A/N: Argh! Too busy with holiday stuff to write! Now I'm writing a Christmas fic when we're post Christmas. Oh well! On with the show!
Dawn Bellwether was quietly reading a novel in her cell when she received an unexpected surprise. Sitting on her bed with her knees to her chest, she was pulled out of her fantasy land due to a loud tapping noise. She looked up to find her usual jaguar prison guard standing on the other side of the cell door.
"Let's go Bellwether, someone wants to talk to you" he said.
Bellwether lowered her book and scrunched her face in confusion.
"I didn't ask for any visitors..." she said confusedly.
"You got one now. Come on, ain't got all day" said the guard impatiently.
"Oh dear!" she murmured, jumping out of bed.
.
.
The walk down the prison block was made in silence. Two guards, one a trim arctic wolf, the other a burly warthog, silently walked with her on either side. The chains of the cuffs binding her wrists together jingled like a pair of bells with each step.
The two guards led the condemned sheep down a side corridor and through a door. Which led to a long, narrow room. Walls of concrete made up three of the sides while the fourth was a thick, bulletproof glass window subdivided into sections. Each section with a chair and a phone. As she was led inside, her eyes grew big when she found her visitor was one of the last mammals she would ever want to see again. Taking the seat in front of the visitor, she gracefully picked up the phone receiver, cleared her throat, and spoke warmly.
"Nicholas Wilde" she said, genuinely surprised.
"Dawn Bellwether" the fox officer replied from the other side, eyes focused intently on the sheep.
"This is a surprise. Not exactly the Christmas gift I was expecting, but a surprising one at least"
"How's prison yakety yak? Any chance of changing your evil ways for the better?" he quipped.
"Hmm, let me think...keep dreaming fox" she spat.
"Too bad" Nick said with a shrug.
"Where's Judy? I thought you and our dear hero bunny we're inseparable" Bellwether teased.
"She's busy" said Nick simply.
Bellwether simply hummed and gave Nick a half-lidded look.
"So what do I owe the displeasure?" the sheep said with a smile.
"I have something for you"
Nick motioned with a tilt of his head for Bellwether to turn and a see a prison guard standing next to her holding out a small, wrapped green package. The sheep took the present with suspicion.
"Is this a trick?" she asked.
The fox shook his head.
"Before you get excited, there is nothing in there to help you escape" Nick added.
"Such a shame, I'm very keen on getting out and paying you and Officer Hopps back" Bellwether said, looking over the box.
"I don't doubt it" replied Nick.
Bellwether tested the box by shaking it a tad and pressing an ear against the side.
"What is it?" she asked eagerly.
"You can open it in a minute, I want to talk first"
This had the ewe's attention. Setting the box down in her lap, she adjusted her glasses and politely addressed the fox.
"Talk? About what?"
"I came here to apologize, and to thank you"
This surprised the sheep a little, but she then followed up with a devious smirk of her own.
"Let me out first and I'll consider it"
"Consider what?" Nick said.
"I thought you said you wanted to apologize?" Bellwether replied.
"For putting you away? As if, you belong in here. Or in a madhouse, I'm not picky." Nick said pointedly.
The sheep behind the glass grumbled and slumped back in her seat.
"I came to thank you, because in a very twisted sense, your little spout of insanity is part of the reason for where I am today" Nick explained.
"Oh?"
"If it wasn't for you and your little posse's scheming, Officer Hopps never would've had a reason to need my help. We never would've bonded as friends, I never would've become a cop, and we never would've become partners."
I never would've lost my heart to her either...
In spite of recent events and the pang of sadness that pulsed in his heart, Nick knew deep down that was a detail he would never regret as long as he lived.
"An unfortunate turn of events really..." the ewe said sadly to herself..
"Despite the unfortunate reasons why we came together, I still grateful that we did. And I have you to thank for that. And only that..." he explained firmly.
"Fine way of showing your gratitude..." Bellwether said harshly, brushing down her orange prison jumpsuit.
"Perhaps, but you did try to divide the city" he said plainly.
"Try? I didn't try anything. The city's already divided. It always will be as long as dangerous predators like you roam the streets"
"Funny, it wasn't a predator that was running around darting innocent mammals with liquid insanity"
"True, but it did show how deadly you predators can be with such little...persuasion" she purred.
"Your actions nearly had mammals killed" Nick argued.
"Oh come on Mr. Wilde, it was fuuuuun" she said a little breathlessly.
The tone in the sheep's voice made Nick's skin crawl. But he held his ground, and pressed on.
"You and I are very similar Bellwether. There was a day we had reality stomped into us. A day we learned how the world saw us. A day where we believed them"
"And how did you determine that?" she asked.
"I did some digging on you, learned quite a few helpful details" he said smugly.
"You know nothing about me fox" she said with hostility.
"Oh but I do. Poor little Bellwether, a tiny, angry, itty bitty lamb drowning in a world filled with mammals so much stronger...faster...so much better than she was...just because they were what they were. But you forgot one thing Bellwether..."
"And what is that?" she asked with rage building in her squeaky voice.
"In Zootopia, anyone can be anything" he said frankly "It doesn't matter how long your teeth are, or your fur color, or how tall you are. What matters is the person on the inside. Nothing else. A very special mammal showed me that. And if a someone like me can see it, then so can someone like you Bellwether"
The sheep behind the glass smiled like a snake and leaned forward. Nearly pressing her face up against the glass itself.
"And what can I be Officer Wilde?" she asked.
Nick paused a moment, his eyes hard as steel.
"Redeemed" he replied.
Bellwether leaned back in her seat and scoffed as if she was told reindeer could actually fly.
"You don't believe that garbage do you? You of all mammals should know that, fox" she spat.
"I believe...you are cruel, heartless, and manipulative" Nick replied slowly.
"Oh stop it Mr. Wilde, you'll make a little sheep come out in a blush" Bellwether teased with a wave of her hoof.
"But something made you Bellwether. As much as some mammals would beg to differ, I don't believe you were born a monster. No more than I was born a hustler..."
Bellwether had fallen silently. Carefully hanging on to the fox's every word.
"...I will never forgive you for what you did to the city. For what you did to predators like me, for what you did to Judy. For what you tried to do in the museum."
There was a sigh from the sheep now.
"Are you nearly finished Officer Wilde?" she said a little bored.
"Almost...then you I'll leave you be...open it"
Bellwether raised an eyebrow at the fox before lifting the gift back up in her hoofs. Delicately ripping off a top corner, she slowly pulled the wrapping paper off to reveal a small plastic box. With an eager hoof, she carefully opened the box.
She gasped. Nick took the opportunity to speak.
"...That hate for predators had to start somewhere. There was a day in your life you grew to resent mammals like me Bellwether. A day they hurt you, a day they probably told you were inferior and weak for being prey. And on behalf of all predators out there, I'm sorry you were treated that way. You didn't deserve it Bellwether"
Resting in her hooves was a brand new, Gleeful Gabrielle ballerina sheep doll. The little sheep had goldilocks hair, two black beads for eyes, and a smile made from a tiny red string. She was dressed in a blue tutu with pink dancing shoes on her bottom hooves.
It was just like the one that wretched leopard Idra stole from her in grade school all those years ago. Bellwether tried to get her doll back, but she was just a meek little sheep, what could she do against a big bad predator made of claws and muscle?
Nick smiled a little in victory as he noticed the sheep's eyes begin to turn watery. Having Veranda bust Duke Weaselton the other day proved useful after all. Turned out the tabby cat was right, there was no gain to be had in knocking over an old-fashioned toy store. The lousy weasel was simply too stupid to double check his addresses. Mr. Brener was so relieved at the news he offered Nick a gift...which he put to good use...
"Merry Christmas Dawn Bellwether" Nick Wilde said with tenderness.
Before Bellwether could gather her words, Nick began to move out of his seat. He made perhaps three steps when he suddenly dashed back to the visiting screen and tapped twice on the glass to get the sheep's attention.
"One more thing, if you ever get out...which is highly doubtful...but if you ever do, call me."
His eyes were hard but Bellwether could not deny the sincerity in his voice.
"I'll take you wherever you want to go" he finished.
And with that, Nick turned and began to walk out of the visiting hall. Tail swishing back and forth behind him. In his wake was an emotionally stunted sheep. Who was so lost in thought she barely even noticed when the guards escorted her back to her cell.
She didn't say anything for the rest of the day. Even late into the evening, after lights out had been declared for the cell block, she was silent. Quietly laying in bed staring at the ceiling with her new possession wrapped tightly in her arms.
Her mind a million miles away.
A/N: Few more chapters to go, no idea how fast I can churn them out. Thanks for all of you who has stuck around this long!