Chapter Text
It was late at night when he found himself back at the city. He was floating in the air and could only helplessly watch as Mephiles forced his hand up to kill all the people below him.
Smoke and dust filled the air from all the destroyed, burning buildings around him. Zero watched as Gadget came out of hiding, picked a gun up from the floor and aimed it at him with shaking hands.
His own hand came up again, but instead of the ground, it aimed straight at the red wolf this time.
Zeros other hand curled around his wrist and tried to pull it away, to no avail. It didn´t even moved an inch.
He watched in slow motion as the shot hit Gadget, killing him instantly.
Zero shot up with a silent gasp, sitting straight up in the bed. It took him a minute to calm down again.
Just another nightmare.
He looked around the room. Gadget was laying next to him, still asleep.
Zero was about to lay back down when he noticed the scent of smoke still in the air. He first shrugged it off as side-effect of his dream, but instead of getting weaker, the smell was getting stronger.
The jackal jumped out of bed to turn on the light and then saw smoke coming in through the window. He rushed back to the bed to shake Gadget awake.
“What...?” The sleepy wolf grumbled.
“There´s a fire.” Zero said just as a flame shot up outside the window, lighting the room in an orange glow for a moment.
Gadget quickly got up and both canines headed for the door to go and wake up Carl. As they left the room however, the old man was already coming down the hallway towards them.
“Get to the car.” Carl instructed them, before getting cut off by having another coughing fit.
All three quickly headed outside and saw the bushes and a few trees to the right of the cabin all covered in fire.
They reached the car and Gadget helped Carl, Zero moved around it to get on the passenger seat. Before he could get in, he heared them argue about something. As he walked back around the car to see whats going on, he saw Gadget running back to the cabin just as the fire had reached it.
Zero was about to go after him, when Carl grabbed his arm and pulled him back as a burning tree came crashing down between them and the cabin.
“Let me go!” The jackal hissed.
“Just be carefull. It won´t help him if you get yourself killed.” Carl scolded him before letting go.
Zero looked for a way around the tree, but then decided that would take too long and jumped through an opening in the fire. He ignored his singed fur as he ran towards the cabin. Its right side was already covered in flames and the smoke inside made it near impossible to see anything.
He luckily didn´t had to go far in as he found Gadget laying unconscious near the front door. Zero quickly picked him up and ran back outside to the car.
Carl was still coughing, but managed to drive. Zero was meanwhile sitting on the passenger seat with Gadget on his lap, trying to wake him up again. He eventually did and looked around the car with unfocused eyes.
“Gadget?”
The dazed wolf looked up at him. “M´sorry...”
Zero sighed as he tried to calm down. “What were you thinking?”
Instead of answering, Gadget reached for the bag on his belt. He pulled Zeros scarf out of it and handed it to him. Zero just stared at it in disbelieve, so Gadget tried to put it around the others neck himself, but wasn´t able to.
The jackal put a hand over Gadgets to stop him from trying.
“You ran back just for that? Are you crazy?” He tried to keep his voice down, but nearly yelled at the end of his sentence.
“Love you, too.” Gadget mumbled, before falling unconscious again.
His mind went blank as he caught up with what the wolf just said and then paniced as he went limb in his arms again. Zero frantically tried to shake him awake again, to no avail.
He only noticed that they arrived at the vet clinic as Carl opened the passenger side door. Carl tried to take Gadget from him, but was meet with an angry growl, so he just held the doors open for them.
As soon as Chloe saw them walk in, she called for Maddie and they were brought to the back. While Maddie was treating him, Zero was standing at the other end of the room and anxiously watched her work.
She eventually was done and told Zero to come get her if his condition is getting worse, before leaving the room. Zero walked over to the bed, unaware of all the chaos going on outside.
The fire had continued to spread and the people of Green Hills and other nearby towns were trying to put it out. Chloe had meanwhile offered to take Carl to the nearest hospital as his coughing also had gotten worse.