Wolfx1120: You'd think so, right? But to be fair, a lot did go haywire.

Sir Khan: Thanks so much and thanks for the understanding!

TheFireFox123: You're very welcome and thank you so much!

tweiler18: Thanks so much for the understanding and yeah don't expect this story to ever be abandoned!

A lot sooner of an update than last time (thank god for break)! I hope you all enjoy this chapter, as it is pretty special to me. Gives us a little insight into the character of Carmen and her experiences as well, which I hope you all find interesting!

Anyways, don't let me keep you waiting any longer. Enjoy the latest chapter of TTOIA!

Four Months Earlier…

Zootopia Middle School, Zootopia

"Carmen!" a young male voice called from behind the vixen as she walked down the sidewalk in the cool February air, carrying her binder in her arms. She glanced behind her and rolled her eyes with a smile, knowing who was approaching. "Carmen Bunrell!"

It had been a rough day for her at Zootopia Middle, but talking with Leo, one of her better friends at school, was typically a source of joy for her. Not only was he also a fox, which added a veil of comfort and familiarity for the two of them, but he was also her longtime love interest (not that she'd ever make it obvious).

"Leo Delores, what's up?" Carmen asked in a confused tone, gazing into the fox's amber eyes with a subtle smile. Again, while the two were only very good friends, she had begun to feel pretty strongly towards him in a romantic sense, not that he had any idea at that point.

"I'm sorry I didn't ask you earlier," Leo started, coming to a stop in front of her with heavy breaths, indicating he had moved quickly to catch up with her. "But… but…"

"What, did you run a 5k to catch up to me?" Carmen asked with a giggle.

"Oh… pretty much, yeah," Leo said with a chuckle, finally starting to manage his breathing better.

"Okay, so, start over," Carmen said, taking a step toward him with a face still glowing with amusement. "Looks like you've recovered."

"Alright, alright," Leo spoke in his usual scratchy voice. After recomposing himself, he proceeded. "So, I have a pretty… wild question for you."

"What's 'wild' anymore?" Carmen asked him earnestly. "After being friends for this long, I'd say we're past that point."

"Well, maybe," Leo started. "But I'd still consider this question to be a little bit more… well, different."

"Go ahead, then. Shoot," Carmen said in a friendly tone, settling in for a rather unexpected conversation.

"Would you be… at all interested in maybe getting dinner sometime?" Leo asked her in a nervous voice, slinking into his frame as if he were trying to avoid approaching death.

"Dinner?" Carmen asked him with wonder. "What's so different about that? We have dinner all the time."

"Umm… I guess this time, I mean it a little differently," Leo confessed. "You know…"

"You want… you want to go on a date with me?" Carmen asked her friend with astonishment. "Like, a date date?"

Leo appeared to think for a moment before he slowly answered, keeping his eyes on Carmen as he continued.

"Yeah… I've been scared to ask for so long, but I figured that today I'd just… go for it, I guess."

Carmen took a long look at Leo as he waited patiently for an answer, looking down at the ground shyly as he did so. Although the two of them were pretty young to be "dating" or anything like that, she knew that she most definitely reciprocated his feelings toward her. He was a handsome, funny fox and a loyal friend; Carmen didn't detect any obvious red flags within him, so she did what her impulse told her to do for once.

Carmen stepped forward and raised her head a tiny bit to reach Leo, planting a brief kiss on his mouth. After a few seconds, she took a step back and studied his face to see his reaction to her rather bold move.

"Oh, wow," was all Leo managed to say as his face became overwhelmed with blush. He clearly hadn't expected Carmen to be so not only direct, but passionate in her reply to his proposition.

"Yeah, I'm down for dinner," Carmen said confidently with a tender smile, taking a step away from him as he felt himself coming back down to planet earth.

"Awesome!" Leo said finally, shaking his head to try to clear his head of all the dizzying excitement of receiving his first real kiss ever. "How about you come over to my house on Friday? How's that?"

"Perfect," Carmen responded affectionately as she turned to continue her walk back to her family's apartment. "I'm looking forward to it a lot, Leo."

"Me too!" Leo said in awe, waving goodbye to her. "I'll see you tomorrow, Judy!"

"See you tomorrow, Leo!" Carmen called in response with a giggle, feeling like she was walking on the moon at that moment.

It was a moment she has always wondered about; her first romantic interaction with a boy. Luckily, it ended up being one of her best friends of all time, as well as her longtime crush. She had tried her best to convince herself that she didn't have feelings for Leo, but only out of the fear that Leo didn't see eye to eye with her in that way. But it had all worked out, or at least it felt that way then.

A lot would change before summertime.

One Month Later…

March had come at last, and with it, Carmen and Leo's relationship continued to evolve. For the past month, Carmen and Leo had grown to embrace the title of boyfriend and girlfriend. During that timespan, they had done essentially everything together. Carmen had gone on a fishing trip with Leo and his dad, which was rather magical to her despite her disdain for fishing. She had gone to a concert with Leo, had many dinners with Leo, gone to the movies with Leo. She has gotten to know Leo much better than before, and she adored him more with each day.

While they were only barely teens and weren't able to conduct their own "dates", Leo reminded Carmen again and again that he will be able to get his driver's license in less than two years, as he was a year older than her. Then, they'd be free to be together as long as their parents would permit.

Still as much as Carmen had denied it, there seemed to be just a bit of trouble in paradise.

On this day, Carmen and Leo were together in Leo's room at his house just a block over from Carmen's place in Savanna Central. It had been a stressful day for Carmen due to oh-so-typical middle school drama, of which she was the victim.

One of Carmen's newer friends, Kayla, had created a rather harmful rumor about Carmen that had made its way around her home room class and a small chunk of the school like wildfire. The rumor involved her being romantically involved with multiple other foxes at the school, which all stemmed from a photo edited by Kayla for nothing more than a few laughs at Carmen's expense. What played out from that point was far more than Kayla expected or bargained for, but her unapologetic attitude towards it had solidified Carmen's feelings of absolute betrayal.

Carmen was thankful that Leo didn't put any stock into the faked pictures, but his attitude about it all had rubbed her the wrong way since it began going down. He had viewed the pictures as being a lie, but for some reason found the situation to be more of a "told you so" moment, and even hilarious at times.

As the two sat on bean bags on Leo's bedroom floor playing video games on his TV, a conversation began that shed more light into the nature of Leo than ever before began.

"Kayla, wow. I can't get over how much of a chump she is," Leo said with a laugh as he inputted various attacks into the game.

"Yeah, you said it," Carmen said softly, beginning to grow tired of the conversation that had outlined nearly her entire day.

"You know when I knew?" Leo asked his girlfriend with a cocky demeanor, keeping his eyes on the television screen. "I think it was when she tried to tell us that Mike was the one who stole the snacks from the snack machine. I knew she was a… what is it called? Oh, a psychological liar, or whatever it is. Or is it pathological?"

"I don't know," Carmen replied, clearly not as invested as Leo. "Just took out a gold mech, though," she stated about their game, trying to steer the conversation elsewhere.

"I'm pretty good at that, aren't I? I'm like a metal detector for bad friends, you could say," Leo started with a snicker. "You're lucky to have me. I'm sure some of the idiots at ZMS could make the fake pictures look like child's play if I wasn't."

"Leo, that's not funny at all," Carmen said in an anguished tone, pausing the game and rising to her feet. "Are you kidding me?"

"What?" Leo asked Carmen in a tone that mimicked genuine confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"That's not something to joke about," Carmen said to him in a voice that evidenced the entire situation had hurt her more than he thought

"But really, am I wrong?" Leo asked Carmen with a tad of animosity. "If you had listened to me about Kayla, we wouldn't even be having this conversation."

"It doesn't matter," Carmen replied a little bitterly. "Hindsight is 20/20, you know what they say. It's stupid to dwell on sfuff like that."

"Yeah, it's just that I knew Kayla wasn't good for you," Leo said in a disappointed voice, squinting his eyes ever so slightly. "Maybe listen to me next time I say that."

"That's not for you to decide, Leo!" Carmen said loudly. "It isn't! You don't get to decide who is worthy or not worthy of being my friend!"

"Sure, Carmen," Leo said in a spiteful tone. "But you know that if I did, no one at Zootopia Middle would be saying you're a slut."

There was a piercing silence in the air for a moment as Carmen stared blankly at Leo with squinted eyes. It was horrible that such rumors were ever able to take flight in middle school; a thirteen year-old should never have to be subjected to such terrible gossip. After a few seconds of silence, her throat began to itch from the looming threat of tears, and her hurt began to sink as she fully took in Leo's words.

"Wait, no. I'm sorry, Carmen, I didn't mean that. We shouldn't do this, we're boyfriend and girlfriend," Leo said, rising to her feet to meet her eyes, which now appeared more hurt than anything else.

"I can't believe you said that," Carmen mumbled gravely, unable to find any anger within her. "That's heartless, Leo."

"I am so sorry!" Leo spoke emotionally, beginning to panic a little. "I feel horrible! I'm really sorry, I really am!"

"How could you think that's okay to say?" Carmen asked, beginning to cry as she took a step back from him. "After everything we've been through and all you know about me… after all the terrible things we've had to deal with because we're foxes, you'd still say something like that."

"I'm a terrible boyfriend," Leo said, tears clouding his eyes as well as he began to hyperventilate a bit. "I'm sorry Carmen, I'm so sorry! I don't know what to do, tell me what I should do!"

"I'm just…" Carmen started, too stunned to speak. "I don't know what to say to you."

"I'm a bad person! Only the worst fox in the world would ever say something like that! I'm so sorry, I don't know… I don't know what I'm doing! I don't know what's going on with me. Please, Carmen, believe me when I say I love you more than anything in the whole world!"

"Leo, if you love me, why… why would those words even come to your mind?" Carmen asked, sinking back against the wall behind her, still crying. "My mom said that if you love someone, you'd… I don't know, I guess you'd never say something to try to break them."

"I swear, I wasn't trying to break anything about you! If was stupid and wrong of me to say, I don't know what I was thinking! That kind of thing will never happen again, I promise on my granddad's grave, Carmen. Never again," Leo insisted through desperate tears. And Carmen knew, she really did. She knew that all the tears were desperate and nothing more.

"Can you ever forgive me, Carmen?" Leo asked her gingerly, wiping his eyes with his shirt sleeve.

Carmen only had a few seconds to think, and in that moment, her mind would only replay the happiest moments with Leo; all the happiness he had brought her. Although he had cut her deeper than anyone had in a very long time, he was simultaneously the sword that had defended her from so many enemies before. Was it right for her to cut things off with him over one swing in the wrong direction? Was it justified for her to save what sanity she would have left after that night in exchange for a never ending list of regrets?

"Yeah," Carmen finally answered with a sniff, unconsciously shaking her head at her own answer.

"Can I hug you?" Leo asked Carmen cautiously, wiping the tears from his eyes as he moved toward her.

"Leo," she started in response as she held her eyes closed, tears falling down her cheeks.

"Yeah, Carmen?" Leo replied, standing in front of Carmen motionless, waiting for a response about the hug.

"If you hug me," the vixen began. "Please, please, please never say anything like that ever again… don't say anything like that the rest of our lives."

"I swear, I promise on everything I love!"

Carmen slowly opened her eyes with another sniff, gazing at Leo with a profound flurry of emotions. Her chest felt tight with the burden of anxiety as she motioned for Leo to come in for a hug, which he did immediately. The two held each other, and Carmen shook in Leo's arms as she tried her best to shake off his words as nothing more than the fluke of a lifetime.

And even though she knew better, she still loved him.

Another Month Later…

After that day in February, time carried on like clockwork despite feeling a little heavy for the both of them. Leo and Carmen would carry on with their relationship for quite some time after the night in Leo's room. During that time, the fights would happen frequently, and became increasingly worse. Each and every time, Leo would manage to pull Carmen back in with an apology and careful words of affirmation. The guilt of accepting him back again and again ate away at Carmen in a powerful way, but her mind would never even so much as hover over the option of breaking it off with him. When he'd remind her of all he had done for her over the past few months, she found herself unable to argue with his points.

Some could say that the true villains in one's life are the best at cosplaying the role of the hero — Leo was absolutely no exception for Carmen. He had projected himself as Carmen's knight in shining armor despite breathing fire far more scorching than anyone else in her life.

The date was April 22nd. Carmen and Leo hadn't "fought" in over a week, which was truly an accomplishment for the two of them given the circumstances. It was Leo's birthday party on this day, which was hyped up by Leo and his friends and being the "ultimate birthday party," which started with dirt bike races out on the Zootopia racetrack, and ended with cake and presents at his house.

The problem began just around cake-time. Carmen, having played a part in getting the cake for the party, helped out by carrying the intricate cake into the dining room, where Leo and his friends waited. As Carmen got closer to the small table in front of the boys to place the cake down, the happy birthday song was cut short when Carmen nearly tripped, causing her to lose her balance and toss the cake onto the carpet. Most of the boys simply laughed, and not in a malicious way either; simply in a way that found amusement in the unfortunate.

His parents said not to worry, and left to return to the store to fetch another cake; as they assured Carmen, it wasn't pricey anyways. However, Leo wasn't echoing quite the same sentiment. He asked his friends to excuse him and his girlfriend for a moment, and they went across the house to have what was supposed to be a brief talk about what had happened. What played out was not quite what Carmen had expected…

"I can't believe it," Leo said in an irritated tone, wiping his paw across his face.

"I know," Carmen said softly with detectable regret. "I'm really sorry about that. I'm so clumsy sometimes. I feel bad that your parents have to go all the way to the store to get a new one."

"Carmen," Leo started, now making his true rage towards the situation evident. "You're so embarrassing, you know that?"

Carmen realized where the conversation was going and rose to her feet from the sofa, beginning to walk quickly to the door back to the party.

"Nope, I'm not doing this Leo," Carmen said to him as she walked. "Not again. Not while you're mad so you can berate me and then apologize for it again, because I'm done with these conversations."

"CARMEN!" Leo screamed, letting her name loose in a horrific, throaty yell that sent chills down Carmen's spine and made her stop short of the door, turning back to face Leo ever so slightly. "You aren't leaving this conversation!"

Carmen didn't say anything, but instead looked back at her boyfriend with a look that appeared unable to believe his audacity. The growl he had let loose shook her to her core and made her feel fear; something she had felt often throughout their relationship, but never to this extent.

"In front of my friends? Are you kidding me, Carmen? You can't be like that in front of my friends! Are you joking? Dropping my birthday cake?! On my birthday?! How could you be so embarrassing!?"

"It was a mistake!" Carmen yelled back, hoping that their conversation would be loud enough for the others to hear across the house in the dining room. It wasn't, however, and Leo continued to tear into her as she began to curse the tears now falling down her face.

"Don't you know how much embarrassment hurts me? Stuff like that? Dropping my birthday cake like I don't even matter to you at all, wouldn't that hurt you? But you act like you're the victim just because I'm being emotional about it?! So typical," Leo spat, biting his lip in a futile attempt to hold back his wrath.

"That isn't how someone's care for someone else is measured, Leo! I make mistakes, and I'm tired of constantly walking on eggshells around your friends! I can't even make a genuine mistake without you making me feel like I am nothing because you're so wrapped up in your stupid image! Your stupid image, Leo! No one cares about if your girlfriend messes up something as simple as carrying a cake; not your family, and not your friends either. But you're so occupied with looking perfect, and keeping up this image of a perfect life and a perfect girlfriend! I don't understand it!"

Leo's anger reached a peak after Carmen responded like that, and he punched the arm of the sofa behind him rather violently, digging his claws into the seat. This caused Carmen to gasp and take a step back with her mouth wide open and her eyes wide.

"Like you're still my girlfriend?! No! I'm dumping you right now, and don't even think about begging me not to. I'm tired of you causing trouble in my life and then making yourself the victim. After all I've done for you, you make me feel like this, and still think you deserve me! You're lucky if anyone ever loves you again, Carmen. Because I'm through with you," Leo spat as he walked closer to her with an evil expression. "And you don't deserve my love or anyone else's."

"Shut up!" Carmen yelled, pushing Leo away from her with a new caliber of power. "You don't know what you're talking about, and your words mean nothing to me!"

"I really do, Carmen, and don't act like my words don't mean a lot to you. I've been your best friend the past few months, I've been so close to you. I put up with the worst parts of you. I know you better than you know yourself, so I'm pretty sure I'm right in this case. And man, you just need to give up."

Carmen shook her head with a face that made it obvious that she was completely destroyed inside. She clenched her jaw, closing her eyes as the tears fell without restraint.

"Honestly, I'd rather date Molly Curtis than you. Actually, I think I'd rather date any other mammal at school than date you again, fox or not."

"Shut up! Stop it!" Carmen screamed with tears ravaging her face, feeling the fury of a thousand suns as she struggled to even focus on Leo's face. Hearing him say that he would rather date anyone over her, including non-fox mammals, seemed to get under her skin all the more. "Shut up, and get out of here!"

"This is my house, you idiot. You get out of here! Don't think about coming back, either," he spoke with contempt, shedding a tear of his own as he did so.

"You're a psychopath, Leo," Carmen told him, shaking with anger and disbelief. "I feel bad for whoever has to deal with this down the line. You better hope she's as strong as me."

"Can only go up from here. You're an embarrassment to whoever you decide to lure into your trap next, just remember that!" Leo screamed at her as she opened the door behind her, sprinting past the staircase and foyer and to the front door. She struggled to open the front door in her panic, but unlocked it after a few seconds and slipped outside into the cold evening breeze. As she continued to run down the sidewalks and further away from Leo's house, she couldn't seem to catch her breath. In fact, she couldn't breathe at all as she stumbled along. Coupled with the feeling of nausea, the vixen truly felt like she was going to die under the night sky of Zootopia, running away from the worst night of her young life.

She crouched low to the ground, inhaling and exhaling desperately as she fought to find her breath. Carmen leaned back against the brick wall, unable to see because of the magnitude of the tears enveloping her face. She couldn't think, she couldn't breathe, she couldn't see and she could hardly keep her food down from the sheer devastation and trauma of what she had just endured. After a few minutes of struggling to steady herself, she stood up and used the bottom of her shirt to wipe most of her tears away. She sniffed a few times and looked around for anyone who may have witnessed her in her rock bottom state, but she was completely alone.

The walk back to her house was the most alone she had ever felt since she had entered the world. Not only that, but she truly felt like she was a mistake in the first place; she felt like an embarrassment. She hated to give power to Leo's words, but she didn't know if there was any other way to feel about it all. Leo had damaged her and conditioned her to believe she was nothing but an inconvenience to others, and having such a sentiment drilled into one's core is detrimental to the highest degree.

Once she reached her apartment, she unlocked the door and slowly entered. She trudged through the mud room and to the den area, knowing her mother was about to question her on how her night had gone, as well as why she was there so early. She didn't want to hear it; all she wanted to hear was the sound of the brown noise machine that she slept with, and nothing more. She wanted to hear that sound forever as she lost herself in sleep, forgetting about reality for as long as time would allow her to.

"Carmen, honey, how was the party?" Carmen's mom called from the den, slightly out of view for her daughter. "Home a little early, aren't you?"

Carmen knew she had to pull it all together just this one time. She stopped walking towards the hallway and turned to face the den so that she could project her voice better, still out of view of her mother.

"Yeah, it ended a little earlier than I expected, but it was a lot of fun," Carmen managed to say in a relatively normal voice. "But I'm really tired, so I'm probably gonna get some sleep!"

"Okay honey, rest up! Remember, we have tickets for the movie with the Deloreses tomorrow! If we're done cleaning up in time we can go get lunch before!"

Carmen felt her heart shatter just a little bit more as she began walking towards the start to the hallway again, knowing that the Delores family would not be joining them on their movie excursion anymore once all was explained. But all she wanted to do right then was sleep.

"Okay mom, I gotcha. Goodnight!"

"Goodnight, Carmen!"

Once she was finally in her room, she dropped her small bag on the floor of her room with a "thump" and sauntered over to the side of her bed, sitting down with her breath held inside. She knew that once she exhaled, the tears would come back, so she simply sat there and held her breath. She looked around at her room and saw all the moments from the past few months; all of the memories, the precious conversations with Leo. She saw the two of them on her futon, sharing their first real kiss. She saw the two of them watching rom-coms and providing amusing commentary. She saw Leo handing her a necklace made by him with a "charm" embedded inside, seeing her massive smile as she realized how much she suddenly believed in love.

Once she could hold her breath no longer, Carmen laid in the fetal position on her bed as she cried and cried, not knowing if there was ever an end to her tears. The memories of the two of them continuously flooded her mind, adding pain by the gallon as she kicked her feet in anger. Her fists were clenched so tight that the ends of her claws cut into her palms, drawing blood. She never even noticed the blood until it had saturated the top of her bed, and she thanked the stars that her comforter was scarlet red.

Present Day…

Outside a police station just off the side of the woods sat a police cruiser with two mammals now inside; two officers by the names of Officer Amile Mays and Officer Cam Brown. The two of them were known around the outskirts of the city as being "good cops" at most times, but during this night, they felt like bad cops indeed.

Arresting Nicholas Wilde was going to be one of the most difficult things the two of them had ever had to do; they knew that the boy was most likely innocent as was the victim of a much more complicated crime. Officer Mays was also all too aware of the stigma around foxes like Nick and knew making an arrest at this time of night (when the kids were all in their cabins) would cause the fox extreme levels of humiliation and despair. Being a larger lion himself, Officer Mays had faced his fair share of discrimination due to his "predator" status, and he knew that what foxes faced on a daily basis must be even more extreme.

So, as soon as Officer Mays had sat down in the police cruiser, he got to thinking. Maybe, just maybe, this wasn't the right course of action to take. Chief Lenova, the gazelle at the police station, had no remorse for any sort of disregard when it came to orders. If he wanted the two of them to bring Nick to the station, they'd have to obey him.

"Are you ready to head out?" Officer Mays asked Officer Brown, shuffling in his seat as he started up the police cruiser with a grunt.

"Ready if you are," Officer Brown replied reluctantly, sighing as he finished his response. "I don't feel good about this, Brown. I just don't."

"Me too, me too. But I want to keep my job, so I don't think there's too much room to wiggle here," Mays stated in a numb tone, shifting the car's gear to "drive".

As the car began to pull away, a presence to the left of the car caught Brown's eye. Chief Lenova had come outside the police station to flag them down before the two of them had driven off, and was successful in his endeavor.

"Wait, Mays!" Brown said quickly as Mays' foot brushed the gas pedal. He gestured outside his left-side window before he continued. "Chief!"

Officer Mays swiftly rolled down the window of the car, leaning over so that he was able to hear the chief more clearly out the opposite window. Chief Lenova stopped in front of the window, leaning down to Brown's eye-level.

"Chief? Everything alright?" Mays asked in a perplexed tone.

"Glad I caught you boys before you wasted gas," Chief Lenova said calmly. "The lab got back to us again with some new intel. We'll need to do a little more digging before we make an arrest."

"New intel, huh?" Mays said to the chief.

"Yeah, and I'd say this adds a little depth to the plot. Dare I say this might complicate things a little. The fox fur that was found near the blood?" Chief Lenova asked

"Yeah?" Officer Mays wondered.

"Two different foxes," Lenova said in a mystified voice. "The fur y'all found was two different mammals, apparently. Not just Nick Wilde, but another fox that some may know as one Christopher Mato."

The bonfire was finally beginning to wrap up.

Despite some conflicts scattered throughout the night, Nick, Judy and the others had come out of it feeling mostly positive and closer to each other. Nick had given a rundown about everything that happened to Ray and Ven, as had Judy to Naiya. Carmen was still absent, so she wasn't aware of much of what had happened. There was one thing that had made things just a little more complicated though, and that was Nick's unsuccessful attempt at cheering up Carmen after her not-so-happy realization about her perception of Nick.

As the group dispersed and headed back to their respective cabins, Nick and Judy talked about the night in more detail, trying to look forward to the future more than dwelling on the past.

"Everything'll be okay," Judy told Nick for what felt like the sixth-thousandth time. "I'm gonna talk to her, and it's all gonna be okay. You hear me?"

"I believe you, Judy," Nick insisted as the two of them stood side-to-side on the path back to the cabins, a few meters behind the rest of their friends. "But that's not what I'm worried most about."

"Nick, one day at a time," Judy said gently, rubbing his back in an effort to bring him some feeling of peace. "One day at a time. Today was a lot for both of us, but it's going to be okay. Let's take it one day at a time and just get some sleep tonight, how does that sound?"

Nick sighed, but nodded at Judy's proposal, his nerves finally beginning to cool down a bit. His emerald eyes moved over to her and met her gaze, and he smiled weakly in her direction. Despite how quickly things had escalated… well, pretty much everything, his friends (but especially Judy) were an endless source of comfort and stability, and that's all he ever wanted from a circle of friends. It's the fact that convinced him that he really and truly wanted to be with Judy if he were ever able to get the chance to ask her…

"That sounds good, Judy," Nick replied with a massive yawn, smacking his lips together after it had left his mouth.

"Me too," Judy said to him affectionately in response to his yawn, leaning her head on his shoulder for a moment as they padded along. "No thinking about any mystery stuff until tomorrow, got it? You get some rest."

"I'll try my best, Carrots," Nick replied tiredly. "But if you say 'no thinking about it', you know that automatically makes me think about it, right?"

"Okay, no thinking about cookies and cream," Judy said to him with a victorious grin.

"That might be even worse," Nick giggled. "Because I don't have any cookies and cream."

"You know what?" Judy said to the fox with a glint in her eye. "Once we're back in Zootopia, we should get ice cream. Me, my dad and your folks. That would be amazing, wouldn't it?"

"It would be," Nick said happily. "You… you think your dad would be okay with being around a fox family?"

Judy sniffed in amusement at the thought.

"He'd have to get over it pretty fast if he wasn't," Judy told Nick with a confident face. "Because our friendship isn't going anywhere once we're back home."

Nick felt his chest tighten a little at the word "friendship" — he was hoping that by the time the two of them returned home, they'd be officially more than friends. Despite how pitifully of a job he felt he had done so far, he still had plenty of time to work with, right? Maybe he could shake that title of "friendship" by the time the summer at Odayaka was done. Was that a bad thing to think?

Is that entitled of me to think? Or selfish? What she wants comes first, and you should respect that.

Nick continued to think about him and Judy as he fought a fearsome mental battle, staring at Judy the whole time he did.

"Nick, you okay?" Judy asked him with an eyebrow lifted, confused by Nick's blank stare in her direction. He looked as if he had either seen a ghost or his mind had slipped out of his head completely, much like a zombie. He shook his head to bring himself back down to earth.

"Yeah, I'm okay," he reassured her with a laugh. "Thought I… I don't know, heard something."

"Oh no," Judy said to Nick in a mock-worried tone. "What if it's the boogeyman from the pictures the other day?"

Nick giggled at Judy's comment, but actually still felt a small pinch of fear at the thought of the fake photos, even if he knew that they weren't a representation of reality.

"Oh, no. It's probably just the breeze or something," Nick said quickly. "But I'm glad to hear that. That our friendship isn't going anywhere, I mean."

"Of course it isn't," Judy promised him. "I'll always be here for you, Nick."

Nick felt a tinge of blush beginning to take form under his fur, confirming that he was not yet completely past the phase of blushing whenever Judy would say something super sweet to him.

"And I'll always be here for you," Nick replied, not wanting Judy to believe anything less. "So long as my name is Nicholas Piberius Wilde."

As the two kept walking, Nick suddenly stopped walking as they got to the entrance to the boys' cabin, and Judy slowed down as well, wondering what Nick had to say.

"What's up?" Judy asked her fox friend with a caring look, no longer walking.

"Judy, I actually had a… well, kind of a wild question for you," Nick said with a self-conscious laugh.

"Wild questions are my favorite," Judy said to Nick, taking a step closer to him. "Let's hear it."

"Well… this might be sort of out of the blue, but I was wondering what you think about the whole idea of getting married," Nick finished with a curious expression.

What?! There's no way he's talking about he and you, right? He would never be so forward about something like that!

"Oh… do you… do you mean me and you or just generally, or…"

"Oh, no!" Nick said as he started to blush madly, waving his paws in a frantic attempt to not appear silly. "I just mean in general! Like do you think maybe it's something you'll do one day, or not, or…"

Judy could only chuckle at his sudden flustered state, her eyes filled with a considerable dose of adoration for her friend.

"Your face is priceless right now!" Judy giggled, finding Nick's embarrassed state to be adorable, quite frankly.

"I guess maybe it was a stupid question," Nick muttered, looking down at the ground.

"Nick," Judy said seriously, putting her paw underneath his chin and lifting his face to meet hers. "Please never be afraid to ask me something, even if you think it's something stupid. I'm just laughing because you're cute, that's it."

"Cute, huh?" Nick asked, a little surprised by the straightforward comment from Judy.

"Cute, yes," Judy said before she could hush herself, even blushing a little bit herself. "Very much."

Nick was speechless.

"But going back to the question, yeah, I'd love to get married one day. It's something that's definitely on the to-do list," the bunny added with a shrug. "Who knows when it'll be, but all I care about is that I end up with the right mammal."

She didn't say "bunny".

"That's pretty much me too," Nick said in a softer voice than usual, rubbing the area around his neck nervously. "I want to get married one day, I mean. I was asking because… well, because my dad was talking to me about it the other day; about how much of a commitment it is, and how much you have to work to keep it going strong."

"That's how a lot of the best things in life work," Judy said with a smile. "I'm sure you know that by now, but the best things are always worth working for."

Nick matched Judy's smile, agreeing wholeheartedly with her sentiment.

"Yeah," Nick replied in a daze, feeling his heartbeat picking up quite a bit as the two stood in front of each other.

Is this where I do it? Is this where I tell her? Should I just kiss her? Or should I find out how she feels first? What if she doesn't like me like that and then we kiss? What if I mess it up? Or what if…

"Judy, you coming?!" Naiya yelled back to her bunny friend, the distance between her and Judy and Nick growing by the second. Nick and Judy looked at each other wordlessly as they took in Naiya's question before Judy yelled a response in the lemur's direction.

"Yeah, one sec!" Judy responded, waiting for her to turn back around before she turned back to Nick.

She wanted nothing more than to lean forward and kiss Nick on the lips right then, but she managed to control herself. If there was something between them, she wanted to be sure of it before she went and messed things up before the dance. After how everything had gone down that night, it felt like confessing her feelings right then and there would be bittersweet more than euphoric, and that was enough motivation to save the moment.

"Goodnight, Nick," Judy said sweetly to her friend, pulling him into a hug with her usual fervor. He wrapped his arms around her as well and held her tight, embracing every moment he had with her, knowing that the summer wouldn't last forever. Despite Judy's desire for their friendship to continue in full swing after camp, Nick had a bad feeling that it wouldn't be nearly as fluent as it was right then and there. There would be a gap between the two of them that would be pretty hard to work around sometimes, but maybe, just maybe they'd find a way.

As they held the hug, Judy whispered in Nick's ear something he definitely needed to hear.

"You mean so much to me, Nick. Don't forget."

"You too, Carrots," Nick said in response with a big grin on his face. "Goodnight to you too," he added as he took in Judy's warmth and her scent, closing his eyes as he let his raw emotion for her flood through his system.

The two separated from the hug after a few seconds and gazed into each other's eyes, communicating a message in a language neither of them understood; a message that said they so desperately wanted to tell each other everything, but they managed to hold themselves together.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Carrots," Nick said with his usual charming smile, rubbing her on the top of the head playfully.

"You too," Judy said with a giggle, "see you tomorrow!"

As Nick turned and walked to his cabin, lovestruck as ever, Judy bounced over to Naiya, looking as alive as ever. Once she was side by side with her friend, the two of them began walking again, and Naiya couldn't stop giggling at Judy's predicament.

"Wow, you're really in love aren't you?" Naiya asked Judy with an awe-struck look on her face. "I've never seen a girl more in love in my whole life."

"Love?" Judy said in surprise, taking a second to ponder on it. "Love. I don't know, I mean…"

"Judy, look in my eyes girly," Naiya demanded, looking Judy in the face as they walked down the dimly lit path to their cabin, which was only meters away at this point. "Y'all are in love."

"Naiya," Judy answered with a chuckle. "That's a lot to say. Love is complicated, so I'm not so sure yet. I'm only thirteen!"

"You're the smartest thirteen year old I've met," Naiya told her. "He's pretty smart too, in his own way. Only a matter of time until you figure it out."

"Whatever you say, Naiya," Judy said energetically, nudging her with her shoulder. "I'll trust you on this one, I guess."

"Good decision," Naiya said. "Now, we better change the subject before we go inside."

Judy remembered the complicated situation with Carmen and her expression became a little bit more serious, knowing that situation to be quite delicate in nature.

"Yeah, you're right," Judy replied in understanding. "Probably a good idea."

Back at Cabin 19, Nick had just caught up with his friends inside the cabin, and they quickly made their way to him, curious to see if anything juicy had transpired.

"I was starting to think you weren't coming," Ray said playfully to his best friend. "How're things with bunny girl?"

"Complicated," Nick responded. "In a good way, I think."

"What's there to think?" Ray asked his friend teasingly. "I think she's just waiting for you to get on with it already. She's gaga for you at this point."

"Uh… I'm working on it, but I didn't feel like tonight was right," Nick said, scratching one of his ears with his paw.

"Well, that's fair enough," Ray replied, remembering how chaotic the night had ended up being. "That stupid Romero ruined everything for you. Where's that loser now anyways?"

"Who knows, probably plotting my downfall," Nick said with a bitter laugh. "The guy sounded like he wanted me dead. Wouldn't be shocked if he ends up poisoning my lunch."

"Grim," Ray responded. "But a righteous fear."

"Sorry all that happened," Ven said in a sympathetic tone to Nick. He really cared about Nick, as he had been one of his best buddies since he first arrived at ZMS; he made him feel welcome and wanted. Whenever Nick needed support, he knew it was time to return the favor. "You didn't deserve any part of that, and he'll get what's coming to him".

"I appreciate it, Ven," Nick said with a little smile, offering his friend a hug. While the two hugged, Ray waited his turn patiently, tapping his claw on the side of the bunk bed beside him.

"Okay, now I need my hug," the ocelot said in a needy voice.

So Nick gave Ray a hug, and then Ray gave Ven a hug. The three decided to bypass a group hug in the cabin, as many of the other campers were wondering what was warranting the display of affection.

"Alright, sleepy time" Ray said with a giant yawn, beginning to change out of his clothes from that day. "I can't stay awake anymore."

"Me neither," Ven said as he rubbed his eyes sleepily, sitting down on the bed beside Nick and Ray's.

"I need to wash this tomorrow. This shirt smells like nothing but smoke now," Ray said with a disgusted expression as he held the shirt up to his face. "I don't want to smell like a roasted marshmallow."

"You know, your face kinda looks like a roasted marshmallow," Nick pointed out with a giggle, drawing an ugly look from Ray.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" the ocelot asked Nick as the fox put his clothes from the day in the dirty clothes section of his suitcase.

"Means whatever you think it means," Nick replied goofily as he laid out his clothes for the next day on top of his suitcase. Ven couldn't stop laughing at Ray's response.

"Least I'm not wearing Maple Heroes underwear," Ray said to Nick as the fox climbed up onto the top bunk in his boxer shorts.

"My Maple Heroes underwear is amazing and I will not accept any slander," Nick said sternly, poking his head down from the top of the bunk bed. "Got it?"

"I think you're asking for a pillow fight," Ray said in more of a suggestion than anything.

"Ah, Ray," Nick said with yet another yawn. "Any other day, dude. Any other day. Just not today."

"I agree with Nick," Ven said, feeling equally as exhausted.

"Yeah, I'm with you guys too," Ray said in a weary voice, laying his head down on his pillow.

There were still the two empty beds towards the end of the cabin that appeared haunting to Nick, Ven and Ray; the beds of Ronnie and Luke. There was a strange aura to them, and it was, of course, no mystery why. Still, the actuality behind that mystery still remained very much unknown. Tomorrow would be June 21st…

And it wasn't about to stay that way forever.

Once the girls got back to their cabin, the only one with enough energy to walk up to the bathhouse to shower and brush their teeth was Naiya, so Judy stayed behind and put it off until the morning. There was one thing she felt could not wait until morning, though…

"Carmen," Judy started gently as she sat down on the vixen's bed beside her, and Carmen lowered her phone to make eye contact with the bunny.

"Judy," she replied dully, not knowing what else to say.

"I don't mean to press, trust me, but is everything feeling a little bit better now?" the bunny asked her with a large side of caution, not wanting things to escalate any further.

Carmen, to Judy's surprise, offered her an ever-so-subtle smile as she laid back against her pillow, her eyes now longer lined with tears or anything like that.

"I appreciate you asking, Judy," Carmen said softly. "I'm okay, I promise. The way I acted towards Nick was embarrassing, and I'm not sure if you know why, or if you don't… regardless, I'm gonna apologize to him tomorrow."

"I'm sure he'd be happy to know you're feeling better," Judy informed the vixen. "He wasn't mad or anything like that, he just felt bad that he… well, I guess he was poking around too much."

"Nick didn't do anything wrong. Life is just complicated, and I'm sure you know that. Past demons will come out at the worst times, and voila, you get situations like last night," Carmen said bluntly, rubbing her forehead in apparent shame. "But I'll talk to him, don't worry. Let's just get some sleep; today was a long day."

"You said it," Judy responded in agreement. "Well then, goodnight Carmen!"

"Goodnight Judes," Carmen responded as nonchalantly as ever, which perplexed Judy. It wasn't often that she met someone who got over fairly notable conflicts so quickly, but it told her a lot about Carmen's maturity and resolve. It was something she definitely respected about the vixen, and was something she was working to better embody herself.

So, as the six of them so badly wanted to, they were all asleep by ten o' clock that night.

It was 3:30 in the morning.

Judy had woken up in a very strange place. Much of the night before she could hardly even believe happened; she and Nick had held paws at one point, and she even gave him a kiss at one point to help lift his spirits. Yet, there was a new feeling of hesitance within her at this moment. Although she felt that she had fallen head over heels for one Nicholas Wilde, she also now felt a new sense of terror when she considered just how quickly she had fallen. It was something she had embraced since she first felt it developing, but now, it created a new sense of worry.

Something so big and meaningful had an infinite number of ways it could backfire and explode in her face, and at that point, she felt that she needed to focus on the mystery at hand anyway. Her mode had completely performed a 180 in the past day, for better or for worse. Judy knew that she had to tell Nick one day, but she also didn't boast the same courage or urgency she had been feeling days prior. Or maybe her sense of urgency was too high, and this was a consequence? Like a rubber band?

She sat up in her bed and rubbed her eyes, blinking hard as she tried to escape the onslaught of thoughts about her favorite fox. As much as she loved him, sometimes she just wanted to escape somewhere where she didn't have to worry about love. Judy thought about her mom, her dad, and all her brothers and sisters. Thinking about them and what they must have been up to brought a smile to her face, and she sent another text to her mom and dad on her phone while she had the thought fresh in her mind. The cell service was really good that night.

Right after, though, Judy dove right back into the ocean of Nicholas Wilde with a forlorn sigh.

Maybe she was being too scared about it all? Aside from her family's severe criticism and the disapproval of much of the public (considering Nick was a fox) what did Judy have to fear in the scenario that she did enter a romantic relationship with Nick?

That's no way to think.

It's better to think about all of the positives he brought to her, as well as all she had brought to him. The negatives would all work themselves out in the end; what mattered was the glue between the two of them that showed no signs of ever loosening as long as the two of them were committed to it. That was what mattered, right? What mattered was being what each other needed to hold onto whenever they needed it.

That's assuming he likes you that way, Judy.

I wonder what he really thinks?

Nick was also busy flashing back to the night before as he laid in his bed, staring up at the ceiling of the cabin with a flustered expression. He felt like he had really blown his chance at a potential relationship with Judy, but there were so many different images flying through his brain. There were the destructive words of Romero that had brought back fresh trauma once again and made him feel so, so small. He had no idea how he would be able to get past not only the words that Romero had said to him, but the entire mentality as a whole; the mentality that Judy doesn't need someone like him, of course.

It was something a lot of foxes had to deal with that looked to date outside of their own kind. Nick was no stranger to the concept of self-worth, but in conjunction with a relationship with someone as amazing as Judy, it had become even more prominent. He couldn't seem to forget Romero's words every time he looked at Judy now, which made him want to cry. Even when Judy had held his paw, when he was overwhelmed with feelings of euphoria and affection, he could still hear the echoes of Romero in the back of his mind.

And then there was the mystery of Camp Odayaka; a mystery that Nick felt he had some obligation to solve due to his perception of Ronnie and Luke. Along with this obligation, there was a profound dread of ever opting to pursue an answer. Simply put, the entire situation had Nick in a very bad place mentally. When paired with Romero's verbal assault and his mishandling of the situation with Carmen, Nick felt like he was drowning in an ocean of negativity.

But going back to his deep fear of not being good enough for Judy, there were the standards for a relationship preached by his mother and father, who set an extraordinary example of what they preached. Relationships were not even remotely close to being easy, and Nick knew this; his father had told him again and again. Each party would go on to make endless mistakes, each mistake eventually being forgiven with an apology and met with a change.

That was what Nick admired most about his parents: the reason they worked so well together. Apologizing and asking for forgiveness is one thing, but changing oneself for the better of not only a significant other but for one self after a mistake was something that was so much easier said than done. Love, to Nick, was a complicated thing, but he knew that much. Love requires sacrifices, but he knew that these sacrifices, these changes were meant to better each party. And if one's significant other causes the other to begin to take on the best version of themself, that's when the relationship really works.

He smiled to himself as he thought about his parents and how they embodied this image, and tried his best to wipe away any doubt about himself. It wasn't about being perfect was it? It was about trying, and putting in one's all to become better through it all. It was also about helping the other to become better, and to provide the support needed during the lengthy process. That's what it was about.

As he laid on his bed with a smile on his face, he decided that he didn't need to be his father; he just had to strive to be what Judy needed, and she would do the same for him.

It may have been early, and he may not have been thinking entirely clearly, but Nick had shaken off the hesitation once again and felt like he was ready to give it his absolute best.

Not only for himself, but for Judy.

Well, that was a fun, complicated chapter! Love is a complicated thing, is it not? There's always more to be understood about it, and that of course includes our characters here. I really hope you guys liked the glimpse into Carmen as well; writing that section made me pretty sad.

Anyways, the next update should be up before Christmas break for me; anywhere from in a few days to a couple of weeks, so bear with me!

Thanks so much for reading — feel free to leave any thoughts in the reviews! Until next time!