"I swear, the newbies always wake up last."

The voice cut through the air, it's light baritone and almost angry masculine tone snapped Judy's eyes open, only to be covered with a paw from the sheer whiteness of her surroundings. She hissed in displeasure before she slowly opened her eyes, much more cautiously this time, allowing them the chance to adjust to the brightness. The first thing she saw was a table in front of her...

Next was the strange mammal sitting at the opposite side from her, calmly playing with a small balance scale made of brass, or possibly gold, although even as the mammal played with it, he never sent one end to the tabletop or the other end too far skyward.

"Are you going to just sit there on the floor or are you gonna sit down?" He asked as Judy sat against the wall behind her, something she only then realised, while observing him. He was tall, easily three times her height without her ears, or about twice her height with their extra length, or that was what she guessed seeing as to the fact he was seated.

He, whatever he was, was mainly furless and his hide was a slightly tanned pink with a moderate length mop of brown, almost black, hair atop his head. Dressed rather plainly with a pair of blue jeans, a black tee shirt with some red, curled up dragon graphic on the front and a simple but sturdy silver wristwatch on his right arm.

"Look if it's all the same to you, I would rather we get started now."

"Started?" Judy asked as she stood up and looked around, the room she was in was, in a word, featureless. Excluding the two chairs, the table and the small scale on top of the aforementioned table that was still being played with by the bored looking creature; there were no windows, no doors or anything that wasn't white. She couldn't even tell what was making the light that allowed her to observe the empty room. "Started with what?"

"Well officer," The creature began, pointing at her uniform when she sent a confused glance at him, "to put it simply; we are here to make a decision."

Judy jumped onto the chair and stared at the creature in front of her, trying to recall all she could about the many different species that existed and drawing a blank on the one in front of her. Which was impressive considering how good a rabbit's memory is; do you have any idea what it must be like to remember an average of two hundred and fifty plus names, faces, birthdays and birthday preferences as well as recall all of that at the drop of a hat? Because that's what the average bunny has for immediate family and we're not even gonna touch distant family members with a thirty nine and a half foot pole.

"What kind of a decision?" She asked, calmly clasping her paws in front of her.

"Tell me, what's the last thing you recall?" He replied. Judy was about to answer automatically before her blood ran cold, colder than the ice wall back at the police academy, colder than running through Tundra Town in nothing but her fur, colder than Mister Big's icing pool.

"I-I-I-"

"Take your time-"

"I died!"

She shouted those two little words and turned pale beneath her fur, her eyes widened and her ears dropped in shock as she stared at the table. Her breathing quickened as tears threatened to spill forth. She almost didn't hear the sound of someone snapping their fingers right in front of her, but she heard him speak clearly.

"I know, feel free to guess how I got here." He told her, sympathy filling his words alongside compassion and kindness. "Actually, don't guess, look."

"Wha-" Was all she got out upon looking up. Behind him, as if it was nothing more than a painting on the wall, was a clear scene that showed the same creature, lying face up in a pool of blood surrounded by darker creatures, a few standing...

A few laying in their own crimson pools.

There, laying with a gun in one hand was the creature. He had obviously taken a lot of punishment before succumbing, the completely shredded left side of his chest and a few extra wounds on the other side contributed to the fact, he had also dished out more than his fair amount in return if the three other figures on the ground were any indication. Without realising it, she started breaking what she was looking at like it was a crime...

Which she realised, was exactly what it was... although what and why were the questions of the hour. Questions that kept certain other thoughts away for the moment.

It was unlikely that whatever she was looking at was anything other than an attempted murder, judging by the two other handguns and a sawn-off shotgun that laid next to the fallen darker ones. A hate crime possibly? He was the only one that stood out in the picture, but the difference was literally skin deep. Sure she had seen discrimination and biases, herself having sparked and kept more than her fair share, but she couldn't believe that skin colour was the reason. It was laughable!

She was laughing, hysteria filled her as the shock passed, she was talking to a dead mammal of an unknown, to her at least, species after having just died herself. She would have kept laughing were it not for the strange creature whose name she didn't even know.

"Seven sixty-two by thirty-nine, occasionally called cop-killers, three rounds to the chest before a malfunction occurred, loading jam, and on an Aye-Kay of all things!" She looked up, but the creature wasn't looking at her, he was looking over her, "I gotta say, I don't know if your feet are as lucky as they should be, especially considering just where you died, but your friend definitely raked in the winnings."

She slowly turned around and barely resisted the urge to vomit. There she was, laying in a pool of blood that seemed implausible for the small bunny, flanked by worn tombstones that marked her surroundings as a old, but well maintained, graveyard. Her partner next to her, paused mid-word with one paw on his radio and the other compressing a wound on her chest. Several yards away was another mammal, a wood and stamped metal assault rifle laying next to him with two gunshot wounds to the center of mass within mere inches of each other.

She didn't know whether to feel proud of her partner for the textbook shots, happy that he had avenged her, saddened that he took a life or angry that the jaguar killed her. She subconsciously clenched her fist and gritted her teeth. She shouldn't be here, wherever here was, she should be back in her squad car putting up with Nick's, occasionally annoying, jokes. Listening to him complain halfheartedly about her driving. Watching as he calmly dealt with angry citizens that were slandering his species. Just... just...

Living.

"Man, I swear if you start crying then I'm gonna join in."

"How?" Judy asked, once more staring at the tabletop, watching as the scale balanced out once more as he took his hand from it, "How are you so calm, how are you making jokes at a time like this?" She asked before she screamed at him.

"We're dead! Don't you get it?!"

If he was surprised or startled by her outburst, he could've gave Nick a lesson in wearing a emotional mask. He simply nodded as if it was an everyday thing to say you were dead.

Nick...

"Do you recall what I said when you woke up?" He asked as she went back to staring at the scale once more, "I'm not gonna sugar coat it, I've been right where you are once."

Judy looked up at him, only to shift her focus to the image behind him once more. There he was, lying face down in the middle of a four lane road with a different set of clothes and a backpack. A pickup truck with it's driver's door opened a few feet away, parked in the street close behind a minivan. Several other creatures; some like him, some like the dark ones and some like neither, stood around him as a distraught woman on a cell phone stayed back, likely calling nine-one-one.

"I was being chased, the backpack was loaded with something they wanted; drugs, money, a hit list, whatever it was, I couldn't let them get it." He calmly told her without so much as a glance behind him, "So, in a moment of incredibly genius grade stupidity, I ran blindly into traffic.

"I made it halfway across before I heard it, the squeal of old brake pads being worked harder than they had ever been worked... I flew over the minivan, scared the shit outta the soccer mom inside, and landed on the tailgate of the truck behind her back first, the backpack taking most of the impact and prevented me from having a broken spine. If that scratchback roofer wasn't tailgating her, I probably would've gone face first into the asphalt at terminal velocity... or his windshield."

"Why are you telling me this?" Judy asked as pieces slowly slid into place, "What does..."

He nodded as revaluation stuck her like a soccer mom driving a minivan, "Well officer, it seems you got it, or at least some of it, but just to clarify, welcome to The Crossroads; where you can get a second chance."

A second chance... The words brought comfort to her, she latched onto the glimmer of hope, I can go back, I can...

Live.

Of course, if there was one thing that Nicholas P. Wilde had taught her, it was that things are never free; of due, of debt, of an angle and most importantly, "What's the catch?"

There is always a catch in every too good to be true offer.

"Simple," He told her as he looked into her eyes, golden hazel meeting amethyst purple, "One goes on and one moves on. That's why it's called The Crossroads."

As if he wasn't blunt enough, he added, "We can plead, negotiate, simply not want to try that one great, terrible, awe inspiring, shaded grey thing called life again or even fight each other, but no matter the outcome, one has to move onto a path for the other to go on the other."