So Zootopia started airing in our cable since last Sunday. And I've watched every single show schedule since then! It's so easy to fall in love with a movie... And by extension, to fall in love with a new OTP! WILDEHOPPS IS DEFINITELY FOR THE WIN! And in their honor here comes my first oneshot for them.
This is set around the time from when Bellweather cornered them in the pit and things go on VERY different from thereon.
I do not own the characters, or the wonderful movie they hail from. All that is mine, is this fanfic. Enjoy!
So far he's backtracked to probably every event that had led him to his current predicament. Starting from the very mammal who got them there in the first place. Not that he blames her. It's not her fault that they were being chased by a supremacist sheep's henchmen and probably gonna die.
One of the rams had pushed them into one of the exhibit pits, and now they were trapped. If anything he could blame the ram. Or better yet, he could blame the little sheep that spearheaded all of what they were going through.
"Carrots, you okay?" Nick asked to the bunny cop who lay in a heap of discomfort and ache.
She is stopped before she can answer and they both looked up to see Bellweather standing near the edge from above. "Well, you should have stayed in the carrot farm, huh?" She was saying , playing with the briefcase in her hooves.
The briefcase... One sudden thought and fear racked his body. He glanced to the bunny-to Judy- she may be looking up at Bellweather as she was speaking, but it was in her eyes, too.
"I did like you, though.." He heard the sheep still speaking above.
"So, what are you gonna do? Kill me?!" Judy asked, half challenging, and half angered by betrayal from another fellow-prey.
Bellweather laughed. Ominous and dry, and it was as if he knew what she was planning to do next. "Of course not!" He wanted to move, to clear away before his fear is proven true. But Fate denies him this.
"He is!" And the sheep points and shoots before he can do anything to stop it.
The pellet is only plastic-glass, but it stings like a hornet when it hits him square in the neck, and he falls on his back as he felt the serum begin to flow in his blood stream .
"Nick!"
It's the rabbit's scream that he hears in place of the pellet breaking, and she's beside him in a second, hands on his shoulder and calling. The sound is blurred and mushed and he can feel his blood boiling under his skin.
He wanted to warn her, to tell her to get away and try to escape. But his mouth is clamped shut and Judy was too worried to even decipher the mental message he wanted to give to her.
Bellweather is rambling above but it's Judy he hears. Although distant, it's her cries that he hears and for some reason it hurt more than the excruciating pain that only he could feel.
"Nick, no... Don't do this... Fight it, Nick! Fight!" Judy pleaded.
He was fighting. But it hurt... It hurt so bad and he wanted to end it... He wanted to end it... To end... Her..
"Nick?"
It's all he hears and then all sound is gone... All thought is gone.. And Judy is gone..
He found himself, in what seemed to be his natural habitat. Brown soil, partial grass, and... the smell of prey.
He whipped his head sharply to the right and his nose hadn't lied. It was a little European bunny, slowly cowering away from him. Little does she know that it only provokes him even more. The scent intoxicated his brain... And then his stomach.
Barring his teeth and eyes set sharply on the helpless little creature, he began to slowly approach. It seemed to be saying something, but he was senseless to hear it.
Judy could only cry out his name..before he attacked..
And then Nick was gone.
There was a point between being trapped and then blacking out that Nick found himself slightly waking.
He can't understand what's happening, can't even see. Everything was distorted and bright at the same time. There's pressure holding somewhere at his back, legs and head. His breathing is fast and he can't tell why.
There were voices in the background now. Big, husky, panicked, angry and every other kind of sound. Whatever was happening, he sure hoped that it wasn't bad.
Suddenly, he heard an entirely different sound. A sound that he had been hearing earlier yelling in the same tone and crying...again?
A shape flickered in the scene and he saw her.
Carrots.
Oddly, he doesn't say it. It just echoes in his mind. And what was even more odd, was the way Judy was acting. His sight adjusted slightly and he could see that she was crawling towards him. And not only that, but she was being held back by two smudged officers.
Nick is confused, but Judy keeps crawling. Until she becomes closer for him to hear her say: "Please, stop! Don't hurt him!"
Now he was really confused. What exactly was happening?
There seemed to be some reply coming from the background, but there's only Judy.
"Please! I'll take him back! He needs to know I'm okay!" But when the officers restraining her halt her to stop right in front of him...he saw that she was bleeding. It's hard to see from where or how many even, but she looked weak and barely even strong enough to stand.
She's still fighting off her captors, and it amazes him how she could do such a thing even in her current state. His amusement is short lived however, when Judy's face completely fills his view. And he saw the shimmering tears fighting their way out of her eyes.
A second passes, and all the sudden she collapses to the ground, exhausted. The officers take her into their arms and carry her away.
Another second passes and he goes away, too.
There is a single light when he awakes this time, and doesn't hesitate to fully open his eyes.
One check around, he knew he was in a hospital. He got the remote near his left paw and pushes on the call button for the doctor. Soon, an elderly pig with a clipboard came in and greeted the fox. "Well, finally glad to see you up and about, ." He said, coming over to Nick's side to check his vitals.
"Up and about kinda sounds impossible for me right now. I feel really tired. Di- did a bear sit on me while I was asleep?" Nick asked, making the doctor laugh.
"I've heard other patients say worst things than that. But I have to say that all your vitals are good and you are in perfect shape now." Nick doesn't respond to this and instead asks. "Has everything gone back to normal, doc?"
The pig looked at him, confused. Then gave a sound of understanding. "Ah yes... Well, Zootopia has pretty much returned back to normal."
He was checking something off on his clipboard as he said: "The ZPD had Bellweather cornered at that museum, and after what she's done, I'll bet she's seeing bars for the rest of her life."
"I don't remember seeing that.." Nick almost asked, incredulous.
"Well, from what we've observed, you hit your head pretty bad when that ram pushed you over to the pit. But you need not worry about it. The police came and arrested Bellweather and her cohorts before she could have them do anything. She will have to face the consequences of her actions now."
Nick gave a sound of approval. "Probably best... She had no idea what kind of damage she did to those other predators."
For some reason, the pig doctor seemed to grew stiff when Nick had said this. But the fox is still rather too exhausted to question about it. Abruptly, the doctor turned back to the direction of the door. "I'll have the nurses bring in food later. You may be okay now, but it would be best if you took a couple of more days to recuperate."
The fox nods, and before the doctor can leave, he quickly asks: "What about my friend, doc?"
The medical practitioner glanced back over his shoulder. "Pardon?"
"My friend?" Nick says. "Officer Hopps? Judy Hopps?"
"Ah.. Ms. Hopps. The ZPD discharged her a couple of days ago. They said that they needed her back at the station right away to get all this fuzz about the Night Howlers down to a simmer." The doctor replied curtly, and then left off.
It's not exactly enough for Nick to deduce if she was all right, but he supposes that it would be enough for now. Besides, he still felt kinda tired, too. Lying back into the covers, Nick closed his eyes again to get some much-deserved sleep.
Odd. Within the few days that Nick decided to stay in the hospital, not once, did his bunny friend give him a visit.
He shouldn't really be surprised. Bellweather's attacks on the predators may have brought more situations for the ZPD to handle, and most likely Judy would be the first to volunteer for them. But given her nature, (the one that he's seen at least), he knew that she would do her best to spare some time and stroll down to the hospital and see him. Right?
Maybe he was giving himself too much credit. After all, she just cracked her first big case. Perhaps he would let it slide for now and let her bask in her glory.
But several more days pass, and by the time Nick became fed up in the hospital and decided to finally leave, Judy had still yet to show her face to him.
As his norm he thinks the worst, such as maybe she had finally cut herself off from him, or perhaps she didn't need him anymore now that Bellweather had been subdued. But it's highly unlikely. They even reconciled before continuing their investigation that led them to unraveling Bellweather's plot.
"After the pit, I can't remember anything else." He was musing to himself as he exited the hospital building.
He's asked the doctors dozens of times for clarification of how Bellweather's arrest had taken place. The details of every little thing, specifically what happened to him and Judy.
He knows for sure that help wasn't there yet when the sheep had them cornered down in that pit. "What happened?" He kept asking to himself, but only growing more frustrated when no answer came to light.
The doctors weren't going to tell him anything, and for certain, the fox knew that there was something that they were hiding from him.
"I gotta go find Carrots." And with this, he rushes off to the very first place where he will most likely find her.
-AT THE ZPD-
There weren't much people in the station when Nick got there, which made him believe that they were still on the city streets, sweeping up the remains of Bellweather's crimes.
On the front desk, Nick saw a very thick-looking cheetah, munching down on two donuts in one go. He approached quick, and without greeting said: "Hi, good morning to you my name is Nick Wilde, I'm looking for Officer Hopps."
The spotted predator almost choked from being interrupted in his munching, and when he looked down and saw the fox, he cleared his throat breathlessly. "Oh... Hi.. Uhm *cough* cough* Sorry.. you.. uh. kinda *cough* snuck up on me there *cough*"
Nick watched the big cat punch on his chest with much disinterest, and tried to wait patiently. When his breathing is back, Clawhauser leaned forward on his desk. "Sorry about that.. So what did you want there, little fox?"
"I'm looking for Officer Hopps. Is she here?"
Almost immediately, the cheetah's bubbly face disappears, and he falls into a state of stutters and sputters.
"Well, uhm.. Ah.. Judy is.. well she.. uh.. She's-"
The dubious look Nick directs at him helps nothing, and Clawhauser just grows more anxious.
"Ahh well, she's out! Yeah, she's out! With the other officers! Officer Wolfard and Higgins- is that what his name was?- yeah.. They're out... and they won't be back soo-"
His rambling is cut off, when the fox, very quickly swiped away his box of donuts.
"No, what are you doing? I'm not finished with those yet!" Clawhauser protested, trying to lean further down to reach for the box just at arm's length in Nick's hand.
"Not until you tell me where Judy really is.." He said, smirking slightly.
"Uh.. I can't... Chief Bogo is gonna kill me!"
"Well, it's either that, or.." Nick randomly picked a sprinkled donut and slowly brought it towards his mouth. "..I'm gonna eat these one by one right in front of you.."
He almost does, but before he can take a bite, Clawhauser gives a long, dry whine before bursting: "All right, all right! Judy is in the hospital! She's still recovering from her attack since Bellweather's arrest and she told me not to tell you so you wouldn't get worried! So please don't eat my donuts!"
Instantly, Nick's smug facade fades. "What do you mean by 'attack'?" But someone else butts in.
"CLAWHAUSER!"
From above an upper floor, a buffalo whom Nick recognized from the night when he and Judy were attacked by Manchas, appeared and leaned on the railing rather heavily. He was glaring down at the cheetah accusingly.
"I'm sorry, chief! But he was gonna eat my donuts!" He said in helpless defense.
"Well, that won't matter now, because you just broke your word from Officer Hopps." Chief Bogo said, and Clawhauser gives a sound of dejection.
"Wait, could someone answer me, please! What does he mean by Judy's attack? Who attacked her?" Nick asked in one breath, smugness gone, and worry and anger surfacing.
The buff buffalo looked down at him, almost solemnly. And even though he was farther up, and Nick was further down, he didn't misheard it, when Bogo said: "You did."
Many other patients were walking around the back garden of the hospital when Judy got out herself.
Though still not fully recovered, the bunny cop was allowed walking access by the doctors when they saw how long she had been bed-ridden. And seeing as how bunnies didn't do so well being cooped up all day in a hospital room, they didn't see any harm in letting her go outside.
She hadn't been able to make any contact with the ZPD since they confined her there, but she's been keeping tabs with the news. Bellweather was in prison, and scientists from the Zootopia company labs were able to develop an antidote to reverse the effects the serum.
Judy was sure, then, that all the predator victims were finally returned to their friends and families. She looked up when she remembered the doctors say that they had discharged a certain fox patient.
"I hope Nick is okay now, too." She said to herself, breathing in slowly and relishing in the peaceful afternoon. The peace is broken, though, when a response to her statement echoes in the air.
"No, Carrots, Nick is not okay right now."
With a gasp she turned her head, and although she recognized his voice, she couldn't believe that he was actually there.
"N-Nick, I.. uhm..-" But he cuts her off.
"Surprised to see me? Well, you should be. Especially after all that stuff you went through to keep this a secret from me."
His tone was accusing, and he was wearing the same face he had when she mindlessly had spoken about the biological and habitual primal instincts of predators. Angry and hurt at the same time.
"Who told you?" Judy asks as Nick slowly approaches her.
"Donut chomper and Chief Buffalo did." He grounded, stopping a just a few feet from her.
Judy took a second to sigh in her mind. It really was easy to break Clawhauser.
"Why didn't you tell me I went savage on you, Carrots?"
She looks up at him when he asks this, and its' like his mask of pride and slyness was falling off. There was just hurt and so much rage in there.
"Nick... I couldn't." She stammers.
"Yeah.. And so I was left worrying that maybe you had cut ties with me, wondering why you weren't visiting me, when all along I should've been worrying and visiting you instead?!"
The bunny's nose twitched, eyes watering up, and she bows her head before she can see Nick's face softening to mush worry.
"I'm sorry.." Is all she says, and she stays silent to keep herself from crying in front of him... again.
Nick looked down at her grey-furred head and drooping ears with the sigh. "Why are you apologizing to me, when I'm the one who did this to you?"
There were a mass of bandages around her neck, left ear, and even beneath the folds of her hospital gown. Her right arm was in a cast and sling, and there was a crutch, the he knew she used to help her walk with, leaning against the bench she was sitting on.
Very gently, Judy felt Nick's paws come upon her shoulders, and he pushed her to the other side of the bench to make room for himself. When he was comfortable in his seat, he kept both of his arms around her, running them along her bandaged injuries. "I'm not mad at you, Carrots." He starts quietly.
Judy raises her head slightly and glances at him. His gaze is forward and he seemed to be thinking something through. Remembering what happened, she thinks.
She lets him do this, and for a while, the fox and bunny stay silent, side-by-side.
After the silence, and Nick had collected his thoughts, he then says: "I'm mad at myself."
She expected that much.
"I'm mad at myself... for..." He trails off in a sigh. He couldn't even say it. Not even to himself, or to her.
"Nick, there was nothing you could have done." Judy tries to console him.
"I still should have tried." He says, flashbacks of seeing her, in what he could only guess was running away from him while he tried to... do what predators used to do with prey.
Judy placed her good hand on Nick's shoulder. "You didn't mean to do it."
With difficulty, Nick tried to shift his head to the other side to see what her expression was. And it boggles him to see it. "How can you still look at me like that after what I did?" He asks, confused at her worried face. As if he was in worst shape than she was. Bunnies, really.
"Because I know you would look at me the same way, if Bellweather had shot me instead." She says.
"Okay, now you're being ridiculous.."
"It's the truth, and you know it."
Nick sighs, and he looks away again.
The guilt in his eyes was painful, and so Judy tried once more. "Nick... you didn't hurt me... What you did, only made me stronger."
He looks at her, incredulous, wondering where she had even gotten the idea from.
"Now I think I may have given you brain damage." Nick says, and suddenly, the rabbit laughs.
It's a small, but guttural laugh, and it's the best thing he's heard ever since waking from.. well.. being a savage.
While the bunny enjoyed her merriment, Nick gently drew her in closer, and held her against him. The feat was so sudden that Judy stopped laughing.
"I'm really sorry for what happened, Carrots." Nick whispers, sincere and honest 100% for once.
Judy is moved by this, and so she hugs him back. Digging her nose in his thick, red fox fur.
"You know I think you may be part-bunny. You emotional fox." Judy teased, but Nick just hugs her tighter.
"Shut up, dumb bunny."
She does, and they stay in that position for a little while longer.
When they parted, Judy stood up from her seat.
"I'm glad Clawhauser and Bogo told you..." She says, smiling.
"Cheetah couldn't help it. I was gonna eat his donuts.
Judy laughs again. "You're an insufferable fox, Nicholas Wilde." She says with a wink.
"Given your condition, I'm gonna lay off saying a rebuttal. Does that sound okay?" He says, standing up himself, and handing the bunny her crutch.
"Gee. That sounds almost very genuine of you."
"Don't get used to it, Carrots... I'm not gonna be showering you with all my graces forever."
He's saying this, but he keeps a hand on her back to support her when they start walking back to the hospital.
When he gets her back to her room, and the doctors are about to ask him to leave since visiting hours were long past over, Judy took a moment to speak to him about one last thing.
"By the way... I just wanted to know... How worried were you?"
"What?" He questions.
"When you you found out about what happened... How worried were you?" She asks.
It's an almost offending question, and he almost doesn't want to answer. But her face is serious and the fox knew that if he didn't respond, he might risk something that he couldn't quiet name just yet.
"I was so worried that I thought you didn't want to see me again. That you hated me..."
It's another honest answer, and Nick can't believe that he had made himself give two in one day.
The bunny smirked.
"Almost sounds like you love me or something.." She says, grinning cutely.
"Love you? Now I know you're brain-damaged.." He scoffed. "Could we get a doctor here, this poor bunny has lost her mind!"
"Yeah, keep lying to yourself, sly fox... You can't hide that from me." Judy said, shrewd.
"Want me to eat you for real this time?"
She doesn't answer. Instead, she manages to hop up slightly, and gives him a feather-light kiss on his cheek. Judy only winks at him as a goodbye, and she closes the door of her room, leaving the fox, standing there in a daze.
When Nick starts to exit the building, he thanked himself for keeping composure, and that he didn't answer her other question. If he had, he'd have given her his third honest answer for that day, and that was giving the bunny too much graces.
That'll be something he'll have to give her for another time. And he hopes that it would be soon.
"See ya' around Carrots."
And he leaves, with Judy staring at his form from her window, hopeful of their ambiguous future together.
AHHHH! HA HA HA HAAA! THAT WENT SO MUCH BETTER THAN I THOUGHT IT WOULD!
I'm happy with it, and I hope you guys are too.
I really love their relationship, but I didn't want to make this too much of a love-love in one go. I like playing with the odds of developing it slowly much better!
If you liked this, then wait up for some more. I may write more on Zootopia. :)
Thanks for reading!