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 2

Repercussions

“Must be tough when everyone thinks you’re the enemy.”
“I for one can speak from experience,” said Cynder.
“But you’re not the enemy now,” Spyro replied to her.
“I was though.” She then glanced at Sparx who was surprise at her stare. “Your brother was adamant in reminding me that.”
Sparx smiled. “Well we had to be wary.”
Spyro shook his head, just watching the banter. He turned his head and watched as the sun rose and gently bathed them all in its warmth. However, alongside this came a reminder. The three dragons looked to see the head mole walking over to them.
“Spyro,” he called out. “Are you guys done here?”
“Yes. Everything’s set,” he answered.
The mole nodded. “Thanks for the help you three. It really made things smoother.”
“Well, you could thank the two of us.” Cynder then motioned to Sparx. “He didn’t really do anything.”
“Oh hush you. I was moral support,” Sparx retorted.
“Yeah you were,” Cynder answered back.
“In any case, we’ll be going now,” Spyro said opening his wings. “See you around! Come on you two!”
“Bye!” Cynder said, before jumping down the roof.

Spyro gently landed on the floor with a soft thud, followed by Cynder. Sparx glided down and rested on his shoulder. A loud growl escaped his companion’s stomach.

“Come on; let’s go get something to eat. I’m starving,” said Cynder.

0 0 0 0 0

“Hey! Come on, Flame! Don’t quit now.” He just groaned in response. Why did he have to deal with this?
“Do you want my help or not?” He let out a frustrated sigh as he opened his eyes and glanced at the dragoness. Ember was giving her a stern look. “Do you?”
“I do, Ember, I do. It’s just that I don’t get it anymore,” he complained.
“Well, you have to. Or else you’re going to fail the test later,” Ember reprimanded him. She tapped the scroll on the table somewhat forcibly. “Now come on, read this.”
Flame looked at her with pleading eyes. “Can we at least take a break and eat breakfast?”
Ember glared at Flame. It was quite obvious that he was stalling. But those eyes were something she couldn’t resist. She let up, her glare relaxing. “Alright; fine. We’re taking a break.”
The dragon beamed, finding new found energy. “Yay! You’re the best, Ember.”
Ember smiled as Flame gave her a peck at the cheek. “Oh, you.”
“What do you want for breakfast?” he asked.
“Same as always.”
“Okay then,” the fire dragon replied before heading out to get their food.
Ember cleared the table free of the scrolls and placed them in her bag. The two dragons were at the Dining Hall studying. Flame had enlisted—more like beg—for help in learning a certain topic they had come across in class. The ever so helpful dragoness, Ember decided to help her mate. But being his mate, Ember had a hard time resisting his charms to squirm out of their tutorial lesson.

“Here you go,” chirped Flame, handing her his food.
“Thank you.” She proceeded to eat her food happily.

At least they were spending time together, and that was enough for her. The Dining Hall began to fill as dragons woke up from their slumber. It was soon buzzing with activity. It was the daily routine for the dragons that lived and studied at the dragon temple. Wake up early in the morning, get your breakfast, and proceed to head into your class; another average day, for an average dragon. Flame scanned the arriving dragons and spotted their friends from the crowd. He waved them over to join them at their table.

“Good morning,” Ember greeted them as they sat themselves. Spyro seated himself across from Flame and Cynder seated herself beside Spyro. The two dragonesses were across from each other. Sparx just contented himself on seating at the table. He didn’t take up much space anyway.
“Good morning to you too,” replied Cynder, taking a bite from her food.
“I take it you two were up at the roof again?” Flame asked.
“We were,” Spyro answered. “We put in a lot of work.”
“And Sparx didn’t do anything, did he?”
Sparx glared at Flame. “Hey! Moral support is very important!”
Flame just smiled gleefully. Ember just rolled her eyes. “I believe you Sparx. Moral support is very important; I for one am currently doing that.”
“You still helping Flame study?” Sparx asked.
“Yes. This guy right here is having a hard time understanding the importance of the topic we’re dealing with right now.”
“Really Flame? It’s not that hard,” said Cynder, looking at the dragon who felt down.
“It’s not my fault that I’m not good at math, like you guys.” He let out a defeated groan. “I don’t even know why we need to study it!”
“I concur. But it’s important for us to know how to count,” said Spyro. “So I think it’s important.”
Flame just rolled his eyes and let out an annoyed huff. “Whatever. Can we not talk about it?”
“Okay, okay, fine.”  Cynder said trying to ease his friend’s troubles.

The chatter in the Dining Hall became even livelier as more and more dragons began to pile in. Spyro, Sparx and Flame fell into a topic of conversation, so Ember decided to chat up Cynder. But before she could even talk, the dragoness already got hold of her.

“So Ember,” she said. “How are you holding up?”
Ember raised her brow. It took her a moment to realize what she was referring to. “Fine, for the most part.”
Cynder looked at her, prompting her to continue. “It’s just that…I miss her.”
“We all do, Ember. But I understand where you’re coming from. You and Latis were close, weren’t you?”
The dragoness smiled. “You could say that. But then again, we are a tight group of friends, aren’t we?”
“That is very true.”
“But you know what bothers me the most?”
“What?”
“It’s just not the same anymore.”

Cynder glanced at their table to see what she was referring to. Spyro and Flame were deep in their conversation alongside Sparx. It seemed that they were talking about which was stronger: a fireball or just a stream of fire. Personally, she’d have said fireball. But she didn’t want to intrude their discussion with her opinion.

“We’d have Zaze cracking jokes and we’d all laugh.”
“And we’ll also have Latis talking to us.”
Ember sighed. “I feel like we lost two close friends instead of one.”
She looked at Cynder was also reminiscing the better days they had. “How’s he doing anyway?”
Cynder shrugged. “He’s the one hit the most out of all of us. He needs time; a lot of time.”
“It just makes me feel sad…to see him so depressed. It’s just not like him.”
“Who wouldn’t be depressed after what he’s been through?” Cynder asked rhetorically. “He’s just coping with it the best he can.”
Ember looked at her. “Why don’t we try talking to him again?”
“We can, but I don’t think we’ll get much.”

Just then, the lively atmosphere inside the Dining Hall seemed to have taken a slight dip as a certain dragon entered the room. Lively chatter went down slightly as everyone took in the sight of the other purple dragon. Even though they tried to hide it, it was quite obvious that they were stealing glances at the dragon as he passed down the tables and took his meal.

“Good morning, Zaze,” Cynder chirped, scooting over to give him some space to seat in.
“Good morning…” Zaze replied, almost mumbling the words.

As he took a seat, the atmosphere livened up again, but it was quite obvious that everyone was a bit uneasy around the purple dragon, even though he was under the company of his friends. It was like this every day. The moment Zaze entered a room, the atmosphere undeniably changes. Dragons were naturally nervous and weary around him; every dragon except those who knew him personally. And they weren’t that many. Zaze however was used to it. It was hard at first when everyone gave him quiet stares and looks but over time it grew on him. He wasn’t dumb. He knew why they acted like that and he couldn’t blame them. He himself wasn’t all too happy in realizing who he was. Zaze felt out of place. He felt like he didn’t belong anymore.

Spyro, Cynder, Flame, Ember and even Sparx exchanged glances at one another. They all were waiting for one another to do something about Zaze. But the problem was, they didn’t know what to do. Zaze didn’t look like he cared anymore. He had an empty look on his face as he ate and the usual glow he had before was no longer to be seen. He really was affected greatly.
“Well in any case, let’s get a move on guys. Classes will start soon,” Spyro said, finishing up on his meals.
Flame groaned. “Please…don’t remind me.”
“Don’t worry, Flame, what I taught you earlier will come around soon enough,” said Ember, trying to ease his concerns.
“I hope so.”
“Are you done eating Zaze?” Cynder asked the dragon. Zaze nodded and stood up.
“If you guys are leaving, I’ll be heading over to the library then,” said Sparx. “I told Volteer I’ll be helping him move some scrolls around.”
“Good for you then,” said Flame. “At least you don’t have to deal with math.”
“You’ll be fine,” said Ember.

0 0 0 0 0

The rest of the day passed with little to no activity. The dragons all attended their respective classes and learned the necessary lessons for the day. For Zaze however it all just felt like a sense of déjà vu. As his mind processed the questions being asked by the teacher, or the words he heard as the teacher discussed something, it all felt familiar to him. It wasn’t surprising seeing as that he had technically studied all these before. Back when he was Maffrin. To his classmates however, he just came off as someone super smart. He had his memories to thank for that. Ever since his joining with Phase and becoming “whole” again, his memories were now roughly back together. They were still hazy but he could feel that they were there; unlike before when they were non-existent at all. It was like looking through a glass that had fogged up. He could view them in his mind but they were blurry. Zaze had to admit: the familiarity helped him in class. But the memories had their downsides as well.

Although the images may have been blurry, the sounds and voices were clear as day. When he wasn’t having the nightmare of Latis dying, he had something else instead. Images of destruction and chaos filled his head accompanied by the shouts and screams of dragons running for their lives—running from him. He could even hear their voices beg for mercy. To be spared by his killing spree in which he ended their lives abruptly with no remorse whatsoever. It was a dream he wasn’t proud of and each time the thought came to him, it made his spine shiver.

“Zaze?”
The dragon looked up. Manuel and Draiana were both looking at him with worried looks.
“You okay?” Manuel asked.
Zaze apologized. “I’m fine.”

Manuel and Draiana glanced at each other. He clearly wasn’t. Spyro, Cynder, Flame, Ember and practically everyone else in their group of friends had tasked each other to keep Zaze company. They all had come to realize that he needed a friend the most so that he wouldn’t feel alone. They all wanted him back; the smiling, happy, energetic and downright carefree dragon; not the depressed version of him. But Zaze wasn’t the only dragon they had to worry about. At the other side of the temple were Spyro and Flame, accompanying a rather silent than usual Crombe. Ever since what happened, Crombe fell into the same dry spell as Zaze did. Both dragons seemed depressed; and with good reason. Zaze for finally knowing who he was and Crombe…
The memory was striking as ever.

0 = 0 = 0

“Hey, what are you talking about?” the earth dragon growled.
“If you don’t have to answer to us, then we don’t have to answer to you either.” Flame said as he glared at the dragon.
“There are a few exceptions,” Terrador said, “Feral dragons can be taught. The first thing a feral dragon is usually taught is how to talk. Since it’s unlikely that this dragon has had any social contact in a long time, there is an alternative. Some feral dragons aren’t born feral. They usually can remember how to talk. They usually become feral from being orphaned and having to live in the wild.”
“Because Dark Master’s scum like you kill their parents!” the dragon growled again, this time more aggressively.

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Author's Notes:
Time for another update! I would just like to say, thank you guys. The amount of people that were still interested in Zaze's life amazed me. I truly thought that no one would be interested in the story anymore given that it had been five months in development. But I was proven wrong once again. Thank you guys. Thank you so much for making me realize that I made an amazing work of fiction.

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