[Insert Obligatory Disclaimer]

A/N: Hello everybody. I'll keep this brief. It's been a while since I wrote anything for the public like this, and even then I've never been good at beginnings, so I'm going to request you keep that in mind when you start this. That being said, I like chapter 2 better and, unless I've messed something up, that one should be published at the same time as chapter 1. Just a little incentive to keep you reading, I guess. Also, this is rated M for foul language and descriptions of abuse. Nothing too graphic, but better safe than sorry.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy.


Chapter 1: Wayfaring Stranger

The house they were at, much like all the houses neighboring it, looked like it had seen better days.

The front yard was littered with patches of dead grass, but mostly it was just bare dirt. It looked as if there had once been a fence, but all that was left of it was a single fence-post in the far corner of the yard. The white paint of the house was peeling off in flakes. Several shingles from the roof, broken off and left where they had fallen, littered the border of the house. One of the windows didn't even have glass, and was instead boarded up from the inside.

A neighbor had called in some kind of domestic disturbance. Apparently, the shouting was normal, but tonight there seemed to be a particularly threatening edge to it. Officers Nick Wilde and Judy Hopps had been the closest unit, so they were the ones responding. Within a couple minutes they were at the door of the house in question. With the report of a bunch of yelling and screaming, the silence that greeted them at the door was unnerving at best. Judy had just raised her hand to knock on the door when something broke that silence.

Gunshots. Two of them.

They both drew their tranquilizer guns, and Nick kicked down the door while Judy called it in.

The interior of the house was, perhaps unsurprisingly, just as dilapidated as the exterior. There was trash everywhere, most of it consisting of empty beer bottles and cans. The furniture in the room they found themselves in was either badly damaged or completely destroyed, such as the large sofa with half of its stuffing falling out or the coffee table that was split in two. The only things that seemed to be intact were the TV and the fridge that was in the attached kitchenette. Dark stains of who-knows-what filled the few spots of the carpet that were visible.

The worst thing was the smell.

The stench of blood, sweat, alcohol, vomit and other bodily wastes blended together and smacked into them like a freight train. Nick wrinkled his nose in disgust as he fought through a wave of nausea, and he could hear his partner audibly gagging.

While the two were regaining their composure a shirtless, auburn-colored fox shambled out of the adjacent hallway. "What the fu…" he growled, his voice drifting off as he eyed the two cops that were now in his house, clearly confused.

His fur was matted-down in some spots and shaved in others, and he wobbled back and forth on his feet in a clear indication that he could not stand still. In one hand he held an open beer bottle that was almost run dry. In the other hand he held a gun, hanging limply at his side.

The two officers sprang into action.

"ZPD, drop the weapon!" Judy commanded as she and Nick took aim at the fox. Wading through the detritus that littered the floor, they stepped further into the house and began to separate, dividing the fox's attention. The fox swung his head between the two of them repeatedly before apparently deciding to focus on Judy.

He scoffed. "Fuck you!"

In a flash he raised his gun and fired just as two darts slammed into him, center mass. He fell over in seconds and Nick practically pounced on him, quickly kicking the gun away from him and cuffing his hands behind his back. Crouching down to clear some trash and lay the fox down, Nick looked up to see Judy wincing in pain and clutching her arm.

"Judy-"

"I'm alright," she hissed, "It just grazed me."

"You sure?" Nick asked skeptically.

Judy lifted her hand from the wound slightly to get a better look. Satisfied with what she saw, she nodded. "Yeah, I'm good, it just stings a little." She smiled at him wanly. "You clear the rest of the house; I'll watch him and call this in."

"Got it," he acknowledged. Standing up, Nick made his way to the hallway that the other fox had come from. There were only three other doors he would need to investigate. The one on his left, already open, led to a small bedroom. There was a nightstand with a broken lamp sitting next to a mattress that was on the floor rather than in a frame. The sheets on the bed sat crumpled atop it, and there was a lone closet that, besides a hamper full of unsorted clothes, was empty.

Clearing the bedroom, Nick cautiously opened the door across the hall. It was a grimy bathroom with a broken mirror and a shower that didn't even have a curtain. He deftly closed the lid of the toilet, because either the plumbing didn't work or somebody had decided not to utilize it. Deciding that nothing untoward was hiding in bathroom, Nick returned to the hall.

Kicking more trash out of the way as he walked, Nick made his way to the final door at the end of the hallway. It was already slightly ajar, so all Nick had to do was push it open. When the door had opened completely, Nick's eyes shot wide open.

"Oh my god," he gasped.

The only good thing he could say about what he saw was that there was considerably less trash in this room. It was another bedroom, bigger than the first one, and it seemed even bigger due to how little was in it. The furniture consisted of a small, off-white dresser on one side of the room, and on the other side was a tiny foam mattress tucked into the corner.

Nick barely noticed these things, however, because his attention was focused solely on the young fox kit, fur more orange than red, who sat clutching herself, shivering fiercely. She was shaking so hard it almost looked like she was having a seizure. Right above her head were two bullet holes plugged into the wall behind her. Most distressing of all, at least to Nick, was the black muzzle she had strapped to her face.

Images of himself as a kit desperately clawing at a muzzle, trying to peel it off, flashed through his mind. Nick began hyperventilating and had to stifle the urge to vomit.

Then he heard the saddest, most pathetic whine he had ever heard in his life escape from the young girl, and his mind cleared.

Nick carefully approached the kit, not wanting to make any sudden moves. At first, she didn't seem to notice him, but then one of her ears twitched. Bright, cobalt-colored eyes shot open, as wide as saucers, and she gave him the most heart-wrenching look of pure terror he had ever seen. He felt a pit form in the bottom of his stomach.

He raised his hands placatingly as he continued to edge closer to her. "I'm not going to hurt you," he said softly, not quite sure what he should be saying. "I'm here to get you out of here."

The terror on her face never faltered, neither did her shivering, but she didn't shy away or lean back as he approached. She flinched slightly as he crouched down to her level when he got closer, but still she kept staring at him, as if she were staring straight into his soul.

Meeting her stare, he gestured at the muzzle. "I'd like to take that off of you. Is that okay?"

She didn't move or make a sound or do anything to convey that she registered what he said. Deciding to take a chance, Nick gingerly started lifting his hands up to reach for the straps on the back of her head. She shied away from his hands at first, and Nick poured every ounce of calm and good-intent he could into her eyes with his own. After a beat she returned to her previous position and allowed him to take the muzzle off her.

As soon it was off, he threw the wretched thing to the other side of the room. Instantly the kit stopped shivering and tears started to well in her eyes. Before Nick could prepare himself, she launched herself into him and wrapped her arms around his neck in a vice-like hold, burying her face into the crook of his neck. Nick gently wrapped his arms around her, returning the hug.

He could feel her tears start to dampen his fur, feel her ragged breaths, and his heart shattered into a million pieces.

His partner called out from the other room where this all started. "Nick, what's taking so long? Are you alright?"

He didn't want to raise his voice in front of the kit, so instead he asked her, "Would you like to leave this room?"

He felt her nod once, and he picked her up. She was still clutching her face to his neck when he returned to the main room. When Judy saw them, her hand flew to her mouth and she gasped.

"Oh, sweet cheese and crackers…"

Nick nodded sadly. It was going to be a long night.


A/N: All author's notes will be down here in the future. It's just a personal preference of mine. Anyway, this should be the darkest chapter in the whole fic, and nothing here was too bad I hope. I'm mostly going for the warm-and-fuzzies here, after all. Let me know what you think and, if all goes according to plan, chapter 2 should already be up. One last thing, certain details like how long after the movie this takes place and stuff like that will be given in a natural way as the story progresses. That's the hope anyway. If something confuses you, feel free to ask and I'll let you know if I've forgotten it or if the story just hasn't gotten to it yet.

Cheers.