darkSpyro

Figured I'd put this here. Enjoy a "tail" of pain, treachery, and, perhaps, redemption for a poor lost soul.
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Spyro and Cynder had returned to Fangbone, and were greeted with a celebratory feast. Well, Spyro was. Cynder was left out despite Spyro's protests. As she paced back and forth, she entered the home that had been prepared for Spyro and immediately noticed the strange chest that was against the wall. Approaching it, she could hear faint whispers promising her the respect and power she secretly craved. She couldn't resist the urge to approach the chest, but hesitated in front of it. Then, before she realized she was moving again, she had opened the chest, unleashing a dark cloud that finally formed a dragoness that looked strikingly like Cynder when she was under the control of Malefor. The dragoness smiled down at Cynder, although the smile sent shivers down her spine. The dragoness spoke, in a voice that echoed around the room a bit before going right up Cynder's spinal cord.
"You have freed me, and I will fulfill the promises I made."

It had been weeks since Cynder had opened the chest. She had learned a lot of things from the dragoness inside, Darkheart. But the price she had paid for opening the chest...
Spyro was in a coma.
The entire city was in ruins, and nearby was a castle built from a substance known as Shadowstone.
Cynder's own castle.
But she didn't want to rule over the people.
Especially not because they were terrified of her.
The dragoness was like a genie that twisted every wish to the worst interpretation possible. She had made it so Cynder was powerful, but she couldn't properly control her powers. She had made the people respect her, but not in a good way. She spent all of her time locked away in her room. There she tried to find a way to wake Spyro up, without using Darkheart's "help". She had, however, managed to gain both sympathy and friendship from an unlikely source:
Darkheart's servant, Shadow the Drimp, who had the power to make people sleep and could not only control dreams, but enter and even combine them. She had convinced him to let her communicate with Spyro through shared dreams, and the little fellow had implied that there was still a way to awaken him from his slumber.
Then, on the next Night of Eternal Darkness, Cynder felt a strange surge of power. She tried using this boost to wake Spyro up, and succeeded.
Sort of.
He was forced into his Dark Form a due to the source of the power that awoke him, and Cynder found that this had been part of Darkheart's plan.
To begin Stage Two, Darkheart stripped Cynder of all her powers, even ones not granted by Darkheart, including Cynder's breath weapons. Then she possessed Spyro and revealed that she had been the first Guardian of Darkness, and that she had tempted Malefor and corrupted him, and through him every purple dragon after him. Including Spyro.
"I shall finally have my vengeance! The world rejected my pleas for mercy! Now it's my turn to reject its own pleas!" The dragoness had shouted. "Just try and stop me!"
Cynder had decided to take the challenge. She begged the other dragons for help, but even after hearing her story of what had happened and using magic to determine it was indeed the truth, they rejected her request, giving the excuse of needing to repair Fangbone.
So Cynder left on her own, accompanied by Sparx and Hunter, the only ones who realized the true gravity of the situation.
It was easy to find Darkheart, almost as if she had planned for it.
They entered the Dark Temple, a shadowy, twisted version of the Dragon Temple.
They found some horrible things there.
A plague doctor whose touch was invariably fatal.
A boy who broke so easily that mere movement broke bones due to a lack of joints, which was both pitiful and a bit nauseating to watch.
A living scarecrow that practically oozed fear. Cynder had to practically drag the other two away, as she had apparently become immune to effects related to her breath weapons, even though she had lost the ability to use them.
Finally they found Darkheart's personal chamber, and realized that they had been followed by each of the monstrosities they had encountered. Yet the creatures seemed to be uninterested in doing anything more than watch.
Cynder stood in front of Darkheart, ready to give the assumed fight everything she had.
"Congratulations on getting here. I wasn't sure you'd make it past the horrors of the Dark Temple."
"It wasn't easy."
"Well, now that you're here, I have an offer for you."
Cynder bared her teeth. "If the results are anything like the last offer you'd made, I'd rather eat Dragonbane! At least then I'd be the only one to suffer!"
"Why in the world would you put others before yourself? They've done nothing for you. Spyro is the exception!" Darkheart seemed genuinely confused.
"I've already brought so much pain and sorrow that it is understandable for them to mistrust me!"
"Listen, my dear daughter -"
"I am not your daughter!!!" Cynder shouted.
"But you are my descendent, after who knows how many generations." Cynder recoiled. "I have an offer for you. The longer you take to accept it, the greater the penalty I'll add if you disagree. Join me, and I will grant your every desire, for you shall be a princess to my empire!"
Cynder was silent. Then she spoke. "And if I don't?"
Darkheart's shadow moved, and dragged Spyro within reach. One of her claws lengthened itself with a shadowy energy, and she placed it against Spyro's neck, simultaneously releasing Spyro from her control while her shadow completely restrained him. "If you don't join me, the price will be Spyro's life! He won't merely be asleep. He'll be dead!"
Cynder was silent. Darkheart seemed confused. "Why are you so hesitant? He's the only one who ever cared about you. Everyone else treated you like garbage."
Spyro spoke up. "Don't agree to it Cynder! Who knows what she'll have you do?"
Darkheart snarled. "You be quiet! The girl is having a hard enough time deciding!"
Cynder remained silent. Darkheart was becoming increasingly confused. "What kind of dilemma could this decision possibly give you? I wouldn't have taken a moment to decide." Darkheart's voice trembled with her next sentence. "Why would you care about anyone else? I... I don't understand."
Drimp tugged on her tail. "Mistress, your Dark Illusion. It's starting to fade."
Indeed, Darkheart's scales were lightening to a medium gray, and when she next spoke, she sounded like a teenager. "Please... Explain to me... I... What is this emotion that hurts so much?" The claw she had over Spyro's neck shortened to its original length, as she backed up, holding her chest.
"I... Need to learn from you..." Her voice was almost a whimper.