It was still dark outside when Marshall opened his eyes. Thankfully, it hadn't been caused by a nightmare, just by some random occurrence. As anyone else would do, he shut his eyes and tried to force himself to go back to sleep.

However, it seemed his mind had other plans. Even though he was still cuddled up with Everest, whose presence alone would help calm him down, hours seemed to pass without any signs of falling back asleep.

Not knowing what else to do to make him tired, the dally got up and decided to just take a walk around the castle. Although he really hated the idea of being without his mate, he figured it would be fine. It was just a short stroll to make him tired.

Of course, there was nothing interesting to see, at least nothing he hadn't seen already. He wandered around the halls, making sure he kept track of where he was so as to not get lost.

After a while, he felt the drowsiness begin to return. He knew now was a good time to call it quits, assuming he'd be able to get back to sleep, plus he was starting to get stressed without Everest being there, despite him only being gone for around fifteen minutes.

The castle was dead silent most of the way back, but suddenly a small noise appeared, snapping Marshall out of his thoughts. He could hear what almost sounded like talking. It was muffled, but the dally could make out where it was coming from. And the source just so happened to be Sweetie's room.

Although his mind just wanted to ignore it and just go back to sleep with Everest, Marshall found that his body wasn't interested in that. Instead, he silently walked over to the terrier's door and held up his ear, trying to make out the conversation.

"Oh don't worry, this won't be hard. Both of them are weak and easy to manipulate, we can tear them apart with ease." Sweetie explained. The dally was both concerned and worried, but then he noticed her next words seemed to take a different approach. It wasn't as threatening but more.....loving?

"Anyways, it's late. Don't worry, I'll sneak out tomorrow and bring you some food and water. We'll talk again then, ok? Hehe, I love you too, my prince, goodnight." The terrier stated, seemingly ending the call.

Marshall felt the fear growing, more than just the usual fear he had going through his head. He had no idea what the terrier was talking about, or to who, but frankly he didn't want to be involved. All he knew was that he was at the wrong place at the wrong time, so he turned around and quickly began back to his room.

Unfortunately, due to his nature, the dally accidentally tripped and fell, causing a loud thud. He instantly froze, knowing there was almost no way Sweetie didn't hear him. And just as he expected, her door slowly opened.

The terrier walked out and eyed him carefully. Marshall noticed a small smirk growing on her face, which made him feel all the more nervous. "Well, what do we have here? Trying to spy on me, huh?" She interrogated.

"N-no. I-I swear I wasn't trying to. I w-was just taking a walk and I heard you talking. I-I'm sorry. I'll go, j-just leave me alone." Marshal stuttered as he slowly backed away, trying to escape the situation.

"What is it with you guys trying to tell me what to do? And you don't scare me the slightest, honestly who would even be scared of you? You can't do anything without that stupid husky of yours. It's no wonder why she probably hates you." Sweetie shot back.

The dally slowly started to feel a pain in his heart. Everest meant everything to him, and hearing someone say the exact words that had been floating around in his head had hurt more than he thought it would. He didn't want to believe it, but it almost felt like confirmation that those thoughts were right. "N-no she doesn't. Eve l-loves me." He whimpered in denial.

Sweetie started growling as she got in the dally's face, petrifying him to the point where he couldn't even move. "That's a lie and you know it. You're a burden to her, something she has to constantly look after. Why would anyone enjoy being mates with someone who holds them back? Someone who can't make them happy, someone who puts them in danger because they're weak and can't even protect themselves? Because that's all you are."

Tears. That's all that came from the dally. Not only from the insults, but these were all the things he had been telling himself. Both his heart and head were racing, and the thousands of all too familiar thoughts resurfaced. "P-please, stop it." He begged.

"Why should I? Am I bringing back any painful memories? Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot about your little condition. I'm sure it must've been hard to watch your precious husky be nearly murdered, right?" The terrier taunted, clearly showing she either didn't realize how much pain he was. That or she was just trying to make things worse. 

At this point, Marshall couldn't respond even if he wanted to. It was common knowledge to everyone to avoid the topic of the attack around him, as any mention of it would lead to another breakdown. The question of how she even knew about the incident was another story, but at the moment, that was the last thing on his mind.

Within seconds, the poor pup curdled into a ball, sobbing his eyes out as he began to shake like crazy. Not only were the flashbacks taking their toll on him, but the fact that Everest wasn't there also made the situation even worse. Normally when things like this happened, she was the only thing that would calm him down other than just waiting it out.

Then, as if on command, a quick lavender flash darted across the room, instantly pinning Sweetie on the ground. Everest had arrived just in time, and to say that she was angry would've been an understatement. The rage could easily be seen just by looking into her eyes.

"W-what is wrong with you?! How could you say those things to him!? Do you have any idea what you might've just done?!" The husky shouted. Although she was clearly furious, the hurt in her voice was noticed by everyone.

"And the hero comes to the rescue. You do realize you can't protect him from everything, right?." Sweetie questioned darkly, somehow not at all dazed by the fact she was being held to the floor.

"Shut up, I'll protect him from anything I need to. And you're no exception." Everest snapped in return.

"You won't always be there for him, so don't make promises you can't keep. Nothing lasts forever, Everest. Not you, not him, not even the love between you two." The terrier stated.

"T-that's not true, I'll always love him, and he'll always love me." She replied, before suddenly realizing she needed to change her mindset and focus on what was truly important instead of arguing. 

She quickly rushed over to Marshall and wrapped her arms around him tightly, burying the dally's head into her chest. "Don't listen to her, Marshy. I'm not going anywhere, you'll never have to be alone again. I'll always love you." She whispered.

The dally didn't even try to respond to the husky, he just kept on crying. As much as he wanted to stop, he wasn't able to. He felt so weak. The memories were too much, they terrified him. It was horrific to say the least, and it was replaying in his head, just as it had so many times before.

Everest noticed that Marshall didn't seem to be calming down, despite her trying to soothe him. This was without a doubt the most upset she had ever seen him, it was like he couldn't even control himself. Honestly, it was starting to scare her. "Marshy? Please don't cry. E-everything's gonna be ok. Just breathe. Take deep breaths."

Suddenly, after hearing the commotion, Ryder, the pups, and the princess all ran into the hallway. "What is going on?" The boy asked. He stopped and looked around, observing the situation. Seeing Sweetie's mischievous grin and what was happening with Marshall and Everest, it wasn't too hard to put together the pieces.

"Everest, did Sweetie do this?" Ryder asked, getting a small nod in response. Chase looked at the terrier in disgust but slowly walked over to check on his brother. As he started getting closer, Everest let out a low growl towards him. Not thinking much of it, he reached out to the dally in a comforting manner.

His actions were quickly brought to an end when the husky did something no one saw coming. Just as Chase got close, the husky snapped at him. Luckily, the shepherd's quick reflexes let him jump back in time, but it still surprised everyone. Everest clearly had the full intent of biting him.

"Don't. Touch. Him." She snarled, her voice breaking as she spoke. Chase looked at her, clearly surprised by the sudden aggression. He looked at the husky and realized that if he got any closer, she'd end up doing the same thing. Getting the message, he slowly backed away and Everest brought her eyes off of him and back onto the crying dalmatian. 

The husky continued to try and calm him, starting to feel unsure if she was even helping. But finally, after what seemed like an eternity, he slowly began to regain himself. He slightly brought his head up to look at his mate. "I-I'm so sorry, Eve. I-I let you down again, d-didn't I?" He croaked.

"No, no Marshy, you didn't let me down. Why would you think that?" She asked. Marshall broke the hug and looked back up at her. Everest could see something was troubling him, something besides what she was already aware of.

"S-Sweetie was right. I'm holding you back. I'm just a burden. That's all I am to you. I'm sorry that I've put you through all of this. I don't know why I was starting to believe that maybe I did deserve to be with you." The dally responded, dropping his head as his ears and tail both fell as well.

Everest noticed his behavior and started to get worried, seeing that whatever Sweetie told him seemed to be getting to him. "That's not true. You do deserve me, and you were never a burden, you're the opposite of that if anything."

"That's not true though. You have no reason to love me after what I've done. I-I can't do anything for you. How am I supposed to make you happy if I'm constantly depressed? I just want to make you feel loved and safe, but I know I can't do that anymore." Marshall explained, with even more tears starting to flow down his cheeks.

"Marshy, please stop saying that. Of course you make me happy. You're my mate for crying out loud, I love you with all my heart." The husky begged, starting to lightly cry herself from the situation at hand.

"That's the problem. I'm so sorry Everest...." Marshall began. The husky was immediately concerned by his choice of words. They always called each other by their nicknames. It was a way for them to show their love for one another, plus it was a sign of affection. Why was he calling her by her real name?

"But I know that as long as I'm with you, I'm just gonna be hurting you. None of this would've happened if I wasn't so weak. You deserve to be with someone who can make you happy. Someone......who isn't me." The dally told her, beginning to turn away.

Everest froze in place, having a terrible idea of where this might be going. "M-Marshy, what are you trying to say?" She asked worriedly. She was beginning to realize what he was thinking, but surely he wasn't serious, right?

Marshall let out a quiet sigh before walking back over and kissing her forehead. "I want you to live your life without me as a burden. I promise I'm doing this because I care about you. But, as I said, you deserve someone better than me...

....And that's why we can't be mates anymore."