CHAPTER 10: ONE RABBIT'S REMORSE

"Well, from what I had heard, the doctors are saying that it might have something to do… with their DNA." Nick's brow furrowed in confusion. What?

"Ms. Hopps, would you care to explain?"

"Um, yes. What I mean is: thousands of years ago, um, predators used to survive through their… a-aggressive hunting instincts." Nick's mind brought him back to the ranger scout incident, and his confusion was now being replaced by disbelief and… anger. "And for whatever reason, scientists believe that they may be reverting back to their savage, a-and primitive ways."

Judy was beginning to get uncomfortable as the reporters continued to press her for more answers, but she saw Jack enter the room and march over to them.

"Alright. That's enough. No more questions, thank you very much." He stated and pulled them out of the circle. "Sorry about that guys." He then heard his phone buzz and he walked away from the two to answer it.

Nick stood there and watch Judy take a deep breath.

"Wow, that was intense. I didn't even get to talk about how we met or-"

"Oh, I think you said plenty." Nick huffed out, a bitterness in his tone.

"What do you mean?" She honestly doesn't know?

"'It might have something to do with their DNA'? That 'these predators may be reverting back to their primitive savage ways'? Are you serious?" Nick made no attempt to hide the disappointment on his face as he repeated what she said, and she held up her hands in defense.

"I was just stating what the doctors were theorizing."

"Yeah, key word there, carrots: Theorizing."

"Well, it's not like a bunny could go savage." Nick felt anger boil inside of him. Ah, there's the truth rearing its ugly head.

"Right, but a fox could, huh?" He saw Judy's eyes widen.

"Nicl, stop it! You're not like them." She tried to assure him, but it only makes it worse.

"Oh, so there's a them now?" Nick questioned, anger and sarcasm oozing from each word. She scoffed in frustration.

"You know what I mean. You're not that kind of predator."

"The kind that needs to be muzzled?" He reminded her of the ranger scouts incident, and then looked down at the bottle of fox repellent peeking out of her pant pocket. "The kind that makes you believe that you need to carry around fox repellent?" He saw the guilt in Judy's eyes. "Yeah, don't think I missed that little item the first time we met." He saw as reporters alike took notice of their little fight and began rolling, but he didn't care. He had officially gotten his point across, but he had become so angry that he continued to push.

He raked his claws through the fur top his head in frustration. "Le-let me ask you a question; are you afraid of me?" He closed the gap between them and her eyes widened. Ding, ding, give the fox a prize, he thought.

"Do you think I might go nuts?" She flinched as he spoke again. Right again, Wilde.

"Think I might go savage?" He used his claws for emphasis. Still no answer. You're on roll, here.

"Do you think I might try to…" He paused then jumped forward, claws still beared. "EAT YOU!?" And then he felt something build inside of him. Something raw, instinctual, and dangerous. He tried to stop, but his paw swung across Judy's left cheek, making 3 clean claw marks on her cheek. She yelped and fell back. She looked up at Nick, his pupils dilated, his breath heavy, and he could see fear fill his eyes.

The raw feeling subsided and he quickly realized what he had done and pulled a paw to his mouth.

"Carrots! Oh God, I'm so sorry." He reached out his paw to help her up, but she screamed and swatted at his paws with her own.

"Get away from me!" How had this happened? What just happened? One minute, he was angry at Judy, next minute, he felt something take control of him; something primal. His eyes widened. Nonononono. That can't be right!

"Judy, you have to believe me! I didn't mean to!"

"Get away from her, filthy pred!" He heard someone yell and he turned to see mammals all around the room either glaring or cowering. He looked down at his paws, his claws extended. Then he heard something behind him. He turned around just in time to see Judy shove a muzzle on him. He fell backward as he saw the look of fear on her face replaced with something darker.

"Judy, what are you doing!?" He managed.

"You're a predator, Nick. Just like the scouts said: You can't be trusted without a muzzle." He backed away until he felt the wall behind him stop him from moving further. Everyone around the room was now donning dark smiles on their faces and he could hear their laughs as they closed around them. He ducked his head between his legs, covering his ears and screwing his eyes shut. Please, please, please just let this end. Then he heard what sounded like his daughter.

"Daddy! Let him go!" He looked up and saw her pushing through the crowd to get to him. They tried to keep her from him, but then she bit one.

"Ah! You little brat!" He then heard a slap followed by a yelp, then a whimper. "You're a savage, just like you father."

"Savages need to be destroyed!" He heard someone yell, then there were shouts of agreement around the room. He then saw someone produce a gun from his jacket, and he began walking over to Lily.

"Don't you dare!" He growled through his muzzle and he felt paws restrain him. "I'll kill you! Leave my daughter alone!"

"The both of you are savages, Nick." He heard Judy say. "And savages need to be put down." Then he saw the mammal place the gun to Lily's head and began to squeeze the trigger.

NO!

Nick shot up from his pillow, screaming. Then he looked around the dark room. Another nightmare? He looked over at the clock.

11:00 a.m. Sidewalk Citizen's room, 3 weeks later.

Nick ran his claws through the fur atop his head. His coat was damp with sweat. Though Nick was accustomed to having nightmares, he'd never had these kinds before. These ones were more 'primal' centric, usually him going crazy and hurting someone he cared about. It had gotten bad; so bad that he made a decision last night that he was going to tell the others today.

He got up and headed out of the room. Lily and Katie were sitting at the coffee table, working on homework. They looked up at him and Lily got up and jumped to hug him. His thoughts went back to the nightmare he just had and his eyes glazed over as he hugged her tightly.

"Good morning, daddy."

"Good morning, sweetie." He let go of her and set her back down on the floor.

"Have you heard from Judy?" He grimaced at the sound of her name. He told the band as well as Lily, Katie and Jack about the fight. Even if he hadn't, though, they would've seen it on the TV or in the paper a few days later. They weren't happy with her, but it never got so bad that they were glad she was gone.

"No, I haven't."

"You can't stay angry forever, dad. You care about her." Nick smiled at her. Lily had a way of making people feel better, no matter how bad they may feel.

"Alright, sweetie, I'll try. Do you mind going and waking up the guys for me?"

"Okay." And with that, Lily left the room and Nick sat down and pinched the bridge of his snout. He and Katie sat in silence for a while until Katie spoke up.

"She's right you know." Nick, eyes still closed, rose his eyebrows.

"Hmm?"

"You can't stay angry forever."

Nick sighed and opened his eyes. "I know, and I won't, but that doesn't mean that I'm gonna forgive her." Before she could retort, they heard the doors open. "Hey guys."

"What's up, Nick." Finnick asked and Nick pulled out a paper with an attached picture of a house.

"I have a proposition for us."

2:30 p.m. Pangolin Arm's Hotel

Judy swung the door closed behind her and tossed her keys and bag onto her bed. She took a seat at her desk and laid her head on her arm. She reached over and turned on her radio.

"How could you be so, cold as the winter wind when it breeze, yo."

*click*

"What you even come around for?You ain't have my back even when I had yours.""

*click*

"Did you have to do this? I was thinking that you could be trusted"

*click*

The radio went silent and Judy tucked her arm under her chin with the other. One month. It had been one month since the fight, one month since reporters leaked the fight all over the city, and one month since the city went to chaos. But most of all, it had been one month since Judy last saw the guys; since she last saw Nick. After the fight, she didn't feel as though it wouldn't have been right for her to go back to the apartment, so she rented out an apartment to stay at for a while. She heard her phone buzz and she pulled it out to see a text from her brother, Nathan.

Nathan: Hey.

Judy: Hey.

Nathan: How you holding up?

Judy: Not well.

Nathan: Well, I'm free today. Wanna meet up?

Judy honestly didn't know whether she wanted to or not. She really needed someone to talk to, but she also didn't know whether she could step back outside again. After her fight with Nick got leaked, the entire city as split in two. Predators were treated like dirt and disgusting monsters, and it was all because of what she said that night. Any time she passed one, they would look at her with either hurt, anger, disappointment, or a mix of the three. She could never handle the last one, because it reminded her of Nick after their fight. She felt her phone buzz in her paw again.

Nathan: ?

Judy: Sure.

"You look horrible." Nathan was sitting on a bench in the central park, playing a ukulele. His shirt was ruffled, and he didn't look too well either.

"You don't look too well yourself, sissy." He quipped, but then his expression went cold. "Nick stopped talking to me. I tried to get in touch with him, but every time I did, one of the other guys would be on the other end." Judy's brow furrowed and she plopped onto the spot beside him.

"This is all my fault."

"Yeah, it is." Judy turned to him. She wasn't looking for comfort, but his response was so quick and direct, it was almost as if he just shot her. "I mean, why'd you even say anything to those reporters?" That was question that she had been asking herself a lot lately. Had she not said anything that night, none of this would have happened had she just kept her mouth shut.

"I honestly don't know."

"And another question, why'd you even have that fox repellent?" Judy padded the pocket she used to keep the fox spray used to be in. After their fight, she had thrown it away in a passing garbage truck, never to see it again. "And why'd you almost spray Nick with it? He was your friend. He trusted you with stuff he'd never trusted anyone with." Judy's ears shot up.

"What are you talking about. The stuff that he told me, you knew, the guys knew."

"The guys knew because they were there when it happened. They witnessed it happen." Judy's eyes widened. She'd never thought about that. "And the only reason I know is because Olivia and Emmitt told me. Nick had never told anyone about his past on his own. You were the first." Oh God, What did I do? Judy's paw covered her mouth as she realized what she did. She was the first person Nick had ever trusted with his past and she went and destroyed his trust.

"Oh God, no."

"Yeah, it's pretty bad."

Judy got up and began to leave. "I need to talk to him!"

"Good luck with that."

She paused and turned to her brother, whom was still sitting on the bench. "Why?"

"He's not at the apartment."

Judy's head tilted. "Why not?"

"Because," He got up, holding his uke in one hand, and looked in the direction of the apartment, then answered.

"They moved out."

A/N:

Hey guys, it's Fluff on my own again. Surprise, I've got another chapter for you today. I was gonna post it on monday, but I decided against that action. Hopefully you guys 'enjoyed' the chapter. This chapter is influenced by a nightmare that Flapjack had on a recurring basis. He had some pretty serious anger issues growing up, and the older he got, the more violent his actions became. He never actually hurt his loved ones, but he began to have nightmares of it. Needless to say, it was a task trying to get him to sleep.

It still is, but that's a sob story for another time. I hope you guys stay happy. We'll see you next time.