.

Chapter 28: Secret Nightmares

3:00 AM. Everyone was asleep. Everyone except one pup. He was sitting up on his bed, willing himself to stay awake; the nightmare he had just woken up from was one he knew he didn't want to go back to. The chaos surrounding him, the blending of reality with fabricated memories, then the inevitable plummet into darkness and death. He felt his heart throbbing in his chest as he looked around at the others in the room, trying to see if he had woken anyone else up. Thankfully it didn't look like he had. Over time he had trained himself to not react too badly to this particular nightmare; to stay calm and not yell when he woke up. He wasn't even sure if anyone knew about it, and he preferred to keep it that way. Silently standing up, the pup slunk his way out of the room. They had found a relatively clean house to sleep in close to the house they had found for Ryder. Walking through the hallways, the pup realized he didn't really know where he was going. He just knew he had to clear his head.

He stepped outside into the cool night air and sat down in the grass to watch the stars. Taking a deep breath, he tried to think of anything other than the dream he had just had. The game. The game had been fun. He loved seeing Gizmo seamlessly meld in with the rest of them and do so well. Not only had the black Lab almost taken out everyone in that first game, but the third game was also really close, and better yet, Gizmo looked like he had a lot of fun as well. Then his mind started to wander to their adventure on the Bullet Express earlier that day. Or was it yesterday…? The pup realized he didn't really know what time it was. Most likely around four or five in the morning, but it might still be before midnight from what he could tell. Usually when he woke up in the middle of the night he'd be in his pup house and able to look at the clock he had beside him, but he didn't have that here. His pup house was far away, along with everything else. The one he had here wasn't the same; he could tell most of the others felt the difference too. Their new, silver pup houses were so close to the ones that they called home, and that seemed more discomforting than a totally foreign accommodation. Otherwise, he knew most of them would have objected more to sleeping in the building on spare bedding. He missed his actual bedding and home, but he couldn't complain. Despite being off duty, he enjoyed the time he had to hang out with the others, especially Everest and Tracker, who weren't normally around.

"Marshall? Is that you?" A voice behind him yanked him from his reverie, and he spun around to look at the speaker. Everest padded out of the house to join the Dalmatian in the grass.

"Huh? Everest? What are you doing out here?"

"Same thing you are. I take it you couldn't sleep?"

"Yeah… I had- I had a nightmare," Marshall responded. Then he turned his head back forward, watching the stars.

"Me too… I- I dreamt that… someone… fell into a burning building." Everest waited to see Marshall's reaction. The firefighter didn't notice her worried glance, too preoccupied gazing blankly at the sky.

Instead, Marshall's gaze fell, and his ears drooped. "I… actually did too."

Everest smiled sadly. Weird how they would both have a nightmare about the same event. The Husky shook herself. Satisfied that she was rid of her bed hair, she sat beside Marshall.

After sitting in silence for a few minutes, she spoke up. "How do you do it?" The Siberian husky blurted.

"Do what? What did I do? I don't mean to do it. I didn't do it!" Marshall's breaths came faster as he began to panic. He felt accused of something, though he wasn't sure entirely what it was.

"No, no. Sorry. I should have started slower… I mean… how do you do… what you do?" Everest asked, pointing towards his collar.

Marshall thought for a moment, "Firefighting?... I like saving people."

Everest rolled her eyes, "And I like saving people too. I just save them from cold places, and you save them from warmer places. But what makes it different? Why firefighting?"

"Why do you ask?"

Everest shrugged as best a dog could. "I guess I'm just curious."

"Well, I guess I just felt like I needed to do it."

"Why though?"

"Can we talk about something else?"

Everest sighed internally. "Sure… What do you want to talk about?"

"I don't know…"

"You don't know? Well you're the one who wanted to change topics," Everest chuckled lightly.

"Well, what about you? Why snow stuff for you?"

"Well that's easy! I grew up in snow. I already knew all about snow rescues by the time I joined you guys, so it was a natural choice. Besides, I'm a husky; I'm built for cold weather."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense." Marshall glanced over at Everest, whose gaze was directed at the brilliant night sky. Normally in a city, the stars would have been hidden, masked by the city lights. It was different in this one, though. With no lights on anywhere whatsoever, the entire expanse of the Milky Way stretched across the sky and sparkled in the husky's eyes. "Want to go for a walk?" Marshall offered. "I want to stretch my legs."

"Sure. It's a nice night," Everest agreed, standing up and starting to walk. "Would be nice if there was some wind. It's also weird how warm it is for February out on the ocean."

Marshall kept pace next to her. "I talked with Rocky about that earlier. He said that with the volcano and dome the wind is a lot less and so is conduction, making it warmer." The fire pup grinned, pleased to be able to show what he had learned. Then he grew thoughtful. "Or maybe he said convection…"

"I don't know what either of those words mean, so it doesn't really matter," Everest laughed.

"I wish I could be as smart as Rocky… Science just comes so naturally to him."

"It's okay. We all have our own strengths, and that's what makes us good at our jobs. Rocky just happens to be smart and has a lot of ingenuity; perfect for a mechanic. Chase is brave and a strong leader, and has a great sense of authority about him. Rubble is the most tenacious pup I've ever known. He's tough. Nothing keeps him down for long."

"Heh. That's true! He used to say that all the time when we first met him."

"And Zuma is athletic and has great coordination; something that helps him underwater. And Skye is organized and keeps a clear head in danger. It's part of what makes us who we are. You can't be as clever as Rocky any more than… Well, any more than I can be as selfless as you."

Marshall forgot to walk for a second and only barely managed to keep himself from landing flat on his snout. Marshall felt his cheeks burning from embarrassment. If fur could turn red, his face would be the same shade as Clifford the Big Red Dog. "Wha- I don't- Why would- Why do you say that?"

Everest giggled slightly. "Because it's true! You're the most self-sacrificial person I know! You're constantly giving things up for someone else. You care more about others than you do yourself. That's what drove you to become an EMT! If it wasn't for you, I would have been the one caught in the building collapse instead… It's something I wish I had in me, but I don't. At least not as much as you. It's something I admire you for."

The fire pup was rendered speechless. Marshall hadn't really thought of himself that way before. Since he couldn't find anything to respond with, the pair continued in silence until a voice broke into their thoughts.

"What are you two doing up?"

A voice behind the canines caused both of them to start. They swiveled around to find Ryder standing behind them leaning on his crutch.

"Couldn't sleep!"

"Trouble sleeping!"

Both pups laughed nervously before they realized what the other had said and looked at each other in confusion.

Ryder raised an eyebrow.

"What about you?" Everest questioned.

"Oh, uh, I couldn't sleep either," Ryder admitted. "I thought a walk in the night would be nice."

"It is," Marshall agreed. "Want to join us?"

"Well, I would, but I'm just coming back from my own walk. Need to give my leg a rest," Ryder explained before yawning.

"Seems like that's not the only thing you need to give a rest!" Everest giggled.

Ryder laughed slightly as well. "Yeah, I need some sleep as well. I'm sure you do too, but I don't mind you taking a little walk. I suggest you just go up and down the street so you don't get lost."

"Thanks, Ryder!" Marshall grinned, his tail wagging.

Ryder waved at the duo as they continued off down the street. As he tapped the button to open the door with his foot, he heard their voices carry to him from down the street.

"Marshall, why didn't you tell him you had a nightmare?"

"I've had it long enough without others knowing, I've gotten used to it. What's your reason?"

"Well, I didn't want him to worry… He already has so much to worry about, and I don't really want to add his pups having nightmares to the list…"

Ryder's heart fell as he closed the door behind him, part of him wishing he hadn't heard their conversation. Now he had something else to add to his long list of worries. Little did Marshall and Everest know they weren't the only ones having nightmares, nor were the only ones trying to keep them secret. Earlier that night, Ryder had woken up in a cold sweat after watching Marshall plummet to his death yet again. Ever since Marshall had fallen through the log cabin as it was engulfed in flames, the leader of the Paw Patrol had been struck with a realization. Somehow, sometime, someone was going to die. Being years ahead of his age group in maturity, he had always known the occupation he had chosen was a dangerous one. He knew it when he asked his parents to let him form a task force, but the reality had only settled in when Marshall died. Or, no- when Marshall should have died. Ryder could still hardly wrap his head around what had happened. To him it felt like every moment after that with Marshall was a gift from God. And honestly he knew it truly was. What were the chances of a time traveler, a time traveler, of all things, showing up to save his pup?! After that event he knew that next time he wouldn't be so lucky. And yet, they were…

When he woke up after the Air Patroller crash, he fully expected some form of casualty report. He was dumbfounded when he learned that everyone had escaped unscathed. And then, just the day before, they had almost been in a train crash that would have instantly killed them all. And the scariest part for Ryder? He would have never known what had happened to them. Ryder closed his eyes and sat down on his bed as he felt his knees go weak beneath him. He couldn't bear thinking about that. Tears started to form in the boy's eyes. Around his pups he had to keep on a strong face; they all saw him as their fearless, unstoppable leader. But he wasn't. He was only fifteen for crying out loud, but Ryder knew they needed that type of figure in their life. They put all their trust in him to keep them safe and what did he do in return? He crashed them on an island in the middle of the ocean. Ryder grit his teeth as he laid down and pulled the blankets over him. He knew he didn't deserve their trust. The past few days had been a showcase of that. He knew he wouldn't always be there to keep his pups safe. One day, something would happen, and Ryder didn't know what would happen after that. The boy gave up trying to hold back his tears, letting them flow freely as he cried himself to sleep.

I wasn't kidding when I said the next few chapters would be an emotional roller coaster! This one was particularly fun to write, but surprisingly hard. There's about five removed 'takes' where I had to go back and rewrite the conversation between Marshall and Everest. (One of which will be showing up later!) Most of them ended in a disasterous mess of emotions for Marshall, and I knew it couldn't stay that way. Ryder also finally gets some good time to look at his inner thoughts and build his character some more with a good amount of angst.
Also, what are the chances of three people having the same nightmare in the same night...?
See you next week!