Ye god's I'm fucking trash. So I went to go see the wonderful film Zootopia (which you all should go watch, it's fucking glorious) And lo and behold I am now writing a fanfic about the movie, but not a WildeHopps one, nope that would be too easy for me, I have like all my other works decided to pick a super obscure pairing BellHeart (Dawn Bellwether and Leodore Lionheart, cause why the hell not.) This takes place approximately three years after the films end.
Three years, six months, twelve hours, and fifteen minutes. This was the length of the sentence for former assistant mayor of Zootopia, Dawn Bellwether. Three years of looking at the world go by from behind bars; three years of wearing an orange jumpsuit and being referred to as Prisoner 489-B3.
Now, all of this was going to be coming to an end.
Standing at the entrance of Zootopia Maximum Security Penitentiary, she was . . . free. Her fifteen year sentence was mercifully shortened to three thanks to good behavior. Still, all things were not sunshine for her.
She was escorted out of the prison—not in an orange jumpsuit, but her normal dress attire: a green sweater and floral-print dress.
"Alright, Miss Bellwether. You are now a 'reformed' member of society, however, so you don't go about any more trouble, you will be monitored under parole," the animal leading out of the prison said; a slack-jawed bull with a heavy drawl. Despite his appearance, he was one of the few people in this place that Dawn could tolerate. Opening the door before her, she walked out into the world a free sheep again.
"Your parole officer will contact you in a few days. Have a good day, Miss Bellwether," the bull parted as he closed the door behind her. Dawn looked at the concrete ground that lead out of the prison. She was, if her memory served her well, in Savannah Central, somewhere around Lions Gate.
"Hello, Dawn! It's good to see you're finally free." Dawn heard an all-too-familiar voice exclaim. She looked up, and speaking of lions, there before her was her former boss: former mayor of Zootopia, Leodore Lionheart in a button-down flannel, khaki pants, and all his smug glory. Narrowing her eyes, Dawn walked right past the giant feline, refusing to acknowledge him.
"Now, come, Miss Bellwether. Is that any way to treat your old boss?" Leodore called after her as he followed the tiny sheep, much to her annoyance. Dawn walked to the nearest bus stop, doing her best to avoid eye contact with the pursuing lion.
"Yes, that is the way I'm going to treat you. Now stop following me," Dawn snapped as she sat down at the stop to wait for the bus to arrive. A quick glance to her side confirmed that the annoying lion was standing right beside her.
"Do you have anything better to do than bother a former prisoner attempting to leave a prison?" Dawn huffed at him irritably as she continued to wait.
"As a matter of fact, I don't! Or, well, not for a few hours, I don't," Leodore answered her as he sat down next to her. Dawn had a good mind to punch the stubborn predator.
"Why are you here?" she spat, finally turning to him.
"I'm here because I heard you were being released today and I wanted to talk to you," he smiled. "And I have an offer for you." He pulled out his wallet, took out a small card, and handed it to the sheep. It was a card for a construction company.
"I have a friend who managed to get me a fairly decent job at his construction company, and I badgered him to let you work there as well," he explained as she inspected the card. "He's in need of a secretary, and, well, I told him you were the best." Dawn returned her gaze to him and narrowed her eyes. She could see a bus in the distance traveling to her stop.
"While that is a . . . tempting offer, I think not, Leo," Dawn said, her voice cold. She god up and gathered her belongings to board the bus, "I'm done being your or anyone's secretary, official or glorified." She boarded the bus once it arrived, leaving her former boss to watch as it departed.
The bus ride to her new place of residence was mercifully short and, thankfully, no one had recognized her. The place she would be staying at for now was a shabby apartment on the west side of Herd Street in the downtown section of the city. It had a single bed, two windows, and gaudy-looking wallpaper. Flopping onto the bed, Dawn tried to get some sleep. The bed was uncomfortable at best, but it was eons beyond the bed in her old prison cell.
She slept for maybe a few hours, if the time on her phone was correct. Said phone was what actually woke her up as it rang; it was a number she didn't recognize. Groggily, she picked up the cell phone and answered with a stiff yawn.
"Hello, how may I help you?" Dawn managed, willing the sleep from her eyes.
"Yes, hello, Miss Bellwether. I'm your parole officer, Erin Kodo," the voice—female—greeted. Over the course of a few minutes, the woman on the other side explained what she would be doing with Dawn, mostly keeping her on the straight and narrow and helping her reenter society. Also, starting tomorrow, she would have to try and find a job.
The next day, Dawn woke up at about six in the morning, reading to hopefully find someplace willing to hire her. The day before her release, she had gone to the prison's clerical office and printed out several résumé copies to hand out to potential places of employment.
"Alright, Dawn, you can do this," she reassured herself as she looked herself over in the mirror in her apartment's bathroom. Her wool was trimmed and her dress, a sunflower patter on this one, was prim and proper. Walking with confidence, she stepped out of her apartment, ready to meet the world—or at least she was for the first couple of hours, but after the twentieth business turned her away without so much as looking at her, she began to falter. Finding herself with only a quarter of her résumés taken, she was looking at a very, very long day ahead.
Her phone suddenly rang and she let out a frustrated groan as she dug into her purse to retrieve it. After pulling it out she saw the number that she wanted to see the least, and belonging to the animal she the least wanted to talk to: Leodore Lionheart. She hit ignore and was about to put her phone back when he rang again, but she ignored him a second time. He rang again, and again, and again, and after a good number of minutes and call attempts, she finally caved and answered the phone.
"What?!" she screamed into the receiver out of pure frustration, "What on earth could you possibly want to bother me this much?!" She inhaled as she pinched the bridge of her nose as she tried to collect herself.
"I just wanted to talk. And, maybe, invite you out to lunch," Leodore answered from the other side of the line. Dawn frowned—she did not want to speak to him, let alone go out with him to anything.
"Come on, Dawn, humor me," he pleaded at her silence. Dawn rolled her eyes at his request as she rubbed her face tiredly.
"Fine, but only this once. After this, you leave me the hell alone, okay?" she hissed, caving to the lion's invitation.
"Good! How does Sahara Café sound? It's on Flock Street. Say, at around noon?" Dawn glanced at the watch on her wrist; she could see it was eleven-forty right now. She sighed before agreeing to the time and place.
Fortunately, Flock Street was only about a ten minute walk from her current location. She quickly located the Sahara Café, and there she spotted Lionheart sitting at an outdoor table. He wore the same flannel shirt from yesterday.
"Ah, Miss Bellwether! Glad you made it," Leodore welcomed her as he gestured to the other seat. The sheep begrudgingly sat across from her former boss with a scowl on her face.
"Alright, Leodore, I'm here. What do you want?" Dawn's voice dripped with contempt. Leodore, for his part, either ignored her behavior towards or didn't care. He cleared his throat.
"As I told you, I just wanted to talk. Now, how was your day?" Leodore asked politely, placing a paw under his chin as he waited patiently for the small sheep to answer. Dawn rolled her eyes spitefully at his tone.
"Oh, it's been a rather swell day," she answered with a grimacing smile on her face, compounded with the sarcasm she conveyed. Leodore gave a nonchalant roll of his eyes in return.
to her. She took it and looked it over before she pointed to the cappuccino as the only thing she wanted. Leodore ordered it along with a simple cup of black coffee for himself.
"Look, Dawn. We've done a lot of things to make us not like each other," Leodore stated, his smiled replaced with a frown, "but that does not mean we can't act civilly towards one another." She looked at him with indifferently.
"Yes, it does. I don't know if you know this, Leodore, but you're not my boss anymore," Dawn reminded him as a fierce scowl formed on her face again. "I don't have to be friendly with you—just sitting here talking to you is a favor, and not one I'd do again anytime soon." Her anger only increased as she continued to speak.
'I mean, for starters, you gave me a job as 'Assistant Mayor' and treat me like some damn secretary with a glory title, and put me in a god-forsaken boiler room as an office!" she shouted furiously and leaned into the table aggressively. After a few moments of angered ranting and a few choice words, she let out a tired huff and crossed her arms. Leodore simply sat there and allowed the sheep to vent her frustrations. Once he was certain she had finished, he spoke up.
"Finished?" he asked her politely, and when she nodded he smiled. "Good. Does it feel good to vent?" Dawn frowned but nodded begrudgingly.
"Like I said, we've both done things to each other to make us resent one another. But, Dawn, it's been three years. Don't you think we can move on?" he asked her hopefully as the drinks arrived. Dawn thought to herself for a moment before she shook her head.
"Sorry, but there's just too much baggage with us right now. Maybe after a few months, but not at this moment," she finally concluded as she got up from her seat to leave.
"Well, just remember that the job offer still stands," Leodore called after her as she part from the café. She decided that she had spent enough time on the streets and returned to her apartment. She closed the door behind her before she slid down the frame and released a frustrated sigh.
She couldn't tell what was worse: the fact that nearly every place she tried applying to turned her away at the door, or her former boss trying to be buddy-buddy with her after three years in prison. She needed some sleep.
The next morning, as with the one before it, she checked in with her parole officer and told her of her job searching. She showered, put one some new clothes, and went to hand out résumés. Just as before, she got rejected almost instantly by most places. This continued for a few days until finally she started running out of places to find work. One afternoon, she looked at her phone before letting out a defeated sigh. She dialed the number for the one animal she had no desire to speak with again, and after a few minutes, the other line was answered.
"Leodore Lionheart speaking. How may I help you?" she heard him say from the other end. She let out one more defeated sigh before speaking up.
"Leodore, it's me . . . Dawn. Is that job offer still open?" she asked tentatively. She heard some muffled moving on the other end before he spoke up again.
"As a matter of fact, it is," Leodore answered her enthusiastically, and though she couldn't see it, she could tell he had that smug grin on his face. This was going to be a long day and she knew it.
Well that ends the first chapter, I hope you good people liked it, it took me a while to write but I think it's good.