Dust

Judy and Nick couldn't believe what they were seeing. Tons of mammals were being made into nothing but particles, leaving other familiars behind. Nothing escaped it. There were children, adults, elders. The smell of rotten flesh wasn't helping. There were screams from mammals stuck under debris and burning to the crisp. Some of them wandering around with some limbs missing. Judy saw a fox walking with half of his face gone, only seeing the bones and the flesh that was still hanging from him, until he walked no more and stumbled on the ground.

There was no possible explanation to this phenomenon. No one could know what was going on. Thanos was unknown to that universe. The Infinity Stones were unknown. No other sort of life form was known to them. They couldn't do anything. They just had to sit and watch. They weren't the main show anymore. They were the casualties.

"Nick, what's happening? T-this is not possible. What is this?" Judy said horrified. He had no answer to any of the questions his rabbit was asking. Was he gonna die too like that eventually? How fast was this going? Was this gonna take the whole entire planet? There was no time. No time at all. He couldn't know when or if he would die. It was all a gamble. A randomizer. Nobody chose who died.

"We gotta get to the ZPD, fast!" Nick didn't know why they had to go to the ZPD. They were gonna die anyways. Judy followed him. She knew he didn't have any kind of plan, but what else was there to do? She wasn't gonna sit and wait for her possible demise. If she was gonna die, it would be by Nick's side.

The car wasn't very far from when they stationed it and rapidly got inside it. The first thing there was to do was to speak on the radio. To try and get contact with anyone there. To get at least a little bit of information on what was happening. Nick was speeding with the car and trying to get to the ZPD as far as he could.

"Precinct 1, Precinct 1, does anybody copy? It's Officers Wilde and Hopps! There are people disappearing mysteriously and we don't know who or what's causing it. Is anybody there?" Nick kept trying to contact with someone there but no one responded. It was a bad sign. Judy felt it too. This was the end. There was no escaping from it.

Departure

As they got closer to the police center, Judy wouldn't stop looking at the destruction this catastrophe was causing to this city. What was happening in Bunnyburrow? Were they gonna be okay? She had no clue. Her stomach started hurting.

She didn't notice, but Nick was trembling. Trembling in pure terror. He had never felt anything like this, not even in the day of his supposed Initiation to be a Junior Scout. He couldn't know where all his friends were. He didn't have time.

They finally arrived to the ZPD and it was desolated. It looked like there was no soul, inside or outside. Judy had a very bad feeling about this. She couldn't make up her thoughts as she felt a disturbance in her body. Her fur felt earthy and it looked crumbled. That's when she noticed.

She was disappearing too. Shocked, Hopps had nothing else to do but to call Nick, and say her goodbyes.

"Nick" she said, already sobbing.

"What is it, Jud- *gasp* No. No, no, no, no!" Nick said, not believing the situation.

She was debilitating and she was about to fall. Nick caught her but couldn't keep her up as she stumbled. Nick crouched and put his left hand on the back of her head as she was slowly giving in to nothingness.

"I-I'm sorry we couldn't make a family. I'm sorry I took so long to accept my feelings toward you and to be able to love you" said Judy, now crying and not being able to retain her emotions. Nick looked at her as if she was being foolish.

"Stop saying that, dummy. You don't have to apologize for anything. Nobody needs to. What we have is great. I only need you in my life to be happy, Judy. Nothing else. Don't go now, please!" said Nick, which also couldn't retain his emotions.

"I love you, Nick" they were both crying a lot now. Nick Wilde was crying. His life motto was to not let anybody see that they got to him, and after 20 years, he was crying again. Judy Hopps, his savior, was dying in his arms. He kissed her. Kissed her like he never did before. Judy felt it too. It was truly their best kiss. And all of a sudden not too distant memories came rushing into her dying mind. The Nighthowlers, Nick's first day at the ZPD, their first kiss. It was all going away with her. She at least has hope that Nick cherishes their time together as she did with him. She knows he will.

As her body turned completely to dust, she only managed to say one last thing. "Live for me," and closed her eyes as the last bit of her flew away.

A sound of a soul leaving the body and a ringing of an eerie bell was heard as her face turned completely non-existent and nothing about her figure could be seen anymore. He looked at his hands. It was there. There was still part of… her. He screamed, and cried. He would never see her again. She was gone. Gone forever. He wouldn't hear her voice again, nor touch her soft fur, nor lay with her in bed another time. Who was still alive? Was he the last one?

He thought about Judy's last words. To live for her. That was something he was definitely gonna do. He would find an answer to this. He would stop it, and he will try bringing her back. He was gonna live for her, and die for her if it was to be necessary.

He felt anger all of a sudden. He didn't know anything about this. He didn't know what was causing this. He didn't know what took away his Judy. He didn't know anything. The only thing he could do was get into the ZPD and try to find survivors.

A Familiar Face

Entering the ZPD was gonna be harder than he thought. Who else was dead? What more heartbreak could he encounter on this fateful day? 8 hours ago he was the happiest fox alive and now… now what? Her last words still buzzed in his mind. Live for her. He had to. Moving forward was the only option.

He finally took one last step that would lead to the entrance. He prepared for the worst. As he entered, it looked quite desolate. Not a mammal in sight. Did everyone in the ZPD vanish? He couldn't believe everyone would be dead. It was already pretty horrible with Judy, but everyone in Precinct 1? Everyone with which they had shared drinks and heartfelt conversations?

Looking everywhere, Nick could only find dirt, some of which would maybe belong to one of his friends. He got inside the bullpen, in which everyone received their assignments. Empty. He caught himself eyeing his and Judy's chair. Empty. Of course it was. Only he and Judy sat there and now it's incomplete. He decided to get out of that room. It only brought him sad memories. Empty.

As he walks out, he hesitates. Being in this place with Judy was his most incredible blessing. Being part of her daily activities, her mistakes, her wins. He took part in all of them. Never left her side. In the end, she never left his side either, and he's grateful for that.

Nick heard a loud sound in the entrance of the precinct. He got startled. It was unexpected. It seemed rushed. He drew his gun out of the holster and got ready to go out.

He opened the door slowly and there he saw it. It was an officer. It was Catano. Nick felt happy for seeing a familiar face. If she was alive, then lots of people would have survived too. He put his gun back. She wasn't a risk.

"Kii!" Nick called to her as she kept walking. She heard his voice, looked his way, and smiled warmly.

"Oh my god! Nick, it's you." the female cheetah ran to him and gave him a big hug. "I thought everyone here would be dead! You don't know how happy I am to see you."

She noticed how long she was hugging him and blushed. "I-I'm sorry. It's just… it's been horrible, Nick. So many dead people." she started sobbing. Officer Catano was a new officer from two years ago. She and Judy grew to be great friends. She wasn't gonna like it when he told her what happened to her.

"It's okay, Kii. I kinda really needed that hug. Thank you. I imagine what you went through." Nick said sympathetically.

"Wait, where's Judy?" Nick didn't have the heart to tell her and just lowered his head and closed his eyes. That's all she needed to know what happened to her.

"No. Not Judy too." she couldn't believe it. She went down on her knees.

"I-it happened right in front of the ZPD." Nick said

"I'm sorry, Nick. I'm so, so sorry." she got up and went to hug him again and teared up. He accepted. As she hugged him, he imagined Judy, hugging him in that bridge where they saw each other again after months. The day they solved their first case together. The day he took the offer of being his partner. The best day of his life.

They stopped hugging. He really needed a hug, and Kii made him feel much better.

"Wait, weren't you guys at the plane accident when everything started?" Kii asked.

"Yeah. I don't know why I thought of going here, but it was the only place that came to mind." answered Nick

"Going from there to here takes a good 5 minutes to get here, and you said Judy started vanishing before entering the ZPD?" Kii asked yet another question

"Yes. But what does that have to do with anything?" he started getting annoyed. He didn't want to keep remembering how she left. At least not today.

"Most of the officers I was with and the ones I saw disappeared in the spot. Right after the plane crashed. It's kinda weird, don't you think?" Kii pondered.

"There's really no way to explain anything. The plane, the people vanishing. It all makes no fucking sense. What in the hell caused all of this? That's what we should be wondering!" Nick yelled

"I know this is very shocking for all of us. Believe me." Kii said. "But we must remain calm. We might not know what caused it but it is not important right now. Now we have to concentrate on getting the city back." to this statement Nick showed curiosity.

"Getting the city back? From who?" he asked

"There's been some revolts. Mammals fighting each other, vandalizing everything. It's all a chaos. That's why I came back here, to see if there were some people inside that were trying to mess with the precinct. When people think they're in danger they do crazy stuff, and also when they've lost what to fight for." she stated. Nick could see she was scared. She had a family too. He didn't want to know what happened to it.

"We must get the city calm again, and I think you'd be great for that." said the Cheetah in a joking mood.

"Why? What exactly do you want me to do?"

"You're great for speeches, Nick. The people will listen to you. You and Judy have been their idols for some time, remember? You guys have kinda been my idols too. You made me want to pursue a career as a police officer." she said warmly. It was true. They were one of her motives for becoming a cop. She remembers seeing them on TV when the Night Howlers crisis was happening.

"You got me wrong, Spots. Judy was the one good at speeches. I can't speak to save the world, not even save myself."

"Spots? Really? Anyways yes you can, Nick. You can't speak normally if you're too nervous. Also try not to think about giving the speech to everyone in there. Think about one person. Speak with the heart, it can be amazing how many things come from it." Nick was surprised by her words. She was right. But he had just one simple query.

"Alright, alright I'll do it. But how do you expect me to speak for the entirety of Zootopia? I have a beautiful voice, I know, but I don't think it will reach that many people without a mic or something else."

"Yes I know that. That's why we're going to use the billboard of the skyscraper in Downtown Zootopia. It can reach lots of people." she explained.

"But how do we do that?" Nick kept questioning her.

"I have a friend up there. He might help us out." she said.

Nick trusted her. She knew what she was doing most of the time, and she was becoming a very skilled officer. Judy was even getting intimidated by her. They were friends so that didn't matter to her, nor to Nick.

"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Nick exclaimed. "Let's go in my car, we'll get there faster."

She agreed and they hastily got out of the ZPD establishment. Nick went out first, and he could still see the spot where she had gone on to another place. Or maybe nowhere, who knew?

The sky was brown-red. Nick started thinking it got the mood of the situation right. It wasn't grey for sad, or blue for happy. It was a color of destruction. Of blood and dust. Of grief and suffering. Many lives lost to never return.

It was no time to mourn. He had to send a message. His city was crumbling and he needed to do something about it. Even if all his loved ones were gone, he needed to live. For her.

Blood

They were going as fast as they could. The building wasn't that far from the ZPD but this wasn't a normal day. It was getting late and Nick could hear the screams, glass breaking, people crying. Then he saw it. It was a big group. They were predators. All of them. They were in front of him and they were going on their direction. He wasn't gonna be able to fight all of them. They were too numerous and too big. He needed to flee.

"What do we do, Nick?" his companion asked.

"We're taking a detour," he answered.

He rapidly pushed the accelerator and turned right onto the closest alley. It was narrow, so the car suffered some damages, but at least they were safe from them.

As they kept advancing they could see more mammals wreaking havoc on the streets. They had knives and he could easily see blood on them. It was truly…

A bullet hit the car which made Nick get out of his thinking state. Kii screamed in pain. The bullet hit her right on the shoulder.

"Oh my god, Kii!" Nick yelled in anguish.

"Ugghh.. I'm okay *heavy breathing* I'm okay. Let's just go to the skyscraper, there's a lot of people there that can help me." she said as she tried to manage the pain. This was the first time she had been shot. It came as a surprise to her how much it hurt, but she was stronger than that. A simple bullet wouldn't slow her down.

"J-just wait a second. Let me check for an exit wound." he stopped the car on a nearby alleyway that seemed empty of bad company. They didn't need that right now. Nick started checking on her shoulder. He looked in the back and he could see the bullet penetrated the car seat, which meant the bullet wasn't inside. He sighed in relief.

"You'll be fine, KC. You just need a bandage" explained Nick, very relieved that her friend was gonna be alright.

"I have one. I got it just in case. Bless my instinct, hah." she tried to put some light of the situation. There was no reason to panic. Nick was calm, and so was she.

After putting the bandage on, she was ready to go. "It's done, Nick. This will stop the blood loss for now"

"Good, I don't want to lose another partner" Nick seriously stated.

"Now let's go save the city, or at least try to do so" said Kii.

Nick started the car again and went out of the alleyway. He went even faster this time. There was no stopping.

Car Ride

The car ride was getting longer than both officers expected. The time didn't seem to pass correctly and they looked glued in one place with no way of moving. The stress of the situation was reaching an all-time high that they couldn't shrug off. Nick realized she didn't tell him who was still alive and who wasn't. He needed to know.

"Hey, Cat. You never told me which of the officers died. Is Chief Bogo alive?" he asked, surprising her because he made the awkward silence inside the car disappear very suddenly. She then focused on the question.

"I really don't know if Chief Bogo or Clawhauser are still alive, but I do know that Wolford and Francine are gone." she sadly expressed. "But that's not all, Fangmeyer didn't disappear. He died of a car collision. It seemed that the people inside of it had vanished too." she started sobbing. "I couldn't help any of them." she felt useless. Nick touched her healthy shoulder while using her other paw to drive and said.

"Hey, don't beat yourself up for this. All of this happened unexpectedly. You wouldn't have known any of this would happen. We can't focus on that anymore. We need to move forward." Nick's words resonated in her head. She denied her feelings of uncertainty and smiled at Nick.

"You're great at making people feel better. Do you know that?" she claimed joyfully.

"Oh you have no idea, hah." they laughed and the mood finally shifted and it became less stressful. Nick enjoyed her company. At least he still has good friends to count on.

To Be Continued