Disclaimer: I own nothing except my characters and the story itself. Other canon characters are owned by their respective companies.

Exclaimer: To people who don't like the story, just don't read it.

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Legacy of Legends 3

Chapter 16

Tough Crowd

“You know one thing I love about mornings?”
She gave the dragon a flat expression. “What?”
“The sense of something new and exciting will happen. The idea of a new day, filled with adventure and new experiences.”
The dragoness chuckled. “Are you like this because you’re just excited to learn from Crombe, Steppe?”
A smile crept up on the dragon’s face. “…yes.”
“Did he even say yes?”
The dragon scratched his chin. “He kind of did. But I’ll ask him about it again today.”
“What if he says no?”
“Aurora, why would he say no?”
“Maybe because he’s busy?” The two turned their heads at the answer of their fellow friend who was silent up until now.
“Why would he be busy, Trax?”
The dragon shrugged. “Studies? I don’t know! I’m not him.”
“Well, here’s to hoping he’ll teach me!” Steppe grinned, brimming with excitement. He then turned to look at Trax who looked quieter than normal. “Dude, are you okay?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m fine.”
Steppe glanced at Aurora who just shrugged. She wasn’t sure herself what was up with Trax. “Did something happen?” Steppe asked.
The electric dragon sighed. “Well…” Truth be told, Trax didn’t get much sleep since last night. Spyro’s words dug into him. He was going to ask if he could have Zaze—the Dark Master—to be his mentor. It was a very daunting predicament. He wanted to be a Guardian badly, but was he that serious in becoming one, to the point that he was willing to learn under someone so…

“Zaze?”

…Friendly?

The two dragons turned their heads to look at where Aurora was looking and sure enough, the purple dragon was right down her sights. And right next to her, was none other than their friend, Shaylus. The two were having a rather lovely time with each other. Zaze was talking and Shaylus was talking. It was like they were old friends. There was something about the scene that felt wrong.

0 0 0 0 0

Zaze stared at the dragoness across from him. The whole scene felt surreal to him. She caught him looking and asked, “What is it?”
The dragon shook his head. “It’s just…” Zaze let out a light laugh. “I’m just shocked.”
“About what?”
“You! Talking to me! Nobody ever talks to me anymore because of who I am.”
Shaylus smiled at him. “I tend to not judge dragons by their appearance. Their actions are enough, and from what I can tell, you’re not a bad dragon as others may think you are.”
“Even though you know who I am?”
“I know who you are. You’re Zaze.” The dragoness looked at him seriously. “And I also know who you were. You were once, Malefor, right? I don’t exactly know the details, but I think it doesn’t matter now.”
“Why…why are you doing this?” was all Zaze could ask.
“Because you needed a friend,” she answered, plain and simple.

And at that brief moment, Zaze was reminded of himself. Now he knew what it felt like. It was an odd feeling, to say the least.
Zaze smiled. “Nice to meet you then.”
“Nice to meet you too.”
“So are you always like this?”
“Like what?”
“This friendly with dragons?”
“I’m friendly to all dragons.” She then let out a sigh. “Though I think my friends don’t approve of me being like this.”
“They don’t like you hanging out with someone like me then? They think I’m dangerous?”
She nodded. “But I’m trying to prove to them that you’re not a bad dragon.”
“I see. So Shaylus—“
“Please, call me Shay. I’m used to being called that.”
“Alright, Shay, I want you to be honest.”
The dragoness perked up. “With what?”
“Does my appearance scare you?”

Shaylus looked Zaze over and examined his features. The way his horns curved back was probably the most prominent feature he had. Unlike what you’d see from normal dragons, his gave off a somewhat menacing look. It didn’t help seeing as that his overall facial features added to the aesthetic. Even a simple smile or a smirk would look evil, transformed by his unique appearance. He gave off the aura of the type of dragon you’d normally not want to be associated with. To top it off, Zaze’s eyes had a faint yellowish glow to them that seemed to stare in your soul the longer you look at it.

“Well, you’re more intimidating rather than scary,” she answered truthfully, “I find you interesting.”
“You do?” Zaze asked curiously. He wasn’t expecting that answer.
“I do.” Shaylus took a bite out of her food. “I have a question.”
“Hm?”
“What’s it like?” Zaze raised a brow. “Learning all this stuff you probably already know. Does it bore you?”
Zaze chuckled. “Truth be told, I’m just learning this stuff the same as you guys. However in my case, it just feels…like a memory that I’m experiencing again. It just feels familiar to me, so it makes it easier for me to pull it off.”
“Pull what off?”

The two dragons turned their heads to see the dragoness that Zaze remembered from the other day. She was staring daggers at him to which Zaze just stared back indefinitely. This was the first time he’d ever met someone who already hated him for a reason he didn’t even know. Crombe was a special case.
“Zaze, this is Aurora, Aurora this is Zaze. I think you’ve met yesterday.”
He tried his best to make his smile as gentle as possible. “Nice to meet you, Aurora.”
The dragoness ignored him. “I know who he is, Shaylus. What is he doing here?” She turned to face him and glared. “What are you doing here?”
“Come on, Aurora, he isn’t going to hurt us.” Zaze recognized that voice. It was Trax’s.
The dragon had an apologetic expression on his face. “You have to excuse her, she’s just really…on edge.”
“I am not on edge!” Aurora reasoned. “I just don’t like having,” she cast a poisonous look at Zaze, “him, around.”
This was a tough crowd, even for Zaze. Not wanting to make thing anymore sour, he decided to just leave the group of friends alone. “Listen, I don’t want any trouble. I’ll just leave. I have to prepare for my classes anyway.”
Shaylus was about to stop him but decided not to push it. Aurora on the other hand smiled to herself. “Good riddance.”
Steppe just rolled his eyes, preparing himself for the inevitable fireworks that were going to ensue.
“What is wrong with you?” Shaylus asked angrily.
“Me? What’s wrong with me?” Aurora shouted back. “What’s wrong with you? Why are you hanging out with him?”
“Because I want to; why do you care? I want to be friends with him!”
“He’s going to get you killed!”

The earth dragon just sighed and let the girls fight it out. This was the typical dragoness fight that he had come to experience, ever since being friends with the two. They will fight, and unlike males, will inevitably be friends like nothing happened in a few minutes. He just kept to himself, eating his breakfast and thinking of the lessons he’ll receive from Crombe later that afternoon.

0 0 0 0 0

The Electric Guardian watched as the clouds lazily went by. A cool breeze caressed his cheeks as he stood under the shade of a tree. His first class ended which in turn made him do a sort of field test to evaluate what his students had learned so far when it came to aerial mastery. It seems everyone was doing alright.

"What are you doing out here?"

The guardian turned his head to find his mate looking at him curiously. It was Flare, the Fire Guardian.  "Just thinking whilst I evaluate my students," he answered.
The dragoness gave him a quick peck on the cheek before asking rather jokingly, "Any of them failed yet?"
Volteer smiled. "Everybody seems to be passing with flying colors."
"You are a great teacher after all." Flare noted the concerned look on Volteer's face. It seemed like something was troubling him. "What's wrong?"
"I've just been thinking lately," he answered. "About Zaze," he added, seeing her confused expression.
"Why? Did something happen?"
Volteer waved a dismissive paw at her. "Everything's fine really. It's just that, I want to help him."
Flare cocked her head to the side. "What do you mean?”

Volteer then proceeded to give her a short summary of what he and Zaze talked about last night. He even included how a dragoness by the name of Frei was able to help Zaze get through his depression. He ended it with him telling her that he wanted to return the favor. Favor being everything Zaze had done for him. It was basically being there when he needed someone the most; being a good friend.

"I see." Flare nodded, finally understanding after a long explanation. "How good of you Volteer."
"He is a good friend of mine after all, and without him…” he glanced at the Fire Guardian, “I wouldn’t have you.”
The dragoness smiled back at him. “That is true.” For a brief moment, Flare remembered the times when Zaze actually talked to her about his fellow Guardian’s feelings. He was most likely the reason he and Volteer ended up together. “So you want to return the favor and make him happy for a change?”
“He may not say it directly, but I can definitely tell that Zaze needs someone like Latis.”
“What do you have in mind, mister matchmaker?”
Volteer looked at Flare, before letting out a light chuckle. “I have no idea.”
“What? You have no plan at all?”
The dragon shook his head. “I’m making this up as I go.” Volteer scratched his chin. “I don’t exactly have the gifted talents of Zaze when it comes to pairing dragons up. Frei would’ve been a good choice, but she isn’t here at the time being.”
Flare thought as well and looked back out to the sky. Volteer’s students were heading back. It seems their time was up. “I should go. I have a class to attend to.”
“Alright, I’ll catch you later.” Volteer gave her a quick goodbye kiss.
“Good luck with your quest.”

0 0 0 0 0

“Alright class, fall in line over there so we can get started on evaluation. Spyro! Zaze! You two, over here!”

The two dragons looked up at the sounds of their names getting called up. They briefly glanced at each other before heading up to their teacher. It was Spyro that spoke up. “Yes, Master Pyrus? You called?”
The fire dragon nodded and looked at the two of them. “You two will serve as our training dummies for today.”

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Author's Notes:

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