Last Edge here again
Things seem to come to light a little bit in this chapter but we've still got lots of questions
Here I am claiming this is WildeHopps yet the two of them have split up straight away, guess this a slooooow burn
Chapter 2
Judy pushed open the door to the 1st Precinct headquarters and walked into the entrance hall. Officer Hopps wasn't the only person on the force who got up far too early so the building wasn't empty when she arrived. Ahead of her was Benjamin Clawhauser, the chubby cheetah who manned the front desk, entirely too engrossed with something on his phone to notice Judy waiting in front of him.
"So, what is it this time?" asked Judy as she jumped up onto the desk next to him in one go.
Benjamin gave a small shriek as he fell off his chair in shock and disappeared below the desk. Judy leant over the edge to see if he was okay. She needn't have bothered, he was soft and fluffy enough to survive a fall from a three-story building let alone a chair.
"Please don't do that to me so early in the morning Judy" said Clawhauser rather disgruntled as he looked up at her upside down.
"Aw, I'm sorry Benjy" said Judy with a bright smile as he got back into his chair again "I'll buy you some donuts to make up"
"Ooo, can you get the glazed ones from that new place in Savanah Central?"
Judy chuckled as everything was instantly water under the bridge.
"So?" said Clawhauser as he leant forwards, chin on his hands "Where's that foxy partner of yours today?"
Something about the look Clawhauser was giving her made Judy feel as if the temperature was rapidly rising.
"N… Nick has some family matters he needs to attend to today" said Judy quietly looking into her lap.
I don't think I've ever seen Nick like that she thought I hope he's okay
"Oh, and here I thought you tired him out too much" said Clawhauser with a smirk.
"Ben!?" yelled Judy in horror, while her ears went so red that you could practically see smoke coming out of them.
"I'm just saying you make the poor guy get up so early everyday" said Clawhauser, his smirk widening "Why? What were you thinking, Officer Hopps?"
Judy opened and closed her mouth a few times in silence before jumping down from the desk and stiffly marching further into the station. Benjamin watched her go with a twinkle in his eyes as he helped himself to another box of donuts he had stashed away.
Isn't she just adorable he thought to himself as he returned his attention to his phone and whichever latest app had caught his attention.
An elephant and a hippo hurriedly moved out of Judy's way as she headed towards the bull pen There seemed to be a dark cloud brewing around her and any animal with working instincts vacated her path quickly. Occasionally Clawhauser's name and worrisome laughter could be heard from her. Judy wasn't the first into the bull pen but it was still pretty sparsely populated at the moment. Making her way to her place she hopped up onto her chair and flopped her head onto the desk in front of her.
What is wrong with today? She thought to herself What is wrong with me today? I, I mean I don't think about Nick that way.
A handsome red fox appeared in her head pulling that trademark smirk of his. Judy shot straight up in the air before slowly sliding down in her chair.
I'm going to kill Clawhauser later she thought this is all his fault.
For once in her life Judy just wanted the working day to be over so she could go home and curl up under the covers. And all this before briefing. Judy had to sit there stewing in her own runaway thoughts till the room had filled up and Chief Bogo had arrived to give the briefing. Looking up from the desk Judy straightened herself up ready for the start of her working day.
"There are a few bits of news before I hand out the assignments today" said Chief Bogo leafing through the paperwork in front of him "most importantly, there are rumours of a major underworld character coming to Zootopia. Even though this is merely hearsay I want all officers to be extra cautious no matter what it is that you are doing."
A major underworld character? thought Judy Zootopia is pretty stable as far as organised crime goes, mainly because of Mr. Big. Is this new animal trying to muscle in? They ought to know how difficult that would be.
"On another note, we have a new officer who has transferred in, Officer Furle" Chief Bogo gestured next to him at a female wolf Judy only just noticed.
Officer Furle had snow white fur with sharp, ice blue eyes. Her face held a calm indifference as she stood at the front of the room. The other wolves in the room were staring at her undisguisedly and Judy now realised why there had been so many wolf whistles earlier.
"I don't care enough for an introduction. Furle, you'll be working with some of our best, I'm putting you with Hopps and Wilde" Chief Bogo pointed at Judy.
"Where is Wilde?" Chief Bogo asked with a frown as he realised Nick wasn't actually present.
"He's dealing with some family matters today sir" replied Judy crisply.
"Well, at least the important one is still here" sighed Chief Bogo going back to his sheaf of paperwork "right then, Fangmeyer, you and Delgato are…"
Judy zoned out as the chief handed out the assignments for everyone else.
Why am I always the important one fumed Judy Nick is just as good at his job as I am. I trust him with my life, if I didn't have him around I wouldn't be anywhere near as good…
Nor enjoy myself as much… Judy's eye twitched at that last runaway thought as her face slapped back onto the table before her.
Eventually it was just her, officer Furle and Chief Bogo left.
"Hopps" said Chief Bogo with a deep sigh "I really don't want to have to ask you this but I'm willing to use every resource available to safeguard this city. I want you to go over to Tundratown and use your better than average connections to Mr. Big to see if he knows anything about this rumoured underworld character"
Judy's ears shot straight up at this, her fast friendship with Fru Fru was not widely known but those of her colleagues that did know turned a bit of a blind eye. Chief Bogo himself put it down as having insider contacts and normally didn't touch the subject. Officer Furle stared at Judy with raised eyebrows, as a cop, even from another city, she had read up enough on Zootopia to know about Mr. Big.
"I wouldn't ask you this normally" said Chief Bogo "but rumours nearly always have some amount of truth. As much as I dislike the fact, Mr. Big keeps the peace just as much as we do so I expect he will be investigating these rumours just as much as we are. On another note you can inform Officer Wilde that I will be expecting him in my office first thing tomorrow with an explanation"
The buffalo raised a hoof as Judy opened her mouth "I am aware that certain situations can occur at the drop of a hat, I merely wish to hear what he has to say tomorrow. Go get yourself ready, I have one last thing to say to Officer Furle first"
Judy practically bounced off her chair in a salute as she rushed to prepare her things. She was feeling a lot better at the thought of being able to see Fru Fru and her father again, enough to forget that Nick wasn't on duty with her today. This left just Chief Bogo and Officer Furle in the room.
"Officer Hopps is probably the best cop we have" said Chief Bogo slowly as he packed his work away on the lectern at the front of the room "so I would advise that you very quickly get past any reservations you have about working with a bunny cop"
Officer Furle's tail twitched slightly as she opened her mouth but Chief Bogo just turned to look at her and she slowly shut her mouth again.
"If you don't believe me then feel free to go to the gym with her for a few rounds. But I'd warn you, she's sparred with every single person who was present earlier, and the worst she's had is a draw"
Officer Furle's eyes widened as she remembered the size of some of the officers that had been there, there was an elephant in the room for goodness sake. Chief Bogo smiled slightly at the expression on her face and headed for the door.
"And the only draw was with me" he said over his shoulder as he shut the door leaving the wolf with her thoughts.
It had taken a while but Nick had finally led the way to a bar open this early in the morning. It was located near Hill street, close to the border between Downtown and the Rainforest District. The bar was called Moonlight and took up the top two floors of one of the last buildings before urban jungle became jungle jungle.
Nick and Noct stepped out of the elevator onto the top floor which was an extremely open layout. Whatever walling and roofing there used to be had been removed to make a large, spacious rooftop terrace. The bar was extremely green, more like a beautiful rooftop garden than a watering hole.
Despite the bar being open there weren't any patrons this early which meant the fox and panther had a clear run of the place. Noct's ears twitched as he looked over towards the bar. Unseen, someone was bustling about below the level of the bar.
"Shop" shouted Nick with a grin as Noct snorted next to him.
The hidden bartender seemed to notice their presence and shuffled its way towards the edge of the bar. Stepping into view from behind the bar designed for larger animals was a smartly dressed tapir. He was slightly taller than Nick but much thicker, was wearing a smart casual outfit with a black shirt as bartender often wore, no tie, and had a nasty looking scar running from below his left eye down his short trunk.
Nick grinned wider as he saw the tapir approaching and Noct's eyes widened. The tapir held up a hand to block the early sunlight and shook slightly as he saw the two mammals walking towards him.
"NICHOLAS WILDE!" shouted the tapir angrily causing the fox to hesitate slightly.
The tapir stormed right up to the fox, who raised his arms while smiling a bit sheepishly, and planted a right uppercut right into the fox's stomach. Nick let out a gasp as all the air was knocked out his lungs, nearly doubling up, before he felt a strong pair of arms wrap around him.
"You don't write! You don't call! You don't visit!" shouted the tapir pulling the fox into his chest "do you have any idea how worried Louise and I have been, you stupid fox"
Noct's face had gone through surprise, worry, amusement and was currently settled on nostalgia as he looked on at the tapir and fox. The tapir at this point released the gasping police officer and turned to look at his other early patron.
"Since you're with this pile of fur then you're welcome here at Moonlight" said the tapir once again shielding his eyes from the sun "now it's pretty damn early so what can I do for the… two of… Noctis?"
The panther nodded gently at the shocked looking tapir "Hey Albert, it's been a while"
Albert Dreamington stepped towards the big cat in a daze before, gently to the relief of the panther, pulling Noct into a hug as well. By this point Nick had recovered well enough to stand and was watching on, this was a sight he had long since given up hope of seeing.
"You two boys" Albert choked down a sob "where have you been the both of you?"
"Let's sit down first" said Nick softly to which the tapir nodded and led the way back to the bar. The large bar stools had ladders built into the sides for smaller mammals which Nick used. Noct just seemed to flow up the side of the chair like liquid and got comfortable. Albert vanished behind the bar only to shortly reappear after hopping up onto the ledge built into the back of the bar.
The tapir leant his arms on the bar and took a deep breath with his eyes closed. When he opened them again he was a bit calmer as he looked at the two slightly uncomfortable mammals in front of him.
"What happened to you guys?" asked Albert quietly "ten years I haven't seen you two, Nick was slightly better I could at least find out you were still alive in Zootopia every so often, but Noct you vanished off the face of the earth"
The fox and the panther were both silent as they thought back to that dark, snowy night all those years ago. Nick could feel his old friend tense up beside him and let out a sigh attracting the attention to himself.
"I'll leave that bit to you Noct" said Nick slowly, his gaze switching between the cat and the tapir "I expect the both of you want to hear about me I suppose" seeing the nods Nick carried on "after Noct disappeared being under Mr. Big's wing just didn't feel… right anymore. I didn't cope with one of my few good friends vanishing very well and I began to get… stupid with my dealings with Mr. Big"
Noct could hear the inflections on 'stupid' as Nick said it and his tail suddenly shot straight up as he thought of something.
"Oh god Nick" the panther said with a look of dread on his face "don't tell me you… we agreed that was a terrible idea never to be spoken of again"
"Yeah you guessed it" grinned Nick ruefully "after you vanished I ended up going through with the skunk hide rug plan" the panther next to him sat his chin on the bar and covered his head in his hands whining quietly "after that plain idiotic idea my relationship with Mr. Big was… not good. I felt too ashamed to ever come and see you Albert, especially as I then ended up as a small time conmammal, you always tried to get us out of that line of work."
The Tapir was frowning as he listened but didn't say anything yet and let Nick carry on talking.
"Me and Finnick have spent the last few years hustling around all the districts apart from Tundratown as much as we could. Until, about eight months ago a certain rabbit hopped into my life" Noct raised his head at this, it definitely wasn't what he was expecting. A slight understanding was starting to appear in Albert's eyes "Judy Hopps, for your information Noct, is Zootopia's first bunny cop" Nick frowned at the unsure expression on his friend's face "I'd stop what you're thinking there Noct, Carrots is one of the best cops in Zootopia"
"Carrots?" blurted out Noct raising an eyebrow before shaking his head and waving Nick to carry on.
"Nobody expected much from her at the time but somehow she ended up taking on the Night-howler case, at the time just fourteen separate missing mammal cases" now this Noct had managed to hear about while out of the city and he started to fit little bits of information together in his head "one of the missing perps had a tenuous link to myself, I sold him a pawpsicle, so miss bunny cop ended up out hustling me into helping her out"
At this Noct snorted, laughed, couldn't get it under control and fell off his chair.
"I knew you'd do that" sighed Nick dramatically "You wound me Noct. Anyway, we ended up getting caught by Mr. Big while looking for evidence"
Noct leapt back onto his chair and stared at Nick worried.
"Thankfully I had Carrots with me" said Nick smiling faintly "Otherwise I'd have been Iced no two ways about it"
"The rabbit saved you?!" said Albert incredulously "How? Turn out she's an illegitimate daughter of Mr. Big or something?"
"Closer than you think" chuckled Nick "Judy had managed to save Fru Fru's life a day or so earlier. When Mr. Big found out, he basically adopted Judy, she's now godmother to Fru Fru's first kid, who she also called Judy. As a side effect, I am now forgiven for my past sins, which is… nice"
"How is Fru Fru?" asked Noct slightly pained "and Koslov and… Mr. Big?"
"Oh no" said Nick "you wanna find out, go visit yourself, you weren't on bad terms when you vanished. So we had a lead now which led us to the missing animals but not the right mastermind. Carrots managed to… slip up at a press conference which caused us to… part ways temporarily"
Noct's ears twitched as he picked up the slight pain in his friend's words. He knew there was something more to it than that but he could also recognise that the fox seemed to have gotten over it.
"Predators were viewed at an all-time low since at this point nobody knew about the Night-howler serum" Nick's voice softened slightly "Carrots turned in her badge because she felt she'd made the city worse for predators. But nothing can hold back Officer Hopps, she found the Night-howlers, found me again, and found the villain responsible all while wearing an outfit making her look like a simple country doe. That should have brought you back up to speed on the past right Noct?"
"So now you going to explain this?" said the panther gesturing at Nick's uniform while leaning an elbow on the bar.
"Getting to it, getting to it" smirked Nick "so Carrots managed to convince me to go on the straight and narrow. Be a cop with her. I finished the training course about two months ago I guess. Don't think I could have done it without her, or you for that matter" said Nick glancing at Noct.
"Me?" said Noct intrigued "and what did my non-present self do for you?"
"I kept thinking back to all those stories you told me about your life growing up, training didn't seem quite as tough then. Besides if one half of Broken Clockwork can do it then so can I"
"Yeah" said Noct raising an eyebrow "except that I was trained from a young age whereas you were doing it as a 30-something year old ex-con"
"details, shmetails" said Nick shrugging "I got through it anyway so you are now looking at the first fox of the ZPD. Carrots is my partner and everything is sunshine and rainbows" finished Nick with a smirk.
"So that is what happened" said Albert slowly "I hadn't heard all the details about the Night-howler case, your name wasn't mentioned for one. And when I heard that one Officer Wilde was the first fox police officer I didn't think it was you, which I am very sorry about" the tapir broke out into a giant smile.
The three of them sat in silence for a few moments before Albert stirred.
"Now, I know you came to visit again Wilde but I also expect you two came for a drink as well so what can I get you, on the house for my boys"
Noct glanced across at Nick and grinned as they locked eye contact "Nick will have a Blueberry Daiquiri that I seem to remember you make so well"
"And he'll have a Brandy Alexander if I remember correctly" chuckled Nick.
"Ah, I haven't had one of those since I left" sighed Noct "Nowhere does drinks like Albert does. Speaking of which, when did you get this new place? You were based in that little bar over in Savanah Central last I remember"
"Louise was never happy there" said Albert as he deftly walked the bar picking up the bottles of alcohol he needed "We always wanted to be closer to the Rainforest District so I was pretty happy when this place came on the market" the tapir started to expertly mix the two drinks at the same time while keeping his attention on Nick and Noct "So, come on, I knew most of what Nick had been talking about, I do at least try and keep some tabs on him. Let's hear your side of the story"
Nick started feeling very nervous even though he wasn't the one who was about to be speaking. He'd waited ten years in order hear something, anything, about why Noctis Lacerda had vanished that dark, snowy night. There was quiet as Albert finished mixing the cocktails and slid them forwards on the bar. Noct picked his up and took a sip, a look of bliss spreading aross his face.
Nick reached out for his own stunningly delicious Blueberry Daiquiri (according to the fox at least) when he heard a light pattering sound next to him. Tears were running down Noct's cheeks despite the happy expression on his face as the panther shook slightly.
"I… you really don't know just how much I have missed this" Noct whispered gesturing at Nick, Albert and zootopia in general. He took a deep breath and calmed himself, looking up to see the concern in both the other mammals' eyes "Don't worry about me, I'm fine, right let's see. I guess it all ties back to my family"
"Of course," growled Nick feeling his neck prickle "it had to be to do with them"
"Not quite how you're thinking buddy" sighed Noct suddenly looking very tired "anyway we'll have to go back to that dark, snowy night ten years or so ago…"