"I need to find it!" he cried. "I must find it even if it's the last thing I do!"
The auburn-furred buck came sprinting passed the vendors like a bolt of lightning, panting as if he had just finished running a marathon. As he came running up to where Nick had been positioned, underneath the ZPD vendor that provided him with some shade from the beating sun, he was glared at with a look of confusion.
"Please, good sir," the rabbit wheezed as he collected his breaths. "You have to help me."
The fox, after a mundane day managing the stall at the local Easter Day Festival, wasn't anticipating someone to come bolting up here like this. "What can I do for you?" he inquired.
The lagomorph replied, "I have to get over to the hospital I'm suppose to visit soon. There is only so many hours in a day, and that means only so many hours to do my annual job."
Nick wondered what he meant when he just said that about only possessing so much time to do whatever it was that he did. The mammal's hurriedness of a white rabbit from a book he used to love growing up. "Well, I'd be more than happy to help you with directions," he said to him. "What hospital are you looking for?"
The auburn-furred rabbit tapped his paw against the ground rapidly as he pondered on this. A few seconds later, he recalled the location he needed to get to. "Beaverland Children's Hospital. It's important that I get there at once. I must make a special delivery."
"That place is roughly a couple miles south from here," the vulpine replied informatively. "Not too far away from the town's fire station, if my memory serves me right."
The buck nodded his head and tapped a finger against the side of his face, appearing to be lost in his thoughts. "Now then," he mumbled to himself, "if I travel a bit faster and try to find a shortcut, I can transport to where I need to be on time. Every year it seems-"
"Sir?" Nick asked. "I don't mean to interrupt, but might I ask you what sort of special delivery you need to make?"
The bunny's ears drooped as he turned around and looked at the fox. "It seems you have forgotten all about the magic," he responded, sounding like he was learning something disappointing.
"The what?" the tod inquired, cocking his head.
"The magic of the holiday known as Easter," the mammal standing in front of him responded. "The spreading of it to kits all around the world is the legacy that I carry on."
"So, you're saying that-"
"Yes," the leporine interrupted. "I am the Easter Bunny. Well, I'm actually the current carrier of the title. There's been tons before me that have done this job, and I pray that I can do it as successfully as my father did before me."
"That's impossible," Nick responded after a momentary pause. "There's no such thing as the Easter Bunny. Or Santa Claws or any of those other things we believe as kits."
"No such thing as the Easter Bunny?" The rabbit scoffed. "Oh, there is such a thing, and the proof stands before you. I can prove it to you." He reached into his pocket and retrieved an Easter egg, bright pink in color with flecks of purple and a yellow stripe across it.
The vulpine in that moment was taken aback. That Easter egg that was being held out in front of him had the exact same pattern as the one left in his basket back when he was eight years old. The egg, among others, that had been left out for him the year he later had his bad experience with the Ranger Scouts, the year he gave up his belief in the Easter Bunny and other hocus-pocus. It looked completely identical to the one that he had received all that time ago, down to the little details.
"I don't understand…" Nick muttered hesitantly. "H-How is this possible?"
The bunny smiled happily back at him and said, "This is among the deliveries I must make in this area. My father said that when he was Easter Bunny, he would always hide the most colorful eggs around a place called Happytown not too far from here. He told me about this fox that used to live there when he was a kit that forgot all about it, and that he wanted me to take this to you when I saw you in this town."
The fox took the egg from the lagomorph's paw and held it in his, looking at it in complete surprise. He wasn't sure what to say, so he set the egg carefully down on the table to his side and looked back at him.
"I thank wholeheartedly for the directions," the Easter Bunny said. "I must get there to deliver eggs to all of the kits who are waiting for me to hop over there."
Nick watched as the lagomorph started to run over to the grassy area behind the ZPD's stall, over towards where the visitor's cars had all been parked. After he ran some distance away from where he stood, he swore that he saw the rabbit disappear.
He looked back at the egg that remained on the table and started to smile. Turns out that there was no such as being too old to believe in the Easter Bunny. The proof of his existence was now right in front of him.
Author's Note: Hey there, everybody! Here's a little story I thought I'd write in time for Easter. Been wanting to come up with something that had the concept of the Easter Bunny in Zootopia for some time now, and this is what ended up coming to mind.
I originally wanted to do a separate Easter-themed story that was going to be multiple chapters, but I ended up not having the time to get it all written before holiday. Oh well... there's always next year, I guess.
Anyway, hope y'all liked this little story I came up. I know that's on the simpler side, but I hope you enjoyed it anyhow. As always, your thoughts, good and bad, are always appreciated.
'Til next time, everybody! Happy Easter! :)