Chase couldn't lie: hearing all of the shouting and laughing coming from outside his Pup House did feel good to hear. Slowly but surely, light was coming back to his life. While the impact of his best friend's near-death wasn't going away any time soon, it was starting to feel like none of it had ever happened. Losing Marshall had made it feel like the sun itself had gone out, and now it was rising anew.
But it didn't fix everything. Least of all the yawning rift that had opened between him and another one of his dear friends.
Skye's venemous words and sheer rage still rattled around in his head. He never thought he'd see the day where a friend would hate him to the extent of wanting nothing to do with him anymore. And it was all because of his withdrawal. His disappearance when he was needed most. Of all of the mistakes he'd made as the Paw Patrol's second in command, this was far and away his worst. And one that he was sure he'd never recover from.
Little did he know, however, that Skye was feeling the exact same way. She had made a few mistakes of her own during her time as part of the Paw Patrol, but they all paled in comparison to screaming at Chase. Yes, his withdrawal was selfish and yes, it hurt that after Marshall came back, Chase would keep them in the dark for so much as a few minutes about his survival, but Skye knew full well that she would have done the same thing in Chase's position. Plus, he and Marshall were always so close. One's death would obviously render any of the pups inconsolable, to say nothing of the ones that were closest to them. Rocky was right: It looked like she was done trying to keep everyone's spirits up. Now it seemed she was only good for crushing them.
Both pups simply couldn't bring themselves to speak to anyone else. Instead they laid in their Pup Houses, content to let everything happen around them. They could only wonder what to do with their friendship with each other irrevocably burned to cinders.
Neither of them knew, however, that the pup they nearly lost was fully aware of their predicament. As were the others.
Marshall had just taken a good look at Skye from a safe distance and was now in the process of doing the same to Chase. Seeing them so sad and distant hurt. Moreso because he knew it was something that could be resolved if they just talked out their differences. But he could see it in their eyes. They thought that they'd torn themselves apart from each other forever.
"Ahem."
The sound of a cleared throat behind him drew his attention away from Chase and towards the source of the sound. Not that Marshall was surprised, catching the aroma of damp pup on the wind. It was clear who was trying to speak to him.
"Hey, Rocky..." Marshall sighed.
"You really shouldn't spy on those two, Marshall." Rocky admonished gently. "If they see you, they're only gonna feel even worse."
"I know, I know… But how can I not? You saw how torn up Chase and Skye were yesterday."
"You wanna help them, don't you?"
"That obvious, huh? I just don't know how I'm gonna do it… I mean, they're never gonna talk to each other by themselves..."
"So, what, making them's gonna go way better?"
"If it means they'll actually talk, then yeah. Don't you want them to feel better, too? To be talking again? Just like they used to before?"
Rocky paused for a second. "Well… yeah… But I don't wanna make things worse..."
"Rocky, how could it be 'worse'? They aren't talking to each other and they obviously feel terrible about making each other feel so bad! We've gotta get 'em to make up somehow! If they don't talk to each other, won't they just feel even more horrible?"
Rocky stayed quiet for a few seconds, puzzling over Marshall's stance on the matter.
"Rocky..." Marshall said with a pleading undertone. "...I can't do this by myself. I really, REALLY want Chase and Skye to make up, and I know you do, too. Please. Help me?"
Marshall was absolutely right. Rocky definitely wanted to see Chase and Skye make up. Thinking about it, Skye looked like she was being swallowed whole by her guilt. Rocky really was grateful that Marshall had come back. The simplest thought about how much worse things could have been if he hadn't was simply too sad to bear. Rocky swallowed and steeled his nerves.
"You got it." he replied. "But first we need to think. How are we gonna get them to talk? We can't just drag 'em over to each other by the ears."
"We'll think of something." Marshall reassured. "Wanna go to my house to figure something out?"
Chase had long lost track of the time. But somehow he was only feeling slightly better than he was after losing Marshall. Aside from that, he was in largely the same position as he was a few days ago: Slumped in his Pup House wallowing in his own misery. Chase knew that he had to do something, but he was completely lost as to what. He felt more able to leave his Pup House than before, at least. But what could he do? Talk to one of the pups? Play with one of them? He had to do something to take his mind off of Skye.
"Hey, Chase?"
Chase found himself jolted back to reality by a familiar voice, jumping slightly as the familiar voice of a pup brought him out of his own head.
"Marshall?" Chase asked. "What's up?"
"Just thought you looked kinda lonely. Wanna watch some TV together?"
"(Well. That's as good a place to start as any.)" Chase thought with a small smile. "Yeah, sure! Sounds great!" he replied, perhaps more eagerly than he intended. But right now, he welcomed the chance to have his mind taken off of his current troubles.
A few minutes later, it was Rocky's turn to enact his part of his and Marshall's plan. After Marshall had helped him out with his catapult, it was only right that he lend Marshall a helping paw. Of course, it helped that Rocky wanted to see things back to normal as soon as possible, too. Rocky walked into the Lookout and quietly made a beeline for the elevator. With no sign of any pups aside from the two glued to the TV, Rocky didn't have to worry about being seen, although jumping slightly when he heard Marshall's voice, though thankfully it wasn't directed at him.
"I've said it before, I'll say it again: MEGA Fire?! As if normal fire wasn't bad enough!"
"You should probably stick to fighting normal fire, Marshall." Chase replied lightly. "I think Mega Fire's a little out of your league."
"Yeah, and I think the Catastrobeasts are a little out of yours."
"Hm. Touche."
Rocky snickered a little. It was amazing how into that show those two were. But then, with a title like "Ultra Rescue Squadron", it had to resonate well with the police and fire pup of the team. The flashy special effects and insane fight scenes probably helped, too. Rocky silently vowed that some day, he'd watch an episode of that show with them. He was curious to see what all of the fuss was about. But for now, he made himself as scarce as he could as he felt the elevator ascend to the top of the Lookout, where Jake and Carlos remained still trying to talk to Ryder. Rocky put his all into pushing the need to check on his owner aside and stepped out wearing his Pup Pack and gear, moving around to the elevator's control panel.
"Alright… Arf, arf! Screwdriver!"
One brief session in front of the control panel later, the elevator was officially out of action, with Rocky not forgetting to explain to Jake and Carlos that they wouldn't be trapped up there for too long. The pup-sized slide wouldn't do them much good for getting back down safely, after all. Marshall's ladder would come in handy to get the elevator back online when the time came, but for now, Rocky took a trip down the slide to prepare for phase 2. After hopping out of his truck's seat as the engine roared to life, Rocky slowly and tentatively made his way towards the silver and pink Pup House, which currently held a morose-looking cockapoo.
"Hey, Skye?" Rocky piped up, taking note of Skye's surprise at suddenly being spoken to. "You doing OK?"
"...I guess…" Skye mumbled glumly. "But… why do you care?"
"What, I'm not allowed to be worried about a pup who's basically my sister?"
"...you should be more worried about Chase..."
"Chase is a strong pup. He'll be fine. Anyway..." Rocky hastily attempted to steer the conversation back on track. "You wanna watch some TV with me? It'll make you feel better."
"I dunno, Rocky… You guys don't really like the TV I watch."
Rocky felt his spirits raise slightly along with the corners of Skye's mouth. "Well, that is kinda true..." he joked. "...but I'll be fine. Trust me."
Skye giggled softly. "OK, Rocky… Let's go… and thanks..."
Rocky tried to keep his face in as neutral a position as he could as the pair walked towards the Lookout. But internally, he was braced for the worst. The anticipation was unbearable as he entered the Lookout with Skye close behind. He expected Skye to stop following him when Chase's back came into view. But to his surprise, all she did was avert her gaze and slow down to a glacial pace. Eventually, Skye made it to a cushion and lay down upon it, joining the other three pups for the second half of their episode of Ultra Rescue Squadron.
Chase had obviously taken notice that Skye had entered the room, as his eyes lay rigidly fixated on the screen, refusing to move so much as a fraction of an inch for fear that he might catch a glimpse of the pup that he'd burned bridges with. So much so that Chase wasn't watching the show as much as he was simply looking at it. But then, everyone was in the same position, not properly watching the TV thanks to the thick atmosphere cast over the room. Thankfully, the episode was simply a rerun. A rerun that didn't have so much as three minutes left before the credits.
The atmosphere remained as heavy as ever as the credits rolled. Chase and Skye remained as fixated on the screen as ever, as if looking at one another might end the world. The only ones moving were Marshall and Rocky, who looked head-on at each other. The latter signalled Marshall with a wink to indicate that it was time for the crucial phase of their plan. Marshall nodded and Rocky steeled himself once more.
"Err, sorry guys." he began. "I just remembered, uh… I've gotta go iron every single one of my vests! Later!"
Rocky whipped around and sprinted out of the room in an unusual hurry, to the confusion of Chase and Skye.
"(Since when did that pup iron? Heck, since when did any of us iron?)" Skye thought in bewilderment.
"Oh, wait-!" Marshall suddenly shouted louder than he intended, his eyes shooting open along with everyone else's. "Aww, darn it! Er, I-I just remembered! Um, it's, er- It's my turn to clean the toilets! URGH-!" Marshall attempted to turn around quickly, only to trip over his own paws and hastily drag himself to his feet. "Blurgh- er, catch you later, guys!"
"Marshall-! Wait up!" Chase cried as Marshall bolted out of the door "(Who gets in that much of a hurry over cleaning the toilets?!)" he thought.
Chase's confusion soon ebbed and his body went rigid. He realised that he was alone. With Skye. The one pup who he'd hurt the most. Chase quickly went into fight or flight mode, and decided on flight, stumbling slightly as he got up to hurry towards the door. But much to his horror, he turned around to see the doorway rapidly filling with green, along with a familiar recycling badge.
"What the-?!" Chase spluttered, realising that he wasn't just alone with Skye. He was trapped alone with Skye. "ROCKY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! LET ME OUT RIGHT NOW!"
Chase's yelling quickly attracted Skye's attention, who turned around to process what was going on. And what was going on was that Rocky's truck had just blocked them in with no elevator to escape with. The pups were completely and utterly trapped with the one pup they couldn't bear to bring themselves to talk to.
"Wha-?! ROCKY, THAT'S NOT FUNNY!" Skye bellowed. "MOVE YOUR TRUCK, OR SO HELP ME-!"
Rocky hopped down from his truck as enraged yells emanated from the freshly-blocked door to the Lookout. Marshall moved out from around the corner of the Lookout to see what the situation was.
"Door's completely blocked?" Marshall asked.
"They're not getting out of that any time soon, don't worry." Rocky replied.
Marshall smiled slightly, before his face fell completely with a deep sigh. "I feel kinda bad about doing this… I mean, I know I want them to talk, but trapping them in there was kinda mean..."
"You said it yourself, it's worth it if they get to talk things out."
"So, now… I guess we just wait?"
"And hope for the best."
The two pups moved away to inform the other pups of what was going on. They knew that they probably wouldn't take kindly to the extreme plan, but they also had to tell them to listen out and not interfere. Or else things would be made far worse. But before they moved too far, the two whipped around in the direction of the Lookout and raised their voices right back.
"MAKE UP!"
Though the yelling coming from the Lookout didn't ebb. In fact, it only intensified.
"GET ME OUT OF HERE! ROCKY! YOU'RE GONNA PAY WHEN I GET MY PAWS ON YOU!" Chase yelled.
"YOU'LL BE SORRY, ROCKY! MOVE YOUR TRUCK RIGHT NOW!" Skye screamed.
The yelling had been going on for about five minutes non-stop as Chase and Skye slung curses on Rocky's head. It was slightly astonishing that they knew so many threats, but none of them had any effect in the slightest. In part because the pup in question was busy explaining himself to the others along with Marshall. Chase and Skye only stopped yelling when their throats began to hurt, and instead focused on trying to call the elevator, with Chase mashing the "call" button with his paw to no avail.
"It-! It isn't working! W-Wait-! ROCKY YOU LITTLE-! WHEN I FIND YOU, IT'S NOT GONNA BE PRETTY, YOU HEAR ME-?!" Chase immediately reignited when he put two and two together in his head, only to break down coughing, his throat crying out for mercy.
"Chase, pipe down!" Skye commanded. "Screaming isn't gonna help anymore!"
Chase soon realised that Skye was right and fell quiet. He could scream, yell and make threats all he wished, but those two weren't going to come back. And it didn't seem likely that anyone else was going to come and help them out of their predicament. But with this realisation came the thought that they were going to be stuck there for a good, long while. Defeated, Chase slunk to the corner of the room and rested his head against the wall, while Skye turned the TV off, unwilling to listen to it any longer.
The silence was deafening. The pups passed the time by wandering around, trying to think of a way out of the room. But with Rocky's truck blocking the door and the elevator out of action, they had no hope of escape any time soon. They didn't know how long they'd been trapped in the Lookout. Chase would've guessed half an hour, where Skye put her guess at around 45 minutes. But either way, the silence was unlikely to be broken in the near-future...
"They obviously want us to talk, you know."
...except by Skye, who finally spoke up, catching Chase's attention. It was clear that Skye had more confidence than Chase did at that point.
"...huh?" Chase whispered.
"There's no 'huh' about it." Skye retorted. "You heard the two of them as they walked away, right? This is how they wanted to get us to talk. They want us to iron things out. So. Let's talk."
Chase's heart seized up in his chest. There was no way that he was ready to do this. The strangled expression he was giving Skye was enough proof of that. Skye noticed, and sighed heavily.
"Look, want me to go first? We've both got stuff we wanna get off our chests. So how about I start us off?"
Chase glanced around nervously before taking a big, uneven gulp. "O-OK..."
"Chase, I'm gonna try not yell at you. I mean, pfft, that went SO well the last time I did that… Just gimme a sec to get my thoughts together?"
Chase didn't reply. Skye took a few deep breaths. Gathering her courage and calming herself before getting ready to get everything off of her chest. Until a few seconds later, when she was finally ready.
"I get it." she began. "I know. Losing Marshall did more than hurt you. I could tell. It destroyed you. Honestly, I'm amazed you even had the energy to leave the Lookout that night. I know how close you and Marshall are. Heck, you two were the pups who started it all. I can tell you didn't mean to get that angry when you were breaking the news. I don't really care about you pushing me anymore, to be honest. That one was on me, I think."
Chase whined as he listened to Skye.
"Point is; I know why you acted like that..." Skye swallowed hard as her heart began to ache again. "...but that doesn't change how darn SELFISH you were!" Now Skye was audibly struggling to keep her composure. "I mean, I had to be brave for everyone's sake back there! No crying, no mourning, nothing! I was totally alone! I had no-one to help me through it! Not you! Not Ryder! NO-ONE!"
"Skye, I-I-" Chase whimpered.
"I'm not done!" Skye interrupted harshly, before sighing again and sniffling slightly, with some degree of calm returning to her voice. "Even if we forget about me, what about YOU? I mean, all of us were worried sick about you, on top of how we felt about Marshall… We didn't see you leave your Pup House once. Ever. All of us… we pretty much begged you to come out. Begged you to talk to us… But you never did. I know you could hear us. But all you did was lie in there and mope! Some of us..."
Skye swallowed, with tears of anger beginning to pool in her pink eyes. "...some of us thought we were gonna lose you, too! And heck, we kinda did! You heard how worried we all were about you! We begged you to come out! We begged you to talk to us! But all you did was keep quiet! Did you even think about how we were feeling?! Just once?! And when you come out, you still don't even talk to us! You just run off! We're all worrying about you, and then you just… RUN AWAY!"
Skye was closer to tears than ever. It was slightly cathartic for her to vent the way she did. Finally putting all of her emotions on the table for Chase to see. But it was more painful than anything. Perhaps more so because of how badly she was hurting Chase in doing so. But without airing her grievances, the pain would never go away.
"I-I… I'm so-" Chase stuttered.
"Chase, wait." Skye firmly interrupted once more. "Look… I know I shouldn't have pushed you… I shouldn't have yelled at you… I shouldn't have gone off on you and Ryder the way I did… Least of all with how you two were feeling… I mean, if I were in your fur and Marshall came and saw me first, I would've kept him to myself for a little while, too. But right now, all I want is for you to see my side of things… There's no way I'm cut out to lead… At all… I'm… too weak to even think about doing what you do… The last few days… Well, they proved it, didn't they? And don't bother apologising to me… I don't deserve a word of it..."
Now it was easy to see the tears leaking from Skye's eyes and dripping onto the floor. Her harsh words had wounded even her, and she was the one trying to get them all out of her system.
"A-And it's all… all because… I-I'm a… bad pup…" Skye sobbed.
Chase desperately wanted to walk forward and comfort the sobbing cockapoo, but he knew that right now, that'd be a terrible idea. She'd already shoved him once, and he wasn't in the market for having it repeated. This situation was already awkward enough, so all he could do was watch as Skye demonstrated how badly the last few days had hurt her. Once Chase was confident that Skye's painful sobbing had subsided, he spoke up.
"Is… I-Is it… my turn, now?" Chase asked shakily.
Skye took a few seconds to say anything. "Yeah… I-I think I'm ready to hear it." Skye's visible wince, however, betrayed her words.
Chase took a slow breath in, knowing that it wouldn't be long before his own emotions ran away with him.
"You think that excuses you acting like that?!" he barked. "I sure as heck hope not! Like I said yesterday, I felt like I'd totally burned my bridges with everyone! It's bad enough that I spent three days thinking I'd let Marshall die, and then I feel like everyone hates me! You wanna know why I cried so much when you shoved me?! It's because you're all my family! And when you shoved me, it felt like I'd been cast out for good! Do you have ANY idea how much that scares me?! ANY IDEA HOW THAT MADE ME FEEL?!"
Now it was Chase's turn to be utterly enraged. Skye wasn't the only one who had a lot of pain brewing away inside of her. Skye's tears had started back up, along with Chase's own angry crying.
"All that time! All that time I'd been thinking that I wasn't good enough to be a police pup, way less part of the Paw Patrol! I know what I did was cowardly! I know I just left you alone! I know I should've been there for all of you! And let all of you be there for me! But you wanna know why I shut myself away?! I COULDN'T BEAR TO SHOW MY FACE AROUND ANY OF YOU! How could I even look at you all when I couldn't even save my baby brother?! When I saw Marshall fall in the river, it felt like it was all my fault!"
Chase had taken it a step further than Skye by being reduced to full-on crying. Skye was in shock. She knew that Chase took his duties and friendship with the others seriously, but now her stomach began to sink far enough to practically fall out of her body. If she wasn't feeling terrible before, she certainly was now. It felt like an eternity before Chase calmed down enough to speak again.
"Chase..." Skye whined sadly.
"I'm not done..." Chase stopped her. "Skye… I knew I shouldn't have shut myself away… but the whole time I was… I was seriously thinking about leaving the Paw Patrol…"
"HUH?!" Skye shrieked in horror. "Chase, that's insane! Where the heck would you have gone?!"
"Don't know. Anywhere where I didn't have to be reminded of a team I thought hated me… Of a brother I thought had died right in front of me… And all I could do was… just… WATCH! Even if you DID get through to me and talk to me… I probably would've left anyway…" Chase gave a long sniffle. "Please, Skye… I just want you to see my side of things, too… Even if the rest of the pups loved me… For the last few days… It didn't feel that way..."
Skye felt dizzy. The way Chase was describing things, just one death in the Paw Patrol probably would've caused the entire team to fall apart. If Chase had left to live on the streets in shame, then how long would it be before the rest of the pups had followed? And where would that leave Ryder? Suddenly, Skye felt like one of the most evil pups in the world. She felt sick to her stomach. But then something else hit her: Chase, Ryder, Marshall, herself and everyone else were all a group of children.
It wasn't a subject that they had thought about often. The Paw Patrol's youth was usually forgotten about by not just them, but by everyone they had met, save for a select few. But the reminder of their ages made Skye remember that perhaps too much was expected of them. That they all served as each other's emotional crutches more than any of them realised. There was no way that they were ready to handle a tragedy like Marshall's. And Chase had just proved it with his own speech, showing that for all of his strength and leadership, in the end, he was just a little kid. As vulnerable and fearful as anyone else his age.
"Chase, are..." Skye stuttered. "...are you, er… done?"
Chase whimpered and sobbed a little. "Y-Yeah… Yeah, I'm done..."
"We've been… terrible to each other, haven't we?" she asked. "I mean, we're just pups! Kids! This was all… it was just too much for us all!"
"...you're right… I… just wish it didn't take losing one of our own to get that..."
There was another period of silence before Skye began to apologise.
"Chase, I've been a HORRIBLE pup lately!" she shouted. "I mean, yeah, I was lonely and stressed, but I shouldn't have screamed at you, shoved you, ANY of that!"
Chase was taken aback by Skye's sudden increase of volume.
"I… am… NOT… ready." she abruptly quietened down. "I mean, yeah, I can lead an Ultimate Rescue… But taking charge? Having everyone rely on you…" she started laughing mirthlessly for a few seconds. "I can't handle it at all… I just can't take it… And I took it all out on the pup who deserved it the least… you."
Skye swallowed repeatedly before continuing. "These were the worst days of my life… I never knew how scared I was of losing someone until today… I mean, I don't think I knew what losing someone was like until now… My parents are still alive, remember. And so's my old owner… But that… plus the pressure of being in charge at such an awful time…" she lowered her head. "...there's just no excuse. I'd say 'I'm sorry', but that's not gonna be good enough right now… is it?"
Chase was in a tough position. He still wasn't feeling inclined to simply forgive Skye outright, as much as he really wanted to. But if he did, then the whole thing would just feel incomplete. Like all of their heartache and pain was for nothing.
"No, Skye..." Chase sighed. "Look, you hurt me. But I hurt you right back. I'm just as bad here. Maybe even worse. I'm weaker than I thought… I just hid from everyone when they all needed me and I needed them. So all I did… was just pointlessly hurt everyone…"
Chase let out a sigh. "But I guess it's like you said… we're all just a bunch of kids… None of us could've taken a tragedy like that… And I think I proved it over the last few days… it's only recently I found out what it's like to lose someone… I mean, I don't even know who my old owner or parents were, Ryder's grandpa adopted me that early… But now that I know… Well, I don't want it to happen ever again…"
Chase swallowed. "I mean, not only did I feel like the worst pup alive, but I ended up pushing everyone else out when none of us needed it… It's like you said… I'd say that I'm sorry, but if I do that… then… well, all that time we spent being too scared to talk to each other was all for nothing… right?"
Skye couldn't deny that. Simply saying "sorry" and moving on would be incredibly empty. They'd spent the last day being too afraid to talk to each other after the pressure got to be too much for Skye and it led to hear unleashing a salvo on Chase. Both were still feeling terrible, even after they'd poured out their hearts and tears to each other.
"You're right, Chase..." Skye whispered. "We can't just say "sorry" to each other after the last few days… We hurt each other too much… We've both not been good pups, I guess… But I really, really, REALLY wanna be your sister again… I mean, Rocky did yell at me after I pushed you, and I totally deserved it, And that made me think about how much I hurt you… and how much I love you… But I can't say that when all I've been doing is yelling at you…"
Skye took a deep breath in. "So instead… I want a promise. Not only was I totally alone while you were gone, but I was scared… Scared of being leader, scared for how everyone else felt… And scared for YOU. Please, Chase. If we're gonna put this behind us, I need you to look me in the eye and tell me that you'll never shut yourself off again. That you'll always be there for us, and let us be there for you when we need each other. And please. Tell me that you'll never run away from us, and that you won't even THINK about leaving us behind."
Skye was certainly asking a lot from Chase. But then, it wasn't unreasonable. Chase had frightened Skye and the other pups worse than anything over the last few days. As far as he was concerned, he'd failed as a leader at the worst possible time. But now there was a spark of determination in him. A spark of determination to never fail his family again. Not Marshall. Not Skye. Not Ryder. No-one. With his eyes still wet with tears, Chase walked up close to Skye and stared deeply into her eyes.
"I'll never shut myself off again. I'll always be there for all of you and let you all be there for me when we need each other. I'll NEVER run away from you again. I'll never ever think about leaving you behind. Not now. Not ever."
Chase wondered for a couple of seconds if his apology and promise were enough. But Skye's small smile quickly caused his heart to soar.
"Chase…" Skye whispered happily. "...thank you… Thank you so much..."
Chase couldn't help but giggle slightly. "Oh, forget it, Skye… That was the least I could do… But now I want you to promise me something.
Skye's face suddenly shifted to a determined glare. "Anything, Chase."
Chase decided not to waste time. "Skye. I know you had the weight of the world just dumped on you… And a lot of that was because of me… 'Selfish' was a pretty good word for it, actually. So I want you to promise me that if you ever feel like things are too much for you, you WON'T. EVER. Keep it in. You come right to one of us and TELL US if you're feeling bad, or if something is too much for you. Remember. You're our sister. You wanna be there for all of us? It's only fair that you let us do the same for you, right?"
"Right!" Skye immediately replied. "Chase. I've learned a harsh lesson about not keeping it in the last few days. And trust me, I'm not in a hurry to do it again. So trust me. If I'm feeling bad, if things feel like they're too much for me… I WILL talk about it. You're all my family, too… I know that I'd be there for all of you in a flash… But I never thought about it the other way around… Well..." Skye suddenly cracked a big smile as she continued to stare into Chase's eyes. "...you won't have to worry about that anymore."
The entire time Skye had been talking, she hadn't once stopped staring firmly into Chase's eyes, just as he had done for her. But Skye's words had completely reignited something within Chase, rendering him too happy for words. More tears began to seep from his eyes. But this time, they were tears of a very different sort.
"Alright, alright, Chase..." Skye groaned jokingly. "We both know how this goes by now..."
Skye sat down on the floor and spread her arms wide for a hug. But she wasn't quite expecting Chase to lunge forward and leap at her, knocking her to the ground as he threw his arms around her.
"GYIPE-!" Skye yelped as she crashed to the floor and felt Chase start to hug her senseless. "Guuuurrrrggghh-! Ch-Chaaaaase… M-My… ribs..." Skye choked.
"It-! It's your own fault!" Chase sobbed joyfully. "I-! I'm too happy to stop!"
"Urrrggghhh… At least… Let me… breathe a little…?"
Taking the hint, Chase let up to the point that Skye was at least able to get some precious air back to her lungs, along with being able to work her front paws free to return the hug and nuzzle Chase, having finally restored her friendship with him. At long last, the yawning rift between them had been closed, and they were back together.
"I love you..." Chase whispered. "...sis."
"Chase..." Skye whispered back. "I love you too… big bro..."
And so ends the longest chapter of this fic yet. There's a longer one to come, but for now, this one takes the top spot. And the halfway mark! Well, slightly over halfway, but hey-ho. In retrospect, it's hard to think of a better place to put this fic on hiatus.
Yup, I hadn't forgotten. After today's upload, there won't be any more for another week. So while my schedule has been every Tuesday and Saturday, (at about 17:00/17:30 GMT, 12:00/12:30 EST, 09:00/09:30 PST) this time, the Tuesday coming up won't have an upload. Next Saturday, though, the upload schedule will be back to normal. Since the chapters coming out right now have been so long, hopefully a short break will do some good.
Now, of course there's at least one more big, fat loose end to tie up, but that is still to come. I hate to keep you waiting, but then, this will be the only hiatus that I plan to do. The only thing I'd like is that when this story comes back, you will too. And as always if you enjoyed this, then please don't hesitate to leave a review or send a favourite my way. Thanks for listening, and I hope to see you when the hiatus lifts next Saturday.