Disclaimer: As we saw in the previous chapter's recap, this will be the chapter where Flare discovers the reason behind his recent thoughts, and also have Charm finally tell Rocky everything Slash did that led to him being the way he is. Why both of them in the same chapter? Because I knew revealing the Flare thing in any of the five chapters after this would've felt forced into the plot. Hopefully I avoid that more easily now.

Also, I don't own Paw Patrol.

Paw Patrol X

Demon Defense arc Episode sixteen: Remorse: Reflection on the Past

It was afternoon time in Foxcadia, four weeks after the Paw Patrol arrived, and Charm was currently getting himself a black cherry soda. After butt bumping the fridge door to close it, he saw Snow behind him with her arms crossed giving a stern look. Charm, being his usual impatient self, got right to asking what she was doing. "What do you want Snow?"

Snow stepped forward and uncrossed her arms as she brought up what he did with Flare. "Flare told me why you came to him two weeks ago." Charm flinched, setting his soda down as Snow kept talking. "If you think trying to learn empathy makes up for when you ambushed us in Calm-Ten, you're sorely mistaken."

"To be fair, coming with me to save you was her idea." Charm pointed out nonchalantly. Even though Charm was just stating a fact, Snow had to try hard to keep her cool. "And I don't believe it's your business why I learned empathy from him."

"It became my business when the thought of you hurting my boyfriend came up." Snow informed Charm coldly, leading to him giving a stern look as Snow moved closer. "What's your endgame Charm? Why would someone who's done as many terrible things as you want to learn empathy?"

Charm quickly saw what Snow was getting at and was quick to defend himself. "If you feel this is an attempt to manipulate Flare, then you're sorely mistaken. I simply needed his assistance with something outside of battle preparations."

"And you expect me to believe that after what you did to Claw two years ago?" Charm clenched his fist in response to that. It was hard enough he couldn't feel remorse for that. His clenched fist didn't stop Snow from stepping closer to him. It was clear she wasn't messing around with him. "If I didn't care about Rocky's feelings, I'd kill you myself."

Charm looked directly into Snow's eyes with anger in his own as he shot that idea down. "You'd die trying." Despite their feelings at that moment however, Charm and Snow contained themselves with Charm taking his soda and walking past Snow. "Save that anger for the battle."

Charm was about to enter the hallway with someone pounding on the front door. He rushed over to answer it, and beat Snow to the punch before blowing a raspberry at her. She rolled her eyes as Charm answered the door to find Vixey standing there anxiously. "Oh thank God! I spotted a demon outside the entrance of Foxcadia! I told Ryder on the way over here!"

That surprised Charm and Snow due to demons usually being night creatures. "At this time of day?" Charm did seem intrigued by this however, and was more than happy to join in. "Well Richie's busy, but Rocky and I can come. Should I bring Rex too?"

"If you feel you have to." Vixey responded, and Charm then rushed off to fill Rocky and Rex in on the situation.

As Charm entered the hallway however, he started thinking about what Snow told him. 'Snow's right though. It's going to take more than learning the feelings I've lost to forge a new path. And also to practice what I'm learning properly, unlike my attempt with Rubble last week.'

Snow made an offer to help herself, feeling she should at least see if she could. "You need my help too?"

"Thanks Snow, but bringing two non-immune canines is enough. You can stay here." Vixey assured Snow, who was a bit skeptical, but she felt it made sense considering what the demons could do. She nodded in understanding before wishing Vixey good luck and going to spend time with Flare.

Soon after Charm left with Rocky and Rex, Flare was in his and Marshall's room with Marshall, Snow, and Everest, with Snow getting a text while sitting down on Flare's bed. She sat up to see what it was, and when she looked at her phone, she saw that it was from Flare. The text read 'You're beautiful!', and she then looked to Flare, who was sitting right next to her. He had the most adorable smile on his face, full of love and joy. Snow couldn't help smiling and texting back 'Same to you'. Even though the lovers were in the same room, they just loved sharing their affection through these texts.

Ryder entered the room and walked over to Flare to hand him the book. "Hey guys. Flare, Tod wanted me to give you this."

Flare accepted the book, and it was titled 'Identity Struggles' by someone known as Violet Garden. The LGBT flag the human on the cover was holding made Flare interested. He smiled as he saw what this was helping him with. "Ah, I see what he's doing. I'll thank Tod the next time I see him."

Flare instantly started reading the book, and Ryder decided to leave him to it so he could focus. "Something tells me this was written by a human who understands animals. Maybe there's a dog in there with a story similar to yours."

Flare continued reading, and Snow kissed his cheek to let him focus some more. "I think this is something you'll need privacy for."

"Thanks baby. I'll let you know when I'm finished." Flare assured Snow, and Marshall then hugged him with Everest fist bumping him as all three of them left Flare to focus on his reading. Flare did have to wonder what this book had to teach him. Luckily, he was more than ready to figure out whatever wisdom this book held inside. "If Tod's going to spend money on me, then I should pay attention to every detail! Bookworm mode, activate!" And with that, Flare went into full reading mode with his new book.

Outside Foxcadia, Rocky was getting a good look at the demon claw mark with Charm looking at Slash's journal to see if it was like night demons. Surely enough, it was the same kind as demons. When Rex got a look at the mark, he had to question why this was. "I thought demons only attacked at night. Why would Slash make an exception now?"

"I think he's testing their durability in the sunlight in case waiting until nighttime isn't an option for him." Rocky suggested, standing up as he backed up his claim. "Slash may be a demon ruling psycho, but he's a smart demon ruling psycho. So knowing that he'd have to consider the limits of their weaknesses-"

"He'd want to see how long they can last in the daylight for!" Charm finished, and Rocky gave a thumbs up in response.

Rex started observing the path the demon went on as Rocky asked Vixey about the demon's time in the sunlight. "Vixey. How long ago did you find this demon?"

"Twenty minutes ago." Vixey answered, knowing she went to the Paw Patrol as soon as she saw the demon.

Rocky then came up with a theory about Slash and looked to Charm as Rex led everyone on the path he started tracking. "Hey Charm, something just occurred to me. You and I are immune, right?" Charm looked at Rocky as he finished his theory. "Maybe Slash is immune too. I don't think it's from a demon blood injection though," The mention of injections with demon blood triggered Charm. "since he went to Wolfland when..." Rocky noticed Charm tensing up and got worried, checking to see if he was okay. "Charm, are you okay? What's wrong?"

Charm did his best to calm down, giving the best answer he could for why he was tensing up. "I just hate our father more than everything combined." Charm then got back on topic about the demon, looking to Rex with a fact he had in mind. "Remember Rex. Demon blood smells of sulfur, rather than rust like normal blood." Rex then realized the scent wasn't bad enough for that, chuckling a bit and making Charm sigh as he tagged in. "Hang on. I'll track it."

Charm ran back over to the demon claw mark and knelt down, smelling the track to pick up the scent the best he could. Now that Chase had turned, someone had to work on getting accurate readings on specific scents. He waited until he had the exact direction of the demon scent, looking to the left from where the track was and alerting the others. "This way!" Charm ran off and everyone else followed him, but Rocky was left worried about his mental state. He could just tell that the mention of demon blood injections set him off.

Back at the lab, Flare was reading through the book Tod gave him, being fascinated by what he was learning. "So there IS another dog who saw a different reflection! Violet really tried to speak to everyone with these stories!" Flare continued to read, and then he reached a sentence that intrigued him. He read it aloud as he got off of his bed and walked over to the window. "I didn't know it at the time, but this was one of many signs that my body... didn't fit perfectly, like it should." Flare understood that all too well. "That might be my story too Magenta."

Flare looked into the mirror once he noticed himself walking past it again. Surely enough, it was of a female version of himself. And he looked just like the drawing Snow made for him two weeks ago. Flare touched the mirror and felt at home with the reflection he saw. Now more than ever, the reflection spoke to him as the real him. And when he looked back at the page in the book, he saw right away that it was just like Magenta's story. It blew his mind when he saw it.

Flare looked back at his reflection, and then back at the book, repeating a couple times just to be extra sure. He could definitely see that this was the same side effect, but he couldn't go off of just one similarity. He had to make sure there was more than one sign in the book. "No need to rush into a conclusion after just one similarity. Maybe there are more stories I've repeated a beat from." Flare went back over to his bed, sitting down on it next to Princess Chocolate. The teddy bear was shown as he continued to look at every detail for every story.

Back where Rocky and the others were, Charm was still hunting the demon down by tracking it's blood from the path he found. Once he made sure he had a set path, he pointed ahead to where he thought the demon was. "He's that way. Let me know when I can rip his head off."

"Before we do that Charm..." Rocky chimed in, leaving Charm to look at him as he scratched his head and admitted to something. "I saw how tense you got earlier. I think we should talk about what happened."

Charm didn't have much of an argument, since part of his reason for coming was to talk to Rocky. Still; he had to wonder if now was really a good time for that. Rocky moving forward with him, Rex, and Vixey thankfully confirmed that they could do both. "When we're right on the track of the demon?"

"Not right this second. Just, when we have a free moment." Rocky explained, and then he elaborated on why he brought this up now, making sure to hold onto a holy water grenade just in case the demon came up. "I think I figured out why you haven't been able to talk about it lately too." Charm listened closely, and what Rocky said next couldn't have been more on point. "You aren't used to having these deep emotional conversations, are you."

Charm flinched when Rocky pointed out that struggle of his. He knew he couldn't deny it, since Rocky had been around him for almost a month now. Someone as observant as Rocky had to notice during that time. "I never learned, no. I grew up only doing evil deeds for pleasure, and for my duties." Vixey handed Rex some ear plugs so he could avoid butting in, which she did as well to make the conversation private. "So it's been hard for me to talk about these discoveries since I found out."

Rocky decided to go all in with one question that's been on his mind for a while. "You mean like your demon blood?" Charm nodded his head yes, and Rocky spoke up some more after Charm made sure they were still going on the right path. "Like I said. You don't have to tell me everything right now. Just, when we know for sure that we're safe from the demon."

Charm nodded in response, glad that Rocky was still respecting his decision. He decided to make that moment happen now and looked to Vixey to see if she could help. After nudging her, she took her ear plugs out and let him ask his question. "Do you have anything that can help us spot the demon without getting us caught?"

Vixen revealed a silent drone, relieving Charm as he brought up something else. "Okay good." Charm then rubbed his arm as he revealed something else from before. "Flare taught me empathy two weeks ago. During the lessons, I got overwhelmed. I can't explain what happened or why."

"Maybe us finally talking will help you figure that out." Rocky suggested, showing concern for Charm upon the vague mention of his panic attack. Rocky then pulled out a force field button, which led to Charm smiling at Rocky being prepared.

Flare was still reading the book at the lab, finding another similar beat in his story that applied to him as well. Actually, this was something that was present in quite a few of the book's stories. Flare's choice words made it clear that this was a recurring thing in the book. "I guess it'd make less sense if they didn't all have some kind of connection." Flare then looked back on when he wore that dress for the ceremony. He felt more at home in that dress than he ever did in any male clothing. The memory alone made him smile and he hugged Princess Chocolate in the present to show it.

Vixey set the drone to the exact settings that would be most beneficial and then sent it off to track down the demon. After the crew knew for sure it was doing its job, Charm looked to Rocky to make absolute sure he was up for doing this now. "You're sure you wish to do this during the day demon search? The demon could come for us at any time."

"We have these on for any possible issues." Rocky set up the force field, reminding Charm that he was prepared. "Trust me Charm. If I didn't think we'd be prepared enough, I wouldn't be doing this now." After hearing Rocky's points, Charm braced himself before signaling Vixey and Rex to cover their ears. After they put their ear plugs back in, Rocky made extra sure that Charm was ready for this. "You ready?" Charm nodded his head yes, feeling that he's held off for long enough now. "Then tell me every detail you can, and I'll be here if you start feeling too intense."

Charm started off with an expression that showed just how vulnerable and conflicted he was now before he told Rocky everything, starting from when he was born. Little did they know that Rex took his ear plugs out to listen in. "On the day I was born... Slash had me injected with demon blood." Charm handed Rocky Slash's journal and allowed him to start reading the beginning. "Doing this created the ruthless and violent part of me you know now." Rocky was horrified when he read how much this was affecting Charm. "An artificial sadism if you will."

Charm turned around, allowing Rocky to read some more as he kept speaking. "For the first four years of my life, he and Trickery were working to remove the humanity from my body entirely. Or at least my connection to it. He even convinced me at age four that I had to start killing in order to stay alive. One creature every month." Charm had immense disdain in his voice towards himself over how he believed Slash for so long. "What a fool I was. That lie was so obvious that Claw could figure it out in seconds."

Rocky didn't want Charm blaming himself alone for all of this. Not that he shouldn't be held accountable, but he knew Slash had a big part in this too. "You were tricked by your father Charm. And you were four. Puppies at that age don't question their guardians over anything."

"I should've been an exception!" Charm exclaimed as he turned around, informing Rocky of everything else he had to say in that moment. "If I had, I wouldn't have killed our mother, I wouldn't have tried to kill you or your friends, and I'd... actually be able to feel like a real child."

Rocky looked at another page in the book, and the context shocked him even more. He quickly contained himself to ask Charm about it. "Is that what Slash writing down 'They grow up so fast' was supposed to convey?"

Charm nodded his head yes, and Rex found himself being shocked as well. How far did this go? He kept listening as Charm continued to tell Rocky everything he knew. "I lost my connection to innocence after I killed our mother. Although I didn't realize it, I was losing the rest of what would've made me normal overtime. Empathy, remorse, and... feeling genuine love."

Rocky did his best to contain himself as he closed the journal and looked at Charm with clear emotion showing in his voice. "So this whole time, Slash and Trickery... they've been the ones molding you into who you are now?" Rocky clenched his free paw, which Charm, Rex, and Vixey noticed as Charm and Rex heard his vent. "I mean, I already knew Slash was involved, but the fact that he would do this to anyone is just... you didn't even..."

Rocky couldn't find the words to say, so Charm said it for him. "Get to be a child." Rocky looked at Charm, who expressed his desire to reconnect with his humanity and be a real child for once. His tone sounded more scared as he did. "You may fear becoming like Slash one day Rocky, but you've always had the choice to be like him, and you never took it. I was never given a choice. Slash was using me since birth; slowly beating away at my humanity, to the point where I couldn't even feel repentant about my actions even if I wanted to! And I DO want that Rocky! I just don't know how!"

Charm clenched both of his fists as his emotions started to rise more than he'd hoped for them to. Unbeknownst to him however, Charm became more intense, surprising the three as he started getting overwhelmed by his emotions. "Sometimes I start feeling like I can't be anything more than what Slash made me! Like I'm trapped being his puppet!" Rocky started to fear for Charm's well being as Charm clenched his chest with his right paw. "And now that I've been learning about how you do things, and I've been unlocking my lost emotions, I want to, but I-"

Charm then got too overwhelmed and fell to his knees, horrifying Rocky and scaring Rex and Vixey as Charm breathed uncomfortably. Not as hard as last time since he could talk this time, but still to a noticeable degree. "I! Can't! Do! It! Alone! I! Need! Help!"

Rocky knelt down to Charm in a desperate attempt to help him out of his panic attack with Charm's breathing continuing. He observed him closely and saw right away that these bottled up emotions overwhelmed him. This must have caused his last panic attack as well. "It's okay. You're okay." Charm continued to breathe heavily and put his other paw on the ground, leaving Rocky to give him the same advice Charm did. "Breathe slowly." Rocky then demonstrated, leading to Charm remembering when Flare gave him that advice as well.

Charm did as instructed, and this led to him releasing his chest after ten seconds. After three more seconds, he started to stand up with Rocky comforting him. "That's good. Just stay calm."

After Charm stood up, his breathing went back to normal, and he opened up about one more thing. "I don't want anyone to go through what I have Rocky. Whether it be as a demon, or as a canine... I don't want anyone else to lose themself to Slash's actions." He then looked at Rocky as he finished his statement. "Or to enable the demon blood ever again."

Rocky didn't want Charm to be trapped as what Slash made him. He saw that Charm wanted to atone. Rex couldn't help crying silently over what Slash did to Charm, and Vixey could tell it was a lot just by observing. Rocky and Charm then looked at each other in a caring way for the first time. It just felt right.

Flare was on the last of the seven stories in the book Tod got him; almost done with the book itself to be exact. When he reached this particular part of the story, he found himself getting engrossed again. "I think everything I've told you so far all comes back to the first sign I can recall." When Flare finished that sentence, he was stunned, and looked at Princess Chocolate to see for sure if he knew what this meant. "I gave my stuffed animal a female name." This led to Flare looking back on everything from the day he had Princess Chocolate in his possession.

Flare began having flashbacks to every moment from having Princess Positron to now, starting with giving Princess Positron her name at age two. He then looked to when he was trying on Margareth's makeup at age five, which slightly annoyed her since he did it without permission. The next flashback had him putting the daisy in his ear for the first time. After that, he was shown being playfully called out by Snow in regards to getting a female PupDonald's toy when he was sick.

After the PupDonald's toy flashback, he thought about when he was so happy wearing Skye's Princess outfit during Truth or Dare. That led to him remembering the time he wore the mage costume for the LARP over his original knight attire. Then, he thought about when he wore the dress for the ceremony, and how it felt much more comfortable than the tuxedo he was originally given. He then remembered the day he told Marshall, Chase, Rocky, and Zuma about his Gender Dysphoria. The last memory was Snow drawing him as the reflection he saw in the mirror.

Flare finally figured it out. After reflecting on all of those memories, he finally figured it out. He knew what he'd had on his mind lately. He read through the remainder of the last paragraph just to be sure, and he was right. Actually, about that bit, well... I think Flare should say. "I finally get it Princess Chocolate! The answer was right inside of me the whole time!" Flare closed the book right when... she, finished it, and looked at Princess Chocolate when finishing the statement. "I'm a girl in a boy's body!"

Back with Rocky and they others, they spotted the demon observing it's skin. Just before Charm jumped in, Rocky stopped him to tell him once again that he wanted to help. "If you feel you can handle those emotions better when we get back to Foxcadia, I'm all ears. Just, please; don't bottle them up. I want to help."

Charm nodded in response, being grateful for Rocky caring about his mental health. "Got it. Thanks." Charm then started sneaking up on the demon, taking out an iron knife to take it out with. As he was getting closer however, the demon noticed Charm as it observed a part of it's skin that put him right into it's sight. Charm acted quickly, slashing at the demon just as it teleported away. The demon slashed at Charm, only for Charm to duck and stab the demon right in the chest. The demon cried out in pain just before Charm stabbed it in the face and killed it.

Charm then ran back over to the others with Vixey making a call. "We can't risk any more demons coming after us! We have to head back!"

Just then however, two more demons arrived, and Rex was quick to point them out. "So long as we don't bring them with us!" The group made a run for it since Rex and Vixey would be at risk of getting infected. Rocky shot at one of the demon's and made it teleport before they made their way to Foxcadia. The demons continued chasing after the four with Rex getting his wheel caught in some mud, much to his fear, as well as the others once they noticed. "Guys! Help!"

Rocky, Charm, and Vixey became horrified at the sight of Rex being stuck with a demon tackling Vixey just as they noticed. Charm instantly went for that demon with Rocky going to help Rex. The demon scratched Vixey, but Charm was able to tackle him and then stab him right after, thus nullifying the infection. Rex wasn't so lucky however, as when Rocky went to help him... a demon scratched his side and sent him flying, much to Rocky's fear. "REX!" Rocky aimed his gun at the demon and shot at it, only for it to teleport away and attempt to attack Rocky again.

Rocky dodge rolled out of it's slash attack with Charm and Vixey aiming their guns at it the demon. It noticed just in time however and vanished again, jumping off now that it saw it was outnumbered. Rocky then lamented how he failed to see the demon's name. "Sorry guys! I couldn't get a good look at his chest!" Rocky, Charm, and Vixey went to go check on Rex, who was able to get up, despite the pain in his side. Rocky was the first to express his fear. "Rex! Not you too!"

Charm, who had grown to care about Rex after working with him for the past month, wished he'd done more to save him. "I should've gone to help you quicker. Then I could've stopped the demon from infecting you." Just then, a spark started forming inside of Charm as he kept speaking. "We should've been able to keep you AND Vixey from infection. If I hadn't-"

Just then, Charm realized what he was feeling right now. His genuine care for Rex, along with his loathe of being Slash's puppet, led to him feeling bad about having invited him. Unexpectedly, every awful thing Charm had done flashed forward. It could've been because he also had others under his control once. But this was more than with how he used to treat his army. He looked back on every death, every horrible deed, every immoral act he'd ever done; from before the alliance to... killing his mother.

He started thinking about that moment the most. The moment that started it all. It was the very moment he lost his innocence, and his disconnect with his humanity had begun. Every part of that moment hit him like a knife to the heart. The fact that he believed his father's lies; the fact that he traumatized Rocky; the fact that he did it so willingly... he had no excuse. Just like every other action, he had no excuse. It ate him up inside knowing that he'd done this horrible thing, and now despised the memory. He actually felt it. Getting Rex infected led to Charm finally feeling remorse.

One flash of remorse, led to many.

Rocky then snapped Charm out of it by shaking him, knowing that they had to get out of there. "Charm! We have to get back! We can't risk Vixey getting infected too!"

"R-right!" Charm responded, and then he saw Rex leaving and called out to him in desperation. "We're going to find that demon Rex! One way or another!"

"Thank you!" Rex called back, and then he pointed to Foxcadia, hoping the others would get back in time. "Now go!" Rocky and Charm ran off with Charm being stunned that this moment is what led him to feeling remorse. He didn't understand why it was popping up now, but he figured asking questions would be pointless. After all, if he didn't know why, then no one did.

Back at the lab, Flare was in her room with Marshall, and she'd just come out to him with the older Dalmatian responding casually to it. "You're, Transgender."

"Yes. That's right." Flare answered, knowing that this must be a big revelation for Marshall. Actually, it would be a big revelation for anyone who knew her for so long. "I know it must be a lot to take in. It's not every day you find out a family member was born as-"

Marshall suddenly hugged Flare and gave the biggest smile ever. It was clear that all he cared about regarding this was that Flare finally figured out what she had on her mind for the past two months. "I love you no matter what Flare. Nothing is going to change that." Flare felt beyond elevated at Marshall accepting her so easily. When Marshall pulled her away, he made it clear that he was ready to help her as much as he could. "I'll do everything I can to help you as much as possible."

Flare couldn't be more grateful. Once again, it was clear she had the best brother she could ever ask for. "Thank you Marshall. Thank you so much."

"Of course!" Marshall then hopped off of the bed, feeling that the others should know about this. "We should let the others know too."

Flare flinched before hopping off the bed and telling Marshall how she felt about this. "I agree Marshall, but I don't think now is a good time for that." Marshall stopped and listened to what Flare had to say. "We're still dealing with Slash's demon attacks right now. I think we should just tell the others that I figured it out, and wait until after we win to tell them every detail. When everyone's here." Flare then held Marshall's paw, letting him know how much she wanted to help the others first. "Saving our friends and the infected wolves is more important than my gender identity."

Marshall could tell that Flare was saying this not out of lack of self worth, but out understanding the priorities. he respected her decision, and decided to leave it there. "Not a problem. Hopefully I can avoid blabbing the specifics." Flare hugged Marshall, who wrapped his arms around her to grant his support again. Flare was still beyond happy to have Marshall for a brother. She knew that she could always count on Marshall to give as much help as she would to him.

Rocky and Charm were heading back to the lab with Vixey speaking up as she closed the gate for them. "My drone is still watching Rex. I'll keep an eye on him until he turns so we can properly identify him."

"Okay. Thanks Vixey." Rocky responded, despite knowing that they could identify Rex's demon without that. Rocky and Charm waved goodbye to Vixey on the way back. "Thanks for the help!" Rocky then started to express his desire to get Rex back. "I should inform Ryder that Rex has turned. Hopefully Slash is still in the area and we can-"

"Rocky?" Rocky looked at Charm, who braced himself to tell him the rest of what he wanted to say. This was actually in regards to something he told Rubble last week. "You were..." Despite choking, he managed to finish his sentence. "you were never too weak to be my brother." Charm then looked at Rocky, having a look of pure remorse and sadness on his face. "I was too weak to be yours."

Rocky was shocked to hear that as Charm then told Rocky everything he had to about what he was feeling in that moment. "I've done a lot of bad things Rocky. I've killed innocents, I've attacked towns and cities, I've tortured innocent canines... and all three of those things apply to all of you as well." Rocky listened some more as Charm expressed the respect he gained for Rex. "I always knew how awful my actions were, but I never once felt bad for them. But when my decision got Rex infected, the remorse Slash and Trickery beat out of me flooded back into my heart."

Charm then started listing off specific moments where he felt the most remorse out of all of them. "Using Claw, draining life from Adventure Bay, imprisoning innocent lives, including Everest, even trying to kill all of you multiple times." Charm then held back his tears for a bit, but they started falling down his cheeks as he told Rocky what he regretted most. "And among all of that, I began feeling repentant for killing our mother. She loved us unconditionally, and I... took her life. And I lost what I'm still trying to recapture."

Rocky started to tear up as well, seeing that Charm was being as genuine as he possibly could be while crying. "I told you I want to be my own canine, and I mean it. I want to learn to control my violent urges. At first, it was because I wanted to stop enabling my father's actions and make my own path. But as the alliance with you and the rest of the Paw Patrol continued, I realized I wanted what I told you before. To feel like a child, and to feel remorse for my actions. And after I regained the latter when Rex got infected... I realized another reason is that..."

Charm really hoped Rocky would believe his sincerity. "Deep down... I've always loved you."

Rocky couldn't help the tears flowing down his face. Not only was Charm's humanity suppressed by their father, but his love for his brother was as well. Charm could tell from this alone that Rocky believed him. He then revealed something else as he continued crying silently as well. "I want to talk to the others as well. Help you save your friends, perhaps even befriend the others, if possible." Charm wiped his eyes as he finished by admitting that he needed help. "I just can't do this on my own. I tried being empathetic with Rubble last week and I failed."

Rocky took Charm's paws and was revealed to be crying tears of joy as he offered him his help. "I'll help you in every way I can."

That statement meant the world to Charm It was clear as day to Rocky who Charm has changed into. He still had the reputation of being a ruthless sadist before. But now... he was a conflicted and lost soul who was trying to find his lost humanity... after his father and fake friend beat his ability to feel innocence and remorse out of him. This was all Rocky needed to know for sure that Charm could be helped. And that perhaps... he himself would never end up like Slash.

Rocky hugged Charm suddenly, which led to Charm wrapping his arms around his older brother. The two brothers cried silently together while smiling, starting an official kinship.

Charm never knew he wanted this until recently. And Rocky saw his new desire as well. After learning the truth, and spending time with the Paw Patrol... Charm wanted to feel loved; to have genuine bonds; to be valued for something other than an artificially made part of him. And now, it was clear what the brothers were going to do together.

They had to stop Slash.

To be continued.

Rock music played as Flare started speaking in regards to what was going to happen with specific moments from the next chapter being shown. "Huh? What's this. I didn't know Charm had a journal. Hold on. Is this a song? Oh my God! All of this has really been happening to Charm!? Slash is beyond disgusting! What kind of psycho freak would use their own newborn for evil!? Okay, it's settled! Alongside saving my friends and the turned wolves, I'm gonna help Charm make living his life his own choice!"

Flare finished the announcement with the words Paw Patrol in all blue with red outlines surrounded with a white border with Flare on the right, and Marshall on the left. "Next time, The Blood of a Demon! (Flare and Marshall are shown on patrol in a specific area with Flare looking for something) "It's Charm's choice darn it! To change his ways is Charm's choice alone!"