Nick
. . . . .
Nick watched in fear as the raging, gray river cut through all obstacles that dare try and stop it from its rampage. Rocks were tossed around like rag dolls, falling branches from violently shaking trees were slain in about fifteen different pieces per cell, and white caps masked the underwater ecosystem it held, of pure death, blood, and treachary.
He stood on the cold and moist stone along the riverbank, looking for the sign of life he had prayed had still existed. Sure enough, he spotted her ears, and very violently, a gasping bunny surfaced. Her amethyst eyes were wide with fear of the murky water, her arms flailing around faster than airplane turbine blades, struggling to have enough buoyancy to float. It was none other than Nick's best friend, Judy Hopps.
Judy! He tried to call out, but his vocal cords wouldn't let him. It pained him so much to see her like this, trying desperately to stay alive.
She still had her ZPD outfit on, although it looked as if it went through a tornado and back. Various scratches of extremely large sizes made the occasional appearance on her work clothes, made by the rushing wind, piercing through all, just as water did. When wind and water were best at harmony is when they were raging mad together causing havoc, it seemed.
Nick watched helplessly as she got tossed and turned down the rapids. He raced after her on the shore THAT WAS planted with roots and slippery rocks. He didn't care if he tripped on them or not. The river started to pick up speed, and so did Nick. The menacing rocks caused more patches of water to erupt forcefully upward, carrying all victims towards them. One of the victims approaching was Judy.
Nick knew what was going to happen before it did. Carrots, look out! Nick tried to warn her, out of breath from sprinting, but his larynx refused to respond. Soon enough, the rock made deadly contact, and she was knocked out unconscious.
Sweet cheese and crackers, she's dead! He thought.
But then, the river suddenly stopped. Nick stopped running. The heavy downpour stopped. The fear stopped. It seemed that time had stopped.
There was nothing.
And then the river decided to switch directions, and it brought with it the rabbit officer. Wide eyed and frightened, Nick was now genuinely confused. What the heck is going on?
He simply stood there, mouth agape, at the strange occurrence, and the river stopped suddenly. Just inches away, the body of Judy floated. He stared at her closed eyelids, almost hyperventilatin from the overwhelming confusion and fear, until they jerked open suddenly. Nick was horrified to see what was underneath them. Her eyes were the color of obsidian, no life, no happiness, no Judy.
Nicholas Wilde, you will pay for not saving me. You will pay, said a raspy voice that definitely was not Judy's.
No, he thought to himself. No, I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I really am! Please, I can't die!
The demon bunny smiled evilly. Revenge!
His ears picked up a low rumble from a mass of earth behind him. He whipped his head back only to find a tsunami of soil and rock focusing on his consciousness, focusing to drown his body not with water, but with dirt. Nick didn't question how it was possible to have a landslide on this flat forest terrain, because he was too busy anticipating how it would kill him.
It had about 5 seconds to reach his body.
Five.
No!
Four.
NO!
Three.
Somebody help me!
Two.
I'm sorry, Judy!
One.
No, no, nononononoNOOOO…!
That was the last thing he thought before he…
Woke up?
Nick shot up in bed faster than the speed of sound. He was breathing heavily. He took a glance at his surroundings. He was in a decent looking bedroom, scattered clothes hurting the eyes with the sense of why they'd be put in the middle of nowhere.
He was in his bedroom. He wasn't dead. That was a relief.
"O-okay Nick," he whispered to himself, trying to seem comforting, and mask the fear deep down. "It's okay. It's just a nightmare, just a nightmare, j-just a nightmare."
His breathing did not seem to get better, and neither did his thoughts. He could remember every little detail, every patch of carpeting moss, the canopy and damp shade of the deciduous trees. It was unlike him to even remember his dreams.
He quickly glanced at the alarm clock that somehow had the nerve to wake him up at the same time every morning, even after Nick would smack it on the head every day, trying to get his mind off the nightmare. It read: 4:51 AM. Great. He had about an hour and thirty minutes before he had to even try and awaken from the bed that pulled him closer every second. But he couldn't sleep. Not after that nightmare.
Nick launched himself out of bed with the hands he was propped up on, and did the ever-so monotonous morning routine. Brush teeth, take shower, put on hopefully clean outfit, comb fur, eat breakfast, and open the door to find Judy scolding him for being late to go, even if it was by a second (fifty two seconds late was the earliest he had managed to do it, and Judy still scolded him for that); a normal morning. Nick smirked at the thought of Judy; so quirky, losing patience very easily, but it harshly and quickly vanished when he remembered what had happened to Judy in that freak-dream.
He would go on YakTube or watch TV to normally pass time, but he wasn't in the mood for it. He decided he would simply stare out of his window and watch his breath condense into dew on his window, not thinking about anything, just waiting for his (hopefully alive) partner in crime, who fights against crime.
His dark and depressed mood changed immediately into happiness when he spotted a particular bunny, wearing the signature navy blue ZPD outfit on and her trademark optimistic smile, casually strolling down the sidewalk, heading in the direction of Nick's apartment.
For a moment, he felt overwhelming relief to see that Judy wasn't a creepy zombie with black eyes, floating down -and up- a river. But he pushed that thought away.
I will forget, Nick declared to himself, about that nightmare. It never happened.
His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by someone knocking on the ugly, brown, wooden door.
"Nick?" a voice called from outside, definitely Judy's. "You awake yet?"
Nick smiled. "Yeah, just give me a sec, Carrots," he replied.
"To do wha-?" Judy never got to finish her sentence, as she was rudely interrupted by a door.
Nick burst open the piece of wood, sending a startled Judy into the air for a few seconds, and landing softly back down on her feet.
"Ha, ha, you should've seen the look on your face!" said Nick, exploding with laughter; his face in the palm of his paw. He knew that being up this early would have most definitely surprise Judy, but he didn't expect her to jump back a few feet.
"Har har, very funny. Aren't you a sly fox?" was Judy's reply. Some of the surprise was still on her face, barely masked by her optimistic smile.
"Dumb bunny," he playfully replied to his best friend.
The bunny suddenly gave him a puzzled look, her smile disappearing. "Okay, w-what are you doing up this early?" Judy spoke the reason for her confusion, and embarrassment, and used her hands to express her feelings more truly and deeper.
Nick shrugged, his favorite sneaky grin slapped on his face. "I was just looking at previous criminal records and preparing for my day at work and not sleeping all night," he joked casually, reminiscing what Judy sometimes did when she had nothing better to do.
"Nick, seriously." He tried to read her wide, amethyst eyes while she was talking. He could swear he could see a bit of, what was it, compassion, fear? "You never get up this early. Ever. You didn't even have any coffee yet, and somehow you look like you're ready to go, and like you look you've seen a ghost."
He felt his heartbeat quicken and adrenaline flow through his body, but he had no idea why. He wasn't nervous about telling dreams.
You may be not nervous about telling dreams, but you certainly are about telling nightmares. Especially 'cause she was in it, a small voice told him at the back of his mind.
He agreed with it, but he didn't know why.
"Is everything okay?" Judy asked.
"It's nothing Carrots," Nick replied, trying to act casual, "I just had a nightmare, that's all."
Judy nodded understandingly. "Do you wanna talk about it?" She asked using her nicest, most soothing voice she could. He loved it when she used that voice. It would give him a sense of warmth throughout his entire body, like he was stuck in a toaster, melting away all his troubles and fears. Sometimes when she used that voice, he just wanted to snuggle up next to her an-… wait. What?! Where did that thought come from? As quickly as possible, he pushed it out of his brain and thought back to what she said. Nick knew it wasn't a command, it was a question, so he said no by staring at the ground and giving her silence, barely maintaining a smile.
"If you want, we can talk about later," she said, hoping to brighten the mood. Nick could tell she wasn't in the mood for sadness, she was too happy. So, Nick went along with it. He looked up and resumed keeping his sly grin on his face.
"Ready for another day on the force, partner?" Nick made it sound like he had been doing this job for 50 years, but he had just officially become an officer about a month ago.
Judy smiled wider. "I'm always ready, Nick."
"Tell me about it," Nick replied, still smirking. "You look at 100 past cases in a single day just to be prepared for work so you're prepared to solve any new ones."
Judy rolled her eyes and slapped his arm playfully, and the duo departed from the doorway of Nick's apartment, on their merry way to the subway that would take them to their destination. Taking the subway was much faster than taking a car, walking would take too long, and a stop was located directly next to Nick's apartment.
After being on the sidewalk for only about a second, they had been given a sideways glance by a zebra that Nick knew was thinking: A… fox and a bunny? Cops?! PARTNERS?! Are they dating? He knew all too well. He had studied the expressions on all mammals' faces that had looked at them, still showing respect towards the police, but they were so… astounded. Sometimes, they were even offended. That offended Nick. But he got used to it. Never let them see that they get to you, he thought.
Plus, Zootopia had become much less specieist, and much more calm after Judy cracked the Night Howler case seven months ago, so most animals weren't criticizing their relationship anymore.
While crossing the street, Nick looked over at his best friend. It seemed as if nothing could get her down today. She probably had too much coffee this morning, Nick thought.
If nothing would bother her today, then Nick decided he wasn't going to be brought down, either. His nightmare wouldn't scare him, his horrifying childhood didn't exist, and he was with his partner. No, he wouldn't be scared of anything today…
Until he heard a shot ring out, along with a blood-curling scream.
Author's Note:
Cliffhangers!
Hello, reader! Thank you so, so, so much for reading my story! This is my first FanFiction I have ever written, and reviews and constrictive criticism are greatly appreciated. :) I know this was an iffy start, but hang on, there will be more to come!
Huge shout-out to AngloFalcon! Thank you so much for helping me, giving me inspiration, and for teaching me how to use this site!