TBD Chapter 9 'K.Y.F.C....'

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

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

Chapter 9

"Keep your friends close…"

"…And you guys came and we eventually patched him up." finished Demex. He had just succeeded in recalling all the events that had happen last night. His audience, the guardians and Fira, looked at him curiously.

"You confused Malefor as Spyro?" asked Fira. Demex looked at her.

"That was my first time seeing another purple dragon, so I immediately thought it was Spyro." he replied. Fira nodded.

"Well, now that we've heard your side, its time we heard his." said Terrador in a calm voice. All of them nodded and made their way to Malefor's room.

Demex looked at the dragons beside him. They all seem to tense up right before him. Well who could blame them? From what he had heard, Malefor was the Dark Master, more or less, a wanted criminal. And from the stories he had heard, the guy must be a very violent person. But something within Demex told him he was otherwise. Nevertheless he couldn't help but feel a little intimidated himself.

They turned down the hall and came upon the hallway that ended to Malefor's room. They saw Spyro and Cynder talking to one another, in a lethargic fashion. The two of them immediately straightened up when they saw them.

"Cyril, I noticed something." said Spyro when they got near them.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Malefor, as strange as this may sound, seems different." said Spyro.

"Different how?" asked Terrador.

"He doesn't -I can't believe I'm saying this- look evil." said Spyro.

"I agree with him." added Cynder.

"I sensed it too, something must've happen to him." said Cyril.

"Nevertheless we must exercise complete caution. For all we know he could be feinting. At any sign of danger, attack, but try not to kill. He may be enemy but we are not cold blooded individuals." said Volteer at such a fast speed that Demex was surprised that he managed to understand.

"Well said." said Cyril. Volteer smiled.

"Okay, here's the plan. Me and Cyril are going to interrogate him, Volteer, you guard the door, the rest of you, surround him." said Terrador. Everyone nodded.

"Let's do this then." said Demex.

The first one two go in was Cyril then Terrador. As Demex walked in the door, he could finally see the purple dragon in clear detail. He was lying on the ground, the 'rock' cuffs still in their respective place. His body still bears the wounds that were inflicted on him by an animal but they were mostly scars now. His wings were also healing as well. The red gems did their work quite nicely. Then Demex's eyes traveled to his face.

Malefor's face didn't carry any expression, rather, it was blank. The only motion in his face was his eyes moving around, examining them as well. He noticed something quite odd about his appearance. From what he could see, he looked like the older version of Spyro. The resemblance was quite striking. What made it more odd for him, was that it seemed that he was the only who acknowledged this. He was about to ask a question, but stopped as he thought this wasn't the right time.

Malefor's lips formed into a smirk as he saw the dragons enter the room.

"So nice of you to visit me…" he said with his usual tone in voice. Fira mentally shivered as the voice sent shivers down her spine. She shook her head as the memories of her village flooded into her mind. The fire…the death…the screams… She looked up and saw Demex looking at her with concern. She replied with a warm smile to him as she felt herself get comfort from Demex's concern.

"Malefor….First things, first, how did you come back?" asked Cyril in a very serious tone.

"Spyro and Cynder told us that you were dragged down by 'the Ancients', back at your lair, presumably being killed." he added. Demex was about to ask until Spyro, the one next to him, whispered in his ear.

"The Ancients were the dragons that trained him." Demex nodded.

Malefor smiled to them then sighed. Malefor did wish to tell them both exactly what had happened, he was hoping that if he told them the truth they would believe that it wasn't him that was evil but the dark elements.

"Okay then… but I will tell you my story first, as I feel you need to know it." He cleared his throat and began.

"My life was perfect, but it soon crashed down around me as soon as the masters of old tried to teach me the dark elements. And we all know what the dark elements can do to you. They have a mind of their own; a mind that is purely evil and would only want to do chaos and destruction. By the time I realize what was happening to me, they had already succeeded in taking control. I was there slave and was forced to do whatever they willed me to do. And the worse thing was, I could still see what was happening around me. I could hear the screams of the people I was forced to murder. Feel the blood spill on my body."

"That was how the 'Dark Master' was born. It wasn't until I met Spyro and Cynder back at the Lair that I had a chance to stop their control over me." Malefor turned to Spyro.

"Did you know, that you're the one who actually freed me, with your convexity breath, the same way you did with Cynder." Spyro just nodded in response.

"When I was dragged down by 'the Ancients', I didn't die. They were the ones who actually kept me alive as I resisted the control of the elements. Eventually I succeeded. I got teleported back here, where, after a short talk, the Dark Elements left me. I walked around where I found a river. There, I got attacked by Predators, which I luckily killed, but left me with near fatal wounds. The last thing I can remember before passing out was that, I was limping towards a Temple before I passed out." said Malefor.

For a moment, silence screamed in their ears. Terrador was the first to speak.

"Interesting story….Do you expect us to believe it?" he asked not showing any signs if he believed or not in his words.

"I expect nothing. I leave it to your better judgment if you would believe my story or not. But I would only say this, I always tell the truth. People are only influenced by other factors that they fail to notice It." and with that his eyes darted to Spyro for a brief moment then out the window. The only dragon to notice the action was Demex. There was a slight pause then Cyril spoke.

"Fira, what do you think?" he asked her. Demex turned his head and raised an eyebrow at Fira. Fira walked up to Malefor and…stared. Demex was about to ask what was she doing, but was cut off when Fira's facial expression changed from calm to surprised.

"What is it?" asked Spyro.

"He's…telling the truth." said Fira with an expression of awe. Malefor's lips curved into a smile.

"Need I say more?" he said feeling a bit relieved. He could finally breathe a little as he now knew that the dragons before him, won't try to kill him.

"I cannot believe this. This is not happening." said Cynder shaking her head and going out of the room.

"Can someone please explain to me what Fira just did?" asked Demex. Spyro turned to him.
"Easy, Fira has the ability to see into people's hearts. She can tell if one has evil intents or not. Quite useful to check if one is lying." explained Spyro.

"Oh…" said Demex finally understanding. He finally understood what Fira meant when she said, "…I can see that you're a helpful and nice individual."

"So you guys believe me?" asked Malefor.

"Well…we have confirmed that you are not lying, so we believe you." said Terrador walking over to Malefor and removing the rock cuffs.

"Malefor, do you know what happens now?" asked Cyril as he looked at Malefor as he rubbed his hands.

"What do you mean?" he counter-asked.

"We may believe you, but the others may not so understand. They may not take it kindly when you suddenly appear out of nowhere." said Volteer walking into the room. Malefor sighed.

"I know…." he said his head drooping. "I can never show my face to the world anymore."

Cyril looked at the guardians behind him. The two of them seemed to be in the same train of thought as the two of them nodded back to him. He turned his head to Malefor again.

"You're welcome to stay here." said Cyril.

"What?" Spyro and Fira asked in unison; surprised at the sudden decision of guardians.

"I am forever grateful in giving me, once was your enemy, refuge." said Malefor bowing to the guardians.

"Why are you allowing him to stay here? He could kill us at the middle of the night." said Spyro, still skeptical, looking at Malefor who was giving him a curious look.

"Young dragon, you have to understand. Keep your friends close…your enemies even, closer." answered Volteer. Spyro was about to argue more, but the words sank into him. Malefor chuckled.

"You let me stay here, yet you still consider me as your enemy?" he asked.

"You have to earn trust, Malefor." said Terrador with a smirk. Malefor sighed.

"I'm gonna have a hard time sleeping tonight." said Fira, shaking her head.

"You and me, both." said Spyro. "Demex, what can you say about this?" he asked turning to Demex.

"I…can't say. If he truly was evil, Malefor would have killed us by now. Since we're not dead yet, I believe his a good dragon." replied Demex, giving a smile to Malefor. Malefor smiled back and asked.

"I haven't seen you before, what's your name young dragon?" he asked.

"Demex; and I just arrived here yesterday." he replied.

"And you should be thankful to Demex, he was the one who practically saved your life." said Cyril.

"Is that so." said Malefor. He turned to Demex then said, "I owe you my life." Demex smiled.

The first few days at 'Temple Life' for Demex were quite…fun. He was rather…always busy. Why; because Cyril wasn't giving him an easy time. Obviously, Demex became the Ice Guardian's apprentice because he was an ice dragon. His training could be some up in one word: Intense.

Once he got use to breathing ice, Cyril had him breathing at the river. His task was to freeze the entire lake; it's not hard, per se, but when you only have little lungs, it's hard. Other than his training though, Demex was actually having fun being a dragon. His friendship with Spyro, Cynder and Fira had grown over the weeks to the status of best friends. Of course, he didn't have any choice in the matter, since the three were the only dragons of his age group. The guardians were always rather busy with guardian matters.

Malefor on the other was also busy; with Temple chores. Since he was still working to earn the trust of the residents of the temple, he was assigned to the said duty. He's job was simple; he was to forage and maintain the Temple like a temple-keeper. Rather an anticlimactic job for the ex-Dark Master. But he couldn't complain. He was still lucky to be alive, let alone have a shelter to stay in. His situation was kind of ironic. He was being given shelter by the very dragons that tried to kill him back then; shelter, from the world.

Up to this point in time, Malefor was forced to wear body armor. Why, because it allowed him to cover his purple scales. The guardians were still unsure on how the world would respond to Malefor to being alive so they played it safe. He was to remain in the armor until they could figure out something. Till then he was to keep himself incognito.

Being at the temple for the first few days for Malefor was hard. He was always being given wary glances from almost everyone at the Temple except Demex. Demex had a hard time grasping the concept that Malefor used to be bad. How can someone so nice be so bad back then? Demex felt sorry for Malefor. Even though he was allowed to live at the Temple, he was being treated like an outcast. Everyone except him were giving wary glances and always rather suspicious. But all of this was to change when Demex befriended him one day…

Demex sighed as he stared at Malefor from across the field. He saw that he was busy watering the plants with a bucket. When the Dark Elements left him, they also took his natural powers with them, making him only rely on his melee to fend for himself. Normally, his powers should've come back a few days later, like Spyro's when he temporarily lost it. But for some reason, his four powers, Earth, Fire, Ice and Electricity, hadn't come back yet. The guardians didn't know why and neither did him. So he was forced to do things manually; like watering the plants with a bucket. He's job would've been easier if he had his ice breath. This Demex realized.

With a sigh he stood up and started walking to Malefor.

"Need some help?" he asked approaching him. Malefor looked up and was surprised as he saw the cobalt-blue dragon approaching him. He smiled.

"Oh! Uh… it's ok I can handle It." he replied. He tipped the bucket at the side, emptying its contents on the plants.

"Let me refill that." said Demex. Malefor smiled and showed him the bucket. Using all his concentration, he used his ice breath at a very low level so that when it came out of his mouth, it came out as water not ice.

"Thanks, you saved me from walking to the nearest stream of water." replied Malefor grateful.

"Glad I could help." he said smiling warmly at him. Malefor turned around and watered the started watering the plants. He saw at the corner of his eye that Demex was still there beside him but only looking at the flowers. He stopped for a moment and asked.

"Are you not going to... hang out... with your friends?" he asked him, turning his head to face him. Demex looked at him and smiled.

"I thought I was already hanging out with a friend." he replied innocently. Malefor was somehow dumbstruck at what he said.

"Yo-you consider me as your friend?" he asked him. Demex chuckled.

"You looked surprised, have you ever had a friend before?" asked Demex. Malefor bowed his head.

"I was always a loner; I never had a chance to really socialize back then. I was…in a way…a wall flower." explained Malefor.

"Oh…and you still carried that to adulthood?" asked Demex.

"No. Eventually I did managed to make friends…I even fell in love…and had a son who's still alive after all these years." said Malefor looking out to the sky.

"I'm curios; does your son know that you were the Dark Master?"

"….No, he doesn't." answered Malefor. Demex nodded. Their conversation continued as Demex helped Malefor water the plants. Eventually they finished, quite fast, since Malefor had help.

"Thank you Demex." said Malefor.

"For what?" asked Demex.

"For helping me…and talking to me; it feels nice to have someone to talk to who doesn't think that the person in front of him was a bad dragon." Demex smiled at him.

"Hey, that's what friends are for right?"

"I guess so."

Overtime, Malefor, with the help of Demex, managed to earn the trust of the residents of the temple, and was finally accepted as a part of the temple and…family. He no longer got the wary glances from Cynder, Spyro, Fira and the guardians but instead got smiles. They chatted like they were old time friends. All of them were rather amazed at the real personality of Malefor. It really contradicted the personality he portrayed when he was the Dark Master. He was an easy guy to talk to, had a sense of humor and was downright a nice guy.

It seemed that everything was going back to normal….

Please take some time to comment.