Darkest Night, Brightest Light

Spyro paced back and forth. His claws scraped across the stone floor. Rage pulsed down his legs and out the tips of his talons. His teeth were bare. He was trying to use any methods he could to release the tension. The monster was yanking on its chains, howling to be free. Even the tranquility of the garden failed to do much to soothe his troubled soul.

"I thought I would find you here– Spyro?" Cynder landed gently beside him, and concern instantly filled her. Her precious locket swayed around her neck and her satchel of work equipment clung to her side.

"About bloody time. Now come on, let's get this over with."

"Easy, Spyro." She tried placing a calming claw on him, but retracted when his glare scorched her. "You need to calm down."

"Oh, do I?" He twisted around to confront her. "Do I have an attitude problem that I need to sort out?"

"No, Spyro." She shook her head. Something had ticked him off, and now he was fishing for a fight.

"Oh sure, you're different from them, aren't you?" He rolled his eyes. His voice was stained with sarcasm. "Don't lie to me, Cynder. You and everyone else treat me like a child – a child that can't control their tantrums and doesn't know what they want."

"I never said–" He was derailing the conversation, trying to drag her into his challenge. "Listen, Spyro. You're turning into your darker self." Her eyes fixated on the little streaks of black ooze that ran down the cracks of his dimmed scales. Wisps of dark light would occasionally escape the liquid darkness, floating up a few inches before fading into nothing.

"Don't try and change the subject. Everyone else thinks they know how to fix me. But then they get angry and blame me when their methods don't work!"

"Spyro, no one believes that – I mean, look at yourself, you're turning black." She tried to gesture with a claw.

He ignored her. "Stop bloody doing that. Everyone keeps interrupting my attempts to sort out my issues. They justy don't understand that I can figure it out for myself."

He wasn't listening to reason, and each passing second was making him more volatile. He needed to see for himself the monster he was becoming. She quickly glanced over to the lantern resting on the wall beside them. Her expression reflected in the glass, filled with determination.

She grabbed the lamp and shoved it in front of his face. "Look at yourself, Spyro!"

He leaned back in surprise for a second and glared scornfully at the lantern. But he only saw the black dragoness on the other side, her face bearing what he mistook for hostility. His brow came down once more, along with his fury.

Through the glass, she saw his eyes turn white like a pair of moons.

With the back of his claw, he slapped the lantern out of her hold.

The lamp spun through the air and crashed onto the stone. It's glass walls shattered and scattered the floor in fragmented shrapnel. The enraged dragon raised his claw again, his talons gleaming with the light of black hatred.

Cynder gave him one last look of horror before sealing her eyes and turning her head away. Her wings furled forward and her forelegs raised in self defence.

Moments passed slowly in the consuming darkness of her mind, only the sounds of her heavy breaths echoing through her ears. Yet, no matter how long she waited, the claw never touched her. Cautiously, she opened her eyes a little.

In the cracks of her vision, she could just make out his eyes, rounded and unclouded, and filled with endless fear. He was drowning in it.

His sight remained glued to her, frozen in place, unknowing what to do. He was paralyzed, and yet every bone was trembling. The inky darkness was no longer leaking from his scales, replaced with rivers of cold sweat. "I…" He stared at the raised claw, still poised to draw blood, attached to his foreleg.

In a moment of despair, he pulled in his claw and gripped it viciously, almost like he was trying to strangle it. His quivering worsened and his heartbeat threatened to burst forth from his chest.

Cynder's worry quickly turned towards Spyro. She put aside her own fear and rushed to his side. "Spyro, listen to me, everything will be alright."

Immediately he tried pushing her away, yet he was weak. "No! Stay away. I could hurt you." His voice was broken and feeble.

"No, you can't. You can never hurt me. Just focus only on me and my voice. You're safe." Despite his resistance, Cynder managed to pull him into an embrace and hold him.

"Let go of me. You aren't safe here. No one is."

He kept trying to shove her away, but her hug held strong.

"Think of calm thoughts, the things you care about." She held him close, so close that she could feel the drum of his heart beating through her chest. "Think of the birds, soaring free in the clear skies above. Think about Avalar: the grass gently swaying in the wind as you dip your toes in the fresh, cool waters. Imagine yourself there holding the person dearest to you."

His child appeared in his head, held tight in his weary arms. Ignirius's little talons wrapped around his father as he slept.

Cynder could feel his heartbeat slowing into a gentler rhythm, and his breathing steadied. He was no longer resisting her love. She remained there for some time, her forelegs cuddled around him like a soothing bandage.

"I'm so, so sorry," he said as he shook his head sadly.

She released him from her embrace and held him at claw length. "It's fine, Spyro, I understand."

"No, Cyn, it isn't. I almost hurt you."

"That wasn't you." She gave a reassuring look. "It was your dark side. I know that deep down, you could never hurt me."

His face drooped, a frown mirroring his dour words. "I wish I could believe that. That took everything to hold me back, and yet, it felt like I couldn't do anything. How are we going to get through this?"

"Like we always have."

Silence filled the void. Both wished they could forget the event that had just occurred, but they knew it couldn't be ignored. It was a wake up call. For the moment, they reminisced on it.

For Cynder, even though she tried to not show it, the unholy sight of dark Spyro petrified her. Even though she'd tried to help, once she'd realised what was about to happen, her resolve had dissolved to ash. She'd been glued to the spot, awaiting punishment.

As for Spyro, this disaster gave him time to reflect on his actions. He'd almost hurt someone very close to him. Had he done that, he wasn't sure if he could bear to face her again. What if it had been someone else in her place? Would he have been able to hold back? "Even though she would deny it, I'm starting to become more and more like Malefor… He never started out evil. It's just that something happened to him, something I bet I'm going through right now."

His head brewed with a concoction of disgusting and disturbing thoughts. He was dressed in black, his fangs painted red from the carpet of corpses, set out across a city of fire. Smoke and screams filled the eternal night. No one able to stop his rampage...not even Cynder.

Even though she was highly capable of putting him down in numerous ways, a little feeling buried deep within told him she wouldn't have the mentality to go through with it. He knew because he'd feel the same in that situation. There would be no stopping him.

He was both a feeble weakling, and the greatest threat to the realm. He was destined to follow in the footsteps of Malefor. This was his fate, a fate that he couldn't do anything to avoid…!

Then it hit him. Like a surging avalanche, the roof came crashing down and flooded his mind with a revelation, a real revelation. All of this started not with his anger, but his depression and stress. Anytime someone bluntly pointed out a flaw about him, he took it in stride and bottled up his disheartenment. Those negativities kept piling up and up, until they overflowed in the form of outbursts. And yet, these fits were never about the things that truly upset him, thus continuing a cycle that served only to hurt him and others.

On top of this, anytime he tried to change, to take matters into his own hands, he was verbally beaten down by the ones who he loved until he had no drive left. And since then, he had been doing nothing to prevent the outcome, waiting for it to hopefully pass to no avail. Waiting was never his forte, nor had it ever done him any good. He was always an action dragon. And right now, dire action was necessary, and he couldn't worry about treading on eggshells.

The entire world was at risk, and not just his own. He finally understood that.

He stood up, much to Cynder's uncertainty. She let him go and stood back, unsure what thoughts or motives travelled through his fragile mind.

He turned to her. "I realise now I've got to put aside my problems and focus on the thing that matters most. These issues won't go away until I finally deal with the cause of it. I've got to risk it all or I will lose everything. Cynder, I know that I almost hurt you, that I deeply and truly regret it… but will you help me? You're the only one who can right now, but I wouldn't choose anyone else."

There was the Spyro she knew and loved. Her determination in him was being restored, driving away her fear. She nodded and smiled. "I'm with you." She bubbled inside at that line. It was a little secret desire to use those words again.

He noticeably eased, relief in his hollow eyes. That soon faded into seriousness. "Thank you. I think it would be best if we did your 'impossible' job tonight. If we want to beat this thing, we need to pull out all the stops. I'm also going to have to start getting rid of the bad things in my life, starting now. That includes my job, the media, and the people who have no positive impact on me."

This sudden attitude staggered her, but not in a good way. "Whoa, whoa, Spyro. What about being subtle? What about your job? Your agent doesn't sound like the kind of person who would let you go…"

"That isn't a problem anymore. He's put a halt on my contract for the time being, which is good enough for me."

Cynder was gobsmacked. "You got fired? What in the ancestors' name happened?"

"No. But until we get this sorted, I'm happy to see the back of that job. I hated everything about it and I'm sure I'll be much happier as your partner." There was an expectant smile on his face.

It almost sounded like he was certain this would make Cynder happy. But this was happening too fast and abruptly for Cynder's comfort. She wanted to speed things up and take bigger steps towards making Spyro happier, but this was a leap from the top of the stairs into the unknown. "I mean, that does make me happy. But Spyro, I don't think this is the best way to go about this. If we go head first into this, then people will start to get suspicious."

"Not an issue. We can sort this out before anyone can realise. Then once it's all over, we can tell them the truth."

She sighed. He wasn't seeing the bigger picture. He was so fixated on the fear of becoming Malefor that he didn't realise the impact these actions could have on his life. "What if the media finds out? Or worse… Solaria. Spyro definitely doesn't need to give her another reason to shout at him…"

Over the last few weeks, despite having only encountered her once, Cynder had decided she wasn't keen on the guardian. Through what Spyro had described, she was borderline bullying him. She had little doubt Solaria was the cause of today's unsettling events.

A part of her wished she could explain the situation to the dragoness. But even then, how would she react? Would that actually change her attitude of Spyro for the better? Or would it just give her another big reason to bear her wrath down on the two of them?

"So. Can we do the 'impossible' job this evening or not?"

Cynder pulled away from her thoughts. She was hesitant to answer. "No. I would need to grab the paper and it would take a full day to get there and back. Anyway, I still don't think this is a good idea, Spyro."

"Cyn. We have to take the risk. This is a Malefor-level threat. Time is short – tomorrow might even be my last chance. You saw how close I was. Besides, you said it yourself. I gotta take liberties, which is what I'm doing."

The dragoness bit her tongue. She had said something along those lines. She regretted saying it now. But if she wanted to avoid being a hypocrite and help Spyro, she'd have to take her own advice. Not only that, Spyro was also right: they didn't know how long they had left. Today had been a wake up call. If this was anything to go upon, they didn't have very long at all. She swallowed her doubt and put on a brave face. "Alright. The best I can do is tomorrow morning. While I still question your decision" – this line earnt a soft glare from Spyro – "it does provide us with an opportunity. But, until then, you should probably head home and grab some rest. You look exhausted."

"I'd...rather not. Solaria and I aren't on speaking terms at the moment. I'd rather not go through that again. Besides, I'm not that tired."

Layers of dark wrinkles under his eyes said otherwise. Despite his energetic appearance, he was betrayed by those distant eyes.

Her voice softened. "If you're scared about Solaria, then why don't you come back to my place for the night?" A short pause followed. "I– I mean! Not like that!" Not even her black scales could hide how much she was blushing.

"What?" It also took the purple dragon a second to realise what she'd meant. "No, not like that. I mean– maybe? Wait. What am I saying!" He shook his head profusely. His blush appeared gorgeously on his amethyst cheeks.

Both dragons took a second to look at each other before Cynder burst into laughter. Spyro chuckled along to their joined embarrassment.

This precious moment helped to lighten the burden of the conversation.

"Come on. I know how to grill a mean steak now. Banzai's been showing me how to cook."

"Alright. But first, I've got to replace the lantern..." He sighed, gazing at the victim of his outburst. He swept it up, with help from Cynder despite his insistence on cleaning up his own mess. He then swooped down to one of the quieter streets and found a rather lovely lamp to buy, covered in plated gold to replace the old one.

By the time they had completed that, the sun was almost clipping the horizon. The pair of heroes, fresh out of retirement, made their way to Cynder's home.

Despite the nightmare that had just occurred, Spyro had finally found the resolve to fight again. His passion had been reignited.

While Cynder was initially hesitant, and still uncertain to a degree, she was glad they were finally taking greater strides.

Maybe, just maybe, they could conquer this.

Solaria brooded alone, staring out of the huge windows at nothing.

She wanted to be angry. She had reason to be angry. She had been abandoned by her husband and the one dragon who was meant to support her through these trying times.

And yet, no matter how much she curled her talons, the fury just wasn't there. She collapsed onto the floor, hiding her tears in her claws. "What's wrong with me?" she said to no one. "No matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, I somehow push everything that I love away."

Despite what people said, she still loved Spyro. When she'd first heard of him, she'd fallen in love with all of his positive traits. She loved his kindness and his desire to help everyone. His humble, yet eager outlook on life. His determination when everything looked lost.

Yet, when she finally got to meet him, he displayed none of that. What she found was a shivering lonely wreck, who had lost his father figure and someone very dear, like her.

But what everyone, including him, forgot was that she was the one that pulled him out of his dark pit of isolation. She spent years coaxing him out, getting him to move on, and she'd actually succeeded. But, perhaps, this motherly role was now what was holding them back?

She hadn't really realised it until now, but she did treat Spyro much like a child. Could that be why he was so angry, and why he was so rebellious against her specifically? Maybe Spyro wasn't this lost hatchling anymore, but a drake who needed to make his own decisions. A drake that no longer needed her.

But, if Spyro never loved her, then why did he agree to marry her? And have a child? Was it out of pity? To finally quell her persistent attempts at love? Did they really marry for the wrong reasons?

Her head was caving in. On one hand, they bickered almost daily. On the other, he did little gestures of love that made her heart flutter. These mixed messages wanted to make her pull her own horns out.

There were other grim ideas filling her mind. What would happen to Ignirius? Despite her being the prominent parent, Spyro and their son were almost inseparable. There was no doubt in that. He would die for their son...

"Do you still love me, Spyro?" She dreaded asking that question.

"Maybe it's time to let go. Then everyone will be happy."

Cyril would finally hear the end of her complaining. Spyro would have the freedom he so desired. And as for her, she guessed she would at least no longer have to deal with Spyro's childish attitude… At the price of losing the most valuable thing to her – her family.

"Surely there must be another way? It's obviously me that's the issue. So I just need to change that. Easy." Her head sunk down. Maybe not so easy. She was strong-willed. If there was something she didn't like, she would change it. She prided herself on that fact. But from a different perspective, some might say she was headstrong. A characteristic she and Spyro shared.

To change arguably the biggest part of her, a part that ironically is against change, is asking to change her almost entirely. Would she be comfortable doing that?

In the end, she would lose. That much was clear. Their marriage was doomed for failure and it was their job now to minimize the damage. Solaria didn't know what this would yet entail, but getting the truth was top priority.

Whether she was ready for this ultimatum was yet to be seen.