People always say time flies by fast when you're having fun, but no one ever seems to talk about the opposite. The slow and agonizing torture of having nothing to do but waiting for something to change, only for each day to be exactly like the next. Hiding everything from the ones you love and just holding it out until tomorrow where you get to rewind and do it all over again.

The first few days were by far the worst for her. They were the most fear-driven and stressed, the first full day had driven her to a panic attack, which felt like death itself was taking her. She wasn't used to being without Marshall, definitely not under circumstances like these.

Yet somehow, as the days slowly began to merge together into a little over a week, the pain subsided. By no means did she feel better, only numb and lonely. It was like the whole world had faded into the darkness, leaving her isolated and hopeless to fend for herself. Each time the sun set, a fraction of her confidence that he'd survive went away with it, only it didn't come back in the morning.

Even physically she was degrading. Her fur was a tangled mess, the same fur that nearly created a third dog on the bed. Her reddish, baggy eyes were almost always droopy, desperately trying to return her the sleep she never got during the night, and they tended to be pretty good at their job seeing as how much of the day she spent snoring away.

But she was putting in effort, there was no doubt about that. After some convincing that Marshall would be fine with her gone for a couple of hours, she barely agreed to start therapy. And her medication—although not doing much yet—was at least being taken. The few who knew of her situation tried to congratulate her, to let her know she was on the right path, but they were never the ones she wanted to hear it from.

"Hey, Everest, you wanna go outside and just walk for a bit? You never know, you might enjoy it," Katie offered as she walked in to check on her. Over the course of the past week, she had joined the list of her many owners. Not that the girl minded, if anything she enjoyed the company. Besides, taking care of a dog who almost never moved willingly wasn't the hardest task she had dealt with.

The Husky only groaned, rolling over as she tried to get into a more comfortable position in an attempt to add another tally to her hours of sleep. The girl sighed and sat down next to her, lightly stroking her coat. Everest had little to no reaction, not bothering to notice anyone's touch unless it was the spotted fur she was laying her head on.

"C'mon, girl, you gotta get up, you haven't done anything since this morning. We both know that's not healthy, and besides, Ryder is coming over to check on you two." The Husky ignored her as she tried to fall asleep fast enough to avoid the question. Unfortunately, she was never blessed with passing out that fast.

"If he's gonna be in bed, then so am I," she muttered softly, using the same argument Katie had expected to hear for the hundredth time. However, this time she had actually come prepared with a comeback, though at this point it was more of a desperate last resort than anything.

"Hmm, welp, if you're not going to listen to me, I might as well get the next best person." Everest tossed in the towel and sat up, raising an eyebrow as she gave in to curiously. Before she got the chance to ask, the girl had disappeared into thin air, leaving her alone to question how she managed to get out of there so quickly.

After a few minutes, Katie magically appeared in the doorway, Ryder walking in next to her. The Husky rolled her eyes, not exactly the most impressed with the attempt to get her out of bed. No offense to her owner, not by any means, but it wasn't like he hadn't tried before.

"Ryder, don't even bother, I took a walk around the block this morning, isn't that good enough?" she asked, ready for yet another argument over her choices. Despite her claims, her eyes couldn't help but become intrigued by a third figure coming in with them, one who was equally as happy to see her as she was to see once she made out his image.

"There you are, dudette. Been meaning to come down here for a while now, sorry I took so long," the man apologized, letting out a small laugh as he sat down next to the Husky. Her tail was ever so slightly wagging for the first time in a week as she scooted her upper body onto his lap.

"Told you it would work," Katie quietly whispered into Ryder's ear, earning her a small elbow jab to the side. In return, he was gifted with a poke to the arm, starting them both on an endless cycle.

"Let me guess, you lost the gas can again, didn't you?" Jake rolled his eyes and playfully pushed the lavender pup as she let out a small giggle, reminiscing in that favored memory. She hadn't even noticed the fact that for once she wasn't completely focusing on Marshall, finally giving herself the chance to let her hair down and relax a bit.

"Everest, that was one time, and in my defense, it's hard to see in the snow. It's not like you saw it either." Even with his begs for mercy, she wasn't going to give in. She knew how much he hated this story, and that was exactly why she loved it so much. Even Marshall got a kick out of it, and the look on her old owner's face when she told the story right in front of him did the same for her.

"Hey, it's not my fault you got us both convinced that we were stuck out there. You said we were totally out of gas but you just forgot where you put it." Jake had to shoot a look at the two kids standing in the doorway together, both their lips squirming as they put in all the effort they could into not laughing.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever. Do you wanna go shopping or not? That's kinda why I came down here anyway." Everest tilted her head in confusion, two thoughts entering her mind. One of which being the obvious question of why this was even an offer, the other being spent on asking herself why in the world Jake wanted to do this, he typically hated having to shop. Driving all the way from the top of his mountain to town just to buy dog food was a tedious chore, especially with her appetite.

"Uh...what are we shopping for exactly?" she asked, partially assuming this was just another attempt to get her out and active without a real motive behind it. But before she knew it, that mindset was snatched away by a far too nonchalant answer for the case at hand.

"For Marshall's Christmas gift. That's coming up here in a couple of weeks, you know that, right?"

Despite how tired she was, and how much of an annoyance standing up could be at times, the Husky shot up on all threes. Her expression was that of a child waking up and realizing they were late for school, blown away by their poor sense of time management.

"Are you serious?!" she shouted, with a scream loud enough to wake the dead. Unfortunately, it didn't do much for Marshall, but anyone nearby who happened to be taking a nap probably would be developing a grudge against her any minute now. If she wasn't able to get some shut-eye, neither could they.

"Yeah....Jeez, girl, it's been a rough couple of weeks, huh?" Jake knew she was going through something, something only Marshall probably knew the details to, but this was a wake-up call to say the least. Most of the time she'd be bouncing off the walls the second the clock hit 12:01 after thanksgiving day. Forgetting about it as a whole was an entirely different story.

Everest's head dipped as she nodded softly, her eyes squinting as she tried to rid the memories from her mind. Although it wasn't on purpose, the man got the hint, steering the conversation from a less than favorable topic and back to the joyous holiday he knew she loved.

"So, what'cha wanna get him? Any ideas?" The Husky groaned in frustration with herself, all this time she had been so worked up on her own problems, that the simple tradition of a gift exchange was left in the shadows. Neither of them had spoken a single word about Christmas, and since for now she couldn't just ask him, she was left with no choice other than diving in blindly.

"Ugh...I have no clue. Can't believe I forgot about Christmas of all things, I need to get him something, something good for that matter. He needs it. " Jake rested his finger on his chin, though he knew this wasn't really his place to suggest much. Compared to Everest, he knew Marshall about as well as he knew the deer in the woods around his cabin.

"Hmm, has he mentioned anything he may have wanted? Something within reason, obviously," Katie chimed in, being a sucker herself when it came to shopping for gifts. Sometimes she'd be dragged out by Skye to go, especially around the holiday season, but that she never minded in the slightest. Every once in a while it'd be the other way around.

"Not that I remember. Well...actually, he did mention something the other night, but he never actually told me. He seemed almost embarrassed by it," she thought out loud, still getting herself caught up on that missing detail he refused to give out.

Typically, when it came to her at least, he was never secretive. He almost always came to her when he was troubled or feeling down and scared. Whether it was a small worry to a severe panic attack or flashback, she was his first resort. Her fur was like a blanket of protection. To see him shy away from something he clearly wanted was an oddity, one that couldn't be helped for now.

"Embarrassed? What were y'all talking about that made him embarrassed?" Katie seemed equally as confused as she did, just as the other two in the room were. It seemed out of character, and typically they wouldn't be looking this far into it, but any chance at improving his emotional state wasn't something to be ignored.

"I dunno, just life really. I asked him what he wanted out of it, and that's when he kinda stopped." At first, none of them had a single clue in the universe. It was a mystery, but one that was practically impossible to solve with the Dalmatian unconscious, and chances were even if he wasn't he wouldn't budge. If anything, Everest didn't want to ask him in front of the others, just in case he'd be upset with her for mentioning it.

"Well, let's just look around and see if anything catches your eyes or you think of whatever it was he was talking about, alright? Oh, and grab your scarf and beanie, it's cold out there," Jake informed her. The Husky decided to just shrug it off for now as she stood up and jumped off the bed, having to be caught by Katie to make sure it wasn't just her paws that ended up on the ground.

"Yeah, that sounds good. See you guys later, take care, Marshy." She threw on her warm, protective clothing as the old duo walked out the door as the small bell—although meant to signal when customers were here—rang as the two disappeared into the city.

Ryder smiled lightly, glad to see Everest at least getting out and not trapping herself inside all day. He looked over, seeing Katie smiling as well, but her face had a more knowing expression than his own. It was familiar, he had seen that face plenty of times in their youth, and it never once failed to get them into an interesting situation.

"What's that look supposed to mean? You got an idea, don't you?" The girl smiled, quietly replaying the Husky's previous words as she did what she could to connect the dots. Unless she was just overthinking this, or completely wrong altogether, part of her was convinced that she had managed to squeeze them into a perfect picture.

"I think I might know what Marshall was thinking about. It's just a hunch, but if I'm right, then this is without a doubt the cutest thing I've ever seen." Ryder chuckled slightly, his curiosity had definitely been piqued. She was onto something, but who knows what path her intentions would lead down.

"Oh yeah, and what's that?" he asked, wondering what her answer would be from the wide scale of possibilities. His original thought was that the pup just wanted to feel better, but that almost seemed too easy, and not exactly a desire he'd want to keep hidden.

"Ryder...you'd be willing to do anything to help those two, right? 'Cause I get that this might be a lot to suddenly throw on you." The boy tilted his head slightly, though nodding confidently as he did so.

"Of course I would, whatever it takes to help them feel better. Now are you going to tell me or not, you can't dangle it over my head forever, you know. Is this even something you can do for them?" he joked as Katie rolled her eyes and laughed, already beyond used to him fussing over how often she'd mess with him, as if he never got her back.

"First of all, I can't exactly do it for them, but I have a friend who easily can, probably by Christmas too." The girl walked over to Marshall's bed, slowly caressing his fur as she perfectly imagined the image in her head. The image of the world that could very well become real for the Dally, giving him the one thing he was too scared to ask for himself.

"And second of all, if this goes the way I think it will, I bet this will show them both their purpose in life."

▪️◽️◽️⬛️◽️◽️▪️

"Hey, uh, Jake?" The man stopped and turned back, looking down at the Husky who was already sitting down, likely to take the pressure of her legs. He tilted his head slightly, signaling for the dog to go ahead and continue. "Do you even know where any good shops are around here? We've been walking around for like twenty minutes."

"Well...no. I was kinda hoping you would. You do, right?" Everest stared at him blankly as she silently asked how that of all things was the conclusion he came to. The last time she could remember willingly shopping was when the two had gone out for Marshall's birthday present.

"Jake, I enjoy shopping about as much as you do, you really think I know where anything good is? Unless you just wanna go to the pet store, I got nothing," she explained, casually lying down to scratch an itch that had been bothering her.

Although satisfied with her work, instead of jumping back up and continuing the search, she only remained on the cold concrete below her, looking down at the cement as a less than pleasant realization came to mind. Naturally, her expression was enough to raise a red flag, and Jake bent down next to her, slowly petting her back in the process.

"Hey, what's wrong?" The Husky sighed, pulling away from his touch as she forced herself back up on her feet. She was in public, and this was definitely not the place to make a scene. She was the town's proud mountain rescue pup, after all, and that clean and innocent image was all they needed to see from her.

"It's just..what if there's no point in doing this? I mean, it's been a whole week and he hasn't woken up. W-what if he doesn't make it?" As much as he hated to admit it, she had a point, her fear was more than reasonable. There was little to no point in telling her to just try not to think about it, it was impossible to ignore that the love of your life could simply fade away at any given moment.

"Y-yeah, I get that. But hey, let's look at it this way, he's still alive, isn't he?" Although slightly confused by such an obvious question, the lavender pup nodded skeptically. "Right, and that means he hasn't given up yet. He's still fighting, so for now all we can do for him is give him time. He'll make it, I promise."

As good as his intentions may have been, Everest silently just pushed it away. At this point, a promise meant very little, they were always made to be broken after all. Whether they be her own or those made to her, more times than not they shattered like a glass slipping off the kitchen counter.

It could've ranged from her swearing to Marshall to help him get better, and that was something she clearly wasn't doing a good enough job of. Or the past promises of...well, someone she'd much rather forget from her life, promising not to hurt her for the millionth time. Yet another vow that sank into the depths of the ocean, being fully cast aside the following day when that agonizing life she was forced to call her own continued.

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Jake," she snapped under her breath, thankfully her aggression was left unheard, only a whisper to the man's not as powerful ears.

"Hm?" Realizing her harshness, the Husky whimpered, turning away once she realized her actions. Even from him, getting in trouble was about as fun as it was to be missing a leg, no matter if it was for something small, or something on a larger scale, such as the horrid thanksgiving turkey incident.

"O-oh, nothing. Let's just keep looking, okay? Surely there's gotta be something good out here." Jake, in an attempt to keep the mood from getting much worse, simply went along with her. It wasn't like asking for much classification would do him much good anyway.

"Sure, still nothing catching your eye?" Everest, somehow managing to get her mind back into searching mode, looked around at the surrounding shops. There were definitely some things that grabbed her attention, but nothing stood out as good enough for him.

With everything he was going through in life, she knew she couldn't just get him some basic run-of-the-mill gift. It had to be something special, as cliché as it sounded, it had to come from the heart. Unfortunately, that was far easier said than done.

"Hmm..." There had to be something that could come to her mind. She was surrounded by shops, all of which were decorated for the festivity that was sneaking upon them all. There had to be something that could offer a helping hand.

As her eyes danced around from window to window, one in specific forced her to do a retake. The image she was seeing inside was really nothing too special, just some innocent stuffed animal in the form of a penguin, but deep down it felt so...familiar

She was nearly positive she had seen it before. Perhaps it looked like one she had experienced in the Arctic? No, that couldn't be it, the ones she saw didn't even look that close to this one. Her eyes shut as she tried her hardest to search the deepest corners of her memory, searching for that one lost item. Where had she seen it before...?

▪️◽️⬛️◽️▪️

"Are you sure we'll both have enough room in here? Not that I mind being close to you, I just don't want you being uncomfortable." the Husky asked, dragging what small bit of luggage she needed into the lookout, her new home where she'd be staying with her beloved.

"Oh it'll be fine, besides, why wouldn't I be comfortable if I'm with you?" Everest blushed and rolled her eyes, trying not to let a laugh escape her muzzle out of nothing more than attempted spite. It wasn't working all too well.

"Shush, you should be lucky I don't own a whole lot, or else we wouldn't be even able to move." The Dalmatian shrugged, carrying in one of only two bags with his mouth as he brought it inside and plopped it down inside his puphouse. Well, more like their puphouse now.

"If anything we should both be lucky Ryder even agreed to this, it can already get kinda crowded around here." The Husky nodded and walked inside her new living quarters, looking around at the surprisingly spacious room compared to what she was expecting.

It was nothing too fancy, a window, some drawers, a single large dog bed for them to share. Pretty similar to her own home, just far less lonely than it would've been. Though even when they were together, that didn't fully stop her loneliness when it tended to come in waves...but that didn't matter. Marshall didn't know about that now and never would to begin with. She was just thankful he would never have to experience such feelings.

"Heh...you definitely liked all those pictures we took together, didn't you?" she asked to the now blushing Dalmatian, who until now had fully disregarded the memories he hung up on his walls. An active reminder of what brought him the joy in his life, though now a fatal mistake.

"U-uh, w-well I mean, t-they were a lot of f-fun, and y-you know..." The Husky calmly sat in front of him, watching as he tried to form any coherent explanation. Once he saw her expression staring down at him, the Dally's words slurred as his answer—if one could even call it that—came to a halt.

"You done?" Marshall let out a small yet awkward smile, nervous laughter sneaking out his face as he gave her a gentle nod. Everest smiled, licked his cheek, and turned around to begin unpacking, smacking his muzzle with her tail in the process, doing very little to help his embarrassment. "Uh-huh. You shouldn't dish out what you can't take, Marshy."

The spotted pup knew better than to argue when he was beaten, so he gave in and silently helped her unpack. Thankfully, that annoying process took a minute at most. They were both dogs, it wasn't like they owned much to begin with.

"Aww, this is a cute picture, are these your parents?" The Dalmatian shot his head back around bringing his eyes over to the Husky as she stared at the framed pictures on one of the small tables. Just as he assumed, a much tinier version of himself was smiling back with two larger figures on each side.

"Yep, those are them, I barely even remember taking that. I doubt I was even six months old then." Everest smiled and looked at the picture, mainly the precious image of the mate she knew now as just a small pup. Although, a small penguin wrapped around his paws was another small detail she caught onto.

"And let me guess, that penguin was your childhood stuffed animal, wasn't it?" The Dally chucked and nodded, lightly touching the picture with his paw. Somehow, from his face alone she could tell how much that cotton animal meant to him in his earlier years, and likely still to this day.

"Oh, yeah, I almost forgot about her. My parents gave her to me when I was born...b-but she didn't make it out of the fire..." Everest carefully wrapped her leg around him as a small frown appeared on his face, though quickly fading away with her comfort. "But it's all in the past, can't do much now."

"Yeah, you're right. No point in getting caught up in it if we can help it. Did you have a name for her?" Marshall smiled slightly, from her eyes it almost seemed like she had stuck a memory in him. Not a negative one, from what she could tell, more of a nostalgic one from a simpler time.

"I always just called her Audrey, not really sure where I came up with that name, but it always stuck."

"Huh, Audrey, that's really a nice name, actually. So even as a pup you loved those from the Arctic." The Dalmatian grinned and licked her cheek as he returned the favor of wrapping his own leg around her, letting her lean her head against his shoulder.

"Always did, always will. And you, my snowflake, are no exception." Everest had a small blush on her own face from the sudden nickname, but she shut her eyes, deciding to roll with the moment. Better to just enjoy it while it lasts and forget what needed to be forgotten.

▪️◽️⬛️◽️▪️

"Uh, Everest? You still alive?" The Husky snapped her head back up, shaking her fur as she made eye contact with Jake. Her blinks were enough to answer his question, giving him the sign he needed to know she had come back to reality. "You sure zoned out there."

"Y-yeah...I guess I did. But do you see that stuffed penguin over there in the window?" The man, although not expecting that in the slightest to be the thing to get her attention, obliged and looked to where she was, nodding once he saw it. "That's what I wanna get him."

"I mean...if you think that's what he'd like, sure. You know him better than I do," he answered, not even bothering to ask why a stuffed animal was the hidden gem she had found. Besides, she was certainly not going to take no for an answer. "Oh, by the way, Katie texted and asked for you to come back. Something to do with Marshall and—"

"She what?!" the Husky shouted, instantly dropping her happy memory to make room for this new, panicking one. Seeing her freaking out, the man bent down and gently pet her back in an attempt to do something for her.

"Hey, it's okay, she never said something bad happened. Look, I'll go grab the penguin and you go to him, alright? Just calm down, I doubt anything is wrong, if it was she probably would've called." Everest slowly nodded, deeply inhaling and exhaling, a harmless exercise suggested by Haley for when she was getting stressed like this. It may not have seemed like much in the moment, but hey, it was better than the alternative.

"Y-yeah...yeah, h-he's fine, he'll be fine," she whispered to herself, though it was more of a hollow shell of a statement than anything. Just keep telling yourself that until it comes true, that's what she tried to convince her mind.

"Yeah, that's the spirit. I'm sure you know how to get back, so don't worry, I can come by at some point and drop the gift off." The snow pup agreed without hesitation, her body already wanting to dart off in the direction of the clinic, despite knowing full well running wasn't the best idea for herself.

"Sure, t-that sounds good. Thanks, Jake, see you later." His farewell was barely even heard as she immediately started running back to where her Marshall was—though it was more of a speed walk at best with her limitations.

She did what she could to try and keep a positive outlook on the situation, despite how dire the situation was, but that was practically useless. For every time she tried to say something helpful to herself, her curse of a brain would only come back with twice as many arguments, degrading her into assuming the worst.

Either she would finally get some good news, or unfortunately the more likely scenario, she'd arrive to see her Dalmatian, her dream come true, sleeping for eternity.