[A/N] This the final chapter of The Wall. Some of the homes in this story were based on what I remember of the movie version of the Diary of Anne Frank. I got the original idea for this story from fan art where Nick and Judy are leaning against a brick wall. It had always been intended to be a tragic love story, but was originally ment to fit into a single chapter. However Nick's side was too long so it became a two part story, then three and finally the four parts you find now. Then, back in the summer, one of my beta readers suggested I write a follow up chapter, so this is what I came up with. I hope you enjoy the end of The Wall.

I would also like to announce that I have finished rewriting chapter 16 of Loves Bond and will be posting in next week (11/25/2022)

Chapter 16 - The Wall - Epilogue

Squatting in the rubble, Judy pawed through dozens of small rocks. Each had neatly folded notes tied to them with quaint, little bows. Many of the notes were so worn and weathered that they had crumbled or were torn by the passing of many seasons. The few that had been written on sturdy packing paper still survived years of harsh weather.

As her paws passed over each rock and note, she remembered the desperate words that had been written years ago. Delicate fingers brushed across pretty twine bows and crudely worn stones. Her dull claws, that were designed for digging, picked at one of the knots and undid the bow.

She lifted the cleanly creased and folded note, but her eyes filled with tears as they passed over the neat and proper letters.

Nick,

I know it has been a long time since we spoke. I hope you are well.

Please find this note and let me know you are alright.

I miss you so much.

Love,

Judy

After the tears had dried on her fluffy grey cheeks, she crumpled the note with both paws. Without looking up, she tossed the ball of paper away. Her long ears heard it hit a wall in the distance before falling to the cobbled street. Standing, she kicked at the rock where the note had been attached for many years.

Judy looked back over her shoulder and saw the great wall, now crumbled and broken by citizens from both sides. What had divided the city for longer than she had been alive, was now broken and torn apart?

Citizens could move freely once again across both sides of the city that had shared the same site for nearly a thousand years. It had only been a short period in the city's history but the blight that had been the wall would be remembered for many generations.

Looking down a shadowed alley, realization struck the homely rabbit like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky. She was also free to cross the wall as she wished. As a small child, Judy had always wondered what the city on the other side of the wall looked like. Now was her chance to explore the greatest wonder of her life.

Her paw took a single step towards that dark alley before she stopped. Her small, pink nose was twitching furiously to explore this new part of the city. Yet a modest idea was slowly forming into a plan. Instead of stepping into the alley, her paws turned around and she ran for home.

Racing past her parents, she quickly climbed the stairs to her room. Bonnie and Stu were seated on an old couch watching a game show called The Cost Is Right as their eldest daughter flew past. They were both so engrossed on the television that they never noticed that their daughter had not moved so fast in many, many years.

"Betting one dollar is such a cheap move," Bonnie declared.

Nodding, Stu replied, "It's the only smart choice, dear. He still has a chance to win this round."

Ignoring her parents, Judy rifled through her desk drawers. As the years had passed and the economy changed, her desk had also changed. She had gone from a crude wooden table with a single drawer, to a very modern and stylish desk with many drawers along one side. What had not changed was her secret stash of notes and letters from the fox across the wall?

This new desk did not have a locked drawer so she kept them secure in a pretty jewelry box that she found in her family's store. The brilliant emerald jewel on the lid seemed fitting for some reason she never understood. Unlocking the box with the key around her neck, she retrieved the stack of old and brittle letters.

For nearly an hour, she sat in her sturdy office chair, reading through Mr. N's notes. She knew his name was Nick now, but many of the letters did not have a name so she thought of him as Mr. N. When she found the one letter she was looking for, she clutched it tightly to her breast before locking the others back inside their box.

Flying down the stairs, she swooped past her parents once again without saying a word. They were once again focused solely on the television box as Wheel of Wonders flashed across the screen.

Crossing through the torn down section of the wall, Judy carefully pulled out the letter. She gently ran a fluffy grey finger across the words that had been scrawled there many years ago. In the first few paragraphs was a description of the author's family, but the rest had a very crude description of the tailor shop where he worked.

She knew the shop was not far from the wall. The fox said that it was less than an hour's walk from where they used to exchange notes. It was near a plaza that Mr. N never named, but many smaller mammals lived in the area. There was also a fountain nearby, but he never said what it looked like, only that it hadn't run in years.

Walking through the now open city, Judy noticed that unlike her side of the wall, little had changed here. Many mammals in drab, colorless clothes, walked the streets as they went about their day-to-day business, but all of the buildings were in disrepair.

Everywhere she looked, not one building was lacking a broken or boarded up window. It was as if no one bothered to fix anything for what she could only guess were decades. Flower pots hung from second story windows, but not a single one had anything growing in them. Despite the summer weather, a chill ran through the rabbit as she realized this part of the city had lost its spirit and given up hope long ago.

She ran quickly through the drab and dreary streets, hoping to escape the bleak oppression, but it surrounded her and felt like a crushing hammer. Turning a corner, she barely looked at anything in an attempt to escape, but ran full speed into a huge mammal.

It was a very large feline, much larger than any she had ever seen before. The shape resembled a tiger, but the fur was white with black stripes like a zebra. She had never heard of a white tiger before, and this was by far the largest predator she had ever seen.

Judy bounced off the giant mammal's ankle with a loud eep. Her tail hit the hard cement with a crack and the note in her paws fluttered slowly to the side of the road. A slight whimper escaped her lips as she tried to scoot away from the huge beast.

"Hello, there little lady," the tall tiger greeted warmly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you there," Judy replied with a sniffle.

"It's quite alright, ma'am," he returned. His huge paw lowered to around the rabbit's head height. "May I be of assistance?"

Pulling on the side of his great paw, Judy was able to lift herself up to a standing position. "Thank you very much, kind sir."

Before Judy could return to her search, the tiger leaned down and asked, "I have never seen your kind of mammal before, and I noticed you seemed to be a bit lost. Is there anything I can do to help?"

Looking up at the huge yellow eyes that were nearly as large as dinner plates, she realized that she didn't know where she was going and asking for directions would be a good idea. Standing on the tips of her toes, she pointed to the note and asked, "I am looking for a fox named Nick Wilde. He runs a tailor shop near a water fountain."

The tiger tapped his chin for a second before shaking his head. "Sorry, I don't know any foxes named Wilde, or any fox run tailor shops."

"Oh, I am sorry to bother you then, sir," Judy said as her ears fell and a frown slipped across her muzzle.

"But the fox quarter is northwest of here, you might want to try asking around there." He pointed a very long arm back the way she had come. "If you ask around there, someone might know the Wildes."

"Thank you so much," the rabbit cheered, as her expression suddenly brightened and her ears shot into the air.

Nearly an hour and several questions later, Judy was standing in front of a very run down building that seemed to be leaning precariously to one side. Many of the windows had been broken and the holes covered with cloth or newspapers. Clearly, the owners could not even afford wood to board up their windows.

Despite the not so friendly otter pointing her at the building, she knew she was in the right place because of the old and weathered sign outside. The paint had long since worn off and a few letters were even missing but when Judy got close she could clearly see the words, "Wilde &" The "and" was followed by something that she guessed must have read, "Son," or "Sons," she was not sure which, since some of the letters were missing.

Her heart skipped several beats as her paw reached for the doorknob. She noticed that the door frame had been cracked and splintered in numerous places. Even the door itself looked like it had been broken and mended countless times. Turning the knob she found that the door was locked, and the shop was clearly not open for business.

She tried knocking firmly on the door, but was afraid it might fall apart if she hit it too hard. The door did creak and groan with each strike of her small paw and she only hoped that it would hold. Judy also hoped that someone still lived here after so many years. She hoped that it was Nick, or someone that knew where to find him.

Before her paw struck the not so solid wood of the door for a third time, a harsh voice called from inside. "Go away! That shop isn't open today."

Judy breathed a deep sigh of relief. Someone did live here and the shop did seem to still be in business. Maybe she could get some answers from them.

"I am not here to buy anything," she called through the door.

The voice inside cut her off before she could finish, "Go away!" Her tall, sharp ears could also hear the hushed sound of much younger voices asking if there was any more food. Then someone hushed the kits and said they had to wait for tomorrow's rations.

Something inside the small rabbit snapped. She tucked the note with the directions back inside a pocket and ran for the wall.

Once on the other side, she sprinted directly to her family's grocery store. Without wasting a single second, she grabbed a small wooden crate and loaded it up with canned goods and a fresh loaf of bread. She also grabbed a spare can opener, in case there was a need for it.

With as much as her paws could possibly carry, she marched straight back to the tailor shop and firmly knocked on the door. This time, she did not care if the rickety old thing fell over or not. She almost hoped that it did.

Again the harsh voice replied to the knocking, "Go away!"

Quickly, Judy responded, "I am looking for Nick."

There was a long pause on the other side of the door, with some whispering too soft for the rabbit to make out. Eventually, the voice called back through the door, "Nick who?"

"Nicholas Wilde," she replied, using the name she had heard him use on the one night they had been able to speak over the wall. "He told me that he lived here."

"Nick isn't here," the voice quickly returned. Their tone had a cold finality to it, like they had convinced themselves of the harsh truth long ago.

"I have food," Judy said with as much friendship as she could stuff into those three words.

Everything went quiet after that. The only sounds the rabbit could hear was a gentle breeze blowing through the streets and the soft rustle of the leaves in the trees.

Then a click could be heard behind the door. It was followed by several others until a sharp red snout poked through the narrow opening. A pair of emerald green eyes followed the long nose and a red vixen, that was possibly half a decade older than Judy, appeared as the door slowly creaked open.

Despite her young age, the years had not been kind to this vixen. She was as thin as a rail and the tufts of fur around her cheeks had patches of grey. A sad and distant look haunted her eyes as she stared questioningly down at Judy.

"Who? What are you?" Asked the vixen, almost as if she didn't care. When she saw the small crate of food in Judy's paws, the door opened even wider.

"Hello," Judy greeted cheerfully with a wave of her paw and a hop in her step. "My name is Judy. I am a rabbit."

"A rabbit?" The vixen seemed to be deep in thought as she sized up the short mammal standing at her door. "Long ears? I have heard that name before. You must be prey." A slight hint of drool shone on the corner of the vixen's muzzle as she stared at the canned food. "Why are you here?"

Shifting the weight in her paws, Judy looked back at the vixen to explain, "As I mentioned before, I am looking for Nick."

A deeper sadness filled the vixen's eyes at the rabbit's request. "He is not here. He left years ago." Her eyes narrowed and turned cold. "Why are you looking for him?"

Pushing the crate towards the taller mammal, the rabbit said, "If you can take this off my paws, I will try to explain." Once the heavy food box was out of her paws, Judy pulled the note from her pockets.

"I have this letter," Judy said. As the vixen set the crate on a worn out table, the rabbit showed her the old scrap of paper.

"That looks like the paper we normally get packages in," she said, snatching it from the smaller mammal's paw.

Scampering around their mother's paws were three young kits. They appeared to be about five years old, and were in serious need of a bath. Each one seemed curious about the strange animal standing in their living room, but preferred to hide behind the table, or their mother's dress.

Turning the page over, the vixen examined the writing on the other side. "This is Nick's paw writing all right." She then turned back to the tall eared stranger and waved the letter at her. "Where did you get this? You're obviously from the other side of the wall, so where did you get a letter from my brother?" Her tone was once again harsh and demanding.

Shyly, Judy retrieved the letter from the fox's paw. "We used to exchange letters many years ago."

"Wait." A bright light suddenly filled the vixen's eyes and a smile spread across her muzzle. "Your Jay!"

"Judy, actually," she admitted.

"No. Jay. As in the letter Jay." She scrambled past her kits and headed towards the stairs. "Please wait right here," she called back. "I have something I want to show you."

Stunned, Judy looked around the quaint and rustic room. It was obvious that the place had once been a fashionable tailor shop. Dressing mannequins and models still stood in some corners and a three sided mirror was precariously leaning against a wall. She even spotted a pedal driven sewing machine that had been used recently.

As she looked around the room, waiting for the vixen to return, she felt a gentle tug on her own dress. Looking down, Judy found a young vixen looking up at her with very wide blue eyes.

The kit was twirling her own tail while chewing on a sharp claw. Her brothers were peeking from behind the table, while the brave vixen stared back at the rabbit.

Bending over, Judy spoke to the blue-eyed youth, "And who have we got here?"

Taking her claw out of her mouth, the kit showed off a long set of very sharp teeth. "Mom said not to speak to strange animals."

"What about me?" The rabbit asked.

"You are the strangest animal I have ever seen." She then pointed up at the rabbit's head. "Why do you have such long ears?"

"How can you walk with them standing up so high?" A young tod asked from behind the table.

"Don't they bump into things and get in the way?" The other added.

"Not at all," Judy exclaimed as she brushed her ears back behind her head to the oohs and aahs of all three kits.

"Ok kits," the motherly vixen snapped as she quickly descended the rickety steps. "Please don't bother our guest."

"Aww, mom," the two tods cried as they crawled out from behind the table.

Clapping her paws, their mom pointed towards the stairs. "Everyone can go play upstairs. This nice mammal and I have a lot to talk about."

With reluctant moans, the three kits trudged up the stairs. On the first landing, the young girl twirled her tail again and waved shyly back at Judy before she disappeared around the corner.

"Nice kits," Judy said warmly.

"Oh, trust me, they have been a pawful ever since their father was killed."

"I'm sorry."

"Please don't worry about it. We get by." The vixen, who had not mentioned her own name yet, placed an old cardboard box on the table next to the crate of canned food. "Now, you came to ask about my brother. I kept most of his stuff in this box and I think you might recognize these letters."

"So you're Nick's sister?"

"Yes." A blush rose up the vixen's muzzle. "I'm Rena. I moved back in here after my husband died in some senseless war on the other side of the world." Coughing, she pulled several stacks of paper from the box and pawed them to the smaller rabbit. "Enough about me, you're here to talk about Nick."

Judy's eyes grew wide as she looked through the papers in her paws. "These are my letters. But why did you keep all of them?"

"Keep reading, hun," Rena declared kindly. "Near the bottom are the ones he never sent."

At the bottom of the stack of letters in her paws, Judy found cruder sheets of paper covered in the tod's paw writing. All of them were unfinished with many lines scratched out. Every single one was filled with affectionate words and flowery poems.

It only took two letters for Judy to break into tears. The fox had spent the few days after they had spoken across the wall, trying to write her the perfect love letter or some kind of poem. There were dozens of failed attempts, but she could feel his heart in every one.

"It's obvious how much he was in love with you," Rena explained as her large red paw fell on the rabbit's small grey one. "When I found these hiding under the stairs, I assumed that he had found you."

"What?" Judy's head tilted to the side as she wiped away several tears.

"Mom said that he had packed a suitcase and gone on a long journey the day he disappeared. I was worried that he had been caught by the patrols and sent to the labor camps, but there was no sign of him and we never heard anything about him after that." Rena also wiped several tears from her eyes.

"I am very sorry, Rena." Judy squeezed the vixen's paw in return. "We tried to break him out, but the guards caught us and I never saw, or heard from him since."

Rena pulled her paw back and covered her muzzle with a loud sob. "Then he was surely caught and executed as a traitor." Another loud sob echoed around the room. "My poor brother!"

Judy wrapped her arms around the vixen and joined her own sobs to the chorus. They both held each other in tears for a few minutes, before the older vixen finally let go and wiped her eyes dry with the hem of her dress.

"Judy," the red fox said. "Thank you for letting me know what happened to my brother. You really meant a great deal to him, and I am glad to have finally met you."

"I am glad to have met you too, Rena."

Patting the crate on the table, Rena smiled down at her new friend. "You are welcome to come visit anytime, Judy. Especially if you can bring more of these."

Giggling wildly, Judy exclaimed, "There are always more of these where they came from, but I'm afraid I don't know my way around."

Standing up and taking Judy's paw, the vixen lifted her skirt and bowed. "I would be honored to show you around the city, dear friend."

"Thank you so much, Rena," the rabbit cheered. In the blink of an eye, Judy stood from the table and leapt into the vixen's arms, giving her the biggest rabbit hug ever, nearly causing the fox to fall on her tail.

Rena eventually did fall flat on her tail as three small foxes also leapt from the stairs to join in the big group hug.