Hey guys! i'm back with another fic! Its not as dark as the last one though! Credit for this goes to UtakuBeta
Shattered Chapter 1: Moments
Judy Hopps looked out the window comfortable in her chair. The sun shone down, warming her to a comfortable degree, relaxing her. She gave contemplation to the events of the last few days. Everything had been such a blurr.
She thought about her life thus far. She had worked her tail off getting accepted into the police academy program. Even before the "mammal inclusion program" she knew her scores were the highest of anyone who had applied. She had been trying for two years before the was finally accepted! She had not been sitting idly by however, she had been getting a minor degree in law. She early on knew she would need to be capable of looking over legal and financial documents as well as enforcing the law.
Judy Hopps was the perfect cop. She joined the force for the right reasons. She was extremely intelligent and in better shape than most mammals on the force. She was compassionate and yet stern when she needed to be. Her hunches were often formed based on information and details others would overlook.
It was her intuition that led her to seek out one fox, her fox now, Nicholas P Wilde, on that very first case she strong armed herself into.
The party had gone late into the night. Judy had maybe drunk a little too much. Nick, as always, only had one drink. His favorite uncle had been killed by a drunk driver and he never over indulged at parties, only at home, and only when the car keys were locked away.
Judy loved to tease Nick about his old Fjord Jalopy, considering she didn't have a vehicle of her own. It was old, it made odd noises, the tires needed replacing, and a thousand other little things… Nick loved it only second to his mother and Judy. Judy loved it too, though she would never admit to it. So much of it was out of date and would never pass a modern safety test. But it was one of the few vehicles that could survive all biomes, and Nick loved driving it in the wild biome.
Judy blushed, recalling how impertinent she had been back then. The chief was right to be angry with her, of course. But she had been young and impatient, as many rabbits are, to show what she could do. She had wanted so badly to make a difference she had never seen the value of the meter hazing position, as it turned out it was referred to.
All new officers had to do it, and she had particular joy in making Nick suffer his 3 month tour as a meter fox. She smiled, blushing at that memory. They were seeing each other by this point. She loved seeing "her fox" in that meter maid vest… and only that vest. She would do the same and… ticket each other. She had to giggle, despite everything else that was going on, at those happy memories.
The night when Nick finally admitted to her how he felt, and she had confessed she felt the same… that night was had been, so far, the most magical in her life. More than anything she could have ever dreamed or read about. She was far from a virgin at that point in her life, of course, so she knew how to take precautions. She was a rabbit after all, but Nick… Nick had been beyond her dreams… and hopeless that first night... And she didn't care.
They had gone to the ZPD party for Clawhauser and his new fiancee. It was being held in the, aptly named, Wild district. Some animals didn't like living in perfect climate controlled biomes, so the Wild district was the compromise and oddly, one of the most populated and diverse areas in the city. It rained when it rained, it shone when it shone, the snow came in the winter and the heat came in the summer.
Remembering the party made Judy's paws ball up, on her lap, grasping her legs. That night was the last night she felt happy. She and Nick had half staggered to the car. Judy because she was drunk, Nick because Judy was constantly running into him. They laughed and waved goodbye to their friends and coworkers. Police were part of their family now.
Judy had sloshed into the chair and put her seatbelt on, then half fell on the bench seat giggling. "Nickey I love you" she said very drunkenly. "You are the cutest wootest, sweetest foxy woxy coppy evah!" She then giggled at her own silliness. Judy was often a happy drunk around her fox.
A tear fell onto her paw. She couldn't stop the memory from playing out once it started.
"Yes Judy my love, you too;." Nick said, smiling at the drunk bunny… his bunny. He had fallen for her long before she had him.
More tears fell on Judy's paw. "Nick…" she whispered so low, even a fellow bunny would have had trouble hearing her.
"I'm not a foxy woxy" Judy said giggling, looking up at her fox as he sat in the car, buckling his seatbelt.
"Well at least you're buckled up" he said with a smile. Judy's expression then turned hungry and not for food.
"That's the only thing buckled up on me right now Nicky" she said in a low tone as she slowly opened her blouse to expose her chest. Nick's mouth went dry for a moment, then he started the car.
"Home... first… must... drive…" he said, trying to contain the growing tree in his pants. Seeing her work was done, Judy closed her blouse and giggled as she began to button it up back up.
'...If only I hadn't distracted him… maybe…' More tears fell, her cheeks were soaked with regret.
They drove for a small while, Nick had the windows rolled up because of the pouring rain. The windshield wipers squeaked for all they were worth, but the sudden burst of sky was more than they could handle. Judy was looking out the passenger side window, her buzz slowly fading and her senses beginning to return. They had been talking about the weather in the Wild biome and how nice it was. It reminded Judy of her home on the farm.
"Nick" Judy said in a small voice. "Nick... I need to tell you something important" she continued, but between the pounding rain on the metal roof and the loud squeaking of the windshield wipers, Nick was having trouble hearing Judy.
"Nick... this may be the last party I can have alcohol at for a while…" she said, stirring up her courage.
"What's that hunny bunny?" Nick asked. They had just gotten the green at the stop light. As Nick slowly pulled into the intersection, Judy began.
"Nicky I… LOOK OUT!" she screamed. They both saw the swerving lights. It was as though the car was trying to dodge the raindrops and didn't care how widely he swung the car. In that moment Judy knew they would never get out of the way in time. The adrenaline of the moment cleared her mind like crystal.
She immediately unbuckled her seatbelt. She knew that if she was caught by the door, she'd be crushed, likely worse. She turned towards Nick whose face was screwed up in concentration, his paw slamming on the gas, trying to power past the incoming ton of metal and death. The swerves were too wide and fast however and as the bumper began to carve its way into the car, Judy sprang.
It was as though time slowed to a crawl in Judy's mind. Her natural bunny speed in addition to her police training, and honed with her time on the force, made her the fastest cop on the corps. Her legs were her pride and they would save her once again, she knew it.
The bumper drove into the car like a hungry predator chewing into its prey. It tapped Judy and sent her flying in the direction she was already trying to go. She immediately rose her arms above her head to protect her from the imminent collision with the driver's side window. She locked eyes with Nick for a split second that felt like it lasted forever as she flew past him.
Her paws were soaked, she couldn't stop it. She couldn't stop the memory and she damned the universe for it. 'Oh Nicky!' she thought for the umpteenth time.
She flew through the window, safety glass shattering around her, some of it scratching deep into her arms as she flew through. The pain in her elbows was great, but nothing compared to if this had been the cruiser with it's BulletProof glass… however it wouldn't have crumpled from the impact either.
Time then sped up to normal in her mind. She landed and bounced along the pavement until she slammed into a light pole in the middle of the intersection. She heard the pop. It was so clear every time she relived the moment...this moment of the end of her life. A moment later the car flew over her and she looked up in blurry pain she saw Nick… HER Nick in the car, surrounded by air bags. The other car was stopped, having transferred all its kinetic energy into the old Fjord Jalopy and sent it flying, rolling in the air.
It was a small miracle the car didn't land ON judy, crushing her, as opposed to flattening the light post above her and landing just behind on the meridian. Before she knew no more, she saw the figure of a fox with green highlights on his head and tail stagger out of the other car, the front demolished but the cabin left intact. The air bag having saved his life.
He looked at the wreck and ran into the shadows, his escape covered by the heavy burst of rain. A minute later the rain, the other fox and Judy's mind were gone.
Judy's mind stopped the merciless recording in her sharp memory. She was sobbing, wailing at this point. Nick was at her side, his right arm in a white sling, cooing and trying to comfort her. His good arm wrapped around his beloved rabbit. He kneeled before her wheelchair. Judy was inconsolable as she wrapped her arms tightly around her midsection.
Nick looked hopelessly out the window. They were on the 4th floor, of the paraplegic wing of Zootopia general. Outside the sun shone brightly, bringing hope and joy. Animals of all kinds were playing in the metro square below, going about their lives. Some happy, some sad, all oblivious to their personal hell. It made Nick sick..
That night didn't just take her legs.