Hearts of Ice and Fire Chapter 26, a paw patrol fanfic

Welcome to Chapter 26 of Hearts of Ice and Fire

"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong," -Mahatma Ghandi

Marshall sat quietly in the corner chair in the hospital waiting room. A Styrofoam cup of water sat next to him untouched on top of a few past month edition magazines. Right next to some cheap picture frames with their factory pictures of some beach or forest. He held his head down, doing his best to not look at any of his teammates in the eye, who sat across from him. The speckled pup longed to speak with them, but he knew that it would only lead to arguing and fighting. He couldn't afford to get into an altercation with any of them, especially with Chase being just moments away from getting his life-changing surgery completed.

The ride out to the hospital had been the most stressful moment of his entire life. With the only limited amount of seating in the PAW Patroller, Marshall had been forced to sit extremely close to Chase. He had done his hardest to avoid making any eye contact with the Shepherd pup, but it was Chase who was always looking at him.

Marshall had never seen more fear in anyone else's eyes in his life. Chase's eyes were dilated to the point where it seemed like he had black discs for eyes. It haunted Marshall's soul whenever his eyes saw them as they sent chills up and down his spine. He felt uncomfortable being within ten feet of Chase, and the other pups sure made him know it. And to make the trip smoother, he made no move on trying to speak with his injured friend.

Plus, he had made a deal with Ryder not to do so until he thought the time was right.

They eyeballed him closely in Adventure Bay where they first loaded up, the entirety of the drive and when they arrived at the hospital almost an hour and a half after leaving the Lookout Tower. It was when Chase was finally taken away on a gurney with his golden ticket on his lap.

Sitting next to him throughout it all was Everest.

The Husky pup was with Marshall the whole drive out to the hospital and hadn't left his side since. Like Marshall, she avoided any hostile comments or any uncomfortable conflicts with the rest of her peers. She had to stick close to Marshall to keep his head straight and out of hot water. Wherever he went, she was sure to follow him there. Whether it was in the cafeteria, outside to catch some air, or the bathroom, which she was gracious enough to let him go alone on that one.

But she didn't want any of the other boys to get any ideas about hurting him, so she always stood right outside the door just waiting for him to get done doing his business.

Marshall finally did decide to look up at only one person. That person is his leader, Ryder. He saw that the boy was tucked into a magazine and he couldn't feel anything else but gratitude for the boy. It was him who thought that Marshall should be allowed to come to the hospital with everyone else. Despite not getting to speak with Chase, Ryder believed his presence at the hospital would help Chase understand that Marshall genuinely does care and accept what he had done.

Chase didn't think so when Ryder had proposed the idea. The German Shepherd was an emotional wreck, and he was full of hysteria and fear that Marshall might hurt him again. Ryder reassured that nothing was going to happen to him, which kind of helped but, Chase maintained a constant knowledge of where Marshall was at all time.

Marshall smirked and made a little grunting noise, which perked the ears of Everest. She nudged his shoulder and got his attention. "What's up?" he mumbled quietly to her.

"I need some fresh air, care to walk with me?" she asked, hinting for him to follow whether he wanted to or not. He dipped his head and followed her outside.

Despite having arrived in the morning hours, it was already dark outside. The surgery had been taking longer than expected, which was mainly due to Rocky having to make sure his device was attached to Chase correctly on a consistent basis. But it only extended the surgery by about an hour maybe two.

The pair walked out the sliding entrance doors of the hospital and felt a light breeze immediately hit them in the face, relieving the stress of sitting in a hospital waiting room. Each time they had left the building, they walked to a hill across the street where they could look out and see nearly all the town of Foggy Bottom. Not exactly a beautiful one, but a relaxing one to just look out at and let all the negativity and bad feelings free.

"Alright," Everest said, taking a seat atop the hill. "What's on your mind now? I can tell that something is up with you."

Marshall took a seat next to her, the grass tickling the back of his legs. "I thought we were out here to get some fresh air, not to talk about me," he joked, but he could sense the worry in her voice.

"Come on, Marshall," she begged. "Tell me what's wrong."

"Nothing's wrong," he promised, giving her a reassuring kiss on the cheek. "But I guess you're right about there being something on my mind…about you and Chase…and your past."

He could tell just by the way she shifted uncomfortably and the look in her eyes that she didn't want to bring this topic up ever again.

"Can we talk about something else…. please?" she pleaded, a near upset look in her eyes.

"Come on, Eve," Marshall pressed. "I promise I'm not going to get mad. It's just that I've had that on my mind since I found out about you two and I want to hear it again. The last time you told me, you were pretty upset."

"Yeah, I remember all right," she whispered. "You were on the verge of kicking my teeth in."

"Okay," Marshall chuckled. "That's a bit of an exaggeration, don't you think?"

She shrugged.

Marshall sighed. "Alright, maybe I was a little upset, but at least I didn't start beating the crap out of myself because of it."

She gave him a playful shove. "Hey, it was either Rocky that was going to get a beat down or me, that's all I'm saying. And you were beating yourself up over it too."

"Yeah, part of me wishes you did," Marshall admitted. "But I'm serious. I want to hear about it. Something about what Chase said to me on the day I attacked him just seemed a little ironic."

"What did he say?" Everest asked, clearly interested now.

"He said he had doubts that you would be interested in me because I happen to be a clumsy pup," Marshall answered. "And I guess I find it ironic because here I am now, paired up with you against all the odds."

"Damn," she grumbled. "So, I guess you can say that me showing up to the Lookout that day started all of this. Huh! Never thought about it like that."

Marshall shook his head. "Ah, don't beat yourself up about that. I doubt that it was going to be preventable, but I will say that I was happy that you did because even if I didn't beat the daylights out of Chase, I'd have confessed my love for you that same day."

"Oh, jeez," she blushed, a smile on her face. "Stop it; you're too sweet. Even if that sweetness comes with a nasty temper."

"Believe me when I tell you, but that wasn't me at that moment in time," Marshall admitted.

"Yeah, I know," Everest believed. "You've already told me about ten times now."

He chuckled. "I'll bet, but…..on a more serious note. I guess I feel a little bit of resentment towards you because of the relationship between you and Chase. And to add your child on top of that doesn't seem to make it better."

"Hey," Everest whispered, looking into his sad blue eyes. "You have to trust me. I would not think of going back to be with Chase. My place is with you and only you. Nothing is going to change that. And I know that you're hurting because I didn't include you about my child with Chase. But you need to know that it was never my intention to hurt anyone and I paid the price for that."

"I know you did and I'm truly sorry about that," Marshall sympathized. "Who knows maybe it was destiny that kept you from letting me help? And if Sierra was supposed to pass on, then maybe I can't be mad at you for not allowing me to help keep her alive."

"Maybe," she mumbled, leaning into him. "Maybe you and I can be better in the future. Both of our pasts are pretty screwed up, and also two wrongs make a right, so…."

Marshall wagged his tail at the prospect. "I'd like that a lot. But I think we should wait a little while. I think I need to rebuild everyone's trust before I think about giving them a bunch of little nieces and nephews."

"Well, then I guess we won't be seeing any little Marshall or Everest's running around the Lookout then," she joked with him.

It took Marshall a few seconds to pick up what she was putting down. His eyes lit up wide with complete understanding. "Oooh, you are evil. I can't believe you said that. Man, and here I thought I was going to have my way, but nope. Here comes Miss Everest to…..actually put the fear of God in me."

He knew that she was joking around, but a part of him believed that there was some truth to what she said. He had every reason to think that he could regain everyone's trust, but it finally weighed down on him as heavy a freight train. It made him feel sick to his stomach.

He held a fist up to his mouth and swallowed slowly. "I think I might need a minute," he admitted, as he walked a few yards away to a nearby tree. The pup pressed his forehead against it, feeling the smooth, chill surface relax him. His foot was tapping the ground as he was trying to keep calm.

I can't get angry now!

Remain calm!

Remain Calm!

Don't cry!

Stay Strong!

As the fire pup spoke to his inner self, he teared up in his eyes and felt a single tear trickle down his cheek. He sniffed his nose and made a groaning noise. Slowly, without enough force to hurt himself, he bounced his head against the tree. He thought it might help, but it made him only let all his emotions out in one package.

Now he was crying to his eyes content. He now resorted to punching the tree with a closed fist, letting out pain filled cries with each strike of the trunk.

"Marshall, stop," A new voice begged.

The speckled pup ignored.

"Rocky, what're you doing here?" Everest demanded.

The mix-breed gave her a pleading look, hoping she would understand. "Please Everest! Just let me try to help him."

Everest scoffed. "After all the things you've said to him, you think you're going to try and help him?"

Rocky drooped his head. "I know the things I said were wrong, but deep down…..I regret those things that I said."

Everest dropped her jaw in confusion. "What?! You regret your words to him?"

He nodded. "I do. I finally realized it after working with him on the device. Hearing the whole story and realizing that it was all a loss of temper and defense of pride made me realize that I'm no better than he is by verbally attacking him." He pointed to Marshall. "This is the result of my actions, and I must fix it, or I'm no better than he is."

Everest was shocked, but she made no move to get between him and Marshall.

Rocky dipped his head in thanks and gulped as he approached. The Dalmatian was still beating the tree with his fists almost to the point of bleeding in his paws from a tree that was on the verge of splintering. The mix-breed approached cautiously, not wanting to startle Marshall. The last thing he needed was for the fire pup to throw a punch in his direction. He stopped only a foot away, reached out a paw and placed it on his friends back.

Marshall immediately stopped the assault on the tree, turned to look at Rocky, and quickly backed up against the tree. "Wh-what are you doing here, Rocky?"

Rocky inched his way closer to Marshall until he was within grabbing distance. "I came to talk to you, Marshall. I-I came to apologize."

Marshall looked over at Everest, who wore a sad gaze, but she nodded the truth. "You….you want to apologize? For what?"

Rocky sighed and took a deep breath. "I came to apologize for all the hateful things I said to you over the past few weeks. It wasn't right of me to do, and I can't have that on my conscious anymore. Especially after all that we've done the last few weeks and the many weeks, maybe months that we have to come."

"You only did it to save your tail," Marshall retaliated. "Had Ryder not threatened to kick both of us off the team, we probably wouldn't be having this conversation right now."

"Uh-huh, why is that?"

"Because if that were the case, one of us was going to be leaving that basement in a body bag," Marshall said darkly.

"You think I asked for this?" Rocky spat. "Ask yourself that. You think I wanted to work alongside you? If you do, then you're dead wrong, buddy. I may have called you out the moment Chase was hurt, but over time, I started to maybe, just maybe, believe that you were innocent. But we all know how that ended up, don't we?"

Marshall let out a small whimper. "Gee, I appreciate the guilt for the one-hundredth time already. You think I took joy in lying to all of you? If so, then you're dead wrong, buddy. I was scared to look you all in the eye and tell the truth because I didn't want to lose everything that I had worked so hard to achieve."

"You did that the moment you laid a claw on Chase," Rocky said through barred teeth.

"You know there are three things that I can't stand to live without," Marshall began. "Family, friends, and this job. All of those were put in jeopardy the moment I hurt Chase. Sure I could have started over, but where would that have gotten me. You would all still look at me the same because you can't just start over and expect everyone to be cool with you. It's not of those, "Hey, Marshall, we know you hurt Chase, but you know what, it's cool," kind of things."

"Then why hurt Chase if you knew what the consequences could be?"

Marshall looked over Rocky's shoulder and saw the devastation in Everest's eyes. "Because I had to defend my pride and the love that I had for someone I hold close to my heart. She hadn't known it at the time, but it didn't stop me from doing so."

Rocky looked over his shoulder briefly, then turned his gaze back to Marshall. "Why didn't you say that before?"

"Would it have changed anything?"

Rocky shrugged but seemed not really to have an answer.

"I didn't think so," Marshall sighed. He cast his gaze back at Everest. "Get enough fresh air for a little bit, Eve?"

She nodded her head. "I'm ready to go back inside now. You coming, Rocky?"

The mix-breed shook his head. "I think I need a few moments in the fresh air. I'll meet you guys inside."

Marshall wiped his eyes and nose and walked past Rocky only to pause after a few short steps. He turned to look at Rocky and saw the mix-breed staring back. They both shared a moment of silence and eventually gave each other a grateful smirk.

"Thanks, Rocky," Marshall whispered. "I do appreciate everything that you've done for Chase. And for giving me a second chance when not a lot of others would."

"Well if there is one thing that you did good, it's that through the thick and the thin, you've strived to make yourself better. But we still have a lot of work to do, and I want you by my side all the way." He held up a paw. "Until the end?"

Marshall felt hesitant about shaking Rocky's paw. "After all that I've done, you still want to work with me?"

Rocky flashed a smile and dipped his head.

Marshall slowly formed a smile of his own. "Well you can count me in," he said, taking Rocky's paw into a hold. "You good to come back inside with us. Pretty sure everyone's gonna get a kick out of you and me walking in together."

"Anything to hopefully put everyone's mind at ease," Rocky laughed.

The trio walked back into the hospital to find it quieter than they had left it. Only a few doctors and nurses roamed the bright hallways, and a lone receptionist ran the front desk. Ryder and the team were also there waiting inside in a new waiting area. Ryder stood in the doorway and greeted them as they entered.

"Where do you pups keep running off too?" he inquired gently. "You make me worry each time you get up and leave without telling me anything."

"Sorry, Ryder," Marshall answered. "We take a few minutes to catch some fresh air. Waiting makes my head hurt, and a walk outside seems to remedy that. I didn't mean to make you worry."

"Is that true?" he asked Rocky and Everest to which they both nodded. "Very well. Well, you just missed the doctor. He had some interesting news to share."

"Is Chase okay?!" Marshall immediately exclaimed, catching the attention of everyone else.

Ryder nodded and said, "Chase is fine. There were some minor delays and complications, but they figured it out before the surgery concluded."

"That's great," Rocky said. "Can we go and see him?"

Ryder shook his head. "Sadly not, Chase is doped up on meds, and the doctors said they won't wear off for at least another day. Even then we can't bring him home until the doctors release him."

Marshall sighed sadly.

"Don't fret pup," Ryder reassured. "You'll get your chance to speak with him when he wakes up. I promise you that." He looked over his shoulder at the rest of the team.

"Come on team, let's go home."

A/N: See you guys in the next one!

Atlas FF Out!