Alicia Garnet, her face and dress scarred by burn marks, had been evacuated to an ambulance in Avenue X, with the tragically distraught Judy Hopps in tow. Looking down at her best friend, Judy couldn't keep the tears from rolling down her cheeks. She sunk to her knees and embraced the unconscious Alicia, her body trembling from failure and regret as she began to weep. It was several minutes before she managed to choke out words. "I'm sorry…" Judy's tears fell on the charred remains of Alicia's dress, and she curled up, "I'm so sorry… I promised… I would keep your family safe… I broke that promise. I tried my best, but I failed… I'm so sorry… I'm so, so sorry…"

The sobs kept heaving, even louder than before. The medical personnel nearby shared their heartfelt condolences for the rabbit officer's loss.

The next hour, Alicia was placed in a hospital bed, her mouth covered by an oxygen mask, her scarred half blanketed by bandages in its attempt to lessen the pain. Judy refused to leave her side. As Cluck came inside, he looked the rabbit in the eye, and turned away with a saddened expression. Before he left, he gave Judy the only thing discovered from the wreckage at 250 52nd Street— a silver coin. Without a word, she placed Alicia's lucky coin on a table, the tears unceasing.

"I'm sorry, Ali…"

This was her final heartfelt apology, before she left the hospital.

The nightmare returned. Judy was still chasing.

"Judy, help!"

The voices kept screaming. The Joker's laughter roared into the air. Judy left a trail of wreckage behind her, as she chased down one fake Nick, one fake Bonnie, one fake Stu, and one fake Joker after another. Suddenly, she lost sight of them.

"Judy, over here!" echoed from everywhere.

"Yes, Judy, over here!" the Joker teased.

Then he laughed.

And Nick laughed.

Bonnie laughed.

Stu laughed.

More voices laughed…

…and mocked.

Judy circled around, the voices jumbling together in her mind. He squeezed her eyes shut and held her head in pain as the cacophony roared, more voices entering the fray. The ground teetered under her feet, and the world seemed to swirl around her. The voices thundered…

"They don't see you as a real cop…"

"Please… Please don't hurt me…"

"They only see you as a tool…"

"She didn't do anything to save them!"

"You never were a hero; you were only deluded into thinking that you are."

"We lost Chief Bogo because of her!"

"You complete me."

"You brought this madness on us! You did! You brought this on all of us!"

"They're scared of you…"

"Hopps should've stayed a meter maid!"

"You're dangerous, an outcast, a freak, like me!"

Judy couldn't take it anymore! Screaming hysterically, she took a gun from her belt, and fired! The bullets raced down the street, flinging a mile away toward their intended targets.

Then it was quiet.

Judy was shocked, both from her own action and from the lack of her tormenter. She slowly went down the street, not a soul in sight. As she stepped past each empty vehicle, she felt a twinge of guilt. Even more so when she discovered four bodies, the sight almost making her puke from shock.

One was the Joker, lying on his back and his eyes frozen upwards, with his muzzle twisted into a final mocking grin. The other three were Nick, Bonnie, and Stu, who had still been in the clown's clutches, and in the line of fire. The elderly rabbit couple's long ears were tossed about, and their mouths hung just slightly open. All four lay limp, their chests filled with bullet holes which bled.

Judy's heart tore itself to pieces, and her eyes bawled out. She nudged Nick, Bonnie, and Stu, crying their names over and over, kissed their mouths for breath, shook their bodies, everything in her power to try to get them to wake up.

Sadly, they were unable to move. The bullets shot right through the heart. They were beyond saving. Looking at the grotesque scene around her, Judy realized that she killed her own parents, killed the fox who became her partner, who became her friend, who became her lover.

Suddenly, a mob of animals came slowly up to her. They did not cheer or applaud, instead they hate and scorn. They held signs and pitchforks, and words of anger squirmed their way to the rabbit. The ZPD officers came forward with shotguns and rifles and pistols, all bared and aimed straight at Judy.

"Judy Hopps, freeze! Put your paws in the air and get on the ground!"

"Don't resist, or we will shoot!"

"Sell out, bunny cop!"

"We hate you! We don't need you!"

"Get out of town! Get out of our lives!"

"Murderer! Liar!"

"You killed them! You're not a hero!"

"You're a fraud! We hate you!"

Judy backed away, and they came forward. She couldn't understand; she hadn't asked for this! She didn't mean for this to happen! It wasn't her fault! Yet the angry mob pressed on, eager to apprehend the former hero cop. The armed animals aimed, and she feared for her life.

The terror blended in her sorrow, and Judy ran from the crowd.

"All these morals you're keeping, your code, your sense of justice… It was all a mask to hide who you really are."

It had become increasingly clear to her what the pain gripping her heart was. Her moral authority, her sense of justice, her boundless optimism, it was all just a mask to comfort herself… because she was afraid. Afraid of being rejected, hated, and cast aside.

"And when you can't take it anymore, you'll be running away…"

The Joker was right: Judy was running away. It was the only thing that made her weak, rendered her vulnerable, shattered what remained of her former heroic self. It was the opposite of courage.

It was fear.

Judy stopped suddenly, and stared wide-eyed at a rhino cop who aimed his gun at her forehead. The trigger was pulled. And she screamed…

Judy's eyes snapped open. Her breathing came in heaving gasps. She was shaking, her mind still haunted by the imagery. Her paws felt the blanket, and her eyes jumped around the apartment, to assure her that the nightmare was over.

"Judy?" Bonnie's voice made her jump. She and Stu had come into the Grand Pangolin Arms, overhearing her dilemma and deciding to visit. Their faces were laced with concern as they watched over their daughter her side of the bed.

"Mom? Dad?" Judy wondered. "What are you…?"

Stu waved weakly, "Good morning, Jude the Dude. How are you feeling?"

Judy couldn't know how to express herself, "Well…"

Stu explained, "Mom and I wanted to come and see you. We came as soon as we heard what happened last night. So here we are."

Judy felt a rush in her heart. She knew that everyone heard of her failure to save Alicia's family and the Palmtrees Hotel & Restaurant. "You have?"

Bonnie offered, "We brought you a little something from home. Hope this could cheer you up." She showed off a basket of fried carrots in one paw, and a bright pink bunny balloon in the other. "An early breakfast."

Instead of smiling at the package, Judy's face fell in depression, as do her ears. She changed the topic, "You saw the news?"

Bonnie sighed sadly, "Unfortunately, yes. Everyone saw it. Alicia's family died in the explosion, and her hotel was blown up."

Stu added, "As soon as we came in, we saw you crying and kicking in your sleep. Bad dream?"

Judy admitted, "Yeah, it was... it was awful."

Stu asked, "Wanna talk to us about it?"

Judy sucked in her breath. She didn't feel like discussing it to her parents right now, but they deserved to know. She confessed, "I thought you guys were trapped in that warehouse. Instead, it was Alicia's parents. I saved her, but I didn't save her family. I just feel bad about it." She fell silent, and then, "It's my fault, isn't it? I hoped when I joined the force, I could make the world a better place. I was supposed to inspire good and justice, not madness and death." She put her head down, "Did I make things worse? Did I bring this on Alicia?"

Bonnie and Stu tried to think of the best way to answer her. They, too, were torn apart by the loss of their family's friends. However, they didn't want their daughter to feel too beat up about it. Stu gave his answer, "Why, Jude, of course you've inspired good! You've inspired others to help each other. You've inspired all of us to try and do more. But the big difference is you munching your buck tooth in the faces of Zootopia's criminals."

Judy croaked, trying to prevent her tears, "But Alicia, Dad. She's a friend of the family. Her family, too. It's my fault that the Joker climbed to where he is now."

Stu chuckled, "How is it your fault? You've made so many great things happen for us. You honestly didn't think you could have the kind of power to make a splash in the world? Things can get a lot worse before they get a lot better."

Judy shouted, "Dad, I didn't ask for this! I didn't ask for any of this!" She banged her fists against the blanket in frustration, "I did the best I could, and it got me nowhere! It's like every time I do something, things get worse! People get killed every day! No matter what I do, it's always to prove that they lose respect for me, that they don't care about me anymore!" She gestured her arms wildly, and she continued her rant, "It's the same thing they did when I first joined the ZPD! They didn't realize I could…" She paused, "I could…" With a groan, she buried her face in her paws.

Bonnie shook her head, "It doesn't matter how hard you try, hon. What matters is that you're still a hero. Because of you, crime in Zootopia grew less. Because of you, predators and prey became brave enough to overcome their differences. Because of you, crooks are in such a sad shape now." She paused for effect, and clapped a paw on Judy's shoulder, "There's a hero inside us that gives us strength, makes us brave. It lets us believe in what we stand for, what you stand for." She smiled warmly, "Zootopia needs you. We need you."

Judy replied depressingly, "No, you were right all along. You can't turn things back the way they were. They can't be fixed. Everyone needs a true and better hero…" She added with a tone laced with contempt, "…and I let that murdering psycho-dog blow her half to smithereens."

The comfort in Bonnie's expression never changed, "Which is why, for now, you have to make a choice. The right choice. We all make mistakes. And sometimes, out of those mistakes come the most amazing things. I say it's time you move on, leave the past behind, and stand proud. You need to believe in yourself."

Stu agreed, "Your Mom's right. Why do we fall, Jude?" He saw the curious look in Judy's eyes, "So that we can learn to pick ourselves up."

In an instant, the sorrow blended with her parents' words, and the two began to ferment into a spark of comfort. They were cheering her up the way Nick did before the night the Joker was captured. The warmness inside picked up the comfort and caressed it, mixed it, and let it grow into a river.

"You had a slip-up, sometimes bad things just happen," Nick's words echoed in her mind. "I say it's time you move on. You just have to deal with the pain. You can make the choice no one else can make: the right choice."

Judy turned to her parents with a soft smile, "Thanks for not giving up on me."

"Come here…" Bonnie and Stu opened their arms and swarmed around Judy, the three snuggling each other in their embrace. Judy's worries, fears, and stresses slipped away in her parents' bosom, her soul completely filled with hope and bliss. Still, her guilt for letting down Alicia continued to burn in her mind. Above all, she pondered over how long it would take to actually put an end to the Joker's madness.

Just then, a thought popped into Judy's head. "Mom?"

Bonnie released the hug, and Stu followed. "Yes, love?"

"That bandit, in the forest in Dowanada… Did Gramps catch him?"

Bonnie took a second of silence, "Yes."

"How?"

Bonnie struggled for words, then decided on the simplest and most forward answer.

"He burned the forest down."

Jason sat waiting outside the intensive care unit at Zootopia General Hospital. The chair beside him was empty. He stared at the ground ahead of him, his paws gripping each other so hard that they shook. His mouth hung slightly open, and he prayed to some deity for his girlfriend's well-being.

The badger nurse came out of the room, and Jason stood up, his eyes silently pleading for good news. The nurse told him of Alicia's medical status. Jason processed every bit of information with worry, sorrow… and finally, anger.

Alicia's eyes snapped open. Instantly, the true intensity of the pain made itself known: it was like a hot iron sitting on her face, slowly melting away the flesh. She reached up to try and stop the pain, but an involuntary cry escaped her when her fingers made contact with the rough texture of medical bandages.

It was then that the grim memory returned to her – the trip to Critterland, her capture, waking up in a warehouse strapped to hundreds of oil drums, hearing her family's voices through a rigged radio connection…

Terror struck her. Jon, Amanda, Henry, Elise, Andrew… what happened to them? Had they gotten to them in time? Her unobstructed eye began to search her surroundings, desperate for any sign that her relatives might still be alive. Instead, it was her coin, Jon's lucky coin, given to him before all this had begun. Alicia reached for it and held it up to see its face. If the coin was fine, her family had to be too.

Unfortunately, when she turned the coin over, the other side was black, burnt, and scarred in the aftermath of last night's incident.

A grim realization dawned on Alicia.

The sound, the whole room, it drowned out around her. She barely felt her face contort in despair, or heard her voice cry out a sobbing cry, and repeated howls of her relatives. Nothing existed in her mind, except the memory of five rabbits, their bodies reflected by the rays of the sun in a shining city, giving a genuine smile as a final respect.

The soundless sobbing turned to similarly silent shrieking, then yelling, then screaming. Alicia was seen suddenly leaping out of her bed, smashing every piece of medical equipment around her, cutting herself with a scalpel, and screaming the names of her family members over and over. Every action caused the bandages to peel away from what was left of her fur. Five nurses emerged and began trying to restrain Alicia. She struggled against the paws, tearing them away in fury. Alicia's ears feverishly rang as she slowly lost consciousness when a syringe struck her arm.

Her mother was gone.

Her father was gone.

Her brother was gone.

Her sisters were gone.

Everything she loved most in this world was gone.

And now, she was all alone.