Zootopia belongs to Disney; Spider-Man belongs to Sony.


Is that purring?! she thought in alarm.

Feeling her own chest, she confirmed it wasn't her. And given the fact that the window was now open, and given general cold of the room... not to mention the fact that there was something pressed against her side, she knew that... oh boy.

As slowly as she could, she lifted her head. Her muscles tensed in preparation for the struggle she was sure to come momentarily. Oh, if this guy thought he was going to hit it with her for free, he had another thing coming! Nobody broke into her room without a fight!

Both anger and fear welled up inside her. But also a fair amount of confusion. Why wasn't this... whoever he was... attacking? Or trying to hold her down? And why did his purring sound so coarse, like a kitten's? And... what was that horrendous smell? A stench like rotting, moldy fish and burnt fur. It made her nauseous nearly to the point of gagging.

Finally, she was able to see a small, curled-up lump pressed against her side.

"Hey!" she shouted, bolting out of the bed.

"Rrrreeoooooooooooow!" the burglar yowled, launching upward suddenly and landing onto the floor. The cat landed with a light thump. Desiree hardened herself against the silhouette in the dark. "Sorry!" she heard him say with a much higher voice than she'd expected.

"Who are you?!" she demanded while she felt on the floor with her foot for that crow bar she kept for self defense.

"It's me... it's-it's-it's... I'm the panther you helped in the Walrus-Mart place."

"Are you ser- What- What are you DOING in here?! How did you even- Nope... Nopenotgonnaask. Just go. Go! Shoo!" She pointed toward the window in emphasis. Where is that crow bar?!

"No, wait, wait," the kitten said. Desperation laced his voice. "Please, I don't have-"

"I don't care!" she interrupted, her voice high in incredulity. But despite her disorientation, she was actually relieved. She had expected anything and everything else besides a tiny kitten. Because both she and her feline clients purred beforehand and afterward, she'd assumed automatically that someone was hovering over her, ready to... steal the merch. She was just glad that it wasn't some adult psycho. "You know, you might be a kid, but you should know that you don't just break in to some random animal's room and... fall asleep right next to them!" She hesitated and considered her volume. Elton and her partners were still asleep; there was no reason to wake them up over this. She lowered her voice. "Listen. You can't stay here. I can't help you, ok? I can barely even help myself. I don't have the means to take care of you, and even if I did, I wouldn't be able keep you in here while I'm... uh, working."

"I didn't 'break' in; I just opened the window."

"Oh, you know what I mean. So get out, now. Before I call the police."

"B-but I don't mean to stay here, I-I just..." he exhaled harshly. "Please, one night, that's all I'm asking."

"No."

"Please."

"No," she repeated firmly.

"Please!" he begged. "One night. I'll-I'll sleep on the floor. And I'll be quiet, I promise!"

Desiree stood still for several moments. Part of her was ready to call the brass; another part was tempted to take pity on this weird, persistent little boy. The rest of her was certain of what would happen if she were caught with a kitten in her room: she'd be evicted in the following ten seconds or less. Her work mandated that she remain free of any obligation to children of her own. Obviously, he wasn't hers; she had no intention of insinuating such, either. But this kid sleeping next to her in bed? How would that look?

The intruder remained a small shadow on the floor, barely visible in the near total blackness. Even her night vision needed a little help. She lifted her hand to the lamp and flipped it on, filling the room with a soft yellow glow. The only sound was her deep breath at the sight of the boy before her.

It was indeed the same kitten as before. He wore the same tattered hospital gown, was covered with the same dirt all over himself (dirt that probably covered her sheets now), the same mildly chubby cheeks and messy fuzz that made him quite literally look like a big baby. But what shocked her was not his appearance, but his disposition.

He was on his knees, gripping the carpet hard with his hands. His face was contorted in terror, intermingled with hopeful anticipation. It was not possible to see him and conclude he was a threat. All she could see was true helplessness in his dark blue eyes, the kind that she knew all too well. Because she was close friends with that feeling. Intimately close. He was right where she was after the Crisis, with no one to help.

It was amazing how one look was able to change her perspective instantly. If she hadn't turned on that light, she would have remained adamant that he should leave. But seeing his desperate condition, she found herself unable to do so. The only thing she could say was, "Fine. One night."

Suddenly, he flew into her torso and embraced her, purring once again. "Thank you thank you thank you!" he chirped happily.

"Wh- hey- get off, please!" she nudged him off, suddenly realizing... oh yeah! He smelled like a rotten fish! She pushed him downward and he slunk to the floor where he started nuzzling his cheek on her leg and mewling. "No no no no, none of that. I don't need your scent on me; I'm not your mommy." She picked him up under his arms and set him on her bed. He looked at her intently, resting on his hind feet in a classic upright position. His tail swished back and forth behind him. The woman put her finger in his face. "Look at me. One night." He nodded. "One night, and you're gone." He nodded again. "Ok." Snapping her fingers, she pointed downward. "Under the bed. Move."

He complied without hesitation, but as soon as he crawled underneath, he sneezed a few times. It must have been super dusty under there.

"Thank you," he said quietly after a few seconds of silence.

"Mm-hm. Go to sleep. And no noise."

"Ok."

Desiree climbed into her bed and turned the lamp back off. After the first few minutes, she felt herself drifting off. But then...

"Tch!... Tch!"

She turned on her side, pursing her lips in annoyance and hoping that he would be quiet from now on. Buuuuuut...

"TCH!"

"Ok, I can't sleep with all that sneezing. Get up here."

His head popped up suddenly over the edge of the bed. She couldn't discern his face but his silhouette was there. "But you said..."

"Look, I need to sleep, and..." She sniffed and recoiled. "Oh! That's horrible! How do you not smell yourself?" She threw the covers off of herself and stood up. "Come with me."

"But what ab- ok," he said timidly.

Oh, Desiree couldn't help but reconsider briefly. Even despite the fact that her colleagues and Elton had sound-proofed their rooms, that didn't stop them from leaving them when they needed to use the bathroom or get a snack. But she was not letting this kitten sleep in her bed smelling like that. She also couldn't throw him out. She just couldn't. So, she was doing it.

She turned the doorknob carefully and pulled on it. But it wouldn't budge. Groaning, Desiree pulled on it. It normally took a great deal of her strength to open this stupid door; sometimes she'd have to ask her clients to help her open it. It was living proof of how stingy and rotten her employer was, that he wouldn't pay to fix a stupid door.

"Is it stuck?" whispered the kitten.

"Hold on, just... just lemme..." she pulled hard and the door scraped noisily across the carpet, but only a few inches. Not enough for either of them to get through. "Ugh! This stupid..." the kitten cringed at the curse "...door!" She stepped back and rubbed her eyes with her fingers while breathing deeply. It was such a bad time for this. She'd just wanted a night of relaxation. But nope!

The kitten stepped up to the door and examined the way it. He saw that two of the hinges were broken. Only the middle one was intact, but it looked about ready to break also. No wonder...

Gripping the door, he lifted it slightly and carefully maneuvered it. It made no sound whatsoever. "It's open," he said.

"What?" asked Desiree, uncovering her face. Indeed, it was wide open! "How... how did you do that?!" she whispered, a bit more loudly than she meant to.

"I..." he lifted the door and swiveled it back and forth a few times "...just did that." She gawked at the action. That door was between eighty and a hundred pounds, yet he moved it as if it were a two-pound weight. Remembering what she was doing suddenly, she shook her head and exited the room. The kitten moved the door back to her amazement. But she'd worry about it later. Now, she had to get this kitten cleaned. Of course, one could only wonder why he didn't do it himself. Didn't he bathe like the classic feline?

She guided him down the dark hallway toward a door at its end. This door was much easier. She led him inside and closed the door, leaving the room in total darkness for a moment. Then, with one flip of a switch the room was bright. Desiree's eyes squeezed shut. She wasn't used to getting up in the middle of the night to do something like this. Granted, being a former graduate student, being prepared was something she was very good at. Nothing could have prepared her for something like this, to be fair. Nor had she fathomed ten years ago that she'd be a hooker. Just another example of how unpredictable life could be.

Slowly letting her eyes adjust, she squinted them open and saw the kitten standing in the bathtub. Heh?

"Uh... what are you... are you seriously going to take a bath?" He nodded. "With water." He nodded again. "Even though cats hate water."

He shrugged. "It never really bothered me."

Smirking, she said, "Ok, then. Go ahead." She walked over and drew the curtain closed. "Give me the gown." After a few seconds, he handed it out to her. She hesitated to take it. It was covered in dirt, bits of grass, and stuff she didn't even want to think about. And several holes were torn into it, including a couple little round ones that looked like bullet holes. Taking it with two fingers to minimize contact with the dirty gown, she held it away from her. "Geez! This thing has to be a month old!" She threw the gown in the trash can beside the toilet and tied it closed to throw in the dumpster afterward. But something occurred to her that she hadn't had the chance to think about.

"You don't happen to have extra clothes, do you?" Dumb question.

"...No."

Thought so. She had no clothes that would fit him, nor would they be appropriate for him. She shuddered at the thought of the kitten wearing one of her outfits - even worse, one of her bikinis. She trembled at the image. No way!

"How long were you out there anyway?"

"Two days, I think?" Danny answered.

She'd heard him wrong. "How long? Two weeks?"

"Two days."

Her eyes widened. "You've got to be joking." That gown could not have gotten that messy in two days. A few weeks, maybe. Maybe. But not two days.

"How do you work this thing?"

"Oh, here." After explaining to him how it worked and pointing out the old shampoo that only non-feline clients used if they felt the need to wash up (if they needed to get back to work for example), she sat down waited for the tub to fill up and for him to turn off the water. Her back rested against the wall, helping her to relax. It certainly wasn't her bed, but it felt nice all the same. Steam began to waft over the top of the curtain and gathered around her, making her feel even more relaxed. He turned off the water and she listened to the sloshing within the bathtub as he washed himself. "So you were out there for two days?" she asked, still skeptical.

"Yeah."

"Ok, then." Yeah, now she was starting to think that maybe he was from the nuthouse. The junior nuthouse. "What were you doing? I mean, don't you have parents or something? Or a legal guardian?"

"I... I, uh... I guess I don't know," he answered.

"Don't know what?"

"If I have anything like that."

"You're an orphan?"

"I don't know."

"Well, what do you know?"

He didn't answer. In fact, he seemed to have gone still. Her shoulders fell. Being a former graduate student of criminal law, she'd spoken to plenty of children from a litany of different situations, be they abuse, neglect, abandonment... and what she'd come to understand was that silence didn't always mean they were hiding something. Sometimes, they simply didn't know how to answer. Or didn't want to answer. What happened to this boy? she wondered. But she didn't press it. For several moments, the two of them sat silently in the steam.

"...I..." she turned toward the curtain to listen. "To be honest, I think I've seen you before."

"Yeah? When?"

"It was nighttime, and I saw you with two other women, and this other ocelot came up to you, and-" The memory came back immediately the moment he mentioned that event, which she'd seen firsthand.

"That was you walking by?!" she interjected.

"Y-yeah."

Desiree couldn't believe it. She'd seen that old guy around once or twice, sitting on that bench near one of her assigned places. But he was harmless enough. When she'd seen this kitten, she had thought that he was lost, that he'd been kitnapped probably. She'd had a mind to call an ambulance or something, but her client had just arrived so her hands were tied.

"What's your name?" she asked.

"Danny. Danny Arcturus..."

"How did you end up out there?" There was silence for several seconds. She tried again, this time changing her tone. "Did something bad happen?"

"Yeah," he said after a few seconds.

"Did you get hurt?"

"Kinda..."

"Wanna tell me what happened?" she asked in an inviting voice. She could tell from her voice and from the warm feeling in her chest that her inner therapist/attorney had kicked in. It was rare but still present, buried under loads of scar tissue. To see it was a breath of fresh air.

"Um, well..."

Danny told her the story, beginning with going to the fair with another ocelot by the name of Sarah, then going on to the assault in the coffee shop, next this weird... experiment where some wolf forcibly took some blood from him, and finally his day on the street. Desiree listened the whole time. She'd expected something like child abuse, or that he'd run away from home. But this was surreal. She actually had no answer for it, any of it. The longer she listened, the more she felt that she actually needed to call the nuthouse. For his sake.

And yet, the way he told the story... she knew crazy animals. Crazy was believing things that weren't true; hearing voices or seeing things that weren't there; egocentrism gone mad. But what she heard was confusion, fear, betrayal... the normal fear that kids display when they face situations they don't know how to process. Yet the story was so outlandish that she could come to no other conclusion. He was crazy.

She was still calling the nuthouse. Or maybe the police. This kid was well beyond her, ahem... "pay-grade."

As the two talked, the lion in the soundproofed room down the hall received an anonymous call, one that brought a very wide grin to the disgruntled lion's muzzle.


Nathan was led down a short hallway, one which made him feel as if he were in a maze. Behind him was the same rhino who had shot his mother with crazy juice and who had instructed the panther to follow him. When he'd refused, he had been forcibly picked up and dragged, kicking and screaming, into a vehicle where a bag was put over his face. When the bag had been removed from, he was standing in front of a large building. He'd looked around to discern where he was. But all he knew was that he was probably somewhere in the Rainforest District, based on the mist and the trees filling the area around the building. With animals behind and beside him he'd had no choice but to walk forward. And now he was walking to his demise, as far as he could tell.

"Listen," he said in fear as he walked through another door into a very long hallway. This was his last mile. Oh, they wouldn't kill him. That was too easy. They'd turn him into a mindless beast, the kind that no longer had a trace of free will or reason. That to him was worse than death.

At the end of the hallway was an open door. Inside, the lights appeared dim. "Listen, I can pay you, ok?"

The rhino behind him scoffed. He'd ordered the other animals to stay outside while he led the boy inside. "Ha! You ain't got any money, kid! What could you give me?"

"I can work! I-I-I can... I'll do anything, do whatever you want. Just don't-! Please don't..." He hesitated to finish the sentence.

"Walk. That's what I want you to do." The rhino was enjoying this. He could tell.

Nonetheless, Nathan was rendered silent by the answer. All he could do was obey and hope. Deeper in the building filled with large rooms packed with cubicles, he heard a female voice coming up from ahead. He strained to listen: "...put him in place. Trust me, you used to be on top; he is the way to get back there..."

Wait, he knew that voice!

"Yes, he will deliver, if you do what I've told you, to the letter. Have I failed you before?... I thought not... You're welcome, sir! Good night."

Wait. He knew that voice. He'd heard it before. That same voice had told him that the lamb he'd seen in the train station a few days ago had been... her. Had told him the same night that the lamb had shown up to make her life as miserable as possible. Had told him that he would be rewarded if he did this minor thing. Excitement brimmed in him for a moment, overwhelming his terror. Is that what's going on here? Is... is he here to collect his reward?

Nathan came to the end of the hall where the door was. He could see inside but the room was large. There was no one in his line of sight inside the dimly-lit room. The rhino gripped his shoulder roughly and shoved him behind himself. "Don't move," he commanded in his characteristic base timbre. Nathan complied without hesitation. This rhino was enormous, so he had no intention of crossing him the wrong way. "He's here."

"I know," said the female voice. So she was expecting him? What did she want? Did he do something? Did he not do something? Or did he not do something well enough? What? "Come in, Mr. Predal. Have a seat. Make yourself comfortable." Her voice was pleasant, even soothing. His heart almost stopped as it occurred to him that he was going to be able to meet... the Guardian Angel. The most powerful, the most mysterious crime lord - lady, actually - the city had ever seen. The only one to throw even the great Zootopia Police Department into a whirlwind.

Standing here, he almost found himself unwilling to move. GA's mystery... it was almost too valuable to just give up. But he knew he had to do what she said. So he took one step forward. One step closer to finding out who this woman was. Another step. Then another step. Then another step. He was about to see behind the veil. He came through the door into what appeared to be a bar of some kind. But... he didn't see anyone else besides the rhino, sitting at the bar at the far end of the room. Going to the bar, he took a seat like she'd said and waited. Behind the bar, an okapi barista was wiping down shot glasses with a slight smile on her face. There was a litany of beverages to choose from: various beer, wines, whiskeys, rums, bourbons, and everything in between. While he was familiar with many of them, he could not discern quite a few, some he had never even heard of. There was also a stove and oven combo. A table was beside it with a bowl and an open carton of eggs with milk and cooking utensils as well as a few bottles of unlabeled powders and liquids. "Uh... is GA here?" he asked the okapi.

"Who do you think you're talking to?" she asked him, not even looking up from her glass. Her eyes were nearly closed, glued to the glass as if she found perfect contentment in how clean she had made it.

Nathan scoffed. "You?" He had to admit, she sounded exactly like her. "Come on, where is she, really? GA wouldn't have had me dragged all the way out here for a big joke. She wouldn't be a prey mammal. A prey mammal wouldn't have the guts to... to do what she just did to my mom."

GA set down the glass and lifted her eyes to him. And he nearly fell out of his chair. A cold, electric shiver slowly ran up his spine, down his arms, ending at his fingertips. He had seen plenty of unique eye colors in his life. Blue, green, purple, even gray and red. But never, in his life, had he ever seen such eyes. Eyes that unsettled him to the core of his being.

Eyes that were bright, luminescent yellow, with deep black holes in the center. Yellow like sunflowers at noon on a clear day. Sunflowers whose edges had been stained with blood - a deep red rimmed the glowing, yellow orbs, branching off into intense veins that permeated her whites. In spite of her pleasant smile, her eyes alone gave the otherwise harmless-looking okapi a visage that was terrifying. Unnatural. Malice hidden behind a kind face.

Her smile dropped ever so slightly, enough to convey warning: "Trust me, Nate. If you were to see what I really look like, you'd probably pass out right then and there." She flashed him a sweet smile and picked up the clean shot glass to put onto a shelf on the back wall. Nate was busy considering what she'd said, which scared him even more deeply. He sat glued to his seat, petrified. "I'm sorry about your mom getting... well... you know. But I had to move things along. And I had to get you here tonight. I decided to kill two birds with one stone." As she spoke, she casually put on an apron and began to crack eggs to put on a skillet. "Things are changing. And they're changing fast, much faster than I predicted they would. So..." She looked at him. "I believe I owe you for doing what I asked. Eagerly, I might add."

His fear receding for a moment, Nathan's eyes widened in excitement. So he had done it right! He had been convinced that the lamb hadn't suffered enough because of his sister. He'd been afraid she'd ruined it all for him. Oh, he'd longed for this. Because he knew that GA was someone who would not disappoint. Someone with as many resources as GA, he could not imagine the magnitude of a reward coming straight from the source. "What? What is it?!"

"Hey, hey," she laughed, adding the unlabeled ingredients to the eggs. "Hold your horses; have some food first." She set a plate of scrambled eggs and soy bacon before him. He tried to hide a cringe. It wasn't exactly his favorite.

"Uhm... can I have something different? I've... never liked this much." He regretted it the moment he said it. You simply don't insult a woman like GA. You just don't.

The okapi turned and slowly walked toward him across the bar. She looked intently into his eyes and leaned forward on her hands toward him. Her face was blank. With those eyes, there was no telling what she would say or do. He leaned back slightly in trepidation.

"If you want your reward, Nate, you have to eat. Or the reward won't work."

He looked down at the food and sniffed it. Was... was it poisoned? What would this have to do with anything? "What do you mean by work-"

"Have I ever failed you?" she asked quietly. In the exact same voice he was familiar with. A gentle, humming calm fell over Nathan, as if all fear, all anxiety, all hesitation was fading. He picked up the fork, a reciprocating smile forming on his face. He began to eat and recoiled slightly. "Good boy," she said in a motherly whisper. She began to pour a drink out of a pour spout. By the looks of it, it was a strong bourbon. "Here's a little something for the taste." She slid the glass over to him, which he picked up and sipped. He relished the burn as it went down. "By the way, my name isn't Guardian Angel per se; call me Lumin-Shiri Ahmsheer. It means 'The Angel Of Light'." As soon as she translated the name, she inhaled deeply as if in concentration. And dozens of tiny specks of white light began to appear, as if a fraction of her fur were glow sticks. Nathan stared intently at the okapi in wonder, mesmerized by the beauty of the lights emanating off of the prey's body. He ate as he stared at the woman... the angel of light.


Judy groggily went into the lounge area of the hotel and heard muted voices coming from inside it. She followed the voices and nearly laughed at seeing the two girls sitting on the floor, attempting to apply makeup to each other's faces. Currently, they were trying to draw lipstick on the other's lips. It was the funniest thing she'd ever seen.

The two noticed as she walked toward them. "Hey, Judy!" said Angel. "Are we pretty?" Judy struggled not to burst out in laughter. The lipstick and eye shadow had been added haphazardly, to say the least. They obviously had not had much practice putting makeup on. Actually, she knew that Angel wore it sometimes; she must have done that on purpose.

"Here," she chuckled while grabbing a tissue from off the counter. "Let me show you how it's done." Arya gave her the red lipstick and Judy wiped it off of her cute little face. "You know, sheep aren't really made for lipstick; that's more of a feline and lapine thing. So let me show you..." She took the eye shadow and blush and gently worked in the latter onto her cheeks followed by the rest of her face, giving her a glittery appearance. Then she carefully applied the eye shadow. Angel watched with a smile on her face, eager for her turn. When she finished, she held up the small mirror from the case the makeup came in and said, "What do you think?"

Arya gasped. Even with short wool, she actually looked... "Is that me?!"

"You look so pretty!" said Angel with a high voice. "Do me!" she said to the rabbit.

Judy obliged by applying bright red lipstick, subtle blue eyeshadow, and a little glittery blush to the panther's black-furred face. Judy then applied it to herself and took several pictures with the three of them, which ended up turning into an hour-long photo shoot. Finally, they sat down in the large main guest room and relaxed.

"Didn't you two ever do this when you were younger?" asked Judy.

"Of course. I just wanted to laugh at Arya," said Angel.

"Hey!" she said, elbowing the panther playfully.

"Did you put on makeup a lot when you were a kid, Judy?"

"No. Never."

"What? Really?" asked the girls at the same time.

"Really. I was much more... tomboyish when I was your age. In fact, I was actually a bit more boyish back then because of how much I worked out and played sports. My brothers pulled a prank on me one time that my family still hasn't forgotten."

"What happened?" asked Angel. The girls got flat on their stomachs, resting their chins in their palms with their elbows on the cushion.

"Well..."

19 years ago

Her first day of high school was starting tomorrow. And she was all set with pencils, pens, paper, binders, a calculator, folders, a hole puncher, a stapler, and a glue stick just in case. And in her hand she held her brand new cellular phone, as it was called. The 2004 Snarlkia 2600 phone. Her first phone that wasn't attached to a wall at the burrow. She couldn't stop playing with it.

"Just please, make sure that you don't answer any numbers you don't know; you might get a call from a predator. You might even get a call from a fox- probably should let me keep it, Honey." Judy father reached back for the phone.

"Paws off!" she said, slapping his hand. Stu yanked it away and shook it for a moment, yelping. She knew how to make him sting! "I'll be fine, Dad. Ok? Believe me. Mom gave me the same talk last night." She then spoke in her mother's even tone: "'If you get a call from someone you don't recognize, what do you do?' 'I hang up.' If you get an inappropriate picture, whether from a friend or a stranger...' 'I report it immediately.' 'If someone asks for your number...' 'Make sure to call you and Dad first.'" The older buck pulled up into the warren's parking garage and parked in his spot, which had his name painted on the curb stop.

"That's my girl! Now let's get inside and get something to eat. I'm starving from having to wait, what was it, fourteen hours? Fourteen hours to get you registered for high school. I mean, huh! You would think that most of the kids in Bunnyburrow would be grown up by now."

Judy smirked. "Dad, I don't remember a time when there wasn't an infant in the family."

"I know, I just..." he stopped and Judy turned to see her father beginning to tear up.

"Dad, what's wrong?" she asked, rolling her eyes - not that she was concerned; it wasn't a normal day unless he got choked up at least once. She just needed to hurry it along so they could get home and eat.

"It's just..." he sobbed "...you kids grow up so fast..." Judy walked behind him and urged him forward. "I remember when you were just a little kitten... oh, and your widdle diapers and..."

"DAD!" she snapped.

"...and your teeny bib... and now..." he sniffled "...now you're starting high school!"

Ok ok ok ok, they were approaching the house... just... a... little... further. All of a sudden, the buck pivoted to face Judy and wrapped her in a hug while sobbing loudly. Oh please, let me just get something to eat! Judy's ears drooped and she groaned in annoyance.

"Honey!" a female voice called out. "Stu!" The buck let her go and turned around to see his wife waving him forward. "Come on! Your dinner's been waiting for an hour! I'm already halfway through the T's!"

Before Stu could hold her back further, his daughter bolted forward into the house.

...

Oh, she was full. A fitting end to a long day. Huh, almost looks like I'm pregnant... "Ooh!" she cringed as... those feelings surfaced. She did what she always did when they came: kept her eyes on the gold that would be pinned to her chest. Officer Judy Hopps, first rabbit officer of the ZPD. That's better.

The long family table had already started emptying. All the younger children were already in bed, as well as the eldest and a few in between. Now, about a third of the family remained. The room was relatively quiet.

"Judy, you ok?" asked the chuckling voice of her brother. "You looked like you were about to throw up for a second there." She looked down the half-mile-long table about three rabbits down to see her older brother, Gad.

"I was! Because I glimpsed your muzzle down there. Wipe your face, would ya!" Judy smirked at the "Ooh's" from the surrounding males, all of whom enjoyed watching the sibling rivalry in action.

Gad, being the bad boy he was, didn't skip a beat. He and Judy were always one-upping each other any way they could, though the difference between them was, Judy knew when to stop. Gad didn't. But he seemed to have quite a bit of support, given that most bunnies didn't agree with Judy's chosen career path. "Touche," he said before wiping his mouth. "By the way, Brandon wanted to tell you, he went down to the mall and got you a present to start off your Freshman year."

"Really?!" asked the young bunny, suddenly giddy over getting another gift. "What is it?"

"And I thought you were the smart one; remember, I said, 'surprise.' It's back there on your bed."

Wait a second, she thought. "...How do I know this isn't one of your stupid pranks?" she asked skeptically.

"Brandon!" he called out.

"What!" a distant voice called out down the table.

"Where's that present you got Judy?"

"It's on her bed!"

Now thoroughly excited, Judy excused herself from the table and bolted off to her room. She didn't see the evil grin that Gad was now wearing. His brothers and sisters in the immediate space knew something was up. And they were dying to know what.

Five minutes after leaving the table, she finally made it to her room and burst through the door. She flipped the light on and saw, lo and behold... angels sang at the sight of the box on her bed. On its side, it read, JC Pony. Not the first place she would have chosen, but one thing she did know: SHE LOVED CLOTHES!

Flipping the cover off the box, she pulled out a red plaid button-up shirt with dark blue jeans and a matching red shirt. Eagerly, she pulled it on, ignoring the nagging feeling in the back of her mind that something was off.

Looking herself in the mirror, she posed like her favorite model, Kylie Barkley. But she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong with the style. But she was unwilling to let go of the euphoria just yet because clothes! But then she realized...

"Hey, Judy, whatcha think?" came a voice down the hall. Suddenly the door burst open, just as Judy was turning around, about to tell her brother what was on her mind, when there was a sudden flash.

"Gad?" she asked in confusion, trying to get the spots out of her eyes.

"Whatcha think? Jude the Dude."

"Wh-what'd you call me?" she asked, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Jude the Dude. It's Bunnyburrow's new nickname for you." As he talked, he started sending the picture to every contact he had.

"Gad, what are these?! These are for guys, aren't they!" she waved herself down to indicate the clothes she was wearing.

"Well, I went with Landon to get the clothes, and after he put them with the clothes he was getting for you, I... might have swapped them with my own?"

Judy's eyes widened. "Why would Brandon...?"

"Oh, don't worry. Brandon never..." he sent the picture to another contact "...even..." and another "...noticed. It was a good choice too; you lookin' soooo fly! Guys'll be breaking your door down in no time."

With a growl, Judy tore the shirts and pants off, leaving herself in her undergarments and failing to consider her brother was still standing right there. Suffice it to say the door slammed very loudly as soon as he noticed.

Present

Angel and Arya were shocked.

"He sent the whole town a photo of you wearing boy clothes?!"

"Yep. I mean, to be fair, it was kinda hard to tell. They could have passed as either girl or guy clothes really, but when he told everyone they were boy clothes, it wasn't hard to sell it. So, from then on I was Jude the Dude."

"Oh!" exclaimed Arya, who covered her mouth and laughed. "That's horrible! Why would he do that?"

"Um... I can't really remember, it's been so long. But I think... I think I might have ruined his chances to date this girl he really liked? Maybe? Yeah, that's exactly what happened!"

"Phhhhhhhhhbt!" Angel sputtered before giggling. "How?!"

"Honestly, I can't remember. Something stupid, I think."

"Wow. He dodged a bullet, then."

"Exactly what I told him!" she said. They all burst out into laughter.

They talked for a bit longer. Hopefully today would be a better day than yesterday. Soon, Athena would be out of the hospital and be on the way to recovering from such mental torture. That was the hope, at least.