For Adventure Bay - [PAW Patrol Fanfic]

Epiphany

Ryder felt an immense weight compressing his body. He started to realize the chilling cold that's blanketed him fully. However a patch of warmth loomed around his hand.

"What state am I in right now??" he wondered.

"I'm sorry..." a faint female voice was heard.

"That voice..." Ryder fell silent. "Katie..."

"I know that you didn't like me the way I like you... And I know you've asked me to stay away.... But I can't..."

Guilt began to settle in. He wanted to say something, but words wouldn't come out.

"I don't want to lose you..."

The memories of the tree's words came to him. Then it clicked.

"I've seen this the wrong way... I thought I'll save you by not being around you... "

"You're the only one left from my childhood... And I'm sorry for pushing you away..."

"No... I'm the one who needs to be sorry... I thought by pushing you away, you'll be free from harm's way... But I lose you instead..."

"I'm sorry that I forced my fantasies onto you... I'll still love you even though you pushed me away... Please... I beg you... Please wake up..."

He felt the warmth began to dissipate.

"No... Please stay..."

But alas, he no longer felt the warmth and sunk deeper into the cold.

With The Pups

"Rubble, are you okay? You're eating less than usual..." Nat asked.

"I'm fine..." the English Bulldog replied. "I'm just worried about Ryder."

"Me too Rubble, me too." she sighed. "I'm going to check on him to see if there's any sign of him waking up. You pups can continue along with dinner."

"Thank you so much for everything, Aunt Nat." Chase thanked her.

"It's the least I could do." she flashed a smile before leaving the dining hall.

As she's arriving to the room, she saw someone was sitting beside him.

"Katie?" she called as she went inside.

"I-I'm sorry..." Katie turned at her and immediately stood up.

"Oh no, it's okay. I'm surprised that you know about him being here."

"I accidentally overheard Zuma and Rocky's conversation. What happened?"

"From the pups' stories, it seemed like Humdinger shot down the Air Patroller during their flight back. The pups got ejected whilst Ryder stayed inside to divert the crash far away from civilization. Unfortunately he didn't manage to flee before he himself crashed along with it."

"Humdinger?! Foggy Bottom's mayor?! How's that possible??" she said in surprise.

"I don't know... The pups also said that he transmitted a recorded message seconds before the missile lock target with them."

"And his injuries?"

"Several gashes, the biggest one was quite deep and he lost a lot of blood in the progress. It's also one of the reasons why he has not woken up yet..."