Chapter 36

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"Shhh, shhh, shhhhh…. It'll be okay Honey."

"No. No it isn't!" the ratel sniffed, looking up at the bunny cop sitting next to her.

"Well," she said, "however big a mistake or problem is, the only way to fix it is to try, isn't it? If you don't try, you don't get anywhere." She paused, a little smile growing over her face. "Make logic?" she asked.

A grin flashed across Honey's muzzle. "Yeah," she sniffed, the smile collapsing. "Yeah, but… -but I DID try! I tried, and they didn't listen!"

A concerned look flashed across Judy's muzzle. Things had calmed down, the band was taking a short break. She glanced back, spotting Nick talking with a large female wolf. "Well," she began, turning back and holding Honey's paw. "I was also going to say that it's kinda hard to make a plan if you don't know what the problem is. So what is the problem?"

"I…" she began, sniffing. "There was a crowd of mammals, and they were gettin' mad, as these rhinos were hauling off a ferret who had been screaming stuff in city hall or somethin', and they then arrested this okapi who tried to stop them… He kinda asked for that… But then they started talking, they started saying that it was all the sheep's fault, and these mammals were working for the sheep, and…"

Judy's ears fell down. "You… You thought about joining them, you started…"

"-NO!" She barked out, Judy's paws immediately going up, trying to calm her down. "-I mean… -I…" she began, stammering out, her voice raised. "-For a second…" she sniffed. "For a second, maybe, yeah… I thought… I mean, they said they had all sorts of new news, and I was tempted, and…" Her head jolted up, her eyes staring into Judy's, and she began to shake, sniffing harder and harder. "Does… does this mean I have to go back? Does this…"

"No!" Judy almost shouted, cutting her off. She grabbed honey's paws in her own and walked forward, holding her tight. "You had a tiny slip okay. After all, you're here now. We all have tiny slips… Take that from me."

"I… I…" she stammered out, before her heavy breathing began to calm down. She looked around, before almost collapsing on herself in relief. "T-thanks… I'm sorry, I…"

"No need."

"Nu-uh, I… I failed you lot a little there, and the doc too, and those who want me safe, and…"

"From the looks of it now, you didn't fail," Judy said, smiling. "You succeeded! You were tempted, and you pulled out! Tell your doctor about it, she'll be really proud!"

"W-Will she?"

"Yeah," Judy said, letting go and standing up. "See, there we go. You talked and it turned out alright. No more problem."

"No," Honey cut back. "Still a problem. That wasn't it."

The bunny looked on before settling down, holding her paw. "Carry on."

Taking a deep breath in, she did just that. "The crowd were talkin' 'bout a mammal who'd led them, who'd inspired them, let them know the truth about the Cudspiracy. And how they'd taken that mammal away, disposed of them, because they were too close to the truth. And I asked who that was, and they said it was this Ewetuber called Gruinard Gal.

Judy blinked. "Yeah," she said, clicking her fingers. "I've heard of her before, but where, I… -Ah! My sheep friend, Sharla, was getting some heat from some jerks after Bellwether was arrested, and she mentioned that she was given a few links to his videos."

"Her."

"Or her," the bunny agreed, shaking her head. "Poor Sharla was tripping over her tongue complaining about one she saw." There was a pause and a small laugh. "Though I'm not sure whether she was more insulted as a sheep by how ovinophobic it was, or as a scientist by how crazy it was. I mean, it was talking about how the First World War was set up by 'the sheep', even though the Black Paw were Serbians of all sorts of species, and Gazielo Princip…"

"-Pronounced Gah-zeh-low."

"Was a mountain gazelle. Apparently, the justification was…"

"-One of the failed bomb throwers earlier that day was a sheep."

"Yeah," Judy agreed. "And then their whole plan was for a German victory, aiming to destabilise the allies after the peace and…"

"-Produce far left Sheepiclist revolutions in the major economies…"

Judy looked at her, blinking. "Yeah…" she said. "I mean, Sharla was also annoyed in a third way, saying it was a 'total kaiserreich rip-off', whatever that is, but I… -You saw these before, didn't you?"

"Judy," she said, trembling as she looked up. "I… I made them. Gruinard Gal was my Ewetuber name.."

Judy looked on, not sure what to say.

She remembered her phone calls and catch ups with Sharla quite clearly. In many cases, she was really ticked off by the jokes or threats made after Bellwether's conspiracy was destroyed. In most cases, the black wooled ewe had stress that it wasn't that bad: she herself was in academia, working with highly educated mammals who weren't swayed by dumb rumours like that. Her family in Bunnyburrow weren't really hit that much either; the bunny rumour mill was certainly rough in the immediate aftermath, but it didn't take that long for them to settle down and move onto the next big thing, as they always did. Still, Judy had heard it in the ewe's voice. There were bad moments out there, and things did get to her.

When the protest crowds began forming in the week after, calling the institution a bastion of sheep control, sheep privilege, sheep ideology and sheep fragility...

Calling for all that to be torn down.

Sharla had been furious at them, stating that she'd never meet their demands.

She then paused for a second, and then talked at length about something she'd seen on P/ Sheep, a young ram recalling how, back in the savage crisis and before Dawn's fall, there had been a climate wall malfunction that dropped the temperature in Savannah Central way down low. A neighbouring corsac vixen (with 'serious personal boundary issues') had lockpicked his door, walked in and just crawled right onto his bed and then inside his thick fleece! Which, not long after, was given a rather non-negotiable shear by a wolf neighbour! Sharla had been shocked, especially as he then recounted fearing for his life and thinking he'd be lynched when the truth broke, and how a neighbouring aardwolf had yelled at him for daring to 'be scared and acting above it', and how he was literally attacked after being mistaken for one of Dawn's rams due to a local tiger shopkeeper going savage (not helped by the fact that he was essentially fired the same day Dawn was arrested, and had gone around saying he'd lost his job just before the news broke).

What got her friend angry the most though was how the ram defended his 'new pack', saying that they were good (if flawed) mammals and how he was quite a jerk back then too! When pressed on the shearing, he 'admitted it was overdue' and, though 'she could have asked', she did gift him 'a nice woolen jumper' after. The same for everything else: 'Oh, that vixen's just like that', 'It was a bit of an overreaction on my part', 'well I was kind of a jerk, and she'd been through a lot', 'it was a mammal from a different pack who attacked me, my pack came to my defense.'

"It's like he's accepted that sheep are bad mammals, or mammals who've had it easier" Sharla ended up saying. "And as a result he deserves to be mistreated, he's 'privileged' so he can't complain when he has it worse. And that's what those mammals out there want every sheep to be like! A self hating wretch with no dignity who thinks they were born into an evil species! Who must go around begging for forgiveness for those that 'they hurt', not that it'll ever be enough! Well, I have my dignity, and I say no to those bullies." She'd ended on that, in a bit of a funk, though it was helped when Judy had suggested that it was a troll account.

But those outside were not, even if they did act like it.

Judy remembered one clip she'd been sent a few days later, of a campus reporter, critical of the movement, having a female tiger barge in and interrupt him with a bunch load of 'Bla-Bla-Bla's'. A squirrel had then scurried up and added, 'or as you'd say, Baa-Baa-Baa!" The alpaca reporter had then been heckled out by the mob.

One night, the ewe had rambled on about a nightmare she'd had.

One of a rumour being spread on furbook, that a number of sheep in the bio-labs had been abducting local predators, often kits and cubs, and experimenting on them with new versions of the nighthowler serum. At first there were some protesters outside, chanting and heckling any sheep (or even woolly mammal) that came past. It slowly got worse and worse, more and more mammals believed and joined it, even making it onto the student council, which began giving the odd wink and nod to them. Finally, one day, they full on invaded the labs and tore them apart looking for the children. On not finding them, rather than giving up, they claimed the victims had been moved before marching around the campus, chanting 'Sheep will not replace us' as they went. And Sharla had dreamt about running from them, hiding from them, and finally having them chase her down and get her.

Thankfully, it never did come to anything like that. In the end, their protest group formed a line across the campus, letting non-ovids through and denying ovids access, making them go around and 'understand that barriers that sheep put up for others'. A few others had apparently gone on and grilled sheep teaching staff about de-ovining their lessons… whatever that meant. Sharla, still doing her PHD, had missed out, but certainly didn't miss out on complaining about it. Judy had also been annoyed at it all, it was unfair, but ultimately she was relieved that it hadn't tipped out into full sheep hate. It was just a one time thing brought on by Bellwether, and given a bit more time it had faded back down to almost nothing, thankfully.

And now Judy looked on at Honey, formerly the biggest troll of them all and the bastion of that almost. The ratel's head was lowered in shame, waiting for her own punishment for what she'd done. "Was your Ewetube channel…" Judy finally spoke.

"Yeah," she said slowly. "Where I used to…"

"Where you used to," she repeated, grabbing her paws. She looked up, their eyes met. "Honey, you did bad things back then. Things that hurt mammals. But do you know what I think?"

"No."

"That you are a different mammal now. You, Honey Badger, are a good mammal."

"But!"

"Shhhh," she said, paw going onto her lips. "You've changed. It's been tough, it's been hard, but that mammal that made those videos doesn't exist anymore, does she? After all, she turned away from those silly thoughts just now, didn't she?"

"I… Yeah," she said, blinking. "But… Those other mammals," she began, sniffing. "They still believe, and I tried to tell them! I told them who I was and that I'm wrong, but… But they didn't believe me! Some attacked me!"

"Oh Honey," she sniffed, looking down. "Trust me, I know that feeling. I screwed up at that press conference, and some mammals still quote me on it. I know it's not nice."

"Uh-hu…"

"But it's their decision, isn't it?"

"I… Maybe," she began.

"And they chose that route, and they chose to stick to it," she carried on. "And they probably thought the same things before you came along, and they didn't believe you were who you said you were."

"No," she said. "There was one… A sea mink. He knew who I was! And he didn't believe this stuff until he found my videos… And… And he thought I was taken," she sniffed. "He thought I'd been taken by the Cudspiracy, and he was going around, happily saying that he'd fix me up again… And I kept begging him! I tried, I really did, but… but… He wouldn't believe me. He just thought I was a victim, but… -But he's my victim! I did that to him, and he lost his family, he lost his brother 'cause of me. They think he's a monster, and I took them away from him, and he thinks all the pain is worth it 'cause of me." She trembled, on the verge of tears. "I ruined his life. I'm… I'm a bad mammal."

She got no further, a bunny jumping into her chest and giving a bear hug. "Honey Badger, you are not a bad mammal," she said, holding her tight. "There there, there there…" she went, calming her down. "It's going to be okay."

"Not for him, no… And how many others, how many?"

…

"Honey, do you know what I did, after the savage scare was over?"

She shook her head.

"I hurt predators," she carried on, looking down. "Predators like you. Because I was a dumb bunny who spoke dumb hurtful things. So, when I could, I apologised."

"I… -Oh yeah," she sniffed. "The second press conference, after you took Hellwether in."

"Yeah," she said, chuckling at the new moniker for the ex-mayor. "Because I broke things, and I had to try and put them right. So, we have a problem. What do you think we should do to fix it?"

Honey closed her eyes, thinking long and hard. "Maybe… -I'll talk to the Doc about this first, but… -Put one last video up. And I'll tell the truth. And I'll say sorry."

Judy smiled. "Yeah, sounds good."

The ratel blinked. "It does? But some mammals won't believe!"

"Then they won't believe."

"And they'll carry on…"

"Then they'll carry on."

"And they'll keep hurting sheep."

"And they'll keep doing that," Judy said, sighing. "But others won't. Because you tried to make things right. Change starts with you, Honeybun."

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…

She snigered. "Did I give you Honeybun privileges?"

"Police have authorisation to use them," she said, earning a nasal snort of a laugh in response. Honey wiped the snot from under her nose and looked up. "I… -yeah… I'm gonna call her, run that past, but I gotta try," she said, looking away. "Gotta try and fix what I broke, and I broke an awful lot."

Judy nodded, pausing as she looked behind her. Nick was standing by a large wolf, currently giving an interview with the ZNN Skunk reporter. "Let's slip over there, shall we?"

"Yeah," Honey agreed. "Next to Nicky Wilde and the Dark Flame Wolf."

Judy halted, blinking. "The what?"

Honey paused too, shaking her head. "Sorry! My dumb old conspiracies, I forgot that one's crazy too. That's just Murana Wolford, big shot banker."

"Ah, so that's her," Judy mused, as they walked off.

"Uh-hu," she agreed, pausing. "Sorry, for being all emotional there."

"No worries," she said, looking up.

"And I forgive you."

Judy paused. "Forgive me?"

"Yeah, for the whole tranq'ing thing," she said, shrugging. "My gut is saying 'forgive; right now, so…" She was met with a big bunny hug, that just held on. She looked around nervously for a second or two, before smiling. "This is nice."

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Catano walked along briskly. In her defense, she couldn't really help that. Anything less than a power walk to other mammals felt like it was deliberately going slow. Added to the fact was that this was a serious police investigation. A second genuinely could make a difference.

From what she'd gathered, the forms would be opening out for break around now; indeed, she was beginning to see doors open and students pour out into the halls. A few gave her some glances or waves, others paid her no mind or just stared. She whipped past them, turning a corner and entering the science block, making her way towards the form room where Maisy would be.

"Uh, hello?"

She froze, looking down to see a small tabby face looking up at her from just above her knee height. "Yes?" she asked.

"You're the cop, right?" the Scottish wildcat said. "Looking for Ash and Agnes?"

"I… Why would I be doing that?" she asked.

"Uhhh… You're the one investigating this thing," he said, rolling his paws in front of him.

"I am," she said, "but I'm actually looking for Maisy Calrama."

He blinked. "Why would you be looking for her?"

Her eyes narrowed, and she couldn't help but grin as she gave out the perfect response. "Because I'm the one investigating this thing."

"Yeah… -But what does she have to do with it?"

"She's a potential witness," she cut off.

"Well why didn't you say?" he asked, pointing back. "Anyway, she's going to see Ash and Agnes too. They're up on the landing at the top of the other staircase."

"Right," she said.

"-Though you might want to knock or something. They were having a kind of intimate moment."

"I…" she began, blinking a few times, hoping she hadn't heard that right.

"-Hugging and kissing, mostly," he shrugged off.

"Oh right," she deflated, shaking her head. Silly her. She briskly carried on, thinking a bit as she went. After all, Beavis had said that they'd been getting back together recently, even if their breakup had not been pleasant, given some of the things the boy had been doing. Still, it couldn't be that bad if she did go back to him after this, almost certainly for emotional support than anything else. After all, she could hardly imagine her dumping her boyfriend and switching right after this, she'd be distraught and worrying about him.

Up she power walked, two steps at a time, her admittedly less than superior nose catching their scent. Walking up behind them, she froze.

They were huddled together, Ash's paw over her shoulder, tail around her back. He was rubbing and comforting her, she was holding her back, and they were watching something on their phone. Something her more than keen eyes easily recognised and glared at. 'Gruinard Gal's' Ewetube channel, she recognised the background and icons anywhere. Her fur bristled, especially as she saw the young Tod give a short laugh. "You see what I mean?" he asked.

Agnes smiled back. "Yeah," she chirped. "I guess Packson's were right, she is kinda onto something here."

Her eyes narrowed in, spotting an old photograph from Paris, captioned with the date: September the 14th, 2004. Bits of wreckage were floating in the Seine, and for some reason Kii couldn't help but feel her fur begin to go on end, a deep terrible dread growing in the pit of her stomach. The two foxes' ears tilted back too, their fur bristling, and Agnes huddled up close to Ash. "I'm… I'm not sure if I'm finding this fun anymore, this is getting freaky."

"Yeah," he said, mouth quivering slightly as the picture zoomed in. There was a pink figure outlined on the wreckage, but other than that nothing. It skipped forward, showing a police helicopter in the middle of flying down, an orange figure (highlighted with an arrow) jumping out. The next figure showed them after, all the debris somehow gone. "I mean, I'd heard rumours that something dodgy had…" he began, only to be cut off as a new picture was shown. Captioned February the 5th, 2013, it showed various small bits of debris in and around Paris, ending on a picture of a motor launch, a searchlight manned by the same (arrow highlighted) orange figure burning out bright from the prow. It flashed forward, showing a picture of the… -the Mouton Rouge? And a hypnosis spiral being superimposed behind it, the windmill then being replaced with a sheep's head and the words 'OBEY'.

"Naturally," Ash spoke chuckling, Agnes agreeing.

"Yeah."

She was pretty certain what was coming next, but couldn't help but scowl as a picture of French President Emmanuel Mouton, a sheep, turned up. And a picture of the previous one… President Francois Hurleande, a wolf. Wait, was it insinuating that the current replaced the former as part of… Agnes was giggling. "Yeah, I know right." Ash said. "Brainwashed Dumb-Dumb's…"

She chuckled. "Brainwashed dumb-dumbs…"

Catano began to tremble. He wasn't just into this horrible nonsense, he was actively converting Agnes, at her absolute most vulnerable, into it too! It was evil. The picture was now showing pictures of a nuclear plant, with '75%' overhead and an arrow going to '50%'. Then a graph, the french flag against the british and german on top, arrows going down to bars. The french one was tiny, the british middle tier, and the german one way up. A bar appeared above the french one, putting it higher up. Finally, it transitioned to a picture of a wind turbine.

Then the hypnosis spiral appeared behind it, the two foxes laughing, especially as President Mouton's face began flashing on and off, the words 'Obey' underneath.

She almost… -almost, leapt out there and then, to snatch it off of them, only for a familiar voice to shout out. "Ash? Agnes?"

It was Maisy, and out of instinct Kii pulled back, finding an alcove, her ears peeled. After all, never interrupt a perp when they were potentially about to ramble on and incriminate themselves.

Whoever the perp in this group might turn out to be.

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Ash's ears pricked up as he heard Maisy's voice, quickly turning off the video and stashing the phone away. There she stood, looking terrible. Her wool was neatly clipped and clean while her short horns, the forward tip of one currently being fiddled with, were polished and shiny. Over her thick wool she wore a beautiful long arab style dress, the thin breathable deep blue fabric tied off at the middle by a cream sash with deep brown geometric patterns embroidered in it. Despite all that though, her face, and the way she held herself, stood out more than anything else; she looked terrible.

The young fox couldn't help but look at her in shock. "You look like a cervid in a spotlight," he said, beginning to walk forward, arms opening out into a hug. Agnes was doing just that too, only much faster, Maisy taking a deep breath in and pulling up her sleeve.

"-Here," she spoke out, forcing a smile. "-Feel free!"

They both froze, looking at her arm.

"-I mean, I don't have much of a head poof," she stammered out. "-If you want to grab my chest, you can!"

The two foxes glanced at each other, then looked at her. "What are you doing?" Ash asked, his head tilting hard.

"-I'm offering you my wool!" she spoke, her fake smile growing on her muzzle. "You can touch it and feel it all you want. It's only fair!"

Agnes glanced back at her before walking over, arms out, and pulling the sheep into a tight hug. "What's wrong with you?" the vixen asked, sniffing.

"I… I… -Nothing, nothing's wrong with me," she said, breathing in and out, composing herself. "In fact, everything's better than it ever was. I've… I've worked out what I've got to do now, and it's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay, for everyone."

Ash looked on, taking a breath in. She was really acting off, he wanted to help her. He didn't think she was a bad mammal; she was his friend.

But…

She was acting like she'd done a bad thing, and even though she was scared and worried and part of him really wanted to help her, carrying on what he'd done for Agnes, another part was telling him that this was the right time to push on. To get something out. To be mean and sly and do what he could to maybe help Kris.

To be a therapist or a cop.

To help his friend or his cousin.

Comforting her and leaving him, or pushing and maybe hurting her to maybe get him out.

He didn't like it, he didn't think he liked either option, and it cut hard against what he'd just been feeling with Agnes and what he'd wanted to do.

But he had to do it

For Kris.

He secretly pressed record on his phone, pulled his tongue back, and began his work. "You've found out a way to help Kris, haven't you?" he asked. Agnes pulled back, panting hard and holding her hoof, her eyes fixed with hope.

"Not just him," she said, looking to Agnes, then Ash.

"Tell us what you need to tell us," he said. "I promise, whatever it is, I won't be mad. I'll still be your friend."

She sniffed. "You shouldn't be. I don't deserve it. Not after what I've done… What we've done."

"Maisy," Agnes began, trembling. "What are you talking about?"

"-Something I should have done a long time ago," she said, choking up a little. "I didn't see it all until now but… but… -that isn't an excuse! There is no excuse. And… And Ash, you have a right to be mad that I didn't do this sooner, because foxes and others suffered thanks to my innaction. And because of that all I was... was a horrible speciesist… all, this time!"

She sniffed in and looked down, Ash coming forward and holding her arms, tight. "Just get it out," he said, Agnes' eyes flicking over to him. "Tell us what you need to tell us."

"You deserve better," she said, "you all do. And my species has been oppressing you and stealing the lives you could have had from you and so many others for so long, and it's time that I put a stop to it."

Ash blinked, his head tilting. What did her species have to do with anything? Or was there really a big wide Cudspiracy going on? What if the Packson's and Honey and so on had truly been onto something. "Listen," he said. "You're rambling. You need to be more specific. What did you do?"

"Too much and too little," she confessed. "My family and myself have been riding high. Living a good life, never having any real concerns of fears, never having to live with any real bad stuff like preds and foxes and rodents and all those others who we hurt did. And I was happy going through life, having it easy, because I'm a sheep! Because I benefited from it all! But seeing how Kris was treated, and listening to others and reading stuff up, and finally… and finally talking to a mammal who laid it all out for me and told me what I have to do to be good…"

She breathed in and out. "I've… I've realised how unfair that is. How evil it is, and how it's baked into everything! A while back, I merely thought that there were lots of speciesist sheep, but the truth is we all are, even if we don't mean it! And denying that is just hurting others. If I want to be a good mammal, I have to change that! I owe all you mammals who we hurt, and now I need to pull myself back and let you get ahead. I'm a privileged sheep… and I've finally chosen to stop being fragile, to check it and do what needs to be done to make this world fair!"

The two foxes looked at each other, blinking. "Okay…" Ash began, grimacing a little as he pushed on. She was acting like she was evil because she came from a well off sheep family… -No, she was acting like she was evil because she was born a sheep, and beating herself up about it, and he almost cut her off to tell her how stupid that was. But maybe this was her guilt talking? Coming out in a strange way? And Kris still needed help… He took a breath in, his gaze hardening. "Okay then, you say that sheep are evil. Now, tell me your crimes."

"-Ash…" Agnes began, only to be cut off.

"I took advantage of me being a sheep," she said solemnly. "I benefited from you being put down, and I have to…"

Ash let out a short growl, closing his eyes. "You have to what?" he spoke, unable to hold back anymore. He knew she was hurting, but he needed to know, for Kris.

"-Hold myself back for you, use my privilege to help you, be an ally..."

"-We don't want you as an ally!" he cut off, making her flinch back and begin to tremble and sniff. "I want you as a friend! As someone who would tell the truth." He raised his palms up. "This is stupid."

"-But… but… -it isn't! I've read the academics, the papers, listened to the experts from marginalised species," she began rambling on, somehow getting even more panicked as she went. "Listened to a mammal who lived it as part of a marginalised species. And it's not about me. It's about my species! They hurt all of you, and owe a giant debt, together, and I'm a bad mammal if I don't start paying that back right now! I come from a bad species, and I've finally learnt my place!"

"Okay then," Ash carried on, finding a way to lead her in. "How... how are you going to 'pay us foxes' back? Because I can think of one good way."

"Well, I'm gonna listen to you all," she began rambling on, "and challenging those in power harming you, and pull back from jobs and university offers so your kind can start having more spaces to go to. I've been trying to get my dad to cancel this scholarship offer he's trying to get me, because we can afford it anyways, and I've told my uncle that he should go out and start taking on more predator students, and though they might not like him he owes it to them to not be fragile and put up with any criticisms… -And, and… you can feel my wool too! I mean, most sheep don't like others doing that, but compared to what you face, that's nothing, so I can take one for the team, right? Right?"

"Those weren't it," Ash spoke, finally deciding to go straight on to Kris, only for her to cut him off.

"-Oh god," she panicked. "Of course, I'm not doing enough, am I? I should volunteer… And I should donate my wool, clip it more…"

"-Maisy…"

"And my food costs less, so I can donate some of what I save from not being a pred to preds, and… and…"

"-That's not…"

"-And I really need to get other prey thinking like this, don't I? It's not just me, it has to be everyone, everyone giving things up and knowing their crimes, putting you poor mammals first."

"Well go on and finally tell us about those crimes!" he cut in, making her flinch back. He looked at her, his teeth grinding about a bit, while Agnes looked at him in shock.

"Ash?" she began, only to be held off by a paw.

The red fox tod looked at her and breathed in and out, his gaze mellowing. Maisy was sounding even more confused and crazy than Gruinard Gal, and he didn't want her like that; it reminded him of how he'd once been mad, and how he'd taken it out.

On himself…

He shivered.

He glanced down at his sweatbands nervously, before looking up at the shaking ewe.

"I… I know I'm a bad mammal…" she began. "From a terrible species that has done horrible things…"

He wanted to hold her tight and comfort her, he wanted to have her carry on talking and get this all out of her system like what had happened to him in therapy. But with how she was acting, for all he knew, she was trying to cover up her guilt. He just wanted his cousin back… "You said you need to listen to foxes, so listen to this one. No back-talk," he began. She shut herself off and nodded, a tiny flicker of a smile flashing on the end of her muzzle for the briefest moment. "Okay," he carried on. "If you want to be a good sheep, there's just a few little things you owe us, okay? Now, you want to help foxes, help these ones. Do you know anything that can help with getting Kris out?"

"I…" she began, before cutting it off. "No, but I will help you, I promise."

"You'll help us by telling us what you know," he carried on. Agnes turned to him and blinked.

"Ash, what are you doing?"

"Helping Kris, I'll explain later," he said. "What do you know?"

"-I… -I don't know anything!"

"What about your family?"

There was a long pause, and if it could, her black face would have started going pale. She began trembling, and took a step back. "Wait, don't go there," she panicked, hooves up and shaking. "Please don't bring them into this…"

"Why, you mentioned your uncle before, didn't you," he carried on. She was beginning to cry, and Agnes was looking between them, lost.

"Ash, stop it!"

"I'm doing what has to be done," he said, just wanting it to end. "Maisy. Please, tell us. I won't be mad! I'll be less mad than I am now! Come on, if you want to be a good sheep, be a good sheep."

She began sniffing. "You… You don't understand. -I know I'm being an evil speciesist sheep, but my family… I…"

"Don't worry," he said. "I know you're not like your Aunt."

Maisy stepped back, taking a sudden breath and really beginning to tremble. "You… You…"

"Please," he began.

"What Aunt?" Agnes spoke. "Who? What? Please, what's going on?"

"-Please don't," Maisy sniffed. "Please…"

"Then tell me everything you know, it's the only way we'll…"

"-Ah, Maisy Calrama?" They were all shaken as Kii Catano appeared, walking up and smiling. "I was looking for you! Mind if we can have a quick chat in private about a weasel?"

"I…" she began, only to be cut off as the big cat swooped in and grasped her hooves, planting herself in between her and Ash. "It seems you were having an emotional conversation there. Let's get you away from it and dried up. Come on…"

She began leading the sheep off, Ash stepping forward. "I can come too, help her out and…"

Kii's head snapped back. "We'll be fine, thank you."

Ash stepped back a bit. "Listen, I'm her friend, we can…"

"I think you've been friendly enough," she said, a spite in her words that Maisy caught up with.

"Wait, you think they… No! They're good. They're good mammals, if they were saying things to me they were hard truths, I…"

"Come with me," Catano soothed, arm and tail wrapping around the sniffing Ewe. She gave a glare back. "I advise you two get to your classes."

Agnes just looked around lost while Ash, looking it all over, frowned. "Hey, all I did to her was what you did to me. I forgive you for that, you know…"

Catano paused, standing still for a second or two, her eyes wide at first before she frowned. "Thank you," she said, her voice clipped, as she turned around a corner and out of view.

The two foxes just stood there, silent.

"-You… you think she did it…?" Agnes asked, her voice trembling a little.

Ash breathed in and out. "She's a suspect."

"-But… -but she's our friend!"

"She still is," he said, "and she's a suspect, and I'm sorry for her..." He looked around and sighed, rubbing his eyes with his paws and stomping the floor. "Arghhh… I messed it up!"

"Messed what up?"

"I thought I could get something out of her, but I just hurt her!" he groaned, looking down and sighing, stomping the floor again as his tail bottle-brushed out. "I wanted to be nice to her, but I wanted to help Kris, and… Grrrrr, everything's just too stupid now!"

"Yeah," Agnes sniffed. Ash looked at her and walked over, holding her.

"At least I can make you feel better," he mumbled.

"Thanks…" she replied.

.

.

…

"Ash?"

"Yeah?"

"What was that about her Aunt?"

"Oh, it was nothing."

"I mean…"

"As in, I'm not going to talk about it. Okay?"

"...Okay..."

"Come on, we'll be late for art."