Chapter Five: Farewells

"Cynder. Cynder, c'mon, talk to me!"

She opened her eyes with some difficulty. "Spyro?"

"Hey! Welcome back! For a moment, we thought you were dead!" All Cynder could see was a purple haze floating in front of her. She rubbed her eyes and looked again. Spyro's face swam into focus. "How do I look?"

"Fuzzy," she replied.

Spyro chuckled. "No, silly. I meant the collar." Spyro leaned back so that Cynder could see the silver collar around his neck. "It's one of the anchors that was used to chain me down. Sora broke the chain, but we still haven't figured out how to get this thing off yet."

"What happened? Are you alright?"

"Me? I'm hardly the one to be worried about. Oh, and I wouldn't recommend trying to move for another day or two. Just in case." Spyro knelt down and grasped Cynder's shoulder. Another chill ran down her spine. Not a bad one this time though. "You saved my life. I was still knocked out when it happened, mind you, but I overheard Sora talking to the guardians about what happened." Cynder's heart sank. "Apparently, you hit the shaft. The ax head flew about fifteen feet into the air before it landed right in front of my face. That's when I woke up. Quite an alarm clock, that."

"'Cynder. That's your name, isn't it?" Spyro and Cynder turned to face the voice. Spyro removed his hand, much to Cynder's dismay. Sora stood in the doorway. He looked from Cynder, to Spyro. "Am I interrupting something?"

"Not really." Spyro stood up.

"Good. Ignitus wants to talk to you." Sora moved aside to let Spyro pass, then turned back to Cynder. There was a moment's silence. "Don't worry," he said at long last. "The guardians don't know all the details."

"You didn't tell them what I tried to do?"

"No. As far as they're concerned, you were just desperate to help."

"Why didn't you tell them?"

Sora scratched his head, thinking. "I guess I could relate to what you did a little too well." He turned to leave. "Oh, and nice necklace by the way." With that, Sora left to join his friends waiting outside the temple in the Gummi Ship.

Cynder reached down and scooped up the orb hanging around her neck. It had cracked, and was now crystal clear. She had never even figured out how to use it.

The End