REVELATIONS!

Anyway, hey guys, you know this was supposed to be part of chapter 12. I finished chapter 12 and had only gotten through half of the ideas so everything has been bumped along one now.

Got to say it was a bit of a rollercoaster just for me writing this one and I know the backstory/what's going to happen in the future.

Chapter 13

The sun was beginning to sink in the sky, though not enough for the oranges of sunset to be present yet. The light was no longer the glaring brightness of midday and gently illuminated the plants as they waved in the breeze. Moonlight was a popular place, chic, down to earth, natural, it drew in the crowds. There was a retractable, transparent roof cover as well in case the weather turned rough however that was certainly not an issue this evening.

It was still a bit early for the majority of the patrons who would visit but even at six o'clock the bar was nearly half full. As an open roof establishment, there were issues with noise from the city drifting in. Albert fixed that by placing speakers throughout the shrubbery that played ambient rainforest sounds. It transported you out of the urban jungle and into the real jungle that was the main view outside. Along with the background noise there were muffled conversations and the clinking of glasses mixed in.

Albert was stood at the bar as he normally was, cleaning a few glasses as bartenders everywhere were wont to do. His ears twitched at the familiar ping of the elevator. Sure enough it was shortly followed by the swish of the lift doors opening and the tapir waited to see who had entered his bar this time. He heard the footsteps but nobody came into view. Frowning slightly Albert leaned forwards onto the large bar to get a better look. He had a reasonable idea who it would be if he couldn't see them.

Finnick scowled back up at him from far below the height of the bar. Albert raised an eyebrow at the fact that the fennec had brought his baseball bat with him but didn't say anything, he could guess what it was for.

"Been a little while Fin" said Albert as he put down the glass he was cleaning "at least you came to visit every so often, the usual?"

"Thanks Albert" came Finnick's distinctive baritone as the tapir opened one of the fridges behind the bar "so where are they?"

"Figured you'd be here for that" said Albert coming back into view, he handed a cool bottle of imported beer down to the fox "They're over in the bamboo grove"

Finnick grunted his thanks as he took his drink. The tiny fox dragging a baseball bat behind him gathered quite a few stares from the other patrons but he was used to that sort of thing. Pausing only to scare the daylights out of an antelope by snarling "Chu looking at, pencil-horn?" the fox headed around the side of the bar area.

While the bar was certainly full of plant life, and loosely based on the Rainforest District, there were patches of other kinds of vegetation. In this particular corner, the most out of the way part of the bar, there was a wall of bamboo. Given how repetitive the plant can look in large numbers it was hard to tell that there was actually a winding path through the seeming solid wall of bamboo.

Walking through it Finnick came out into a little secluded patch of paradise. There was a simple rockery along one edge with a small fountain running through it providing the calming sounds of running water. There was a single curving table in a rather abstract shape that meant many mammals of different sizes could all sit round it together. Not that that mattered right this second as there were only two animals present other than Finnick.

Nick was sat leaning on his elbow while his other hand held a blueberry daiquiri that he loved so much. He was wearing a black suit and tie, though his jacket was hung on the chair next to him. He looked up and grinned, giving Finnick a small toast as he arrived.

Noct was wearing what he always wore, black shirt and trousers with a red tie, and looked immaculate. He had chosen to sprawl out on a small couch beside Nick and looked supremely relaxed. He had a brandy alexander in one hand, he was trying to make up for lost time since nowhere did them like Albert, and he raised his glass as well at Finnick's appearance.

The fennec fox stood there and stared with a rather vacant expression on his face. The view before him, if not for the fact that Moonlight hadn't been around then, could have come straight from the time of Broken Clockwork all those years ago. Finnick brought his beer to his lips and chugged about half of it before shaking his head.

"You better have a good story to tell Noct" said Finnick as he walked up to the couch the panther was reclining on.

Noct grinned and held out a fist which Finnick bumped with his own.

"It's good to see you again Fin" said Noct "I'd like to thank you for looking out for Nick all these years"

Both of the foxes snorted at this and Noct couldn't help chuckling as well.

"I mean it though" said the panther seriously.

"You stop talking mushy stuff like that or I'll introduce your knees to my bat like I was planning to" glared Finnick as he hopped up on a chair next to Nick and Noct "So you gonna tell me what the fuck happened ten years ago?"

Noct got comfortable on the couch and began to tell pretty much the same story he had told to Nick and Albert a few days ago. What had happened on that dark, snowy night after they had separated from Finnick. How he had to leave, both to protect everyone but also to find out exactly what had happened to the Lacerdas. Nick went and got another round of drinks in about halfway through, during part of the story he'd already heard.

When he got back with the alcohol he found Noct telling Finnick about some of the hustles he'd pulled off while he'd been wandering. Nick had to admit, as he listened to how Noct had bought hundreds of bowls of fruit on the cheap only to coat them whole with pottery glaze and sell them on as table centre pieces for over ten times the price, that his brother had learnt well.

"Had a good teacher" said Noct with a shrug and a grin at the fox when Nick pointed this out.

Finnick actually pulled out a little notebook and started to write some of the ideas down.

"What?" he said in response to the stares he got "you know how hard it is to come up with a good hustle without you, Nick? You were always the creative one, jackass"

Nick closed his eyes for a few minutes as he just listened to Noct and Finnick catching up. It was like all the years of separation had never happened.

I guess that's what it's like with your closest friends he thought smiling to himself.

"So why did you come back Noct?" Nick heard Finnick ask.

The red fox's ears pricked up. Here it was. This was what he'd been waiting for since he suggested inviting Finnick. Nick and Noct were close, they knew dark secrets about the other that they had never told anyone else, not even Finnick. But almost because of how their relationship as brothers was, there were somethings that Nick found a bit tricky. Sometimes, you needed a different angle. Nick knew there was more to Noct's story but he also knew enough about the panther not to want to push it.

Finnick on the other hand, had a much different relationship with the two of them, and he wasn't one to shy away when blunt force was required.

"I-I don't really want to talk about it" said Noct squirming slightly.

"Oh yeah" said Finnick as he waved the end of his baseball bat under Noct's nose "well, ten years of waiting says I do want to talk about it"

"He had some girl problems" said Nick smirking on the sidelines.

"Oh now you definitely ain't getting out of this" grinned the fennec fox widely "spill it"

Noct groaned, he downed the rest of his drink before reaching out to grab the new one Nick had brought. To be fair, the panther had been expecting this, he understood how Finnick worked just as much as Nick did. Sometimes you just need to be threatened with a baseball bat by the smallest mammal you know to come to terms with things.

"I returned because I was panicking" said Noct closing his eyes, he didn't really want to see either of the fox's reactions "it was pretty similar to how I left in the first place, I was a danger to those I had gotten close to, so I vanished as I so often find myself doing"

There was silence for a long moment and it appeared that the big cat had no intention of saying more. Noct opened his eyes when something poked his chest to see Finnick waving his bat at him again.

"Now you listen here" grinned Finnick evilly "I've lost count of the times you guys had a laugh at my expense over my romantic mistakes. We all know the reason why we've never heard about anything like that with Nick" the red fox winced slightly "so now that I find out that even the great Noctis Lacerda got hit with the love bug, well I ain't letting you go without details"

Noct sighed, he'd tried to get out of it at least, though he knew it wouldn't have worked. He chuckled a bit as he closed his eyes again, he really never thought that the roles would be switched, with Finnick grilling him about girl problems and not the other way around.

"I met a girl" began Noct slowly "which you may have gathered by now. I've met hundreds of women in my life, you know that Nick, due to my family and our job, but not a single one ever moved me. We're both broken. Or at least… I thought I was. You know I've always been… restricted… in who I have feelings for, hell, I've never felt a thing for the rest of the Lacerdas. Before I came to Zootopia I wondered if I had any emotions at all"

Noct was silent for a moment as he organised his thoughts. The two foxes didn't interrupt this time and just drank their drinks slowly.

"Anyway, I met a girl, and from the moment I saw her… that was it. She was perfect and I felt something I'd never felt before, something I never thought I would. She was the best thing to ever happen in my life" Noct opened his eyes a wink and glanced over "No offense Nick"

"None taken" smirked the fox.

"I'd never gone after a female before, not for myself rather than just to get close to a target. But she was going to be mine, no two ways about it, and I chased after her like I was possessed. Actually, I'm quite glad you never got to see that, I'd never have lived it down. She fell in love with me too to my heart's delight and relief. For once, I didn't want to move on, to keep wandering. I was going to stop the hustling, not piss off the wrong people, just so I could stay with my Bruma"

There was a sudden snort and a spluttering cough as Nick started choking on his drink. The other two looked at him worried and Finnick leant over his chair and thumped Nick on the back hard enough to nearly send him out of his chair. Nick seemed not to be dying now and coughed a few more times as he raised a paw to reassure the other two. His brain however was running haywire and it was just a good thing that he was coughing so no one could see his expression properly.

Bruma! He thought franticly Oh dear…

"You okay Nick?" asked Noct concerned.

"Yeah, yeah" said the fox leaning back in his seat once he'd calmed down, he was wearing the most perfect mask he had ever put on, and he needed it with how well he and his brother could read each other "was just a bit of a shock that you of all people were going to settle down and be a family man"

Finnick snorted at that before all three of them burst out laughing, to Nick's delight Noct didn't seem to have noticed anything strange.

"Now that you mention it, yeah, I guess I caught it bad, didn't I?" chuckled Noct "Life was wonderful but we weren't together for very long now that I think about it" his face fell and he finished off his second drink "and then the one time that something good happened, when I wasn't going to stir up any trouble in the city I was in, someone did it all for me. A rumour began to spread in the underworld that there was a Lacerda in the city. Of course, I still had my ear to the grapevine so to speak so I found out immediately"

Noct stretched out on the sofa and placed his empty glass down on the table, a profound sadness in his eyes.

"I didn't know what to do, I'd never used my last name, but I hadn't really been very subtle in hiding, didn't think I'd have to. I panicked, the underworld had already started to move, it would take a while but they would find me, I was just trying to be an ordinary citizen this time around. And when I thought of my Bruma, even though it hurt to even consider leaving her, the moment I thought of her getting involved in everything, about her getting hurt… my heart broke. I didn't even notice what I was doing until it was three days later and I was about a hundred miles away. Looking back on it, I had pulled off the cleanest disappearing act ever, on autopilot I completely erased all evidence that I ever existed there" Noct raised a paw and extended his claws that were as black as the rest of him. He observed them closely turning his paw this way and that "It hurt, but I kept my ear to the ground, no one ever connected me to her, she was safe, and that was all that mattered to me. Like I said I was in a bit of a state at that point and I was moving without really noticing where I was going. And then I found myself at the gates of Zootopia once more."

There was silence for a while as the foxes digested everything Noct had said.

"Never thought I'd hear something like that coming out of your muzzle" said Finnick tapping his bat on the ground "So how'd you meet her then?"

"She nearly got me killed" smiled Noct joyfully as he remembered the past "indirectly of course. I was going shopping and some mammals tried to rob the store. I was content to ignore it and just get on with searching the frozen goods when she burst in. She was a cop in case I didn't mention it"

"You?!" said Finnick slowly "Fell for a cop!?" he glanced over at Nick "actually scrap that, you two brothers are too alike sometimes"

Noct carried on before Nick could even register what Finnick had just implied.

"Everything fell to pieces, she'd obviously underestimated how many robbers there were, and bullets started to fly. Not that I noticed any of it, from the moment she appeared I was entranced. It wasn't till she ran towards me and tackled the two of us into some cover that I realised what was going on… I was quite lucky not to get hit by a stray round given how bad the robbers seemed to be with their weapons. Bullets were flying everywhere but we were safe and for once I spoke without thinking"

The panther started to look rather sheepish, Finnick just narrowed his eyes and waved his bat a few times.

"I asked her to dance with me" said Noct looking away.

The other patrons in the bar all looked over towards the bamboo grove as huge booming peals of baritone laughter emanated from it. Finnick had fallen off his chair and was beating a fist on the ground as he just kept on laughing. After a good few minutes with no sign of this stopping both Nick and Noct started to frown. Almost as if he could feel the stares he was getting Finnick somehow managed to calm down.

"Ahahaha… haa haa… So?" asked the fennec fox as he took a few deep breaths and got back in his chair "what did she do?"

"Well before I could even think about what an idiot I was, she took my hand. And then I just sort of stopped thinking. We danced through a hail of bullets till her reinforcements arrived. I still didn't want to get too close to the police, other than her, so I made myself scarce. And then I found her again a few days later and never let her go"

"Do you have any idea what that sounds like?" asked Finnick chuckling to himself as he slapped his leg "If I didn't know you I'd say it was a fantasy"

"Well you know me" said Noct as he glanced at Nick who then joined in "Extreme physical training from a young age. Advanced knowledge and application of chemistry, biology and psychology. And a little black panther magic"

Nick shook his head, his classic smirk on his muzzle as he stood up.

"Same again?" he asked over his shoulder as he stood and headed for the bar, to which he received two yes's.

The moment he was through the bamboo, and was out of sight, Nick almost collapsed. He staggered round to get a seat in front of Albert and stared down at his shaking paws. It had taken everything he had not to give away any of his shock at this revelation. Albert noticed all this of course and quickly turned his attention to the fox.

"You alright Nick? Look like you've seen a ghost" the tapir asked in concern.

"I'm fine" grinned Nick weakly "just found out a little secret that turned out to be quite a bit bigger than I thought. We'll have the same again…" Albert turned to start preparing the drinks "and I'll have a shot of moonlight too"

The tapir turned to look at Nick in surprise.

"You sure you okay Nicky boy?" asked Albert as he reached under the bar for those jugs of see through alcohol.

Nick took the shot glass that Albert handed him and downed it in one feeling a roaring flame run down his throat and light a fire in his belly.

"Yeah, I am now" Nick took a deep breath.

Well…

Yeah…

What, you don't have anything to say either?

Nope I think we are both a bit stunned

So how likely do you think it is that there's two couples who use Bruma as a nickname and first met dancing during a robbery?

Not very? I think we need to talk to Carrots

For once Nick agreed with the little voice's suggestion. He took the drinks that Albert had prepared while he'd been thinking and headed back to Finnick and Noct. Nick put his mask back on as best he could and walked through the bamboo. Finnick and Noct were chatting quietly while they waited for Nick to return. Noct took his brandy alexander from Nick and looked at him oddly for a few moments.

"You okay Nick?" asked Noct slowly "you look like you have something on your mind."

Nick swore internally, he'd never met another animal that could see inside his head quite like Noct.

Except maybe Carrots Nick thought as he came up with a cover.

"Actually I do" he said "and I don't think you're going to like it. This..." Nick pulled a sheaf of paper out of his pocket "is everything I could get noted down after seeing the report" Noct took the papers with a frown and started to leaf through them "two days ago I encountered a savage animal"

Finnick and Noct looked up in shock at this, Nick had certainly kept this on the down low.

"But they weren't like any savage animal I'd seen before, they could talk for a start. I managed to calm the kid down and after I sedated him we took him to the hospital"

"It was a kid?!" asked Finnick with a growl, no matter what the three of them had certain rules, and getting children involved violated a pretty big one.

"Yeah, Asra, he's 13" said Nick glowering "it wasn't just Night-howler serum that he was hit with"

"I can see that" said Noct as he reached the notes Nick had copied from what Lunette had gotten out of the hospital "it's a pile of garbage that's what it is, who in their right mind would mix those chemicals together" he sat up straight on the couch and looked at Nick "and the kid's not dead yet?"

"Doctor's said we sedated him just in time or his body would have just given out. Even then he's not in a good condition, I've been in to see him during my breaks the last few days and he's looked worse each time"

"I'm not surprised, with what he went through the kid's not going to last the weekend" Noct raised a paw at the shock on Nick's face "Asra was it? Don't worry, I'll sort something out. More importantly, where did he get this stuff?"

"He was kidnapped while in Sahara Square, orphan on the streets, easy target no one will miss" said Nick, his hackles rising "he could smell water when he escaped but that's the best clue we have. This is worrying me Noct, it all seems far too similar to you and the Lacerdas"

"You have no idea" said Noct as he reread the list of chemicals that were found in Asra's bloodstream "but whoever tried this is crazy, they're lucky that this stuff didn't kill the boy instantly, if I wasn't a Lacerda I'd say that this experiment was just a shot in the dark that got lucky results… but I am a Lacerda, and I'm worried that this was planned" Noct could feel himself getting rather worked up at the thought "if somehow that research, even just a fragment of it, got out…" a cold fire seemed to burn in the panther's chest, hatred for the family that made him the way he was, that broke him "even in death the Lacerdas just can't stop messing around with me"

"You think someone took their research after the Lacerdas were killed off?" asked Nick.

"My family was years and years ahead of the rest of the world when it came to chemistry, that goes right back to the family's ancestry as medicine men, and you know how they applied it. Any research taken from my family could cause chaos in the wrong hands. The only good thing is that I know that the important data would have destroyed itself automatically the moment the family home was invaded"

Nick and Noct sank into a gloomy silence. As close as Finnick was to the two of them, there were some things that they only shared between themselves, and the fennec was rather confused. Most of the conversation had flown over his head but he could gather that things weren't good.

"Alright" he growled "Dunno what all that was about but if you two don't cheer up a bit I'm gonna beat you round the head and steal your drinks"

Nick and Noct snorted and remembered that Finnick was still here. Noct took a long drink trying to think of something else to talk about when he remembered the rest of the phone call he'd had with Nick the day before.

"So what was the other thing you need my help with?" he asked the red fox.

Nick started and wondered what Noct meant for a moment before his plan came back to him. A sly grin appeared on his face that the Noct and Finnick hadn't seen in a long time.

"I thought you'd given up the hustling game Nick" said Finnick with a very similar smile on his face.

"Oh it's not a hustle" said Nick "I may go so far as to call it a scheme though. It involves how I'm going to spend that money Noct"

The panther's ears twitched at this and he gave Nick his full attention, he was glad that the fox seemed to have gotten over his issues with it.

"So, I had one idea" began Nick taking a sip of his daiquiri "but at the same time I wanted to do something for Carrots…"

"Never thought I'd say this" whispered Noct so quietly only Finnick's sensitive ears could pick it up "but he's got it bad, don't he"

Finnick let out a chuckle as the two focussed on what Nick was saying.

It was later, probably about half nine, and Nick was back at his apartment. Noct had been a bit surprised when he first heard Nick's scheme but it quickly got his approval and the panther assured him that Mr Clement would handle his side of the deal as soon as possible. Disturbing possibilities to do with Asra were put aside momentarily as the three friends traded stories and just caught up with each other.

Nick, like Noct who he had developed the habit with, was normally very careful at measuring his drink. It was only because Albert had brought out the heavy-duty liquor he just called moonlight that Nick had been in such a state last time. The panther had a bit of an unfair advantage in that department as he had an unnaturally high tolerance for alcohol, however, over the years the two of them had learnt the art of managing to stay delightfully buzzed for an entire evening and no more. So Nick was in a pretty good mood when he decided to call it a night.

He almost forgot, but thankfully remembered how he had felt the morning after their last drinking session, and so asked Noct for some Suppressors. Noct had sniggered and asked how bad Nick had been after last time. After hearing just how bad Nick had been, Noct winced and happily tossed over a pack of tablets. It was unmarked, no writing or numbers on the packet, and each of the pills was pitch black in colour. Seeing that Finnick started to pester Noct for some of his miracle hangover cures as well.

Nick had left the two of them to it, Finnick and Noct showed no signs of finishing their evening just yet. He said goodnight to Albert and went to hail a cab, Moonlight was pretty popular so there were normally at least two taxis on standby. And so things had led back to Nick's apartment.

He had pulled a ready meal out of the freezer and heated it up. The fish hadn't frozen particularly well, Nick had been a little slow in getting it in the freezer, but that couldn't dampen his mood. He grabbed a glass of water and headed into the living room. Settling himself comfortably on the couch Nick flicked through channels on the TV while absentmindedly picking away at his meal.

He was pondering whether he wanted to watch a movie or if he was fine just channel hopping when there was a knock on the door. Nick wondered who it might be, not many people visited him and he had just been with two of the likely suspects, and Nick could recognise Judy's knock. He had a rather puzzled look on his face, his brain was still pleasantly intoxicated and, while he could still function perfectly normally, he wasn't up to intense mental exercise.

Nick reached the door and opened it, the light in the corridor was brighter than he had on in his room and he blinked in the sudden change. Before he could make anything out he felt something collide with his chest and wrap around him.

"Niiiiiiiiick"

Nick glanced down to see a familiar grey doe who had now attached herself to him by arms and legs. Nick looked up as there was a muffled "You're so warm" from Judy. Lunette was stood in the corridor with a slightly pained expression on her face as she mouthed 'sorry'.

"Well you two obviously had a good time" said Nick slowly trying to get his head round what was happening, he sniffed the air intently "She took you somewhere that does Fuzzy Carrots, didn't she?"

"How did you- no, never mind" said Lunette shaking her head "yes that's exactly what happened"

"She should only be allowed to have two of them maximum" groaned Nick "She's obviously had more, how many?"

"Four and a half" said Lunette wincing "and that was because all the alcohol hit her partway through number five and I realised that she needed to stop"

"Well, please remember this for the future" said Nick tiredly "now, I don't mind that you're here, I'm glad to see Carrots is okay if incredibly sloshed, buuut why are you here?"

Lunette looked away a little embarrassedly and mumbled something Nick couldn't pick up.

"What was that Nix? I don't have Carrot's super hearing you know"

"I said this was the only address Judy would give me… and what did you call me this time?"

"Nix means snow" said Nick with a grin "I always need a nickname for people and I didn't think you'd want me calling you Bruma"

"Yes, thank you" said Lunette her expression softening "Is this going to be okay?" she gestured at Judy still hanging onto Nick "I can take her home if you give me her address"

"Nah, it's okay, she's my partner, I'll deal with it" said Nick as he moved back inside his apartment "have a good weekend Nix"

Nick heard a "you too" from Lunette who headed home as the door shut behind him. He glanced down at Judy who was still trying to burrow into his chest as much as she could. With a sigh, the fox made his way carefully back to the sofa and sat down.

He hesitantly stroked Judy's ears which were flopped down her back. She seemed to like it and melted enough at the touch for Nick to prise the bunny off him and put her on the sofa next to him. Shaking his head Nick reached for his glass of water and downed it, he needed to clear his head a bit. Feeling some movement beside him Nick turned his head and nearly dropped his now empty glass.

Judy was on all fours on the sofa next to him and there was a look in her eyes that Nick had never seen before. It was like fire and hunger and it sent shivers down Nick's spine. Without noticing he suddenly found himself stuck against the end of the sofa, Judy was crawling towards him and he had backed away unaware. But now she had reached him, she lightly walked her paws up his body till she was face to face with him and Nick's breath caught in his throat.

His entire body froze when he felt those velvety soft lips press against his own. He didn't know what was happening and by the time his brain had caught up Judy had leant back panting softly.

"Now we're even" she said breathily.

"Even?" asked Nick even more confused, suddenly the situation struck a chord with earlier in the week "Judy! You said I didn't do anything Monday night!"

"No, you asked if you did anything you needed to apologise for" the bunny trailed a paw down Nick's chest while she looked at him with half lidded eyes "and you didn't"

Seeing Judy in front of him like this, and speak those words, seemed to trip something deep inside Nick, like a spark landing on dry tinder. With a rumble in his chest that wasn't quite a growl Nick reached out, one paw behind her head, the other in the small of her back, and pulled Judy back into a kiss. This time the fox was not sitting stunned and Judy moaned at the passion. She reached out herself and wrapped her arms round his neck pulling herself even closer to the fox.

They stayed locked together for a good few minutes not taking in anything else about the world around them. It was when Nick felt paws fumbling with the buttons of his shirt that he woke up like he'd been struck with lightning.

Oh god!

Yeah, I'm all for this happening, but this was a bit sudden

You don't say! You know what happened last time, and this is a hundred times worse

Better you mean

Nick growled at the voice in his head as he sat up. Judy pulled back a little confused as the fox stood up and carried her with him.

"Come on" said Nick in a weird tone of voice "let's get you to bed"

"Why Nicholas" slurred Judy as he carried her towards the bedroom "you're supposed to buy me dinner first"

"I've bought you hundreds of dinners Carrots" quipped the fox but his voice was a bit strained.

He laid the giggling bunny down and pulled the covers over her while avoiding the arms that were reaching for him. Next he went back into the living room to grab his glass which he hurriedly filled with water and then drank. Taking a deep breath Nick returned to the bedroom.

Judy was curled up clutching one of Nick's pillows to her tightly. Unsurprisingly the bunny had fallen asleep the moment she was left alone. Nick knew what was coming but at the same time he couldn't bring himself to move. He just wanted to stand there looking down at the most beautiful creature he had ever known.

And that was the problem.

Agony.

Like molten lead piercing through his heart and a thousand blades running through his chest. Nick's body shuddered as he swayed on his feet. He staggered backwards out of the room as he gritted his teeth, trying not to make any noise and wake Judy. Another wave of pain arrived as he got to the bathroom door and the fox stumbled to the floor clutching his chest.

Flashes of the past began to dart through his mind. His home. His mother. A rooftop. The setting sun. A vixen. Windows rushing past. Noct.

Nick moaned as his heart felt like it was ripping itself apart and he crawled into the bathroom proper. His paws shaking, he pushed himself up till he could grab the sink and stand up. Another burst of soul rending pain threatened to take his legs out again but he struggled to stay upright.

"Oh no" breathed Nick as he caught sight of himself in the mirror "No, no, no, no, no"

Dead eyes looked back at him, almost the same as you'd see on display in a Tundratown fish market. He hadn't seen those eyes in nearly five years and he would have been glad to never see that expression on his own face ever again.

His whole body shuddering in pain, Nick scrambled for the cabinet above the mirror. Tucked away in one corner was a tranquiliser dart for his pistol, kept in case of emergencies, like right now. Nick grabbed for the dart and nearly dropped it. He forced himself to endure and calm down enough to safely pick it up. Once it was in his paw Nick slumped down on the floor again. Unhesitatingly the fox stabbed the tranquiliser into his arm.

Nick could feel the pain subsiding as he lost control over his limbs. He barely manged to curl up on the bathroom floor with his tail wrapped round him before his vision began to grow dark. There was only one fear left in his mind, that he'd be trapped recalling the past as he slept.

But as he lost consciousness there was no sign of that vixen, no sign of Lily in his mind. He just saw a pair of amethyst eyes watching him unblinkingly and Nick, for once in this kind of situation, drifted off into pleasant dreams.