Story Title - A Dying Ember
Rating - T
Genre - Tragedy
Main Characters - Marshall, Chase
Description - Marshall is having horrible nightmares of his best friend passing away, and a weird feeling is giving him the idea that the events in his nightmares might happen in life. His friend insists he just needs to take a break, but tragedy strikes when he is proven correct.
A Dalmatian was rushing toward the scene of a burning building in his truck, preparing to run inside immediately upon arrival. When he got there, he slammed onto his truck's brakes and hopped out before it even fully stopped and began running toward the building. Disappearing into the smoke as the rest of the PAW Patrol arrived.
He entered room after room as the building around him crumbled, filled with the determination to save someone in particular, but he was finding nothing but empty rooms filled with ash and smoke.
Eventually, he went through a door near the end of one of the many hallways and finally found what seemed to be a meeting room. On the floor near him lay what he had been searching for - a German Shepherd, covered in ash and coughing from the smoke. The Dalmatian quickly helped them up and began leading them out of the building.
Please be fine! Please be fine! Marshall mentally begged as he led the shepherd through the building. The shepherd soon fell unconscious, but the Dalmatian wasn't going to leave them behind, deciding to lift them and carry them the rest of the way out.
He soon got them out of the building to the safety of the outside, seeing all his friends standing around, staring at him. The dalmatian then laid the ash-covered canine down on the ground and felt for a pulse...
Nothing.
Marshall jumped up from his bed, breathing heavily, he looked at the clock next to him, '6:28'. Marshall sighed and decided to go ahead and get up as Chase would wake everyone up in a couple minutes anyway.
Marshall stood up and stretched before opening the door to his puphouse and leaving, already seeing Chase leaving the lookout in his uniform and puppack. Chase called out his megaphone as he noticed Marshall leaving his bright red puphouse.
"Oh, hey Marshall. You're up early, aren't you." Chase greeted the Dalmatian, he then noticed the expression on Marshall's face.
"Yeah." Marshall responded, Chase could tell something was clearly wrong with his best friend.
"Another nightmare, huh?" Chase asked, Marshall stood there in silence for a moment before answering.
"Yeah...it was the same one as last time." Marshall replied, lowering his head as he spoke. Chase sighed as he shook his head. Marshall had been getting nightmares for a couple weeks now, constantly telling him and Ryder about him having trouble sleeping.
"Marshall, you need a break or something. Constantly working 24/7 has caused problems for you, you need to take a vacation and relax. I know that's a bit hypocritical for me of all people to say, but it's the truth." Chase told his friend, getting worried and concerned for his friends mental state.
"I know, but what if something happens while I'm on break? None of the others are trained to deal with fires. And only Everest has medical training, but she's all the way up on the mountain." Marshall responded, concerned that if he does take a break, something would happen that only he could deal with, which could result in lives being lost.
"Marshall, Ryder has the robopups for that exact reason; they can do our jobs temporarily while we take a vacation. They may not be as good at it as we are, but they can do it well enough until we can return." Chase reminded him, trying his best to convince Marshall.
Marshall looked up at him and thought about what he said; he still wanted to help out around the town, but Chase was right - he did need a vacation or something.
"Alright, fine. I'll tell Ryder when he wakes up that I'm taking a break." Marshall relented, agreeing to take a short vacation, which made Chase smile.
"Thanks Marshall, I'm sure It'll help you a ton when you return." Chase said, happy for Marshall.
Marshall looked through the lookout door and saw a clock on the wall that said '6:31'. Marshall looked back at Chase and smiled. "You should probably wake up the others." Marshall said to him while gesturing to the clock.
Chase looked at the clock, then the puphouses, then back at Marshall. "Alright, Brandmeister. I'll be sure to get on that." Chase responded before heading closer to the puphouses.
Marshall turned and trotted inside the lookout, making his way to the kitchen. As the doors to the lookout closed behind him, he heard Chase yell through the megaphone; Waking up not only all the other pups, but also Ryder in the process. He then sat down in front of his food bowl as he waited for Ryder. Alone, but not for long, as he heard the lookout doors open and the sound of a bunch of annoyed footsteps making their way toward the kitchen. All the other pups sat in front of their respective food bowls just as Ryder entered the kitchen and began filling up their bowls.
"I swear, I'm going to go deaf eventually thanks to that megaphone." Skye complained, growing to despise the megaphone that the shepherd carried. Marshall then leaned over to Chase and began whispering something to the shepherd.
"I think you might need to change your wakeup routine, Skye doesn't seem to like it very much." Marshall whispered to him, quiet enough so the others didn't hear.
"Ya think?" Chase whispered back in a sarcastic tone, glancing over at Skye. Ryder then finished filling up their food bowls and told the pups to eat up, which they were more then happy to do.
As they ate, something wouldn't leave Marshall's mind. Something about the nightmare he had felt...off, like it was some sort of premonition. Which made him worry, since he couldn't bare the event actually happening. Chase noticed this, but decided not to bring it up in front of the other pups. They soon finished eating and all began heading out of the kitchen. Once Chase and Marshall got into the living room, Chase pulled the Dalmatian aside to speak with him.
"Marshall, are you absolutely positive you're fine? You're acting strange, this isn't normal for you! You're normally the fun and clumsy one, but you've been strangely silent and serious for the last couple days." Chase asked, pointing out the strange ways Marshall was acting recently.
"Honestly, I dunno. I keep having this weird feeling, like something bad is going to happen." Marshall replied, lowering his head as he spoke.
Chase shook his head and sighed before responding. "Marshall, don't worry, nothing bad is going to happen. You really need this break, Ryder is over there." Chase told him, raising his paw and pointing at Ryder. Marshall glanced up at the shepherd before walking off to Ryder, with Chase watching from a distance.
"Hey Ryder, I need to inform you of something." Marshall told his owner. Ryder finished making himself a cup of coffee to help wake him up before turning to the Dalmatian.
"Hey Marshall, what is it?" Ryder asked, leaning against the counter as he took a sip of his coffee.
"I'm going to take a break from missions for a couple days, as I've been overworking myself recently, and really need a break." Marshall informed his owner, glancing over at Chase, who gave him a smile before walking away.
"Alright, I'll get one of the robopups to take over in the meantime. Go enjoy your break Marshall." Ryder said, waving to the Dalmatian as he took another sip of coffee.
"Thanks Ryder! I will." Marshall thanked his owner before leaving the room, heading for the exit of the lookout to join the other pups in playing whatever game they chose that day. Most likely freeze tag, as that was their favorite game to play outside.
Upon exiting the lookout, he saw Chase chasing Zuma around the yard, with Skye, Rocky, and Rubble already frozen. Wow, Chase was just inside only a moment ago, how did he already catch everyone? Marshall asked himself, constantly surprised by how good Chase was at, well, chasing people.
"Get back here Zuma!" Chase yelled to the Labrador, slowly catching up to him as he was slightly faster.
"Never!" Zuma yelled back, trying to run as fast as he could as to not get caught and lose the game.
"You can't outrun me forever!" Chase told him. Zuma knew the shepherd was right, Chase was faster then them all. Zuma's only hope to win was to be able to run long enough to exhaust the shepherd.
Marshall watched as Chase got closer, and closer to the Labrador, as Zuma turned toward Rocky and began running to unfreeze him. Unfortunately, he wasn't fast enough, and Chase caught him before he made it to the mixed breed. Both Chase and Zuma tumbled on the ground from impacting at such a high speed, and once they were motionless, Marshall walked over to them, just as Skye, Rocky, and Rubble also trotted over to the two canines.
"You two okay?" Marshall asked them, a bit concerned as Chase was clearly a little dazed from hitting the ground.
"Y-Yeah, perfectly f-fine." Chase replied, struggling to stand up properly as his head was slightly spinning from the impact.
"N-No! My head is killing me!" Zuma replied, holding one of his paws on his head, trying to hold his head still.
"I think you two may need to take a short break from playing for a bit." Rocky pointed out, approaching them with Skye and Rubble following.
"Listen, I-I'm fine. I can still play." Chase responded, insisting that he was fine. Marshall, as the medic, then decided to step in.
"I agree with Rocky, Chase. You could've gotten a concussion from that." Marshall told him. Chase took Marshall telling him much more seriously, as Marshall was normally always right when he suspected someone was injured. Chase finally gave in and began walking off, toward his puphouse.
Marshall and Rocky then turned to Zuma, who unlike Chase, was more then happy to take a break. Before Zuma walked off, Marshall stopped him and asked if he was alright, as he did complain that his head was killing him. Zuma insisted that he was alright, and that it was probably just a mild concussion or something. If it was, it wouldn't be the first time he's gotten one. Marshall relented and let him go off, after Zuma said he was going to go lay down so his head would stop spinning. Skye and Rubble then asked if Marshall wanted to join the three of them, since they had just temporarily lost two players, which Marshall happily accepted.
As the four of them continued to play freeze tag, Chase was in his puphouse, getting ready to leave later to visit the town hall with Ryder to attend an important meeting. All the mayors of the neighboring towns and cities would be present, including Mayor Goodway and Mayor Humdinger. He knew he probably should be resting after impacting the ground so hard, but being the stubborn pup that he was, he decided to just brush it off and not let it disturb his duties.
He eventually got his tuxedo on and left his puphouse, still a bit dazed, and entered the lookout. He then went to the kitchen, where Ryder was sitting down, finishing his morning coffee.
"Hey Chase, you ready to go?" Ryder asked the shepherd, wondering if he was finally ready to leave for the meeting at town hall.
"Yes sir, just waiting for you now." Chase replied, Ryder then finished his coffee and stood up.
"Alright, let me go get my suit and then we can leave. Go ahead and meet me in the garage." Ryder told the shepherd. Chase nodded before leaving and heading for the garage, as Ryder instructed, while Ryder left the kitchen and went to the elevator to get his suit from his room before they left.
Meanwhile, outside the lookout. Marshall, Rocky, Skye, and Rubble were all playing freeze tag still. With Marshall clearly winning, as he was now the fastest pup still playing after Zuma left the game and Marshall instructed Chase to take a break from it, before he hurt himself even more. Skye and Rubble were already frozen, while Rocky was still running away from Marshall. But the Dalmatian was catching up fast, and Rocky knew he'd be caught soon, so he ran over to Skye and tagged her, unfreezing her. Soon after, Rocky got caught by Marshall, and he was about to catch Skye, when they all stopped for a moment upon seeing Ryder and Chase leaving the lookout and heading toward the town itself.
"Where are they going? We didn't get called to a mission." Rocky asked, confused why they were leaving when no mission was taking place.
"Maybe they're going to get some more supplies or something? We could be running low on dog food maybe." Skye suggested.
"He got another bag of food only a couple days ago. It has to be something else, there's no way we ate all of it in like two or three days." Rocky pointed out, Skye then glanced back at him and pointed to Rubble.
"You really think Rubble wouldn't be able to go through an entire bag that quick?" Skye said.
"Hey! I didn't!" Rubble protested, which the others responded by silently laughing while Skye rolled her eyes.
"Sure you wouldn't." Skye said before also laughing. Rubble lowered his head before the others stopped laughing and assured him they were only joking. They then continued playing, forgetting that Ryder and Chase had even left.
20 minutes later...
At the town hall, with Ryder and Chase
Ryder and Chase pulled up in front of town hall, where they both saw a bunch of high end vehicles parked outside, likely belonging to the other mayors from the neighboring towns. Ryder parked in one of the few free spots still open, before both him and Chase hopped out and entered the building in front of them.
As they walked through the halls, on the way to the meeting room, they encountered Mayor Humdinger. Chase didn't like Humdinger very much, which was obvious as he growled at the Mayor upon seeing him. Ryder got Chase to calm down before speaking to Mayor Humdinger, while Chase stood back, listening to them in silence.
How is Ryder always so calm with these people? Why is he so nice to them when they do nothing but cause trouble for Adventure Bay. Chase asked himself, not understanding how his owner is so nice and calm to everyone, even their enemies.
Ryder and Humdinger soon finished speaking about whatever it was they discussing and the three of them continued making their way to the meeting room. As they left however, Humdinger "accidentally" knocked over a candle stick, which then rolled on the ground toward a large curtain, going completely unnoticed by the three of them as they left the room.
A few minutes later, they arrived at the meeting room, with Humdinger taking a seat near the end of the table. And Ryder taking a seat near the middle, with Chase hopping into the chair next to him. The meeting then began, but Chase couldn't focus on what was being said, as he was focused on a weird smell that was slowly filling the building.
Is that smoke!?
Back at the lookout, with Marshall
Marshall, Skye, Rocky, and Rubble were still playing in the yard, with Zuma deciding to watch from a distance. This game had been going on for quite a while now when they all stopped as they heard Ryder's voice over all their puptags.
"Pups, I need all you at the town hall! Immediately!" Ryder told them, clearly coughing a lot between almost every word. The way he sounded worried all the pups, as something was clearly wrong.
"Yes sir!" They said as they ran and hopped into their respective vehicles, speeding out of the parking lot and straight over the bridge, on the way to town hall.
As Marshall drove through the town of Adventure Bay, he heard chatter from the Fire Department over the radio. From this, he overheard that there was a large fire that had consumed town hall, and that they had been able to save the Mayor's, but someone was still stuck in the flames. Then it clicked for him.
The nightmare I had earlier. It wasn't just a nightmare, it was a premonition! Marshall realized. He then stepped on the gas, determined to not let his nightmare become reality. Marshall was now going at a dangerous speed, rushing toward the scene with his lights on.
Marshall soon arrived at the town hall, already consumed by flames and smoke raising from the building, and slammed on the brakes, hopping out of his truck before it even came to a full stop. He then threw on his mask and oxygen tank before running inside the building, disappearing into the smoke as all the other pups arrived on scene.
Marshall entered every room he could find, searching for his best friend as the building around him collapsed from the fire. But all he was finding were empty rooms, filled with ash and rubble.
Eventually, he went through a door near the end of one of the many hallways and finally found what seemed to be a meeting room. On the floor near him lay what he had been searching for - His best friend, Chase. He ran over and began helping the shepherd up, who was coughing and struggling to stay conscious. Marshall began leading his friend to the exit, internally hoping that Chase would survive. As they entered the hallway, it was clear that Chase couldn't stay awake much longer due to inhaling all the smoke, so Marshall decided to make a very risky decision. He took off his mask and put it on Chase, hoping it'd give him enough time to get the shepherd outside of the building.
Marshall soon entered the main lobby of the building, when Chase collapsed onto the ground, too weak from the fire to continue running on his own. Marshall ran back and grab the shepherd, deciding to carry him the rest of the way out.
C'mon, don't die on me Chase! We're so close to getting out! Marshall thought to himself, being able to see the exit a dozen meters away. They soon managed to leave the burning building, just as one of the main supports collapsed. Marhsall laid the now ash-covered canine onto the ground as all his friends stared at him. He then felt for a pulse, but just as his nightmare predicted,
There was nothing.
A couple years later...
A grown Dalmatian was walking through a graveyard, holding a blue bouquet of flowers and approaching a certain grave that sat at the end of a dirt path. As he passed by the many other graves beside the path, he closed his eyes and remembered the events that had taken place a couple years before. He then opened his eyes and saw the monument to his friend, a stone statue of the german shepherd, giving him a wide smile. Marshall looked down and saw the shepherd's puptag, with text underneath it.
"Chase Schäfer - Member of the PAW Patrol"
Marshall shed a tear as he laid the bouquet at the grave, wishing he could still be with the person he not only called his best friend, but his brother.
"Chase, wherever you are now, I hope you're happy there. Things have been...rough, since what happened on that day. I've been trying to do my best as the new second-in-command, and It's going well now. But, honestly, I still ain't as good as you were." Marshall said, hoping that maybe the shepherd could hear him in the afterlife. "I've been making sure to take the occasional break, just as you always insisted I do. And you were right, It definitely does help to just rest every once in a while. Anyways, I should probably get back before Everest worries about me, bye brother." Marshall finshed, before turning and walking away.
Unknown to the Dalmatian, his brother was listening to him from beyond the grave, smiling as he watched from a distance.
Bye brother.
This is the end of the first story.
This was the first version of A Dying Ember that I planned to write before I changed it from a tragic event to Hurt/comfort. As at the time, I didn't feel as if I was ready to write about such a topic.
Feel free to tell me any ideas for a one-shot you'd like me to write via review or PM, and I may add them here. Anyway, until the next update, bye everyone!
-König der Könige