Nick's head throbbed with pain. What felt like the inconsistent thumbing of a bass drum rang through his head. The fox attempted to open his eyes, but at the sudden incoming rush of light he was forced to close them once more. Taking a deep breath for mental preparation; he slowly opened his eyes again, this time giving himself time to adjust. His eyes burnt and his head screamed in discomfort for a few moments, but the pain subsided, and once adjusted to the light of the bright room her was in, he found the thumping in his head seemed to dull down. A huge relief.

Looking around this room that was completely illuminated by fluorescent lights, the fox saw not a single piece of furniture, or a single window for that matter. The room was completely tiled with what seemed to be a singular white type of tile; that had been polished to a reflective gleam.

This room felt clean to Nick. Clean being the only word that would come to mind and it was unsettling. It was too clean. He felt like a child about to muddy up a freshly washed floor as he tried to stand. Except now regaining feeling throughout his body, he noticed that he could not stand.

Nick was strapped to a wheelchair at the ankles and wrists; leather restraints which he gave a couple of half-hearted tugs to test out what he already knew to be true. He wouldn't be able to break free from them. Flexing and stretching as best as he could in his predicament he found that most of his wounds no longer hurt and his cuts were in the beginning process of healing. The freedom of movement without protesting pain felt good. His right shoulder was throbbing like crazy though and felt extremely swollen. Trying to recall the events of the warehouse brought back a flash of a single memory. An explosion and a beam falling upon him, and fire everywhere.

And Judy…

Nick's head hung low and his ears drooped forward as he recalled that last moment of seeing her before the explosion. And how the last thing he had done to her was to betray and anger her beyond forgiveness.

His actions would never be redeemed.

With a head hung low, his nose kicked into action at the subtle sent of a lavender fragrance. And he just now noticed that he felt clean and fresh, and found himself wearing new clothes. Black trousers, a silky soft white button up shirt, and what felt to be a bowtie. Looking down into one of the steel frames of the wheelchair he could safely confirm that it was black. His curiosity was quickly dampened out by the loss of Judy. Long harbored feelings of worthlessness and self-disregard were surfacing in full force and the fox felt literally no reason to live.

Then a loud mechanical clank emitted from the door in front of him, the sound bouncing on and off of the walls around Nick with no objects to catch and absorb their frequency. It was very unsettling and he could feel his face change to the situation as he glared at the door with both eyebrows furrowed. He noticed that his blackened eye had healed enough so that he could fully open it again and mentally laughed at the trivial victory that it was. For now, whatever was beyond that door; was his biggest problem.

The door slowly lurched forward and as it began to open Nick couldn't help but be shocked at the thickness of it. The door itself could have easily been thirty centimeters thick and looked to be made of steel. Whoever had placed Nick in that room did not want him going anywhere; had he figured a way out of his confines.

Nick exhaled low and shallow when he saw the cause of his captivity; the animal or more so 'monster' behind his entrapment. "X." The fox grumbled as his ears tilted forward and his teeth began to show in his sudden fit of anger.

"Nicholas!" X chirped rather happily. Although anytime a happy sound came from his mouth it sounded more painful than the worst kind of torture and the collision of his two toned voice could make any animals fur crawl. "I'm so glad to see you're awake. I hope you rested well."

"What do you want with me?" Nick blurted out in an impatient tone, refusing to play along with any of X's games.

And X sighed, dropping his cheery little act. "The least you could do is thank me for saving your life, not that it's worth much in any case."

"I'll pass." Nick replied; managing to muster up a small part of sarcasm. "You and I are equally worthless, and you know why."

"True." Responded X while looking genuinely un-phased by the insult as he walked behind Nick and grabbed the handles to the wheelchair and began to push the fox out of the room. "But at least I have come to terms with my worthlessness, and more importantly my demons." The mixed creature whispered in the fox's ear as they emerged from the room.

Nick found himself being pushed down a corridor with doors much like his own continuing far in both directions, an uncountable number in fact, countable only if Nick was given the opportunity to do so. And suddenly the fox was filled with horror as he was pushed along this hallway; as from within these rooms he could hear muffled screams. And not just a couple of screams from a room here or there, but from the hundreds of rooms that traveled in either direction; unique screams came from each one. Some screams were of fear, some of anger and some were a mix of mad screaming and laughter. How many animals has X really collected?

All the screams were muffled, but clearly audible. So X could still speak at a normal volume level to Nick as he stated. "Brilliant isn't it? Each room is designed so that you can't hear any noise from beyond it, but the sound can be heard outside of them. Its music to my ears! I'll lock each animal in there for three days without food, water or social contact. At the end of the first day they are screaming, by the end of the second day all the screaming has gone to their head as all they have heard is themselves for the last forty-eight hours. And by the end of the third day they are lucky if they remember who they are. Apparently the three days feels like weeks, if not months to some of the animals. Scientists, therapists, doctors… They all cave in the end."

X pushed Nick into an elevator and closed it behind himself as they began to travel up. This was a long way up and Nick suddenly realized how far all those animals were truly underground. It was when they got off the elevator that a whole new set of horrors began. Nick found himself being pushed through a large room of caged animals. A variety of animals; predator and prey, in cages of varying sizes, mostly just large enough to fit themselves. And all were savage.

Screaming, howling, growling. Clawing at their cages.

Nick caught sight of a few animals in uniforms moving some of the animals around on fork lifts. One of such animals road past Nick and X and the fox saw a blank and vacant stare from their eyes. Noticing what Nick saw, X bent forward while he pushed the fox so that he could be heard over the ambient noise of over a thousand animals thrashing about in cages. "It takes a special kind of animal to work here, the kind that you have to make more than hire. Well, more so re-mould than make…"

Leaving the large room, Nick would feel his heart beating out of his chest, every civil instinct in his body was telling him that whatever was going on here was so wrong that it should never even be imagined, let alone put into practice.

And then suddenly the fox could not have possibly felt more conflicted. The stuffy, damp and awful smell of the animal crammed room was suddenly forgotten and lost in a cool night's breeze. The sound of the animals was quickly drowned out as though they were sitting in an open tube that was now being filled with water. The crisp and clean air felt good as it rustled through Nick's exposed fur on his face. And he began to notice something as he stared around at his surroundings. There were vineyards to his left and wide open fields to his right. The moon's glow running over this place mad everything seem so calm, so normal. They were traveling down a sort of outdoor corridor that was made of old stone, it was around two meters wide and had large columns running along either side that didn't support a roof overhead, but still added to the majesty of what was clearly an age old piece of architecture. It all seemed so familiar to him. And it stirred old and repressed memories that Nick had not thought on for years. "This is the farm isn't it?" Nick asked in a low tone and his voice was filled with uncertainty.

"Our farm." X corrected the fox, as he pushed Nick down the path and towards a cottage.

"You… You've turned it into a mad hell!" Nick shouted out as he began to thrash around in his restraints.

Ignoring the fox's protests; X continued to calmly push the wheelchair and began talking to himself more than Nick as he stated, "You know, if Laurence had sent me to collect you from your apartment that one evening then I would have probably brought you here immediately and ditched the whole plan entirely. But I must say I like the way that this has worked out. I have you, I have my animals and I got to get acquainted with that lovely little bunny friend of yours."

At hearing the mention of Judy; Nick strained as hard as he could in his confines and threw his head back as hard as he could. The back of his head went hard into X's mouth and the Mixed creature was forced to let go of the wheel chair and take a step back.

Pulling a handkerchief from a pocket; X wiped away a small flow of blood that was running down his chin from where his teeth had cut into his mouth from the force of Nick's blow. Breathing deeply to remain calm he grabbed the handlebars on the wheelchair and continued his walk forward.

Nick who had also hurt himself fairly hard stopped thrashing about as he felt a lump growing in the back of his head. He didn't care, his message had gotten across.

Using his tongue to collect the pooling blood in his mouth before he swallowed it; X spoke low and firmly, "You may have just ruined dinner for me Nicholas, and trust me. If you ruin this for me then I will put you through all you put me through and more."

X pushed Nick's wheelchair into place at the large antique wooden table of a elegantly decorated dining room. X unlocked the fox's wrist restraints and began walking around to the other side of the table.

Before Nick could even bend to touch the restraints around his ankles, X sensed it and spoke with his back still turned to the fox. "Before you do that you'd better make sure that you can undo both restraints before I can get to you. You know I will make you regret it." Nick relaxed himself in his chair and waited for X to sit in his own place opposite him.

The fox glared at the mixed creature with a mixture of rage and disgust as X sat down and placed a napkin on his lap and clapped twice, before picking up a remote and turning on a wall mounted television that was to his left and on Nick's right. A lynx dressed as a butler came walking in with perfect posture and carrying two plates of food.

Placing a single plate in front of Nick, the fox looked up and noticed the poor lynx had that same vacant stare, and he wondered for only a moment what this poor animal had to endure to reach this point of emptiness. Looking down at his plate as X received his own food, Nick saw a thick juicy steak; cooked to perfection. The same Lynx came back around and poured some dressing over the meat before walking backwards into a corner of the room and standing in complete silence.

"I'm not big on the whole 'meat' thing." Nick stated bluntly. Foxes had a very versatile diet and although Nick would have meat on occasion, he preferred not to.

"Well I know you're going to at least try it… It has been three days since you last ate." X responded while picking up a knife and fork and then began to cut into his own steak, the TV providing a subtle background ambiance in the otherwise awkward dinner evening for the two.

And Nick suddenly had a timeline to work with 'Three days…' He thought to himself. And then his stomach growled.

Slowly he reached out for the knife and fork with his unrestrained hands and picked up the utensils. He felt like a child who refused to eat what's good for him. But the fox was indeed starving, and he had to admit, it was a mighty fine smelling and looking steak. Cutting himself just a slither he raised it to his mouth and looked at the inner lining, the meat was somewhere between medium and well done. Slowly Nick put it into his mouth and began to chew, looking up he saw X smiling at him while he chewed at his own steak. And the taste of sustenance on Nick's palette caused him to nearly moan as he began to attack the steak before him; cutting large chunks and ramming it into his face.

"That's the spirit." X stated as he calmly resumed his meal at his own pace.

Already three quarters through the steak; Nick was forced to look up at the TV which was showing a news broadcast as he caught the mention of Judy. Swallowing hard on the large chunk of meat sitting in his mouth he stuttered; "J…Judy… She's alive?" His look of shock turned into one of joy as they flashed a picture of her on the news and spoke about her hospitalization. But then the fox's smile disappeared, as he saw security footage of Judy standing in a parking lot and shooting another animal, and innocence, a doctor. She shot him in cold blood. The news broadcast ended with the official announcement of the arrest warrant for Judy Hopps and Susan Clawton and that any information on their whereabouts should be brought forward as soon as possible. "No…" Was all the fox was able to muster to say.

"So do you think…" X started which caught Nick's attention. "That she would be in this mess at all, if she hadn't met you?"

"I…" Nick began to respond uncertainly but was abruptly interrupted by X as he went on.

"She's been abducted, tortured, imprisoned, forced to commit treasonous crimes and now to kill." While chewing on a bite of meat and pointing his fork at the fox he finished his statement; "All… because… of you."

Swallowing his food and smiling yet again as he was genuinely pleased to see Nick speechless; X went on, "Face it fox, you can't fix this one. There is no way for you to slither your way out of it. You've messed up and it's time to suffer the consequences."

"Please." Nick whispered as he raised his head and looked at X with genuine fear. "Please leave her alone. She is strong; she can still dig her own way out of this, but please don't drag her into our mess."

"There's no need for me to go after her." X stated looking seriously back at the fox. "She will come looking for you on her own, and when she does; that's her own fault." The mixed creature chuckled as he chewed on another piece of his steak. "By the way." X spoke with his mouth full, "How's your Laurence taste?"

Nick's head snapped up straight as he asked X, "What!?"

"The jaguar we have been eating. The Laurence; I hope I cooked it well enough for you. I personally prefer my jaguar on the more rare side, but I wasn't sure how you'd like your piece of that moron to be cooked."

Nick stared down at the small portion of meat that remained on his plate. And he felt himself begin to gag.

Speaking over the sound of Nick coughing and spluttering as the fox fought his indecisive stomach, X said with absolute glee, "Enjoy this evening Nicholas Wilde, for it will be your last lived as a lie; as what so many believe to be a 'civilized' animal."

Judy walked down the canned food isle with her head ducked low underneath her hood. Her eyes darting around her as her hands secreted two cans of food in the sleeves of her jacket, her small hands barely holding them in place. She was the only one in the store besides the clerk at the front and could not leave until someone else walked in. It would otherwise be too obvious that she was up to no good. Her ears twitched under the hood of her jacket as she heard the sliding doors of the convenience store open. An elderly hound sat as the clerk on the other side of the counter and greeted the two animals who had entered.

The small bunny noticed something about their accents and peaked around on of the shelves. She cursed under her breath. Two tigers that had been pursuing them none stop for the last three days had just walked into the store and were striking up conversation with the old hound.

Now was as good of a chance as any for Judy to slip out, and she had to be damn careful about it.

Working her way casually to the front of the store she tried her best not to look suspicious, although she was pretty sure it was having the opposite effect right now. She was half way up the cold food isle when she heard an argument break out between the tigers and the hound. "Enough!" One of the tigers shouted and grabbed the old animal by an ear and slammed his head onto the counter hard before pulling out a pistol and holding it against the poor animals head. "I'm tired and I'm miserable and I haven't slept in three days, so give me what I want you old pooch!" The tiger carried on. His partner was less enthusiastic but went along with it in any case.

Judy was faced with a choice; she could walk away and take advantage of the distraction, or she could intervene and save the hound, but blow her cover and location to both forces that chased her.

The fact that she was even considering the options without choosing the obviously right one cause the pit to grow inside her again, this time larger than ever. She began to hyperventilate and her eyesight became fuzzy. Where did her morale compass lie anymore? What was she doing here? Why was she still running? Was she truly in the right or wrong anymore? And most importantly; for being so certain about everything in her life merely days ago, why did she no longer know these things?

Her confusion turned to rage as she glared at the two tigers in front of her. Her soft and small bunny hands started to bend and dent the cans she held onto. And then her breathing became shallow and low, she felt like a drunk walking towards the two tigers.

Judy blacked out.

The bunny opened her eyes to find herself standing in the middle of the convenience store. Her entire body was pulsing with adrenaline. She was visibly shaking. She looked down and saw her hands clenched like steel machinery onto the two cans that were now covered in blood. She looked up and saw that all around her the entire shop was a mess. Isles knocked over and produce lying everywhere. Windows smashed and florescent lights hanging from the ceiling by only their cables.

To her left she saw the two tigers laying in an unconscious heap with bloodied heads, and two her right she saw the old hound peaking over the desk at her, he was horrified. Feeling her ears perk up she knew her hood had fallen back and she quickly pulled it back on, dropped to the floor and started scooping up as many items as her little arms could carry. She ran out of the store and down the road as fast as her bunny agility would take her.

It was time to move again. And Judy knew that they couldn't keep this up for much longer. They needed a way out and fast.

A VERY BIG THANKS TO:

DIRTKID123

DANNY-171984

ZENITH88

(Thanks so damn much for the constant feedback, its incredible!)

I BE THE FOXY PIRATE

TIMECE2

WARWOLF47

FOR YOUR AWESOME REVIEWS AND THANKS TO EVERYONE ELSE WHO IS STILL FOLLOWING AND FAVORITING THIS... Y'ALL AMAZING!

AUTHORS NOTE: So this is the first time I've actually felt the need to do one of these. Because I just wanted to address something before this chapter has you wonderful people chasing me with pitchforks and torches... This is a dark story that explores my opinions on the most basic elements of Nick and Judy's characters. The plan from the beginning was to tear the characters apart and see how they would react when thrown into dark situations that could redefine them. The reason the first chapter started so cute and then turned so abruptly rough was to prepare those who were willing to go further with this story that it is going to have many sharp points like that.

I'm not clearing this up because anyone said anything or called me out on it, it's purely because I took a step back and thought it needed to be addressed. I am not a sadist, not entirely. I'm just curious about how things will turn out. Honestly I hardly know how the chapters are going to go before I type them! Weird right?

With love and happiness

Un4gottenSOUL