"Can we go now, Ryder?" Everest asked excitedly. Both she and Marshall had already gotten ready, and now it was dark. To say the two were happy about the night they had planned would've been an understatement. She could clearly see that the dally was happier than he had been in a while.

"Of course you can, don't let me stop you. Just remember, be back by ten at the latest. You two go and have your fun, you've earned it." The boy answered. The couple looked at each other with huge smiles on their faces.

"Yes! Come on, let's go, Eve!" Marshall exclaimed, wrapping an arm around his mate out of both affection and excitement. Everest couldn't help but giggle at him. Despite having passed the stage in his life a long time ago, his mood seemed to be that of a pup on Christmas morning, which was something she was beyond happy to see. Even if it was only for this current moment, she could see the old Marshall shining through.

"Hehe, alright Marshy, let's go." She responded. The dally removed his arm and the two started for the exit. On the way out, however, he accidentally tripped over the air and crashed into something. Or, someone.

"Hey! Watch it, you klutz!" Sweetie barked as she roughly stood back up. Due to her harsh reaction, Marshall whimpered slightly and got noticeably closer to Everest. The husky shot a death glare at the terrier but didn't push anymore. She had more important things to deal with.

"Don't listen to her, you're not a klutz, Marshy." She cooed, quickly wrapping her arms around the dally to keep him from getting too stressed out. Luckily, he didn't. The terrier simply rolled her eyes and walked away, which didn't bother either of them. If anything, they were glad she was out of their fur for now.

"A-alright, thanks, Eve." Marshall replied. Everest let out a small sigh of relief. If Sweetie had done anything more, the situation could've been a lot harder to solve. The dally was already a sensitive one, but now that he was forced to carry the weight of his trauma, he was very emotionally vulnerable.

"Of course, I don't know what she's thinking. Now, forget about Sweetie, and let's go have our date night." The husky replied, trying to change the subject. Thankfully, he was completely on board with that idea and the two ran outside.

And just as they had heard, the town of Barkingburg was beautiful. Almost all the shops and restaurants had decorative lights outside, creating an atmosphere the two had never experienced.

Everest looked at Marshall to see a huge smile plastered on his face, and his tail was wagging quickly. He hadn't looked that happy ever since she had gotten back, and she knew it had hurt for him even more before so. Of course, she was glad to see this small change in emotion, but she was aware it wouldn't last forever. Not to mention the worrying itch in the back of her mind.

The feeling that something bad was going to happen to him wouldn't leave. The husky she knew Marshall was hurting and was in a very vulnerable position, still being extremely traumatized and tormented by his brain. Anything bad that happened could easily have large consequences. But, for this night only, she'd let that go. Tonight was the one chance they had to spend some good, quality time with each other.

"What do you wanna do first?" Everest asked. The dally opened his mouth to respond, but quickly realized he had no answer. What did he want to do? This was the first time he had been on a date with his mate in such a long time, and there were lots of options to choose from. However, the rumbling in his stomach made up his mind.

"Uh, well I'm pretty hungry, so I guess we could go to a restaurant and get some dinner. O-or, if you'd rather do something else, that's fine too. I just want to stay with you." The dally answered. Everest smiled at him and licked his face in reassurance.

"Well, I'm not leaving your side, so you're stuck with me. And as far as dinner goes, if you're hungry of course we can go eat." She responded. Marshall nodded with satisfaction, a bit relieved she was fine with his suggestion, and the two walked over to a seemingly very fancy restaurant.

They both walked in and were brought to a booth, which they both jumped up to. They both ordered their food, which was a simple pizza for them to split, and then as there was nothing else to do, they started up a conversation.

"This feels familiar, doesn't it, Marshy?" The husky asked. Marshall looked up at her, a bit confused as to what she meant. However, the realization quickly hit him and he let out a small laugh. This was quite similar to the first date they went on, all those months ago.

"Heh, you're right. It's just like how everything used to be. Before.....before a-all of this happened." The dally responded, looking down at the table to avoid eye contact. Everest reached across the table and brought his face back to the same level as hers.

"And that's all in the past now. You don't need to worry, I'm safe, and so are you. I know you might be tired of me saying this, and I don't even know if you believe me, but it's not your fault. I never blamed you." The husky reminded him.

Marshall smiled weakly and pulled her paw away from his face. "I know you didn't, Eve." Everest was about to protest his usual statement, but after hearing his reply she was forced to stop and rethink. She was flabbergasted, to say the least.

"W-wait, what? Y-you do?" She asked. If he was telling the truth, this would be such a big step for the dally. It was almost overwhelming for her. It might not have seemed like much for anyone else, especially since she was basically the only one he'd open up to besides Haley, but this a first step.

"Oh, a-am I wrong? Sorry, I just thought...." The dally apologized, stopping for a moment to find his words. "Do you blame me? A-and don't just say no to be nice, I-I won't be mad if you do."

"Marshy, of course I don't. There was never a single second where I held something against you." She answered as small drops slid down her face. However, unlike usual, these weren't tears coming from pain or sadness. They were tears of happiness, showing how overjoyed she was to see her mate come to this realization.

Marshall smiled and nodded, glad to see his hopeful thought had been right. Not to mention the reassurance from the husky. It was something she gave him often, but it somehow always made him feel a bit better. As if maybe, just maybe, he might be doing something right.

After a moment or so of silence passed, a waiter brought the couple their food, so the two stopped talking and got to eating. Everest was happy to see that the dally was at least willing to eat, which she had noticed wasn't always the case.

After a while, the two finished eating, paid the check with the money their owner had given them, and walked outside, unsure of what was next. The two pondered for a bit before the husky had an idea.

"Oh, I know what we could do!" She exclaimed. Marshall could see the obvious excitement in her eyes, so he nodded, signaling her to continue. "Remember that giant ferris wheel? I think Ryder said it was one of Barkingburg's biggest attractions. We should try that out."

Despite not being too fond of being that high up, the dally obliged and the two began to walk around. The ferris wheel wasn't hard at all to find. It was, as Everest had said, one of the biggest attractions, both in popularity and size. Thankfully, they had just enough money left from what Ryder gave them to afford their two necessary tickets.

After an annoyingly long wait in line, both pups got into their cars. Since it was a large, if not one of the largest, ferris wheels, they both had more than enough room to be standing apart. However, they both decided it would be better to huddle close to one another.

Everest gazed upon the view of the kingdom, taking in how beautiful it was. She looked over at Marshall, expecting to see him doing the same, but instead, all she saw was dissatisfaction on his face.

"What's wrong? Are you feeling alright?" She asked, wrapping an arm around the dally, who let out a small sigh and shook his head.

"No, I-I'm fine. I'm just not the biggest fan of heights and I'm kinda dizzy." He responded. The husky knew both of those things were true, he never liked being high up and Haley had told her dizziness was a common symptom, but she could tell something else was bothering him.

"I know you're not, and we can go back after this so you can lay down, but that's not it, is it? Don't lie to me Marshy, I just wanna help you. You can tell me anything." The husky urged. Marshall turned to her with a depressed look on his face. Everest could clearly tell he was hurting, so she pulled him closer and licked him.

Marshall suddenly hugged her tightly and started lightly crying into her shoulder. Although she wasn't exactly sure of what was wrong, Everest did her best to comfort him. "Hey, it's ok Marshy. Just let it all out." She cooed.

After a few minutes of crying, the dally quieted down but still refused to let go of the husky. "I-I'm sorry. I don't know what came over me. Eve, why........w-why can't I just be happy? Why do I have to be like this?"

The husky wasn't even sure how to answer. Life wasn't fair to him, there was no reason in the world that he should be stopped from feeling the joy he almost always used to have. "I wish I could tell you, I really do. I want you to feel happy too, but there are just some things in life we can't control." She replied.

"I-I know. I just wish this wasn't the way it had to be. Everyone tells me that I'm getting better, but I don't feel better. I still feel like the worthless failure I've felt like for months." He exclaimed. The husky tried to open her mouth to comfort him, but she was silenced by her mate continuing his vent.

"And I'm not an idiot, I know I make you worry. And I'm sorry for that. I'm sorry for everything. For putting you in danger, for setting this burden of taking care of me on you. You'd be so much better off without me. You deserve to be with someone better than me." Marshall spoke.

Everest was a bit taken back by almost everything he said, and she wasn't sure how to feel about it. On one hand, she was glad that he wanted to get better and was trying to move on. But on the other, she was concerned. Of course, she was beyond worried about the dally, but she never wanted to show it so as to not make him worried either.

In all honesty, she kind of wished that having a conversation like this could've happened at a different time, and not on their date night. She had learned from having to help Marshall to not take things for granted. She tried her hardest to savor everything she could, and she wanted to help the dally do the same because, for him, any type of happiness was another step forward.

"You'll get better Marshy. I promise, everything is gonna be the way it should be, we just have to get there. And you remember what I said, right? That I'd be with you every step of the way? I mean that. I'm never leaving you because you do deserve me, and I want to help you." The husky told him.

The moment was brought to an end as their car landed back on the ground. The two slowly walked out and looked at each other. "You wanna head back now? It's pretty late." The dally asked, completely avoiding the conversation they had just had.

Everest let out a yawn and nodded in response. They both headed back to the castle, hoping someone would still be awake to greet them.

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By the time the two got back, everyone was either in bed or getting ready to go to bed. Without much conversation, they both got ready for bed themselves and walked into their room. As they leaped onto the bed, Marshall buried himself in the husky's fur and fell asleep almost immediately.

Everest quietly giggled before shutting her eyes as well. She was happy that they had gotten to spend some more time together, and despite what he had said, she could see lots of improvement from the dally. 

She was glad that from here, his mental state would only be getting better.........right?