I don't have many words this time around. Great response from my last post, hope you enjoyed it, yada yada yada.

In the mean time, I've been keeping up with a WildeHopps comic AU which may interest you. It's name is simply Civil War AU, and it can be found on ProgressOfTomorrow's (the author's) tumblr page. Go show her some support!

Also, here's a little note about what's to come. These past few chapters have been quite 'boring' when it comes to the romance between Nick and Judy, and luckily if you haven't been enjoying these chapters then you'll be pleased to know that the old kinds of lots o' emotion chapters will return after CH9. If you have been enjoying these slightly grittier chapters, then also luckily for you more of these kinds will be present in Primal's as-of-now unnamed sequel!

A final tip: READ THE DAMN FOOTNOTES. THEY'LL HELP YOU UNDERSTAND THE STORY BETTER. ALSO, THERE HAVE BEEN MINOR CHANGES TO THE FIRST PART OF CHAPTER 7. GO READ THAT AGAIN.

As always, thanks for all the support. I'm trying to be more punctual with updates, but it can get problematic with my schedule.

Let's go. Here's Chapter 9 to Primal: A Zootopia Fanfiction.

"What's the meaning of this! Didn't I tell you there should be no interruptions?"

"You did, sir," The grey fox standing in the doorway politely acknowledged as he stared at his employer with a cool expression. "But we have serious developments coming out of Zootopia."

The old, short-tempered fox growled at his butler and turned to look at the two hyenas sitting on the antique couch across from him.

"I'm so sorry," He apologized to them in Zenglish[1]. "But something has come up, and I'll need to be excused for a moment."

"Are you trying to cheat us?" The larger hyena angrily asked as he pulled his lips back in a snarl. "I've heard that you should never trust a fox who speaks Vulch[2] in your presence."

"Wise words," The old fox commented, smiling, as he rose from his antiquarian Victorian chair. "But my butler speaks no other language. I hope that is not troubling."

Both hyenas shook their heads, their expressions still stern and cold.

"Good," He continued as he began to walk toward the doorway still being held open by the grey fox. "I shall return momentarily."

As soon as he was in the hallway and the door was shut behind him the red fox's smile vanished and the elation he bore for his guests disappeared.

"What," He growled as he glared down at his butler. All the grey fox did was motion toward a white wolf in a heavy black coat and dark grey pants who was leaning against the wall just beside the door. The aged red fox studied the figure for a moment and frowned before he turned back to his butler and gave a quick nod.

"Leave us," He forcefully commanded. The grey fox gave a small bow and walked off down the hallway, and as soon as he was out of earshot the old fox turned to the wolf with a hard stare.

"This better be worth my time," He threatened. "I have two 'extremely kind' arms dealers in there which I've spent a very long time trying to get a hold of, and they don't hold too much trust for foxes. If I'm gone for too long then they'll abandon negotiations."

"Oh, this is worth your time, Prophit," The wolf reassured as he pushed himself off the wall to face his tall counterpart. "Your informant has sent news from the city."

The frown on the red fox's face was replaced by a hopeful stare and he tilted his head in curiosity.

"So that penniless weasel was the mammal I've been looking for all along?" He curiously and hopefully inquired, but the wolf shook his head.

"No, the weasel's a lost cause with Lionheart," He explained. "The informant approached him in a public park and talked with him for a moment, but before he could extract any information from him they were jumped by the blue. The weasel's in custody now and our informant barely escaped with his tail. He had to use that Ursaguyan[3] narcotic you sent him just to avoid being captured by our dear friend in the ZPD."

"Hopps," The red fox growled as his eyes became filled with fire and he turned his head to stare down at the wooden floor, imagining the beaten and slashed body of the rabbit resting at his feet. "Why does she have to be such a good cop!"

The wolf gripped the old fox's shoulder with his own paw.

"If you hate her so much, then why don't you kill her, Prophit?" He asked. The fox looked back up at him, bewildered, and shrugged his paw off.

"Because I feel nothing but anger when I think of her," He answered. "And If you hate a mammal, you don't kill them. You make them bleed. If she were to die tomorrow, then she'd be a martyr, just like Nicholas. How would that benefit my cause? I'm a politician, Stijn. Murder is not the answer in this scenario."

The red fox gave a drawn-out, frustrated sigh as he slipped his paws into the pockets of his well-kept fur coat.

"I trust our informant wasn't identified by Hopps?"

The wolf shook his head.

"Good," The fox grumbled. "Tell him to call in sick for a few more days and not to contact us for a few months. We can't let the ZPD find out where his true loyalty lies. Now if that's all you have to say, then I'll return to business-"

"That's the bad news, Prophit," The wolf interrupted as he crossed his arms, and the old fox raised an eyebrow at his statement. "There's also good news. Your informant has brought back developments from his trip to the arctic."

A small smile grew on the wolf's face.

"Apparently, your traitorous friend isn't as dead as we thought he was," He finished.

"No..." The fox said disbelievingly, but as he studied the continued smile on the wolf's face surprise and happiness flared up inside of him.

"Really!" He squealed like a kit in a candy store. "He's alive? Extraordinary! He sure had me fooled! How'd he do it? Wait- don't answer that. I'll figure that out eventually. But why hasn't Lionheart announced his return?"

"Because when they found him he was savage, and as far as our informant knows he still is," The wolf replied.

"That's even better!" The fox exclaimed excitedly, the beginnings of a plan beginning to form in his head. "Lionheart has a loose end, and It just happens to be the most despicable mammal who's ever lived. Oh, the fun I'm going to have with the both of them!"

"I thought society told us not to play with our food," The wolf joked. The old fox bent his head back in laughter, the light coming from the small chandelier above him ominously reflecting off his steel teeth.

"Stijn, Nicholas isn't my food!" He corrected as his laughs turned into almost hysterical giggles. "He's a tree. His purpose in this world is to be my battering ram. And once his job is finished, then he'll be turned into firewood."

The old fox flexed his paws, letting the cool touch of his steel claws run across his velvet palms and the thick fur inside his coat's pockets.

"I should apologize for threatening to burn my predatory brother," He said as he gave a maniacally murderous yet calculating smile. "But that's what I do, isn't it? Save the isolationists from the fire, and let the traitors be judged by the flames."

"Are you sure about this, Judy?" Clawhauser asked in a concerned tone as he looked up at the bright red neon sign hanging above the fox-sized black door of The Fox's Den.

Judy turned her gaze to squint up at the huge cheetah who's head was blocking most of the orange sunlight coming from the setting sun, and a reassuring smile appeared on her face. Even though he was an adventurous spirit, Clawhauser rarely ventured away from the bars in the downtown district of the city. So standing with her on the dirty and abandoned sidewalk just outside of Voltaire's bar must've been a strange and undesirable situation for him to be in.

"Come on, Ben!" She eagerly exclaimed, keeping her eyes locked with his as she walked up to the fox-sized entrance. "When have I ever chosen a bad place for drinks?"

Clawhauser's eyes suddenly became filled with memory and he raised a paw and opened his mouth.

"Actually, don't answer that," She said before he could speak a word. "Just trust me, please?"

Clawhauser let his paw fall to his side and a joking smile emerged onto his face.

"I'll trust you, Judy," He said. "But if tonight turns out like what happened at that rabbit's bar you took me and your boyfriend to that one time, then I'm the one who gets to pick where we go for drinks for the rest of the year."

Judy rolled her eyes and scoffed at him as she turned back to the entrance of the bar.

"Fine," She said in a mock tone of irritation as she pushed her way through the black-padded door, hearing Clawhauser following close behind her.

"And for the last time, Nick wasn't my-" She began, but quickly stopped herself. Nick wasn't my boyfriend. She corrected in her head. But once he's back to normal, then...

Yes. That is, if he loves me back...

The interior of the bar hadn't changed one bit since Judy's visit a week prior. The scarlet lights reflected off every smooth surface in the room, and an old Amy Whinehouse[4] hit was playing on the overhead speakers at the most enjoyable volume known to any rabbit who ever lived. The booths on the right side of the room still lacked occupants, and so did most of the stools on the left. The only mammals present in the bar were Finnick, who was sitting on one of the stools close to the end of the counter, and Voltaire, who was standing behind the counter and facing his vulpine counterpart.

"Evening!" Judy called out as she strolled up to the pair. Finnick turned around in his chair, a large grimace on his face, while Voltaire just stared at her with a warm and calm expression.

"Evening, bunny!" Finnick shouted with an upward flick of his head.

"Good evening, Ms. Hopps," Voltaire politely greeted as Judy scrambled her way up onto the stool next to Finnick. "I trust you've had a nice week?"

"Nice enoug-" She started, but turned her head back to the door when Clawhauser gave a fake cough to get her attention. The massive cheetah had managed to get himself halfway into the bar, but because of his enormous body size and the comparatively small doorway he couldn't get the other half of his body through.

"A little help for the fat mammal, please?" He said with an embarrassed smile. Judy returned a smile of her own and was about to slide off her stool and help pull him in, but before she could move an inch Voltaire was already standing in front of the cheetah, his paws resting on his hips.

"It appears that the door isn't large enough for you, Mr..?" The bartender politely inquired.

"Clawhauser," Clawhauser awkwardly said as he managed to raise a paw out toward the fox. "But you can call me Ben."

"Right, Ben," Voltaire continued as he shook Clawhauser's outstretched paw. "Luckily for our larger patrons we have a loading door out back which you should be able to fit through. If you can scoot back then I can show you around to it."

Judy giggled as she watched Clawhauser awkwardly wriggle himself out of the doorway as Voltaire moved to hold open the door, the embarrassment on the cheetah's chubby face only growing when Finnick's laughs joined those of his long-eared coworker's.

"I'm sorry, Ben," She apologized, not wanting to hurt her friend's feelings. "We're not laughing at you, but the way you're backing up is just so-"

Judy stopped herself as Clawhauser popped out of the doorway, his feet quickly backing up from the doorway as he tried to keep his large form from falling onto the sidewalk. All she could do was laugh that little bit harder, and even though she felt bad for being humored by another mammal's struggle she knew that Clawhauser would also be laughing at the sheer outrageousness of his exit.

"Don't worry. Mr. Clawhauser appears to be in good spirits," Voltaire said over his shoulder as he walked out onto the sidewalk and disappeared from view, letting the door snap shut behind him. After a few more moments of hard laughing, both she and Finnick were able to control themselves again.

"Bunny, you got some strange friends!" Finnick commented as he gave her a hard slap on the back and raised an eyebrow. "And speakin' of friends, you're a bit overdressed for tonight, aren't ya?"

Judy looked down at herself, carefully observing the clothes she was wearing. On her feet were a pair of bright red open-toed high heels that her parents had bought her for her sweet sixteen and she couldn't seem to outgrow. Curled around her legs, waist, and chest was a black 1-shoulder dress she only wore on serious or special occasions. And tonight was just that occasion - it was her partner's birthday! And her partner wasn't just her partner anymore. In her mind, that reason was more than enough to go the extra mile to look alluringly good.

"I don't get what you're talking about," She commented, raising an eyebrow to copy Finnick's expression and nodding toward his black collard shirt with a red stripe down it. "I'm not dressed for a friend, Finnick, and If anyone isn't dressed appropriately- it's you! Mr. I-only-have-one-shirt-that-I-ever-wear."

Finnick snorted at her joke and slowly shook his head, but before he could respond casual chatter echoed out of the back room of the building and he and Judy turned their heads to gaze at the closed red curtain where Judy remembered the 'excited' giggles coming from the last time she was here. A moment later Voltaire emerged with a huge smile on his face and Clawhauser following close behind him, laughing uncontrollably.

"Judy, you have the most delightful friends!" The cheetah joyfully exclaimed as he moved to the end of the counter, where Voltaire was pushing up an extra-large stool for him to sit in.

"And who might this cute little fox be?" He continued, staring at Finnick with an awe-struck expression as he plopped his rear on the stool and moved his paws to hold up his massive chin. Judy opened her mouth and tried to warn Clawhauser about the Fennec fox's rather explosive personality, but before she could speak a word Finnick gave a deep growl.

"Finnick's the name," He responded, and Clawhauser's eyes widened at the depth of his voice. "And if you call me cute again, then biting yo' face off is my game."

"Right..." Clawhauser reluctantly responded as his almost terrified eyes stared at the Fennec Fox. "Then I'll add you to the list of mammals who I can't call 'cute' anymore."

Judy smiled at the cheetah, understanding the rather sly reference he made from the time they first met. She still didn't let him call her cute. It was the same as her calling him savage or Nick sly; just rude and demeaning.

When they first began working together, Nick didn't get the memo her coworkers sent him to not call her cute. The first time he had used that crude adjective as he sat next to her waiting for the Chief to give them their orders she had brushed it off as typical banter. But once he started calling her that for weeks on end, she knew she needed to make an example of him. So one day when she was pulling the cruiser around to the front of the building she sped up a little more than she should've and deliberately ran over his tail he had carelessly left hovering just above the road as he talked with Officer Snarlof.

Once the shock from his injury fled and his yelping stopped, Nick managed to hobble over to the cruiser's door and lift himself up into the passenger's seat, both of his paws clutched to the flattened half of his tail. Judy had stared at him with a serious expression as he fretted over his wound, gently rubbing it as he whispered curses underneath his breath.

"Maybe you're not so cute, after all..." He mumbled as he continued to stroke his tail. She sent him an overly-huge smile in return and turned to accelerate the cruiser.

"You're catching on quick, rookie," She commented, and above the sound of the cruiser's roaring engine she heard him grumble in annoyance.

Ahhhh. Judy humorously thought as she absently watched Finnick and Clawhauser casually talk with one another. Such good memories!

"Now, then," Voltaire said as he wandered up to her from the other end of the counter and stared at her with one of his eyebrows cocked upward. "What do you think of this beverage?"

Judy leaned forward and studied the expensive-looking bottle of alcohol he was holding out towards her with interest.

"Vodka?" She asked , raising an eyebrow in suspicion. Most hard liquors weren't safe for rabbits to consume. Even a drop too much could send one into shock - or worse.

"There's no need to worry about getting poisoned, Ms. Hopps," Voltaire assured with a smile. "This is a unique blend of vodka, specially made for foxes. I've been serving it for years, and I can tell you that it doesn't hit smaller mammals as hard as some of the 'normal' vodkas out there. Though if you're still unsure, I can always mix it with some lighter brew to ease it's punch."

"That'd probably be for the best," Judy commented with a humored smile as Voltaire nodded and turned to grab another flask of alcohol. "Us rabbits aren't really known to take alcohol very well, you know."

"I am aware," The bartender politely said with his back turned to Judy as he carefully mixed the vodka and lighter beer together into a rabbit-sized glass.

"Hey, V?" Finnick called out from his seat, and Judy quickly turned her head toward the small fox. "What are ya makin' for bunny?"

"'The Sailor's Seductress'," Voltaire answered without turning toward Finnick, his eyes focused downward as his paws quickly shook the newly-mixed beverage back and forth.

Judy raised an eyebrow at the drink's name. It sounded like something Nick would've had when he was with the vixens in the bar's back room!

"Ahhh!" Finnick exclaimed as he turned to Judy, his eyes alight. "That's a good choice."

Judy perked her ears in interest as the fox leaned forward in his stool, his muzzle only a few inches from her ear.

"It's what yo' lover fox would've had," He mumbled with a small smile, and Judy returned an artificial one of her own.

That sly devil! She thought in her head. Once Nick's back, I'll show him who the real 'sailor's seductress' is! He's never coming here on his ow-

Her thoughts stopped dead in their tracks.

He won't be able to come back here as Nick Wilde... She thought with melancholy after several blank moments.

She was still getting used to the world thinking her partner was dead. Even though it wasn't as bad as when she first found out, she still felt herself becoming frustrated whenever someone brought him up. She wanted to tell Finnick - and Clawhauser and Voltaire, for that matter - that their long-time friend wasn't dead, even if that was directly violating the mayor's orders. But she knew she'd never tell Finnick - or anyone else - about Nick's existence. As the Chief had already told her on several occasions, "Officer Wilde is dead in the eyes of the public. His existence is a state secret that cannot be revealed to anyone under any circumstances."

Judy focused to the world around her again, the rebellious, frustrating, and melancholy thoughts about revealing Nick's existence gone. Finnick and Clawhauser were ordering their drinks from Voltaire while the vulpine bartender had set her own beverage a few inches from her paw resting on the counter. She picked up the rabbit-sized glass and stared down at the clear liquid inside. She wafted her paw above it, letting the intoxicating smell enter her nose. She didn't know her beers too well, but the drink Voltaire had made for her seemed so strong and appetizing that she could feel herself getting drunk off it's smell alone - and she liked that.

She raised the drink up to take a sip and quell her desirous thoughts, but before her lips could touched the liquid Voltaire turned and snapped his fingers at her.

"Don't drink that yet, Ms. Hopps," He politely ordered as he bent down to grab three cans out Pred's Apple Ale from underneath the counter. "Tonight is Mr. Wilde's birthday, if I'm not mistaken. So the drinks are on me. But what's more, I propose a toast."

He picked up and opened one of the cans he had set on the counter before he raised it up in the air with a wide smile.

"A toast to our colleague, friend, and partner," He concluded. "So that we may remember him, no matter where he may be drinking now."

"I can toast to that," Judy agreed, lifting her rear our of the seat so she could hold her glass next to Voltaire's. She turned her head towards Finnick and Clawhauser as they picked up the other two cans on the counter and raised them to join her and the bartender.

"To a friend," Clawhauser said with a memory-filled smile.

"To a sly, devious, and crafty son-of-a-bitch," Finnick joked with a hard expression. Voltaire chuckled in amusement and Clawhauser scoffed in mock disgust at the Fennec fox. Judy sent them all a big smile.

"Here here!" She exclaimed, raising out of her seat a little higher so her glass was above her colleague's cans.

"Here here!" They all replied in unison, clinking their cans against her glass before they each downed a huge portion of their drink. Judy joined them and let the entire glass of astringent and ripe vodka pour down her throat. It's bitter taste hung in her mouth for what seemed like an eternity and it's intoxicating effect quickly took hold of her mind and body.

The rest of the night was a blur. There was laughing, drinking, talking, more drinking, and lots and lots of stories about Nick. It was comforting to finally figure out that she could now call Finnick and Voltaire her friends and not just her partners, and that, for the most part, Nick had always been the dumb fox she knew and now loved.

After all the alcohol was downed and the joyful conversations ended, Voltaire called her a Zuber to take her home. For whatever reason, though, she didn't give the driver her address. Instead she told the stag the address to Nick's warehouse. For reasons unknown to her, after a whole night of talking about her vulpine friend she just felt like she needed to be there - almost like it was her responsibility.

It must've been midnight by the time she finally arrived at his place. Her footsteps fell heavy on the concrete floor of the warehouse, the gentle humming of the generators the only other sound which echoed around the massive room. Yet she still had a grin on her face; she was too drunk was to be anything but happy and sleepy.

Nick's gigantic bed welcomed her with a cozy embrace as she collapsed on top of it. She closed her eyes and rolled into the middle of it, pulling the single blanket on the bed over her in the process. As gentle as she could be, she pressed her face against the mattress took in a huge sniff. At the smell of the familiar scent covering it an ecstatic expression made it's way onto her face.

Just like Nick... She sheepishly thought as sleep began to consume her. With a final roll she had achieved the maximum amount of comfort she could gather from the bed and sent her invisible partner across from her a loving smile. There was no place she'd rather be than right here.

The only thing which could've made her sleep better was if Nick was laying right beside her...

But on the other side of the city, there was a fox who wasn't sure he wanted that.

His reluctance wasn't caused by a lack of feeling. Quite the opposite, actually. It was caused by a single, overwhelming feeling of love he felt for a certain rabbit. But instead of bringing him comfort as love was supposed to, it was bringing him distress and unease.

Nick rolled over in the blackness, grumbling quietly, as he tried to find a comfortable position so he could rest his troubled head. He focused on his breathing, trying to finally catch the peaceful silence of sleep which had eluded for the past two years. Before, when he only had his memories to keep him company, sleep called out to him to embrace it. But he fervently denied it. Maybe it was karma, then, that when he was finally looking for it sleep was nowhere to be found.

All because of Judy. The sly bunny...

Stop! An angry voice in his head growled. We've settled this matter, Nick! You don't have those kinds of feelings for her!

"You're right, crazy mammal in my head," Nick mumbled in response. He didn't love Judy Hopps. He had already decided that. He couldn't love any mammal, let alone the dumb bunny. The dumb bunny which had saved his pelt from a savage Manchas all those years ago. The dumb bunny which he had spent every single day of his police career getting to know as not just a friend, but as a partner. The dumb bunny who always had his back in any situation. The dumb bunny who gave his life more meaning than just scamming his fellow Zootopians out of a few dollars. The dumb bunny who loved him...

Nick rolled onto his back, loudly exhaling in the process.

"Yep," He loudly assured as he moved both of his paws to rest between his head and the cold, black floor.

"Totally don't love Carrots..." He finished, pushing his desirous thoughts about his partner away. He kept his eyes shut as his breathing began to slow. Sleep was beginning to take over...

That's right. The angry voice calmly said. Sleep now, Nick. You don't love her. You can't love her, or anyone else. Love only brings pain...

But that's false. A calm voice suddenly interrupted. Love is dangerous, yes, but it's rewards vastly outweigh it's risks. It brings companionship and happiness to those that share it.

Lies! The angry voice aggressively countered. Never forget your mother, Nick. The one mammal you loved; and look what happened to her! She Died, and you didn't even seem to care! Do you even remember that? Doesn't that make you feel hopeless? Angry? Like you're suffering?

Don't bring Brook into this. The calm voice ordered. Her death was sad, and that was because you loved her, yes. But that's what happens when love ends. It's what happens in life; but that doesn't mean you should abandon love altogether! You are still capable of love, Nick. Imagine feeling that with Judy. You saw it in her eyes - she's crazy for you! And you're crazy for her!

Stop lying! Nick doesn't lov-

You think about her all the time. You always have - ever since you met her!

That doesn-

You always look forward to being with her, and now that you know she has deep feelings for you I see that you want her as much as she wants you.

STO-

Imagine it, Nick! You and Judy never apart again. The sly fox and the energetic rabbit in each other's arms, in each other's heads, in each other's hearts...

NO-

And not to mention in each other's beds...

In one sudden moment, the illusion of rest lifted off of Nick and his eyes flew wide open in shock and realization. He moaned in distress as he moved his paws from out behind his head and pressed his velvet palms forcefully into his eye-sockets.

"Oh my god," He groaned in discomfort and awkwardness. "I'm in love with Carrots..."

Well, see you again in two weeks!

Primal: A Zootopia Fanfiction Chapter 10 - October 16

A Fox in Shining Armor: A Zootopian Fanfiction Chapter 2 - October 31

Fourty Thousand: A Zootopia Fanfiction Prologue - TBA

Guilt, that Monster: A Zootopia Short Story - TBA

Dire Situations: A Zootopia Short Story - TBA

This chapter was last edited September 21, 2016

Footnotes:

[1] - F***ing guess.

[2] - Vulch, language of foxes. Sounds like the Dutch language, but not to be confused with Verman, the language spoken by rodents and sounds like German.

[3] - Ursaguayan, pun on Uruguayan

[4] - Pun on Amy Winehouse. The 'hit' mentioned is the song Back to Black. I'm trying to be as foreshadowing as possible, so go listen to the song's lyrics.