A Dragon out of Time, A Crash and Spyro Story

Chapter 23: Abandonment

"Well you've broken into my home once before, so I guess you already know your way around. Are you sure your parents are alright with this Cynder?"

"I'm essentially visiting relatives. What's wrong with that?"

"You haven't told them yet, haven't you?"

"Look Spyro, you're my mentor right? You saved my life eight years ago, right? You saved the entire world in the meantime. You are the most trustworthy Dragon there is, why wouldn't my parents mind?"

It sounded so weird, hearing Cynder talk like this... about her parents. Knowing that in another reality (where maybe he began to have feelings for her), Cynder lost both of her parents and committed some very horrible things against her will. And now she was just a normal eight year old Dragon. The Cynder he read about, the one he cried for while reading the Dragon Atlas when he was still in an alternate future, it was not the Cynder standing before him today. This young Dragoness was innocent, never had to deal with the horrors that would be her fate if Spyro hadn't intervened with knowledge from both the Atlas and the Time Twister. She was eight years old and eight years younger than he was. Spyro was aware this would be a consequence of arriving in this timeline eight years aged from the point both his and Cynder's eggs were stolen; that he would be forfeiting a chance at having a relationship with the Dragon he in another timeline fell in love with. But now he was living with that decision and trying to cope with it... the decision to save her from a grim fate, only to now have one of his own. No... his fate wasn't grim. It was just, not what he expected... or wanted. Spyro came back, saved Ignitus, Cynder, Taika, Elora, Hunter, Sheila, everyone from death and despair. Everything was the way it should be, no threats to the world, Dragonkind, Avalar, everything was safe. And yet he was''t happy.

"Ugh... Spyro, you okay?" Cynder's comment broke Spyro out of his train of thought.

"Yeah."

"Are you nervous? You've been putting this off for a while now; I guess the feeling's only natural." The way Cynder talks to me, honestly without restraint, even with our age difference. It makes it hard to remember that she is still just a child. It makes it hard to hold back how I feel for her, even though it's for the best. "No Cynder, I'm not nervous. Okay, maybe I am. It's just... when I left Crash and his sister, I was your age. And now I can show up literally moments after I departed from their time aged eight years. I... shouldn't have waited so long to see them."

"You're going now. That's what important. Plus, there's still a surviving Sparx waiting for you there, right?" Sparx... His presence was something I forgot I sorely missed. And sacrificing his life only moments after being born was not easy for me to cope with, especially since it was my recklessness with my own life that caused him to give up his for me in the first place. What I did was to save Taika's life, but... it wasn't fair to him to have to make that decision for me. Utilitarianly, Sparx sacrifice could be mitigated if the other Sparx waiting for me with Crash returned with me to this time, since now he could safely. But, it still would never clear Spyro of the guilt in his consciousness, like how he loves a child and how he waited too long to visit his parents. But hopefully I can learn to cope with these things at least. Spyro smiled and looked at Cynder.

"Very true. Thank you Cynder, for convincing me to go through with this. I guess I really was scared to do so."

"You stared down the Sorceress and the Dark One without flinching, because the world needed to be saved from their tyranny. But you stopped yourself from seeing your family for so long because you were scared? Hmm... I don't buy it. I think you stopped yourself from seeing Crash again because you agree with him that he is right. You convinced yourself that you were never meant to know each other. But this opinion, for both of you, was formed out of grief and not truth. Wasn't it?"