While it was tough to lift both of them at once, Ryder had picked the two pups up in his arms and carried them back his own room. While he would normally joke about lifting the weight of the world, seeing their condition meant that this was obviously an extremely bad time. He carried them both into his room. It wasn't terribly special, but then, Ryder didn't need very much in order to be happy. His bed was large and spacious, though. All the better for sitting with a pair of hysterical, crying pups at 2:45AM.
Instead of asking what was wrong, he sat on the bed and embraced the pair of them as they bawled into his chest by the light of his bedside lamp. He was no stranger to seeing his pups cry, but not quite to this extreme. Even Ryder couldn't keep himself from sobbing a little. Throughout it all, Ryder had only one thought on his mind.
"What in the world got them like this?"
After about five minutes, Chase finally calmed down. Ryder asked him for an explanation of what happened, which Chase was all too happy to give. Marshall continued to cry as Chase recounted the gory details of what Marshall told him. Ryder listened with his eyes looking like they were going to fall out of his head. Hearing Marshall's dream was just as shocking for him, too. It was nearly unthinkable that such a silly, happy-go-lucky pup like him could think for a second that his loved ones would do something like that. Until tonight, that is.
Chase spared almost no detail, but still elected to keep quiet about Marshall's declaration of the team being better off without him. After Marshall had told him that Rocky explaining his nightmare had brought Ryder to tears, Chase thought that mentioning Marshall's thought of the Paw Patrol being better off without him would be a very poor idea.
And that's when I came down?" Ryder whispered, his hands cupping Chase's head.
"...yeah. I tried to tell him that that dream was totally wrong... I don't think it worked." Chase replied sadly.
"Well, that's because you yelled. I know that dream was stressful for you, too, but that was not how to handle it. You can't just yell at someone in distress and expect them to feel better."
Ryder's words carried a firmness to them, but he never stopped trying to soothe his distressed pup. Chase let out a whine. He tried to help, but only made things worse. Not a feeling he was used to, and not one he could've done with right now.
"But still." Ryder continued. "You brought him to me and heard him out. And you never left him once. That means more than you think."
That made Chase feel a little better. "...thank you, Ryder, sir..." he whispered as Ryder let him go. Their attention then turned back to the crying wreck of a dalmatian next to them.
"Oh, you poor pup..." Ryder whispered, wrapping his arms around Marshall, rubbing his back for good measure. By now, his pyjama shirt was thoroughly ruined. Not that he cared as he let Marshall cry all he could. Chase was quick to join in, embracing Marshall as tightly as possible.
After the longest ten minutes of their lives, Marshall's crying faded, replaced with sporadic gasping and hiccuping, with the odd sniff for good measure. Not breaking the hug, Ryder looked down at him.
"...better, Marshall?" he asked.
"...yeah... I-I... I guess..." Marshall replied shakily.
"I know it's easy to say 'it was just a dream'. But it was. There wasn't any truth to it at all." Ryder whispered.
"B-but I-!" Marshall stammered, before being cut off by Ryder's hug tightening.
"Shhhhh... Marshall, look at me." Reluctantly, Marshall craned his head upwards to meet his owner's gaze, Ryder's eyes filled with sympathy. He placed a hand under Marshall's chin.
"Marshall, how long has the Paw Patrol been around now?"
"Wh-what does that have to do with anything?"
"How long, now?"
"...err... I... I don't know..." Marshall's gaze started to turn away.
"Marshall, look at me." Ryder repeated, his voice a little more stern, moving Marshall's head to meet his gaze once more. "And how long have you known Chase? Rocky? Skye? Everyone?"
"...I... don't know..."
"There you go. We've all known you and your quirks for a really long time now. Just as you've known them. You can't honestly say we'd attack you like that over one fight."
Now that Marshall had calmed down a little, Ryder's comforting words were starting to have some effect. As Marshall spoke again, though, his voice wavered.
"...but this wasn't just 'one fight'... It was huge... loud... the worst fight ever... I... I DON'T WANT IT TO HAPPEN!"
The tone of Marshall's voice shifted rapidly as he buried himself in Ryder's chest again. Just thinking about the nightmare was painful. Chase flinched back a little from the sudden jump in volume.
"Hey, hey... it won't, OK? Not even close." came Ryder's reply. Thankfully, Ryder was better prepared to deal with his pups suffering awful night terrors.
"It's not like we haven't fought before. We get snippy with each other, we turn our backs, we huff and puff. But if there's one thing no-one would ever do, it's attack each other. We would NEVER go that far. Not ever."
Marshall blinked. "...w-what makes you... s-so sure?" he whimpered.
"Marshall... we're a family, aren't we? We've known each other for so long now, that the thought of getting violent with each other is something that none of us can even think of. You saw how me and Chase reacted when you told us, right? I bet you the other pups will think the same thing." Ryder whispered.
Marshall actually hadn't thought about that. He thought back to his recent interactions with the other pups. Working with Rubble to help a beached whale. His game of Pup Pup Boogie with Zuma ending with them laughing in a heap. Racing Skye through Adventure Bay. But more importantly, comforting Rocky over his own nightmare.
"All the good times we shared... If they hated me... would they not have happened?" Marshall thought to himself.
As these thoughts ran through his head, the room fell quiet. The silence was occasionally cut through by Marshall whimpering and sniffling as he recalled the nightmare that lead him here. Chase and Ryder just sat there, nuzzling and stroking their friend. Right now, Marshall wasn't the exuberant klutz he usually was. All he was was a terrified little kid in desperate need of a hug.
More time passed, and Marshall finally spoke up. His voice had been reduced to a strained whisper from all of the crying. The nightmare still weighed on his mind, but he was in a better state than before.
"...thank you, Ryder sir. I... I feel a little better now."
A wave of relief washed over Chase and Ryder. After such a stressful night, their persistence had paid off, if only a little.
"That's the spirit, Marshall. Good pup." Ryder whispered back, scratching behind Marshall's ears.
"Oh, what a relief..." Chase finally spoke up, having kept his mouth firmly shut the past few minutes. As much as he wanted to praise Marshall for starting to recover, he thought that mentioning that dream right now would be a terrible idea.
For the past couple of hours, the pair had been running on adrenaline. When Marshall finally showed signs of calming down, the crash happened hard and fast. Chase collapsed onto Ryder's bed like a boulder and Ryder slumped forwards.
"Geez, Marshall. I thought if I talked to you, I'd be able to sleep better. You didn't have to go that far!" Chase teased playfully.
Marshall laughed in response, if a little flatly. "Hey, glad I could help..." he replied with a great deal of fatigue of his own.
"At least you're lucky enough to go back to sleep..." Upon hearing this, Ryder sat up again.
"Marshall, I can't let you go back to your house tonight. You've had too much of a night." Ryder said exhaustedly.
"Huh? But where will I sleep?" Marshall asked.
"Silly pup. You're going to stay with me tonight. I don't want you having any more night terrors." Ryder replied.
It wouldn't be the first time he'd done this, having done it for Chase and Rocky previously. He just wasn't expecting it to happen again so soon.
"But not before I change my shirt!" he continued, grinning at Marshall. "Just look at this mess!"
Ryder gestured to his tear-soaked pyjama shirt. Chase and Marshall giggled. After that fiasco, a little levity was most welcome to the three, even if for one of them, the levity was brief.
It didn't take long for Ryder to change into a fresh shirt. As Ryder sat back down, Chase piped up again.
"Er, Ryder sir? I was wondering... er..."
Chase felt a little awkward in asking, but he wanted to stay with Ryder that night as well. He felt that Marshall needed him. Much though he made things worse earlier that night, he couldn't leave his friend behind at a time like this.
"Go on, don't be shy, Chase. What's wrong?"
"Well... Could I stay with you tonight, too? I don't want to just walk out on Marshall tonight." Marshall stared at him, astonished.
"You really mean that?"
"Duh! I can't just leave you! After all, I was part of this mess, too, right?"
"Of course, Chase!" Ryder replied. "I was going to say that you needed to stay here tonight, too. And not just because of Marshall's nightmare."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Come on, Chase. I can see that you're still shaken up over your own nightmare. You've been looking antsy all week, and don't think I haven't noticed you pacing around the Lookout at night, either."
Chase's ears flattened against his head. "Oh... I'm sorry..." he said, face burning with shame at having been found out.
"Save your sorries, Chase. There are more important things to deal with right now" Ryder replied.
"Now, Marshall. Before we go to sleep, is there anything you need?" he continued.
"Well... I guess... my... teddy-" Marshall whispered.
"Oh yeah, say no more." Chase interrupted. "I'll go get it."
Chase hopped off of Ryder's bed and headed for the door.
"Chase, wait." Ryder called after him.
He froze. Did he just mess up again?
"I think the other pups heard you earlier." Chase's heart missed a beat. Oh no. So not only did his moment of weakness make Marshall feel even worse, now the others heard their second-in-command break down crying again? "I caught a glimpse of them around the corner earlier. They all looked really worried. I don't think they've slept the whole time we've been up here. They'll probably want to know what happened." Ryder continued.
"Aww, crud. I didn't mean to scare them too!" Chase replied with a whine.
"It's OK, Chase. They'd find out eventually. You can tell them. That is, if Marshall thinks it's OK?" Ryder said, looking to Marshall.
Marshall took a while to respond. His head was still swimming with thoughts of his nightmare and what the others thought of him. Without meeting his gaze, Marshall replied.
"OK..." he whispered.
Ryder sighed. Something told him that with a nightmare of this magnitude, Marshall was going to need a lot of care to get him back to his old self. "Right. I'll be back in a flash, guys." Chase said, before walking out the door.
As Chase descended the elevator, he felt apprehensive. Worried, even. How were the others going to feel? They were worried sick when he and Rocky suffered their own nightmares, so how were they going to react to him and Marshall screaming and wailing? Maybe he ought to brace for them telling him what an idiot he was for yelling. But then, he'd probably deserve that. Hey, maybe they'd even be asleep. He could just slip past them unnoticed. Chase held on to that thought as he exited the Lookout.
He only managed to take a few steps before hearing his name called from the side. Turning to the source of the noise, he saw Skye looking more worried than he'd ever seen her, and behind her were Rubble, Rocky and Zuma, with similar expressions. Chase sighed heavily. "So much for getting by unnoticed." he thought.