The United Burrowdom: 1756.
A young rabbit is dragged down a dark, grimy stone hallway in the heart of The Citadel, the mightiest prison in the Burrowdom. Two heavily armed guards flank her, each holding one of her already shackled arms. Cell after cell is past, until they come to a small rotunda with two cells in the middle. The cells are semi-circular, with a wall splitting the two, so that the occupant of one could not see the occupant of the other. The rabbit is thrown roughly into the cell directly in front of her.
"Enjoy the short stay, you traitorous maggot." One of the guards spat at her.
The condemned rabbit leaned back against the cold, hard stonewall at the back of her cell. She began to think about her life, trying to figure out how things could have ever gone so wrong. Her musing was interrupted by the clanking of chains behind her. She jumped.
"Traitor, huh?" a gruff, lifeless voice asked from the other cell.
"No." she defied the hideous title. "That is just what I am accused of. My true crime is standing for justice."
A laugh echoed from behind her. It was a cold, cackling laugh, but she could tell that at one time it was a warm, uplifting laugh.
"Justice." The voice pondered the word. "There is no such thing in this God-forsaken country."
"There is so!" the rabbit fired back. "But it is squandered and crushed by the elite!"
"Such fire." The voice said in a regretful tone. "Pray tell me, what is your name?"
"Judith Hopps." The young rabbit said with pride.
"Ah." The voice said in understanding. "The last of the honorable rabbit clans."
Judith felt a swell of pride in her chest.
"Tell me, what traitorous act did you commit to get yourself thrown in this hell?"
"I defended a fox." Judith answered.
There was a pause.
"You defended a fox?" the voice asked, confused.
"Yes. She was minding her own business when a noble set upon her. She would have surely died had I not intervened." Judith explained. "I was forced draw my blade. I killed none, but just the wounding of a noble was enough to secure my fate."
"You should have let her die." The voice spoke in a dry tone.
"I beg your pardon?!" Judith exclaimed.
"In the Burrowdom foxes are better dead than alive."
"How could you say such a thing, sir?" Judith asked, appalled at what her cellmate had just uttered. "They may have been our enemies a century ago, but they are now subjects of the crown! With all of the rights that includes."
This earned another fit of laughter from the voice, but this time it devolved into a fit of coughing.
"They are subjects with rights just as slaves are workers with pay." The voice said. "Long ago they hunted rabbits, now the rabbits hunt them."
Judith thought about what he said. It was true, and she knew it, but it was not how it should have been. She heaved a heavy sigh or resignation.
"Might I have your name, sir?" Judith asked.
"Nicolas." The voice responded. "And do not address me as 'sir'. That is a title for gentlemammals, I am but a piece of scum to be scraped off one's shoe and thrown away."
"No mammal is so worthless." Judith protested.
"If anything these last five years has taught my it is this:" Nicolas explained, "a mammal is only worth what his superiors deem him worth. I have been deemed worthless, so that is my worth."
"That is not true!" Judith asserted.
"That is only the case in fairytales and bedtime stories!" Nicolas asserted. "Only the ignorant or incredibly dull believe it to be otherwise."
"You forget one in your outburst." Judy said quietly.
"And whom do I forget?" Nicolas growled.
"The hopeful."
Judith moved closer to the edge of the wall.
"Like me. The ones who hope for a better tomorrow. Who hope for peace between predator and prey. Who fight for the justice predators deserve. And who die for those beliefs."
There was a long silence between the two mammals. Hours seemed to have passed. At length Judith could no longer stand the deafening quiet.
"What are you convicted of, Nicolas?"
"Existence." Was the sullen reply.
Before Judith could ask the meaning of the cryptic answer, she was cut off by the warden of The Citadel.
"Bullshit, Wilde!" He bellowed as he rounded Judith's cell to her companion's. "You know damn well why your sorry ass is here. You murdered Bartholomew Savage, second son of the Duke of Greendew!"
"Yes, I killed your brother, Jackson." Nicolas snarled.
His voice sent fearful shivers down Judith's spine.
'What sort of rabbit is he?' she wondered as Nicolas continued.
"But only after my parents and two sisters were slain by his blade." Nicolas' voice filled with venom as he spoke. "Your brother deserved far worse than the quick end he met."
"SILENCE!" the warden shouted. "DON'T YOU DARE SPEAK OF MY BROTHER IN SUCH A TONE, FILTH! GUARDS OPEN THE DOOR!"
Two guards ran around to where the warden ordered. Judith heard the heavy thunk of the lock and the creaking of the old iron door opening.
"Learn your place, you scum." Jackson snarled.
Judith then heard the crack of a whip, and the muffled whimpers of its victim. This continued for several minutes. Finally, she could no longer take it.
"Stop it!" she wailed.
"Oh."
The cracking stopped.
The warden walked around to where Judith could see him.
"Perhaps you wish to join the murderer in his pain." The warden said with an evil glint in his eye.
"No." Nicolas rasped. "Do not touch her. I will take twice her share; you are not to harm a hair on her body."
Everymammal in the room was shocked into silence.
"Humf." The warden grunted. "I have no more time to play with you any ways. It's time."
Just as the warden finished his statement, the tolling of the great clock echoed through the halls.
The warden smiled sadistically as the guards rounded Judith's cell. She heard the jingle and latching of chains. Her companion was then thrown to the ground unceremoniously in front of her cell where she caught her first glimpse of him.
She gasped in surprise. He was a fox. She could tell that at one point he might have been handsome, but now he was but a shell of the mammal that once was. His build was nothing but skin and bone, his ribs and spine clearly visible. His back was crisscrossed with scars from what she assumed had been innumerable beatings, it also glistened with blood due to his most recent, and likely final, beating. A muzzle covered his face, and his arms were locked behind his back in chains.
"You, too." The warden said smugly as the guards entered her cell.
Her dress was ripped from her form, leaving her in her thin, white underdress. Her arms were then secured behind her with chains and shackles. She was then groped and molested as if she was a prostitute. The warden smiled; Nicolas turned away.
"Enough." The warden said, before the torture turned to a raping, as he walked confidently up to the humiliated, and violated, rabbit.
He planted a forceful kiss on her lips. When he pulled away, Judith spat in his face, earning her a slap in her's.
"Take them away." He spat.
Nicolas was roughly picked up from the ground, and the two prisoners were escorted down miles of corridors, until they came out of a heavy wooden door on to a small courtyard. There was a small crowd surrounding a hastily built gallows. On the platform of the tool of their demise stood three bunnies: A priest, a doctor, and the hangmammal.
The fox and bunny were escorted through the crowd. The mammals in the crowd booed and sneered at the prisoners. The two climbed the steps to the platform, the last firm ground they would stand on.
"Shall I administer your last rights?" the priest asked Nicolas.
"I pray not to your god, rabbit." He answered.
"And for you, Miss Hopps?" the priest asked Judith.
"Please." She nodded.
The priest uttered a brief prayer for her.
"Take your places." The hangmammal said gruffly.
Nick stood under his rope, and Judy followed his lead.
The masked rabbit tied the ropes around their necks, and proceeded to read them their sentences.
"Nicolas Piberius Wilde. You have been herefore accused, tried, and convicted of murder, and sentenced to death by hanging. Have you any last words?"
"None worth the breath." Nicolas answered curtly.
"Judith Laverne Hopps." The masked bunny continued. "You have been herefore accused, tried, and convicted of Treason against the Crown, and sentenced to death by hanging. Have you any last words?"
"Only that I stood for what I believed in. And if true justice is treason in this land, I am happy to die in defense of it." She said proudly.
"Noted." The hangmammal said.
The hangmammal then descended the stair from the platform, sparing the two their deaths for a moment longer.
"Judith." Nicolas said quietly.
"Yes?"
"It was a privilege to spend my dying hours with you. I pray that we might meet again in a future life, and perhaps even become friends, under better circumstances." He said as he offered a weak smile.
Judith felt as though it was the first true smile he had had in years.
"I would like that very much." She smiled back.
The hangmammal returned with two hoods. He began to place one over Nicolas' head.
"No." Nicolas protested. "I want these rabbits to watch me die."
The hangmammal nodded, and walked to Judith.
"I want to see the sky as I die." She said softly.
"As you wish." The masked bunny said.
The hangmammal tossed the hoods to the side in a huff, and walked to the lever.
"Good bye, Judith." Nicolas said with peace on his voice.
She looked over to see him looking to the sky, with a smile on his face. She looked up and smiled as well.
"Good bye, Ni-"
The floor fell from under her, and the last thing she saw was the dark blue of the evening sky.
Inspired by the song Hallowed Be Thy Name by Iron Maiden.