Nick stared blankly out the window of his and Judy's high-rise hotel room. The room granted stellar views of the city as well as the lush coniferous forest that surrounded it. Behind him on one of the beds sat Judy, reading something from her phone. The two had just received the news that Maxwell had been replaced with a new Chief, as well as hearing that their co-op term with Blake has ended early. Nick sighed. In addition to the co-op, Nick and Judy had been working on the string of Night Howler cases that have been popping up around the city.
With the co-op program over, and with the new Chief, they no longer knew anyone beyond their last name and their rank. When they had received the news, it wasn't even through Maxwell himself – it was through a short segment on ZNN that they just happened to catch. They attempted to call the station, but no one was answering the phone. They then attempted to contact Maxwell, and finally Blake, but were met with much of the same. At a loss of what to do, they emailed Bogo back in Zootopia for some direction.
Within the hour, they received a response from Bogo. The email talked about setting up a video call to discuss further activities after Bogo finished his work day. Nick and Judy signed off on the video call, and that was the end of that. With the confirmation sent out, they had about half a day to kill before their call. Judy, having reached the end of whatever she was reading, tossed her phone onto one of the pillows before falling backward, groaning loudly of frustration and boredom.
"What are we gonna do for the next what, it's three o'clock now, so... three hours?" Judy complained. Nick shot a glance in her direction before returning to his previous activity of staring out the window.
"I duuno, Fluff. I've been sitting on one idea for the past little while, but I'm not sure you'd want to go through with it," Nick replied. Judy sat up straight faster than a bullet fired from a rifle.
"What is it? Tell me! Anything to kill the time," Judy shouted. Nick turned away from the window and placed his arms behind his back."
"You sure? It sounds kind of odd the more I think about it," Nick warned. Judy leaped from the bed and rushed toward Nick. She stopped only an inch away from him and stared up toward him, eyes wide. Nick leaned down to meet her gaze, their faces only inches apart.
"Spit it out, Fox," she said. Nick pulled away from the doe.
"Alright, if that's what you want, so long as you don't think I'm a creep." Judy's ears drooped.
"You're worrying me, Nick. What could you possibly be thinking of that would make you a creep?" Nick hesitated for a few seconds before drawing a breath in. He closed his eyes and slowly let it out before looking back toward Judy.
"Well, because we couldn't get him on the phone, we could just go to Blake's dorm and talk to him in person." Judy pondered over Nick's idea, finally understanding why it might be considered a bit creepy.
"Ah, you want some familiarity, is all. There's no problem with that, even though he's kind of our former student. It shouldn't be too weird, since we're all adults here, He's what, twenty, twenty-one years old? It'll be fine." Nick had buried his face into his paws. Through them, he replied.
"Thanks for the recap, Carrots." Without a moment to waste, the two departed the hotel room together. As the elevator brought them down to the lobby, Judy reached for her phone. This caught Nick's attention.
"Should I call a cab?" she asked. Nick shook his head.
"Why? We have plenty of time to spare. Since it's such a nice day outside, I figured we could walk. There's no harm in that, right?" Judy thought for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. She returned the phone to her pocket.
"Guess not. Good exercise too," she added. The two of them walked through the lobby and out onto the street. The late May sun beat down onto the pavement below, but a cool breeze kept the air from feeling to warm and humid. They started walking East toward the college campus. It was about five kilometres away from the edge of the Financial District, so they had quite a ways to go.
As they left the district, the effects of the wind could be felt to their fullest extent, since the skyscrapers were no longer blocking it. The steady wind was cold enough, but whenever a gust blew by it was enough to make the pair shiver. With the wind came clouds, and the longer they walked, the darker the clouds got. They arrived on campus an hour and a half after they left. Another fifteen minutes and they'd be at Blake's residence building.
"And it was looking to be such a nice day, too," Nick said. "If it starts raining, then we'll have to get a ride back." Judy nodded. As they approached the residence area, they noticed that the parking lots were pretty empty. Upon entering the building, it was quiet, and there was a sole custodian buffing the floor. They rushed passed him and counted the numbers on the doors until reaching Blake's. It was slightly ajar. Regardless, Judy knocked anyway. No answer.
The knock caused the door to open slowly. Hesitantly, Nick and Judy entered. The room, once home to their pupil, was now empty. All the furniture had been removed, as well as all evidence that anyone was living in that room. After confirming that there was not a chance that Blake was still there, the exited. Nick rushed toward the custodian, tapping him on the shoulder
"Excuse me, but have all the students left already?" he asked. The custodian looked at him with a bored expression.
"Yep. Exams finished a few days ago. There are only three students left in this building, and I got the go ahead to start cleaning," he replied.
"Do you know where a student named Blake McInnes went?" Nick asked. The custodian shook his head.
"I don't know any of the students personally, so I'm afraid I can't help you." Nick sighed.
"It's fine. Have a good day," Nick said before rejoining Judy in the lobby.
"Did you ask him?" Judy asked. Nick nodded.
"Yeah, and as expected, he didn't have anything. It was a long shot anyway." Nick glanced at the clock on the wall. "We should probably head back to the hotel now." Nick looked through the glass doors to see that it had already started raining pretty hard. "There's no way we're gonna be able to walk back," he added.
"Yeah, I already called a cab. It should be here in about ten minutes," Judy replied. The two waited for their cab and when it arrived, they hurried out the door toward the vehicle. The ride back to the hotel was quiet, gloomy, and uneventful. When they arrived back at the hotel twenty minutes later, they paid their fare, thanked the driver, and headed into the building toward their room.
They only had another hour to wait until they were supposed to talk to Bogo. That hour was spent mostly in silence. Judy had received a text from him by the time six rolled around. Nick set up his laptop on the desk across from one of the beds and waited for Bogo to call them. Another five minutes later, the call came in.
"Hopps. Wilde. You wanted some clarification?" Bogo asked. Nick and Judy nodded. "Right then. So with the co-op over, you were supposed to return to Zootopia. However, with the whole Night Howler debacle up there, you two would prove to be a valuable asset to the case. I did manage to get into contact with the new Chief, a pleasant woman by the name of Ms. Pecore. We had a lengthy conversation about what to do with the two of you," Bogo explained.
"So, are we staying here or not?" Nick asked suddenly. Bogo shot Nick a glare, but Nick did not flinch. There was nothing Bogo could do to him physically behind a computer screen.
"Shut it. Ms., or rather, Chief Pecore decided that she would like you two to continue work on the case with them," Bogo continued. Nick shuffled in his seat.
"So we are staying here, or..." Nick asked.
"I wish for you to return to Zootopia at least for a little while. You've been out there for nearly three months. It would be good for you to come home for at least four weeks before returning back to Borealis. You will continue work on the case from your stations here until then." Nick and Judy remained silent for a few moments.
"When are we leaving?" asked Judy.
"Your train departs from the station at twelve-thirty tomorrow, so I suggest you get to bed a bit earlier tonight. I'm quite busy this evening, so that will be all."
"Alright, we'll see you tomorrow, Buffalo-Butt," Nick replied with his signature smirk. Bogo only stared back with bored expression, shaking his head. With that, he disconnected. Nick then turned to Judy. "Guess we're going home," he said. Judy sighed.
"Yup, I wish we could have had the chance to say goodbye to Blake and Maxwell," she said. Nick frowned.
"Yeah, that would've been nice. Not much we can do, unfortunately." The two of them began packing a few of their things into their bags, leaving only the essentials for the morning. Nick shoved his computer back into the bag it was stored in as Judy began removing some of her clothing from one of the dressers. The sun began to set behind the cityscape, casting a beautiful orange-red light. The sky above it was beginning to darken to a deep purple colour.
By the time the sun had set completely, Nick and Judy had gotten into bed. They both said goodnight to each other. It was their last night in Borealis, at least, for a while.
Around nine the next morning, they both woke up and prepared for their trip back to Zootopia, after each getting themselves ready, they packed up the rest of their belongings and gathered them at the door.
Judy exited the washroom with the remainder of her things, closing the door behind her. She looked into the room to see Nick staring out the window. Slowly, she approached him from behind.
"I'm gonna miss this view, that's for sure," said Nick. Judy sighed, nodding her head.
"It is nice, isn't it." She tugged on Nick's shirt. "C'mon, we gotta get to the station. Our train leaves in ninety minutes." Nick left the window, closing the curtains behind him. The two stared into the room one last time. It had dawned on them that they had been living in a hotel room for the better part of three months, but it almost felt like home to them – a second home. They both glanced at each other before they left the room together.
The elevator ride was a quiet one. On the ground floor, the marvellous marble lobby shone brighter than ever. Nick pushed the trolley with their bags on it toward the front door as Judy walked beside him. Milo, from the front desk, waved goodbye to them as they left. There was already a cab waiting for them at the edge of the road.
By the time the cab arrived at the station, they only had another hour to wait. They hauled their bags toward the platform their train was going to arrive at and sat down on one of the benches.
"You excited to go back home?" Nick asked suddenly. The question came as a shock; he was rather quiet that morning.
"I guess. It has been a while," Judy replied. Nick sat up straight, clutching the paper cup containing some coffee.
"You seem troubled. Something on your mind?" Nick asked. He read right through her.
"I'm just worried about the case. I know we'll be working on it from home, but I can't really rest easy knowing that there's still terror happening here," Judy replied. Nick stared into his cup.
"That's a reasonable fear, I suppose. Don't worry about it too much, you'll burn yourself out that way. We'll be back here by the end of next month." Judy sighed.
"You're right. There's no sense wasting energy on worry. We'll do what we can from home and we'll be back in no time," Judy said cheerfully. Nick smiled.
"Now that's the Carrots I know," Nick said. Judy chuckled. A familiar rumble came from down the tracks and within minutes, their train arrived. They hobbled toward one of the cars and loaded their bags into the overhead storage space. They took their seats and waited for the train to depart.
As the train left the stating, they both stared out the windows. They watched as the population of Borealis went about their day. The roads were packed; the lunchtime rush. As they left the city centre, the buildings began to shrink in size until condo towers and co-ops turned into family homes and suburbs. Finally, the train began to ascend from the valley the city was in. The city looked so peaceful from this distance, and it looked as good in the spring as it did in the winter. The previously snow covered coniferous trees were now showing their dark green colours.
The train reached the top of the valley and took a right, heading southbound on the A-line to Zootopia. As the last of the city departed from their view, Nick and Judy returned to staring toward the front of the train. It was going to be a quiet ride back.
This might come as a shock, but this is the end of this particular story. I'm splitting it up because I want to work on the two other stories I admittedly care more about. Eventually, there will be a sequel published with the new arc I have planned, but for now, consider the Borealis storyline 'on hold.' Thanks for being with me on this year-long journey, and thanks for reading. -Prince.