FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Chapter 13: Argument and Agreement

The afternoon sun shone brightly overhead for Flame and Ember. They both sat on their haunches against each other. Ember never took her eyes off Flame, it was as if all she wanted was to stare at him for the rest of her days. The pink dragoness leant against Flame almost dependently, trying to keep most of her weight off her still injured form.

Flame on the other hand had lost himself completely. Over the hours the two had spent together over yesterday and that morning, Ember's thoughts towards, and about, him were completely anew. It was as if Ember had become a different dragon. But that was to Flame's advantage.

His entire outlook on the world had changed completely. The male dragon thought that he had something to live for again, that his life was worth something more than to be another name carved into the wall of survivors against Malefor. But Flame felt something deep inside himself that had never surfaced before, the feeling of being wanted.

Ember was much the same. Although she always knew that Flame liked her, she had no idea how far he was willing to go just to try and make her happy. She had said before that she would've liked nothing more than for him to leave her alone. And the male dragon was willing to do that, just for her. Ember twitched her tail, feeling it within the firm grip of Flame's. She smiled inwardly at herself, realising that what she had bee seeking all along, was right before her.

Flame glanced down at Ember, immediately gazing into her eyes. Ancestors, how could I have almost lost her? The male dragon thought to himself. It then dawned on him though. I shouldn't just sit here, the guardians would think that I've left, and aren't coming back... Flame slowly pressed back against Ember with his wing, forcing her back into a self supporting position. "We shouldn't be out here, the guardians will come looking for us eventually."

Ember sighed and cringed slightly as the pressure on her own limbs reached her mind. "Didn't you tell them that you came for me?"

"I did, but Cyril said that he would have either Volteer or Terrador to watch where I went, and if it looked like I was running away, they would come after me, or worse."

"What do you mean 'or worse'? You are here, with me. You have done nothing wrong." Ember lowered herself to lay on the grass, almost subconsciously objecting to the idea of going back.

"I know, but I don't want to be in any more trouble than I am." Flame moved to in-front of Ember. "Could you sit up for me again?" Flame asked, receiving a confused look from Ember.

"Why do you want me to do that?" The pink dragoness asked almost immediately in reply.

"Just, trust me for a moment. Ok?"

Ember then tilted her head to the other side. Why would he want me to do that? The pink dragoness took a deep breath again, and pressed against her forepaws, forcing herself back up into a sitting position. "Why did you want me to-" Ember started to ask, but then noticed Flame lower his head to look even more intently at her body. "What are you doing?" Ember shot out, slightly annoyed by Flame ogling over her. The pink dragoness immediately lowering herself against the ground once more, it hurt her slightly, but it immediately stopped Flame from staring.

"Ember, why did you do that?" It was obvious that the male dragon hadn't heard anything that Ember had said at the time he was staring at her.

"Why were you staring at me?" She asked with a hint of venom.

"I was seeing if you were hurt anywhere around your forelegs."

Again, Ember tilted her head. "Why would you want to check that?"

"So I could see if I would be able to carry you back to the temple instead of walking."

Wait, did he just say carry me? Ember asked herself, not believing what she thought Flame said. Ember again tried to remember what Flame had said, but nothing came through. She just store blankly back at the male before her.

"Ember?" Flame asked, wondering if he had said anything wrong.

Ember then panicked. She quickly tied to come up with an answer that would cover a broad number of questions. "But... How?"

Flame then paused for a moment. "Ok, then I'll show you. Just, could you sit up again?" Ember did as he asked, and followed him with her eyes as Flame walked behind her. "If you look at me I won't be able to hold you properly."

What did he just say? Ember immediately thought to herself. Surely he couldn't have said... Ember looked straight forward, wondering what Flame was trying to do. She sat still for a moment, thinking about what might come from her stupidity. I should've just asked him to say it again. It was then that Ember felt Flame's chest against her back. It was warm, almost to an unnatural temperature. Ember increased the force on her forelegs, putting more pressure against the male dragon.

"That helps, a little." Flame commented as he felt Ember's force against him. "Can you hold that for a moment?"

"Y-yeah... Sure..." Ember replied confused about what Flame was trying to do. Ember flicked her tail to one side, immediately running into one of Flame's hind legs. What is he doing? Ember then flicked her tail to the other side, once more, feeling Flame. She then started to panic. I'm not ready for this! Please ancestors tell me that he's not trying to- Ember then felt Flame's forelegs wrap underneath her own and pull his entire body closer to hers. For some reason to Ember, having Flame pressed against her like that felt right, like he was just an attachment to herself. But Ember felt that the time wasn't right, that Flame had something else in mind.

"See? I could easily move my-"

"Stop!" Ember shouted, breaking all contact with Flame and jumping several feet away, causing the male dragon to fall against the ground, crashing face first in the grass.

Flame picked himself up from the ground, slightly annoyed with Ember's sudden actions. "Ember? What did you do that for? I was only showing you how I would-"

"I didn't ask you to show me how we could mate!"

Flame stopped completely. Lost be what Ember had just shouted at him. "W-w... What?"

"I said that-"

"I know what you said Ember, but I didn't say anything about mating. I was showing you how I would carry you back to the temple instead of walking!"

Ember froze. She was completely embarrassed by what she had said, and what Flame had meant by his actions. If she hadn't have been a pink dragoness, she definitely would've in that moment. But what was worse, she didn't even know how to answer what Flame had said. Then another thought struck. If she couldn't trust Flame now, what chance was there of her trusting him in the future? "I-I..." The pink dragoness was completely lost for words. "I- Flame... I'm-"

"I knew it! I knew this was never going to happen." The male dragon looked at Ember for a brief moment, then turned away. "See? This is what happens when I believe you. You tell me everything that I had wanted to hear for nothing more than half an hour, then you just stab me in the back. It happened a week ago, it happened this morning, and now it's happening again!"

"No, Flame. That's not what I mea-"

"Oh no, of course not... Ember said something she didn't mean... Ancestors forbid that Ember actually says something she means."

"Flame, please... I didn't mean it."

"And you didn't mean it this morning either... Hmm? What about last week, did you not mean it then too?" Flame looked back at Ember with anger in his eyes. "Have you said anything, and meant it in your entire life?"

Ember stopped and lay against the ground. It was that morning all over again. She did something that she didn't mean, and Flame took it as an attack against him. Ember thought that her short time of happiness was over, that the few minutes she had spent with Flame feeling like he was the one was all for nothing. The pink dragoness felt like her entire world had fallen down around her, like everything was a complete wreck. She pressed herself against the ground, laying as flat as possible, avoiding any eye contact with the male dragon standing over her.

Flame only turned around, not wanting to see Ember like she was. It truly was a hard sight to behold. What's wrong with her now? Flame thought to himself. Did she actually mean what she said? It was then that he started to second guess his actions. Flame glanced back at Ember once more, finding that she was sobbing worse than he had ever seen her. What have I done? The male dragon turned himself around to face Ember, and padded closer to her side. "Ember?" Flame spoke softly. "Ember please, I didn't know."

The pink dragoness remained silent, ignoring any of Flame's actions while she continued to feel tears slide down the side of her face.

Flame was lost this time, his mind was losing its subtlety. The male dragon sat on the grass beside Ember and slowly ran one of his paws against her side. "Ember, don't do this... I- I- I-"

"Save it." Ember answered back, lifting her head off the grass and turning to face Flame. "Flame, I told you how I felt less than an hour ago, and already you don't believe me." The pink dragoness stated solemnly. "I meant every word of what I told you, but you still can't understand what you now mean to me. And if you can't understand that now, then what will become of us in the future?"

"Ember, I'm sorry... But I never even thought about what I was doing, and what it could've been." The male dragon stopped all movements and stared at Ember.

"Flame, what you did just then hurt more than you could imagine. I- I thought that I had lost you..."

"Ember, don't say that. I didn't mean to hurt you, but I'm not used to this..."

"It's not a matter of getting used to Flame. If you truly want us to be like that then you shouldn't have to know what to think. You already should."

Flame quickly jumped to his feet, he too then thought that his dream was going to be shattered. "Ember, I'm sorry... Please, is there anything I can do to make it up to you?"

"Flame, what we had broke in less than an hour, and if we can't go that long without a fight like this, then I don't know what will happen." Ember stopped and moved into a seating position like she was before. "Flame, I told you how I feel and what I want. But if you can't trust me, then I don't know what's going to happen. As for now, I want to know that I can trust you again."

Flame then stepped back towards Ember, standing front on towards her. "I'm sorry Ember. Please" Ember looked towards the ground, away from where Flame was standing before her. "I love you."

Those three small words rung throughout Ember's mind, it was then that she remembered how Flame felt when she first said them to him earlier that day. There was a sense of compassion held within the crimson dragon's voice as he said it. He truly meant it. Ember thought to herself. It was then that she picked up her head and looked straight towards Flame. "I forgive you Flame, but you have to trust me much like I need to trust you." The pink dragoness paused for a moment as Flame had stepped forward and stared rubbing his neck against hers. "And if you want to avoid the guardians, we had better get going."

Flame immediately took a quick step back, wondering how he should go about asking his first question again. "How do you want to get there?" Idiot.

"I don't think that I could walk that far, so I guess that you'll have to carry me." Ember replied, again with a fair amount of embarrassment.

"Do you trust me?"

"I don't have a choice."

* * *

Spyro and Cynder were walking through one of the dragon temple's countless corridors, tails entwined. The two dragons passed many others on their way to the main foyer. Needless to say that many strange looks were given to the couple, but that didn't mean that Spyro or Cynder didn't either ignore them, or just not notice at all.

Spyro spent most of his attention on Cynder, while what remained of the male dragon's conscious worried about not walking into a wall. But thankfully enough for Spyro, Cynder kept them on a straight path, until the black dragoness turned a corner and found Sparx.

Both Spyro and Cynder froze, from their last encounter together not even Spyro could guess as to how his half brother would react. Cynder wanted to try and ease any hostilities he believed she held towards him, but Cynder would leave most, if not all, of the talking this time to Spyro.

"Uhh, Sparx... Hey! You wouldn't happen to know what happened to Flame would you?" Spyro quickly tried to get the attention off both Cynder and himself.

"Nope, but I did however hear about you and 'ol terror over there," Cynder immediately tightened her grip on Spyro's tail, much to his discomfort. "But, could I speak with you for a minute? Alone." The small dragonfly put much emphasis on the final word.

Spyro was almost amazed by how calm his half brother was with Cynder so close. Although the purple dragon knew that Cynder wasn't going to do anything aggressive towards Sparx, that didn't mean she wouldn't cause him any form of discomfort. "Umm, sure..." Spyro glanced towards Cynder who was clearly trying her best to restrain any form of action. "Cynder, would you mind if you..." Spyro glanced back at their tails, which Cynder immediately released upon Spyro's request. The purple dragon leant in closer to Cynder. "I'll try to get him to understand." He whispered to Cynder, receiving a short nod in the process.

"C'mon I don't have all day." Sparx commented in a rather sarcastic way since no-one in the entire temple had anything to do beside the guardians.

Spyro immediately turned around to face his much smaller brother, flicking the edge of his tail back towards Cynder, gently tapping the tip of her nose in the process. The purple dragon took several steps down the corridor and turned the corner, with Sparx hanging on to one of his horns in the process.

"Have you lost your mind? Again!" The seemingly paranoid dragonfly flew off from Spyro's head and stood on the edge of his nose staring into the dragon's amethyst eyes. "You didn't see what the guardians did to everyone else did you?"

"No, but what-"

"They put everyone in the foyer and caused the biggest scene, just because of you two!"

"Sparx, do you have a point?"

"I was getting to that!" The small dragonfly shot back quickly. "The point is that because of you two everyone else has stopped coming to me. And I 'outta thank you for it."

That last comment took Spyro completely off guard. "What?"

"Because of you and psycho over there I am now able to do whatever I want and never get interrupted anymore. Because all the crazies were chasing you, all I ended up doing was heal this, and fix that... Now that you've finally chosen one of them, I get the rest of my days off!"

"So you don't have anything against us being together?" Spyro was still completely lost by his half-brothers words.

"Everyone else in here does..."

"Sparx!"

"Alright, alright. Calm down there big guy... As for you two being together, I have more good reasons than bad. But I want to know that she won't lash out at me like yesterday."

"Sparx, Cynder didn't lash out at you yesterday-"

"And you two weren't getting it on twenty minutes ago." That last bit silenced Spyro completely. "Ok, that was a bit much..." Sparx stretched out his arms and lay down on Spyro's snout. "Tell you what, get her to apologise for yesterday and maybe it will change my mind about her... As much as I hate to admit it, I can't live without you sometimes, but if you're going to be with... Her... The rest of your life, it's the least I can try."

Spyro raised an eye ridge at his brother, he knew that his half brother didn't like the idea of him being with Cynder. But he also knew that Sparx wasn't one to welcome change that much, so what he did offer was definitely in Spyro's favour. "Ok, but you have to stop with the names. This will be hard enough on her without you calling her 'evil'."

"Right then, she gives an apology, and I'll stop with the name calling."

"Deal." Cynder spoke up from the around the corner. The black dragoness had heard the entire conversation between the two brothers. She understood what had to be said, but it would be worth it in the end. For if Spyro couldn't speak with his brother without him being scared to death each time, Cynder knew that Spyro wouldn't be happy. Cynder stepped out from behind Spyro and looked at Sparx who had shot up from his position on Spyro's nose.

"This isn't going to help you know..." Sparx put a little more distance between Cynder and himself.

"Sparx, relax. Cynder understands what you said and agrees completely to it. I heard it, you heard it, and she heard it." Spyro tried to ease his brother's tensions.

"Yeah, yeah... I know what I said, but it doesn't help when she's eavesdropping on us."

"I'm sorry Sparx, I didn't mean to scare you yesterday morning, al I wanted to do was thank you for-"

"Ok, ok... That's enough, you don't have to tell me everything... I was there remember?" Sparx paused for a moment. "Actually, I should thank you for finally getting chick magnet over there to pick someone... It was driving me insane."

"Well, I don't think you quite understand how hard it was on me too Sparx."

"Yeah, sure... It was hard on you... It's really hard for someone to stand there and have almost the entire world stare at your every move, while stabbing each other in the back after you turned every corner..." The golden dragonfly turned around and started flying back down the way he had come before. "I wish I could go through all of that-" Sparx was gone.

"I think that went well..." Spyro said softly to Cynder, who just stood still, dumbfounded at how weird Sparx truly was. "I think he likes you on the inside."

The black dragoness gave a confused look. "And how would you know that?"

"If you live with someone like that for over five years, you pick these things up." Spyro turned around with Cynder and immediately locked his tail with hers again.

"Are you sure he's alright with us?"

"Even if he isn't, I still love you all the same."