Rocky Gone Rogue

Hey guys, Charisma here! Had a few things I wanted to say. First, thanks again to the many people who reviewed this and my other stories. Second, and this is making me really excited, but I have been chosen as one of three co-writers for Zacian Crowned Form! I'm really stoked for it, as I feel like people might actually be noticing my work! But I can't let it get to my head, so I'm just going to keep on keeping on. Also quick note, this chapter is super emotional. Happy reading!! :)

Disclaimer: I don't own PAW Patrol.

Chapter 9: To Kill An Angel

Rocky woke up the next morning feeling woozy and disoriented, rolling gingerly over onto his side and looking around the room as he tried to figure out where on earth he was. He quickly spotted Ryder, sleeping on a big bed in the middle of the room's longer stretches of wall, and wondered when he had gotten to Chattilan. He also noticed that it looked like Ryder wasn't even breathing, but he shrugged it off as either him still being a little discombobulated or Ryder's breathing being covered up by the heavy sheets he slept under. He was still in pain, and was extremely thirsty, but he didn't know what to do about it as he didn't want to wake the others; besides, they had probably saved his life somehow, and he couldn't get air to pass through his vocal cords to begin with, so he rolled back over onto his back. He was met with a pair of shining blue eyes, a feline grin, all plastered on a black face.

"How are you feeling, Rocky?" Angelica asked quietly, careful not to wake the others in the room. She had accidentally fallen asleep, despite her duty of keeping watch over the unconscious werepup, but had woken up upon hearing him rustling about in his cot. Now she hoped Rocky didn't notice the sleep still evident in her eyes, which he didn't.

"Ummmm.......good, I guess? My head still hurts a ton, and my stomach feels weird, but other than that I think I'm fine. Might I ask who you are?" Rocky could now tell it was a female cat who was staring down at him, but he had no idea who she was; though, she did bear a striking resemblance to that cat in the flower shop......what was his name? Rocky couldn't remember at the moment.

Angelica laughed, a quiet, chuckling-whisper kind of laugh. "Oh yes, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Angelica, and I'm Jax's mother."

That's his name! Rocky now remembered Jax telling him and Eleftherios his name.

Angelica continued with her introduction. "Jax and your collie friend brought you to my clinic after the nasty fall you had, and we fixed you up right." Her face, which normally showed a doctor-like air of blatant politeness, now revealed a hint of pride.

Everything came back to Rocky now in a rush. The flower shop, him falling, the hurt, the darkness....all of it! Well, all up until he was unconscious of course. His new nurse told him everything that had happened up to that point, except for Jax's freakout the previous night regarding Rubble, which she had no knowledge of.

When she was finished explaining, and Rocky had then noticed the other sleeping bodies of his friends and teammates in the room, who also seemed like they were either breathing really shallow-ly or not at all, he had one simple request.

"Can I have a drink?" He said, his voice still immensely scratchy and parched. Angelica chuckled again, this time slightly louder, and nodded. "You can have a little, but not a lot. We can't risk upsetting your stomach after the emergency surgery we did yesterday."

Angelica walked into the kitchen to grab a cup of water for her patient, and Rocky just sighed and closed his eyes. He was happy to be alive: the darkness he had experienced whilst passed out was nightmarish. He could always feel some evil or even demonic presence lurking just beyond his mind's sight, taunting him and haunting his soul. But whenever he had felt it get too close, a beam of light would come in the shape of a pup, but a pup he didn't know. It had looked like an angel, with white wings stretched forth in mighty splendor, his light guiding his way for a little while before dissipating and leaving him in darkness. He felt his consciousness slip again, but this time, there was only light, all the time. The angel pup was now in front of him, holding out a paw to him. "Are you ready?" He asked in a heavenly, sing-song voice. Rocky was mesmerized by what he saw before him, but, now noticing the paw held out to him, took it tentatively, then firmly. The angel nodded to him, then flew up, up into a light even brighter than the angel's, and Rocky only had one thought; "I'll come back Zuma. I promise." Then, he was no more.

Meanwhile...

Zuma woke up, but not slowly; not even close. His eyes shot open, letting in all the light, and the first place he looked was to Rocky. He raised his head up slightly to get a better view of his best friend, and what he saw shocked him. Rocky was floating! And he wasn't a werepup! He was still lying on the bed unconscious, but a slightly transparent version of him was now hovering in midair, his eyes still closed but his entire body shining brightly, and wings spreading out from his translucent back in an angelic stance. Zuma's mouth hung agape, and he shielded his still sleep-sensitive eyes from the blinding light, running around to the other pups and to Ryder, waking them up and showing them what he saw.

The PAW Patrol usually woke up with a rapid blink, a yawn, and a mumbled good morning before getting up out of their bed. But this time, they didn't even have time to yawn as Zuma wrenched their head around to the middle of the room, his eyes wide with fear and awe at the sight before him. The PAW Patrol members, including Ryder, however, saw nothing out of the ordinary.

Chase was frustrated with Zuma. He had been having a nice dream in Hawaii, that now got interrupted and ultimately concluded with Zuma's wild shaking and his screams of, "Do you see that?" Chase grumbled, looking about the empty room in confusion, wondering what the hell the chocolate lab could be screaming about. The other pups, who had all been awakened before Chase, looked at Zuma in a way that said, "What on earth? Has Zuma lost his everlovin' mind?"

"My thoughts exactly." thought Chase as he glared at Zuma, who was now waking Ryder and showing him the imaginary thing he had been screaming about all morning.

"There's nothing there, Zuma! The room's completely normal!" shouted Ryder, making Zuma finally realize what was going on. He looked at the other pups, who stared at him with dumbfounded faces. "You don't see it, do you? Rocky is floating in the centre of the room, and is glowing like an angel!" Tell me you saw it!"

The other pups looked at each other, then at Rocky, who was still unconscious on the cot, and then to Angelica and Jax, who had woken up and were now inspecting Rocky, concern growing on their faces.

Zuma, upon seeing Angelica, remembered that there were more people in the room than just the PAW Patrol, and ran over to Eleftherios, who surprisingly was still asleep amidst the commotion.

"Elef! Elef! Wake up! Do you see what I see?" Zuma shook him awake and jerked his head to the centre of the room in the same fashion as he had done to the others. The collie werepup blinked, yawned, and looked in the direction Zuma was trying to get him to look. But Eleftherios' reaction was much different than that of the rest of the pups.

He yelped and jumped back in fear, the light of Rocky's aura reflecting in his eyes. "W-w-what i-is Rocky d-doing?" He cried, terrified of the glorious being in front of him.

Zuma was overjoyed. "You can see it too!?" He yelled in surprise, and the others in the room, besides the two black cats who were focusing their attention on Rocky's physical body, looked at one another in complete and utter shock. They watched the two pups as they stared with open mouths at what appeared to be nothing, but then Skye saw something.

"Look! You can see a reflection in their eyes! Zuma wasn't kidding, there really is something incredible going on here!" She said, her mouth resembling the duo staring at Rocky's glorified self. The others gathered around, careful not to obstruct the pups' view of the sight before them Then they started to whimper and shake in fright. Zuma yelled, "Wait, what!? You can't leave Rocky! You can't!" Eleftherios whimpered, looking at Zuma and Rocky in fear and shock. He couldn't believe what Rocky had just said. Why would he leave?

But then, to everyone's, especially Zuma's and Eleftherios' pure amazement, Rocky flew up through the roof, into the sun itself, and was gone.

Jax and Angelica looked up at each other, tears welling in Jax's eyes in realization of what he and his mother had just discovered. He and Angelica had been inspecting Rocky after they were startled awake, to make sure he was okay. At first, nothing seemed wrong; but then, his heart rate had plummeted to almost nothing. They had begun getting ready for emergency resuscitation, frantically gathering the medical supplies they needed, but before they could even get the defibrillator from across the room, Rocky's heart and breathing stopped altogether. Knowing they lacked all that they needed, only having a defibrillator on the room because Marshall had taken it in for a clean-up. Jax knew he was at fault for what had just happened, and almost couldn't bear the thought of it, let alone the realization. He hung his head down in defeat, shame, and most of all, guilt. "I failed you Dad. I'm so sorry." He slowly looked back up at his mother, who tried to smile reassuringly, but that only came out as a pitiful frown of sadness.

"Ryder, pups, we have some sad news." She said, her voice shaking now. Ryder and the pups turned and looked at her and the now silently crying Jax, whose tears wet the carpet below him, giving them their full undivided attention. Angelica sighed, tears now welling up in her own eyes as she looked back at the scared and worried expressions the PAW Patrol wore as they awaited her reply. She took a deep breath. "Rocky's heartbeat and breathing has just stopped. His brain's functions have stopped all together, and with the state of complete and utter shutdown his body had just experienced, there is no chance of recovery. I'm sorry." Her voice cracked, and she choked on her own tears as she walked over to her now audibly crying son, tears now streaming down both their faces.

Zuma almost didn't believe what Angelica had just said. He couldn't. He turned to Ryder, face close to tears as he looked for guidance in his leader, but Ryder's face and his following words broke Zuma's hope and spirit.

"Rocky's dead, Zuma."

A/N God, this was a hard chapter to write. I'm sorry if I made you cry, even if that was the intent. I'm going to go cry in a corner now. Bye. {:(