PAW Patrol: Frozen Fire || FF Book Two

(C13) Scars that won't Heal

The pups and Ryder were sitting alone in Jake's cabin, talking with themselves as they wondered where Mr. Porter, Alex and Jake went. "Anyone seen Alex, Mr. Porter and Jake dudes?" Zuma asked, as he was trying to distract himself from the horrors that could've happened at the lookout if anything went differently, the chocolate Labrador looked to his left to try and talk to Alex, but he wasn't there. Ryder looked around the cabin as well, confused too. "Uh... no I haven't either Zuma. That's strange..." He commented, realizing how odd the situation is.

The pups and Ryder kept looking until Marshall spoke up: "Ryder I- I'm sorry to interrupt us while we're looking for Mr. Porter, Jake and Alex... but can me and Everest be excused for a bit? If we're needed, just call us on our pup tags, we'll leave them on while we talk about you know..." Marshall trailed off, not wanting to mention what happened in his past and the lookout, because his mind was tearing itself apart at letting his past catch up to his new family, with Everest being dragged back in as well.

The physical injuries Marshall and Everest may have been long gone after five years, but clearly the emotional scars still ran deep within the pups, with those same scars only being violently sliced open with Ruben and Butch coming to the lookout.

Everest realized Marshall and her needed to talk about this now, because Marshall was clearly beating himself up mentally over Butch and Ruben returning, she was as well but she kept it hidden a bit better. Inside the cabin, Marshall looked up at Ryder, hoping his leader would let him and Everest talk after Everest said they needed to. "Sure Marshall, just don't go too far from the cabin and make sure your pup tags stay activated, okay?" Ryder asked while giving Marshall the approval he needed. "Understood Ryder, Everest is waiting for me so I'll leave for now. If you need me, call my pup tag." Marshall said as he walked out the front door of the cabin, with Rocky currently working to fix the damage the cabin endured from the avalanche previously.

Marshall walked up to see Everest inside her pup house, motioning him to come inside so they could talk. As Marshall laid down, Everest locked her pup house door shut and cried into Marshall's fur. "What did we do to deserve Ru- Ruben and Butch coming back Marshall? We're... we're only causing problems for the others, aren't we?" Everest said while crying, finally letting the emotions she'd been bottling up run wild, without having to worry about being seen differently compared to her reputation as the town's best mountain rescue pup. Marshall had similar thoughts earlier but knew they were wrong, so once Everest calmed down he started tearing up and burying his head in her fur with Everest smiling lightly. "Everest, we- we aren't causing problems for the others... I hope... and we didn't want or need Ruben and Butch back. But you heard Ryder said they have our backs on this, right you beautiful husky?" Marshall finished as he accidentally let Everest know what he thought of her, he took his head out of her fur to see a heavy blush on her face.

"Di-Did you really mean to say that Marshall, or am- are you just saying that to make us both feel better?" Everest cried out tears of happiness, that the one she loved might just love her back. "I didn't mean to say anything yet... but this works. Everest, I truly meant that. You're a beautiful husky, your eyes, fur, your mountain rescue expertise, everything about you is great. And to be honest, I started enjoying liver treats because of you introducing them to me, they actually aren't that bad, you know?" Marshall said, only slightly joking to lighten the mood. Everest's mind was running a mile a minute, there was no denying it anymore, Marshall loved her just as much as she loved him. But now she had to find the words to reply to his heartfelt words. "Marshy- I feel the same way. Your beautiful white fur with black spots, your blue eyes, how brave you are with fire rescues and medical emergencies is all so inspiring. Ever since we ran away from Ruben and Butch and were separate nearly 6 years ago, I missed you the entire year we were apart in more ways than one..." She said lovingly as Marshall licked her cheek, with her following up by licking his cheek. But just before they could do anything else, they both heard something outside of Everest's pup house, interrupting their moment.

Rocky had finished fixing the cabin up and followed Marshall's tracks, curious about what was going on. He silently laid down in a bush to listen as Marshall went into Everest's pup house. He didn't like eavesdropping on his friends conversation, but he silently swore to himself that he wouldn't tell anyone what he heard. Most of what the two were saying was unable to be heard by Rocky until he moved closer and heard Everest say: "I missed you the entire year we were apart in more ways than one" Rocky silently moved back to his bush, having moved forward far too close to hear a bit better as the door to the pup house unlocked and opened, with Marshall and Everest looking confused. "We did hear someone outside of the pup house, right Ev?" Marshall asked, confusion painted all over his face. "Yeah we did Marshy, let's go back inside for now." Everest said silently as the two walked back to the cabin.

Ruben and Butch slowly walked through Adventure Bay to Foggy Bottom, all of their gear on hand in bags. "Let's just get to Foggy Bottom so we can reach Mayor Humdinger so we can get him on our side." Ruben said, trying to pass the time as the two evildoers walked through Adventure Bay.

Chapter 13 is out! Going to take a few days to work on the next few chapters because these next few are going to be big ones! Enjoy and as always any and all feedback is appreciated! Thanks for reading