Chapter ten is upon us.
I approached the police station with Freddy by my side. He frowned and folded his arms as he was pushed to the side by a few bulky and taller bears walking past, "...I hate this part of town." He muttered as he opened the front door of the station. I slipped through the doors, with him following close behind.
"So. What's this about your sister?" He asked, "You never told me why we're going up here. The only thing you said is that your sister is here." I stopped and looked at him with a sigh.
"Look. It's either a crazy coincidence that she looks exactly the same as my sister, or it's her," I turned to approach the front counter, "I'm ninety nine percent sure that it's the latter." Freddy grabbed my by the shoulders and helped me onto the counter. I bit my lip as I noticed Bonnie sitting where Officer Foxy would usually sit.
"Can I help y-..." He froze as he recognised me, "Hey. It's you," He frowned, "I'm sorry about before...with, you know..." I frowned, with my ears flattening against my head.
"I don't wanna think about that right now..." I sat on the edge of the counter, "I actually need your help with something." Bonnie nodded and adjusted his position on his seat, taking a sip from his coffee shortly after.
"How can I help, kid?" He asked. I rolled my eyes at this. He couldn't have been more than a couple years older than me. I glanced at Freddy, who just urged me on with a small smile. I glanced back at Bonnie with a frown.
"I'm looking for my sister, Emily Donovan..." I handed him the picture, "She's in town and I need to see her..." He looked at me and nodded, resting the picture beside his computer. He switched on the computer and proceeded to type away at it, "...well?" I asked.
He looked up at me with a frown and shook his head, "There are no rabbits listed with that name, sorry Clyde." I stared at him wide-eyed.
"That's not possible! I saw her! That's her picture! She's my sister for crying out loud!" I slammed my paws on the desk, catching the attention of a few nearby officers. I frowned and jumped down from the counter. Freddy sighed and ruffled my hair, while Bonnie peered over the top of the desk.
He handed me the picture, "I'm sorry, Clyde. I wish there was more we could do to help you. But, there isn't..." I sighed, putting the picture in my pocket, "I'll give this info to my partner, and he'll pass it on to the chief, cool?" He smiled at us.
My tail swished back and forth and I felt a wave of happiness go through my body, "Why don't you just wait here, huh?" Bonnie walked away from the desk. I glanced at Freddy with a grin.
"Well, I guess not all of the cops are absolute crap," Freddy laughed, as he sat on a nearby chair. I sat on a chair beside him and crossed my arms, "I'm still tripping on what happened with that wolf..." His smile faded into a frown.
"I don't even care about the money anymore..." I muttered with a sigh, "I can't believe that poor guy is dead. He was just a thief...and he just..." I rubbed my eyes, "The collar shocked him before he became savage, right?" Freddy nodded in agreement, "Maybe the collar malfunctioned or something..." Freddy tapped me on the shoulder. I looked up to see Officer Foxy standing in front of us, with Bonnie beside him.
"Hi..." I greeted, my smile fading.
"Yeah, Hi Clyde," Officer Foxy greeted with a small smile, "Bonnie said you needed something from me that requires that I talk to the chief?" I nodded in response to this, "He mentioned a sister?"
"Yeah...I just want to find her..." I murmured. Officer Foxy nodded "Thanks for doing this, Officer..." He nodded, his smile fading.
"Call me Foxy, dude," Foxy nodded and turned to leave, "Give me a few minutes." He walked off. I noticed Bonnie watching him leave with what seemed to be a frown on his face. Bonnie glanced at Freddy and extended his paw.
"Sorry I didn't greet you before, Fred!" Bonnie exclaimed, as they shook paws.
Freddy grinned, "It's cool, Bonnie. I know you're busy," I watched their conversation unfold, "It's just good to see you again. I don't know why we don't talk as much." Bonnie turned to me with a grin and folded his arms.
"It's cause of your new friend," He smirked, "I understand. When I met Foxy, I shut out everybody for a good month or so." Freddy blushed and nodded.
"Yeah, I remember that," Freddy replied, "I literally had to track you down so I could spend time with you!" My gaze slowly drifted away from their conversation and started lingering around the room. I looked up at the second floor, which had glass rails on the edges so that nobody fell off. I noticed Foxy adjust his uniform as he walked into the chief's office.
I frowned and looked down, my ears flattening as I glanced over at Freddy again. Freddy looked back at me, "What's the matter, dude?" I shook my head.
"Don't worry," I shook my head, "I'm fine." I had a bad feeling. I wasn't sure where this feeling had come from. But I didn't feel good. I felt like something wasn't right.
I could tell by the expression on Freddy's face that he didn't believe me in the slightest. Before he could say anything, Bonnie sat down beside me and looked over at me, "Well. Looks like you've gotten more words out of Fred in a week than I have in a year!" He exclaimed with a grin, "He used to be so shy and quiet...and then you come along!"
Literally right when he had finished that sentence, Freddy's phone started ringing, "One second," He reached into his pocket and pulled his phone out, resting it against his ear, "Yeah…?" There was a slight pause, "Hold on," He looked over at us, "I need to take this." He got up and walked outside.
Bonnie tapped the sides of the chair and stared at me. I could feel his eyes burning into the side of my skull for the next minute or so. Eventually he pushed himself off of the chair and unfolded his arms, "He really likes you, you know," Bonnie smiled. I listened intently to what he had to say, "It's just really good to see somebody who can be a positive influence in his life now..." My ears lowered.
"Positive influence…?" I tilted my head the side, "He seems fine to me...and even if he wasn't, he has you, right?" Bonnie shook his head and turned away from me.
"Come with me for a second, huh?" Bonnie asked. I nodded and got off the chair. He started walking slowly, so I decided to follow him closely. He turned to look at me as we started walking around the station, "Freddy's a good guy, you know?" Bonnie chuckled, "I've known him since high-school, but we didn't really start talking until about a year ago." He led me up a set of stairs leading to the second floor.
"I know you don't know me from fuckin' Adam, but I just wanted to thank you," He stopped and rested against the glass railing. I folded my arms and stood adjacent to him, "You seem like you could really become good friends. I mean. Freddy never took me to the movie theatre." He chuckled.
I smiled at him, "Why was that?"
Bonnie shrugged, "I have no idea, and Freddy'll never share with me. We went out for drinks a few times, but each time I woke up in a mess, Freddy would always be at his place, while the rest of us were hungover," Bonnie trailed off, "He's just...a very reclusive and introverted person. As you probably already know." I nodded in agreement.
"Sometimes...I worry about him..." Bonnie frowned, "He's been through a lot of crap. More than most of us..." I sighed and shook my head.
"Foxy was abused by his parents, you know?" Bonnie looked up at me, "He was abused for a few years before he was left on the doorstep of an orphanage," He continued, "But now...look at him. Working as a police officer! And protecting Zootropolis from the mean assholes that seem to call it home."
"I wanted to be a photographer," I threw my two cents into what he was saying, "Now, I'm not quite so sure. I feel like I'm just...experiencing the city. There's something for me here. But I can't be sure." Bonnie seemed to be confused by this, but didn't push further anyway.
I glanced over at the chief's office and saw the door open. Foxy walked out of the office, with two officers following close behind him. Bonnie looked over at him with a frown. Foxy had two bruises that were the shape of two large paws on his neck, and a small cut on the palm of his left paw. The other police officers walked away from him as Foxy walked over to us.
"...he's busy." He muttered. I stared at him wide-eyed. Bonnie looked at me with a frown, his ears flattening against his head as he stroked Foxy's hair.
"What happened to you…?" I asked. Freddy came up the stairs behind us and approached us.
"Whoa dude, what happened to your neck?" Freddy asked, noticing the bruises almost immediately. Bonnie tilted his head at Foxy as the fox shook his head.
"...the chief doesn't want to hear your sister's name again..." He muttered, "That's all he said..." Foxy pushed past Freddy and walked down the stairs. Bonnie looked at us with a frown and walked past us, following Foxy down the stairs.
Freddy and I walked down the stairs a minute or so later, but we couldn't find them. Eventually, we gave up andwalked out of the police station, "Foxy is being beaten..." I muttered, just as we left the police station, "He went in with little-to-no brusies, and he came out with multiple ones. I even saw open wounds on him the first time I met him at the station."
Freddy nodded almost immediately, "I had a feeling he was," He bit his lip, "Somebody beat him while he was in the chief's office you think? Why would they do that, dude?" He glanced at me.
"I'm not sure..." I shrugged, "Foxy is such a nice guy. I don't understand how anyone could beat him like that..." We walked away from the police station and started walking towards Freddy's house, "Is there anything we can to do help?"
"I left Foxy and Bonnie messages on their phones before we left. I'll give them a phone call tomorrow to see how they're doing...maybe go out and bowl with them or something?" He shrugged.
"I guess so," I responded with a small smile, "I like Bonnie and Foxy. They seem cool." I fumbled through my pockets and pulled out my phone, "It isn't too late, yet. What do you wanna do?"
"I'm not sure," I put my phone back in my pocket and slipped my paws in, "Got any ideas, dude?" He shook his head. I sighed and bit my lip, "I wonder where my sister is now..." I trailed off, "Wait...what about my mom? If my sister was here, maybe she was here too!" I exclaimed. Freddy tilted his head to the side.
"Probably, yeah," He nodded, "But maybe we should avoid the police for a little while. Something about them is just off, especially after seeing Foxy's bruised neck..." I nodded in response to this. He was right. We just needed to take a break for a while and let the questions and answers fester in our minds.
Before we had a chance to continue our conversation, a wolf came out from an alleyway and stood in front of us. He looked almost exactly like the wolf who had gone savage. Freddy growled lowly as the wolf held his paws up in a surrender.
"Wait, wait wait..." He sunk his teeth into the side of his muzzle, "Before you say or do anything. I know who you guys are. Frederick Fazbear. Clyde Donovan..." He lowered his paws, "You were there when my brother died, right?" I glanced over at the bear.
Freddy was staring at the wolf with a guilty expression, "What happened to him?" The wolf pried further.
"...I just wanted to get my money back that he and my sister stole from me. I followed him into an alleyway, and he just started spouting something about looking weak. Then his collar shocked him and he just...went savage..." I trailed off, "He's dead, I'm sorry..." The wolf winced, his ears lowering.
"How did he die…?" His fists clenched, and he growled lowly. We were on a busy street. There was no way that he would do anything as stupid as hurt us, right? Freddy looked over at me as I answered the wolf's question.
"A police officer shot him..." I replied. I immediately regretted what I said. The wolf looked down at the ground and growled rather loudly.
"It was that fox, wasn't it?" He twitched, "The fucking chief said everything would be fine, and that he would cover us. But no. Of course he was full of shit!" He pushed past us and started running away from us. Freddy and I shared looks of confusion as we continued walking in the direction that we were planning to go in.
"I hope we didn't just drop Foxy in some shit..." I frowned. Freddy shook his head and looked up at the sky. Clouds were starting the cloak the blue sky, and eventually, the cracks of light coming from the sun started to fade as the clouds completely cloaked the sky.
"This town scares me..." I murmured with widened eyes. Freddy looked over at me with a small frown and wrapped his arm around my shoulder. I didn't resist, I just continued walking with a worried expression planted on my face, "God. It's been one strange fucking week..." We continued walking in silence until we eventually got to his house.
Senior wasn't home yet, so Freddy had to unlock the house. He let me in and shut the door after us. I took off my jacket and sat on the couch, staring at the blank television, "Mind if I join you?" He asked, after taking off his jacket. I nodded and moved to the side so that there was room for him to sit down.
Freddy grabbed the remote and switched on the television. He started scrolling through the channels. Almost none of them caught my interest, until the bear scrolled past a channel that was depicting a familiar face. He continued scrolling, but I stopped him shortly after.
"Wait, go back! Go back!" I exclaimed. He scrolled back to the news and rested the remote on the side of the couch, "Holy shit..." It was the lion that I was sitting beside on the plane.
The headline read; 'Lion goes savage'. Freddy glanced at me, "You know him?" I nodded, but didn't dare take my eyes off the screen.
"I sat beside him on the flight over here..." I murmured. Freddy and I watched intently as the news broadcast unfolded.
A white leopard wearing a green sweater was sitting at the news table, beside a blue rabbit who was taking a sip of his coffee. The female leopard was in the middle of talking, "...I believe they said it was this morning," She turned to her co-anchor, "Right?"
"That's right Alyssa," The rabbit turned to face the screen, as the screen cut to pictures taken of what looked to be a shop of some kind, "Thirty-four year-old lion; 'Travis Lionheart', was taken into custody today, after he bared his teeth to the clerk of a technology store. What unfolded afterwards was truly, a nightmare."
"Travis Lionheart…? The lionheart!?" My eyes widened. I was sitting next to my idol for more than a few hours, and I didn't even notice.
I could remember sitting beside him on the plane.
"Good morning." He had greeted me, while putting his tie back on and stretching his arms.
"Is this your first time to Zootropolis?" I'd asked out of curiosity.
"Not quite," He replied, "I work at a law firm."
He'd lied to me about his identity…? I guess that was smart. Trying to make sure nobody recognised him I guess.
The screen cut to a frightening image of Lionheart standing on all fours atop of a counter, with his claws unsheathed and raised above a glasses rack, "The singer-songwriter had entered the store without a collar and had proceeded to threaten customers over petty things. It took four officers to restrain him." Freddy leant forward with narrowed eyes.
"Wait a second..." He froze, "The collar is on his neck. I can see it..." He muttered lowly. Just as he had said that; Senior had opened the front door and walked inside. He approached the back of the couch and stared at the television.
I stared intently at Lionheart's neck. My eyes widened as I could see the indentations of a collar that had blended in with the colour of his fur, "He's savage, but...the collar is still on him..." I muttered, looking over at Freddy, "Why would the media lie about this?"
Senior folded his arms and shook his head, "Travis Lionheart, huh?" Freddy and I looked over the back of the couch and watched Senior rest some bags of groceries on the counter, "Hm. Nicest lion I ever met. Never had a savage bone in his body."
"But look at him..." The rabbit was still talking on the television as Senior said this. We looked back at the television. I frowned at the sight of my hero raising a clawed paw near other shoppers, "...that's not the Lionheart I know." The screen eventually cut back to the studio, where the news was talking about something less important.
"Something weird is going on, man..." I muttered with a frown. Freddy nodded in agreement and jumped off of the couch. I watched him in confusion as he pulled out his phone, "What are you doing…?" I asked, cocking my head to the side slightly. He looked at me with a look of guilt on his face.
"I'm calling Bonnie..." He sighed, tapping his foot on the ground as he dialled the rabbit's number. He rested the phone against his ear and waited for a minute or so. After a few tries, he still couldn't get Bonnie to answer, "I'll try Foxy..." He dialled the fox's number, and just like before, he got zero response.
"I'm sure they're fine," I frowned, "It's getting dark outside...so maybe we should just calm down for the night. I think we've got questions that need answered, but we should sleep on it, anyway." He seemed to agree with me, because he switched off his phone and we didn't talk about it for the rest of the night.
I was standing in the shower a few hours later, with my back against the wall. I had finished washing every orifice dry, but I was just standing against the tiles. I stared at the roof with a frown as I pondered to myself about what was going on.
My thoughts instantly drifted to Foxy for some reason. I could see flashes of his bruises, and the image of a gun appeared in my head. My thoughts slowly drifted to the wolf we had met with on the way back home.
Shit. I hope we didn't get him in trouble. Maybe we should've kept our mouths shut… I eventually pushed these thoughts away and tried to think about happier thoughts.
That didn't go so well for me however.
I could feel my face heat up as suddenly I started thinking about a certain bare-chested bear. For a split second, I could see him standing in front of me in the shower before vanishing. What the hell was wrong with me?
"Oh dude, gross...not in the shower..." I muttered to myself as I switched the shower off. I came out with a towel wrapped around my waist and walked into my room, reaching into the dresser. I pulled out a pair of boxers and a tank top with purple dots on it. I dropped the towel and slipped on the boxers, followed by the tank-top.
I turned around to see Freddy standing there with a shocked expression on his face. I tilted my head to the side. Was he just perving on me?
"H-Hey, so...I was wondering if I could ask a favour…?" He frowned. I nodded, pushing the previous thoughts away and listening to what he had to say, "Can I sleep with you…?" The question was so blunt. And I felt my face go red at the prospect of sleeping in the same bed as another being.
"I-I mean...I don't have to...I just, I haven't slept and I could really use a bed..." He paused, "Shucks, I can just take the couch if you want..." He trailed off. I didn't want to seem selfish and I didn't want to seem weird. But I just took the route that I wanted to go with.
"It's fine. Here, watch this," I pulled the covers off of the bed and started running my finger from the top of the bed, down the middle and to the bottom, "This is a line in the sand. The line that neither of us ever cross, get it?" He chuckled at me.
"I remember Bonnie telling me that he did something similar like that with a few of his own friends." He chuckled.
"That's cute..." I trailed off
"You didn't have to do this...but...thanks, Clyde. Seriously." I nodded in response and put the covers back on the bed. I crawled under the blankets and rested my head on the pillow, curling up in a ball of warmth. I caught sight of what Freddy was wearing as he walked around the other side of the bed.
"It is your bed afterall." I smiled to myself as I took in his appearance.
He was wearing a pair of green boxers, and a black shirt that hugged his sides, it had bright white words on the middle of the shirt that read; 'Nate wants to duel.' I smiled as he laid on the other side of the bed, covering himself with the covers, "Are you sure you're comfortable with me being here…?" I shrugged him off after he said that.
"It's fine, really," I turned away and switched off the lamp, "'Night Fred. Sweet dreams." I could hear him sigh as he shuffled to the side. I could see his reflection in the mirror beside the door. He was staring at me for a few seconds before he decided to turn away, with a frown on his face.
"You too Clyde." He replied in a gentle, soothing tone as I passed off into sleep.
The longest chapter so far. Hopefully this wasn't too lacklustre.
Don't forget to review.
- RSM