Hello, my fellow Zootopians!

Back again, much quicker this time! ;-)

Contrary to my original plan, this isn't the penultimate chapter. It threatened to become too long and cumbersome, so I split it in two. Two more chapters (maybe three …), and I'm finally done with "Wound." About time, too!

These are the stats so far: Views have crept up to almost 8,000, I received 99 reviews, 52 favorites and 85 alerts. Thank you for your consistent support.

Thanks to Combat Engineer, Galaxyexplorer74, Story. Writer. 2015, Robert Escher, Foxlover91, Dirtkid123, LupinTheWolf, niraD, and DrummerMax64 for sending me their reviews! And thanks to Panjetarkan for his private message in which he pointed out some really big screw-ups to me. Yes, there are several monumental mistakes in my stories, incongruence in relationships, continuity errors, factual errors, you name it! Maybe I'll address them at one point or another, but right now, I have bigger fish to fry! Much bigger ones! Be that as it may, thanks to you again, Panjetarkan! And bring it on!

Congrats to Foxlover91 for being the first one to find the character from "Tarzan." It was, of course, the teacher, Mr. Tantor, who's probably an elephant! (I honestly didn't give the character too much thought.)

My dear friend DrummerMax64 also called out Mr. Tantor, but Foxlover91 simply was a bit quicker. However, he was the first, and so far the only one, to find the quote from "Little Shop of Horrors." In the song "Skid Row (Downtown)," we hear Seymour Krelborn sing at one point: "I started life as an orphan, a child of the street, here on skid row. He took me in, gave me shelter, a bed, crust of bread and a job; treats me like dirt, calls me a slob, which I am …" I used almost the exact same phrase to describe what happened when Finnick found Nick. Great work, DrummerMax64!

He also pointed out a quote from Starcraft II to me, an exchange between Jim Raynor and Tychus Findlay, where they agree that working together again would be "just like old times." Yes, I used the exact same words during the exchange between Bogo and Mastiff, but this sentence isn't exactly a rare occurrence in books, movies, or computer games. I honestly didn't think of StarCraft II when I wrote it. No, the quote from StarCraft II is a different one …

Which was found, yet again, by DrummerMax64! (Boy, you sure know how to find stuff! That's the fourth hidden Easter egg you found in this story!) At one point, Tychus Findlay says: "Sweet mother of mercy!" upon seeing the destruction caused by the Queen of Blades and her Zerg. Good one, DrummerMax64! Kudos to you!

The disclaimer can be found in the first chapter.

Chapter Ten

The Best Mammal for the Job

(Today's motto song can be found both within the chapter as well as in the author's notes towards the end. I just don't want to ruin the suspense! ;-))

ZPD Precinct One Headquarters, Office of the Chief of Police, City Center, Zootopia

Adrian Bogo looked at his notebook's display, heaving a heavy sigh. The screen showed a somewhat lengthy list of names, four of which had been crossed out. "Leodore Lionheart, Dawn Bellwether, Robert Aries, Matilda Swinton," he read aloud. The pointer was hovering over a fifth name. "Cameron Caballus - are you the next one to go?"

He shook his head. When had he become so fed up with the situation that he had started talking to himself?

With Swinton's resignation, the appalling condition of the City Council had become even more obvious. Instead of 51 councilmammals, the City Council had been reduced to 48 members. And given the fact that three of those were under investigation and would probably face prosecution before long, it wasn't too hazardous a guess to say that their numbers would dwindle further.

Much worse that this, however, was the fact that after Aries had been arrested, the Council seemed to have been shocked into inactivity. Which was bad, because with civil unrest threatening to erupt amongst the population, decisions were needed - decisions that would help defuse the situation.

Then again, the last decisions made by the City Council had all but ameliorated the situation.

Bogo couldn't help shake the feeling that maybe re-elections would be the best way to go.

Suddenly, his telephone rang. Picking it up from the desktop while closing his notebook's lid, he answered the phone.

"Uhm, Officer Caballus here. You have a phone call, sir."

Bogo rolled his eyes. "You know, Caballus, why don't you just patch 'em through? If I don't want to talk to the mammal, I can disconnect myself."

"Uh, yes, but … I don't want to … make mistakes."

Not for the first time, Bogo asked himself how such an indecisive, insecure mammal had managed to pass the ZPA with good enough grades to make it to Precinct One. "Okay, who is it?"

"Uhm, my father, sir."

Bogo said up straighter. "Well, patch him through!"

"Of course!"

A few seconds later, Bogo heard someone clear his throat. "Hello? Is this you, Chief Bogo?"

"Yes, it's me, Mr. Caballus. Good morning!"

"Yes, yes, good morning!" The voice Bogo heard came as quite the surprise to Bogo. He had met Caballus twice before, and both times, he had spoken in an unctuous tone similar to that of Robert Aries. Now, however, Caballus spoke fast, his style of speech was hectic, as if his brain was working too fast for his mouth to keep up. And if there still was an unctuous tone to his voice, Bogo failed to hear it. "I just called you to ask you one question."

"Which is?"

"Officer Hopps said that Leodore Lionheart has been duped by Dawn Bellwether. Is that true?"

Bogo made a frown. "Well, yes, we have a recording of Bellwether saying something to that effect. I think her exact words were that she framed Lionheart."

"Aha. Do you think Lionheart is innocent?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"Is Lionheart innocent or not?"

"Uhm, excuse me, sir, but what exactly do you want from me? I'm the Chief of Police, not a judge or a jury."

"I'm asking you to be neither."

"Sorry, that's not for me to decide! I'm a police officer, nothing more, nothing less. A crime is brought to my attention, I start investigating. When my investigations show that someone has perpetrated a crime, I arrest that someone. If my investigations show that the mammal is innocent, there will be no arrest. At one point I merely close a case, usually after the suspect is either cleared of all charges or convicted. That's the point where my job ends. Whether a mammal is innocent or not, that's for judges to decide. And even if I'm mistaken, it merely means I didn't do my job properly. At no point in all this, my personal opinion comes into play."

"Alright, Mr. Bogo, let's forget you're a police officer for a second. Do you think Lionheart is innocent?"

Bogo leaned back in his chair. When he had met Caballus for the first time, at a charity ball for homeless children in Zootopia, his first impression had been that the horse was the epitome of nouveau riche, a filthy rich mammal whose morale sense hadn't kept up with the constant growth of his bank account. Arrogant, patronizing, disparaging towards everybody - talking to him had felt like talking to a school bully.

That had in fact been the attribute Bogo had mentally assigned to him: Cameron Caballus, Chief Bully of the City Council.

Somehow the bully part of his character didn't seem to want to manifest itself at the moment.

"Innocent?" Bogo said finally. "Certainly not. After all, he did falsely imprison those predators."

"Yes, but he was coerced."

"Maybe so, still, a crime is a crime."

"With the knowledge we have today, every lawyer would claim extenuating circumstances."

Bogo shrugged, although Caballus wouldn't be able to see it. "Probably, but like I said, that's for judges to decide, not for me."

"He's your friend, right?"

Bogo sighed. "Congratulations for finding out that one. Yes, he's one of my oldest friends."

"And you're okay with him being in prison?"

Bogo snorted. "Listen, Caballus, Leodore simply is the last in line of several mammals I befriended over the course of the years, only to have to arrest them later. They broke laws, I arrested them. Period. I simply serve the law. It simply doesn't matter if I'm a friend of the criminal or not."

"I applaud your integrity." Caballus made a pause. "Seeing that he is your friend, and forgetting for the moment that you are a police officer with such high moral standards, do you think he should be pardoned?"

"Excuse me?"

"Or would it be wrong to order the release of someone who's guilty of a major crime?"

Bogo stared at the phone in his hoof in disbelief before speaking into it again. "What did you just say?"

Caballus heaved a sigh. "As the Mayor, even if I only am the acting one, it's one of my prerogatives to grant pardons. I can easily overrule any judge, any jury, any district attorney, any police officer. Especially if the other councilmammals agree with me."

"Which they don't."

"Which they haven't. But, you know, things might change."

Bogo made a pause, trying to wrap his head around what was just transpiring.

What in the name of all that's holy has gotten into him?

"Excuse me, Caballus, but why are you telling me this? If you can overrule each and every one of us, why don't you just do so and be done with it?"

"Because I want to make the right decision, not just the next best one."

Bogo stared at the phone again. The Cameron Caballus he'd known previously would just have made a decision which would have made sure profit for himself was highest. If others had to suffer due to his decision, he couldn't have cared less.

When had Caballus started to want to make the right decisions?

Sensing an opportunity, he said: "Yes, speaking of making the right decision, is there any possibility for me to finally have a full roster of officers again? Don't you think this farce has gone on long enough?"

There was a short pause on the other end of the line. "You know I voted against Bellwether, don't you?"

"I do, and a fat lot of use you were!"

Bogo could virtually hear Caballus lift an eyebrow. "Are you trying to antagonize me, Chief?"

"Why, yes, I am! Over the course of the last few weeks, you and your cronies have made my life a living hell! Tell me, how'm I supposed to uphold the law, when all the City Council did for me was putting obstacles in my way? It's as if the Council didn't want the law to be upheld."

"Is this why you arrested three Mayors? Is that why Merino, Brooks, and Hirvi are under investigation? Is that why you try your hardest to destroy the City Council?"

"You know perfectly well why we arrested Lionheart, Bellwether, and Aries. And you also know that we have evidence suggesting that Merino, Brooks, and Hirvi were in league with Bellwether. I'm merely doing my job. I don't need to try and destroy the City Council, it's doing the job all on its own. It's not my fault it's full of corrupt, opportunistic, power-hungry mammals."

There was silence on the other end of the line, then Caballus finally sighed. "I'll do what I can to give you your officers back. Thank you for your time, Chief." With that, he disconnected.

Bogo stared at the telephone with a frown. What the heck had that all been about?

It suddenly occurred to Bogo that he had probably found a similarity between Officer Caballus and her father.

It seemed that under the veneer of being a bully, Cameron Caballus was just as insecure as his daughter.

Zootopia Municipal Correctional Facility, Prison Cell 23A; Current Inmate: Prisoner 6493587 - Leodore Lionheart, Sahara Square, Zootopia

Somebody knocked against the bars separating Leodore Lionheart from the rest of the world. Lionheart looked up from the book he was reading. One of the guards, an elephant Lionheart only knew as Roger, was standing in front of his cell, having just rapped the bars with his nightstick. "You got a visitor," Roger said.

"Really?" Lionheart got up from his cot. "Who is it? My wife?"

Roger shook his head. "Not quite."

"What do you mean, not quite?"

Roger merely grinned at him while opening the cell door. Lionheart shook his head and left his cell, walking down the corridor.

Two minutes later, he was sitting in the visiting area in a cubicle, behind bullet-proof glass. And the mammal sitting on the other side was among the last ones he'd expected to see here. He picked up the receiver and said, without any sort of greeting: "Did you come here to gloat, Cameron?"

Caballus gave him a rather strained looking smile. "And a good day to you, too, Leodore."

Lionheart wasn't in the mood for nice, joyful banter. "Spare me the pleasantries! What do you want? We both know this is not a goodwill visit."

Although being members of the same political party, Cameron Caballus had never been exactly on friendly terms with Leodore Lionheart. To say that Lionheart considered Caballus to be utterly corrupt and utterly useless was an understatement. While Lionheart had tried to use his influence to do everything in his power to improve life for every citizen of Zootopia, Caballus only seemed to be interested in watching his wealth increase. They had clashed on numerous occasions, particularly during those moments when Lionheart had been forced, yet again, to convince Caballus to do what was best for everyone involved. Egotistical to a fault, Caballus had usually failed to see the big picture, so working with him had often felt like pulling teeth without anesthesia.

"You're right, it isn't. I just wanted to talk to you, Acting Mayor to ex-Mayor."

Lionheart guffawed. "Acting Mayor? Who in their right mind made you the Acting Mayor?"

"Didn't you hear the news? Bob Aries was arrested for ordering attacks on predators."

"Yeah, I know. But what …"

"And Swinton stepped down yesterday."

"Yes, I know that one, too. So what?"

"Well, I was the next in line."

"I thought that … oh, right, Pardalis and Murinus were forced into retirement."

"They were. Meaning I was climbing up the ranks."

Lionheart leant back, not bothering to hide his contempt. "So they're basically putting a fox in charge of the henhouse."

"Interesting choice of words, Leodore. You know it was a fox who helped Officer Hopps solve the Savage Predators case?"

"I do, yes."

"And you also know he applied for the ZPA?"

Lionheart sighed. "Why do you keep telling me things I already know?"

"Because I don't know if you know them or not. Did you also know that the chances of this fox becoming a police officer are virtually zero?"

Lionheart frowned. "No, I didn't. Why?"

"You know my daughter works at the ZPD?" Lionheart nodded. "Well, she told me that this fox has spent most of his life being a con-mammal. Chief Bogo told her, and the fox himself admitted to it later."

Lionheart considered this for a moment. "So he has a criminal record."

"Which would it make impossible for the ZPD to accept him into their ranks, yes."

Lionheart shrugged. "So what? You pardon him, everything's fine."

"Yes, I could certainly do that. However, I ..." Caballus hesitated visibly. "You know why I ran for office?"

Lionheart shrugged. "To be honest, I have no idea." He couldn't help adding: "I have a suspicion, though."

Caballus closed his eyes. "To protect my company, right?"

Lionheart's jaw dropped. "Uhm, yes, the thought had crossed my mind."

His eyes still closed, Caballus said, very matter-of-factly: "And you would be right."

Lionheart just stared at him in complete and utter disbelief. Never, not in a million years, would he have expected Caballus to admit to it.

Caballus opened his eyes again and continued, still very matter-of-factly. "You probably know that my parents were very poor." Lionheart nodded. "They had to work their bottoms off to make sure my education was paid for. My dad ruined his health over it. I never wanted to experience this poverty ever again. So when I started my construction company with the huge help of the Lemming Brothers Bank, I started working my bottom off, too. And I got lucky. There were plans to expand the Palm Hotel, and in a bidding war, I managed to come out on top. And ever since that fateful day, money kept rolling in from all directions." He sighed. "You know what the worst thing about having lots of money is, when you started with nothing but the clothes on your back?"

"The fear of losing it again?" It surprised Lionheart just how croaky his own voice sounded.

Caballus nodded. "You get paranoid. You start thinking that everybody around you is trying to take your earnings away from you. This is why I ran for office, plain as that. I wanted to be on the forefront, making sure no new tax laws would be imposed, no rules and regulations would be passed that could diminish my wealth.

"And it worked. I started with nothing, now Furbes lists me as the seventh-richest mammal in Zootopia."

Slowly coming out of his stupor, Lionheart wanted to give him a mock applause, but he somehow had the feeling that this would be very inappropriate at this stage. "Why are you telling me this?"

Caballus ignored him. "I ran for office, but I always made sure never to be in any position of importance, because in the end, I didn't care about Zootopia at all. All I cared about was my finances. Sure, I was a member of the finance committee, of the city development committee, and I held several other posts over the years. But I never, ever, tried to climb the ranks. I never wanted to be a Mayor. You know why?"

"No, but I guess you're going to tell me."

"I am. I never wanted to be a Mayor, because I would have been forced to think about other mammals, about their well-being, not only about mine. I would have had to take care. I would have had to work for somebody else, not for me. This is why I hid behind you, behind Dawn, behind Bob, behind Tilda, behind Franklin, behind Zack.

"I would never have guessed that we would start playing the 'Ten Little Foxes' song. And then there were five, four, three, two, one." He made a pause. "And then there's me. The last guy you'd want to have as your Mayor."

"You could step down, you know," Lionheart said silently.

"And then what? More chaos? More indecisiveness?" Caballus gave a grunt. "Ever since you were arrested, Zootopia slowly, but surely, fell into complete disarray. Right now, we are this close," he indicated a tiny gap with his fingers, "to all-out anarchy. There is a permanent protest rally camped out in front of City Hall. They've been peaceful so far, but it won't stay like that for long, I'm afraid. Not unless the City Council steps up and does the things that need to be done."

"So do them!" Lionheart said. "You're the guy in charge! Force through all those motions that could restore peace and order!"

Caballus guffawed. "Me? The most ill-fitting guy you can possibly imagine! I'm not the guy to run this city, and you know it!"

Again, Lionheart stared at him in disbelief. Caballus had always stricken him as power-hungry, as someone eager to take up the baton. Seemed like he had been mistaken.

"What this city needs," Caballus said, "is someone whose just has this one goal to do what is best for the city. The mammals who took office after you were arrested, they all lacked that exact same quality. Each and every one of them." He leaned back in his chair. "We need the best mammal for the job, not just the next one in line."

Lionheart cleared his throat. "You know what they say? A fault confessed is half redressed. You know of your faults and shortcomings. Work against them, and you can become a great Mayor."

"Do you really think so?"

"I do, yes."

"Why, thank you, but …"

Caballus made a pause so long, Lionheart finally said: "But what?"

Caballus heaved a sigh, and suddenly, he looked much older than he actually was. "When Tilda Swinton stepped down yesterday, when she told me that I would be in charge from now on, my first impulse was to run away and hide until the nightmare was over. I never wanted to be Mayor, much less become it through having all other guys in front of me removed from office, not through being elected into office.

"But then, the first mammals started congratulating me. The other councilmammals. The DA. Several reporters. Even some totally unknown guys on the streets. You cannot imagine what this did for my self-esteem. By the time I came home, by the time my wife congratulated me on becoming the Mayor, I was walking on clouds. I was happy! I was the happiest mammal on the planet. Me, the pipsqueak, suddenly Citizen Number One! I was more than elated.

"And then my youngest son, who had not congratulated me, asked me one simple question."

"Which was?"

Caballus lowered his head. "He asked me if I would turn into a monster now."

"Excuse me?"

Caballus looked up again, locking eyes with Lionheart. "Those were his words. 'Dad, are you going to turn into a monster, now that you're in control?'"

"Sorry, but what's that supposed to mean?"

"That's what I asked him. Instead of telling me, he got out his iPawd and played a song to me. It's from a band called Megadeer. Ever heard of them?"

"Not that I'm aware of."

"I thought so. I have no idea what the song is called, but it starts with these words: 'You take a mortal mammal and put him in control. Watch him become a god. Watch people's heads a-roll.'"

Lionheart gasped. "This … sounds ugly."

"Doesn't it?" He made a pause. "Tell me, do you remember what Dawn Bellwether was like when she became a councilmammal? You already were on the Council, weren't you?"

"I was." Lionheart thought about it for a moment. "Young. Sweet. Helpful. Naïve. A bit too innocent for the job. Slightly bumbling, but who isn't during his or her first term."

"Would you ever have guessed she'd turn into the master manipulator? Would you ever have guessed she'd become so power-hungry, she would have sold her own grandmother to gain power?"

"I wouldn't." Lionheart made a pause. "Are you suggesting …"

"Is it inevitable, Leodore? Do we all turn into monsters, once we come to power?"

Lionheart looked at Caballus, examining him. There was a distinctively distraught look on the horse. "I sure hope not."

Caballus looked at Lionheart. "But the evidence is there."

Lionheart hesitated, then he nodded. "It certainly seems that way."

"Bellwether started following her own agenda, turning into some sort of wannabe-dictator along the way. Aries began stopping at nothing to make sure his vision of safety and security would come to fruition, a vision in which predators had no place at all. Tilda Swinton simply was in way over her head. The same goes for most councilmammals I've met over the years."

Caballus made a pause. "In all these years, I came across only one mammal on the council who had become a councilmammal to do good, to help the citizens of Zootopia. Someone who was remarkably selfless, someone who was even willing to go to prison to do the right thing, to protect the city from itself." He pointed at Lionheart. "I'm looking at him right now."

Lionheart shrugged. "I did my very best, but, you know, at the end of the day, I also wanted to protect my job."

"Officer Hopps suggested otherwise."

"I know. She depicted me as some sort of knight in shining white armor. I wasn't. I merely knew that once the fact that all those mammals turning savage were predators would leak to the public, that mammals would ask for my head. A lion as Mayor, during a time when predators started turning savage to the left and the right - no, I merely wanted to keep my job, to stay in power."

"Yet you put your career on the line to defuse the situation, to make sure that civil unrest wouldn't manifest itself." Caballus sighed. "And seeing what happened afterwards, it was a good call. You cannot imagine the chaos I've seen over the course of the last few days." Now he snorted. "And the worst thing about this is, the ZPD's almost powerless, seeing that their number of personnel is so low. The suspended officers need to be reinstated at once. Law and order need to be restored. We need to make sure all predators within the city limits of Zootopia, maybe even beyond, are safe and sound again. We need to make sure that Zootopia really is the place were anyone can be anything." He leaned forward, fixing his gaze on Lionheart. "And by we, I mean you."

Lionheart snorted. "Hello? You know why I'm here?"

"I called Chief Bogo just this morning. He confirmed what Hopps told the public during the press conference: Dawn framed you."

"So what?"

"Well, if you were coerced into falsely imprisoning all those predators, it would make a big difference, don't you think?"

"Hardly. In the end, a crime is a crime."

"That's what Bogo told me, too. You two really are remarkably similar."

Lionheart sighed. "Adrian's one of my oldest friends. Of course we agree on most things."

"Well, the DA, for one, seems to think that once it is proven in court that Dawn coerced you, your sentence would surely be greatly diminished. Maybe you'd even be cleared of all charges."

"You talked to him, too?"

"On my way here, yes."

Lionheart snorted. "Do you really think it would make a difference? Do you really think that, even if I were to be exonerated, the citizens of Zootopia would be willing to support me ever again?"

"You'd be surprised, but I tend to think so, yes."

That gave Lionheart pause. "You do?"

Caballus gave him a mirthless smile. "You know, before I came here, I was talking to several other councilmammals. By my count, the number of councilmammals who would openly support you is sitting at around 40 mammals. Just imagine: You have all the Republicans, all the members of the Green Party, behind you. The only guys openly against you or leaning towards undecided are members of our own party, Leodore."

He made an encompassing gesture. "It's the same with the mammals on the streets. I was talking to some of them when I left City Hall. Most seem to think along the lines of Officer Hopps. Zootopia never had it better than when you were in office. Of course, there are a few dimwits who'd like to condemn you to hell for what you did, but I tend to think that the vast majority of citizens would love to see you become the Mayor again."

Lionheart looked at him, a strange feeling in his chest. "Is that why you came here, to boost my morale?"

"No. I came here to ask you one thing."

He took a piece of paper out of the inner pocket of his suit. Holding it up, he said: "If I use this, would you be willing and able to return to the City Council? Would you be willing and able to take up the baton again? Would you be willing and able to become the Mayor again, the Mayor this city so sorely needs?"

"Is this …"

"Yes, it's an official pardon, signed by me, by Lawrence Castor, and by Andrew Horner. I use this, you go free, and all your crimes will be forgotten. And if you're willing to return, I'm going to make sure you'll have the votes to once again become the Mayor."

"This … is sudden."

"I know. But desperate times call for desperate measures." Caballus sighed. "Listen, Leodore, we've never exactly been on friendly terms. I know you don't like me all that much, but that's okay - my own son's afraid of me, which is way worse. I'm only doing this because it's the right thing to do. I'm not doing this for you, I'm doing this for Zootopia. So, what do you say?"

Lionheart thought about this for almost one minute. Finally he said: "You'd be my Assistant Mayor."

"Yes."

"You know that there's a lot of work that needs to be done?"

"I do. Oh yes, I do."

"The first thing probably is to call for re-elections. Right now, the City Council is in shambles. We need the balance between prey and predators re-established. We need to rid the Council of all mammals who were only following their very own agenda. The easiest way to achieve this is by forcing through a motion that ends in re-election."

"I wholeheartedly agree. But how do you want to achieve this?"

For the first time in weeks, Lionheart smiled. "Don't worry, I have a plan."

"So you're in?"

"I'm in."

Now Caballus returned the smile. "And you cannot imagine how glad I am hearing you say this." He got up. "I need to talk to the warden. When you're done, please come to the City Hall at once. We've got a lot of work to do, and quickly!"

"We certainly have." Lionheart hesitated. "Thank you, Cameron!"

Caballus nodded. "You're very welcome, Leodore."

You take a mortal man and put him in control. Watch him become a god. Watch people's heads a-roll.

Megadeth: "Symphony of Destruction" (Written by Dave Mustaine, from the album "Countdown to Extinction," Capitol Records, 1992)

Yes, of course, Megadeer is Megadeth! The front man's name, by the way, is Dave Mustelid. Thought you ought to know. ;-) "Symphony of Destruction" seems to have been written for exactly this occasion. I simply love the song. (Oh, and by the way: "Aguante Megadeth!" ;-))

"Ten Little Foxes" is my version of the infamous "Ten Little Injuns" song by Septimus Winner, now considered pejorative, and rightly so. Its German version is little better. It's called "Zehn kleine Negerlein," which literally translates to "Ten Little Niggers." I never liked the song very much, to be honest, even as a child. I'm German, I'm Caucasian, and I pretty much look like the epitome of an Aryan, reasonably tall, reasonably well-built, with blonde (okay, dark blonde) hair. But one of my best friends, who, sadly, died some ten years ago, was from Egypt. I'm friends with a family that fled from Afghanistan. One of my friends in school was from Syria. I'm on friendly terms with several Turkish people. One of my friends is half-Italian. Hell, my wife is half-Ukrainian! I probably am the only pure-bred German amongst all my friends, and I couldn't care less. To me, race has never meant anything. Skin color has never meant anything. To be honest, I even envy black people! They can stand quite a lot of UV light, whereas I'm pretty much the "keep out of direct sunlight" kind of guy. I get sunburned easily, and I never, ever managed to get a nice tan.

In my world, there's no place for racial prejudice. 'Nuff said!

I probably hid several quotes in this chapter, but I didn't actively try and do it. If you come across one, you'll receive a honorable mention in the next chapter.

And that's another chapter done! Thanks for reading, and please, send me your reviews!

(Edit: Thanks to AurionG for pointing out a really stupid mistake to me: Of course it's "prosecution," not "persecution!" Would have loved to answer you in person, but that's the way it is!)

Take care!

J.O. aka TheCatweazle