Post-Apocalypse Paradise

4: Familiarity

"You know..." Spyro began with a heavy exhale, as the evening winds rushed against his face. "I'm not completely sure I can ever forgive you for that one."

Following a few feet behind him like a shadow was a young black dragon, who looked as if she was about to bust a gut in laughter. Every time her purple flight mate glanced back to give her an unamused expression, the female dragon would completely lose it all over again.

"Y-You should have seen your face!" She managed to get out, wiping the wetness from her eyes.

"I'll be as old as the Elders by the time he forgets about that one." Spyro mused with deadpan. "Thanks for that, Cynder."

"Aww, I love you too, Spyro." Cynder said in a playful, mocking tone.

Spyro glanced back at the black dragoness once more. She hadn't stopped smiling since they left, and now she was laughing to the point of tears for the first time.

The very first night they had returned, she had sought to curl up next to him to sleep, and if someone had told Spyro that Cynder would ever assault him with tickling at any point prior to Malefor's defeat, the purple dragon would have laughed in their face.

There was no denying it, Spyro thought to himself. She was changing, right in front of him. Slowly opening up, slowly expressing more and more emotion. She was more playful, less cynical, more talkative. She was beginning to accept the idea that her entire life was ahead of her, accepting the fact that she had overcome all the forces that wished her to do evil.

For the first time, her entire life was her own. At this thought Spyro couldn't help but wear a sentimental smile.

"Hey! Spyro!" Came Cynder's voice, piercing through his thoughts like a jagged spike.

"W-what? Oh, sorry, Cynder!" The male dragon said with a chuckle. "Guess I'm just spacing out a bit."

"Well, don't," the black dragon said flatly. "We can't both be basket cases - who's going to watch where we're going?"

"An excellent point." Spyro said with a more genuine laugh this time.

"Hey, by the way, do you mind if we find something to eat before we head back to the temple?" Cynder asked suddenly. "I'm absolutely starving."

Spyro blinked. He hadn't even thought about food all day. True, his stomach had grumbled softly once or twice within the past couple hours, but he had been far too preoccupied with more important things - like comforting female dragons, talking to dragon elders and fleeing from Sparx upon his secret getting out.

"You know, that's a good idea." Spyro agreed, his purple eyes now starting to scan the far-away ground below. "We should eat now while there's still some light. I don't want to try looking for food when it's already too dark to see."

"What do you recommend?" The dragoness asked.

"There's a river not far from the temple." The purple dragon remembered. "Why don't we go fishing together?"

"Oh, Spyro." Cynder said quietly. "You know, that would have probably sounded a whole lot cuter and endearing, if I actually knew how to fish."

"Wait, you've never fished before?" Spyro asked, taken aback. "What have you been eating up till now?"

"Dunno. Thinking long-term, probably the souls of dragons and other innocent creatures." Cynder said with deadpan. "As for short-term, I survived on berries and things I found in the woods after you brought me back from Convexity, and after I ran away. Then we got locked in crystal for a few years, and I haven't eaten a whole lot since."