Prologue Comments

Before you begin reading this one-shot, I wish to inform you that the inspiration of this is from neytirix's "Let's Go Together" on DeviantArt.

There is not a lot original about this piece except for a few minor details for the story.

Nonetheless, please enjoy this one-shot.

Gone Together

How long ago was it?

Just how long exactly was it from the time she heard the fires until now?

If only she knew, then she might be able to make sense of all the darkness between what she had heard and why they were in the alley. Only the darkness around her was able to confirm her suspicions and the scent of trash that was common in the area of cities that she had assumed. Zootopia, despite being its own little paradise, was no different to the rule of having its sore thumbs.

Then again, one of the things about Zootopia that she thought was a sore thumb had eventually became her best friend. During their little adventures together as cops after the infamous Nighthowler case did she happen to meet other sore thumbs in her life, but had long put aside the idea that Nick Wilde was one of those sore thumbs. Yes, the one she had thought was going to compel her to pull her fur off was the same one she had now been through so much with. Heck, there were a few of those misadventures that she thought she would never experience with him until she actually got out into the waters of life and swam with him.

As her purple orbs started to open again and soak in the very fact that she was, indeed, in an alley, she tried to piece the previous events together according to what she could remember. Sadly, perhaps on the account of the obvious blood loss that she was practically inhaling, maybe that's why she couldn't remember much aside from a few scenes and sounds. While it was to be expected for the life of a cop, it was nonetheless brutal in the eyes of Judy when she and her partner arrived on the scene.

Ironically, she couldn't remember much. Then again, she figured that she wasn't here in the alleyway because she wanted to be. The most obvious explanation concerning her current predicament would have involved the friend that was sitting beside her. In fact, she didn't need to know in order for it to be true: Nick had carried her here because he deemed it to be the best location out of range of gunshots, least they take anymore. However, even if they did take one more, Judy wasn't sure if they could take it.

From what little she was able to feel, she had her fair share of bullets: one in the throat, one in her leg, one below her chest, and two making a fine number on her stomach. Since the blood leaking out of her system was still warm, she figured that it was also fresh, or perhaps so much of it that she was in critical state. However, it wasn't like Nick was in any better condition. In fact, given from what she was able to see, Nick had one too close to his throat, but dangerously close to his heart. Four bullets were painting his blue uniform in his scarlet blood: all of them littering his chest, but three more to the right.

Perhaps in the matter of who was losing the most blood right about now, that was debatable: Nick was now choking on his own blood, but he had been doing that for a while because some of his lower muzzle had tiny little streaks that left a distinguished red color that couldn't be mistakened for anything else other than what kept his heart pumping. To make his case worse, he had probably spent all of his energy running up until this point just so he could keep his injured friend from any more harm. To race to death – that was Nick.

However, Judy was no better in circumstances. While Nick was technically losing blood faster than she was because of what he did to get them there, for Judy, each drop of blood was worth more, but only because she was smaller than him. That meant that while she did need less, every drop counted to a greater extent. Tiny creatures were infamous for that sort of thing, especially tiny prey such as her. To be brought to safety at the expense of a predator – that alone was cruel irony.

As she opened her eyes again, she took notice of the lack of a certain orange fox immediately to her left. It wasn't until she looked again that she realized that while he was technically still by her left side, he was much closer than what Judy remembered. If it had not been for the light tug that was around her waist (which had been making a fit already on the account of her injuries), she would have taken a little more time than usual to register what had been committed. Due to Nick's larger stature in relation to herself, his sleeves made better coverings for her own injuries better than he imagined. If they were going to have to wait for help, the least he could do is stop the bleeding.

"You okay, Judy?"

It was weak (almost pitiful, really), but Nick was still able to get his voice out to her. Sadly, Judy wasn't able to verbally respond to her partner that had been doing this work with her for years. However, she had known him well enough to know that whenever Nick used her real name, it showed the true degree of just how worried he was for her. Curling her lips up a little, she smiled at him: the best way she could thank him for patching her up even though her eyes were saying that she wanted to help him too.

A uniform could be replaced, but not a life, especially the life of a friend.

Nick's expression was something else altogether: it was relief, but there was something else that Judy hoped he wouldn't conclude in his mind. As much as she wished that it wasn't so, Nick had already had the thoughts roaming around in his mind about what he believed was going to happen to him. When you have a friend like Judy (or in Judy's case, a friend like Nick), you tend to learn something very important that you wouldn't give up for the world, and that's the lesson of selflessness. If there was anyone during their lifetime that was well acquainted with selfishness, it was Nick: the ex-con-artist and now sly fox friend of his natural prey. Maybe he would never know that in Judy's eyes, she thought of herself to know selfishness all too well along with Nick: prejudice is related to selfishness in a sort of way.

Now that they were selfish for one another, it was only sensible that Nick take comfort in knowing that his partner was going to be alright, especially with the given circumstances.

She even showed her protest by grabbing his paw after a light pat was placed on her head.

"It's okay, Carrots," he said in a half-joking manner, putting on one of those casual smiles, "The ZPD knows we've been hit and we'll be back in the office before we know it."

By "we" and "us", he really meant "her" and "you". Dumb fox trying to play it off.

"Tell you what – after all of this is over, we get coffee together. It will be my treat."

Why didn't he at least try to take care of himself for her sake? She closed her eyes to relax the pain that was in her body as well as the headache that was lingering from before. Even though she didn't like to think about it at the time, she had to admit that the rubbing of one of her ears felt nice, especially when Nick did it like this.

It was a distraction until the ZPD arrived – she only hoped that Nick would be able to hang on until they came. Nick wasn't stupid, and he wasn't the kind to quit. Judy knew that part about him too well when she first met him so many years ago when he still believed that the world will always see him as a sly fox. True, he still was, in his own light, but what he would probably never know was that he was iher/i sly fox. That's just how their relationship worked, and always had been since Nick joined ZPD.

Sly Fox, Dumb Bunny,

Sly Bunny, Dumb Fox,

It was the four phrases that would only be completely understood between this unusual relationship between predator and prey that made Judy smile all the time whenever she wasn't annoyed by one of his dumb antics.

Dumb Fox, Sly Bunny,

Dumb Bunny, Sly Fox.

And so was the way of the sly fox when his paw slowly left the ears of the bunny that he was gently rubbing. At first, Judy almost didn't notice, but when she heard his paw hit the ground, her ears went up, turning to her partner to see whether or not if he was okay. In the manner that his arm fell to the ground like that, it was almost as if Nick had been using the last ounces of his strength to comfort Judy on what he believed to be the inevitable. Judy also had her fair share of being stubborn, and even if it was right before her eyes, her can-do attitude spirit helped her believe in things that couldn't be seen yet, which was the persistence that lead to the beginning of their relationship. Slowly folding her ears back in anticipation, she leaned towards him.

Her voice was technically gone, but that didn't stop her from trying. To try everything: the famous (or infamous, depending on if you asked Judy or Nick) words of Gazelle in the song they heard during the concert they went to not long after cracking the Nighthowler case. Never stopped by much, Judy wasn't going to let that record break, especially for a friend, and especially if her throat was hurting like heck. No matter what, she needed to see that Nick was still with her so he could do what he had promised just a few seconds ago.

"N-Nick…"

If Nick's voice was soft and pathetic before, Judy had just beaten him as she had done with many other things the past. However, if there was a case where she wanted Nick to be right, it was right now, because at least then he would have the strength to open those emerald orbs of his and smile at her like the dumb fox he was. While they were both incredibly weak from the great blood loss they had suffered, that never stopped them from doing everything together. From the first moment Judy practically blackmailed him to accompany her during the Nighthowler case, nothing separated them.

It wasn't until after her paw took a rest on his shoulder and tried shaking him that she realized that the current situation had other plans.

She shook him a few times, occasionally calling out his name to try to get his attention and get the point across of what needed to be said. It was not like him to be so idle, even after such a hard shake, which took a lot of her energy to do so. Even with her heart and soul into the shaking of his shoulder, it took a while for the reality of the matter to sink in and cause her purple eyes to widen in the shock that she had hoped wouldn't happen.

Her paw slipped from his shoulders as she saw the light frown on his muzzle and the relatively fresh blood that was still there. It was hard to believe, and she really didn't want to believe it, but the evidence was all clear before her and he had the injuries to prove that he had done what Judy would soon do, and all she could see of it was the pool of blood.

Nick Wilde, her friend and partner for all of these years, was gone, and there was not a single doubt in her mind that could give her the hope otherwise, as much as she wished that it was so. Her sly fox didn't have the strength to hold on while their comrades at arms were taking down the ones that took out him. The only advantage to this situation was that he would never know that the injuries she came in contact with, despite Nick's attempts to save her, would also be deep, miserable, pain.

Letting her paw fall beside him, some of her much smaller arm was wrapped around his. While there were occasions where she couldn't feel her paw resting on his, the fact it was there was the only comfort that she was offered, and she gladly accepted it. She knew that the comfort she could possibly give now was all one-sided, since she was technically the only individual still here, hearing the occasionally gunfire from time to time. Despite being almost dead herself, her ears never seemed to fail her. They never did before, and she sincerely doubted that they would fail her now, even if she wished it wasn't so.

She couldn't deny the heartbreak that was going through her system right now. From the tip of her ears to the tips of her rather large feet, she knew that if the pain wasn't from the loss of blood, it was from the loss of her friend. The only thing that seemed to drown out the sound of firing guns (other than the light ringing in her ears from the darkness that was trying to take her as well) was the sound she felt in her heart when her heart broke.

She couldn't deny this feeling.

Nick was dead, and all that she had left of him was the larger paw that she entwined with her own. Sinking in this newfound revelation almost made the idea of still being alive hurt even more. Sure, her injuries hurt like heck, but even if she were to survive from this, the only thing that she wouldn't be able to heal as easily was the wound that was forged on her heart because she had lost Nick – and all in the account of trying to save her.

They were friends of course, and they would die for one another – that's exactly what Nick did.

Then again, maybe there wasn't anything so bad about sharing the same pain that Nick did just a few minutes ago. As she closed her eyes, fresh tears started to leave her purple irises. Judy could feel her lips slightly quivering at what had become of her best friend, but as her eyes closed for the last time, something else dawned on her that gave her a bit of hope in the current ordeal. True, Nick wouldn't be happy about it, and she knew her dumb fox all too well, but at the same time, it was something she felt that she could live with.

Well, perhaps the more correct term should be that it was something she could die with.

Yes, up until this point, Judy and Nick had done everything together. For as long as she knew him, they had done everything together – getting coffee, argue at who was the dumber animal in the situation, and reconciliation after the facts helped them see who was actually right in the matter. Happy memories began to flood her mind of the laughs, the tears, and the countless emotions that began to flash behind her eyelids that were involved with Nick Wilde.

They had done everything together, so why not go together?

A quivering from her tiny lips and the flinching of her nose slowly came to a stop as a sigh of relief left her lungs, as if it was going to be the last time she was going to breath that deeply again. As a smile of satisfaction replaced the pain that had been there before, tears that were originally intended for sadness came out in the form of happiness. If Nick was going to give it to her on the other side, then she would gladly take it.

There was no 'I' in the word 'team'.

In the same sense, there was no sly fox without a dumb bunny.

There was also no dumb fox without a sly bunny.

No one would know that.

There was no need to explain: they would never understand.

How could they explain their relationship any better than just acting upon the thoughts and feelings they had for one another, and just work together whenever they didn't agree? Only their actions towards the other and the simple 'sly bunny' and 'dumb fox' was going to have to be enough.

Yes, darkness take the bunny, because going together was enough.

Artist's Comments:

I was hoping that my first Zootopia fiction would be remotely original. Sadly, that was not so.

However, the inspiration for this piece was so much to the degree that I was compelled to write anyway. I'm sorry that I couldn't offer something that was remotely good without the cliche "Nick and/or Judy dies on duty" scenario. Either of the two leading characters dying after becoming police officers is the next cliche scenario for the WildeHopps pairing next to Nick and/or Judy getting shot with the Nighthowler serum. I'm annoyed in that regard, but the picture was still too pretty to pass up, and you'll see what I mean when you look it up.

Yes, I am a WildeHopps fan - suggestions for future fictions are appreciated.

May God's love, grace, and mercy be with us all.