Hello all! We are at the end of the road! This was fun little mini project to work on, and while I still need work in writing these types of stories, I'm happy with this one.

Anyways, please enjoy! I own nothing, per usual.

Conqueror

Chapter 5

"Just have a little faith in me, okay?"

Rocky was worried- Zuma was constantly mentioning something about him, and besides what he sort of told him, Rocky was clueless. And what on earth was Everest doing?!

'Maybe... maybe it really is Death that scares him. But shouldn't death scare everyone? Well, it doesn't scare me- its not like we're dying anytime soon, right? But then... did I really die in his nightmare? Did it really have something to do with what happened that night? Why can't he just say so already?!'

"Zuma, what about Rocky?" she asked. "Did something bad happen to him? What are you seeing?"

Zuma's eyes fell completely closed as Everest continued to rub his side and belly. Rocky stared at his face- Zuma looked so peaceful now, surely he wouldn't be having any more-

"N-Nrgh… W-Wocky…" Rocky chewed his bottom lip, the urge to shake Zuma awake bubbling within his gut. He reached out to do just that, but Everest put her paw out to stop him, still rubbing his side and belly.

Rocky growled under his breath- he loved Everest, she was more or less like a motherly figure in a tiny pup body sometimes, but other times- like now- she could be so annoying! 'Everest... I'm trying to not be annoyed, but we need to help him NOW! Oh Zuma, I guess I must've spoken too soon... but he didn't want to sleep before, so why would that be different now.'

"What's happening?" Everest asked again, a little louder. Zuma let out a low moan, his face slowly twisting in pain. The other pups watched, their expressions varying from sadness to worry to guilt. It didn't take long for that feeling to multiply ten fold.

"... I... n-no, W-Wocky… s-stop..." he breathed. "P-Please... c-can't... breathe..."

Everest frowned- that sounded bad. Really bad. "Zuma?" she asked more urgently. "What's happening? What about Rocky? Is he hurt? What's going on?"

The chocolate lab's chest picked up as his breathing increased. Everest realized that Zuma was actually being drawn into his nightmare from before, and was beginning to question if her idea was the right one. But she wasn't ready to give up yet. Seeing Zuma's paw twitch gave her a new idea, one that she hoped would snap her poor friend out of it.

"Rocky, listen." she instructed softly. "Take Zuma's paw and don't let it go."

He mentally rolled his eyes and scoffed under his breath. 'Seriously didn't need you to tell me that, but... fine, Everest. Fine.'

Once he did, he ignored any annoyance or dissatisfaction he had against Everest. Zuma was gripping his paw kind of tight... a bit TOO tight, but he would do anything for his friend. Rocky was worried all over again. "Zuma..."

"Zuma? Zuma, stay with me." Everest moved her paw to his head, slowly rubbing circles. She had one more chance, and after that, she would have to wake him before his nightmare gave him a heart attack or something. "We're right here. Rocky's holding your paw. Breathe, Zuma. Tell me what's going on."

"I-I'm... so'y… Wocky, d-don't..." Zuma was growing more and more unsettled, his chest rapidly rising as he began gasping for air. Everest looked at her friends, then back down at Zuma. That was enough. He needed to wake up.

"Zuma? Zuma! It's okay, Rocky's okay!" she cried, lightly slapping his cheeks. "Come on, open your eyes! Wake up!"

Try as he might, Zuma was far too trapped into his nightmare to hear anyone. All he could see was water, dark, murky and filling his lungs. It tasted like blood, like licking a metal pole or something. All he could feel was the icy grip of his once alive best friend dragging him deeper into those depths, taking away his oxygen, his life. He was running of energy.

'W-Wocky… stop! Please! I can't breathe... I can't... b-breathe...'

"No... Wocky, don't... do't do t-this...! Wocky!" Zuma cried out. Chase and Marshall were over in an instant, trying to help Zuma wake up. Rocky pulled away and walked off, so angry his body was shaking. Skye and Rubble looked at each other, unsure of what to do but be there for their friends. Rubble went over to Rocky, and Skye went over to help Zuma wake up.

"Darn it, Everest!" Rocky was frustrated, tired and wanted to give up and go to sleep. "Why did you decide to do this?! Zuma's already gone through this before, what good was it to put him through it AGAIN?!"

Rubble sat down next to him, looking at his friend with a very concerned expression. "Rocky, don't be mad at her. She was just trying to help."

"How in the world is she helping, Rubble?!" Rocky yelled. "Thanks to her, he's reliving it all over again! What kind of plan was that?! We're supposed to make him feel better, but we're HURTING him!"

Rubble stared at Rocky, letting him vent and not saying a word. Eventually, Rocky glanced over his shoulders at the others trying to wake Zuma up and felt guilty. His ears lowered and his body sagged.

"What did I do... I'm the reason why he's suffering like this...?" he thought sadly, mostly to himself. Rubble felt disappointed Rocky was beating himself up so much, and placed a paw on his shoulder.

"Hey, come on Rocky. It's not your fault and you know it."

"... I... I don't... know..." Rocky whispered. "Maybe Everest... knew what she was doing. I don't know why I was so angry at her, either. I don't understand this!"

Jerking his head over to their friends, Rubble smiled. "Come on, Rocky. We can help Zuma together, but we need you, too."

Rocky nodded, still uncertain and a little uneasy, but knew Rubble was right. Zuma needed him, he needed all of them. Together, the two pups went over to Zuma, and Rocky took a deep breath. 'For Zuma... we'll make it better for you.'

"Zuma, wake up. It's me, it's Rocky." Rocky gently shook his best friend awake. "Wake up! Zuma! Zuma, please!"

Orange-ish eyes finally snapped open, and the little pup sat up, his chest heaving as he finally began to get a grip on the reality around him. His head was all over the place, and his chest and throat felt tight as he struggled to inhale air.

'So weal... all of it... my chest huwts...Wocky... why was it you? Why was it you?'

"Zuma! It's okay, you're awake! Breathe!"

"Come on, Zuma! You've gotta breathe, man!"

Gasping for air, small paws grasped at his chest. This version of his nightmare was too, too real, worse than any of them. He felt that icy water all around him, seeping in his skin, flowing in his lungs, killing him like he killed Rocky-

"ZUMA!" Rocky yelled as loudly as possible. It seemed to work, as slowly, the rescue pup focused on Rocky- Rocky was alive. He knew this, he felt it, but his head was taking so long to register it! His breathing took its time to return to normal, and his head felt less fuzzy and confused.

He was awake. He was home, safe and warm in the Lookout. His friends, all of them, they were here.

"G-Guys..." Zuma quietly mumbled. Seven worried faces looked back at him, surrounding him, being there, but... Rocky... he...

"Wocky…is t-that... you?" Relieved that Zuma was finally with them, Rocky nodded. "Y-Yeah... I'm here. We're here."

"... I don't... feel good..." Zuma whimpered as he laid back and curled into a ball. His paws wrapped around his stomach as he tried once again to calm himself down. "My stomach huwts…"

"Oh, Zuma..." Everest sadly whispered. She brushed Zuma's forehead. He felt a bit sweaty, and he was shaking as well. "It's okay, you're okay. But... we need to talk. You know that, right?"

Zuma nodded and curled tighter. Of course they wanted to know- he just freaked out for a second time tonight. He was ruining the sleepover, majorly, and felt terrible about it. Everest felt pretty guilty for putting the pup through the whole ordeal, especially seeing what it took just to wake him up, and the others were just lost on what to feel or do.

"Come on, Zuma." Chase encouraged. "Everest is right. You should talk to us, please. What's wrong?"

For a moment, Zuma didn't say a word. He stared into space, his head a jumbled mess. What was he supposed to say? How was supposed to say it? What if things didn't get better? What if things never got better?

"Zuma..." Rocky laid down next to him, nudging him a little. Zuma looked up at him, wet-eyed and a bit disoriented.

"Please. I know you didn't want to talk earlier, but now... we really need to know what's been happening. You saw me, in your nightmare. Why? What did I do?"

Zuma whined quietly- 'Wemember, Wocky's alive. Just... just fowget about it. They'we hewe, evewyone's hewe… it's over... tell them. Tell them, Zuma!'

"...b-blood... thewe was... so much of it..." he muttered. Rocky blinked- did he just say blood? Like, real, red, icky blood? 'Why on earth... did he... see that?'

"Blood? Why? Did Rocky get hurt?" Everest pressed on. "How did that happen?"

"Because of ME! How else would he have died?! Wocky was DEAD because he saved ME!" Zuma finally exploded. There, he said it. It was done. He couldn't take it back. It was real, out in the open.

No one, not even Everest, expected to hear that at all. She was dumbfounded, and didn't know what to say. Chase and Marshall glanced at one another, Skye had her paw covering her mouth as tears ran down her face, and Rubble and Tracker were sitting there, grim and upset but quiet. Zuma was hyperventaliting, his paw cluching at his chest. Rocky was frozen to the spot.

'D-Dead... blood... I was... dead? But how? Why? Zuma, what was going though your head?' Rocky asked himself. He tried to reach out to his best friend, tried to comfort him like he did before, but Zuma let out a weird sound and shyed away from him.

"Zuma..." 'Great, now he's scared of me?'

"I... I twied to run..." he shakily explained, his eyes watering for what he felt was the tenth time already. He didn't move from his curled up position on the pillow, and was grateful that everyone was there right now- compared to earlier, he didn't want to be alone. "I didn't want to die, b-but I let Wocky d-die and... I twied to..."

"Zuma, where did the blood come from?" Everest wondered. "How did Rocky die because of you?"

"I... t-the... " Zuma did not want to think about the actual cause of death- that was far too graphic to explain again. Chase smiled sadly and placed his paw on Zuma's head.

"Take your time, Zuma." Chase gently whispered. He was feeling sick to his own stomach- had he ever really thought about any of his friends dying before? What would he have done if he'd lost Ryder? Marshall? Rocky? Skye? Any of them? 'What... seriously, how did he do this long, holding this in? He put on such a good act, but how...? How?'

Zuma closed his eyes, focusing on the feel of Rocky and Chase's paws on his fur. 'They're hewe. This isn't a dweam, it's weal...'

"It... was after that... accident..." he finally whispered. "I... k-kept having... n-nightmawes… a-and it... it had you in it, Wocky."

"Why?" Rocky got his voice to work. "Why me?"

"B-Because I knew... he came to save me. When I... dwowned…I knew it was him..." Zuma opened his eyes and looked at Rocky. "I was always... in this lake... and... W-Wocky, he..." He swallowed the urge to vomit and looked down at his paws.

"Zuma, please... please." Rocky begged him, nuzzling his head once again. "I don't know what happening to you, and I know you've been fighting this nightmare, or nightmares or whichever, I can't even tell! I just..." He wiped his eyes.

"I'm losing you, Zuma. I'm scared, we're worried, and you're hurting! Just talk to us! Please!"

"I can't! Can't you undewstand that?! I NEVER wanted to talk about it, but you keep making me!" Zuma cried. He tugged on his eyes and shut his eyes tight. "I don't want to make it weal, I-I LOST you, Wocky! I saw you, you were dead and bloody and I... I dwowned... I couldn't... save you, Wocky…"

"Z-Zuma?" Marshall's voice piped up. He was red-eyed from all the crying he was doing for his friend, but he was mostly appalled- he'd had nightmares before, but never something so graphic and... serious. "I-I know... that nightmare, any nightmare... it can be scary. And while I've never had something so... sick and completely horrifying before, I know that talking to someone helps. It gets it out of your head, you know?"

"He's right, Zuma." Rubble agreed. "Sometimes I have them too and they can be so scary! But then I talk to Ryder and sometimes you guys and I feel much better! It doesn't seem as scary when someone is with you, you know? Especially when they give you treats!" Rubble rubbed his stomach and chuckled, earning some small chuckles from Rocky, Chase, Marshall and Skye.

"Same here." Chase smiled. "I... I've had them too. And it can really scare you to death, mess with your head. Trust me, I'm talking from experience. If you keep it in, hold on to it too long, it seems like it's real, like it can't go away and you're just stuck with it until you magically forget about it. But the truth is... you never forget. It just sits quietly in your head until it wants to come back and haunt you."

Rocky listened to everyone's input, thinking to himself. 'I knew after that night, after we both barely made it... I should've checked on him. Yeah, we've all had nightmares, and usually we talk about it with someone else, or Ryder helps us through it. But this is not just something about spiders or water or doctors- Zuma thought I'd died! Even though he'd seen me so may times after... that's what scares him? That's so serious! He blames himself for an accident he had no control over! How do you even help someone with that?'

Everest places a paw on Zuma's shoulder. "See? We all had nightmares, and no matter how small or how scary it is, we talk to someone because it makes coping or facing it easier. It helps you understand it, and then, once you see its just a bad dream, you can let it go."

Zuma was listening to everyone's stories. He knew they had a point, but it was still hard to open up about it. 'I know they'we wight. I know I need to say this. But... what if...'

"Hey, Zuma?" Rocky held out his paw to him.

"Would... you feel better if you held my paw? I promise you, that nightmare is not real. I'm right here, okay?"

Zuma slowly reached for it. He felt it- the warmth seeping from Rocky's paw to his own, the soft padding of his underpaw. 'He's alive... I feel it. His paw, it's not all wet and- stop it, Zuma, stop it! He's alive. He's alive, Zuma...'

"I... I was near this... this lake..." Zuma started again, keeping his attention on Rocky's warm paw. "It was dawk, but I was still able to see. I didn't know where I was or where I needed to go, so... I tried to make my way back."

Rocky felt Zuma squeeze his paw a little, but stayed next to him. Zuma took a deep breath and kept going. "I walked for a little while, until I stepped in... in something... wet. It felt sticky, and I... I don't know why, but I... I thought about chewwy pie and twied to get it off. That's when I wan to the lake to wash it off."

He stopped, grimacing as he remembered the part he was really trying not to. "When I... looked down, I-I saw Wocky… but... he was... dead. His face... was missing an eye, and he..."

Rocky was feeling sick to his stomach as he tried to imagine what that must've been like. "H-He rose out of the water, and... h-half... his body... was ripped away... gone. T-Thewe was b-blood dwipping into the water, and he dwagged me under the diwty, icy water, to that ship... and I couldn't... get away..."

Zuma wiped his eyes. "I was tewwified. I didn't... I couldn't... do anything to help him. Wocky was dead, and it was my fault he died... I never should have went under to that ship..."

The other pups didn't know what to say, and there was not a dry eye in the room. Everest had her paw over her mouth, still trying to figure out how to comfort someone who had such a violent dream. Rocky was shaking a little, angry at himself and the others for never coming to Zuma to talk about this sooner, but forcing himself to remain calm for his sake.

"Zuma... you know that wasn't your fault, right?" Rocky whispered to him, never letting go. He moved closer and hugged him tight. "It wasn't your fault. I had to save you. I didn't want you to die, either."

"B-But... I... I lost you... evewy nightmawe I had, y-you died! I kept losing you, Wocky, and I... I didn't... know what to do..." Zuma sobbed in his chest. Rocky ignored everyone else in the room and focused on Zuma.

"You did the right thing, telling us. You don't have to hold onto it anymore." Rocky's face was wet with tears. "I don't blame you for anything. I never blamed you for that night, for anything. It wasn't your fault, you understand? If it wasn't for you, we would have failed our mission and lost that baby merpup. You didn't do anything wrong, you hear me? You did nothing wrong."

"Then... then why do I feel like I failed?!" Zuma blubbered. "I can't stop it and it huwts and I lost you, Wocky! I did something stupid and you DIED because of me! How is that not bad?!"

Before Rocky could answer, Everest interjected. "Zuma?"

The little pup looked at her. "Rocky's right. There was no way, no way at all, that any of you could have seen that happening. You didn't realize that you were limited, you didn't know that would happen, it was new to you. All of it. Rocky did what he did to save a friend, to save YOU."

"I-I know, but-"

"He's here now, right? Rocky's alive and right next to you, right?"

Zuma nodded. She smiled. "Now do me a favor. Close your eyes."

Rocky once again opened his mouth to protest, but as Zuma did as requested, he decided to let her handle it. He didn't know what else he could say, anyways. She looked at Rocky.

"Rocky, can you lay with Zuma for tonight? You can get under your blankets, but don't let him break contact with you."

Rocky was very confused, but did as requested. He laid Zuma down on the pillows first before laying next to him and pulling him as close as they both could manage. Chase helped Everest pull both of their blankets over them.

"Pups, you get under your blankets, too. I think we all need to get some sleep tonight." Everest said, tugging her pillow over to Rocky and Zuma. Marshall let out a yawn as he, Skye, Tracker, Rubble and Chase all laid under their blankets and settled in, curious as to what Everest was going to do, and mostly just tired from all the talking and crying.

"Okay, Zuma. You still awake?" Zuma nodded, but he was starting to grow a little drowsy- just like earlier in his puphouse, Rocky was still warm and soft to sleep against.

"Alright. Then I want you to listen to Rocky for a moment. Listen to his breathing. Do you hear it?"

'Has Everest gone insane? Why on earth would she have him do something so weird?' Rocky was beginning to realize he needed to stop asking questions and just go with it. He laid his head down and closed his eyes, exhausted.

'This was one long night, but... Zuma doesn't feel tense anymore. Whatever Everest was doing, whatever she's doing now... it worked. Zuma finally opened up. In the morning, once we tell Ryder... we can put a rest to that nightmare for good.'

"Do you hear it?" Everest asked again.

"Y-Yeah... but why do I-"

"What do you hear?" she cut him off.

Zuma listened. It sounded soft whenever Rocky inhaled and exhaled, and his breath smelled like pup treats. "Its... soft. And it makes his chest move when he does it." he said. "But I still don't-"

"You will in a moment. Hold onto that sound. Now, can you hear Rocky's heart beating?"

Zuma nodded again. Even though his ear wasn't against his chest, he could still hear it. It was consistent- a thump-thump-thump on his right side. Loud and strong, pumping blood through him... keeping him healthy and alive.

"Y-Yeah... it's... like a dwum. It's loud... I can hear it, even laying next to him." Zuma mumbled tiredly, yawning. Rocky felt him almost sinking into his side and shifted a little to make room for him. "B-But why am I-"

Everest smiled. "I'll tell you in one minute. Just hold on to both of those things. Now, what does Rocky feel like to you?"

That was easy. "He... he's warm. His fur is soft, too..." Zuma whispered, his eyes started to close. "He's wawm. Really wawm. But I don't undewstand, Evewest. Why... are you asking me this?"

"You have the softness of his breath, and the rising and falling of his chest when he breathes in and out. You have his heartbeat, strong like a drum. He's soft and warm when you lay against him. That's what you think about when you think of Rocky, right?"

"Y-Yeah... but..." Everest placed her paw atop Zuma's head one last time.

"You kept saying that you didn't want that nightmare to be real. You're scared of death and losing Rocky because you feel like you failed him. That's why you tried to ignore or forget about your nightmares. It felt real, didn't it?"

Zuma tried to nod and keep up, but he was exhausted. She saw the tiredness in his eyes, but she also saw relief.

"But this, what you're feeling right now, this is real. This is true. Rocky survived your ordeal, and so did you. You didn't fail anyone, you understand?"

Zuma snuggled closer to Rocky and sleepily nodded. 'She's wight. They'we wight. He's alive. Wocky's wight... hewe.'

Everest smiled. Zuma definitely looked better, and he'd be able to talk to Ryder in Jake come morning.

"He's here. No blood, no icy water, no dead pup. Just your best friend. And whenever you feel scared and you think that nightmare will come back, just remember tonight. Remember how the real Rocky feels to you."

Everest let out a yawn as she started for her pillow to get some much needed sleep. "And if that doesn't help, come to us. We're here, we're real and we're your friends. You understand?"

Zuma tiredly nodded. Everest checked on the other pups- they were all sleeping now, especially Marshall, who looked like he was having one adventurous dream. She smiled at them. "All of this is real, Zuma. I can't imagine how scary that... death nightmare was. But we're here, and we care about you. Don't let your fear control you."

As Everest headed for her own blanket and pillow, Rocky glanced down at Zuma, who was finally showing signs of forgetting about the nightmare. He was looking more like himself. "We love you, Zuma. It's not often we can be together and say this. I don't know what other nightmares you fought. I don't know why we failed, thinking that you could shake off something so tramatic."

Rocky yawned loudly before he laid down next to Zuma, cofident things would be better between the team. He chuckled as his friend all but curled into him, letting out a breath as he started to drift off. "You have Ryder. You have us. Don't ever hold onto something like this again, okay?"

Zuma's eyes fully closed. The nightmare, while still in his mind, wasn't as strong as it had been the last few nights, or even like the ones he'd had before.

He listened to what Everest told him- he kept the feeling of Rocky in his mind, and slowly but surely, happier memories pushed the nightmare further away.

"I-I love you guys, too... thank you..." Zuma whispered. Within a few minutes, the chocolate lab was finally snoring and asleep. Rocky was relieved. That was finally over and done with. Zuma was going to be okay. He looked at Everest, and smiled apologetically- he really should never have gotten upset at her. She knew what she was doing, and it was thanks to her they were all finally cracking the fearless mystery known as Zuma.

"... Everest... I-I don't know what to say, I-"

"Eh, all is forgiven, Rocky." she said as she yawned again. "And you really should thank Jake."

Rocky arched an eyebrow and tilted his head. "Jake? How come?"

Everest looked thoughtful as she laid her head down. "Before I met him, I used to have a lot of nightmares. Remember what me and Tracker said? About being on our own and having no one to comfort us?"

"Y-Yeah, But-"

"I still plan to tell you the whole thing later. But... to answer your question... I was closed off from people. Until Jake came and introduced me to you guys. It took a long while after that before I was able to tell Jake about my nightmares. He pretty much taught me that little trick I did with Zuma."

"But how did you know it would work?" Rocky was tired, but it was so perplexing how a pup who they barely saw found a way to crack the mystery that was Zuma!

"I didn't." She shrugged. "I just... it was the only-" she let out another yawn- "-thing I could think of. I'm just glad it helped. I really hope Zuma will be okay now."

Rocky smiled in agreement and looked at his slumbering friend. He looked so much more at ease as he slept, probably the first time in a long time. "Yeah. Me too."

Everest lightly smiled at the sight of her closest friends sleeping so easily, now that things were out in the open. "You know something, Rocky?"

"Hunh...?" The mixed pup mumbled sleepily. One eye was already closed and the other was soon to follow.

"Zuma's lucky. To have someone like you to protect him. He's really lucky... that he didn't have to do it all alone..." Rocky was certain she sounded... sad? He was too tired to figure it out.

At almost 6:45 in the morning, all eight pups were finally fast asleep, not one nightmare to be had.

"So all that was true?" Jake asked as he looked on. He frowned and leaned against the main door's entrance, his arms crossed. "The poor little dude... he must've really been suffering something fierce."

Carlos looked at Ryder. "A-Are you okay, Ryder?" he asked worriedly, not liking the silence from his friend. "I know it took you a lot not to come down, but-"

"I'm okay, Carlos. I'm just... I'm glad the pups had each other's backs." Ryder walked into the main room and checked on his pups. He overheard about a third of the conversation last night- mainly the actual nightmare portion and everything after that- and was saddened that Zuma had kept something so painful away for so long. He felt even worse as he realized he should have checked on Zuma more often- with the way his water rescue pup acted, he never suspected anything was really wrong or that anything was really bothering him.

"Ryder... you know you'll have to tell them sooner or later, right?" Jake mentioned. "About de-"

"I know, Jake." Ryder cut him off abrupty. He sighed heavily; Jake was right. He had to tell his pups, his only family, that no one lives forever. But that could wait; none of his young pups should have went through something that... real. Even Ryder was still shaken up from it, but he had to stay strong for them.

It wasn't like Jake was wrong, it was just not something he wanted to think about himself, let alone talk to his pups about. "I know, it's... just not a good time. Not now." he said softly. "Maybe later on."

"Ryder... " Jake was worried about the kid he'd come to love like a little brother, but knew that this was a subject even he didn't want to touch.

"Don't worry. I understand. I haven't told Everest myself, anyways." He admitted softly, smiling as he looked at his husky pup fast asleep. Being the hyperactive pup she was, even in rest, she was wildly splayed out on her back, one leg kicking the air as she dreamt about something adventurous.

"I know they act like real adults when they're out rescuing people. But they're kids at heart, you know? I don't know what kind of life they had to live before you, but... I don't know, man. I don't know what brought that out of her."

Ryder nodded. "I don't either. But you're right. It's so easy to forget... we're just kids. Zuma should have never had to go through all of that." He sighed. "It's so... hard. But I don't want to talk about that anymore, Jake."

"... no problem, Ryder." Jake quietly respected. He placed Everest's blanket over her, knowing it would kicked off pretty soon after. Carlos looked between his two older brothers before checking on Tracker. Tracker was out cold, curled between Zuma and Everest under his blanket. He looked so young without all his gear on, Carlos thought.

"I guess I should talk to Tracker about all that too, huh?" Carlos asked no one in particular. Jake and Ryder looked at him.

Carlos shrugged, "But I'm only 10, so... I'll wait until I'm 13 and then tell him."

Jake clapped the young boy on the back. "That sounds good, little man." He agreed.

Ryder smiled lovingly at his eight sleeping pups. All were sleeping in a circle- Rocky, Zuma, Tracker, Everest, Chase, Marshall, Rubble and Skye- with Marshall twitching and mumbling nonsense in his sleep, as he tended to do, and Rubble making cute yips as he drempt about food, no doubt in the young boy's mind.

He knelt next to Rocky and Zuma- the two pups were bundled together under both blankets, Zuma appearing to be having a happy dream- at least, judging by the smile on his face. Ryder carefully scratched behind his ear.

"I'm so proud of you, pups. I'm proud of you, Zuma. I'm sorry I failed you as your friend, for not checking on you sooner." Ryder whispered to them. "But I'm proud of you coming together for a fellow member. When you wake up... we'll talk, too. I want to know what happened. And I want you to know I'm here, too."

Jake and Carlos stood by the entrance, waiting for Ryder. Ryder stood up after making sure all the pups were warm and comfortable, and exited the main floor.

"Come on, guys. Let's give them time to sleep. One day won't hurt Adventure Bay. They deserve it, more than anything."

The two definitely agreed to that, and together they headed out to grab some food at Mr. Porter's and some treats for later. Jake kept glancing at Ryder every so often, still concerned about how he was taking those kinds of things.

"...Jake. You want to know what happened that day?" Ryder felt the stares and couldn't help but smile- Jake really was the older brother to them.

"O-oh, I'm sorry little dude! It's just-"

Ryder chuckled and waved it off. "Don't worry. You guys... are really the only ones I trust. So I'll tell you when we get some food, okay?"

Jake and Carlos looked at each other and smiled. "Okay, little dude."

As the three males went to grab breakfast, back at the Lookout, Zuma smiled as he slept on, warm and surrounded by his friends, finally having a good dream after weeks of nightmares.

END

And done! So a bit of an epilogue:

The nightmare thing was based off my boyfriend's cousin's 8 year old daughter. She's very, very prone to night terrors and nightmares, and the last one she had, she apparently dreamt that her father would die from a crash. She kept having this same nightmare for about three weeks until my bf's cousin finally talked to her about it, and comforted her similarly to how I wrote- she's very protective and motherly to her kids, especially when they have nightmares that serious.

I'm a bit mixed about this story overall- I felt that I could have done better, but at the same time, I enjoyed what I did type.

In any case, please leave any thoughts, comments, questions, critiques, but no flames.

Thank you again for reading! Until next time!