Okay, so I originally conceived this story in an attempt to answer the question - is it possible to have an uplifting fic in which Judy and/or Nick goes savage. Of course, I don't know how 'uplifting' this fic is, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless.
"So that's it?!" demanded Judy, "Prey fears predator and you stay in power?!"
"Yeah, pretty much!" said the diminutive ewe, reveling in her having achieving the advantage – or so she thought.
"It won't work!" Judy yelled. Come on! Give us something heavier to go on!
"Fear always works!" Bellwether crowed, "And I'll dart every predator in Zootopia to keep it that way!"
There. That should do it!
Nick's muzzle began to peek through the fake grass. Might as well let Bellwether have her moment a little bit longer before they send it crashing down…
"Wait…" Judy and Nick glanced up at Bellwether, who had a puzzled expression on her face. "Something isn't right…"
Judy's expression shifted from fake horror to genuine horror as Bellwether opened the magazine on her pellet gun.
The ewe chuckled as she removed the gun's 'ammunition'. "Well, well, well! Blueberries!" Bellwether clicked her tongue and shook her head. "Gotta admit, I didn't see that coming! You're a wily one, Judy, that's for sure! But I worked in IT for a while. You know what they teach you there?"
Bellwether then reached into her pocket and pulled out a bag of blue pellets and reloaded the gun with its real intended ammunition. "Always. Keep. Backups!"
"Oh, no…" Nick murmured.
"Now, let's try this again, shall we?" Bellwether smirked as she pulled the trigger.
For the second time, a blue splotch hit the russet-colored fox's hide.
"NICK!" Judy screamed.
"Judy, get back!" Nick growled as he pushed himself further away from the grey rabbit. "Get away- urgh!"
The fox doubled over as more growling noises escaped his muzzle.
Don't let me hurt her… Nick thought as his mind seemed to fade away, Whatever happens, don't let me hurt her…!
Suddenly, a new image popped into his mind. An image of a young fox kit in a Junior Ranger Scouts uniform eyeing himself in the mirror with pride while his mother beamed down on him.
Mom…
"Nick…!" Judy moaned. It had all been going so smoothly…!
Judy didn't bother retreating from Nick this time. She just closed her eyes and waited for the inevitable, thinking of all the things that had happened, and what remained to be done
Even if Nick did maul her, she still had the recording of Bellwether admitting to her crime. Maybe that would fall into Bogo's hands and get Bellwether indicted somehow?
But Nick… What would become of Nick? Would he feel guilty for killing her? Judy thought about saying something into the carrot pen to let Nick know that what was about to happen wasn't his fault. Maybe say goodbye to her family? Maybe tell them to take care of Nick for her? Maybe apologize to all the predators of the city for what she said in the press conference?
Maybe Judy deserved this fate her role in helping Bellwether's plot along… Even if Judy had been railroaded into saying those things, that had been her prejudices talking back then! But if that was the case, why?! Why did Nick have to get caught up in her punishment?! He'd been through enough! Why did he have to wind up like this?! Why…
Why was nothing happening?
Judy opened an eye warily. To her surprise, she didn't see Nick's jaws around her neck, or the path to Inlé!
Instead, the fox was backing away, eyes locked onto on her, ears folded back, but not in aggression. Chittering noises seemed to come from his muzzle. Sad noises…
He was 'savage' – no doubt about that; his pupils were slits now – but he wasn't acting like any of the savage predators she'd seen. He looked sad. Sad and terrified.
"Nick?"
"What the hell is this?!" Bellwether's voice came from above her, "He's supposed to be eating her alive!"
Judy was just as flabbergasted as the sheep was. What was going on here?!
"Nick…?" Judy began crawling over the fox, who backed away even faster now, chittering growing louder and more panicked.
"Is he… afraid of her?!" came the voice of Bellwether's lackey.
"Afraid of her?!" yelled Bellwether, "Get real, Winslow! He's a fox! He's got sharp teeth and claws! She is a cute little bunny! Why the hell would he be afraid of her?!"
Judy was wondering the same thing. Nick was larger than her, and as Bellwether had just pointed out, he had all the killing implements. Why would he be afraid of-
"Let me ask you something – are you afraid of me?!"
Judy tensed. Why was she thinking of that now?! Wait… Nick's story… The Junior Ranger Scouts…!
Both then and at the press conference, Nick thought he'd finally found acceptance despite the fact that he was a fox – only to be betrayed by prejudiced 'friends'.
"Never let them see that they get to you."
"Oh, Nick…"
Judy had realized that for all Nick had gone through, he hadn't so much as shed a tear the whole time she'd known him. After being muzzled by the Junior Ranger Scouts, Nick had essentially locked himself away, buried his emotions under that hustler façade.
Judy was an 'emotional bunny' alright. She wore her feelings on her sleeve. Nick on the other hand had no such outlet for his feelings. Who knew what he'd been hiding underneath all those smirks and wisecracks!
"Everyone comes to Zootopia thinking they can be anything they want. But they can't – they can only be what they are: sly fox, dumb bunny."
Nick had wanted to be something other than a sly fox. His story about the Junior Ranger Scouts had proved that. His application form for the ZPD proved that. But no sooner had he filled that form out than Judy had taken his trust and torn it to pieces. She might as well have ripped up the form right in front of him…
Did the sight of her take him back to that night when he was muzzled? Did Nick still associate her with betrayal? Or maybe the Night Howler effect somehow made him regress back to feeling like a powerless kit? Maybe the Junior Ranger Scouts and the press conference weren't the only times his trust had been violated. For all Judy knew, things 'got to him' every time someone called him a 'fox' in a derogatory manner. Maybe all those feelings of betrayal were only flowing out now because the Night Howlers had removed his inhibitions?
Judy had no idea what that Night Howler serum had done to the fox's mind, but she had to make this right. She had to…!
"Nick…" Judy kept crawling toward Nick, who backed off, baring his teeth and growling. "Nick, it's alright…"
The fox barked at her. Judy shook, but willed herself to keep moving forward. She'd let her fear get in the way of their trust before. She wasn't going to let that happen again!
"You don't have to worry anymore." she said, "I… I know you're upset… I know you're scared…"
More growls and chitters.
"…But it doesn't have to be that way… I know you. I know you want to be more than a sly fox. I know you feel like that's impossible, but I know better. I know you wanted to join the ZPD – I saw you'd filled that form out. After you left, I framed it and hung it in my room in Bunnyburrow to remind myself how much I'd hurt you… Hurt all the predators here…"
Tears began to flow out of the rabbit's eyes.
"But no one has to hurt you anymore… Not even me… Especially not me… You helped me so much when we were looking for those missing mammals! You forgave me even after what I'd said at that press conference. You didn't abandon me when I hurt my foot. You're not a sly, untrustworthy predator, Nick. You're a nice guy… You deserve so much better than what you got…"
Now it was Nick who was backed against the wall of the pit, looking for all the world like Judy was stalking him. Maybe it was a trick of the light, but Judy thought she saw a tear flow out of his crazed eye.
"Once this is over, you can have it all! You can join the police – you don't have to be my partner if you don't want to be. You can be the mammal you always wanted to be. You'd make a great cop! A better one than me, I'll bet!"
Judy had stopped 'stalking' Nick and had more or less stopped, sitting down a few feet away from the cowering, growling fox.
"So please, Nick!" Judy bawled, "Don't be afraid anymore! You can hate me, yell at me, tell me I'm as bad as the rest of them! But don't feel like you have to bottle it all up because of what you are, because you are just so much more than what the world says you are…"
Judy's vision began to blur from all the tears. "I never thought I'd say this, but I don't care if I get to be a cop anymore! I just want you to feel better about yourself! I just want you to be happy… I want to see the real Nick Wilde… The one that wanted to make the world a better place – maybe more than I ever did… and I want that Nick to just… feel… good…!"
Judy doubled over as her tears grew thicker and thicker, putting herself in a fetal position. Maybe she'd put herself in danger by approaching a scared, cornered animal, but she didn't care anymore. She'd meant everything she'd said. She hoped the carrot pen had picked all that up so if something did happen to her now, Nick would get her message if they cured him.
Suddenly, Judy's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of sniffing close to her. She looked up and saw that Nick was steadily, warily approaching her, giving her a cautious sniff.
Judy stared into the fox's eyes. No trick of the light this time – those were tears flowing out. Those green eyes still had slit pupils, but there was something in them… Something downright pathetic… Something that made her think of the frightened little kit that must have run out of the Junior Ranger Scout building with a muzzle on his face.
The fox nervously took another step toward her. Judy sniffled, then threw caution to the wind – she didn't care what happened next – and threw her arms around the 'savage' fox, bawling uncontrollably. Nick tried to push her away at first, but Judy refused to let go.
"You shouldn't be afraid, Nick…!" she croaked. "You shouldn't be afraid…!"
Nick gradually stopped trying to escape the embrace and began to make chittering noises again, along with sorrowful whimpers. The fox closed his eyes and rubbed his cheek against Judy's, their tears mingling freely.
"What the hell is going on here?!" demanded Bellwether from outside the display pit. That stupid fox was supposed to be tearing Judy to shreds, not acting like a kicked puppy!
"That's what I'd like to know…!"
Bellwether turned around to see Chief Bogo, accompanied by several of his officers, walking up to her, glancing into the pit.
"Mayor Bellwether, could you tell me what I'm looking at here?!" Bogo seemed impatient.
"Ch-Chief Bogo…!" Bellwether stammered. She'd called Bogo to report a savage fox. How was she supposed to explain… whatever this was?!
"And I'll dart every predator in Zootopia to keep it that way!"
"Huh?!" Bellwether turned back to the pit. Judy was holding out what looked like a plastic carrot. The sound of rewinding emanated from it, followed by the sound of Bellwether's own voice.
"And I'll dart every predator in Zootopia to keep it that way!"
Bogo glanced from the pen to Bellwether in confusion, before finally turning to Judy, "Hopps, what-"
"She's been making predators go savage," said Judy, not looking up from the fox she was hugging, "Check that bag she's got – and that pellet gun."
Bogo looked down at Bellwether. Sure enough, she was holding a pellet gun in her hooves.
The ewe mayor tried to put the gun behind her back, chuckling nervously.
"Ch-chief?" Bogo looked to Officer Francine Trunkaby. The elephant looked nervous and confused. "What should we do?"
Bogo stared at Bellwether a little longer. "Take that gun and search her, then put her and that other sheep in the car." he growled.
"Y-you can't arrest me!" the Mayor squeaked.
"I'm not arresting you, just detaining you until I figure out what exactly is going on here." Bogo gave the sheep a piercing glare, "But once I do, then we can talk about charges…!"
"B-b-but…!" Bellwether stammered as Officer Frieda Fangmeyer removed the pellet gun from her hooves. Officer Mick Higgins then pushed the ewe toward the museum doors, followed by Trunkaby grabbing the burly ram and pushing him after them. Two sheep ZPD officers would later be caught trying to flee the museum. They would turn out to have been bribed by Bellwether to act as her personal thugs.
Bogo's attention turned back to the display pit. "What's going on here, Hopps?"
"Bellwether hit him with one of those pellets." Judy's attention didn't seem diverted in the least from the fox she was embracing, gently rocking him back and forth like a baby. "She thought he'd kill me. It didn't work out that way though…"
Bogo couldn't fathom what was going on. The fox's eyes were closed, so he couldn't tell what they looked like, but the whimpering and chittering noises coming from him didn't sound like they came from a civilized mammal. "Well, is he savage or isn't he?!"
"I don't know… said Judy, "But he won't hurt me. That I know for sure…!"
Bogo sighed. "I'll have to tranquilize him so we can get you out of that pit, Hopps…"
"I know, Chief." Judy, who seemed moderately angered at the prospect, "Just give us a minute. Nick needs this…"
Judy's embrace tightened. "Let it out, Nick… No one's judging you… Just let it all out…"
I originally wrote a somewhat comedic epilogue to let the reader know that Nick does recover, but I wasn't sure if that was too much emotional whiplash, so I haven't included it here. If you think it would have fit in here, let me know.