"To be angry is to revenge the fault of others on ourselves." - Alexander Pope
And to think that after everything they had been through together, they would be sundered over the likes of an ugly truth such as this.
These thoughts and more swirled through the head of the bunny, who lay in the grass beneath the tree, whose leaves rippled in the swirling gales of the evening winds.
Perhaps she had been too hard on him...
The bunny whimpered and clutched her paws against her head, rolling onto her side as she tried to block out thoughts that ailed her.
Judy wondered where he was right now. Perhaps walking back to their apartment. She was considering doing the very same thing: She had no intentions of filing in to Bogo that night. She didn't care if he thought that they were dead, because the only thing on her mind right then was the nasty argument she had just had with the love of her life.
Nick...
The rabbit pressed the tips of her fingers even harder against her sinuses, not relenting until an irritating throb accompanied by a droning ring caused her to release them.
She then sat up in the grass, resting her forearms on her kneecaps. She thought back to the past few minutes, and wondered if anything could have been done differently.
But every time, she reached the same conclusion: Her husband had committed a terrible crime, and nothing could change that fact.
Anxiety began flushing its way through the bunny's blood.
As she dropped her arms from her face, a brief and glittering sparkle caught her attention. It had emanated from one of the fingers on her left paw. She raised her hand to her face, and hovered it in place inches away from her eye-level. There, wrapped around the finger that she had sworn to him all those years ago, was a single golden ring.
It was her wedding ring, which glittered with a soft luster as the moonlight filtered through it's diamond-cut centerpiece. It wasn't something she wore very often, as being a police officer, the fact that her ring could get caught on something and tear her finger off was a higher probability than she'd like to acknowledge. There was also the threat of insubordination, as even though Bogo had made an incredibly rare exception for the fox and bunny's relationship, there was still the chance that onlookers could pick up the wrong idea. She felt herself crying again, and almost cupped her paws against her face once again, but a stubborn feeling in the back of her head insisted that she didn't.
Instead, she just sat there; staring at the ring upon her finger.
She lifted her paw again, but didn't place it to her face. Instead, she gazed en closer at the golden band that wrapped itself around her finger.
For the longest time, it seemed to only stand for the fact that her and Nick were married.
But now, it seemed to represent so much more.
This tiny ring was an anchor: It was her anchor against this crazy world, keeping her from floating off into oblivion. With this ring, she gave her heart to that dumb fox, and promised that she would never walk without him. Promised that her heart would be his shelter, and her arms would be his home. They'd been through too much just for this.
Nick may have done a terrible thing, and whether or not it caught up with him one day, and whether or not he'd ever be able to forgive himself, he and Judy were still family.
This ring would remind her of the promise she made to him that fateful day those many years ago. It would remind her that we never make promises to things that are going to be easy, but to the things that we know will require courage. And now, she had found the courage she needed. This was an obstacle that her and Nick would face together.
'Till death do us apart.
She pulled herself to her feet, brushing the dirt and grass off of her body-suit, and then set out in the direction of home, where a cataclysmic revelation lay waiting for her.
How many times had he escaped death?
Countless, it seemed.
In his eyes, he just happened to have that dumb-fox luck. Perhaps it was because he'd hitched a rabbit, and rabbits were lucky...
Right?
Nope.
After being abandoned and objectified by his own father, beat up by racist thug-bunnies, hit with a car, and fixing his crazy relationship countless times...
It seemed that luck, perhaps, never was on his side.
His current situation was the final nail in the coffin. In his coffin, that was.
His fear levels skyrocketed when Vladzotz clamped his freakishly-long talons across his neck, pinning him against the wall behind him. He felt his airway being crushed by the pressure when the bat tore him from the wall, throwing him atop his very own bed. The next thing he knew, the bat was on top of him, the talons upon his feet gripped tight against his flesh, fur, and clothes.
Vladzotz shrieked in maddened delight as he threw himself forward, crashing through the window and taking to the night sky, and dragging the fox along with him.
Nick had always wanted to know what it was like to fly.
But not like this.
Despite the pain of being squeezed by the bat's talons, the fox threw his hands around Vlad's ankles in an effort to refrain from falling to his death.
"Scared of heights now, are we?" The bat laughed insanely at the fox's actions. "This just got so much more fun!"
And with that, he flapped his powerful wings even harder, gaining altitude as he put more distance between the apartment and himself. After reaching a reasonable height, Vladzotz released his hold on the fox and let him plummet toward the ground. The bat quickly tucked in his wings and dived down after the falling fox, recapturing him in his talons moments before he made impact with an oncoming building. Vladzotz laughed darkly at the likes of his own cruel actions, amused by the terror bestowed upon the fox.
Nick was too busy screaming his head off and hanging on for dear life to bother thinking about anything else. Eventually, his voice got hoarse from the consistent yelling, and he was forced to close his eyes shut hard to keep from losing his sanity: If he stared down at the city below him, he would get dizzy and noxious.
After a few short minutes of flying, Nick reopened his eyes and spared a glance down at the world below him. They weren't that high up, but to Nick, it might as well have been a thousand miles high. He gripped harder on the bat's ankles, not trusting Vlad's own hold on his shirt. He tried occupying himself from his terror by listening to random things. The only sounds he heard was the wind rushing around his ears, and the occasional cursing voice of Vlad as he muttered about his aching wings.
"Wretched vulpine scum!" The bat growled before panting heavily. "You're heavier than you look, you know?"
Nick didn't bother replying, his attention was fully focused on not dropping to his death. Meanwhile, it was clear that Vlad was starting to tire: For as strong as he may have been, having to carry his own weight plus that of one uncooperative fox took its tole on the aging vampire bat. The fox figured that getting tazed by Judy and dropped from a moving vehicle probably didn't help the bat very much either.
Despite the horrid plight of the whole situation, that thought put a smile on the fox's face.
Old fang-face himself started dipping lower in altitude, bringing the two of them closer to the ground. At first, Nick thought that the sudden drop in height was because of Vlad's weariness, but soon realized that the bat was bringing them lower on purpose. Nick forced himself to open his eyes, scanning the surrounding area: The two of them were descending over an old multi-story parking lot. But the fox couldn't see the bat's angle, as he had no idea what Vlad was intending with this, but he heard him mutter to himself as he flew.
"Ah... Look who we have here."
Nick couldn't see who the bat was talking about, and he didn't try to.
Dropping atop the poorly-lit parking lot's top floor, Vladzotz slammed Nick into the concrete ground as they landed. When the aching subsided, Nick noticed that the bat was leaning the fox's head over the edge of the roof, giving Nick full view of everything down below. The fox heard Vladzotz mutter something beneath his breath, and suddenly felt the bat's wing talons clamp themselves around his muzzle, rendering the fox speechless. He tried to roll away, but judging from the sharp prick of pain he felt upon his back when he tried, it was evident that Vlad had Nick pinned beneath his clawed feet. He heard the bat's deep voice speak up once again.
"While I take a breather here, I want you to watch something... and learn..."
Vladzotz then twisted Nick's head to the right, angling the fox's line of sight in the direction of a dark alley down below on the ground. Seconds later, Nick saw the form of something... Someone small, walking through the alley-way and across the adjacent street.
Nick's eyed widened.
It was Judy.
He tried making some form of noise, doing something that might have gotten her attention, but all his efforts were in vain: Vladzotz had him speechless and immobile.
"You see Nicholas?" The bat asked above him, whispering lightly into the fox's ear. "That is determination."
Judging by his smooth sounding voice, Nick figured that he must have recovered a decent chunk of his endurance. Nick realized what he was doing now: while he rested from the flight, Vladzotz was forcing him to watch Judy as she made her way back to their apartment... He was taking amusement in knowing that Nick was so close to her, yet powerless to do anything to try to fix what he had done...
It was torture.
"I'm almost tempted to let you go down there and speak with her, if not to watch you suffer as you try to piece back together what cannot be fixed."
Nick muffled in protest to the bat, who just chuckled at his helplessness. Soon enough, Judy vanished behind the corner of the opposing building, gone from sight and mind.
"But as they say, if you love something, let it go. Isn't that right, old chum?" The bat inquired, hissing into the fox's ear.
Nick writhed beneath Vladzotz's weight, despite knowing that escape wasn't a probable option at this point. He wanted more than anything to be able to go down there and wrap his arms around Judy, to comfort her and to dry her tears.
But no... Instead, he was subject to psychological torture at the claws of a mentally-unstable rat with wings. Giving up, he sighed and relaxed his body.
"Well, now that our little break-time has expired, I believe it's time for you and I to be on our way, hm? I can't carry you the whole way there, but thankfully, using the land-line at your own apartment no less, I placed a call for assistance. Soon enough, we'll have our own ride back to the Nocturnal-District, where you'll finally be subject to justice."
The bat laughed menacingly and winked a single time.
"Or at least, my version of justice!" Vladzotz took the air, his wings sending gusts of wind swirling around the body of the fox, whom he carried in his claws.
"Off we go now! Our ride is waiting! Don't worry old chum, it's not very far from here, so you won't have to hang on for dear life that much longer!"
And with that, the bat let loose a maniacal laugh and with a flap of his wings, took off in the direction of the midnight horizon.
Despite the chilling night winds, Judy began to feel uncomfortably torrid and sweltering as she made her way back to her apartment.
The prospect of a reunion with Nick worried her, as she hadn't a clue what to expect... Nick might not forgive her very easily...
And although that thought scared the bunny, it also pushed her forward, motivating her to patch up what was wounded.
Because just several blocks away, huddled in the confines of their apartment, Nick was hurting because of her.
In her eyes, he may have done something terrible: something he'd have to live with for the rest of his life, and beyond. But in the end, they were still friends. Still husband and wife. Still mates. She was mated unto him because of her own choice, and they'd been through hell and back trying to get everyone else to see that. To see that there was nothing wrong with being in a relationship with a mammal of a different species.
If anyone could be anything, then everyone should be able to love anyone.
She wasn't going to let the fact that Nick had done something horrible in his past change that. She still loved him, and always would. She loved him before he told her his story, so she saw no reason why she couldn't love him after.
When she finally reached the door of their apartment, she was surprised to find it as unlocked.
Nick must have made it here already... Judy thought to herself.
With that thought in mind, she opened the door, expecting to find him, or at least some shred of activity.
Nothing.
Instead, her eyes were only met with the blackness and silence of a seemingly empty apartment.
Flipping on the light in the living room, she advanced towards the bedroom, which itself had the door opened slightly ajar, revealing an ominous and dark interior. Thinking that perhaps Nick had fallen asleep (she wouldn't have been surprised) she lightly pushed open the entrance to their bedroom.
It was dark, but even in the dim light, she could see that their bedroom was a mess.
It wasn't that messy, mind you: but enough to tell that someone had tried to pick a fight with the furniture and walls. There were several framed pictures knocked off the walls that they had been hung upon, the broken glass littering the carpet floor, making walking a dangerous risk. Without shoes, Judy had to tip-toe her way across the room to further inspect the damage that had been done.
She soon reached the light switch, turning it on so as to reveal the full extent of the damage. Unnoticed by the bunny when she had first walked into the room, the large window that they had embedded within the wall opposing their bed was completely shattered. It looked as if something large had flung itself through the window, and judging by the way the base of the window was nearly free of any broken glass, it was evident that whatever had broken the window had done it from within the apartment.
The idea of a home-invasion passed her mind, and she momentarily began to panic: worried that perhaps Nick had gotten hurt in the process, as there were a few drops of blood speckling the frame of the broken window, and a small red puddle staining the bed sheets. She quickly pushed that idea from her head, as no mammal would be crazy enough to not only invade the home of two professional police officers, but to flee by jumping out of the window.
As she picked around the wreckage, she came across a small portrait; it's cracked frame was a golden color, and the glass that had once covered it was shattered across the floor. A few inches away from the broken frame and shattered glass, lay the picture that had once lay within it. She tenderly picked it up.
It was part of the photo from her wedding day, the other half of the picture appeared to have been ripped off. She stared at the face in the torn picture, and her heart sank.
It was Nick, facing the camera and smiling that stupid smirk of his... Arm-in-arm with another mammal... her...
The only problem was the fact that the picture had been torn, the jagged line of the tear running straight down the middle, almost halving the picture, and separating the photo of Nick from herself. The bunny gently touched the two halves of the ripped picture together, almost like a puzzle piece. Now, the only thing that separated the picture of the fox and bunny was the haphazard line of destruction that snaked its way between the two of them.
It was no accident: someone had purposefully torn the photo of them apart. Tears began to well up in the corners of her eyes, as she thought that someone was Nick.
She then noticed even stranger and more disturbing details: one half of the photograph, the one that displayed Nick, was soiled with a few small drops of liquid. It wasn't that difficult to determine that those spots were the wetted leftover remnants of dried tears.
She also perceived that the fragmented heap of glass nearby was dripping with surprisingly copious amounts of blood. She took note of the razor-like edges of the shattered glass shards... thinking about how easily they could slice through flesh...
She gasped: A sudden and horrible thought crossing her conscious.
"No... No Nick. You wouldn't..." She looked at the heap of shattered glass. "Would you?"
She began to breath in heavily. For a moment, she considered the possibility that Nick had tried to commit suicide with the glass shards of his own wedding portrait.
The tears began to fall, her own drops of misery mixing with the dried stains of whoever else had wept upon the photograph.
For a few minutes, she just knelt there on her knees, crying as she pressed the torn photograph against her chest, not caring if it was crumpled in the process. She wanted this reminder: This memory of happiness as close to her heart as possible during that moment of grave despair. After some time had passed, she got to her feet and shuffled over to the nearby bed, where she carefully placed the torn picture of her and Nick, positioning it in such a way so that it looked as if it was never ripped in the first place.
Wiping a tear away from one of her eyes, she smiled at the single sight of hope amidst the sea of chaos.
The meaning behind that photograph was her lighthouse through the stormy sea, and she knew that, she wasn't going to stop until she had reached her final destination.
Nick...
She knew that he didn't, and wouldn't... Kill himself, over this... And that thought gave her hope. She tried to deduce the meaning behind all the carnage, pushing out the gruesome thought of Nick's suicide, alongside with the idea that Nick had done all this in a fit of rage: He just wasn't the kind of mammal prone to destructive tantrums.
So what was it?
The bunny glanced to the broken window...
Who was it?
She then waded through the glass-littered floor to the wall opposing the entrance to their bedroom. She ran her hand down it's length, running her fingers through the indention in the wall.
Claw marks.
Not only that, but on another wall, there were puncture holes from what looked like claws... Judging from the size of the holes, which went deep into the wall, exposing the insulation and framework of the room, she reasoned that whatever had made them had large claws... certainly larger than Nick's, which further proved that the destruction wasn't done by him.
She shuddered.
He was attacked.
The bunny then gazed at the ceiling, and what she saw made her jaw drop slightly, alongside confirming the itching suspicion of their home invader's identity.
There were small marks and puncture holes pierced into the ceiling, right next to the window. A pair of cold hands inched their way down Judy's spine: Something had been hanging from the wall.
Large claw marks, holes in the ceiling, and blood stains...
You would think that getting electrocuted and dropped from a moving car at thirty miles per hour would have stopped him by now... She thought to herself.
Her ears perked up in sudden and dreadful realization.
He has Nick...
Without hesitation, she ran to the nearest phone, ignoring the pain in the soles of her feet as she ran over a few tiny shards of glass. She pulled the phone from the holster that planted it against the counter-top in their kitchen. She dialed the ZPD's land-line, which instantly brought her to the receptions desk of HQ.
A voice from the other side of the line found it's way to the bunny's sensitive ears: It was Clawhauser.
The cheetah yawned before answering. "Hello?"
"CLAWHAUSER!" She shouted into the phone. "I NEED YOU TO DISPATCH SOME CRUISERS RIGHT NOW!"
Judging from the clattering sound of plastic against granite, Judy assumed that the cheetah must have dropped his phone in surprise at her sudden voice.
"Cutie - I mean J-Judy?! What's going on?" She heard the cheetah ask hastily.
The bunny wasted no time replying.
"We need to go to the Nocturnal-District, NOW!"
Hey Everyone!
Hope you all enjoyed the latest chapter of ours!
I apologize if it seems shorter than usual, but I wanted this chapter to specifically hone in on the emotional and romantic aspects surrounding Nick/Judy's relationship. Thus, you get this heart-wrenching chapter about two lovers trying to repiece what has been broken!
But fear not, for the next chapter is coming soon, and it will finalize many of the burning questions and anticipations that I'm sure many of you have right now!
The coming chapter will have some action in it, and plenty more content with our favorite two officers as they make amends and fight back against Vlad!
So stay tuned, 'cuz it's on its way to a website near you! (this one)
Feel free to leave reviews or PM's discussing your thoughts and ideas surrounding this latest chapter, as I read and appreciate them all! :D
'Till next time...
Peace!