A Shift of Fates

Chapter One

MISSFIRE

Astrid groaned, she hurt in places she hadn't known she could hurt as well as some places she was certain shouldn't be hurting half as much as they were. Namely her pounding head, throbbing, and worryingly wet, leg as well as a sharp pain coming from her right side.

Gingerly pushing herself into a sitting position Astrid ran a fluffy white paw over her face as she tried to remember what had happened to her to cause so much pain. Wait. Blue eyes snapped open to stare down at what should have been her hand, but was now, perplexingly, a fuzzy white paw. Looking the rest of her over, Astrid discovered that she was covered in short, soft brown and white fur under her clothes. Oddly she was sans cowboy boots, though in her confused and pain hazed mind Astrid had a feeling she would have looked a little silly with boots over her rather long fuzzy feet. Clown-like even.

It was quite dark wherever she was, Astrid figured it for a warehouse of some kind, mainly for the size and very empty space around her. Glancing down at her obviously bleeding leg and at out through the darkened area around her Astrid pulled off her mostly ruined blue flannel shirt and tore one of the arms off it at the shoulder, discarding the rest. She winced a little as she tied the sleeve around her leg, whatever was wrong with her side, it didn't feel good and leaning over to deal with her leg was only making it worse she was certain.

Once content that her leg was secure, and Astrid had quietly thanked her brother Leo for dragging her to those First Aid classes, the confused young woman awkwardly clambered to her too-long fuzzy brown feet. She stumbled a little, not used to, well, anything about her current predicament and the fact that she now had fur was just adding to the pile of impossible she was now dealing with. She would have thought it was all a dream if it weren't for the pain. No. Definitely not a dream Astrid decided with a grimace as she tripped and stumbled on unfamiliar feet, jarring her already aching body.

It was time to find help. As long as she could make it to the exit without impaling herself on her too-long feet.

It was safe to say Nick was decidedly not having a good day. Not that it had started out bad, no, it had started out looking quite good. The sun had been shining, he had made it to the precinct on time and the Chief had handed him, and his partner, Judy, a decent case to work on. Of course, it was the case that had turned his reasonably nice day into the what was possibly headed toward train-wreck sized badness. He could be wrong, of course, he'd been wrong before.

The case in question was that of a missing mammal (apparently their specialty now), a bunny in fact, which had naturally caught Carrots' heartstrings in a tight grip and added even more drive to his already deeply driven partner. Of course the missing bunny wasn't just any bunny, things were rarely that simple. No. This bunny was a daughter of one of Zootopia's leading Astrophysicist's, who was, naturally, very concerned as the daughter in question wasn't one to wander off or not stay in contact. At least that was what Miss O'Field's case file had indicated. The bunny had been missing for two weeks now, with few leads. Never a good sign.

The pair were planning to talk to the father later, after his classes were over for the day. So Nick and Judy had followed the missing bunny's trail to a research facility, one whose staff had been less than willing to answer any questions and had downright denied seeing O'Field on the premises even after Judy had waved the CCT still they had of the bunny entering the building.

Admittedly Nick had been more than willing to hold off any more investigating until they'd talked to Dr. O'Field, but Judy had stubbornly refused to drive over to the University on a hunch that whoever's fur they had just ruffled would lead them to their missing bunny. Nick had doubted it would be that easy, at least until two large black cars with tinted windows pulled out of the buildings underground carpark. Even he'd admitted that was suspicious, and so off they'd gone, following the cars to the warehouse district in Savanah Central's harbour. Which was even more suspicious than the cars alone had been, Nick had been a con-man long enough to know exactly what kinds of shady stuff happened at the harbour, and he'd been Carrots' partner long enough to know that her getting out of their cruiser to follow the shifty looking guys that had exited the big black cars was a very bad idea. Of course he also knew he would have to follow Judy, if only to keep her from getting herself killed. As usual, he pointedly ignored the fact that she had saved his tail plenty of times during their search for Mr. Otterton and the Night Howler incident.

So now, as he jogged through the all-too-quiet alleys between the various warehouses, berating himself for losing sight of his energetic and determined partner the whole time, Nick wondered just how bad this day would turn out. Judy had vanished, he could have passed the warehouse she'd likely vanished into by now and he would never know which one. Carrots could have at least left him a sign instead of charging in head first.

The late afternoon sun was casting long shadows across the narrow alley Nick had found himself in, he'd just turned a corner when a side door opened and the startled fox barely managed to scramble out of sight before a small form stumbled out of the door and collapsed on the ground with a quiet cry of pain. Ears up, and alert Nick shifted trying to get a better look, hoping the small bunny sized form on the ground was not that of his partner. Green eyes widened a little when the scent of coppery blood hit his nose, and Nick was out from behind the corner and moving toward the injured bunny before he could consider how stupid he was being. He blamed Judy. She was making him soft.

When Nick crouched down next to the injured bunny he was pinned in place with blue eyes, confused, scared and tired, but alert enough to be wary of strangers. Nick instantly wished Judy were there instead of him, bunnies and foxes weren't exactly known to have many warm-fuzzies for each other. Too much blood, bad or otherwise, he supposed.

"Hey, uh, don't worry miss, you're going to be just fine," he started awkwardly. He wasn't sure if his attempt at a comforting smile was working from the way she was staring at him. "I'm Officer Wilde, ZPD, and I'm here to help you," he tried again. He got a blink for his trouble, but any other response from the bunny – who he was reasonably certain was the missing O'Field- was cut off as a loud bang echoed out from the warehouse the bunny had all but fallen out of. Two sets of eyes snapped to the darkened doorway, though one set immediately winced and the bunny tried desperately to muffle another cry of pain.

Astrid watched through squinty eyes as the talking animal, who had introduced himself as 'Officer Wild', which she thought was a red fox wearing a police uniform, of all things, leapt to his feet and quietly shut the door she'd stumbled though carefully. This couldn't be real, he even had the massive fluffy tail, but Astrid was certain that this could. Not. Be. Happening. Animals didn't talk. Or wear clothing. Or have actual jobs. Never mind the fact that Astrid was now apparently smaller than a fox and covered with brown and white fur herself. The fox, 'Officer Wild', knelt back down beside her, paw on her now tiny shoulder.

"Can you walk?" he asked her quietly. Astrid glanced at her leg, and the arm she had around her middle tightened.

"I think so," she answered quietly. The fox helped her up gently, keeping her steady on her feet as he led her down the skinny alleyway he'd appeared from. They were halfway through when 'Officer Wild' picked up his pace a little and pulled her around the corner into what she supposed was at least one of the main 'streets' through the warehouses. He was sticking close to the shadows the afternoon sun was throwing around, his arm around her middle, keeping her next to him.

She could see what looked to be his 'cruiser' across the street from the warehouse exit, they were almost there.

His stomach lurched uncomfortably the moment it happened, his paw knocked against something sticking out of the poor bunny's lower back. Until that moment Nick had been under the impression that her leg, wrapped in what looked to be the remains of a flannel shirt, was the worst of her injuries. He had been wrong. He should have asked her about her injuries. Judy would have, he was sure. Judy would have asked a whole plethora of questions, made sure the victim was okay before moving her. Dumb Fox.

It was her sharp cry of pain that alerted the wolves already following them that they were close, and Nick was pretty sure he swore like a sailor in the nearby harbour as he picked up the more-injured-than-he-thought bunny and started hightailing it to the cruiser. Blessedly where he could see Carrots waiting for him. The wolves stopped at the entrance to the warehouses, watching him silently as he approached Judy with a bundle of bleeding, semi-conscious bunny in his arms. Any other time he would have wondered why they weren't howling already, he was a little busy being an idiot though.

"Where did you disappear to? And who is that?" she asked taking a few steps forward. Nick didn't stop moving making a bee-line for the passenger side door.

"I didn't 'disappear', Carrots, you did, and this, is our missing bunny," the 'I think' went unsaid. If Judy heard it, she didn't say anything, just got in the drivers seat and looked at him for direction. "Hospital, and step on it, I think I just made her worse," he told her with a slightly guilty look. Judy looked from Nick, to the silent, shaking bunny in his arms and started the engine, hitting the siren before taking off towards the nearest Hospital.

Zootopia Memorial.

AN: I don't know, it needed to come out.

The world needs more Zootopia. (shrugs)