Jacy: And here it is, on schedule this time!

Blane: …I don't think I'm ready for this.

Jacy: Sure you are! *shoves off a cliff*

Blane: Aaaaaaahhhhh! *opens wings and flies off*

Jacy: Anyway, Cue Disclaimer!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of the copyrighted things that I use, but I do own my OCs and this story.

XFXPX

Chapter 3: Making An Entrance

After everyone had eaten their fill and the remains of the deer had been respectfully buried, the trio prepared to take flight. For Spyro and Cynder it was nothing more than instinct by now and it didn't require much thought to do so, but it was a whole new territory to Blane.

"Alright, alright, you can do this," the silver told himself under his breath, "It's just like gliding, except you're just…higher and in the air longer."

'Maybe you can ask one of them to catch you when you fall,' Cain said amusedly, and the half-dragon could almost see the dark, instigating smirk on the crimson's face. It made him grit his teeth in anger, which only added to the entity's delight.

"You ready Blane?" Spyro asked, cutting Blane off before he verbally ripped into Cain out loud. The silver turned to look at the purple and saw the concern for him on his face. It was at that moment that he realized he was gritting his teeth, had tensed up, and was holding his breath. He forced himself to relax, exhaling slowly, before he responded.

"As I'll ever be," he said, shuffling his wings nervously, "Let's get moving."

The other male nodded and took to the air with a leap and a strong flap of his wings. Cynder followed suit, leaving Blane alone on the ground, looking up at them for a moment before his eyes fell to the grassy ground.

'Here goes nothing,' he thought to himself before he closed his eyes and did his best to mimic their actions. He felt a strange prickling at the back of his mind, like recalling a long-lost memory that he didn't knew he had, and then suddenly…he was airborne. He opened his eyes to see was no longer touching the ground, but hovering a few inches off of it.

"I…I did it!" he shouted triumphantly, flapping his wings harder to reach the same altitude his two companions were at. He let out an ecstatic whoop of joy and did a loop before he stopped and hovered near them unsteadily, a giddy smile on his face.

"You act like this is the first time you've ever flown," Cynder noted with a laugh, amused by his antics.

"I just like the feel of it, is all," he answered honestly, grinning sheepishly, "I feel…free, unbound…It's just something I didn't get very often before."

"Well, after we get to Warfang, maybe we'll all just enjoy a nice flight," Spyro said with a happy smile, "It'd be nice to get a look at the city while it's not under attack."

"The sooner we get there, the sooner we can," Cynder pointed out, "Lead the way, Spyro."

The purple dragon nodded before he pushed forward with ease, his muscles allowing him to put a lot of power into each flap of his wings. Cynder followed quickly behind, her lithe form hiding strong muscles of her own. Blane, still unused to moving his muscles like they were, lagged a bit behind, but was able to keep pace not far behind them, still grinning at the sensation of actual flight.

'Looks like you have some dragon instinct after all,' Cain mused as the trio headed in the direction of the Dragon City, leaving Twilight Falls behind them. The silver simply ignored him, content to simply enjoy the flight and not let himself be antagonized into a fight with the crimson.

XSXPXAXRXXX

In the time since the world had nearly ended, Sparx the Dragonfly had seen and done a great many things. He'd been among the first to come out of the Underground City, where the residents of Warfang had taken shelter, and saw the beautiful sky that his brother had saved. He'd observed as the three remaining Guardians sent word to colonies of dragons and other races that the Dark Master had been defeated once and for all, he even helped deliver a few of them, too. He'd joined several search parties that looked for any sign of the three missing heroes that had been responsible: the Fire Guardian, Ignitus; the former Terror of the Skies, Cynder; and his adopted brother, Spyro. There were still no signs that they had survived, but the dragonfly refused to give up hope as so many others had. He'd also been present when Terrador, the Earth Guardian, and a few other Earth dragons that had come to the city had raised the old Dragon Temple from the Underground City to ground level. After it had been cleaned and renovated, it was opened as a boarding school for young dragons that were returning to Warfang with their families (though Sparx had seen more than one return alone, as well), and Sparx found himself as a messenger for the Guardians and the other teachers at the school. It certainly kept him busy and made sure he had no time to mope over his missing brother.

At the moment, he was zipping through the halls to deliver a message to Terrador, who had stepped up to assume the mantle of lead Guardian and Headmaster of the school in Ignitus's absence, from the Basic Combat instructor, a slim Fire Dragoness named Ignacia, though most simply called her Cia, at her own request. Apparently she had two students who wanted to transfer into his Advanced Combat class, but she needed his approval to test them to see if they were up to the task. She thought they were more than ready to move forward, but procedure had to be followed.

Sparx usually tried to deliver messages while classes were in session because it meant no students trying to grab him or knock him off-course. It had become a sort of game and challenge among them to 'capture the dragonfly' because he was so hard to catch and because he knew more about the 'Purple Savior' than anyone else in Warfang. It wasn't that he hated talking about his brother; it was just that it was painful to be reminded that he still hadn't returned. Unfortunately, the students didn't seem to notice that, and today he found himself moving through the halls between classes.

"There he is!" one student shouted as Sparx flew as close to the ceiling (and as far out of their reach) as he could manage. He saw several try to jump and grab him, and once again found himself glad that it was against school rules for students to fly in the halls. He stayed just out of reach of their paws and dodged their various underpowered elemental attacks with relative ease; it was a cakewalk after what he'd gone through with his brother. As much as he hated being chased, however, it certainly kept his skills sharp. But, just as he turned a corner, the unthinkable happened: a pair of paws plucked him from the air and brought him to the ground with a groan.

"I got him! I got him!" His captor shouted victoriously while the dragonfly tried to slip out of his grip.

"Lemme go, punk!" Sparx said angrily, glowing brighter in an attempt to intimidate the much larger individual. An excited crowd gathered around them, eager to hear the exploits of Spyro the Dragon from someone that had been with him since the beginning.

"Is it true he rescued all the Guardians?"

"Did he really beat the Terror of the Skies?"

"Did he really meet the Chronicler?"

"How did he kill the Ape King?"

"What was it like being frozen in crystal?"

"Were he and the Terror of the Skies really chained together?"

"How did he convince her to work with him?"

So many questions were asked all at once that he was quickly overwhelmed and didn't know how to answer any of them fast enough. He just closed his eyes, waiting for one of them to accidentally crush him in their overexcited states. Luckily for him, it didn't happen.

"Hey, let him go!" A female voice called out and everyone turned to see who it was, creating an opening straight to the middle of the crowd.

It was an adolescent dragoness, a student as well, with light-blue scales and a darker blue underbelly and wing membranes. She had translucent fins on the backs of her forelegs and along her spine, showing she was one of the uncommon Water Dragons. Her body was slim and better suited for speed, whether underwater or in the air, as opposed to power, and her weaponless tail seemed to reinforce this. She had a single pair of streamlined horns that were white like fresh snow and grew straight back toward her tail. Her amber eyes watched the group with disapproval.

"C'mon, Talea, you know you want to know about Spyro, too!" The dragon that was pinning Sparx to the ground said, trying to convince the dragonfly's rescuer to join them.

"He'll tell us all about his brother when he's ready, Marq," the female responded calmly, walking over to the center of the crowd, "Now let him up and get to class, all of you."

All of the students groaned and began to disperse, Marq included, with mutters of, "Spoilsport," and, "Teacher's Pet," as well as various other, less polite insults aimed in Talea's direction. She simply sighed and shook her head, having become used to hearing such insults before, and knelt down to check on the dragonfly. Sparx lifted himself off the ground and into the air before wrapping his arms around her snout in a brief, but thankful, hug. She smiled warmly in response.

"I thought they were going to kill me until you came along, Tal!" he said, making the dragoness snort in disbelief, "I'm serious, I saw my life flash before my eyes!"

"I'm sure you're exaggerating, Sparx," she told him, shaking her head in amusement as she started walking forward, the dragonfly trailing along behind, "Who were you delivering a message to when you got nabbed?"

"Terrador," he responded, looking over at her out of the corner of his eye, "Apparently Cia has two students that want to transfer into his class."

"Who?" she asked curiously, looking over at the dragonfly.

"Well, there's that Lava Dragon, Match," he said casually, floating over so that he was flying in front of her and began to fly backward so that he could look back at her, "And your would-be suitor, that Storm Dragon, Tempest."

The female sighed and shook her head in frustration, saying, "He's only doing this to try to impress me, the 'Exotic Maiden of the Seas,' as he keeps calling me. It's getting irritating."

"He's in your next class, isn't he?" Sparx asked, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow, "Dragon History with Cyril, right?"

"Yeah, and he'll likely be waiting to sit next to me," she said with a groan, frowning at the thought.

"Slip out the back," the dragonfly suggested mischievously, grinning, "Go see the reconstruction or the marketplace or something. I'll cover for you."

"Seriously?" she asked, halting in place as she looked at the dragonfly in shock.

"Yeah, you rescued me, only fair that I return the favor, am I tight?" He told her sincerely, "Now get out of here before someone catches you!"

"Thanks, Sparx!" she called over her shoulder as she ran off to find the closest exit to the Temple.

"Anytime," he chuckled before flying off in the opposite direction, first to deliver his message, then to tell Cyril that Talea wouldn't be present today.

XBXLXAXNXEX

As far s flights go, the one that brought Spyro, Cynder, and Blane to Warfang was rather dull. Nothing exciting interrupted them, they were all relatively quiet except for a few conversations here and there, but it was still a wonderful experience for the silver dragon. It wasn't until about midday that the city came into view, and by that time he had adapted to flying and it made the journey all the more enjoyable. As the walls of the city came into view, however, his eyes widened and he almost forgot to keep flapping his wings; even from the distance they still had to travel, he could see the gate and it was the same one that he'd seen in his dream. Brushing it off after a moment, he quickly flew to catch up to his companions.

The trio flew up and over the walls, surprising the various guards patrolling. There was a mixed race militia, from moles to dragons to even cheetahs, but all of them recognized the sight of the purple dragon and his black-scaled companion. At the sight of the two companions, they all burst into cheers of joy and elation; the heroes had returned, alive and well. Spyro and Cynder exchanged a wry glance as they flew further into the city, beginning to pass over the sections of the city that had been decimated by the Dark Master's army and had to be rebuilt from the ground up.

"What happened here?" Blane asked, looking down to see that members of the three races were also aiding in the reconstruction.

The pair slowed down so that they were flying beside the silver before Spyro explained, "The Dark Master's army attacked and tried to destroy the city. He even had an Earth Golem and it was rampaging through the city before Cynder and I managed to stop it."

"Oh…" he said solemnly, gazing over the various teams involved in the rebuilding. He didn't know who this Dark Master was or why he had attacked this city, but he had seen destruction similar to this during the various wars his uncle had participated in whenever a nearby ally was attacked. His uncle was a kind man during peace, and sometimes during war, but Blane had been with him when they'd seen villages destroyed like this. It awoke a beast inside of him at the sight of so many innocents slain, and it stirred something inside Blane, as well, but his uncle sought nothing but destruction for anyone that would kill a helpless child. And the armies he fought had killed thousands. Blane had been present during the brief moments when that monster inside him cried for the blood of the murderers. In the end, he helped his uncle crush the enemy nations every time, but he wasn't always able to convince him to spare the enemy kings.

As he was looking down, he saw a group of moles, all of them wearing miner's clothes and helmets suited for their size, struggling with a large piece of rubble from the building they were knocking down so that it could be rebuilt. They stood on a high platform that had been built of wood so that they could reach it, sturdy enough that they were able to move well-enough on it, but the extra weight of the slab was making it, and them, wobble and move very unsteadily. As they began to lose their grip on it, he noticed a young dragon, likely about his own age, walking along the ground, looking around at the reconstruction with a sad look. The dragon didn't notice as the moles lost their hold on the stone and it began to fall toward it, much to his horror. Eyes widening in shock, Blane fell into a dive toward the dragon, shouting, "Look out!"

The dragon looked up to see the stone falling toward it, letting out a startled gasp as it found itself paralyzed by fear, unable to move. Determined, Blane pulled his wings around him and forced himself to move even faster, not willing to let the stone beat him. He managed to reach the dragon just in time, tackling the dragon out of the way and sending the two of them tumbling head over tail while the slab struck the ground and cracked into smaller pieces with a loud crash. When Blane and the dragon he'd saved stopped rolling, he was on top of the other, both of them groaning and out of breath, but very much alive. When the silver opened his eyes, though, he realized two things: one, the dragon was female; and two, she…

"Thanks," the dragoness said, looking up at him with wide, amber eyes, "You…saved my life. I don't know how to repay you, um…what's your name?"

"B-Blane," he stuttered, staring at her in disbelief, "A-and you are?"

"Talea," she responded with a warm smile.

…was the dragoness he'd seen about to kiss him in his dream.

XFXPX

And chapter three is done! I really hope you guys enjoyed this, and I really, really hope you'll leave me your thoughts on this chapter. I hope this one makes up for the long wait on the last one, because I'm fairly certain this is the longest chapter thus far. I shouldn't have any more late updates, because I'm at least a chapter ahead with my hard copy, as I like to be. Just hope laziness doesn't set in…

Thanks again!

~Jacob, aka Jacy, aka Dualmindedwolf