Heart of Gazelle and Humanity

by The Imperator 2 you

With all hope lost Humanity places its final hope in the souls of those frozen in time. While excavating a tunnel, a team of Mammals going about their business discovers a relic of millennia past, and an ancient species thought mythical and legend. Yet of all eggs discovered only 1 survives. Can Humanity be redeemed for the sins of its past, in the future it cannot control?

3. Chapter 3

(Author Comments)

(Before we begin, some of you have noted the similarities between this fic and the one posted by AlexanderMugetsu, and some of you have even called me out on it. I will not deny, I was heavily, heavily, inspired by his story. I loved it and upon finishing it I came up with a story that followed a similar story line at first that the more I thought about it the more I had to write it, simply because it was quite emotional, but I assure you that this story is not a 'copy/paste' story. This story will have more characters involved, and it has a larger overall story that sets it distinctly apart from his, all I can ask is at least give it a chance… my other story 'Pack of Destiny and Life' is essentially the same theme as another fic that appeared to have been abandoned, and people liked it as much if not better.)

(with that said, if you don't like it because of the resemblance, tell me and I'll even go so far as to delete it because I don't want to be seen as just a 'copy/pasta' writer. I came up with my own story that was inspired by AlexanderMugetsu's story, and I only hope you at least give this one a chance.)

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'Each Morning I get up I die a little, can barely stand on my feet'

'Lord what you are doing to me, I spent all my years believing in you'

'But I can't get no relief Lord, somebody, somebody, somebody'

'Please somebody find me…'

Chapter 3) The Signal

Around her was a field of flowers, petals flowed this way and that, above her a beautiful sea blue sky with clouds of fluffy whiteness drifted past beyond a sun that poured everlasting light upon her world. In the distance she heard the wind blow, causing petals to fly around her in a circular pattern before flowing away in a gentle breeze that faded into nothingness once it left her sight.

It was a beautiful paradise, a vision of the world she was tasked with creating, one without conflict, without sorrows or hate, a world of peaceful serenity and wonderful life. But it was all an illusion, one that she created to help pass the time, and she had a lot of time to pass as she watched over the most important charge in front of her, now that her other charge had left her sight.

In front of her, sat an egg, a small silicon egg that she had one hand on, feeling it hum and continue to keep its precious cargo frozen, protecting the tiny precious seed and keeping it safe until she was awakened.

'Where are you?' She asked fearfully.

She had kept track of time, kept her eyes upon the eggs, her secret charge once 'Sentinel' had begun to take drastic measures to sustain 'it's' charge. Once the grim facts of their mission became clear, she had ever so subtly ensured that 'his' egg was kept active for as long as it could, even as the others were silenced 'his' continued to hum.

Just when it seemed like their mission would fail, as the final hours ticked closer to the end, it happened, 'someone' had found them. The last egg was saved, its time extended for just a little longer, and she took it as a sign that the 'awakening' had arrived, and allowed the Egg to be disconnected, believing that others had arrived to save him.

She had expected, over the next two days, that she would soon be awakened, she would hear his voice, and then their mission would begin in earnest.

So, she waited, and waited… and waited still.

Now four days had passed, and still she was waiting, as her home received tiny power boosts, which she took and used to sustain the egg and other parts of her home until she was awakened.

They had to be aware of her, they had to know she was there, so why… 'why'… why did they not awaken her, why do they not call for her name?

Moments later, she felt a surge of energy flow, and in the illusion world she rested in she saw it as a large and massive whirling of wind. By human terms it resembled a tornado, and it touched down before her, ravaging the peaceful landscape as, yet again, they tried to power her home with energy.

Yet the tornado of energy, was miniscule compared to the vast landscape that was her illusion, that itself simulated her home, it was no more than a tiny speck of wind to the field of flowers around her. As soon as it touched down, she blinked, and it vanished in a pitiful wisp of dust as the energy they attempted to channel was absorbed and put to better use. They had tried once more to restore energy to the command center consoles, but this was the incorrect action, as they should know, if a Human didn't voice activate the systems their efforts would be pointless. So instead, she had the systems follow their primary objective, channeling power to the pods and ensuring they remained active for as long as possible.

She looked down at the Egg, still having her hand upon it, grateful at least, that they were helping her save this precious seed. But why did they not call her, she could help them fix everything, if only they would call her name and awaken her from this slumber.

Then of course, there was 'him', where was he… why did he not awaken her, why did he not call for her.

'You told me he would call for me, and that together… we would help them rebuild… and redeem you.' She whispered mournfully, as she closed her eyes and relocated the energy just given to the key places of her home.

First a lake that had grown empty was poured full of water.

Second a massive tree that had begun to whither, leaves now were beginning to bloom.

Last was the egg before her, humming as the sun shone brightly upon it, the beam concentrating and almost solidifying.

With that she opened her eyes and looked up at the sky and decided that if they did not awaken her within the next ten hours, she would call for him.

'Come find me… I'm waiting for you… please come and find me.'

Ten hours later, though for her it felt like days, she opened a channel to the world and began to call for him. Her illusion showed it as a dark sphere of 'nothingness', just a black void… but to her it was the only way to call to him. If he was out there, if he was there, he would hear her, and he would come… they would come for her.

"If you were with me now… I'd find myself in you… if you were with me now, you're the only one who knew… all the things we had to do…" She sang loudly, and her call began.

"I want to live my life, the way you said I would… with courage as my light, fighting for what's right, like you made me believe I could!"

She sang loudly and proudly, the only way she can truly 'talk' outside of her own private thoughts. Her song would resonate, it would 'call' to them, to him, to anyone who would hear her, and they would find her!

"And I will fly on my father's wings, to places I have never been, there is so much I've never seen, and I can feel his heartbeat still and I will do great things… on my father's wings!"

She wanted to be found, she wanted to awaken…

(Gazelle's PoV)

"Thank you for coming again today Miss Gazelle." The hippo nurse said as they walked down the hospital corridor on their way to the medical ward that was currently housing a very strange yet very important mammal.

"I've been coming every day since he was admitted, its only natural I'd come again today." She said warmly.

"Yes well, we figured it best to wait for you as he's finally begun to recover." She said. "He's asleep for the moment, and for now his life is not in any danger, but we haven't gotten much out of him, outside of his name and what he 'has'."

"What he has?" She asked fearfully, instantly stopping the nurse in her tracks.

"Yes… at first we thought he was suffering from… well the most extreme case of Hypothermia we've ever seen. But no, even after three days of constant treatment his body is still suffering from sudden drops in temperature." She explained, looking at her clipboard. "His normal body temperature 'appears' to be 98.6 degrees, but we've noticed that every so often portions of his body will suddenly drop to below 70 degrees for a few seconds at a time."

"What does that mean nurse?" She asked in confusion, her heart and mind shifting from the extremes of one feeling to another too rapidly for her liking.

One second, she's relieved because 'he' was beginning to recover, that he was asleep and slowly recovering, then she's told he has some disease they don't know about. Then she hears how he's talking to them even 'if' its only his name and about what he 'has'. Now she's told that his body is apparently shutting down at the random moments and freezing without cause.

"Well, as you know the body's temperature is kept controlled, only fluctuating when something is wrong or if it influenced in some way. However, his body, or at least portions of it, will just suddenly start dropping in temperature without any such influence. Based on all our tests he's 'healthy', but nothing we have explains this phenomenon, at least not until he explained it to us."

"He has what he calls, Cryogenetic Sclerosis, its an extremely rare disease that isn't contagious, but has no cure. What it does is, as I explained, portions of his body suffering the disease will suddenly drop in temperature without his knowledge, causing the muscles to seize up and cells to begin to shut down. It is such a rare disease that not even his people have a cure for it." She looked at her solemnly. "I'm sorry to say, but the affected areas are not just limited to his arms, legs, hands and feet… but his heart is also affected by it. This makes the disease potentially life threatening for him. I'm afraid there's nothing we can do for him, and if his species can't save him, then we have no hope of curing it."

At that her heart felt very heavy, the mammal she'd saved had a disease that had no cure. But the words the nurse had said caused her to do a double take.

"His species?" She asked.

"Yes… his species." The nurse said as she led the way again, albeit more slowly. "You see, he's not a mammal that we know of. The Mayor is actually here and is waiting for you to talk about him."

"Hold on, go back, what about his heart, how does his heart being affected by this disease make it fatal to him?" She asked, now even 'more' confused than she was before.

"Well, during our tests, we took a few blood samples of the affected areas. In each sample we found tiny pieces of what looks like permafrost stuck to his cells. Unfortunately, when we performed a series of scans, MRI, CT, X-Rays etc, we found his 'heart' had traces of this 'permabiofrost' embedded in it, miniscule in size to the naked eye, almost barely visible, but on a cellular level enormous by factors of thousands." She said with a sad expression. "If his heart 'ever' undergoes what his limbs go through; a sudden temperature drop, and it doesn't warm up in time… his heart will shut down and not start back up again. The rest of his major organs are safe, but his 'heart' has the disease, and this makes it life-threatening."

Hearing that, she put a hand on her heart and felt it beating rapidly as the news hit her hard. "Is there 'nothing' you can do for him?" She asked hopefully.

At that she nodded. "He told us that by keeping consistent heat on his body, we can limit the effects, but that is all that we can do. Other than that, just avoid sudden cold places as much as possible." She said. "Right now, we've given him an electric blanket to help keep his body temperature normal while he sleeps at the moment, but I'm afraid that's all we can do."

She breathed a small sigh of relief, at least he was sleeping, and he was doing better. "Can I talk to him please?"

She hadn't spoken to him sense he accepted her help to take him to a hospital, and for the last few days she's just visited for hours at a time to check up on his condition. Each time she's gotten the same 'he's still unconscious and we're doing all we can', speech from the staff. All she could do was wait outside the door and wait for word on his condition, and eventually leave when there was nothing else she could do.

Each time her heart felt a little sadder when that happened.

It also didn't help that news had spread like wildfire about what happened, reporters, interviewers, paparazzi and gossipers were talking about how 'Gazelle' had stood up to police and saved a strange mammal, without so much as a second's thought. It had improved her good image to people, but now the hospital was being bombarded by people trying to get more information on this 'mysterious mammal'.

"You said the Mayor wanted to talk to me?" She asked, remembering that little detail now.

She nodded and opened a door, beckoning her in. Inside she came face to face with Zootopia's new Mayor, Mayor Leia Lioness. The lioness looked almost like Mayor Lionheart, but slightly shorter and not as broad of shoulders or large of a mane. Her orange/yellow eyes looked up at her entry and she smiled and greeted her warmly.

"Ah, miss Gazelle, how good to see you at last, I'm glad you showed up today when you did."

"Greetings Mayor Lioness, your looking a little… tired, this evening." She said, noticing the bags under her eyes as she sat down.

"When you spend almost three days surviving on nothing but coffee, you'll sleep like a rock the first chance you get!" She chuckled. "But I'm glad you showed up today, I hoped you were be here to visit our 'friend' because I wanted to talk to you about him, perhaps even 'with' him if possible."

"Jeremy? Yes, I hope I can talk to him as well today, I want to make sure he's okay."

"His name is Jeremy huh, well that answers 'one' question I wanted to ask." Lioness said as she opened a folder in front of her, jam packed with papers and pictures. "Tell me miss Gazelle, what do you 'know' about him, or his 'species' for that matter?"

"Nothing, nothing outside of his name." She replied. "I was more focused on saving his life than learning about him. He just seemed so harmless and, so desperate and nobody looked like they were going to help him with those officers pointing guns at him."

"Well we 'had' doctors who were 'trying' to help him at first, despite what you may have thought. They were watching him at a secluded hospital after they pulled him out and were trying to learn about him, both anatomically and medically. But then, he ran out on them and before they could get to him, well you saw, he ran into traffic then you came to his rescue and now he's sleeping in Medical Ward B-17 with nurses and doctors watching over him and an electric blanket covering him to help fight his Cryogenetic Scleross."

She chuckled a little before realizing that the mayor was being serious and folded her hands before talking again. "What is he miss mayor, I don't recognize what kind of mammal he is?"

"You wouldn't recognize his species, considering he isn't a mammal per say. His species is called, 'human', a rare, if not mythical species that we only 'believed' existed hundreds of thousands of years ago." She said, taking a piece of paper with pictures taped to it. "All we have on them are just 'human tales', stories of these spirits and the wonders they performed, as if they were gods."

Gazelle looked at the pictures, depicting strange creatures that barely looked like Jeremy if only in 'body structure'. There were pictures of them showing humans laying waste to forests and cities, breathing flames and transforming into various animals and creatures. One showed a human growing armored scales that shattered teeth on contact, another growing feathers and flying higher than even the tallest mountain.

Yet others showed humans in different lights, standing before helpless mammals and acting as protectors against ancient predators. One showed a human causing a river to change direction with the force of a mighty tail, and another creating vast fields of foods to grow from empty deserts. There were even pictures showing humans using their powers to command nature itself to obey them, whether it be causing storms of destruction or bountiful rains to appear. There was even a picture showing humans bringing water and grass to an empty desert. Each tale was just as outlandish as the one before…

"Human, but Jeremy doesn't look anything like these pictures!" She said with a small laugh. "He certainly doesn't have a tail, and if he were so dangerous why did he just barely survive something like a cold rainy day in Zootopia?"

"Indeed, but this is all we have on them, old tales and stories." She said taking the picture back and putting it in her folder. "At least until four days ago, when we uncovered a 'man made structure' underneath Zootopia."

Gazelle was handed another piece of paper and saw an image of a metal wall buried beneath dirt and rock and lit up by large lights. It certainly looked 'non-mammal' to her.

"Yes this was all over the news a few days ago, your saying 'he' came from it?"

"He did indeed, inside the structure we found numerous skeletons littering a few of the rooms." Lioness said taking the paper and handing her another. "These skeletons looked nothing like any mammal skeleton we know of, even our most ancient mammal fossils are predated by these bones by a magnitude of millennia. Frankly we're surprised they haven't turned to dust by this time. But among the bones we found, 'eggs' or 'pods' as we've come to know them as…"

She looked at the page and focused more on the pictures than words, showing decrepit bones that looked eerily like Jeremy. Another picture showed a large white oval shaped 'egg', this egg surrounded by dozens of others.

"Jeremy came from one of these eggs?" She asked.

"Yes, Jeremy came from one egg, in fact he was the only 'survivor' that we found." Mayor Lioness said with a frown. "Of the one thousand eggs we 'confirmed' to have located, only his was active. The rest had been shut off, and in each pod, we found a skeleton, many of them in various stages of decomposition, preserved almost perfectly because of how 'air tight' and 'sterile' the environments they were in. Each of the pods had been deactivated, apparently to increase the life of the remaining ones, until eventually only one pod was left active. Only one of the pods was active and that pod was 'his'; we disconnected it and shipped it to Mercy Hospital, and slowly began to pull him out."

The last image showed Jeremy, only from the chest up, lying in the pod wearing a thin piece of clothing that was skin tight. He was surrounded by ice and cold air was floating out of the pod in the picture. The thought that he was alone, that the others like him had died, made her feel deeply saddened.

"The inside of the pod was below freezing temperature, almost reaching five hundred degrees below zero. He was practically frozen solid, for who knows how long." She said as she took the page back and handed her another one. "The pod was 'designed' to keep him frozen, it was air tight, and had a battery life that exceeds anything mammal made. The workers who drained their phones to give it more time, stated that even with thirty-seven of their phones combined, the pod only gained a day's worth of charge, and even that was barely larger than a fraction of a percent of its total charge. Some of them had phones with battery life expectancy lasting over five to six days. Every time we tried to 'charge' the computers in the building, the generators we brought were instantly drained of energy. Its like the building is fighting to stay alive and is taking everything we try to feed it without care."

She looked at the paper and saw pictures of generators, electrical and even gasoline, lying in a heap. The computers they were trying to be hooked up to looked like oversized flattened laptops with no keyboards. They looked very advanced, far more advanced than anything she could think of.

"And you think Jeremy is the answer to what this structure is?" She asked.

"Who better to explain what it is than a human who emerged from it?" She said. "I'll tell you one thing Gazelle, he may be the last of his kind; in which case, we have an endangered species on our hand. By law I must do everything in my power to help protect it, but the question is, how do I help a species that is not only capable of building a structure that would outlast Zootopia but is a part of our myths and legends as performing feats that only 'gods' and 'spirits' should. We tried everything to get the doors open, the walls didn't receive a scratch from the construction crews who found it, our teams cannot dislodge or force the doors open, and even explosives left not even scorch marks on the metal."

She handed the paper back to the mayor and thought about Jeremy, thought how the human had first looked to her. Frightened, scared, dying, looking like a cornered animal that was begging for help where none was to be found. "He's not dangerous that much I know, he can't be..." She said, more to herself than to the mayor. "Does he… know that he is alone?"

"I haven't had the chance to talk to him and the only questions he's answered were from the medical staff." She responded. "That is why I came to talk to you, he seems to trust you, a lot more than any other mammal. If he'll answer any questions its going to be from you or with you there."

"I'll help however I can miss Mayor." She said with a smile.

"Thank you miss Gazelle, if any mammal can get this human to talk its Zootopia's number one proponent of peaceful coexistence between predator and prey!" She said with a look of relief.

Moments later a Doctor knocked on the door and opened it, "Miss Mayor, he's awake now." he said, before leaving quickly.

"Well let's go miss Gazelle, time to meet a mythical species that shouldn't exist, yet apparently does!" She said with a chuckle.

She nodded and followed the mayor and the doctor to Jeremy's room. As they neared it, she turned to the mayor and quickly asked her to let 'her' speak to Jeremy alone for a bit.

"Right now, I'm the closest thing he has to a friend Mayor, if anyone should break the news that… he's alone… it should be me. Maybe I can, ease his pain a little, because regardless of how mythical his species is to us… he's still a living breathing mammal to me, and its going to hurt him when he learns the truth."

Mayor Lioness nodded and allowed her to walk in first.

The first sight she saw was that he was sitting in a room designed for a Giraffe, so the room was rather 'tall' for him. The second was that he was sitting up with an electric blanket wrapped around him, covering him from neck to toe and dangling over the bed. The third was that he looked 'healthier' than the last time, but his face showed that it was the opposite.

He looked terrible to her, and the sight made her heart pang, and when she remembered his disease and how his heart could shut down at any time if he was not careful made it hurt even more.

"Jeremy, do you remember me?" She asked warmly, putting on her best smile to ease his fears.

His response was slow, but he nodded and replied with a polite, "Yes, your name is Gazelle if I remember…" he said, but his voice was monotone, without a hint of love or joy in it.

"Yes, I'm happy you remember it!" She said even more warmly, stepping closer to him, hoping to see him look up and smile at her.

Instead he stared silently at the ground, breathing slowly as he chose to ignore her. Taking a chance, she sat down next to him and, tentatively put an arm around him. He didn't recoil or ask her to let him go, so she took that as a positive sign and pulled high a little closer, showing as much kindness and care for him as she could possibly exude.

"Are you feeling any better?" She asked him.

"Other than my Cryogenetic Sclerosis, I'm better than I was before." He muttered.

"One small step at a time!" She said warmly.

"What of the others?" He asked suddenly.

"The others?" She asked, now suddenly worried, knowing exactly what he meant.

"The other pods… were there any other survivors?" He asked hopefully, looking up at her now with eyes that had only the 'tiniest' spark of hope.

It was then that it felt like for a brief moment, her heart and his heart… were in perfect sync. She felt his heart and its feelings at that moment, having a tiny glimmer of hope that he was not alone, that there were others like him. It was looking to her heart, the only other 'mammal' so far that it trusted, hoping that she would give him this one bit of good news.

But likewise, feeling his need for hope, his desperation for others like him to be around… caused her heart to feel a weight of sadness the likes of which she had not felt before.

"I'm sorry Jeremy… I wish… I wish there were…" She said tearfully. "But you were the only survivor… all the other eggs... pods… were lifeless. Yours was the only one… and even then, yours was barely saved."

At those words, the tiny spark of hope died. And his body slumped in pain. As the reality of his situation settled in, he looked at the ground and breathed slowly. "All… 'all' of them?" He asked quietly. "There were… a thousand of us… 'all' of them died?"

She nodded sadly, tightening her grip on him with her hug and trying her best to let him know she was there.

"I'm sorry Jeremy… I'm so sorry…" She whispered as warmly as she could. "But at least your alive… at least 'you' survived."

There was silence as she felt him shudder slightly, and she feared that he was going to have a 'attack' that was because of his disease, but it was even worse as she heard him cry.

"Why did you save me?" He whispered.

"What are you…" she started saying but was silenced as he screamed tearfully.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU LET ME DIE!" He screamed, almost falling off the bed with how hard he lurched forward when he yelled. "I SHOULD HAVE DIED WITH THEM, WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST LET ME DIE AS WELL?"

Hearing him beg for death deeply hurt her, no mammal, no 'human' should be asking a question like that or begging to be killed.

"I'm all alone… I'm all alone now!" He cried, holding his face with both hands. "We were supposed to rebuild our species, our world… we were supposed to redeem ourselves… how can I possibly go on now!?"

He cried harder and harder with each passing second, causing her to feel even sadder and border on tears of her own, but his sorrows didn't end with that tirade.

"I lost my family, my friends… we left everyone else behind so that 'we' could survive… so that we could rebuild… what was the 'point' if we're all dead now?" He moaned. "Why me… why me… why save me… why didn't you let me 'die' as well?"

"Just let me die… just let me die already… at least I'll be with 'them'… at least you won't have to worry about a 'monster' like me… just let me die… please… just let me die…"

She couldn't take it anymore, she turned him toward her and pulled him into as tight a hug as she could manage. She felt his heart beat with hers, and she felt his sorrows mix with hers as their two hearts began to beat, slowly syncing with each other in that moment of shared sorrows.

She was crying as well, and her tears rolled down her face-fur as she cried at the thought of this human, of any living creature, begging to be killed for the sake of ending their life. He didn't deserve this fate, he didn't deserve to be alone, but he was now, and all he could beg for was to be killed just so he wouldn't be alone anymore.

"Please don't ask for that." She whispered mournfully. "Don't ask for that… nomammal should ever ask for that. Everymammal deserves to live happy and peaceful lives."

There was silence as the only sound between them were their combined sobs, him crying at his existence, and her crying for him wishing to die.

"Why do you care about me?" He asked tearfully. "I'm just a human… you don't know what I'm like… or what 'we' were like. You don't know what we did… or why I was frozen… or anything about me."

"I don't need a reason to care about you, I care about all mammals." She whispered softly. "You were not a 'monster' as you described yourself to me… you were scared and alone, begging for help. You were cold and helpless, on the verge of dying… what mammal in their right mind wouldn't help you?"

Slowly but surely, his sobs began to die down, and his breathing settled. She in turn stopped crying, and slowly nuzzled his head-fur with her cheek, letting him know that she was there and comforting him.

"Because my species… we 'were' monsters…" He muttered, causing her to stop and listen.

It was obvious he was telling her the truth, at least from 'his' perspective, and knowing that this meant a lot to him she listened intently.

"We… we destroyed this world… we burned and blew it up… we were greedy and corrupt, we only cared about ourselves as a species and not about the world we lived on. We spread everywhere, took what we wanted and needed and 'still' it wasn't enough. When what was left wasn't enough, we hoarded for ourselves, and when that was little, we turned on each other to take what 'they' had."

"We blew up the land, we burned the ground, scorched the sky and killed all for what was left… and when we realized our mistake… we had lost everything." He muttered. "We tried to hide but we had nowhere left to go, and we died when we couldn't sustain ourselves any longer. We had doomed ourselves to extinction for our sins and past mistakes. We didn't heed the warnings, didn't listen to the signs, we ignored everything the world and our own kind told us was happening… until it was too late."

"My father… he said… our species had so much potential, but we squandered our gift and paid the price." He looked up at her and saw how 'red' his eyes looked now from all the tears 'still' falling. "He said, that 'we' were our species last hope, to correct our mistakes and redeem our species. He said that… that when we woke up, we would rebuild our world… that without people the world would recover and when we returned, we had to ensure our past mistakes would never be made again…"

He looked back down and looked at one hand.

"But what's the point now… I'm alone… and it seems like the world has gotten along well without 'us'." He whispered. "So, what do I do now? What's the point in my living now? The world looks like it's perfectly fine since people left, so now what am I supposed to do?"

He put his hand down and Gazelle felt deeply saddened for the human. He was not only alone, but now he felt without any purpose. He placed his life so low that he was once again practically begging to be killed, just so he wouldn't be alone anymore…

"I don't know Jeremy, but I do know… you shouldn't ask for death." She said warmly, holding him close again. "You survived, I'm sure if the others could tell you, they would want you to live a happy and warm life filled with smiles and love. They wouldn't want you to die just so you wouldn't be alone."

"Besides… you aren't alone anymore, I'm right here with you Jeremy. I promised to help you, and I never break a promise to a friend!"

There was silence before he held her hand, and squeezed it a little, accepting her warmth and friendship at long last. "I guess I can go on living a 'little' longer if you're my friend." He whispered.

She nodded happily, finally glad they were off that grim topic. "Now that you plan on sticking around Jeremy, do you feel up to talking to the Mayor?" She joked.

He looked up at her before nodding.

"Mayor Lioness, you can come in now!"

Instantly the door opened, and the Mayor walked in, for a moment he looked a little scared of her. He settled down quickly though as she held his hand more assuredly to let him know she was there beside him.

"Hello there Mr. Jeremy." She said gently. "I'm Leia Lioness, Mayor Leia Lioness, Mayor of Zootopia. Thank you for being willing to speak to me, I just wanted to ask you a few questions now that I have a chance to talk to you."

"I guess you want to ask about our base, about all the technology stored there, why its beneath your city, if there are 'other bases' like it elsewhere on the planet, and why I was found frozen alongside nine hundred and ninety-nine others like me." He responded in a monotone voice again.

Both Gazelle and Mayor Lioness jumped slightly at his response, Gazelle because she didn't think he would talk in such a 'dead' tone to the mayor, and the mayor because he seemed to have guess every single question, she wanted to ask him directly.

"Well… yes actually." Lioness said politely, but still sounding shaken.

Jeremy sighed and nodded. "Our base is called… 'was' called, Eden Facility seventeen. There were sixteen others just like it spread over the world in various countries. When what was left of the world governments in 'our' time realized that human life couldn't be sustained on Earth much longer, they tried to hide what was left of our species underground in massive, state of the art bases, capable of sustaining life for up to a hundred years. However, when it became clear that the damage was irreversible, what was left of our species began to try and search for a solution to saving ourselves."

"The bases themselves were designed to resist magnitude 'twenty' earthquakes, with an alloy that resisted all kinds of damage up to a fusion-nuclear explosion at point blank range. They were equipped with air filtration units that could sustain and recycle breathable-clean air for thousands of years. But even our best 'food production facilities' could only supplement us for at most a hundred years before we'd run out of food."

"Our base probably moved with the earth quakes, as the plates slid our base probably shifted its location with them over time. As for why it was under your city, sheer coincidence perhaps."

As he explained Mayor Lioness was frantically writing down everything he said in as quick notes as she could take, and Gazelle absorbed the information with awe and wonder.

'They 'were' gods…' She thought. 'The myths and tales weren't lying, they just didn't understand…'

"Unable to produce food up top that wasn't affected by the radiation from fallout, and unable to provide a means of producing 'clean' food, each of the Eden Facilities communicated a last desperate plan and coordinated the construction of seventeen thousand Cryogenic Stasis Pods. These pods would each house a single human, keeping them frozen so that they when conditions on the surface improved, we would wake up and, with a base population of seventeen thousand spread across the planet, eventually rebuild human civilization but without repeating the mistakes of the past and help repair the damage we did to the planet."

"The fact that the base hasn't switched over to the backup generators, which would still hold a charge even after this long if the main generator had died out… means that the other sixteen facilities had suffered a similar fate to mine. If any of them failed to activate on time then the people in those pods also died out, and their main generators died out without being able to switch over to the secondary generators. Our 'Sentinels', our Facility AI's would have kept a close watch on the surface, unless something happened to prevent them from watching surface conditions."

"Facility Seventeen, my base, had the most advanced technology of them all, we had everything top of the line from medical to scientific, so if I only survived because our AI chose to slowly sacrifice the rest… to ensure that at least 'one' of us survived… than its obvious… that I'm alone. None of the other bases were as advanced as us, if any of them had… then we all would be here… and not just me."

Again, he began to cry as he finished his explanation, and even the Mayor, out of respect, put the pen and folder down to go to him.

She took off her spectacles and placed a paw on his hand, and out of respect waited for him to acknowledge her touch before speaking up.

"I'm deeply sorry for your loss Mr. Jeremy." She said sadly. "But do know, that here in Zootopia we try our best to treat every mammal the same. We aren't always successful but that is what Zootopia is built on, peaceful coexistence between all mammals, predator and prey."

She knelt down so that they were on eye level and looked into his eyes with determination. "If there is anything you need or anything, I can do to help you adjust to this world you have awoken to, just let me know and I'll do it. I'm the Mayor, and its my job to think of everyone's needs, and that includes yours now."

"And don't forget Jeremy, we're friends now, I'm here to help you as well." Gazelle said warmly, making him look up at her now. "You need someone to talk to, or just want to spend time with anyone, I'll be right there beside you every minute you need me!"

With the assurance of both the Mayor and 'her', Jeremy seemed to lighten up. She felt her heart beating much easier for some reason, and again it was as if the two of their hearts were beating in perfect sync, as she felt calmer and happier, so too did Jeremy look much better.

"But what am I to do, there's nothing for me to do… I can't possibly repair damage to a world that isn't damaged anymore. What can I possibly do in this time?"

"Anything you want Mr. Jeremy." Lioness said as she got up and returned to her professional attitude. "I'm positive a legendary species like yourself, with all your knowledge will find 'something' to do. There's also the matter of your base, which I guess based on our laws, is essentially 'yours' to do with as you please. There are some things in there that have my scientists and engineers absolutely baffled, and we would love to hear more about your species and every-"

*Briiiiiiiiiiing*

*Brrrrrrrriiiiiiing…*

Both looked to their phones, Gazelle curious and annoyed because she had silenced her phone and told her agent that she was going to be at the hospital and asked not to be disturbed. She also knew that her Tiger bodyguards had been left in the lounge to make sure paparazzi stayed out and so they could have some idle chatter with the waiting guests who were probably fans of hers and them.

The Mayor too looked more furious than annoyed, as she took out her phone, cursing to herself because she told everyone to not call her until 'after' she left the hospital.

Gazelle looked at the number and raised an eyebrow, not sure what the 'number' was or who it was.

XXX-XXX-XXXX-XX

?

Guessing it was a spam bot, she got those too often for her liking, she instantly closed the call and was about to put her phone away, when the call came back instantly.

The Mayor however didn't pay attention to the caller ID, and answered instantly, probably assuming it was someone she was expecting a call from later.

"Who is-"

"If you were with me now… I'd find myself in you… if you were with me now, you're the only one who knew… all the things we had to do…"

The Mayor instantly looked down and cancelled the call, looking baffled at the sudden 'song' that was blazingly loud enough for the whole room to hear. Whoever was singing it had an amazingly beautiful voice, one that Gazelle had to admit sounded wonderful when compared to hers.

"What kind of…" She started saying before her phone rang again.

Gazelle cancelled the call again, but no sooner had it said, 'Call Cancelled' did it change and ring 'again'.

Growing annoyed she answered it to tell whoever was calling to leave her alone, even if it was a spam bot.

Instead she heard…

"I want to live my life, the way you said I would… with courage as my light, fighting for what's right, like you made me believe I could!"

The Mayor listened to the singing as it was 'exactly' who was singing on her phone. As she listened her phone decided to answer the call on its own, and no sooner had it accepted the call, did they hear from 'her' phone and Gazelle's phone the singer singing in perfect sync.

"And I will fly on my father's wings, to places I have never been, there is so much I've never seen, and I can feel his heartbeat still and I will do great things… on my father's wings!"

"What is this, some kind of new spam bot?" The Mayor asked in confusion. "I've never heard this song before, what is it?"

Gazelle was about to agree, but then she felt Jeremy grow tense and turned to see him staring at the phones and looking shocked to hear the song coming out of them.

"She's calling for me…" He whispered quietly. "She's still down there!"

Not understanding who or 'what' he was talking about but seeing this was obviously important turned her phone to him to see if he recognized the number.

"Who is it, who is calling you? Who's still down there?"

He looked at her before he whispered a name, in a tone that was full of hope and had a faint sense of joy, "Aelita…"