Dawn

Dissension and Strife

"Whaaa?!" Rocky exclaimed. "I'm not fighting you, Chase! And leave Zuma alone!"

"Yeah...stop huwting me!" Zuma moaned.

"I'm sowwy, Zuma. I can't understand you when you talk like a baby." Chase said.

"I don't...I'm...you..." Tears began to form in Zuma's eyes.

"Aww...is wittle baby Zuma gonna cwy?"

"Chase, that is enough!" Marshall shouted. "What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Chase ignored him.
"I'm not afwaid...afwa...af..." Zuma couldn't do it. "I'm twying, I twying! I have whotacism, okay! I can't help it! I twy to speak nowmall...but I can't! I'm sowwy...!"

"You can't even speak wight!" Chase taunted. "Sewiously, do you know how annoying you sound? I get sick of heaving youw voice! Go kill youwself or something!

Zuma began to cry immediately. Everypup was shocked. It was an unspoken rule to never tease Zuma about his voice. And Chase just broke it. Everything just happened so fast, they were shocked silent, not even processing the sudden switch in Chase.

"Wocky...." Zuma cried, unable to get anything else out. Tears ran down his cheeks and he hiccuped. He wiped the tears from his eyes just for them to fill up again. Rocky's eyes widened. Zuma's one vulnerable spot had taken a hard hit, and Zuma folded under the pressure. Chase shook his head and clicked his teeth. He jerked Zuma's head up and spat in his face. Zuma whimpered.

"Oh, well, Zuma. Your boyfwiend isn't coming to save you. Wocky's too afwaid!" Chase then proceeded to beat Zuma up. "You're gonna learn your place, and stop standing up for him all the time!" he said, mercilessly pummeling Zuma. "Don't you realize you are a victim of his actions as much as everyone else?!"

"Chase...stop...." Zuma groaned. "I can't take...anymore..."

"No! I want you to tell me that all of this is Rocky's fault."
"No!" Zuma replied. Chase responded by beating him even harder. The pups went to move to stop him but realized they couldn't.

"I knew you guys would try something," Chase said. "So I froze space and time around you. You'll never break free. You'll just have to watch."

Marshall looked at him and realized something was off. Tears were running down Chase's face, and he looked tortured to be doing this. It seemed like every time his bloody paws struck Zuma, he jerked back as if the motion hurt him. His ears were flat against his head as well. Then, as quickly as it started, it stopped, and he went right back to an abusive persona that the pups had never seen before. By the time he was done with Zuma, his paws were stained red, dripping with blood, and Zuma wasn't moving. He grabbed Zuma by the throat and slammed him into the wall.

"Please...no more..." Zuma cried weakly, softly, about to pass out from the pain.
"Then say it," he commanded.

"I...I can't..." Zuma replied. Chase punched him in the mouth again.
"Say it!"

"Wocky...did all of this..." Zuma said, finally snapping under the pressure. "It is his fault...for...everything...

Why do those words sound so familiar! Marshall asked himself. Think Marshall, think! Something going on here! You know what it is! You just can't place it! Come on, come on! Think for once!

Chase punched him again for good measure, and Zuma fell to the ground, limp, and barely breathing.

"Zuma!" Rocky shouted, finally able to get to his paws. Chase was suddenly lifted into the air and held there by unseen paws. The pups were shell-shocked. Rocky ran to Zuma's side. Chase had beat poor Zuma to a bloody mess. Blood ran off his pelt in thick bands. Multiple cuts decorated his body, and his forepaws were curled over his head in an effort to protect it. Zuma coughed and spat out a deep, dark red blood. His sides had been clawed to ribbons, and Rocky could hear the blood gurgling in his throat.
"No...nonononononono, Zuma...I'm sorry...this wasn't supposed to happen..." Rocky whined. He touched Zuma and he flinched.