{ON HIATUS} Sundown Epiphany: Still Have You

Ch. 17: For Every Sunset Comes A Sunrise

Skye's POV

God, my body has never this bad since that time I ate from a bag of treats that was two weeks old. My stomach was churning like non-stop and my head was throbbing. Felt like the aftermath of an epilepsy. I don't even remember half of what happened earlier, or I'm unaware of something I should know but I don't. What did happen?

Wait. I remember. I remember now. I...I...I saw...I SAW CHASE.

I shot up from the bed, but immediately I got a head rush and toppled back onto the pillow that was supporting my stiff neck, an unyielding sore that wouldn't lapse anytime soon. If I moved my head every so slightly, I think it would snap. If only there were chirapractors for pets here, maybe Katie would fathom several of the techniques, but I don't believe she is licensed for that type of treatment yet.

"Whoa, take it easy Skye. You literally just woke up from a syncope. A prolonged one for that matter." Marshall urged me to lie back down, but I gladly complied do to the restraint that seemed to cling to my verterbrae. Lord, this pounding headache is, in the upmost certainty, the greatest thing I could quite possibly experience at this hithering moment.

Hell would I care. I saw Chase. All this time, I only thought that he was still out there. I know what we saw down there, glowering at us with those eyes hungry for blood—our blood. But I know Chase, and that wasn't him. How could I have doubted him for a second? How could I have let my emotions overtake me like that? For a second before I blacked out, I felt that same rage emanting from him beget onto me. Like a side of me just waltzed into my own conscious as if welcomed to the party, and I am the party. Like an alter ego.

I know for sure now that wasn't Chase. Midnight Nebulous was only an evil persona. A counterpart of everything Chase isn't.

I think I see why Chase was always the fierce one on the team. You could say that he may be the most afraid of us all. The reason why his alter ego surpassed him was because his fears of failing everyone he knew that looked up to him and adored him, his friends, his family, the people of Adventure Bay. And most importantly, the fear of having fears in the first place.

I remember everything he told me back there in the nothingness—what I'd call it. Or the depths of our consciousness banded together, for a limited amount of time of course. But that was enough for me to overcome my own rage, and not turn into a monsterous abomination like what we've seen.

In other words, Chase saved me. He showed me that there isn't a time where rhere was no room for a sliver of hope. He appealed to me the one thing I thought was lost forever. But I guess sometimes, we need to let ourselves break to let the light seep through the cracks.

I can't let my doubt blind me from what's ahead. That foggy haze that once clouded my vision, Chase sweeped it all away in one single swipe. And for that, I have to stay strong. If not for me, for him. For them. The PAW Patrol team. Not just physically, but mentally and emotionally. I can see it now, broad as daylight.

The pups, however, can't say the same. Especially Ryder. I can tell by the way they slouched. The reoccuring bend in their posture. The downcasted look on their visage. The dark circles under their eyes. They are tired. We're all tired. But I can't say I blame them.

In all truth, no one is to blame. Stuff happens, and we just have to roll with it. But we can't let it walk over us, trample our every limb from the marrow of our bones to the filamentous bands of our nerves. No, we have to stand strong. Chase is waiting for us. To come find him. He found me. Now it is my turn.

My turn to show them that we can't lose the little bit of hope we have left. The basis of our team is built on the hope and fulfillment we've achieved over the years. They just need a little dose of that same hope that held high over our heads like it did back then.