You've been a great help"

The people remained in place.

His observant eyes spotted children among the adults "To thank for your attention Spyro over there will show you some tricks, tell a story or even sign an autograph if you ask him nicely!"

The purple dragon's eyes grew wide in horror.

"W-what?"

Sparx' grin only grew broader when he heard a slight commotion stirring, noticed the children tugging at skirts, jumping in joy, waiting for their parents and family to give them a signal. His plan might fail, if he won't react, signs of protests from the adults clearly broke through the happy chitter.

Yet he was calm, he knew he controls the situation, because no matter how difficult the times are, a legend and an idol walking among you is still far more important.

"Catch him before you can!" Sparx shouted, pointing a finger at his brother "He's already leaving!"

It was enough, the children despite the protests of their parents dashed towards the purple dragon like unleashed hounds. Momentarily a small crowd circled the drake, only his tail protruded from beneath the many legs.

The situation was under control, he was certain of that, you don't have much chances in life to touch and talk with your idol without crossing the boundaries of good education. Now it didn't matter, paws and hands were all over Spyro and even if the adults had their doubts about this eventually even they will be convinced. Their children's happiness is the most important thing, besides they might pretend that they are more controlled, more collected, but Spyro is as much as a hero for them as for their offspring.

All of them need to literally touch hope once in a while.

Faith alone isn't always enough.

With the same stupid grin Sparx kept on wooing the ones that hesitated, succeeding in his attempts eventually. Only when all of the people were solely focused on Spyro, whose voice died somewhere among the chatter of happy people he turned around to face Flare.

The joyful grin was gone in a blink of an eye, with a frown he pulled the dragon's tongue to his chest, making his yellow eyes widen in fear until the meaty flesh couldn't go any farther. Only then he let it go.

The tongue shot inside Flare's mouth with a sound of a snapping cord of a sling.

"Are you out of your freaking mind?" Sparx hissed through clenched teeth

The red dragon covered his mouth with a whine.

"What was that for?"

"You still ask?!" he shook his head, realizing that Flare won't understand him anyway "Conspiracy? How do you know this word anyway?"

Flare rubbed his tongue caringly, with the look of a hurt child.

Sparx rolled his eyes "Give it a rest dude, it's not going to fall off. Stop with the puppy eyes already"

"I think that's enough Sparx" Cynder rubbed Flare's shoulder comfortingly "You did nothing wrong"

"No, of course you didn't"

"We are like the assassins from the book Volteer showed me" Flare said, remaining oblivious to the dragonflies' sarcasm

"Perfect, all we needed was for you to mention assassins. Now that would make our day even better"

Cynder scolded the dragonfly with a fierce gaze "Sparx, cut it out"

"They were a group of friends plotting to throw down a tyrannical king. Everyone was against them while they were planning to do the right thing" he looked at the ground ashamed "I've never been in a group of friends before, fighting evil and the like. The idea was so cool"

"Dude, those are just books!" Sparx blurt out in disbelief "Fiction!"

"Sparx!" she admonished him again "We heard your opinion, it's enough. What has gotten into you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Why are you so defensive?"

The dragonfly snorted indignantly, folding his arms on his chest "I'm not defensive"

"No? Then what's with all the anger? You're scolding Flare like you would be his father"

"You're overreacting"

"Am I? Correct me if I'm wrong but this is not the typical way you act. Where is your mask?"

Sparx shrugged "I don't know what you're talking about"

Cynder threw a quick glance at the crowd and then leaned closer towards the hovering dragonfly "You vouched for me"

He snickered in contempt "This is what made you paranoid? I was improvising, I had to think of something"

"I agree, but you didn't have to say that"

"I might have said it, so what? What's the big deal anyway?"

"I think you like me" she noted smugly

Sparx burst out laughing "Please"

"I'm a girl-"

"Don't flatter yourself" he cut her off

She let out a weak giggle as she smiled, now that was the Sparx she got used to, yet it was too late to put up the wall since she was already behind it.

"I'm a girl, I have an intuition and it's telling me you changed"

"How can you not like Cynder?" Flare asked the dragonfly, somewhat more accusingly than he wanted to

Most likely.

Sparx had troubles telling for certain.

"You don't understand buddy"

"You always insult her. You have no right to do so! She's way too nice, she doesn't need to listen to this"

Sparx frowned comparing him to his brother was quite an accurate thing to do. Flare is just as naive and clueless like Spyro was when he was young. He is just as defensive about Cynder like his brother. In Spyro's case the act was understandable, for him of course, because Spyro had no idea what makes him act that way.

The clueless bastard.

However in Flare's case it was way too early and really uncomfortable, wrong even. He can't blame him for having romantic feelings for Cynder, Flare is a guy and Cynder isn't an ugly girl, despite what he usually says.

Developing a crush for her was the perfect, normal thing in the world.

Still, he wasn't entirely sure this was the case, the aggression dripping from Flare's tongue like venom from a Dreadwing's fangs didn't bode well. He felt that it reached further than the boundaries of jealously or nagging overprotectiveness.

Problem is he couldn't see how far it went.

Ok, he might be messed up, who wouldn't be after spending his whole life like someone else's plaything. He has the right to not understand many things, simple ones or the more complicated, like his specific relation with Cynder. He can't blame him for that.

He blames the dragon for his inability to properly explain the drake's aggression.

He blames the dragon for his inability to understand the drake's motives.

He blames the dragon for his inability to see through the drake.

He didn't trust Cynder in the beginning either, had similar doubts about her like he has now about Flare. Only today he sees that jealously and lack of experience were behind that dislike.

Why the certainty?

Spyro.

His clueless brother fell in love with her the moment he saw her.

He couldn't deny that Spyro has an unnatural ability to sense something in people. He had no idea what it was, Spyro most likely didn't either. It had to be that golden heart of his that their parents spoke about.

It goes without saying that he was right about Cynder, she isn't and was never evil how he stupidly believed. From the murderous, corrupted chick he didn't trust she became...

Family.

...

Don't tell her I said that.

Spyro didn't trust Flare.

He was sure of that, just like he was sure of the fact that after day comes night. This is enough for the alarm in his head to keep on ringing. Not with a red light but a fierce yellow, like a warning against a potential fire hazard.

Exactly.

Flare was chaotic.

Like fire.

"Dude" Sparx continued "You should stop interrupting when you don't understand what's going on"

"She is offended! You have no right to make her sad!"

Cynder cleared her throat "Ummm guys? I'm right over here"

He looked at the drake mockingly "You sure about that?"

"Yes!" Flare growled

The dragonfly patted his chin with his finger "So you are a mind reader?"

"Who I am is besides the point!"

Sparx shook his head "I did it again" he mumbled

"You'll apologize to her"

He cackled wryly "For what? I did nothing wrong"

"For your insults and taunts!" Flare snapped angrily "I won't allow anyone to treat her like that!"

Cynder scratched her choker nervously "Guys I'm right here"

"You don't know her like I do!" Sparx continued to hold his line of defense "We go back ages, there's no chance you will understand any of this"

Cynder reached forward "Excuse me" she said politely as she grabbed the arm of a slim cheetah girl passing by. The girl turned to face her , her eyes almost shooting out of their orbits.

"You see me, right?"

The girl looked at her like she was crazy, or expecting someone suddenly to jump at her like on a surprise birthday party.

"Yessss..." she mumbled uncertainty

The dragoness let go off the soft arm with a grateful smile.

"Thank you"

"Whatever" the cheetah continued on her way "Weirdo" she muttered under her breath

"All right man! You win!"

Cynder heard Sparx irritated voice as her attention once more shifted at the arguing boys. She gasped in shock when suddenly she spotted Sparx right in front of her nose.

"I apologize Cynder for every stupid thing I said" he turned around with an angry frown "There!" he rose in the air, looking at the fire drake contemptuously

"Happy now?"

"It is not me who you should ask that question" Flare noted arrogantly

"You're the only one who has a problem!"

"Ok guys, that's enough" Cynder stepped up, looking from Flare to Sparx interchangeably "If we don't want that crowd on our heads I suggest we move on and wait for Spyro a bit farther ahead or your plan on setting your brother up Sparx will be for nothing"

"I didn't set him up" he dashed towards her snout, resting on top of her head "I saved him" he uttered, eyeing Flare with a blaming frown

The drake repaid with the same look.

Cynder smiled at Flare, melting his irritation in an instant. With a playful nudge on his rump with her nose she urged him to move. He gladly complied to her suggestion.

"Correct me if I'm wrong" she whispered so only Sparx could hear her "But were you just arguing about me?"

"Noooo, we were arguing about Flare's brain, about leaving it on the other side of the portal he came through and whether he should fetch it or not. I was supporting the first idea, with a bonus of locking it behind him and losing they key"

"You don't mean that"

"I don't know what you see in him. That guy is trouble"

She looked at the fiery drake with pity shimmering in her eyes "He had a rough life, go easy on him"

"He's crazy!" he sighed "Look to who I am talking to, you're not normal either"

Her green eyes shifted to the top of her eyeballs, spotting the faint rays of the dragonflies' natural glow.

She smiled belligerently "Careful or you lose your ride"

He smacked her head as he darted forward "It smells too much of Spyro anyway"

Her jaw dropped, stopping halfway before hitting the ground.

"What did you say?"

"Flare buddy!" Sparx circled the dragon "We began this day from a bad start"

He started hovering in front of the dragon's eyes, clearly spotting annoyance in those yellow eyes. Caused by nothing else but his presence.

Wasn't the first time.

"What do you want?"

The dragonfly looked inconspicuously at Cynder, who was already doing math in her head and most likely will come to only one conclusion.

"You're part of our gang now, we can't let our slight misunderstandings get in the way when there is a bigger fish to catch. You know what I'm saying?"

"No" he replied bluntly

"Shocking" he circled the dragon's head "Ok, listen, even in gangs there is rivalry, for whatever strange reason you're competing for Cynder with Spyro, you're trying to prove that you can be a better friend to her than my brother is"

"If I keep on going like this I'll start believing my own bullshit" the dragonfly mused inwardly

Flare threw an alarmed glance at the black dragoness "I-I'm not competing. He is her friend, she wouldn't like to see us fight. It would hurt her. I have to protect her from pain"

"Not competing, yeah right" Sparx huffed

"We don't judge in our gang, but If anyone from outside our group would hear you talk about her all the time, they would think that you're obsessed"

He did not reply to that, the dragon's nose was aimed at the ground, yet Sparx could see Flare's yellow eyes watching Cynder with hungry attention. Like the glare of an insane rapist eyeing his victim.

The dragonfly impulsively shivered at the thought.

He clapped his hands, making the fire drake jump a little with a blink. He began hovering at the right side of his snout.

"As a fellow gang member I propose that you forget about her. I know Cynder for a long time, she's cool and all but dull and boring when you get to spend so much time with her. There are more interesting people to focus on out there. Cynder really get on your nerves"

Flare shook his head fiercely "I don't care. I won't abandon my friend"

"Was worth a shot"

"Ok fine, it's your funeral" he flew to the other side of the dragon's head "You gotta help me"

He looked at the dragonfly, tiny flames of wrath danced in his eyes "You insult Cynder, then you argue with me and you dare to ask for my help?"

Sparx threw his hands up defensively "Whoa! What's with the venom in your voice?"

The flame of aggression slightly died down as Flare looked to the side, out of pride hiding the shame of obliviousness as he once more didn't understand his words.

The dragonfly sighed longingly "The good old days"

He cleared his throat.

"Look, I'm competing with my brother too, it runs in the family. I might have said one thing too much and Cynder is very close to spoiling my victory. I don't want it to get out of hand so I need you to distract her so my bro will try to rub his triumph over my face. He doesn't know that I know and I just have to see the stupid look on his snout when I won't even flinch while he thought I would faint from shock"

"I don't understand any of this" Flare replied "I don't see why I should distract Cynder so you can win in whatever game you are playing"

"Come on dude" Sparx whined "I'm competing with my brother. Spyro! You're not the biggest fan of him right?"

The drake licked his lips, looking at Cynder once more "I don't see-"

"How about this" the dragonfly interjected, placing his body in front of the dragon's sight "What would you say if I would annoy and embarrass Spyro a little when he comes here?"

His yellow eyes narrowed themselves, both in shock and abhorrence and the slight not of mischievous craving.

"You would do that to your own brother?"

"Boy, you make it sound like I'm planning to murder him"

He wasn't sure, but Sparx believed that in that moment he noticed Flare's wings, their burning surface, crack tiny flames of excitement from the inside.

The drake remained silent.

"I annoy people, that's what I do. I haven't done it in a while and I need to stay in shape or I'll go crazy from all this seriousness" he folded his arms adopting an expression of a practiced businessman "So what do you say? Want to see an abashed Spyro? I'll be a nice change of scenery"

"And how exactly are you going to do that? He's a purple dragon, they're too smart for stupid tricks"

Sparx grinned "He could be as cold as a golem and I would still get to him" he turned around, spotting Cynder in the distance and waved at her

With her head tilted to the side she waved back at him, slowly and suspiciously.

"I have everything I need already"

There was a pause, only the sound of happy chatter of the already scattering crowd in the distance could be heard.

"All right I'm game" Flare frowned angrily "But if you try to make a fool out of me like you did with the bed I swear-"

"Relax" Sparx pated the drake's head comfortingly "This is about me, you're out of the picture. Soon you'll see how cool it is to have my old brother back"

Eventually Cynder joined the two boys and Flare as agreed did everything in his power to get her mind off their little conversation earlier, which was a huge give-away. It was quite clear that she at least suspected that he knows, however she never got the opportunity to confront him about it since Flare was keeping his end of the bargain quite well. He had no idea what they were talking about, it didn't interest him much anyway.

Flare kept waggling his tongue for quite a while, the longer it lasted the more certain he became that she wouldn't say anything, not even let out a meaningful sigh or throw one of those drilling looks. Be as it may, it's better not to take any chances.

He needed some time to think and came to a conclusion that she was right.

He was defensive.

They were arguing about her.

She was partially the reason, she was like the feminine part of him, knows exactly what a joke means. That's why he gets more comfortable around her, that's why he opens up when he least expects it, it's her darn influence.

Not a very enjoyable situation but understandable, a bond between brother and sister is a powerful tying force, especially in this family. Because dragonflies of this family stick together.

And this is why Spyro is responsible for his softness.

The moment they left the Swamps and their home, he swore to their parents that he will look after him. For all this time he did exactly that, and does till now, even with Cynder on their path now. Spyro didn't listen to reason and went crazy about her, of course he had to do that, of course he couldn't keep his hormones in check for the only draconic girl he ever met back then.

Of course she has to mean the world to him.

An oath is an oath, but I'll be damned if being so careless and honest isn't annoying.

Damn clueless bastard.

It's all his fault.

Yet this situation they all found themselves in opened up an opportunity to bring the old confused Spyro back. His relationship with Cynder is new to him, add to that his natural impulse to help, care and protect everyone around him and you have the perfect recipe for Swamp days.

The good old days.

"I love you Spyro!"

All three of them looked up in the direction of the squeaky, shrilling scream, spotting nothing but the crowd shifting. And then the female part of the mob exploded with a blare of excitement, jealously and fanatical adoration.

"I love you too!"

Another high-pitched shout and another excited squeaky cry from the crowd.

Sparx looked at Cynder testily "Sounds like my bro has quite a number of fangirls"

She didn't even flinch, if his words touched a nerve she perfectly hid it.

Time passed and the crowd started clapping and cheering, people started to split the formation they created in half, leaving more and more space as if making room for the carriage of a king to pass by.

A purple rump started to push through the recently created opening.

"Thank you all!" Spyro yelled as he finally popped free from the crowd "It was great to meet you!"

His words were appraised by another joyful cry.

He thanked the gathered people with a wave of his paw as he slowly backed up.

"I really need to go. I hope will do this again sometime"

The crowd cheered.

"Spyro!"

A small cheetah child, not older than ten years shot from the gathering of fans with a pleading, excited squeak. She had her arms extended from the very start of her run, such advantage put Spyro in a vulnerable place.

He let out a surprised grunt the moment the child threw herself at him and wrapped her small, furry arms around his neck, pressing herself to his chest in a warm, tight hug. With an awkward smile Spyro raised one of his legs and placed it on the child's back, returning the embrace.

The crowd gasped with emotion at the sight.

"Mina, leave Spyro alone" a male cheetah admonished his daughter tenderly

"I have something for you" the child mumbled as she pushed back from the hug

"Really?" he asked politely "What is it"

The child reached towards her right hand, his amethyst eyes followed her move. At the top of her wrist was a small bloom of a violet, there was a tiny string attached to it so it could be wrapped around an arm without falling off. The young feline tugged at the cord until the flower eventually slipped off her wrist.

With a small that only a child can offer she reached towards his head, spreading the string as far as it would go and slipped the flower down his right gold horn, so its petals looked in the direction of his nose.

The child covered her mouth with a giggle "You're so pretty!"

Spyro smiling kindly shifted his eyes to the top of his eyeballs, spotting the delicate form of the violet's petals above.

"I don't know if I can accept it"

"Yes you can! It's a magical flower!"

His amethyst orbs landed on the child once more "Magical flower, huh?" he smiled and leaned closer for a whisper "What powers it has?"

"My dad told me that the flower has the power to tell if someone is good or not! I hear the grownups talk about weird stuff, but I don't believe in any word they say nu-uh! My dad told that if somebody would be bad that flower would dry. I put it on your silly horn and it still lives! That means only one thing"

The child suddenly looked down, intertwining her the clawed fingers on her hands, stretching her arms to the level of her thighs as she swayed bashfully from side to side.

"You're good and sooooo pretty" she muttered, biting on the neckline of her blouse

Spyro observed the cheetah kitten, he isn't a big fan of children, they have something in them that really intimidates him. Most of the times it is him who is scared and ashamed by them, he just doesn't know how to talk with them.

Seeing the child like that forced a change of heart in him, for a moment he wondered if the future will be bright enough for him to have any children. If it will, there would be only one thing he would do if his own blood would look so adorable like this young girl right now.

With a loving smile Spyro craned his neck forward, running his draconic tongue along the child's furry cheek, from bottom to top.

The kitten giggled bashfully and a fierce blush filled her cheeks as her glowing green eyes looked at him the moment he pushed away. She covered her giggling mouth and then sprang forward, placing a hot kiss on his scaly cheek before running away happily right into her father's arms who lifted her up and helped her to sit on his shoulder.

"Spyro licked me right over here!" the young girl exclaimed joyfully, pointing at her cheek with her claw "I'm not going to bath, ever!"

Both the young purple dragon and the small crowd shared a sincere, goodbye laugh before Spyro finally turned around and made his way towards his group.

Prancing all the way.

Cynder grinned, not able to hold back her smile thanks to the funny way he approached them,

"Nice dance moves"

He smiled, swinging his head from side to side to the happy tune he whistled.

"Bro you met a leprechaun out there or something?" Sparx asked "Every time you dealt with a crowd you practically pissed yourself"

Flare's eyes flared up with excitement.

"Really?

Even when Sparx spat out the awkward secret Spyro's mood remained unchanged.

"I'm just too happy to care about stuff like that" he pranced towards Cynder, moved past her like they met each other for the very first time. However he never allowed HER to feel that way by rubbing her foreleg with his tail inconspicuously.

The soft shiver that traveled across her leg was a signal that she understood.

"I have found a perfect medicine for my condition. I started to enjoy life. Your plan to set me up failed"

Sparx pressed his hand to his chest with a shocked gasp.

"How can you say such things?" he blurt out indignantly "You think I would do that to my own brother?"

Both brothers looked at each other and laughed.

"That was a nice plan to take the attention off Cynder though. It's good to know that you wouldn't have second thoughts about throwing me to the sharks" Spyro noted

Sparx grinned "Always happy to be of help"

"To tell you the truth we needed it, both the people and me. I could feel their mistrust and pain when they circled me. I personally felt like a stranger, it was like we met for the first time, we just couldn't recognize each other. If not for the kids I doubt they would even want to talk with me"

He sighed "I could feel their disappointment guys, they no longer saw me as a hero they adored so much. It didn't bother me, I don't like the praise anyway so I just ignored it. Now I know that this was extremely selfish of me"

"The fear of being in the center of attention kept me away from them, all I wanted was to hide and pretend I don't owe those people nothing. Spyro the dragon, normal dragon was all that mattered to me" he shook his head "I was so wrong"

"Whether I like it or not those people need me, and I locked myself from them. We're living in troubled times and the only guy who could help them looked the other way" his amethyst orbs sadly eyed the corridor and the people walking by "I looked the other way"

"Hey" Cynder slammed gently her flank into his playfully "Don't be too hard on yourself, people have to learn to take care of themselves. You can't protect everybody"

He smiled at her "I know, but they have to know that I'm still on their side. You should have seen their faces when I finally convinced them that I'm still the same Spyro they knew so well. In that moment I even convinced myself" he turned towards his companions, pointing at the flower on his horn "Do you know what this is?

Sparx shrugged "A cry for attention? You finally came out of the closet and want to show us how pretty you are? Because I tell you, that flower really sets off your eyes"

Spyro chuckled "As much as I'm proud of my feminine side that's not the case right now"

"I give up"

"It's a magical flower, it tells if you're good or not. If you're bad it withers"

Sparx scratched the back of his head "Umm...bro? You know that's just a violet right?"

The drake smiled "Relax, I'm not going crazy, I know it has no special powers"

"Just checking"

"It's symbolic. The girl that gave it to me believed in its special powers, it was important to her. Just like I'm important to the people, I'm their symbol. The girl believed in this flower's special powers, just like people believed in me and now I see that I let them down"

"That couple of minutes that I spent with that group opened my eyes, I might not like the attention, but I'm their hero and a hero takes care of his people. We talked like we were friends, you could sense the unity in that group, we were once more a one heart like during the war with Malefor. And I know that nothing will shatter that bond, not even Brill's religious speeches"

Spyro's eyes widened in excitement "Maybe this is the key! Maybe I need to be the leader they always wanted! Maybe I need to show the people that I have their backs! Maybe if I show them why I'm so happy..." he looked lovingly at Cynder "...then they'll understand"

She averted her gaze, blushing slightly.

"You had a change of heart because of a stupid flower?" Sparx asked

"You could say that"

The dragonfly dashed towards his brother, folding his arms as he stopped in front of the dragon's nose "So it had nothing to do with those _I love you_squeaks?"

Spyro's eyes shifted towards Cynder for a brief second but then quickly returned to observe the dragonfly again.

"I don't know what that has to do with anything"

"I mean all those girls throwing themselves at you. It would mess up every single guy's head"

"There weren't any girls throwing themselves at me!" Spyro protested unconvincingly as he looked at Cynder who observed the scene with a frown that his panicking mind took for anger "I swear!"

Sparx huffed "Are you explaining yourself to her?"

Spyro looked away "No! Of course not!"

"You're a single guy, come on bro, brag! We all want to know what happened" he pointed at the drake's mouth, right next to his lips "Especially about this hickey, you REALLY had to like the girl to allow her to suck to you like that"

"What?! No!" he exclaimed, blushing fiercely while hectically rubbing his mouth "I didn't like anyone...I mean I did...but not the way you think!"

Sparx punched his brother's shoulder "Stop with the false modesty already. You're a wolf dude, I've seen at least two dragonesses walking away on weak legs. You must really be quite the kisser"

Spyro rubbed his forehead, he got extremely hot all of a sudden, sweat followed soon after.

"That's not true!" he blurt out, aiming his defensive shout at Cynder "I didn't want to kiss anyone, I swear!"

Sparx shook his head, after all this time his brother still doesn't know how to keep a secret. All that swearing aimed at Cynder was a huge give-away, like a husband explaining himself to his wife. If he wouldn't know about their intimate relationship already he would surely found about it now.

That's the confused, awkward brother he misses.

Sparx elbowed Spyro meaningfully "Didn't want to but still did! You have to teach me that skill!"

"They forced themselves on me!"

"Ha!" the dragonfly exclaimed "So there was some girl kissing going on! You know bro, perjury is a sin"

"No!" Spyro whined shifting his eyes between Cynder and Sparx, feeling smaller and smaller with each passing second "There was no kissing! I mean there was...I just...I didn't...I'd never....it's not the way you think!"

He looked at the ground "Can...can we just go now?" he mumbled devastated

Sparx looked at the black dragoness who was staring at him with an

irritated frown. She understood what brotherly devilry is, but also understood the moment when to draw the line.

The dragonfly darted towards Flare "Happy?"

The fire drake was grinning triumphantly "I don't know what happened, but seeing him so embarrassed was the best thing that happened in my life"

"Yeah, great" Sparx sighed half-heartedly "We all got our share, now start walking"

"We're not waiting for Cynder?"

"She'll catch up, my bro needs to get back on his paws"

Spyro looked at the black dragoness apologetically the moment they were alone.

"Cynder I'm so sorry"

She smiled "It's ok. Sparx was just screwing with you"

"Those girls really kissed me" he swallowed "I feel like I betrayed you"

She caressed his leg comfortingly "Did you want to kiss them?"

"Absolutely not!"

Cynder smiled "Then there's nothing to talk about. It's not your fault that you are so handsome. I just have to get used to the fact that there will be woman around you. My fault, should have found an uglier partner"

He leaned closer, nuzzling her softly by rubbing his cheek against hers, as if he prepared to whisper something.

"I will never do anything that might hurt you"

Cynder looked around the corridor, checking if they are alone, they weren't, but people weren't paying them much attention. Even if they did she wouldn't care.

She flared her wings open, the blade claws on her wing thumbs reflecting the torches light murderously. From a distance it looked like she wanted to trap Spyro in a jagged cage of her wings to suck the blood out of him.

But that ominous display was just for show.

Nobody knew that under that black winged cradle she kissed him passionately.

Momentarily she pushed away, her black wings returned to their natural position on her back.

"I know" she whispered affectionately

"Yeah?" Spyro slurred, dazed

"Want to know why I'm so certain of that?" she reached towards his horn, rearranging the flower in a way that only a feminine eye could make perfect

Spyro nodded.

"Because this flower thrives"