Good Times, Now Gone?
#6 of Spyro's Growing Up.
The next few days were rather dull to the average person, yet flashed by in seconds for the two lovers contained within their own time capsule. Although the most sexual thing they did was perhaps snuggle in bed, and find themselves excited, they were by no means bursting with energy. Spyro had reasoned that, as his new mate, Ember would be in danger almost as great as he usually was, and she was not trained to handle it. He had taken it upon himself to make sure that she never got hurt, and taught her how to fight.
'Come on, you can do better than that!'
Ember picked herself off the forest floor with a wince of pain. Though it was softened by leaves, she had lost count of how many times she had fell.
Spyro was teaching her basic combat, and she was not doing all that badly. Granted she was no e;ite dragon warrior, but she had her own way of getting things done. And she was learning fast.
She thought that Spyro was actually a rather strict teacher, but she knew that it was just out of concern for her. They practiced standard drills, complicated moves, breathing techniques, gliding manouvres, everything. They often practiced most of the day, and sometimes into the night. It would have been less time consuming, but they both knew something. Their time before a new crisis was waning.
Walking home the next day, winded and bruised, Ember did not recieve a word of sympathy or sorrow from Spyro. Nor later that night when she went to bed an hour early. Nor when she huddled on her side of the bed that night and purposely made no body contact with him. It was driving her mad. Why didn't he talk to her? Their fragile happiness was about to be all but shattered.
After a particularly savage spar with Spyro the next day, they had both sunk to the ground, bruised and bleeding. Ember was learning, and was already changing physically. She had already forsaken her heart necklace, and instead wore a red headband. She had bulked up, ever so slightly, but enough to give her a new, and somewhat sexy appearance. Hell, she had almost managed to beat Spyro, and had successfully pinned him earlier that day, which had had some amusing effects on Spyro as she lay on top of him. Spyro just sat there, a serene look on his features but Ember's face was like a sandstorm of emotions, and soon she began to cry. First, at the pain she was recieving from her various wounds, second, from her sorrow at the little time they had left and third at Spyro, for not saying a word about it.
After noticing her crying, Spyro asked her what was wrong.
'Oh, like you don't know!' she cried, tears leaking out of the sides of her eyes.
'No, I don't!' replied Spyro, shocked at her sudden anger.
'You've just been so mean lately and been making me practice all this, and telling me I'm in danger and...' she trailed off, and was wracked with sobs.
Spyro walked over to hug her, to comfort her. But as he was about to make body contact, she recoiled and made a swipe at him.
'Keep away!'
'Ember, what's wrong?'
At that, she gave her loudest cry yet, and shot a jet of smoke out of her nostrils into the air, momentarily blinding Spyro. He heard her footsteps moving swiftly away, and heard her sobs grow fainter and fainter. He propelled himself upwards, trying to clear the smoke and see where she was, but through some form of magic unknown to him, the smoke wrapped itself around him, impassive, impenetrable.
When it cleared, there was no sign of Ember for miles. He searched everywhere he could think, the spring, their secret grove, Ember's old house, but she was nowhere. He was panicked. What if she had been ambushed? Who knew how long they had until evil descended on their land again.
He came across Sapphire, sitting by the lake and watching the young male dragons swimming on it's other side with a look of mild interest. She had grown vastly, and was now almost as large as adult dragons. She looked quite majestic actually, her head turned to the side and her graceful neck tense. A slight smile played itself across her features, and the frost crystals that usually clung to her (as she was a frost dragon) were nowhere to be seen, so her body temperature must have been quite high.
'Sapp! Sapphire!'
Her head slowly turned to face him, eyes never leaving the males across the way, until she could no longer see them without moving her head. She flicked her eyes to Spyro, and she saw that something was up.
'Spyro, what's wrong?
'It's Ember, we had a fight and she attacked me and she ran off and now I don't know where she is!'
Spyro had said all of this in one breath, and Sapphire made calming gestures with her forepaws.
'Alright, alright, calmdown. I can tell you which way she went, she ran past here awhile ago. I didn't know why, and she was moving really really fast, so I couldn't ask her. I had hoped nothing had happened between you two.'
'Huh?', asked Spyro, hoisting an unconvincing look of confusion on his face.
'Oh, come off it Spyro. The whole relam knows about you and Ember now,' she said with a calming and happy smile. 'She headed off that way, towards the...' and she trailed off, a horrified look working on to her beautiful face.
'Where? Where!?'
'Towards the inter-realm airport.'
The inter-realm airport was much like an airport today, save for that instead of travelling in planes, dragons just flew themselves. But someone had to keep track of the comings and goings, so the inter-realm airport was created.
Running towards the flight booker, Sapphire close at his heels, Spyro had a horrible idea of where she had gone. Though he didn't dare say something. To voice it out loud was to make it irreversible, irretrievable.
'Can I help you?' asked the flight booker, as Spyro and Sapphire skidded to a stop in fron of her desk.
'Can you please tell me if a small pink dragon bought a ticket here in the last few hours, Grace?' asked Sapphire, a mishievous grin on her face.
'Oh, Hi Sapp! Long time no see! How ya been?'
In answer to Spyro's look Sapphire said 'We've been firends since hatchling days, Spyro. But we can't talk now Grace, Spyro's looking for someone. Have you seen a pink dragon, 'bout Spyro's size pass through here in about the last two hours?'
'Hmmm....' thought the Grace, and turned to her computer. 'Yes, it seems that a small pink dragon, calling herself Ember, passed through here about an hour ago.'
'Where was she going!?'
'Well, it says here...that she bought a one-way ticket to....' and she trailed off, clearly uncomfortable.
'Grace? Where did Ember go?'
'Uldum.'
A cold shiver passed through Spyro, and he heard Sapphire gasp behind him. With cold, inevitable finality, Spyro knew that he could not go to his mate.
For she was in the only female only realm to ever have existed.
'Come on Spyro, let's go home.'
Spyro had been sitting in the corner, staring at the wall for at least three hours now. That Sapphire had stayed there and tried to get him to come home that whole time was a mark of their friendship. He had not said a word, nor moved a muscle for three whole hours.
At last, Sapphire decided that she would have to carry him home, and he offered no resistance. Little did she know that he was not too stunned to move, he was just thinking. And he knew what he had to do.
When the call came, on the last day before Spyro was sure a quest started again, Spyro was ready. He called Hunter, Sapphire and Sparx, who had been distant of late, to tell them to come to the airport.
And to bring their instruments.