NOTES

OMG ThAnK You aLL so much, for some reason I gained like at least 30 or so new follows on this story since the update plus more than usual reviews (not much I guess… but it means a lot to me). For those who have been reading Cliffside for a while, you may have noticed how I deleted all the chapters I had and replaced chapter 1. I have re-planned this story, still similar to the one I began writing but probably a lot better, so enjoy! :D

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CHAPTER 2 - Kidnapping (part II)

The fox was looking over an edge of the build they stood on; turning back to the one he snatched. A shiver crawled up his spine. It wasn't the wind gushing by; it was the huge eyed stare of the bunny pulling off her mask.

Her eyes glistened in the evening sunlight. Dazzled, he steadied himself before he could stumble backwards; falling off a six-story building wasn't exactly what he was planning for that day. He had noticed the bright amethyst color before but now… now they were not half hidden by the jewel-incrusted mask, wide with curiosity. The tiny pink nose was twitching at a fast pace and her mouth hung slightly ajar. He felt a sudden desire to take off his black shades, to gaze right into the purple eyes but didn't take the chance considering it would be pointless, and plus the sun was still up and his nocturnal eyes preferred the slight darkness the sunglasses offered.

The train would arrive at 9pm according to the tickets he had tucked away in the pockets of his Black pants, with the sun almost down, there was only a little while left to get there. It surprised him he was actually doing this to save Zootopia; he was always one who traveled along districts, hustling money out of vulnerable mammal's pockets with a sly smirk plastered on his muzzle. Kidnapping a bunny, hiding her from the enemy then dealing with a bunch tough timber wolves, that was something completely new to him. Alright Nick, time to go.

Judith had so many questions she needed to ask, so many unexplained things had happened in less than an hour. What on earth is going on? Her glare had not left the red figure for a split second. A gale swept around them, roughly messing with both the grey silky fur and the red-orange thicker coat.

"Y-you're a fox." It was only a whisper. Judith dropped her head down to look glare at the floor, her mouth shutting to swallow the feeling stuck in the back of her throat after she had realized their nearest surroundings were something like 100 feet below them. She had been told rumors and fairytales based on what actually happened when Zootopia had a royal family, how foxes all died many years ago; it had always been her favorite bedtime story as a kit. To hear her soft voice of her mother word the tale to life, about the kingdom that broke into war. She remembered her first few siblings crying for something with a happy ending, but 'Jude the dude' as her father always called her, was different. She liked the true ones so she could look back at them and see how much the kingdom had changed in the hundreds of years past.

"Great seeing, oh obvious one." he remarked with a tone of sarcasm, speaking for the first time. Muffled beneath the black fabric hiding most of his head, the doe could still hear he had a rather nice smooth voice, attractive even if he had not been a completely different species. She was going to have to be careful around him as something about the tod gave her a feeling he could trick anyone into anything just by talking (which of course, was absolutely true). His response to her comment had made her feel stupid already. Of course he's a fox, he sure isn't something else.

"Come on." The canine beckoned the Bunny to follow him by waving one of his paws his way. Now that he had a few moments to look over the huge town he had figured out the quickest way to Savannah central train station. It was difficult to see and memorize every possible alleyway and street going in that direction. With his mind running over and over it he was confident he could lead the way, after all he wasn't completely unfamiliar with the large place.

Judith looked disordered, not moving a single muscle to the foxes command. Not until she had answers. Her foot tapped rapidly under the long pale-purple skirt of her dress sweeping on the high buildings roof, ticked off by the shifty red fox. Clearly noticing her irritated state, a grunt escaped his muzzle under the bandana and her shook his head, annoyed by her poor cooperation. Did you really think she was just going to tag along with you happily? With an over exaggerated roll of his eyes, unseen by the doe, he knew exactly what she wanted. "Look, I'll give you all the answers you need on the train."

The train. She hated to admit it to herself but his words thrilled her, she had never gone on a train before nor been near one. She had been in many cars to places around in the tri-burrows but never really traveled far enough to have need for a train trip. But why was he taking her on a train? Where was he taking her? …Could she even trust him? Judith felt strange about how little she missed her family and had no whatsoever wanting to go back to the burrow farm mansion, which she called home.

"Promise?" She huffed, sounding extremely childish and cursing herself for it afterwards. Promise? Is that all you're going to say to some untrustworthy city dweller.

"Yes, I promise" he grunted back, his annoyance already triggering at the rabbit and the small amount of help she was doing for the situation he was in. he couldn't tell her everything about the doom that rested in her paws yet… but was there truly a way to simplify it all to explain?

The fox, Nick, had already started heading to the small box-like build standing lonely on the bare roof. The white paint that once covered it was crumbling off, bit by bit with every gentle breeze stroking past it. He had figured the doe would follow him anywhere, she'd be lost without him in the soon-to-be dark city, being stuck between its night life alone probably wouldn't be the most fun for someone like her, especially considering some gangs and groups of drunk mammals that come out at the later hours weren't exactly fond of upper families. To be honest with himself, he wasn't either. But little cottontail there is an acceptation… unless she continues acting like this.

Nick heaved open the Hefty metal door, leaning his back against it, his weight keeping the door open while he waited for the other mammal.

A long moan came from Judith when she realized what the fox was doing; she had to come with him didn't she? If she didn't shed be left here lost in what looked like the savannah district, or even stuck on this roof not being able to open the large heavy door even the tod could hardly hold. That cunning, stupid, cabbage plucking-

"We haven't got all night, Flopsy." He muffled, whole slim body starting to hurt from the pressure resting against his back.

"you might want to rephrase from calling me Flopsy!" she demanded only receiving a meaningless shrug in return.

She finally entered the indoors to the staircase, starting to sluggishly down each step, followed by much quicker Nick. It made her jump when the loud door crashed shut behind them. Poor Judith landed on the step below the one she was on, unfortunately catching one of her hind paws on the bottom of the silky dress and tumbling down to the next flight of stairs. She whimpered, a sharp pain aching in her left wrist. Nick flinched when she came to a stop. Ouch. She had pushed herself back up on to her feet with ease, but was clutching her wrist. Nick was surprised expecting the bunny would of cried or something, she's tougher than he had thought, judging by her posh looks. He sighed. Thank goodness it was just her wrist, it won't slow us down as much.

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It wasn't long before they reached Savannah central, not too far from the town centre. Weaving through the streets didn't take as much time as the tod had planned it would take, having a few minutes spare to board the train without rushing. There were more mammals around this place, the friendlier part of past dark hours; crammed with chattering mammals, cheerful restaurants and a warm light of street lamps blanketing the area in a yellow glow. Judith wouldn't quit with the questions, asking and asking had driven Nick crazy, and that was only before she started complaining too. "My legs are sore" she would nag after five minutes and on. By the time they actually arrived he was about ready to die. Why am I doing this again?

A paw flashed in font of the fox's face.

He had been stuck in a little bubble of thoughts, working out a plan until a particular grey rabbit waving her paw infant of him like a maniac had brought him back to earth. He wished for once she could just leave him alone, he didn't sign up for this. The air and its soft breeze was warm, dropping only to a few degrees at nightfall but cold enough to wear a coat. Nick caught a whiff of fish drifting from the nearby fishhouse. His jaw clenched; he had gone for two days without even remembering to eat and the best fish Restaurant in the whole of Zootopia and their amazing smell was doing the exact opposite of releasing his growling stomach, little bunny girl was probably getting hungry too.

"Right, time to get moving." he flicked his brain back onto mission mode. "Train leaves soon"

Judith hopped behind him, enjoying the gentle wind that rustled past. She had never felt a night so perfectly warm, used to the colder nights the tri-burrows had, where every one of her… 300 or something siblings hugged themselves in blanks and sipped warm coco. She had lost track of all of their names, ages or how many rabbits there where living in that huge burrow. That was her mom's job to remember anyway, she just knew the ones closest to her. She wondered if the fox had any family and where he came from. Perhaps the nocturnal district she had heard of. Maybe that's where we're going?

The tod led the way down to their station, giving two tickets when entering. Weird, its like he planned to take me, the doe mused, still not having the answer she wanted of why she was even with him. A tiny hidden smile puffing up in her cheeks crept out a little more when they stepped onto the platform where trains lay waiting for their passengers. They were longer than she had imagined, larger and many windows, showing it had three layers. Assuming the small door and windows were for small rodents, she would be in the middle or top one. Hopefully in the front too, so she could sneak a glance of the city she had only ever seen from a distance. As much as she hated him, she would have to thank him for showing her a little of the world one day.

Nick found it secretly amusing how Judith was reacting. Hasn't she traveled yet? Her family seems pretty rich. But then again bunnies had what looked like millions of little kits, doubting they'd even have enough time to even step out of the house.

"Train leaving in 5 minutes."

The announcement buzzed around the station from the crackly speakers.

She couldn't help but give a little squeal, hushing herself afterwards. He kidnapped you, why are you so excited, she mentally yelled at herself. Taking the good point, she straightened herself up and waited quietly for the fox to step inside, only because she had no idea what else to do at the time being; she was new to the whole thing. And as she thought he would, the red furred mammal stepped onboard followed by the bunny. She hadn't spoken for a while, too lost in thoughts and queries to do so, plus, her legs had gotten used to the standing up for and walking for a while now and had no need to complain about it anymore, however if sitting was an option, she would most certainly take it without hesitation. Trains have seats right?

"Any chance we can, um, be up the top?" she asked quietly gaining a stare from the other. He was expecting there to be some kind of request like that coming for her so he just shrugged his shoulders and ticked his head towards the steps, which Judith Happily jogged right up to find herself standing in some kind of long glass dome. They hadn't even left but she already felt overwhelmed by the fact she was in the train and how beautifully designed it was, or at least in her eyes. to most mammals a train was just a train, a usual mode of transport to get to work but it was so big and magnificent how something that ran on rails and hundreds of small wheels could move so swiftly and quietly from place to place from what she had heard. it had her stuck in awe.

"You're lucky it's night." a clear voice spoke from behind her. She cautiously turned around to have her facing the front of the train. "You can see all the colorful lights of downtown Zootopia"

Her vision was met with the back of the fox, leaning on a railing that lined the glass globe. He had lost the black fabric over his muzzle, the shades too; it was the first time his full face was fully visible. Judith took place besides him, eyes widening as she saw millions of lights flickering in many different places and colors growing more distant with every second. She hadn't even realized the train was moving. Soon enough, more dull builds blocked out the view of the city, disappointed; the doe took the nearest seat she could find. There weren't many there but the mammals that were gave awkward stares towards Judy, It wasn't very common to see an upper from a different district somewhere as casual as this. Nick saw her leave to sit and followed her.

"Answers?" she queued for him to speak, remembering very precisely he had promised to explain it all to her. Her kidnapper and her both obviously shared the same feelings for each other, not the most fond of one another and ended up becoming quite irritating in the other's opinion; Judy for talking too much and the fox for not enough.

Nick growled under his breath, still have not thought of an easy way to tell her that some crazy animal wanted to find her and use her for some foolish way of becoming the new royal family according to the old traditions and rules.

"Let's Just say, there's some crazy wolf who needs you for an evil plan, and I saved your life." he gave her a big fake grin, showing off the white canine teeth and jumped into the worn-out seat besides her. "You're welcome."

"That's why the wolves where there." Judy noted to herself trying to make sense out of the little information fox guy had given her.

"Bingo!" he joked, the sarcastic person he is.

She found it low key satisfying how his face changed when her tiny fist met arm with a surprisingly strong force, having practice with many brothers over the years. "Shut up and explain more" she demanded. His explanation before had sounded the least bit convincing, as if that would happen. But on the other paw, there was an outburst of them in her home only quite recently so she had no choice but to confirm his words true whether she liked it or not. But why on earth would they do that?

"The rest is nothing a cute fuzzy wuzzy bunny could handle." he said, no known expression in his tone. It was true she probably couldn't handle the weight of the information; it'd make her want to go back to her burrow mansion if she didn't already. She couldn't, it wasn't safe there. The only place is where they wouldn't expect her to be; right under their noses. But he did know bunnies hated to be called cute. Had he gone to far calling her it? Maybe. Was it to going far adding fuzzy wuzzy? Yes, one hundred percent. You're dead Nick.

"Don't call me cute," she hissed through her teeth, jaw clenching tightly.

"Why? You are most definitely adorable." A toothy grin spread wider knowing he was getting the best of her, she really was cute with her huge wondering eyes and chubby cheeks, what is it with bunnies and the word cute anyway?

Judith raged with anger, only bunnies could call other bunnies cute, not that fox. If there weren't mammals staring at the upper already, she would have slapped his muzzle right into its place. A deep breath out to calm herself she rested her face in her paws and glanced sideways to him with half-lids, clearly annoyed. "Shut. It."

"As you say, Miss"

It was finally still between them for a few minutes. If Judith were home she'd be having dinner right now, probably a carrot stew. The air would of smelt of vegetables, nice and cozy with hundreds of bunnies, big and small, munching away on multiple long dining tables. Then she'd be told to go to bed, all hugged up in silky blankets besides the beds of her littermates she'd turn on the light and read. Grown up now, the time was gone that her mother told them stories of the old world, so she read them herself finding it more and more interesting as she dug deeper. She liked the stuff about soldiers, adventurers; the exact opposite of her goody-two-shoes littermate, jade. The homesickness started kicking in.

Nick, as much as he loved his shifty life traveling from place to place and had all the money he needed without even having a job, this new opportunity to save someone, or even everyone, gave him a good feeling. He snuck a glimpse of the doe staring into nothingness, how the lilac dress hugged her body and her eyes struggled to stay open. He didn't want to force her to stay away so he just sighed as she drifted off to sleep; more carrying for him to do soon. This day just keeps getting better. He rolled his eyes.

Time passed quickly because the loud speaker already announced the upcoming stop 'meadow station'.

The train came to a stop at a station between the north station of rainforest district and the Tundratown stop. No one hopped off at this stop except a smaller group of sheep. The tod swooped the sleeping Judith off the seat with ease; he had realized how light she was while he had kidnapped her and carried her to that tall building against her will, even when kicking and trying to squirm her way out. It was a lot easier to carry her now though, dead still, nose having an occasional twitch every few seconds. Is there ever a time bunnies don't look cute?

The dark air was cooler here, with a bitter icy bite to it. Meadow station was so much smaller and messy that the other ones, nothing but a cement pavement, small rusted shelter and a small car park, which held no more than four vehicles. It was the only station closest to Meadowlands where not many mammals lived; the stretched out fields of grass were more a typical place for sheep, goats, horses and cows.

A distant rumble became clearer, that coughing engine nick could recognize anywhere. Out of the night a rusty van arrived on the dirt road rocks flinging in all different directions behind the muddy wheels. It stopped instantly in front of the fox; the van broke so close that the tip Nick's nose was an inch away from the fading painting of two foxes printed onto the van. Wide eyes, he took a step back from the close hit.

Besides him the door yanked open, stepping out was a tall curvy figure who only just fit in the old vehicle.

"Nick! I'm so glad you're safe." The snow furred canine sighed, ringing her arms around the smaller figure. She had been biting her bottom lip so much on the drive there from nerves he wouldn't show up so much it now throbbed.

"Ah- careful, Kate" Nick snapped quickly remembering the upper sleeping in his arms.

"Oh, right." She loosened her hug so she wouldn't wake the rabbit. Kate was a husky dog; one of the tod's only friends. A single black line on her forehead followed down to the very tip of her tail and her eyes were a pale shade of sky blue. She was always there to help him with the mischief he got up to, with her trustworthy job position, she could always do something to help that sneaky fox get away. She treated Nicky like family, her little brother or something; she knew they had huge differences, while he was always hustling and traveling everywhere, she was a good honest mammal besides the fact she knew the little tricks her fox was up to.

"Thanks for agreeing to this" He said walking around the front and into the passenger seat, tiny bunny on his lap.

"Any time" she smiled warmly, shutting her own door. She had to flatten back her ears to fit fully in the van. Another cough of the car and it was off to a start, rumbling as they did a slow U turn and started driving. She had a soft spot in her heart for everyone, and felt terrible for the little bunny. She was so small compared to her, for a wolf she'd probably be the size of their paw, what they were planning is so wrong. That poor bunny. Her usual friendly grin had turned into a frown at the thought. "Those wolves need to be taught a lesson."

Silence hung around for a while, Nick doing nothing but giving a slow single nod. No matter how much Judith got on his nerves, Kate had a point he couldn't deny. Those bastard wolves, horrible, greedy, literally every cruel word he could think of seemed correct to describe them.

The fur on the husky's neck stood on end, the red fox was never usually as quiet as this, he was always cracking horribly stupid, but funny, jokes.

"So, tell me. How did you manage to get her to come along?" She itched for a bit of conversation. Her eyes flicked to him for a second then back onto the centre of the dark road. The random bits and pieces in the back of the track she thought was absolute trash but Nicky and his friend Finnick kept them anyway; "they'll come in use some time, I'm sure" she remembered them quoting very clearly, the only thing they ever actually took out of there was an old baseball bat which was used by Finnick on the back of Nick's head, knocking him out for a few good minutes after their disagreement. Looking back on the memory was hilarious; it brought a smile to her face.

"Well, the thing is, I had to take-" Nick's face awkwardly scrunched up.

"You kidnapper!" she scowled, keeping one paw securely on the steering wheel, she used her free paw to swat nick on the ear. Why is this not surprising?

Nick felt a twinge of pain in his left ear after Kate whacked it; he winced.

"Hey!" he scowled right back at her. "The wolves got there before me, I had no choice!" He knew he probably received exactly what he deserved when she hit him. He had to admit it, he wasn't being the nicest mammal to the doe, but when he saw the wolves he didn't want to cause any trouble so he scared them then left, taking the bunny just like he planned; leaving out the bit where he planned to explain everything without rush and asked her to come with him for her safety. His mother would be so mad if she would be here.

"Ugh. You stupid fox," she groaned. Well, too late to do anything now.

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NOTES - again

I think my writing slacked quite a lot at the end… but I think 4000 words is enough for one chapter XD hopes you enjoyed this!

Also, I can never make up my mind for the cover image but I think this one's a keeper.