Ashes | Paw Patrol

Someone That I Needed

I thought I had a chance. I thought I could make a difference. I thought I could break the cycle of misery and loss I've been trapped in.

I thought... maybe I belonged...

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The room was nearly silent, too silent. The ticking of a clock hanging on the wall was the only audible noise around Rocky. The relatively blank walls and pristine furnishings made it feel like an oppressive interrogation room, or maybe a prison cell. The air felt painfully thin, at least to the gray pup sitting across from the brown haired boy fighting to make eye contact.

"First off, I want you to know that I don't hate you for what occurred, Rocky." Ryder said hesitantly. "Everyone was really tense yesterday and a lot happened, but I can't sugarcoat this either. I think you know you really messed up back there... I'm not gonna grill you with some speech about responsibility and all that crap, but I need to know what happened with you."

The mixed breed gulped, his throat felt dry like sandpaper that scraped roughly when he tried to speak. "Wh-what do you mean?" he croaked.

Ryder could sense the fear in Rocky. "I mean what got to you? You asked me to let you be the one to go down and rescue Francois, and then you froze! That wasn't the Rocky I saw with the bravery and quick thinking that saved Danny up near Jake's mountain. Something was wrong, so what was it?"

"It was just an old memory. Dangling there sorta brought it all back and it got to me, so I'm sorry." Rocky said, chewing his lip nervously, speaking as few words as possible. He didn't take his eyes off his paws to make eye contact, he just couldn't. Suddenly, to Rocky's dismay, Ryder spoke again. "Well do you wanna talk about it?"

"No."

The boy released a long sigh. "Rocky I really think you could make a good addition to our team." The mixed breed's ears perked, the only sign he even acknowledged what he had said. "But how the hell am I supposed to trust you? Clearly there's a problem and you won't tell me, so how am I supposed to assume that this won't happen again?! You almost let someone die!" The boy shouted, pounding his fists on the table in annoyance.

Wouldn't be the first time I let that happen, Rocky thought as a lump formed in his throat.

"I like you Rocky, I really do, but you clearly have some things to fix with yourself. What happened was reckless and nearly cost a life, so as of now I can't have you on my team. I'm not-"

Ryder was cut short by the ring of his pup pad. As soon as he stood up and began talking on it, Rocky hopped out of the chair he was in, making his way outside. He's right, how stupid am I? The mix thought. I was silly to think I could live here and be part of this, they don't need me anyway. A mentally unstable pup with trauma from his past would only screw things up.

Rocky wasn't sure why, but his paws carried him to Zuma's pup house. He approached the door shyly, unsure if his friend would want to talk to him or not. "H-hey Zuma, are you busy?" Rocky asked nervously with his tail drooping.

He heard the sound of paw steps nearing the door before it slid open, revealing Zuma, who's face lit up in a big smile as he saw who it was. "Wocky! No I'm not busy at all, what's up dude?" The mixed breed scrunched up his face in confusion. "You aren't mad about earlier? How I messed everything up? I came to apologize." Zuma's face fell, realizing how bad Rocky felt. "Dude of couwse I'm not mad. I mean it was a close call but I saved Francois, so we'we good."