A/N: Thank you Tiger21206 for helping and correcting my grammar.

Chapter 17, Dark and Silence

Edited by Tiger21206

7:00am, front door of Zootopia General Hospital

"Carrots," Nick yawned. "Can you tell me why we're here again?" The fox in uniform asked. He and his partner were standing next to their usual large police cruiser. He rubbed his eyes for his vision was blurry and outstretched his body to wake himself, then he heard his partner snort and look at him.

"Nick…" Judy shook her head in disbelief. "Didn't you listen to Chief Bogo yesterday? He wanted us to escort Dr. Margaret to the academy, and later in the afternoon there will be a seminar about the Night Howler incident and the way to handle it. Also, we'll be part of the guests and tell our story about the case."

"Oh." Nick yawned again and wiped a tear away from his sleepy green eyes.

"Nick," his partner sighed and walked up to him. Judy tightened Nick's tie and tucked his shirt into his pants. "We're on duty, don't be so slack."

"Thanks…" Then he bent his head down and gave a quick peck on Judy's head and her ears shot up straight as her purple eyes glared at his. The fox grinned with sleepy, sexy eyes.

"And you should loosen up, my cu-ACK!" Judy quickly yanked and over tightened her partner's tie to shut his muzzle before he slipped the forbidden word.

"Well well. Mr. Fox, are you trying to revoke our agreement, huh?" She released his tie and playfully pushed him back. "And as much as I love you, please stop showing your affection in public while we're in uniform."

"Jeez Carrots," the fox coughed and slightly loosened his tie. "You don't have to be hard on me. In fact, there is no one here."

"Nick, even though there is no one here you should be more appropriate. We're officers on duty now," she softly scolded her partner.

"Alright, you win this time Fluff," Nick shrugged and slightly raised his paws in defeat. He then bent his head down next to her ear with a grin.

"But after we're at our apartment," he whispered with his seductive voice in her ear. "I'll nuzzle you, kiss you, and smooch you soulfully and temptingly until you beg for more…"

"Ohh…" Judy giggled and whispered back. "Look who's talking. How come you will pleasure me even though last night you were the one who begged for more, kissing and other things.."

"Touché" Nick smiled and straightened up as Judy stepped backwards and giggled.

"Say…" he continued, changing the topic. "Since we're going to the academy and will be there all day, I think we should give Ryan a visit and see his partner. Don't you agree, Fluff?"

"Yeah, that's what I planned," Judy replied and stood next to him, leaning her back against the cruiser. "And then we'll know how he's doing there."

"Aww, you speak like he's your boy and I start to be jealous," he teased.

"Hardy-har, Nick. His safety is one of our prior assignments as Chief Bogo ordered," she rolled her eyes and firmly looked at him. "Don't you worry about him? Even we have called him nearly every day since he attended the academy, he didn't tell us about his friends except his partner. I think he is having a hard time making new ones."

"Or no one wants to be friends with him," Nick added and let out a short sigh, looking skyward. "I know how it feels being prejudiced, deprived, and ignored… Do I worry about him? Yes, yes I do. And, I also know that he's hiding something."

"But look." Nick swiftly turned to her and looked at her eyes, cheering her up. "First, he can handle himself and we should not interfere his life too much. Second, didn't we tell him every time before we hung up that we would gladly help him if he has any troubles? Last, having one good friend is worth more than being popular amongst many. For his case, he has a kind and caring partner."

"Yeah you're right," Judy faintly smiled back at her partner.

"Atta girl." he then leaned back against the cruiser.

"Speaking of worry, I think I'll take a week off soon visiting my hometown. And you should come with me."

"Hmm… do you think it's a good idea for me," Nick pointed at himself with a shocked look. "to go with you?"

"Yep!"

"Oh boy… I'm gonna need the riot gears." He chuckled nervously. "And, do you plan to tell your parents about us?"

"Uh-huh," she plainly replied. "I think it's time to tell them about us."

Judy turned looking to her fox who gave her a sheepish smile, but she could see his concern in his eyes. Furrowing his eyebrows and lowering his ears backwards, she noticed. To ease his apprehension, she grabbed his paw and squeezed it assuring.

"Don't worry, my love," Judy cooed, leaning against his arm. "I'm sure they're going to like you. You're such a charming, lovable fox. Who's gonna hate you?"

"Thanks Carrots. I think I would be welcomed by an angry mob with pitchforks and torches ready to pierce and burn me." Nick joked.

"Nick, we're not in the dark age now." She then played long. "We use fox repellent and fox tasers instead, but I sure will protect you from them with my life."

"Aww, thanks my little guardian," her partner smiled at her and bent down, giving a small peck on her head again.

"Hey, stop it!" she softly warded off his face and asked him again, "So are you going to come to my hometown with me?"

"Of course! How can I say no to my lovely bunny? By the way, where's our doctor?" He straightened up and looked at the hospital doorway.

"Here she comes," she pointed at the badger in a white gown who rushed out from the hospital.

"Hello officers!" Dr. Margaret panted after she had run out from the building with her stuff. "I-I had an urgent case to take care of so I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long."

"That's okay, doctor," Judy replied. "So, ready to go?"

"Of course."

11:00am, Male Dormitory, ZPA

Once a week there is self-practicing day or also known as a free day for recruit officers. They could practice their training or slack off and lazy all day after having gone on a morning jog, but for Ryan and his partner, they chose to sharpen their skill. And, after Ryan had successfully scaled the ice wall by using parkour technique, he now could focus on teaching his partner about combative techniques and other things that he had learned before. From time to time, Jonas the muscular boar and Tyson the kangaroo joined the practice.

But today, like scheduled, he and other cadets would have a seminar about the Night Howler by three special guests. As the ZPA hosted this seminar, every cadet had to take care of the preparation according to their drill sergeant's command; Ryan and Star would be the faces of the ZPA since they were the top of the class. Their duties would be to welcome and facilitate all the guests including the mayor, so they had to be as elegant as they could.

Since there was two hours left before the guests arrived at the designated reception area for attending the seminar, Ryan took a shower in the male bathroom alone. He slowly and thoroughly cleansed every part of his body. Later after he had finished cleaning, he grabbed his towel from the rack and wore it. Ryan opened the curtain stepping out and walked to the mirror. Looking at himself in the mirror, he rubbed his chin and cheeks checking for any stubble, then he shaved his mustache and beard.

After he had finished shaving and coiffed his hair, he walked out from the bathroom and continued to his locker. At the moment he wore a dark blue t-shirt and jogger pants. His phone rang and Ryan looked to his phone as it showed the incoming caller. Without hesitation, he pressed the green button, accepting the call.

"Hey, Nick," Ryan greeted and dried his hair with his towel. "What's up? Where are you right now?"

"I'm on the way to you, Ryan," Nick replied. "How's it going?"

"Everyone is still preparing the place, and I just finished bathing," He said as he finished drying his hair and dropped his towel aside.

"Well, you sound like you were taking advantage." Nick chuckled.

"Nah, Nick, I already helped setting the reception area and the Drill Sergeant wants me to be the receptionist with my partner so I took a shower after I finished setting the reception area."

"Hmm…" Nick hummed and said, "Ryan, I want you to do something."

"And what is that?"

"Open the door."

"What?" Ryan furrowed his eyebrows in confusion and looked at the dorm door. Then he asked in confusion, "What door?"

"This door."

A knocking sound came from the door after Nick's latest statement had finished. Ryan (whose face still showed his doubt) stood up and walked to the door. He Slowly opened the door and looked slightly downward. He saw his fox friend in uniform. Ryan snickered and shook his head as Nick flicked his sunglasses up and slyly smiled back to his friend.

"Hey Nick," Ryan grinned. "Long time no see."

"Likewise, son," Nick teased with his faking old voice and gave his usual sly look and grin back.

Ryan laughed, then crossed his arms. "Nick, you aren't old enough to be my father, and I think we should stop playing. It kinda feels creepy now. So, didn't you come with Judy?"

"That's no fun," He shrugged and chuckled. "She's escorting Dr. Margaret to the guest room so why don't we meet her there?"

"Umm…" Ryan slightly bent his head down and closed his eyes, thinking. "Okay," he then answered. "But, I have to be back here and change my clothes before noon."

Both Nick and Ryan walked along the hallway and talked to each other, they were talking about everything on the way. Shortly, their conversation eventually turned to more private matter. To be precise, they spoke of the romance topic as Nick asked Ryan about his partner, but Ryan kept avoiding the questions and struck Nick back asking him about him and Judy. However, Nick was not embarrassed to answer the questions about his love life.

"So Ryan," Nick looked and grinned at his friend. "Tell me more about your partner."

"Nick…" Ryan groaned in irritation and massaged his temple. "Like I said, Star is a black panther who adepts at climbing, crawling, and swimming. She's really good at stalking too and sometimes I can't feel her following me. Moreover, she is one of the 'Ryan' fan clubs."

"Uh-huh," Nick nodded and continued pushing for answers. "And what about her looks, hmm?"

"Erm…" Ryan rubbed his chin and rolled his eyes in thinking. "Entirely black fur, greenish-blue eyes, and if you look closely at her arm, you can see the spots. Hmm… her height is slightly shorter than mine, and she has low weights. She has an athletic body…"

"Stop right there, boy," Nick interrupted and gave a disappointed look at Ryan. "You can simply answer 'she looks nice' or 'beautiful' So why not?"

"Oh!" He scratched his head and avoided looking at Nick.

"She… looks… okay? I don't know, Nick." Ryan sighed.

"Hmm… and do you have any feeling for her?"

"Nick!" Ryan groaned again and facepalmed. "I'm very grateful to her for being my partner but, for the romantic things, I… I don't know… I didn't feel… sparking or clicking… with anyone."

"Ryan," Nick stopped, turning toward his friend and poked his finger at Ryan's chest. "I don't want you to force your heart, but I suggest that you should try opening your heart and give it a shot."

"You know what, Nick?" Ryan looked back at his fox friend with a sorrowed look. "I want to feel love and be loved again. I really want it, but like I just said, I didn't feel clicking with anyone, and who do you think I should give it a try with, huh?"

"How about your partner? I think she's into you."

"Isn't that against the rule? Having intimate relationship in the workplace might create a bias against the rightful judgment, right?"

"Yes, but if you keep professional during the work, no one will butt into your privacy-"

"Did I miss something here?" the question was asked quickly in a cheerful, feminine voice from behind Ryan.

As the statement had been finished, Ryan turned himself around with a shocked look and looked downward, seeing a gray rabbit in dark blue uniform with a broad smile on her face. He shook his head and gave a faint smile in reply. Nick who stood behind Ryan walked past his friend and stopped next to his partner.

"Hello, Ryan," Judy greeted with a cheerful voice and opened her arms. "It's been such a long time."

"Indeed it has, Judy." Ryan knelt down and accepted her quick hug, patting her back a few times. Then, he slowly stood up as Judy released him, and he said: "Are you guys hungry?"

1:30pm, Reception Area, ZPA Gymnasium

As the last group of guests had been escorted to their respective seat by two receptionists in formal uniform, the seminar had begun right after the Mayor of Zootopia finished his opening ceremony. Ryan and Star walked back to their station at the front of the gymnasium doors. They looked at the name list of the attendees on the reception desk and checked while most of other cadets attended the seminar as their duty was completed. Still, some cadets had the duty to do as coordinators to facilitate the seminar.

The moment passed as Ryan and his partner finished their checking the list, Star handed the document to her partner. Ryan took the document and compiled all the paper, then they left the reception area to meet their drill instructor who was waiting inside the gym. After they had submitted the name list of the attendees, the drill sergeant told them to attend the event and dismissed them.

"Ahh…" Ryan sighed in relief after outstretched his arms and back. "Our job is half done for now."

"Right," his partner softly giggled and relaxed back to her casual self. They walked around the gym trying to find available chairs but all were occupied.

"Ryan," his partner declared. "There's no seats. Where should we go?"

"Let's go to the backstage," Ryan replied and led the way out the gym.

After that, they detoured along the hallway to the backstage door. Ryan and Star stopped by the door and were about to open it, but they heard a loud and stern conversation between two male voices from behind the door. Ryan and his partner looked at each other in doubt, then they looked back to the door and slowly opened it. As they stepped into the backstage area, they saw Nick and a deer in uniform with three chevrons on his arm, arguing. Judy stood slightly far from them with droopy ears, annoyingly tapping her foot.

"You know it's dangerous bringing this out of the evidence room!" Nick sternly said to the deer who placed his hoof on his hip, standing and holding a see-through briefcase with another hoof.

"Hey!" the deer groaned in irritation and said back. "Like I have a choice, Officer Wilde. This is the mayor's order, and I don't want to have a problem with it. He said that it would be better to show the real weapon, and this briefcase is safe enough-"

The deer stopped his statement as he saw Ryan and Star approaching them. He let out his short dissatisfied sigh and looked back at the fox. Pushing the briefcase to Nick, forcing him to take it, the deer stepped backward. Then, he said, "Just take it and show to them, that's an order."

"Fine…" Nick hissed back and took the briefcase. "If anything happens, your boss will be held responsible, Alright?"

"Whatever." the deer walked away past Ryan and Star and opened the door. Before he left the backstage area, he firmly added, "I'll be waiting by my car outside. When you finished the presentation, just call me and I'll come and take it." Then, he shut the door, leaving Nick and two cadets.

Nick let out his frustrated sigh and shook his head with his paws covering his eyes. Judy walked up next to him and softly patted him on his back. He quickly calmed down and looked at his friend and his friend's partner, giving them a faint smile. As the atmosphere was cooling down, Ryan and Star slowly stepped forward and walked up to the fox and the rabbit.

With the skeptical look on the cadet's face, Ryan was about to ask a question about the recent commotion, but Nick seemed to know what his friend was going to ask and raised his free paw stopping him first.

"That deer is a sergeant supervising in the evidence room," Nick said. "He ordered us to present this briefcase of an air-powered sniper gun and a savage serum ball. Crazy, right?"

"I agree with you, Nick," Ryan replied and nodded his head. "It's crazy."

"So…" Nick said as he and Judy leaned to their side, looking at Star in wonder. "Is that your partner? Hello there." He waved his paw, greeting her.

"Oh! Nick, Judy, this is Stasia Panthera," Ryan introduced his partner to them as he stepped aside, presenting her. Later, he looked back at his partner and continued, "And Star, these are my first friends when I arrived here: Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps."

5:00pm, Backstage Area

Three hours passed and the Academic Seminar had finished. Ryan and Star, who attended at the backstage the whole time, stood up and walked out the backstage as the last part of their job was ready to be completed. They had to escort the mayor and other honorable guests back to their ride, but before these two cadets could walk out the area, Judy stopped them. She asked the cadets whether they had free time to catch up after they had done their duty. Ryan nodded and said that they would be at the training field right after they had finished and dressed back into appropriate training outfits.

"Okay," Judy smiled. "See both of you then!"

"See you then, Judy," Ryan replied, then looked up to Nick who was on his phone, calling the stag sergeant to come back and pick the briefcase. "See you, Nick."

The fox nodded back in understanding and continued talking to his phone. Then, Ryan and his partner waved their hand and paw and walked out the door. Judy smiled and waved her gray paw replying, then she walked back to her partner.

"Yeah, the seminar ended," Nick said to his phone. "You can come and pick these things up before anything bad happens." Without receiving any response from the other caller, he pressed the hang-up button ending the conversation and put his phone back in his pocket.

About ten minutes later the deer walked into the area and went up to Nick and Judy. With no hesitation, Nick pushed the briefcase to the deer and stepped back. The stag in uniform huffed in annoyance and left them without any word. The fox and rabbit stood with their dissatisfied looks as they watched the deer storm out of the area. Judy shook her head slowly and they walked up meeting Dr. Margaret who just walked down from the stage after she had finished talking with other guests.

"Hello, doctor." Judy stated. "Do you mind if we will be bit late for going back to the hospital? We want to catch up with our friends here."

"You mean your human friend?" the badger replied. "That's okay, actually my shift ended and I wanted to meet him too. It's been ages since we last met."

Meanwhile, outside the gymnasium, the deer in uniform stumped his feet moving back to his cruiser. He was biting his teeth in anger and furrowing his eyebrows with clear rage in his eyes. He quickly opened his cruiser's trunk and placed down the briefcase, but before he could close the trunk, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his head. The stag felt the red liquid flowing out from the wound and slowly dropped down on the asphalt. His vision became fuzzy and he saw a pair of yellowish-gold feet, he heard a shattering noise and devilish snicker before he lost his conscious.

5:30pm, Training Field, ZPA

Ryan and his partner walked out from their dorm, heading to the field for combative training, and this time Jonas and Tyson joined them in practicing, too. As the four cadets stood in the field, they began to do a quick warm up. Then, Ryan taught his friends his fighting style. He used a dummy for showing his friends other the pattern and looked at them as they followed his steps.

"Oof!" Ryan puffed as he was thrown down onto his back by his partner. He looked up meeting a pair of the cyan colored eyes. "Good… and what next?"

As Ryan gave a hint to his partner, she swiftly rolled him around and twisted and locked his arms on his back. Then, Star rapid pressed her knee on the back of his chest and twisted his arm more until he gave a pain yelped.

"Okay, okay," her partner patted the ground, giving up. "Good, you really hurt my arm."

"Sorry…" Star apologized with a sheepish smiled and reached out her paw.

"No need, Star," Ryan rolled onto his back and sat up, grabbing her paw as she was ready to pull him up. "It means that you locked my arm in a correct position."

Then, Star pulled him up and gave him the nod in understanding. Her partner stood up and he dusted his clothing off, then he looked Tyson and Jonas. Seeing Tyson being on top and trying to lock his muscular partner down, he seemed to do it wrong as the boar did not feel hurt.

"You should use more force to hurt me, my friend," Jonas chuckled as he laid in the grass.

"That's all I have mate," Tyson groaned.

"Hey, Tyson," Ryan walked up to them. "You don't need to use all your force if you lock his arm properly. Move, I'll show you."

The kangaroo released and slowly got off of his partner's back, moving aside. As Jonas still was on the ground, Ryan stepped in and knelt down on the boar's back. Grabbing his hoof and slowly twisting until he heard the boar whining, Ryan looked back to Tyson.

"See," Ryan showed his locking technique. "If you grab his wrist correctly, twist it and pull it up, you can make a big guy cry like a girl. Like this!" he yanked Jonas' bent arm.

Jonas painfully screamed. "Okay, okay. I give up."

As they all laughed and had a good time practicing with each other, an unexpecting thing happened. Ryan was showing his next locking technique that he had learned from his world and there was a swift flying sound as the small object flew toward Ryan fast. It perfectly hit at Ryan's forehead and splashed a blue liquid on his head. Ryan felt dizzy and began to notice something wrong with his mind. He could not focus and everything he saw was cloudy, then his brain reminded himself of today's seminar.

"… It takes not more than ten seconds to become savage." Margaret's voiced echoed in his head. "And during these ten seconds, the victim will be struggling as his brain slowly shuts down each part of his or her brain leaving feral instinct left. Then, the victim won't have the rational thinking and become feral and aggressive…"

Ryan used his hand and touched his forehead as his hand felt the watery texture. He lowered his hand and looked at the blue fluid stain on his hand. His eyes widened and looked back to his friends with his shocked expression. He could not think anything and felt his body being controlled. His breath became heavier and harder, his vision became darker, and his ears became deaf.

"R-RUN!" it was the last word he could manage to get out to his friends and partner before all his senses went to dark and silence.