Hey guys! I'm back for the next chapter. This is actually going to be the final chapter of Zootopia: Nick's Secret. I will be posting one more chapter after this, stating the two songs that describe Nick, as well as some other important things that I need to tell you. So please enjoy this final chapter of the actual story

~Chapter 12~

Nick groaned, his head no longer burning as severely, but the pain still present. He opened his eyes, the sight of where he was making him bolt upright.

He was in a cell.

The bed he was on was a metal table with a sheet and a pillow on it, the metal toilet to his right sent a shudder up his spine, and the door looked like it could have held back an entire army.

The sound of a door opening echoed throughout the entire hall, the hall that held all of the other criminals. Nick knew he was in the precinct. That was good, at least. He wasn't in an actual prison...yet. His memory was slowly returning. Judy's disappearance, Nick finding her...the voice.

He was the kidnapper.

He had been the kidnapper the whole time. The things he'd done...would Judy ever be able to forgive him?

A small part of the door slid open, revealing a window just big enough for someone to see through. It was Chief Bogo, staring at Nick with an anger that was mixed with just a little bit of confusion...or was it sympathy?

"Chief Bogo," Nick said, acknowledging the chief. The door opened, revealing the large form of Bogo, his shadow casting itself into the cell with Nick. After what happened yesterday, even the shadow of Bogo was intimidating.

"Wilde. Hopps wants to see you," said the chief, waiting for Nick to get up from the very uncomfortable bed. Nick had trouble standing, his back very sore from sleeping on the painfully cold metal. He'd had some close calls with the cops before, but he had never actually been in one of these cells. He didn't know how criminals could stand it.

Nick followed Bogo through the hall, more cell doors lined on each side. Nick wondered what sort of criminals were stored behind these doors. Bogo led Nick through a few doors until they were in the very same room that Rick had been poisoned in. Nick couldn't believe he'd actually poisoned his own friend. He remembered every detail, every precise move needed to do the deed. Nick noticed the lack of handcuffs as he stepped into the room, Judy Hopps sitting across the sleek metal table, not even looking at him. She was staring down at her hands, fiddling around with them.

Seeing his partner with her uniform on, knowing that he would be on the other side of the interrogation this time made him more uncomfortable than he thought possible. Bogo closed the door behind him, leaving Nick to stand there awkwardly. For once in a long time, Nick did not know what to say. He had no comment, no reasonable thoughts. He didn't even know where to put his hands, feeling stiff and awkward with each position he tried, ultimately just shoving them in his pocket, ignoring the possible tension it created.

But Judy still wasn't looking at him, even when he took a seat in front of her.

Silence was tangible in the room. Maybe Judy was feeling the same as the fox: terrible.

Nick slowly put his paws out of his pockets and on the table, his fur failing to fight the cold that tried to bite at him. He knew that any sort of sudden movement was a bad idea.

Nick's head was spinning. He still couldn't believe that any of these memories were real. Yet they made so much sense. Everything he'd done as the kidnapper, he remembered how he did all...but he didn't remember wanting to, nor did he re-member being in control of his body as he did so.

He wouldn't admit it, even to himself, but Nick didn't want to spend the rest of his days in a jail, or worse...a mental asylum.

"I don't get it," Judy said finally, her voice unnervingly steady, sounding unnatural coming from her nervous looking features. "How did you do it? How did you manage to get away with all of this?"

Nick thought, he thought for a long time. Well, it felt like a long time, at least, with the silence that followed his partner's question. Ex-partner, he had to remind himself.

"Carr–" Nick stopped himself. "Judy. I...I don't know. I can remember doing it but…" He trailed off.

"So you, what, didn't remember before?"

"No, I didn't. I didn't know I was doing any of it, not until I was at the warehouse...was it yesterday?"

"Yesterday," Judy assured. "Yesterday is when you found out that you were the kidnapper?"

Nick realized how outlandish it sounded, but said, "Yes."

Judy looked to the mirror, the mirror that was actually a window, and signaled for whoever was in the room behind it to leave. Nick could hear the faintest shut of a door as they followed the bunny cop's orders.

"Nick," Judy said. Nick waited for her to continue, but she didn't. She just stared at him. Stared with sadness and disappointment, but also an ounce of hope. She didn't believe Nick was actually the kidnapper, the fox could see that.

"Carrots," Nick said with the faintest of smiles, looking her in the eye for as long as he could bear before staring down at his blurred reflection in the metal. "I honestly didn't know. I didn't know I was the kidnapper, Carrots. I'm still not even sure if this is all one-hundred percent real. I'm still hoping to wake up in a hospital bed and hear Dr. Sheldon telling me that I hit my head on something.

"But you remember everything," Judy pushed, receiving a silent, grim nod from Nick. A small part of her wanted him to crack a joke just to break the tension, to break the reality of how serious this was.

Nick looked her in the eye, wondering when she would just mention it already. It looked like it was about to eat her up, "I remember the other night...when I…" Nick didn't know if he was choking on his own spit or if his body was rejecting the words, not allowing his tongue to form them and let them out.

Judy blinked a few times. She was trying her hardest not to cry.

"You scared me, Nick," she said, her voice still so steady. It was frightening. Was this what Nick sounded like in his...other state? "You scared me so bad. I didn't know what was happening."

Nick looked down again in shame, the memory of the fear in Judy's eyes as he choked her into unconsciousness. It was traumatic for him to remember, and probably even more so for Judy.

"I'm so sorry, Judy. I can't even begin to imagine how angry you must be with me."

"I'm not angry with you, Nick," Judy said quickly, her voice wavering now. "I don't even think you're responsible. But that doesn't change the fact that I'm scared of you."

Why are you being so open with me about this? Nick wondered. Even now, even with all that happened, she still trusted him enough to reveal something like that, something so vulnerable. How was she able to do that?

"When I was little," Judy continued, sniffling a little, "Bunnyburrow hosted this...I guess you could call it a carnival of sorts, just to give you an image as to what it looked like. Anyway, my school had this event where we presented what we wanted to be when we grew up. Of course, I said I wanted to be a cop. I presented it with so much drama it was laughable. There was a fox there, the school bully. He thought it was ridiculous, more than everyone else did. Long story short, he took some of my friend's tickets, I tried to get them back, and he clawed me." Judy brushed her hand against the spot, as if she could still feel it. "He told me to remember that moment whenever I thought about being anything else besides a worthless bunny, or something like that. While he was distracted, I took the tickets from the pocket in his overalls. It just made me all the more determined to become a cop."

Nick had never heard that story before. With all the trouble Judy had gone through to get him to reveal his secrets, she'd neglected to reveal her own. He felt so awful for her, and wished he could reverse time just to give this fox a tongue-lashing he would never recover from.

"So, at the press conference, with the fox repellant," said Nick. "It was because I reminded you of this fox whenever I pretended to lunge at you." Judy nodded, wiping some tears from her face. "Judy, I'm so sorry. I never knew."

"Me and Gideon are good now," Judy said. "I just thought I'd tell you that story. I wanted to see."

"See what?"

She smiled at him, "To see if the Nick Wilde I know is still there." She leaned on the table, her smile growing. "You're still there Nick, the real you. We'll figure out who did this to you, then we'll arrest them."

The smile Nick had returned to Judy vanished, and he leaned back in the chair, crossing his arms.

"Judy," he said. "Nobody did this to me. It just happened, it's who I am."

"Do you remember anything like this before the recent memories of the kidnappings?" Nick shook his head no. "Nick, you know that something like this doesn't just come from an anxiety disorder."

Nick looked at her again, "Since we're revealing things now...I don't have an anxiety disorder, at least not the one I told you about."

"What do you mean?" Judy asked.

"When I went to that doctor, the one I told you about, he didn't diagnose me with GAD, but PTSD. Much more severe. I just so happened to be working with Mr. Big at the time I went to this doctor, and he was gracious enough to pay the doctor off so he would put in something much less severe on my records."

"Nick, why would you do something like that?"

"I was never planning on getting a proper job in Zootopia. But if I had ever decided to get one, I wouldn't want the mammals hiring me to look through my records and find that out. It's hard enough to get a job when you're a fox, but if you're a fox with PTSD? All the more excuse to get rid of me. With anxiety, I have a better chance." Nick felt anger bubbling up in his chest from saying this, realizing that he would probably have to live the rest of his life that way. All foxes would."

"Even so, Nick, that doesn't make you a kidnapper." Nick stayed silent after that. He had nothing else to say, couldn't think of anything else.

Judy sighed, looking at her friend. There was no way that it was his fault. She would never believe it.

Nick was playing with his tie, feeling it, looking at it, just acknowledging it in general. Judy didn't remember him wearing that, not in a while. She thought back to when he would fiddle with something in his pocket. The tie?

"What's the importance of that tie, anyway?"

"My lucky tie. Helped me with cons. I thought we talked about this."

"The real significance of it, Nick."

Nick stared at her longer than she was comfort-able with before saying, "It was my dad's old tie." Judy blinked. "He gave it to me the day he left. I kept it until I was old enough to wear it, kept it as a reminder that I would make him proud, that I would show everybody what foxes could really do. Con, trick, hustle." He sighed, letting go of the tie. "Just not kidnapping."

Judy had felt the worst pain in her chest when Nick had been taken away to his cell. She'd promised him she would find out who made him that way so she could arrest him. This was the first idea that came to mind.

The Zootopia Prison was a grim looking building, a building that looked worse than any other part of the entire utopia. The prison was located outside of the Savannah District, connected by a small, heavily-guarded tunnel. Even for the criminals who managed to escape, they wouldn't manage to get anywhere near innocents without being arrested again.

Now she stood in front of that very prison, a decent chunk of criminals locked up in there because of her, including the one she was here to see.

Judy walked into the building, the interior much more modern looking than the outside. The line of bright white lights were in an organized row on the ceiling, giving the entire area a sickeningly pale glow. A white tiger sat at a desk surrounded by a protective glass, the prison name imprinted on the front of it. Judy walked to him, the predator lazily looking up from his book, only to straighten up very dramatically at the sight of Judy Hopps.

"Ms. Hopps," he said, standing and nearly falling to the ground in his rush. "Chief Bogo contacted me, he said you were coming. I didn't know you'd get here so quickly." Judy noted how this white tiger, with some black stripes in a neat pattern on his face, was very large and intimidating, yet he was crumbling to pieces like a little cub at the site of her, a bunny. How the world really had changed, after all.

"Hi, I need to see…" Judy paused, hoping the tiger would catch what she was trying to say. She knew he did when his eyes lit up.

"Right," he said, "come on, I'll take you to her." Judy followed the tiger through a couple doors of the prison building. She prayed with every fiber of her being that they didn't pass any cells. The last thing she needed was the whole prison shouting for her execution. The lights were already giving her a headache, and she didn't need another one. But instead of that, the tiger led her to a room, painted a pleasantly subtle orange, light streaming in through some windows in the top part of the wall that looked more like slits than actual windows. A row of cubicles lined down the room, each one with a phone, and each one with a protective window for people to see those in prison.

Usually, this room was used for people who wanted to see friends or family that had been arrested from what Judy knew, but she was about to meet someone that was much less than a friend to her.

Judy sat down in one of the cubicles, staring through the window, her nerves starting to get to her. She wiped her hands on her jeans, then pulled the on the collar of her shirt, the white article of clothing starting to feel suffocating.

"I'll be right outside if you need me," said the tiger, giving her the smile of a fanboy. He was going to ask her for an autograph, Judy was sure of that. This tiger was new, his job obviously not impacting his ability to let his emotions show. Clawhauser was another example of that.

Judy waited for a good long minute before she heard a noise that sounded like a door opening, then the sound of hoofprints on the floor. Small, small footprints, tapping quickly. The next thing she knew, the fluffy white head of Dawn Bellwether greeted her, then the rest of her, or at least as much as the chair would allow.

At the same time, the two picked up the phones and made eye contact with each other.

"It's been awhile since I've seen you, Judy," Bellwether said. "But I knew you'd come back. Us little guys have to stick together after all." Judy rolled her eyes. First time seeing Bellwether in months and she was already sick of her voice.

"How have you been Bellwether?" Judy asked, more hostility in her voice than she intended. She might need to play nice with her if she wanted answers.

"Great. You know, I'm really enjoying this new orange jumpsuit. I think it suits me. And I've made some wonderful new friends. Yep, things are looking up in jail for me, Judy."

"Good, because you'll be in there for a pretty long time."

"Not long enough," Bellwether tried to retort, but Judy could see the realization in the sheep's eyes. This was a game, one that Judy had played with Nick when she confronted him about his tax evasion. She had to bring that Judy back out.

"Oh, well I'm sure I could find a way to lengthen your time in here. I know a few people that can pull some strings for me."
"Wow, how interesting. You know people that can pull strings. Sounds a lot like me." Bellwether giggled, and Judy felt like reaching through the phone and slapping her. But she did what Nick always liked to do. Never let her see that she gets to her.

"I'm nothing like you Bellwether. If I were, I wouldn't have been able to stop you, to trick you."

"It's irrelevant who tricked who now, I suppose. But, speaking of trickery, how's that fox you were hanging out with? I was very fascinated when I found out he became a cop. You two are probably partners too, aren't you?"

Judy felt it. That anger. She didn't want to play this game anymore, she just wanted Bellwether to tell her. Judy could feel her breathing getting heavier, but she couldn't allow Bellwether to notice any of it. This was harder than it looked. How did Nick do it? Judy just sat back in her chair, staring Bellwether down, her anger getting the best of her.

"What did you do to him, Dawn?" she asked the criminal on the other side of the glass.

"Who? The fox?" she laughed. Judy tensed. "Why, nothing. Nothing at all. I'm stuck in here, you know. Maybe you did something to him, huh? You're the one with the strings, right?"

"What. Did. You. Do." Judy repeated, no longer caring that Dawn could see the anger on her face.

Bellwether stared for a moment before saying, "There it is. There's the anger. Maybe you really are me...Carrots." Judy's blood boiled at the way Bellwether was toying with her. With one paw, she clung onto the desk, feeling the table defiantly refuse to break. A part of Judy wanted it to happen, regardless of the consequences, just to make her feel better. "And since you're practically me, I suppose you deserve to know the things that I do. Yes, I did something to your friend. Big surprise!" Bellwether held her hand up in a fake surprise. Judy wanted to wipe that smile off her face so badly. "I used the nighthowler serum."

"How?" Judy asked. "How'd you do it?"

Bellwether giggled again, the sound worse on Judy's ears than the light was on her eyes. "Well, Judy, I was raised as baby to never trust a wolf for obvious reasons, I'm sure you understand. A fox is no different, just a little smarter. Well, after all the work I'd put into getting Zootopia the way it was, I needed a failsafe. And your fox friend gave me the perfect opportunity."

Judy said nothing as Bellwether paused, just waited for the sheep to continue.

"I don't know what drew me to the clip in that gun, Judy, but I had to check just to make sure that he hadn't taken out the ammo. While you two were being rammed into the pit, I checked it and found some blueberries. Imagine my surprise. Well, it just so happens that I had an experimental version of a new strand of the nighthowler serum. I'd kept it for further analysis, maybe even a test run." Another giggle. "And what better test run than the fox himself.

"I'll admit, Judy, once I shot the fox with that thing, I thought he had actually gone savage. But he fooled me. He wasn't ready to go savage...yet."

"What do you mean?" Judy asked, trying to keep tabs on every minor detail Bellwether said. For the sheep to admit this so willingly was odd but important.

"This new strand of the nighthowler serum was supposed to leak through to the bloodstream once absorbed by the skin, just like the other version of the serum. But this strand would remain dormant, multiplying in the body until there was too much for the immune system to stop. Only then would it become active, and they would become savage. You may be wondering why it remains so dormant for so long. Well, whenever this predator goes savage, it affects his thinking, but he can still make plans and do things he could do while perfectly conscious.

"I had an old source of mine keep an eye on the fox whenever you two were on patrol or something of that nature. When I heard he had taken over Mr. Big's place, well...I was amazed to say the least. It seems, Judy, that your friend was the best text subject for my new strain. It's quite a shame I only had one, though."

Judy thought of how proud her and Nick were that day. Nick had been shot with an experimental serum and neither of them had been any wiser. While he was at the academy, the serum had been coursing through his veins.

He'd never known.

"Why did you just tell me all of this?" Judy asked.

"You asked me," Bellwether responded, sounding bored.

"That's not the answer I was looking for."

"Judy, this strain can't be cured. It doesn't matter that you know now. Even with my confession, even if everybody believes what you say, there's no denying that nobody will ever be able to trust him. He'll never be cured, therefore he cannot be trusted." Judy felt lightheaded and dizzy, like she would never be able to stand from the chair. Her mouth was dry, and her eyes felt like they were going to well up with tears. She didn't want to believe Bellwether, and she would try to find a cure anyway, but the thought that Nick might never be cured from his...condition was mortifying. Judy couldn't let this happen, wouldn't let this happen.

Judy was already running out of the room, the sound of Bellwether's laughter behind her a haunting reminder of what Nick's future might hold.

Nick looked over at the bland table hooked into the corner of the wall in his cell, the shadow of Judy's ears almost comically positioned to where it had her ears. Nick wanted to laugh at the sight, but what Judy had just told him made his throat close with fear. Especially when she mentioned the possibility of no cure. Even with her immediate theory of there being a cure, Nick wasn't sure he wanted to get his hopes up, not now.

Nick knew what this meant for him. He would be in prison, or maybe even a mental asylum, for the rest of his life. Even if the doctors of Zootopia managed to find some sort of treatment for the disease he had, he would still have to spend the rest of his life taking expensive medication to prevent another accident like Judy's kidnapping from happening.

"Nick?" he heard Judy say, her voice comforting to him, even when he'd been given the bad news, it felt better hearing it from the mouth of Carrots and not Bogo, who she'd told minutes before coming to Nick's cell.

Nick hadn't looked at her, and still didn't even when she sat next to him on his metal bed, the one he'd been sleeping on moments before she'd opened his door to explain what happened. He hated her being so close to him. He hated that she still trusted him enough to be near him, to not be worried that he would attack her again.

But when he felt a paw on his, Nick felt at peace, felt loved, cared for. He wanted to be close to her, but...but he was dangerous. He would always be dangerous. But her paw on his felt so real, so exciting and scary.

"Are you okay?" Judy asked. Nick almost laughed.

"Am I okay?" Nick repeated with a laugh of hysteria. "Yeah, I'm okay, I'm just a crazy, incurable kidnapper." Nick was playing with his tie again, holding it, adjusting it.

"Sorry," Judy said, looking down at her feet. She buried her head into his shoulder, his scent the smell of a fox who hadn't showered in a while. But it was fine. She probably smelled the same way. She'd only managed her change of clothes before she'd talked to Bellwether.

Judy still felt a twinge of fear from being so close to him, just a little. She couldn't help but be a little afraid, even though she knew she wasn't snuggling into the kidnapper.

Nick wanted to tell her to get off, but right now, she was probably the only one in the entire precinct that trusted him enough to keep him company. Company was something he was missing while in this cell, despite not being in here for too long. The thought of spending years in here was...Nick grimaced.

But Judy finally took her head off his shoulder and said, "Well, I'm going to go talk to the doctors at the Hematology Department. Maybe they'll be able to help you."

Nick so badly wanted to say that nobody could help him, but even with how much he trusted the bunny, even with how much she knew about him now, he could never admit thoughts like that to her, knowing she would immediately argue with him about it. But as she closed the door and locked it behind her, and Nick was left in the darkness once again, he regretted not saying it. He felt trapped, lost, alone, just like that night. That night where his fear of muzzles started. Nick thought with absolute horror that they might have to muzzle him if he went completely savage. Maybe he deserved it. Maybe it would be fate's sick way of getting revenge on him for doing the things he'd done.

"I can't," Nick said to the darkness that swallowed him. "I can't do this alone."

Judy sat in the lobby of the Hematology Department, waiting for one particular antelope to walk out. He'd helped her find the cure for Mr. Otterton and all of the other infected predators of Zootopia. Maybe he would be able to help again. Judy stared around the lobby she was in, looking at the polished wood walls, the paintings of various things, and the ferns they had strategically placed around the room. The lighting was much better here than it was at the prison. Much more comfortable to sit and wait in, especially when not talking to a psychotic sheep.

It didn't take long for the antelope to appear down the hall, his white lab coat swaying with each step he took, his hooves clacking loudly on the tile floor.

"Judy Hopps," he said, glancing over his shoulder at the lioness at the desk. "I didn't know you were coming."

"We have a problem, Andrew," Judy said, rubbing her paws together nervously, her ears going down her back.

"What is it?"

"It's Nick."

"That fox you were hanging out with the last time you talked to me?"

"He's been infected with the nighthowler serum."

Andrew was quiet for a moment, looked around the room to make sure nobody had heard it, then told Judy to follow him to his office.

Andrew led Judy to his office, the small room definitely more comfortable looking than she had expected. The first thing she saw was the picture on the wall of Andrew shaking the hand of Mayor Lionheart. He may have not been the only one involved in the cure for the nighthowler case, but he was the leader of the whole thing, the most important out of all of them. He wasn't exactly a fan of the fame anyway, and only stayed in the public eye long enough to take this picture.

Andrew closed the door and sat in his own desk chair, Judy sitting in the chair across from it.

"So you believed that your friend was dosed with the nighthowler serum," said Andrew, his brown eyes meeting Judy's purple ones

"Bellwether admitted to it. She said that it was a new strain that hid in the bloodstream until it had completely taken over, that it was incurable."

"Where is your friend now?" asked Andrew.

"He's at the precinct. We're keeping him locked up until he can be cured.

"If this strain of the virus has really taken over your friend's bloodstream, then there really may not be a cure. However, it depends on a few factors. If I can get a sample of his blood, I should be able to find a way to cure it. It's not going to be fun, Mrs. Hopps. It could take months for me to find a cure, and synthesizing it would be a good week at most."
"I just want my friend back, Andrew."

"For you, Judy, I will do anything in my power." Judy felt like she was about to cry. Sure, it wasn't set in stone, but the possibility of Nick being cured was overwhelmingly good news. He would be able to rejoin the force and everything would be happy again. They could be partners again, and maybe...maybe something more.

Judy knocked on the door of Chief Bogo's office, ready to report the news. She knew he wouldn't show it, but Bogo would be excited about Nick being cured. Judy had decided on the way back here that Nick would most certainly be cured, no matter what.

When Bogo told her to come in, Judy swung the door open as much as she could given her stature, her confident saunter in the room reflecting the happiness of having hope.

But her smile and her confidence both disappeared when she walked in. Bogo sat at his desk, Lionheart sitting across from him. They were both looking at her with expressions of sadness, of sympathy.

Something was very wrong.

"What is it?" Judy asked, letting her smile return, nervousness keeping it from looking normal.

Lionheart looked to Bogo, the chief glaring back with stone cold eyes.

"Judy," Lionheart said with a sad smile. "I'm glad you're here."

Whatever told Judy to ignore the lion, she listened to it, looking to her chief, "Chief Bogo, I talked to Dr. Norton. He told me if we can get a sample of Nick's blood that he may be able to find a cure."

Bogo sent another cold glare at Lionheart, the political lion straightening his tie and clearing his throat.

Even the mayor was scared of an angry Bogo.

"He's gone, Hopps," Bogo said. "Lionheart sent him away."

Judy felt her heart drop, and felt anger replace the empty space it left in her chest.

"You. Did. What?!" Judy yelled. She didn't care if he was the mayor, didn't care if he was a lion.

"I didn't send him away, he offered to leave and I allowed him. He left not too long ago, you should be able to catch him at the train station." Judy wanted to stay and show Lionheart that prey should be just as feared as predator, but she had to get to Nick.

She had to stop him from leaving.

Nick stood in the middle of the station, watching the many mammals go about their own business, his suitcase next to him, the handle pulled up and ready to be dragged onto the train that would be leaving soon.

Nick had left more behind in his apartment than he wanted to, but it was for a reason. He'd only packed the essentials. He smiled as he thought of the good times he'd had since meeting Judy. He'd told her so much about himself, and she'd finally revealed a story of her own. Judy was the only one in the world that knew this much about Nick besides himself. He'd contacted her every single night while at the academy. She'd always given him the motivation to keep going, to keep trying harder. He wasn't sure he would have made it without her.

It was kind of sad, but almost funny to realize that all of that work had been for nothing. His first week as a cop had been completely ruined by Bellwether. He couldn't believe the sheep had been smart enough to check the gun. Nick's hustles usually relied on luck and the ignorance of people. He'd made a fatal mistake, underestimating his mark.

Nick checked the time on his phone. The train would be leaving in a matter of minutes. But before he reached over to grab the handle of his suitcase, he heard his name. It was very faint, and his ears perked up. He wondered if he'd just imagined it.

Until he saw Judy.

He smiled his usual foxy smile as she ran up to him, "Nick, what are you doing? Lionheart said you wanted to leave Zootopia."

"Yes, Lionheart was very right about that."

"Why? How?"

"Remember when he offered to help me as a kid? I finally took him up on that offer. I told him I wanted to leave."

"Nick...you know it's too dangerous for you to just leave in your condition. Besides, what happened to not wanting help from Lionheart?"

"First of all, Carrots, I didn't want Lionheart to help me with Wilde Times, which will probably never happen anyway. Second of all, Lionheart also helped me with my little problem." Nick had that smile so permanently planted on his face, Judy had to guess it was fake.

Nick pulled the collar of his shirt back enough for Judy to see the collar.

"What is that?"

"Something that Lionheart had his people working on in case predators started going savage again. If I start becoming, you know, this little doohickey will give me a little shock, just enough to knock me out of it."

"Sounds like a lesser version of a muzzle," Judy said to Nick. The fox swallowed, and his smile faltered.

"That's different," he said, his voice almost cracking. Judy felt guilty now for bringing up the muzzle part. "But I won't be able to hurt anyone now. I just...I don't think I should stay here. I need some time to figure some things out. Zootopia will eventually find out what happened to me the longer I stay. If I just disappear, I can be forgotten."

"Not by Finnick, Rick, your mother, and especially not me," Judy said, getting that feeling again that she was about to cry. "Don't go, Nick. We can find a cure for you, I know it. Andrew told me he could."

"No, Carrots, he can't. I appreciate it though." Nick looked at his phone again. He had to get on the train in the next minute or it would leave him behind. "I have to go. I'll see you around Carrots."

Nick looked like he wanted to say something else, but kept his smile on instead. Judy lunged at him and wrapped her arms around him. Nick knelt down and returned the hug, burying his muzzle into her neck, getting one last whiff of her scent. He wanted to stay so badly, but he had to go. He had to make sure she was safe in case this collar didn't work after all.

When they parted from their hug, they looked into each other's eyes, the world slowing down around them, time itself waiting for them to finish their goodbye. Judy's face got closer to Nick's, her breath hot against him. She was so beautiful. Nick would miss her so much. Did he really have to leave after all? Their faces were so close now, their lips not even an inch apart. Judy felt her heart beating hard against her chest, her hands sweaty. Nick swallowed the lump in his throat, no words able to form.

So he turned his head away instead.

Nick was staring at the ground, watching Judy's heart break behind her eyes out of his peripherals.

"I can't, Judy. I can't start something with you, not when I'm about to leave."
"Then don't leave, Nick. Stay and then we can be something more. We can try it, please...don't go."

"I don't want to hurt you again, Judy. I don't want to hurt anyone I love. Ever. I can't risk staying here."

Nick didn't allow Judy to respond before turning and walking to the train. As he climbed the first step to the train, Nick gave Judy one last smile. Not a sly smile, but a genuine one, one that told her everything would be okay in the end. That he honestly loved her and always would. Then he disappeared into the train.

Judy couldn't hold back anymore. The dam broke, and tears streamed down her face as the train lurched forward, Nick reappearing in the window, waving at her. A sob mixed with a laugh escaped her as she waved back, wanting so badly to jump on the train with him. But before she could be sure, the train was already leaving.

It was too late. Why hadn't she just realised her feelings for Nick earlier? Maybe he would have stayed then. Or maybe he would have just left anyway. The train was gone, and so was Nick, leaving a teary eyed little bunny to walk back to the police car she'd driven here with.

Once in the car, Judy reached in her pocket to get the keys, but felt something else instead. Something soft. Judy took out the mysterious object, using her other paw to wipe the tears from her face.

It was Nick's tie. The tie that his father had given to him.

But that wasn't all. Judy unwrapped the accessory to find a key wrapped in a piece of paper. It was a note from Nick.

Judy,

I'm writing this as the taxi is taking me to the train station. I really hope you chase after me like I expect you to do, otherwise I won't be able to give you this tie and the key to my apartment. I've already paid the rent for the whole month, and I even pulled a few strings to make the price more affordable to your salary. Please keep the place nice for me, and by that I mean live there. Honestly, Carrots, your apartment is absolutely dreadful. I may tell you goodbye and smile at you like the con I am when you get there, but I don't think I'll be able to say something else to your face. Ever since that day under the bridge, when you apologized for what happened at the conference, something changed inside me. Nobody had ever cared about me enough to do something like that, especially with such emotion. It was in that moment that I felt something towards you, something that I didn't understand at the time. You may hate me for this, and I'm okay with that, but...Carrots, Judy, I love you. More than just a friend, and more than just a partner. I know how sudden this is, but it may be a while before we see each other again. I guess, after telling you so much about my life, I wanted to tell you one last thing before I left. I wish you the best, and I hope that you catch all the bad guys. Because this city, like me, has finally realized that a bunny can be a cop, and a darn well good one at that.

All my love,

Nick Wilde, the dumb fox who had his heart stolen by a sly little bunny.