Hello.

I won't lie, this is a weird one. It's not like the other fics you'll read today; it's as slow, painful, and real as a story about talking animals can be. Maybe realer than a story about talking humans can be, and probably worse. Let's see how bad it can get, yeah?

~Panfila

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A long time ago, many years into the future, there is a place called ZOOTOPIA.

It is a hotbed of life and decay, a den of love and lies, a bubbling cauldron of beauty and caution. Beasts roam their homemade jungle, tamed but just as FIERCE and HUNGRY and WILD and FREE as their forefathers.

Zootopia is a dream within a dream, and nobody wants to wake up. Because there is one rule in Zootopia: ANYONE CAN BE ANYTHING. Every dog has their day. Every yak has their year. Every llama has their life.

There is a place for everyone and everything, a space for
dark eyes and wet fur,
blackmail and parking spots,
crushed cans and comedians,
codes of silence and gossip rags,
champions and reunions,
old friends and terrorists,
vagrants and vigilantes,
paragons and con jobs,
memories and IOUs,
chases and asylums,
and, above all, endless MYSTERY.

Because when anyone can be anything, anyone can be a hero and anyone can be a nightmare...

Welcome to Zootopia.

Enjoy it while it lasts.

CHORUS ONE :: Wild and Free

"So... you're pretty quiet tonight." Judy leans over from the driver's seat, nose-first.

"Oh, that's right. I promised I'd perform the opera I wrote for you, didn't I? Silly me."

Officer Judy Hopps rolls her eyes, looking extra dramatic with her large violet bunny irises. "If you don't tell me what has you so sullen, this patrol is going to feel so much longer."

Nick Wilde stares at his small partner with a single fallen eyebrow for a beat. "I'm not 'sullen,' I'm pensive."

"About?"

"Ya know, when I listened to you six months ago and applied to the Zootopia Police Department, I figured when I got out of training there would be a lot more… policing."

"Are you kidding me?" She presses onto a steering wheel that's almost as big as she is and throws her hands toward the windshield. "Look at this!"

Outside the police car, the district of Savannah Central buzzes with activity: a pair of caribou whisper and chuckle around a candlelit table outside a nearby restaurant; a cluster of young leopards laugh as they jostle down Antler Avenue; pockets of civilians enjoy the crisp night air of the bustling city center as they head home.

"Look at all these animals. Look at their faces. They're happy because we're protecting them!"

"Protecting them from inside a car. In the shadow of an alleyway."

"You're right, partner. We'd be much more effective if we got down and mingled with the citizens. Let them know we're here for them. I'm a little behind on my cardio for the week, anyway. I could go a good couple of miles."

"No, no, not what I meant at all! I meant…" Nick frowns a bit and looks over at his partner. "How do I say this? I thought it'd be more… not boring?"

"Boring?!" She hops in place. "Nick, policework isn't about excitement. It's about making a difference in animal's lives and keeping the peace. It's about letting regular folks sleep at night and being there to say 'Good morning!' when they wake up."

Nick stifles a smile. She's serious, but it strikes him as funny that even standing in her seat, she's only just his same height. Bunnies never stop being funny… "That's word-for-word from the manual, Carrots."

"Doesn't mean it's not true. Deep down, everyone is good inside, and they deserve to have us watching their back."

"Now, I'm not saying you're wrong — you absolutely are, though — but what on earth makes you say that?"

"What? That everyone deserves protection?! For crackers' sake, it's the ZPD motto: Protect and serve! Did you already forget what they taught you at the academy? I know it was on the final—"

"Slow your roll, Cottontail. I'm talking about everyone being good. I mean, do you even remember the—"

Nick stops himself.

It's been six months since the Savage Summer. The official name for the event is the "Night Howler Outbreak" (as if the pellets of plant poison grew naturally, squeezed into organic guns, and shot themselves at citizens around the city without anyone pulling the trigger). It was a massive public fiasco, so it was no surprise the official language of the event avoided as many specifics and names as possible. Public details remained fuzzy, but the media fell in love with the sensationalism and alliteration so "Savage Summer" has been on the city's tongues for the past six months.

It was how Nick and Judy met, first as officer and suspect, then as investigator and CI, then as ad hoc partners. Now, they're actual partners, sitting in their partner vehicle, patrolling their partner beat.

Which is why Nick stops himself from talking.

Because despite how successful the case was, it left a lot of things… unresolved.

He musters a smile that covers the serious turn in conversation. "Just remember, you never know what other animals are doing out there, Jude."

"What am I doing!?"

Jin drops his head on the table. There's no heavy, satisfying thud… only a soft thwap cushioned by a thick layer of papers strewn about the wide, wooden surface. The ache on his forehead isn't enough to distract from how good it feels to finally rest his weary head on something. For a brief moment, he just enjoys the interruption.

Finally, better sense wins out, and he raises his head from the table. Across the room, the clock glows with the time: 8 PM.

Jin pops up and lightly slaps his face. "Crunch time! Crunch time! Crunch time!"

He rubs the black circles around his eyes. Raccoons may be nocturnal, but they still need sleep. And 8 PM makes it a full 14-hour day he's spent at the office with nothing to show for it. Nothing but piles of the same paperwork.

"Gale?" he calls out.

No answer.

"Gale, can you come help me out?"

A distant train rumbles in its tracks.

That means he's truly alone in the Zootopia District Attorney's office, stuck with nothing but a mountain of evidence for the Night Howler Outbreak prosecution. And when the boss walks in tomorrow morning, Jin will have nothing new, no fresh angle, no revolutionary discovery from the landslide of papers. And the office of District Attorney Lyons will never come to think of him when the Assistant District Attorney position opens up. He'll be a glorified errand boy until the end of time.

He stares at a picture of Dawn Bellwether. It's not the one from the papers, but one from the city employment records. In all truth, the lamb looks innocent, harmless, and a little cute. And somehow, that innocent-looking lamb brought the entire city of Zootopia to its knees for one Savage Summer...

"How?" he wonders. "Where does it all even come from?"

The contracts, the connections, the contraband, the media circus… it's all so conniving and convoluted and completely handled by one little animal. One little animal that would be suspicious if she went anywhere, never mind places where she'd meet the tough guys that were involved in this conspiracy. Dawn Bellwether would be out-of-place if she went anywhere alone.

Crunch time.

Jin's deft little raccoon hands brush aside papers, flipping past reports and analysis, relevant case precedents, when another picture catches his eye. He digs it out and holds it up: a full-page picture, freshly printed and added as an afterthought to the background files. The gears in his head start turning as his eyes shine in the dim light of the darkened workroom.

"Mary's little lamb… handling the Savage Summer all on her lonesome…?"

Jin stares at the picture and can almost feel the mystery deepening around him. The inconsistencies are obvious. The alibis are suddenly translucent. The questions and problems pile up faster than he can fully grasp. And at the center of it all... the picture in his hands of another little animal: innocent, harmless, and a little cute.

Officer Judy Hopps.