As Nick was walking away from Judy after their break up, he repeated to himself, "Don't look back, don't look back, don't look back." He mustn't dare look back. Look back at Judy's beautiful, gray-furred face. He remembered when he was yelling at her, he saw her twitching her nose violently, her eyes welling up with tears, and her face tightening. He hated himself for doing this, he could see he was breaking her heart, for the second time, in a span of two days.

"God, I'm a dick," he thought.

He knew he had to do this though. Despite how much he loved her, how much he wanted to feel her warm body pressed against his, how much he wanted to kiss her again, he reminded himself that he couldn't anymore. He had to break off every possible strand of friendship left with her. For her sake. She shouldn't be with a fox like him. She said it herself, he would always just be a sly, shifty, and untrustworthy fox. And for his sake. He also hated her. Those words she said to him. About him, about Darren. He can't even look at her without being reminded of how much of a pathetic fox he is. He knew he was doing the right thing, even though it felt terrible for both of them. He reasoned, "Sometimes doing the right thing is the hardest thing to do right? I think I read that in a fortune cookie one time."

He had to get better, he could not be that close to suicide again. And that meant avoiding everything that made him feel horrible, like Judy.

After what seemed like a long walk of him justifying his recent actions, he was finally out of the police station. The evening air felt extra cold for some reason. He crossed his arms against his body in a futile attempt to keep himself warm and started walking home. His teeth were chattering. Each footstep felt heavy. He felt extra alone. His heart felt like it lost its half. To say the very least, he was pretty miserable.

"Wow Nick, do you even know how friendship works? How did you even make friends in the first place?"

"You… you told me to do this. You fucking told me to do this." Nick muttered.

"And you listened to me? Wow you're a bigger idiot than I thought."

Nick clenched his head, "No no no, this can't be happening right now! I… I gotta go get some booze."

Nick got a Zuuber and told the driver to take him to K9's Den, a local dive bar that caters to animals of the canine family. It was about a 10 minute walk from where he lived so he figured that it was close enough where he could walk home safely. Well probably 50% chance he could. After a 10 minute, mind-torturing drive, he finally arrived. He stepped in and found himself already feeling a little saner to be around alcohol. He always enjoyed the simplicity of the bar. There were several booths to his left with some filled with groups of friends chatting, dim lighting, a dart board at the very end of the bar, and of course the actual bar with most of the stools empty. He hopped onto a barstool and faced forward, waiting for the bartender's attention. His ears perked up when he heard another mammal sit in the barstool next to him.

"Wow are you Nick Wilde?"

He turned to his right. There was a vixen, a red fox like him, dressed in pink crop top, leather jacket, and jeans. He thought she was cute.

He grinned, "Why yes, yes I am. And you are?"

She raised out her paw for a handshake, "Carrie Sharptooth."

He held her paw and kissed the back of it and said, "Pleasure to meet you Carrie."

She giggled.

The bartender, a wolf, approached them and asked Nick, "What would you like to drink?"

He said, "A shot of whiskey for me, and… for the lady?"

She smiled, "I will have what he's having."

He smiled back. This was going to be a fun night.

He woke up to another splitting headache.

"Ugh, shit. Nick, you are owning this thing called life." Last night was a blur to him. He tried hard to piece together the snapshots of memories he had. He remembered talking to a vixen, then drinking a lot, making out outside the bar with her as they got into a Zuuber, them entering his apartment.

"Oh god," he thought. "I just gave myself both a therapy and physical therapy session." Physical therapy is what he liked to call when he sleeps with someone to forget about his inner voice. "It's come to that hasn't it."

He started getting up and felt his paw touch his companion's fur.

"Hm?" he heard her grunt.

"Oh shit, my bads, I didn't mean to wake you up.

"It's okay...What time is it?"

He used his impeccable night vision to find his phone on the drawer next to him.

"4:45 AM"

He heard her yawn, "Wow, do you usually get up this early?"

"Well I wake up early when I have alcohol, and I have work early in the morning."

"Oh."

There was a good few seconds of dead silence.

Nick broke the silence, "Well, I had a fun night, but maybeeee you should get going. I'm sure you have things to do, and I have things to do. You see I have this whole hangover and morning routine, you know what I mean."

She got up and said, "Oh don't worry, I know this is a one night stand. But wanna shower together? I mean I don't have to be at work until 9 am. And I wouldn't mind having some more fun in the morning."

He gave her a surprised but interested look.

She smirked and put her paw on his cheek, "I mean who else can say that they had sex in bed and in the shower with the Nick Wilde?"

He shrugged, he couldn't argue with that logic. He leaned his face in and started kissing her.

Carrie left right after the shower. Before she left though, she gave him her number.

She winked as she handed him the slip of paper, "Just in case you wanted to have more fun,"

"Yeah sure, no problem."

He led her out and closed the door on her. He promptly threw her number away in the trash.

"Phew, she was a lot of fun, but ehhh not my type," Nick thought to himself. "Time to make an omelet."

He showed up to roll call seconds before Chief Bogo started the announcements. He could feel Bogo's angry eyes piercing through his soul as he walked to his seat. The usual.

"Gosh, I thought you were going to be late, but you got here right on time! You're so cool Nick." Daniel whispered with no hint of his hero worship waning.

"You know me, I like to keep it dramatic," he said before he sipped his coffee. He was feeling more hungover than he did yesterday. Maybe he was getting too old for this or maybe it was because he drank two days in a row. Or maybe the shower sex tired him out. Whatever the reason was, he needed this coffee more than ever.

He didn't really listen to Chief Bogo's announcements. He just listened enough to know the proper response, like if he needed to nod or cheer for someone's birthday. He glanced at Judy and observed that she seemed to be doing okay, doing much better than he was at least. Why wouldn't she? She probably didn't care at all that their friendship was effectively over. He could already feel his mind becoming clouded with dark thoughts. His head sunk, he wasn't sure if he could ever get over her. Over his love for her and over his hate for her. It didn't help that he had to see her every time he came to work.

The only thing that he felt like he had that was worthwhile was being a good mentor to Daniel. Sure, he was a bit too chatty, excitable and worshippy, but he was also passionate, talented, and a sweet kid. He wanted to make sure he became a good cop. For some reason he felt like he owed it to Daniel. To Nick, being a good mentor meant being the perfect police officer. Well, perfect in his own definition. He was still going to be lazy and late, but he did not want Daniel to know any of the skeletons in his closet. Nothing about last night, Darren, his parents, his inner voice, and Judy.

For the next few months, his inner voice kept coming back, to the point that it was almost everyday. Whenever he was working, he was able to control it well since he was so used to hiding his feelings around mammals. But once his work shift is over, he felt exhausted after keeping it under control. He started having many nights, too many nights where he would just drink booze alone in bed, bring a vixen home, or get drunk and bring a vixen home. He was starting to get used to starting every morning being hungover, it was becoming routine for him. He knew what he was doing was destructive and dangerous, but he was desperate. He had to escape his inner voice, and this was the surefire way.

Despite all this, he felt like that he managed to be a pretty good mentor to Daniel. He taught him everything he knew. Of course he taught him about the most important stuff like the best donut places, the best coffee places, and the best diners. Then there was the other stuff like how to spot a pickpocketer easily, how to predict when a mammal was about to commit a crime, and how to read and take advantage of someone's emotions when interrogating them. He learned a lot of this stuff when he was a confox, and it's what made him a valuable asset when he was partners with Judy. He also knew they didn't teach this stuff in the police academy, so he hoped these extra tips made Daniel into a much more well-rounded cop.

As they spent more and more time together, Daniel started opening up to Nick a little. He would tell Nick about the little things Terry, his boyfriend of two years, did that annoyed him. He also told him the many things he loved about Terry. He talked to him about how much he loved and cared for his younger sisters. He even hinted at his depression one time.

"Ugh sometimes Terry is wayyyyy too loud when he comes home late from work! He's a fox! He knows we have sensitive ears! Why does he have to stomp around the apartment and make such a ruckus!?" Daniel complained.

"I'm sure he's trying his best. Though I swear, sometimes our hearing is so good that someone could be tip toeing and that would still be stomping to us."

Daniel laughed, "Hahahaha, that's so true! Yeah maybe I'm being a little hard on him. He did um...help me come out of a dark time."

Nick turned to him, worried, "You wanna talk about it?"

Daniel said, "No! No! No! I don't want to bum you out. Let's talk about where to get lunch instead."

Nick was a bit surprised that Daniel held something back from him. He decided not to pursue it because who was he to speak? He refused to talk to Daniel anything remotely personal. However, that all changed one night.

He got home, not really in the mood to go to the bar. He had a tough day, he saw Judy and Jack being closer than ever. The image of the two of them laughing about god knows what and Jack's paw wrapped around her waist burned in his mind. It crushed him to see them together. And he knew exactly why. Even after weeks of not talking to Judy, he failed to move on while she has completely moved on. The worst part was that he knew that this whole thing was his fault.

"She could've been yours if you hadn't fucked up. But she's gone forever by frankly, a guy much better than you. He's a bunny too, there's no way she'll go for a fox like you. Because you know why? Because she knows you'll always be just a shady, sly, conniving little fox that no one will ever trust."

"Time for some booze," Nick said despondently. He walked to his kitchen and looked into the pantry for any more alcohol. There was none left, he drank it all over the past few months.

"Fuck…..No….." Nick said in horror.

"Hahahahhahahahahahha! Looks like you're stuck with me! We're going to have a lot of fun. I heard that you have a gun somewhere around here. Why don't we play with it a bit?"

"No! I can fix this!" Nick yelled. He grabbed a red hoodie jacket, his keys, and wallet and left his apartment.

"Where you going? You know you can't escape me. I'll always be by your side, no matter what."

"Oh no you don't, I'm not going to let you control me."

"But Nick, I already am. This whole time."

Nick tried his best to ignore it the best he could. He knew he was running out of time, if he let it continue, he could….he didn't even want to think about it. He arrived at the nearest liquor store and quickly bought a Grey Moose vodka. He laid out 2 $20 bills for the cashier and told him to keep the change. He didn't have time to get change. He had to save himself from his inner voice.

"You know you can't stop me with that. I'm just going to keep coming back again and again and again."

Nick opened the bottle and started drinking it like it was water. He didn't care about the judging eyes and the worried looks from passersby, they didn't know his struggles. They didn't know that what he's doing is saving his life. He put down the bottle, he was already feeling that fuzzy feeling.

"Hey Nick!"

Nick turned around and saw Daniel holding hands with another arctic fox.

"Oh no," he thought. "Just… just got to play it cool Nick."

"Oh, heyyyyyyyyyy Danny boy! Hey Hey!" Nick slurred.

Daniel said, "Oh hey, haha, it looks like you got quite a bit to drink," he points to the bottle of a half empty bottle of Grey Moose.

Nick said incomprehensibly, "Oh you! With the jokes! Hahaha! Oh, you know. Just a friendly afternoon wait no night, no wait afternoon? Yes, just some afternight drinking. That's just how I do it."

Nick thought, "Good acting Nick. No one knows you've been drinking."

Daniel said, "Oh uh okay, um well this is Terry! You know, the man of my dreams! We're just coming back from date night. We went to our favorite Mediterranean place."

Terry said with a worried look, "Nice to finally meet you...Nick…"

Nick whispered with such drunken intensity, "You two together….are….just…..so…..great."

Terry whispered to Daniel, "I think he's really drunk, we should probably take him back to our place, just to make sure he'll be okay."

Daniel whispered back, "Yeah, probably."

Nick felt himself being carried by the two young foxes.

"Hey, hey, hey what's going on? What's going on? I think I'm floating in the air!" Nick said with confused glee.

"Don't worry Nick, we'll take good care of you," Daniel reassured.

"Wow you two are like a hotel. Do you two have toilets, because I need to go do that thing where vomit comes out of me. Vomiting! Yes that's the stuff."

The next thing he knew, Nick was lying down on a comfy couch.

"Huh? I don't have a couch, where am I?" Nick thought.

"I'll be there in like 5 minutes! I just wanna check on Nick!" Daniel said to Terry.

"Shit," Nick thought. "I must be at Daniel's place. I can't talk to him now. I'm too humiliated!" Nick didn't want to face any scolding or teasing for being found drunk, which he was sure he was going to receive. Daniel is a kind soul but there's no way he wouldn't take this opportunity to tease him right? He closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep.

He heard Daniel come by his side and whisper, "Oh still out cold huh?" He then heard Daniel take a seat nearby him.

"When is he going to leave?" Nick wondered.

"Hey Nick, this is so silly talking to while you're passed out, but I don't know. I don't think I could ever say this to you when you're actually conscious, so I'll just tell you right now. I just want to say I'm glad that I got to see this side of you. You managed to teach me another lesson, even your heroes can make mistakes, and that's completely okay," he paused for a second. "I know you've must've had a tough life, and maybe you're going through some things. I'm guessing the reassignment from Judy has been hard on you too. Don't worry it's been hard on her. Jack and I talk.

Nick couldn't help but smile when he heard it was hard on Judy too.

"Wow, she still cares about me despite all the horrible things I did to her," Nick thought.

"I just want to say that you don't have to pretend to be some perfect fox to me. I don't look up to you because you're perfect, I look up to you because you're Nick Wilde. Despite your flaws, you managed to do something amazing. You carved a path for many foxes. You may not know this, but you're a role model to all of us. You deserve to have an award or something, yet you're so humble, and you never see yourself as the amazing fox you are.

Daniel paused again. Nick had a warm feeling in his chest hearing all this heartfelt praise from Daniel. He felt a bit fulfilled, a feeling he hadn't had for a long time.

Daniel continued, "You know as weird it may be, I always wanted to be a police officer. As a kid I would pretend to be a police officer and arrest my friends who pretended to be the criminals. Gosh I was some weird fox. Anyways as I grew up, that dream became well just a dream to me. I learned that there was no place for a fox in the ZPD. Also...both of my parents were gone by the time I turned 16 and I had two younger sisters to take care of. I wasn't going to let the adoption agency split us apart, so I took care of them. I quit school, and I tried looking for an honest job. And I couldn't. So I became a drug dealer and that's how my sisters and I were able to survive. I know what it's like to hold such painful memories close to you and let them torture you. I...was tortured for so long but I always had to hide it because I had to be strong for my sisters. It was hard, really hard. And I just felt so hopeless and defeated for years. The only thing that kept be going were my sisters. But then I saw you on TV when they interviewed you right after your graduation from the police academy. Something in me changed. I realized that it was actually possible to become something more than what society thought foxes were capable of. And so I left my life as a criminal and started taking classes to get accepted into the police academy. I know it was risky, but I had to follow my dreams again. I also met my boyfriend at school who was taking classes to be a nurse. And we fell in love. And he has been such a great support. While I was away in the police academy, he helped take care of my sisters. They also both saw you on TV and now they believe they can do anything. They're in college now. Can you believe that? College! I think this is why I look up to you so much. You showed me that there is hope for us after all. And yes while it may be hard, that doesn't mean we should stop hoping. So thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for helping me achieve my dream. You're still my hero."

Daniel got up and left. Nick waited until he heard the bedroom door closed before he started crying to himself. He cried until slumber overtook him.

He woke up to the smell of hash browns and omelets. He opened his eyes and turned to his left, he saw a glass of water and small box of ibuprofen for him. He then felt the usual throbbing headache in the morning.

He got up and turned around and saw Daniel and Terry cooking in the kitchen together. He noticed how they seamlessly worked together in the kitchen. He would see Daniel cut up the vegetables quickly and seamlessly while Terry cooked each omelet. They also snuck kisses with each other in between each action. They really do make a cute couple.

"Good morning Nick! You're finally awake you sleepyhead! Daniel greeted happily. "We're just making some omelets since it's the best breakfast ever for a hangover. I left you some water and ibuprofen by your side too."

"Oh...yeah... uh….good morning, thanks for the water and ibuprofen," Nick said. He was hungover and just woke up, he didn't have the energy to be witty and snarky.

"Sure no problem! And go ahead if you need to shower, but it's already 5:50 am, and we need to head to work in 40 minutes!"

"Yeah...no problem."

Later that day, Nick and Daniel were patrolling Tundratown in their police car.

"Hey, thanks for taking me in last night. That was….really nice of you. I don't know what would've happened to me last night if it wasn't for you two." Nick said.

Daniel brush off the thanks, "Don't mention it! It's the least I can do for you! You help me out all the time! More than you would ever know."

Nick's ears drooped a bit and stayed silent for a few seconds. He then said, "I need to be honest with you. I've been...hurting a lot.

Daniel shot a surprised look at him. He wasn't sure what to expect from Nick.

Nick continued, "I had a very tough childhood and it makes it harder for me to get over things. Heh, I'm being such a baby. I blame myself for a lot of things. So yes, the reassignment from Judy has been hard on me, but that's not even the worst thing I'm going through. What has been bothering me the most is….well...there was this kid named Darren…"

-Flashback-

Darren and Nick were sitting across from each other at his office. Darren was crossing his arms with a scowl on his face, and was looking aimlessly past Nick. Nick took note of that as he tried to figure out what to do with him.

Nick said calmly, "Darren I noticed you didn't volunteer at the senior center last weekend, you need to volunteering consistently."

Darren responded curtly, "I don't have the time."

"You need to make time."

Raising his voice slightly, he asked, "Speaking of making time, I also found out you have not been going to school again. Can you tell me why?"

"I don't need school. It's fucking stupid."

Nick asked, "Excuse me?"

Darren said, "Yeah! It's fucking stupid! Okay? This whole thing is stupid!"

Nick reminded him, "You think this is stupid? Would you rather be in jail for 3-5 years with all those dangerous criminals?"

Frustrated, Darren said, "I just... I just don't see the point in this! How is this going to help me? What is this going to teach me? This is still going on my criminal record, not that it matters because every fucking body sees me as a criminal or lowlife. When I went to class a few days ago, I saw that my teacher didn't even want me here. She fucking rolled her eyes at me and told me, "Oh you're back? Didn't expect to see you here." Why should I even go to school if the teachers hate me? Why should I even go to volunteering? I'm probably going to end up being in jail soon just because I'm wearing a hoodie."

Nick didn't know what to say. Darren was exactly like him as a kid. He faced the same challenges and couldn't understand the importance of school or being a good citizen since he was seen as a lowlife. He left school and gave up ever finding an honest job. He wasn't entirely sure what to tell him. But he had to say something.

He calmly said, "I know it's hard, believe me I know. I've been there too. But Darren this is a chance for you to change, you beat against all the odds. To prove all those people wrong.

Darren looked at him angrily and said, "You don't fucking understand do you. It's impossible." He paused for a second. "You're just some uppity fox cop now." He stood up from his seat. "I'm out of here, this is a waste of time."

Nick said, "Darren, our session isn't over. Please sit back down."

Darren said coldly, "You know a bunch of the foxes in my neighborhood see you as a traitor. They tell me to stop seeing you because you're not one of us anymore. I can see why now."

Darren stormed out of his office. Nick sighed, his ears drooping. He decided to let it go this time. There was no point keeping him around if he was angry. To be honest, he wasn't sure what to say to Darren that wasn't patronizing or empty.

He sadly thought, "Until society changes its mind about foxes, there's nothing I can do."

"Blueberry muffin?"

Nick looked up from the ground and saw Judy across from his desk holding a blueberry muffin.

"I saw Darren storming out past my office, and I was going to save this for you at the end of the day...but I think you need it now." She gave him a warm smile.

He smiled weakly and grabbed the muffin from her, "Thanks Carrots."

-A week later-

"Darren never came today, I waited the whole hour for him," Nick told Judy worriedly.

"What do you think we should do? Judy asked. "He has been non-compliant. He didn't show up to volunteering again last weekend."

"I think we should look for him. I kinda have a bad feeling."

"Me too, let's drive to his place?"

"Good idea Carrots, can always count on you."

They started heading to the patrol car. As they do, Judy asked, "What is your gut telling you Nick?"

Nick answered, "Well, he has a pretty disillusioned view of...society in general. With good reason too I must add. I think he might try to go back to where he felt like he truly belonged. His drug ring. I just don't know which one he belonged to. I tried not to talk about it with him.

"You really think he'll do that? I thought he wanted to change."

"I've seen so many foxes try to change…just to go back to crime. It's the only industry that'll accept foxes with open arms. Except... I don't know if his drug ring will be too happy to have him back.

"Why do you say that?"

"Well if they found out that he's been interacting with police like this, they might assume he ratted them out. And they don't take too kindly to that. I just hope we're not too late."

"Yeah, me too."

She put her paw on his shoulder in an attempt to comfort him. He looked at her and moved his shoulder away. He felt like he didn't deserve it.

The first place they stopped by his home. They knocked on the door. A middle-aged vixen smoking a cigarette answered the door.

"Yeah? What do you want?" the vixen asked.

"Hi my name is Officer Wilde and this is my partner, Officer Hopps. We're here to see if your son is here ma'am. And don't worry he's not in trouble, we just need to talk to him."

"Oh that little shithead? He just left 30 minutes ago. Said something about seeing his friends. Bet that little asshole is going to hit up some drugs."

"Okay, do you possibly know about where he went? And o you remember what he was wearing?"

"How the hell should I know? And some a red oversized shirt and baggy black pants. I think."

A horrible realization came to Nick, "Oh no."

"Okay thank you for your time ma'am. We hope you have the good rest of the day."

"Whatever."

"Well she wasn't very helpful," Judy complained. "And the way she talked about her son!"

She looked at Nick who seemed to be on the verge of panicking, "Nick, you okay? What did you find out?"

"Judy, we have to find him now. Red and black are the colors of one of the most violent gang and drug ring in the city. Their name is Red Moon. They say that if you wronged them in any way, even a slight bump passing by them, they'll make sure you bleed until the moon bleeds red."

"Oh god, that's horrible. Oh god, Darren! You're right let's go!"

Nick and Judy decided to split up to cover more ground. They were back in the area where they found Darren when they first arrested him.

"Jesus, if we hadn't arrested him, he would probably would've been better off." Nick regretted. It was already 9:00 pm and it was pitch black outside. There were no functioning streetlights, the only light came from the buildings and the moon. Luckily his night vision came in handy in these types of situation. He had no need for a flashlight, which often gave him the element of stealth.

"God I hope Judy will be okay here." He had no doubts about her self-defense skills, she was at least 1000 times better than him. However, she was still subject to a surprise attack since she does not have night vision. Suddenly he heard a muffled gunshot.

"Shoot, I better tell the dispatcher." He grabs his radio, "Officer Wilde here, there's been a gunshot around 2 blocks away. I'm on the corner of Shore St and Main St. Will call for backup if needed."

He heard Clawhauser from the other end say, "Roger that. Be careful Nick."

He brought out his handgun from his buckle and started heading to the location of the gunshot. He realized he reached the alley where Darren was first arrested.

He peered into the alley and saw a body lying at the center of the alley.

"Oh god, please don't let it be him."

He walked up to the body and examined it. The victim was naked, bruises and cuts found all over the body. The victim was beaten viciously before he was shot in the head. That gunshot he heard earlier, it could not have been more than 5 minutes ago. He felt tears welling up as he grabbed his radio again.

"Officer Wilde here. Got a 10-91D from a 187," he gulped. "Victim identified as Darren Cape."

Nick was busy silently typing up this report at his office with Judy was waiting by his side. She didn't want him to be alone tonight. They haven't said a word to each other since the drive back to the station. He had no intention on breaking the silence, he just wanted to focus on his work. If he remained focused, then he won't have to think about it. Finally, Judy broke the silence and said, "Nick…"

Before she could say anything else, Nick swung from his chair and kneeled down next to her. He hugged her and laid his head on her right shoulder as he started weeping. All she could do was return the hug and cry with him.

-Present-

Nick said, "It became our first murder case. We almost didn't get it because Chief Bogo thought we were too close to it. But we both had a fire under our belly. Judy wanted justice. I wanted justice too, but I mostly wanted revenge. So I worked 24/7, even more than Judy, trying to find Darren's killer. I went over old cases, scouring for any information about Red Moon, and any other similar gangs. I talked to my connections in the crime world. I went undercover, usually by myself, at shady places. I felt like I had to. I failed him as a mentor, working on this case helped….distract me from thinking I failed him. Eventually I became obsessed. I didn't eat, sleep, or drink. In a way I felt like I didn't deserve to. It was my fault Darren wasn't alive, why should I even bother trying to stay alive? Unfortunately, none of my leads went anywhere and I kept getting beat up by various gang members. Working the case itself became a reminder of my failure, but that just made me work even harder on this case. It was an endless, increasing cycle of me beating myself up over his death. It was...not a good time. Eventually Judy told Chief Bogo how much this case was destroying me, and we were removed from the case. It was transferred to another team and it was just shelved. They didn't bother, said it was unsolvable. I was devastated. I….still am today. And this is just one of the many things I blame myself for. I…carry a huge burden every day."

During his whole story, he looked down in shame, afraid to look at Daniel. He was not used to opening up and he was scared to see any judging eyes. He was afraid if he did he wouldn't able to continue the story. But now he can look, and what he saw was Daniel smiling with tears coming down his eyes.

"Nick...thank you….thank you so much for telling me. I know that was so hard for you to tell me but I'm glad you did. I know that opening up is going to help you in the long run and I didn't think it was possible, but I admire you so much more now. I admire that you don't let your pain prevent you from coming to work and doing your best to fulfill your duty to Zootopia. You don't let it hold you back. I guess that just shows your strong willpower, something I wish I had. And I just want to say that Darren's death, it wasn't your fault. It really wasn't. It was the killer's fault. And someday the killer will face justice. I'm sure of it."

Nick said, "Thank you." He gave Daniel a hug, a gesture that surprised both of them. Of course Daniel returned the hug with much enthusiasm.

Nick saw the boldness in Daniel. His real belief that justice will prevail. No matter what. Even when things don't seem just right now, eventually it will prevail. It reminded him of Judy, and her naive ideals of justice when she first moved came here. Nick himself was jaded and disillusioned from his past, but seeing Daniel, it was so rare to see a fox that had those same ideals. It made him want to believe again. Maybe he should again, if a fox with a troubled past like Daniel can, he can too.

A few days after Nick's confession to Daniel, they had a night shift together. They tend to be assigned to night shifts more often than their counterparts due to their ability to see in the dark. They didn't mind too much since foxes are generally nocturnal.

"I'm glad you're doing much better Nick, you haven't drunk or had a one night stand for three days," Daniel said.

Nick shrugged, "What can I say, you somehow got to me Daniel."

Nick was proud of himself, he felt like he was finally getting better. He felt like he had regained a little control of his mind again. Sure, he heard his inner voice still, but at least he didn't let it drive him into suicide, drinking or meaningless sex. So that's a start.

They were just driving around when they heard the dispatcher on the radio, "Officer Wilde and Snowe, there's been a reported 415 on 3rd St and Riverbank St, could you assess the situation?"

Nick replied, "Sure thing, no problem."

After 10 minutes of their siren blaring, they were at the 4-way intersection. It was at the edge of the city, near where all the shipyards were. The roads were completely empty, there wasn't a mammal or car in sight.

Daniel said nervously, "There's no one here, how can there be a disturbance?"

Nick said, "Yeah this doesn't seem right. Come on let's go outside and search around."

They both got out of their cars when they see 3 pairs of headlights approaching from the other 3 sides of the intersection.

Nick thought, "Uh oh, this can't be good."

The three cars parked at the center of the intersection, Nick saw five medium-sized animals, a few heads taller than him, come out of those cars, each one covered in black garb and holding a handgun.

"Fuck, this was a setup." Nick realized. "Daniel, take cover now!"

They both ran to the back of the police car and crouched down. Nick could hear bullets ricocheting off their police car. He felt his heart pounding in his chest, his thoughts were going a mile a minute. He couldn't think of a plan, he rarely get involved in shootouts.

"Oh god if only Judy was here, she would know what to do," Nick lamented.

"We can't hide back here forever, we got to hold them back or else we're done for!" Daniel cried.

Nick took a deep breath and managed to calm down a little. He thought of a plan. It wasn't a great plan, but it was a plan.

"Um, okay, here's what we do. I'll call back up, and we'll keep shooting at them to hold them back. If we're smart and aim well, we should be able to hold them back until backup arrives."

As Nick was grabbing his radio from his belt, Daniel started panicking and muttering, "I don't know if I can do this, I don't know if I can do this."

Nick then grabbed him in the shoulders and reassured him, "Daniel...Daniel….Daniel! You can do this. You can do this. Think about back in the academy, target practice. This is just target practice. You were #1 at target practice remember? Stationary targets, moving targets, big, and small, you could shoot anything. You can do this. Believe in yourself, because I believe in you."

Nick saw Daniel's eyes as it went from shaking with fear to one filled with resolve.

He simply said, "I'll cover you," then he peeked from the side of the car and started shooting.

Nick had never been prouder of Daniel.

He brought the radio to his mouth and yelled, "Officer Wilde calling in! We're in a 10-71 right now at near Riverbank St. and 3rd St. with at least 5 mammals! Requesting backup. Requesting backup!"

He then started peeking out from his side and started shooting. He noticed one of the shooters was already lying on the ground, unresponsive. The other four has taken cover behind their cars.

"Damn Daniel, back at it again with the sharpshooter aim," he thought.

After 5 minutes, both Daniel and Nick incapacitated two more of the mammals. Nick felt good, his adrenaline was rushing. He thought that they had a good chance of surviving this. Running out of bullets, he sat back down to reload his gun. At the corner of his eye, he saw another mammal in black garb on Daniel's side of the street, with his gun aimed at Daniel.

"Where the fuck did he come from?" Nick thought. He then heard the mammal pull the trigger several times. Suddenly, everything was in slow motion. He saw Daniel slowly turning to his right when he heard the gun and the bullets slowly heading towards Daniel, ready to pierce his chest.

"No, I can't let him die like this. He has so much to live for. I…I don't." Nick thought. He knew what he had to do. At what seemed like super speed, Nick went on all four of his legs and leaped in front of Daniel. He pushed Daniel down to the ground with his left arm, as he landed right in front of him, and took the bullets.

He shook uncontrollably as he collapsed to the ground. There was overwhelming burning pain in his chest, abdomen, and legs. Were those where the bullets entered? He couldn't tell. He was just trying to breathe but it was too painful. He felt blood leaving his body, fast. He was scared, so scared. He thought he heard Daniel yelling his name. He wasn't sure. He wanted to yell but he couldn't. His body was betraying him more and more as each second passed. Suddenly he felt tired, but he knew he had to fight back. He tried and tried and tried, but the exhaustion was overwhelming. He just wanted to sleep. Why did he have to fight anyways? He realized he finally did some good for once. He protected Daniel. He kept him alive. He kept justice alive. He can die like this. And finally Nick was at peace. Everything went dark.