Chapter 1: Time to Begin
Zootopia: Time After Time
In the Fox Out of Time series, Nick and Judy had a unique son born outside of the boundaries of time and reality. He rejected his godlike powers to control time so he could live as a mortal with the vixen he loved. When his eldest daughter came to age, Judith embraced those powers and became the time goddess Aion. This is her story.
I do not own the rights to Zootopia or any of its characters. This story was written solely for the reader's enjoyment and without any profitable purposes. All incidents and dialogue, and all characters with the exception of some well-known historical figures and those characters created by Disney, are products of the author's warped imagination and are not to be construed as real. Where real-life historical figure names appear, the situations, incidents, and dialogues concerning those persons are entirely fictional and are not intended to depict actual events or to change the entirely fictional nature of the work. In all other respects, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
"Time is a child playing checkers; the kingdom belongs to a child."
— Heraclitus, 544-484 BC, Ancient Greek philosopher
In one of the many realities which exist, there is an ancient race of mortals who are called the Greeks and they used to paint me as a scantly clad young fair-haired youth within the circle of time or as some called it, the Zodiac. To them, I was only one of the two gods who were the masters of time. The other god is often called Chronus and he was depicted as an elderly man holding a scythe, so I guess that is where that silly Father Time comes from? While I supposedly represented time unbound to them, he represented linear time, in other words, the past, present, and future. Little did these mortals realize that I am the only guardian of all the aspects of time within all realities! I also wonder what they would have done if they knew I was really a fox vixen?
The Realm of Niflheim
"Jude, you can't do that!" Death protested. The vixen to whom she was speaking just looked over at her friend, who was one of those creatures which called themselves the Endless, and at the humanoid persona in which her companion had currently willed herself to appear. Death's hair was jet black and there was a small tattoo of a swirl upon her pale skin just below her left eye. The silver ankh she wore around her neck flashed when the rays of the waning sunlight hit it, highlighting the black outfit she wore.
The reddish furred vixen's tail wagged when she smirked back at Death. Of all the Creator's creatures, the red fox has the smuggest grin ever conceived in nature. "Why not?" she challenged her friend. "Who's going to stop me? I feel bad for the big guy being all chained up like that and why would anyone be so mean as to stick a sword into his mouth so he can't close his jaws? That definitely looks uncomfortable, I really should call PETA on these gods!"
"PETA hasn't even been founded yet!" Death snapped as she grabbed and pulled on the vixen's tail in an effort to keep her from approaching the massively large black-furred wolf who was staring down at her. There was a puddle of drool under his front paws and his stomach growled. "Odin had them do that so he wouldn't keep howling, it disturbed the Æsir's revelries."
"The poor guy is wasting away…at least he should be doing so if he wasn't magical!" the vixen named Jude called back. Her real name was Judith and she was named after her paternal grandmother who was, of all things, a rabbit named Judy Hopps. Turning back to the wolf, she asked, "If I take that out of your mouth, do you promise not to start howling?"
The wolf nodded and sat still while the vixen climbed up onto the great stone slab the northern gods called Gjöll before she actually stepped up onto his tongue and into his mouth in an attempt to push the much larger steel blade free from where it had been wedged.
"If he swallows you, I wouldn't blame him!" the Goth-looking girl scoffed. "Just how are you going to get that hunk of junk worked free from his mouth anyway?"
The vixen frowned when she stepped out of the wolf's jaws and contemplated her task. Then she grinned as she reached over and stroked the magic blade, it immediately began to age and rust. As soon as the rust spread, the blade began to bend. She quickly grabbed it and pulled what remained of the offending weapon out of the wolf's jaws. "So you are Fenrisúlfr?" the much smaller vixen asked while she stepped back and watched the wolf shake his head and move his jaws, trying to relax it after so many decades of it being forced open.
"I am Fenrisúlfr Lokison, also called Hróðvitnir the fame wolf, and Odinsbane," the huge wolf hoarsely growled as he looked down towards the much smaller vixen. "Why do you care?"
"Because I think you are rather handsome and I don't like the way you are being treated."
"Then release me so I may have my revenge upon Odin and bring forth Ragnarök!"
"Have you always been so…so big?" the vixen asked as she walked around the still bound wolf.
"When I was a pup, I was as small as any other wolf. The Æsir took me into their home and I thought I was befriended by the god Týr, but he betrayed me and for that, I bit off his hand."
"So you were not always this size?" Jude asked as she completed another circle around the mighty beast.
"Just what are you playing at?" Death asked the vixen before she found a seat on an old log.
"The older I became, the larger I grew," Fenrisúlfr answered Jude's question.
"Then I will make you younger!" the fox called out triumphantly. "Let's see how big you are at the age of eighteen!"The wolf drew back in surprise when the vixen grabbed his massive paw and he shook in wonder when he realized that he was growing smaller and younger. The mystical cord Gleipnir, which had bound him to the mighty rock, fell into a heap around his paws for it had become too loose to contain him. He still towered over the vixen by several feet, but his size became much more normal. "Why are you doing this?" Fenrisúlfr asked as he sat down on his haunches and warily watched the vixen before him. She was standing on her hind paws as if she was a human and she was dressed much like a human with a strange-looking white garment that had the image of a bird printed upon it which covered her upper torso and a pair of blue pants. He tried not to cock his head while he admired her beauty. "I am a wolf god," he continued even as he willed himself to also stand, there were the sounds of his bones popping while they rearranged themselves to allow him to comfortably rise up onto his two hind paws. "Do not think that you can toy with me, little one!"
"Well, one thing for sure is that when he stands up like that, you can definitely tell that he is a male," Death interjected with a laugh. "You might want to get him some pants."
Jude threw her friend an embarrassed-looking glance, happy that her reddish-orange fur hid her blush. When she turned back towards the black-furred wolf, he had moved his tail to modestly cover himself. "You haven't answered my question goddess, why are you doing this?" he growled.
In a nearby tree, two beady eyes watched all that was going on within the small glen below him. Then with a flutter of his wings, the raven named Huginn rushed to warn his master Odin that the most feared wolf in their reality had been freed.
"There is now going to be hell to pay," Death warned Jude while she and the vixen watched the raven take wing. "You know that Odin will not be pleased with you freeing Fenrisúlfr from his chain!"
"Well it isn't time for Ragnarök yet," Jude defensively answered as she glanced back at the tall black-furred wolf standing behind her. The wolf named Fenrisúlfr had found a scrap of an old wool cape, which he had wrapped around his waist. "That old one-eyed fart will just have to get over it!"
"Just don't change me into a puppy again!" the wolf softly interjected. "Like your father did before he almost destroyed all of time and reality."
"I bet you were all cute and cuddly too," the vixen giggled as she gave him a wink. "Don't worry, I won't."
"Then why are you doing all of this?" Death sighed as she shook her head. "You're playing with fire."
"Well, I just get lonely sometimes being all by myself," Jude softly answered. "You only pop in to see me occasionally or I have to go to where someone dies just to briefly see you and the others are so depressing to talk with, especially Despair. I just want some company."
"So you picked one of the most dangerous animal gods to keep you from being lonely?" Death scoffed. "You can't be that lonely, you can just go home to visit your family whenever you want, after all, you are the goddess of time."
"Well, he is kind of sexy," Jude whispered as she drew closer to her friend. "I also felt sorry for him, what happened to him isn't his fault. Besides, it was either him or Kitsune and you know what a troublemaker that sly fox can become."
"Teenagers!" Death groaned. "What will happen to this wolf is called predestination..." Her words trailed off when there was the flash of lightning and the ear-splitting roar of thunder.
"Thor is coming!" the dark wolf growled even as his white fangs were ground together in anger and then in despair he threw his paws into the air. "I'm helpless like this! You must turn me back into my former self if we are going to survive his wrath!"
"You are not fated to die today," Death simply stated while she stood up and watched while the handsome long-haired muscular warrior in his chariot approached them. The self-proclaimed god of thunder's two goats Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr, strained at their harnesses as they charged towards their foes.
"Why don't we just leave?" Jude said as she seized the large wolf's paw.
Death gave out a long sigh when she realized that the vixen and the wolf had disappeared. She gave a small smile when she heard Thor's curse and then she too left, leaving the island the gods called Lyngvi empty, except for the rusted sword and the magic cord which lay in the heather near the rock where the wolf had once been bound.
Fenrisúlfr gave a startled yelp when he realized that he and the vixen were now standing on the banks of a river, the sun was shining and it felt warm on his fur. He frowned when he heard a loud whistling sound and saw some type of boat moving upstream towards them. Cocking his head in wonder, he watched in wonder at the dark gray smoke which bellowed out of a pair of long pipes which were sticking high above the boat's top and his ears flicked when he heard voices and music. "Where are we and what is that?"
"We are on the shore of the so-called Mississippi River and that is called a steamboat," Jude replied while she sat down on the river's bank. Then she realized that they were a tad underdressed for their adventure. "Let's go find something a little more appropriate to wear because I don't think they will let us on the boat dressed like this?"
"Wait!" the wolf cried out as she gripped his paw again. "What do you mean when you said 'let us on the boat'?"
I chose that the character Death to appear as in some of the DC Comics, specifically as shown in a series of comics titled The Sandman, by Neil Gaiman. (I do not own the rights to DC Comics or any of its characters. This story was written solely for the reader's enjoyment and without any profitable purposes. The story, all names, characters, and incidents portrayed in this story are fictitious.)
PETA is short for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and is an American-based animal rights organization.