Why is the chapter two days late? You're usually so punctual!

Because I wanted to screw with the readers. On a more serious note, I've been very busy these past few days and didn't want to rush this chapter in any way, shape, or form. It is of absolute importance to the progression of the plot, so while I am sorry for being late...

I'm not too sorry.

WARNING:

THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN THE CHAPTER I'VE BEEN LOOKING FORWARD TO WRITING FOR A VERY, VERY LONG TIME. I HAVE A DEFINITIVE PLAN FOR HOW THESE NEXT FEW CHAPTERS WILL PLAY OUT (the story should have ~22 chapters by the end of it all). I SINCERELY HOPE THIS CHAPTER WILL NOT DISSUADE YOU FROM CONTINUING TO READ Primal: A Zootopia Fanfiction.

Nick growled to himself in quiet anger. He was pacing around the perimeter of his new cell, his eyes focused downward.

The thing lives inside. He hatefully thought to himself, his burning eyes beginning to scorch the white tiles black beneath him. Thing wriggles. Thing squirms. Thing tries to break out.

And judging by what was happening, the thing's attempts at taking over his body would not be in futile.

The thing wins. He acknowledged with a deep growl. Thing sends It to the darkness. It will not survive; It knows that. But It will not win.

All because of the rabbit. He despised the buffalo and tiger, both ready to eviscerate him on the spot, but there was a special place in his frozen heart for the damned mammal that would never let him be in peace. It was her that had moved on from mocking and sneering at him in a language he didn't understand to helping this thing inside him force him from his own form. It was losing the battle for his body; It had known that for some time, but now, in the most critical moment of the feud, it had lost the upper hand.

And when It was so close to the finish! That was the most humiliating part of his defeat; the part that wanted to make him try even more to end the game that he had played ever since he had awoken from the ice.

It must win! Nick hurriedly and angrily thought, his mind beginning to fall into a panic. It must find a path!

As soon as that thought passed through his skull the muffled sound of his prison's sliding door opening entered his numb ears, and he flashed his head in the direction of the entrance, his body still close to the ground and his pas widening in a defensive stance.

Tiger. He sullenly and dreadfully thought to himself, letting loose a low and menacing growl at the white-clad predator standing in the doorway. He mocks and hurts it.

He smelled artificial, just like he always did, but this time Nick could also sense the sweet scent of fish on him.

Tiger replaces buffalo... He thought in a fit of dark humor as he backed away from the tiger and towards his cell's corner, his body falling even further towards the floor. Tiger feeds it now. Feeds it like an animal!

He began to growl again, his lips pulling back in a fearsome snarl, but before he could reach the summit of his violent display the thing inside him spoke to the tiger, and in return the tiger spoke back. He became even more enraged as the conversation between the tiger and the thing in him continued for several seconds, and he tensed his legs, ready to strike the tiger. Who was this predator to refuse his existence and spur the monster inside him to further crimes? He was going to kill him!

But before he could the tiger stopped talking, his expression easy, and the thing inside him said something simple back to him. With that the exchange was over, and Nick watched the tiger take his paw out from behind his back and throw a fish into the center of the room with cautious suspicion. The tiger backed out of the room without saying anything, his eyes not moving away from his, and the exit to his cell closed behind him as he passed through the doorway.

Nick let his hateful and burning gaze fall to the fish, and he wandered away from the corner and into the center of the room to cautiously sniff the fish. It smelled of nothing, just like it always did, and Nick took another step forward and took a huge bite out of it's face. He let its scaly, grey skin slide down his throat but he kept its tainted flesh in his mouth. He closed his eyes, letting his tongue roll over the horrid taste of the flesh, and he calmly swallowed it.

Tiger brings bad meat. He grimly thought to himself as he opened his eyes and took another huge bite of the fish, this time scarfing down mouthful after mouthful. The meal was gone in an instant, none of its unsatisfying taste staying with him for more than a moment, yet his stomach felt just as empty as it always did.

Fish doesn't matter. Nick coldly thought to himself as he stalked away from the center of the room and towards the corner furthest from his prison's exit. The further he walked away from the center the more he felt the heavy and tight pain in his chest relax, and at first he thought it was little more than a trick of the mind. But just as he curled into a ball to try and rest he shot straight up, his ears suddenly straightened and his fiery eyes in a deep frown.

The taste in his stomach was doing something to him. The tiger had poisoned him somehow by using the fish!

It should've killed! Nick hatefully thought to himself, jumping up to his feet as he opened his mouth in a frightening snarl, his pearly whites reflecting the bright light coming from above. It should've killed them all! The tiger! The rabbit! The thing inside! They made It die!

But the time was not over yet. The pain inside his chest had been relieved, but it was not gone. It was still there, and in a hateful rage a devious but crafty idea popped into Nick's mind.

He smiled at the mere thought of it. He had never smiled at anything in his recent memory, but this was worth the effort.

It will lay a trap. Nick cunningly thought to himself, his mind suddenly relaxed, and he turned and began to stalk back towards the corner furthest from the door. When the thing takes control, It will win. It will die; but so will the thing. It will win.

Nick laid down on the tiled floor, curling into a ball with his face facing outwards, and he let his snout rest on the cold floor as he moved his tail to rest by his side.

It will survive. He violently thought, his strange smile turning into a gleeful snarl. It will survive in a different way.

Judy woke to the sound of her phone's alarm going off. She sat up immediately, her eyes wide and her ears perked. Moonlight was streaming through the massive, floor-to-ceiling window that looked out from her suite's bedroom and down onto the small river at the valley's bottom, illuminating her room a ghostly white. Her bed's soft, grey sheets were ruffled from the previous night, when she had been so tired that she had done nothing save throw herself onto the bed and sleep.

God, I need more than four hours of sleep for once. She tiredly thought, turning herself over and forcing herself to sit up on the edge of her bed as she moved her paws lazily resting on her sheets to switch off her phone's alarm and forcefully rub her eyes. I can't wait for this ordeal to be over. Hopefully that medicine Doctor Zdanskyi was talking about comes in today.

Judy forced herself off her comfortable bed that compelled her to embrace its warmth for just a few more moments and bent her back and raised her arms above her head in a massive stretch. Her back cracked in a million satisfying places, and she lazily opened her eyes to stare at her reflection in the room's single window.

"You can do this, Judy," She strongly said, stepping forward to point at her reflection with a powerful expression. "Just a few more days. Nick almost made it out of wherever he's trapped yesterday-"

"Err, earlier today" She hastily corrected, quickly glancing down at her phone to see the time was 6:02 in the morning. "You need to push the advantage; keep him in the real world for as long as possible, and then when he goes Primal just bring him back out again. You can do this. Today is the day."

She quickly exhaled and orderly straightened herself as her outstretched arm fell back to her side. Her eyes scoured her clothing she hadn't bothered to take off the night prior while her nose took in the familiar, vulpine scent covering every inch of her body. She loved Nick's scent almost as much as she loved the sly fox himself. There was something enticing and strange about the smell that beckoned her to drown out her own scent with it, but she could see many, many problems arising if she followed that thought.

"Five minutes," She hurriedly decided, refusing to move her eyes off of her reflection's as she spoke to herself. Once she was done with her one-way exchange she shot away from the window and across her wide, modernesque bedroom to storm past her bathroom's open door. She slammed the door behind her, not bothering to lock it, and unbuttoned her green blouse as fast as her paws would let her. She tore off her remaining garments as quick as she could manage and within an instant she was taking the quickest shower even known to all of mammalkind.

When she stepped out a moment later she was completely drenched but clean, and she couldn't help but feel a small twinge of regret while drying herself off when she only caught the faintest scent of Nick coming from her thin grey pelt. She threw the towel back over its rack when she considered herself dry enough and hurriedly climbed the several plastic stairs kindly provided to her by the institute's staff up to the bathroom's sink. Her toothbrush more resembled a jackhammer as she hurriedly brushed her teeth, intent on finishing her daily needs within the five minutes she had allotted herself. She spat out the toothpaste in her mouth after another minute of brushing and smiled at herself, checking herself over her reflection in the mirror in the instant before she dropped her toothbrush onto the marble counter and sprayed herself down with Love's Anti-Scent Spray.

With a contented exhale and a quick, final glance over her nude body she bolted down the plastic steps and threw open her bathroom's door. She bolted back across her bedroom and unzipped her blue duffel bag she had put at the foot of a short, white wardrobe across from her bed when she had arrived yesterday. She dug through her neatly folded clothes, not paying much attention to the pink blouse and blue jeans she chose herself to wear. She hastily pulled up her jeans and buttoned up her shirt, jumping up onto her bed for half a moment to collect her phone before she jumped back down and sprinted out into her suite's main living quarters.

The room's size and appliances put her tiny apartment to shame. A huge flatscreen TV was hanging on one of the walls while a massive modern kitchen and equally modern living room took up most of the remaining free space. Across the room was another floor-to-ceiling glass wall that overlooked the valley's floor, and a small deck with outdoor furniture lay just beyond the glass pane.

Judy ignored the details of the room, instead keeping her eyes focused on the towering steel fridge at the far end of the kitchen. She whisked toward it as quick as her feet would take her, opening it up and pulling open its lowest drawer. She pulled out a nutrition bar from the compartment and quickly shut the fridge's door behind her as she opened up the bar's plastic wrapper. She took a bite of the hard substance and immediately regretted her purchase of a twelve pack of them. The wrapping was bright and colorful, advertising the food's "all-natural apple taste", but in reality its taste was nothing but average and its texture was as dry and tough as dried fish.

Not like I'd eat that in the first place. Judy begrudgingly added, suppressing a disgusted shudder as she strolled around the kitchen's island to drop the bar's wrapper into the trashcan. I don't get how he can stomach to eat that at every meal. Well, Chief does bring him blueberries and fruit once in a while. I guess that's a little bit of relief.

Judy casually pulled out here phone as she swallowed the last mouthful of her disappointing breakfast. She turned her path towards her suite's huge, spruce front door while a smile crawled onto her face as she studied her phone's screen.

6:06. She proudly thought to herself, looking up from her phone as she shoved it back into her jean's pocket. That's four minutes. By far the fastest time I've ever gotten ready in.

When Judy arrived at her suite's front door she let the smile on her face fall and replaced it with an eager expression. She began to bounce up and down on her toes and wiggled her fingers. She rolled her head around her shoulders, and she perked her ears when she heard her neck bones crack with a satisfying click!

You can do this, Judy. She strongly told herself, continuing to pump up her muscles for the long day ahead while her gaze moved upwards to stare at the spruce door's metal doorknob. Just keep your mind focused straight ahead. Remember who you're doing this for, because today's the day. Today's the day-

-that I get out of this damned head of mine. Nick sarcastically but merrily thought to himself.

He was laying on the blackness, his paws supporting his head while his right leg was raised and crossed over his left. He felt completely relaxed, his stomach for the first time in months feeling full and his skinny body warmed by the white tiles that his Primal Self was sleeping on. But those changes didn't even scratch the surface when it came to why he was happy.

"I'll need your permission to feed you this fish, Mr. Wilde," Doctor Zdanskyi had explained a few hours prior, a trout with a delicious-smelling blueberry saute held behind his back. "I've concealed an untested capsule of medicine within the fish's mouth that could aid your condition. It was developed last year by a group of scientists to help immunize mammals from ever becoming savage, but based on my research I believe that it could ease the pain you're experiencing and help to elongate the time you can control your body for."

At the time his Primal Self had been cowering towards the floor, preparing to pounce at the doctor. Nick had just smiled at the white-clad tiger, his whole body filled with nothing but pain. He could feel his heart beginning to implode within his tight chest and he could feel his breaths becoming shorter and wheezier with each inhale. He knew he was on the verge of death despite his dramatic improvement over the course of the day, and he wasn't going to give up so easily when he was so close to regaining complete control of his body.

"Here's my permission, Stripes," He had painfully joked with a nod towards the tiger standing in center of the vision. "Hopefully all my fur won't shed as a side effect."

His Primal Self had begun to scarf down the fish as soon as Doctor Zdanskyi had left the room, and almost immediately after it had eaten the pill Nick noticed a change in his fortunes. The pain in his limbs and core began to subside, the feeling retreating back to its origin point within his heart. Even there within his chest that he had thought to be an indefusable time bomb constantly ticking down to the end of his life he could feel the fiery and swelling pain easing, and he smiled. He needed time, and now he had it.

This is perfect! He had ecstatically thought at the time, and he smiled looking back on the moment. Even now as he lay on the darkness in a relaxing pose the pain was still retreating towards his chest and his previously struggled breathing had been improved tenfold. All he had to do now was tell Carrots the good news.

Little did he know that that moment would come much sooner than he anticipated, because while his Primal Self was sleeping Judy was no more than a room away from him.

She was looking at a piece of paper that had been taped halfway up the sliding door that marked the entrance to Nick's room. She squinted her eyes and raised up on her toes, trying to read the scribbled writing on the sheet in the dim hallway's limited light.

Hopps, The letter bluntly began.

Medicine came in for Off. Wilde overnight. Doctor has given it to him. Report on progress when I return. Zdanskyi will be around at 11; I'll join at 13.

-Chief Bogo.

The font was big and untidy, but Judy felt her eyes widen at the words regardless.

"It came in today?" She repeated aloud to herself, her ears perked in interest and an astonished expression making its way onto her face. "All the way from Drussels? Talk about overnight shipping!"

The initial shock from the surprise quickly faded from Judy, and she closed her open mouth and leaped up into the air to swipe her access card down the sliding door's control panel, her mind suddenly eager and nervous. She needed to see if the medicine had had any affect on improving Nick's condition, just like Doctor Zdanskyi said it might.

The door opened as soon as her plastic access card finished travelling down the control panel's length, and as Judy fell back down to earth she shoved her access card back into her back pocket and quietly strolled through the open door, a polite and warm but secretly nervous expression on her face.

Nick lifted his head off the darkness and straightened himself as the door opened, his ears perked and his eyes wide and alert. He could hear its metallic wheels sliding sideways into the wall next to the doorway.

His Primal Self heard the door opening as well, because almost as soon as the sound began the vision a few feet in front of Nick flicked to life. At first it only revealed the tip his tail lying on top of his muzzle and the room's white wall, but his Primal Self quickly turned towards the room's door and Nick smiled with excitement as he watched the exact mammal he was waiting to see stroll through the doorway.

"Morning, Nick," Judy politely greeted, her paws moving to clutch one another as another pang of nervousness flooded her thoughts. "How are you feeling?"

"Better than I've ever felt in months," Nick glumly answered as he watched his Primal Self raise himself off the floor to stand in a defensive crouch. Nick stood with him, his eyes never leaving Judy's surprised face, and his smile grew the longer he stared at her.

"Really?" Judy inquired in shock and joyful surprise, the nervousness flooding her thoughts suddenly drained, and she came to a stop in the center of the room. "Did the medicine do what it was supposed to do?"

"And more!" Nick merrily answered with a humorous laugh. He never knew he could ever be so positive! But he guessed that's what happened when he was so close to being reunited with the real world! And his partner...

"Nick, that's great!" Judy ecstatically exclaimed, picking up on the excitement in her partner's voice. She smiled at his enthusiasm and swiftly walked towards him. He was silently snarling at her, his green eyes filled with anger as he back away from her and into the corner, but she knew that beyond his angry expression he was jumping with joy within the confines of his mind.

"How much of the pain is gone?" Judy asked, tilting her head as she fell to her knees a mere foot in front of his snarling muzzle, a smile still present on her face.

"Most of it," Nick warmly answered, shoving his paws into his ragged uniform's pockets while his eyes combed every inch of his partner. He was so close...

"There's a little pressure in my chest and some throbbing in my heart, but aside from that everything else is gone!" He impatiently elaborated as his eyes traveled back up the length of his partner's body to rest on her sparkling amethysts. "It's even easier for me to breathe! It feels like everything that's happened in the last two weeks has suddenly reversed; aside from the progress we've made together."

Judy listened to Nick's summary with careful interest, but as soon as he brought up what they had done together in the past few weeks her ears suddenly perked straight upwards and her already attentive eyes widened tenfold. He was right. They had made immeasurable progress in the last week and a half, and in a weird way it was all because of his declining health. They had brought him to the edge of returning to the real world, and now they had the time to finish what they had started.

"Have you tried to control your body since you had the medicine?" Judy eagerly questioned as she raised up on her knees and straightened her back, her mind telling her to bring her partner back to the real world as quick as possible.

Nick shook his head in answer, but when he realized she couldn't see him do so he spoke.

"Not yet," He answered, his foot beginning to impatiently tap against the blackness. He didn't want to stay in his mind anymore; he had waited all night for his partner to return, and now that she was here he couldn't stand to remain in the blackness for a second longer.

"I've been waiting for you to show up," He wryly added with a sarcastic smile. Judy chuckled at his sarcasm, feeling a warm, affectionate feeling move into her chest.

"Well I'm here now," She affectionately replied, raising an eyebrow in humor as her heartbeat began to speed up. "Let's pick up where we left off last night."

Nick nodded and closed his eyes, keeping the image of his partner at the forefront of his mind. He slowed his breaths down until he wasn't sure he was even breathing. His heartbeat slowed to almost a standstill, and he felt his muscles relax as an almost euphoric peace came over his body. Ever so slowly he felt the cold touch of the air in his mind melt away and the warm embrace of the air in the room along with the heat of the white tiles beneath his feet take its place.

Judy watched him with quiet interest. Her eyes scanned every inch of his chest and face, searching for any abnormalities as he regained control of his body, but all seemed normal. He loudly snarled at her in anger, his expression fiery, but Judy brushed off his violent ourburst. That was just his Primal side speaking out. His real self would be with her within seconds.

"Hopefully forever," She almost silently added, her gaze becoming focused and her heartbeat so quick that she swore it sounded more like a conveyor belt than her heart. "Come on, Nick. Break through."

The shift of control was noticeable as Nick's efforts finally succeeded in restoring his control over his body. Starting at his tail and ending with his face Judy watched his muscles relax, and once he regained control of his face his wide eyes and snarling mouth snapped shut to form a much calmer and concentrated expression. His quickened breaths slowed down, and Judy gulped in silent nervousness as he slowly raised himself from the floor, keeping his paws rooted to the ground.

It was only he was certain that he was in complete control of his body that Nick dared to open his eyes. At first all he could see was a blinding white, but after several seconds of blinking the colors grey and green and the shape of a rabbit kneeling in front of him emerged. The minute details of his partner's face came slowly, but once all were accounted for he warmly smiled at her. The pain in his chest was all but departed, yet regardless he still felt an overwhelming feeling of weariness plague his mind.

"Good to see you with my own two eyes again, Sweetheart," He casually but tiredly joked, his words disrupted by his light breaths travelling in and out of his opened mouth.

"Do I look any better through them?" Judy warmly asked, scooting forward so that her face was only a few inches from Nick's. She squeezed his left paw, still firmly rooted to the ground, with her right, feeling his body heat travel through her palm and letting his scent wrap around her.

"Maybe if I wasn't hunched over," Nick wryly answered, and without a second thought he shifted on his paws and moved them one by one to clutch onto Judy's shoulders. He began to heave himself upwards towards her face, but his unused legs were so weak that he had to transfer most of his weight onto Judy.

She didn't mind the added weight but gripped his forearms to provide him extra support and began to raise with him when even that became useless. The further they stood up from the floor the larger the smile on her face grew and she could feel her heartbeat continuing to beat out of her chest. When he had taken control of his body yesterday her partner never had the strength to stand on his own two paws. But now that he had had the medicine... Maybe he was in control of his body for good.

"Nick..." Judy emotionally began, unsure of what she wanted to say as tears began to make her vision fuzzy. She simply felt like the happiest mammal on the planet.

Nick looked up from the ground when his partner spoke to him. She had only said his name, yet it was more than enough for him to understand what she truly meant.

"I know," Was all he said to her, still partially hunched over but not feeling the need to straighten himself any more. He was standing on his own two feet for the first time in years. That thought excited him, but not even a fraction as much as what his partner was wordlessly telling him with her beautifully purple eyes and loving expression.

Nick suddenly had a throbbing urge to embrace her; to take her into his arms and enjoy the first true hug between them. Judy was feeling the exact same thing, because as soon as Nick began to lean towards her she began to lean in towards him, her eyes not daring to leave his face still on eye-level with her. She wanted him more than anything- no, everything! It's all she had desired when she thought he was gone forever and even once he had come back from to the realm of the living. And now she had him.

Nick felt the exact same way, but he couldn't be as poetic in a moment he had been waiting for years. Maybe he had even been waiting for this moment his entire life. To be that little something more than just friends with his dumb bunny would've made him laugh when he was still on the force, but now it just felt commonplace, as if he had loved her even since before his trip to Arctic One yet just hadn't realized it.

The heat of affection and emotion between the two of them was almost visible to the naked eye, and both of them were entirely entranced by one another. Feeling his legs beginning to shake Nick took a small step forward without thinking, keeping his eyes locked with his partner's. As soon as his foot returned to the tiled floor he stopped leaning in towards Judy. He couldn't move, and he felt his muscles become stiff, as if he had been frozen in place. His breaths became scratchy in a matter of moments, and his eyes widened in panic as he realized what was going on. Judy also opened her eyes further, initially unsure of why Nick had halted his advance. Yet the shock of what was happening quickly crashed into her too, and she stood there staring into the frightened, deep pools of green mere inches in front of her.

But it was too late for either of them to do anything to prevent what was coming. The trap had been sprung.

Nick felt his legs completely give out, and he fell through Judy's arms and hit the tiled floor with a massive thud. Compared with the pain suddenly shattering his chest the collision was nothing. He didn't even realize he had hit the ground until his muscles began to uncontrollably spasm against it. He gritted his teeth as the sharp, piercing, burning, clenching, destructive pain that he thought had left him forever burst out of his chest and through every cell in his body with intensity far more powerful than it had been before. He couldn't concentrate on anything, including his partner, who had fallen to his side with her paws pressing down on his back.

All Judy could do was look down at her partner, suddenly unsure of what to do. She wanted to shout for Doctor Zdanskyi or a nearby nurse, but in this remote wing of the hospital she doubted anyone would hear her. Instead she leaned forward on her knees, forcefully pressing down on Nick's back before releasing in coordination with his breathing to try and ease his increasingly scratchier and heavy breaths.

"Breath, Nick," She strongly commanded, a protective desire falling over her. "Breath. Talk to me. Distract yourself."

Nick didn't hear his partner talking to him. He was losing control of his body, just like he had experienced yesterday, but his Primal Self wasn't taking back control. He withered in pain on the floor, his legs and arms spasming in every possible direction. His body felt like it was being pulled apart while his heart felt as if it was imploding on itself like an ice cube cracking under the pressure of a tire. He could only focus on the pain; nothing else. It was that immense and consuming.

"Carrot-" He managed to choke out, but his words became stuck in his throat as he pressed the side of his face into the tile beneath it, trying to crush the pain out of him. Yet his feeble attempt was to no avail, and he continued to wriggle against the ground in absolute pain.

"Come on, Nick, only you can overcome this!" Judy shouted at him, her voice calm but slowly becoming more and more panicked as she continued to push her paws up and down against his back. Nick still didn't hear but turned towards her just as a numb feeling took control of the tip of his tail furiously flicking to and fro in the air.

"Jud-" He tried to say, but his voice was failing him. "Jud- Judy."

"Tell me what to do, Nick," Judy emotionally urged, all the organization in her control over her feelings beginning to degrade. Nick's tail flopped to the ground as the numbness spread up his waist and down his legs. Judy turned her wide eyes towards his lower half, and she watched a wave of stillness sweep over his legs and up his core. His legs fell to the ground frighteningly limp, and Judy took her paws off Nick's back and stood up, her eyes not daring to leave his body slowly becoming still.

It's happening. She calmly thought, her breaths becoming quickened yet still in her control. It's happening. It's happening.

Suddenly all the strength she had built up over the years collapsed into a smoldering pile of rubble, and she stormed out of the room without looking back. Tears began to well up in her eyes as she sprinted further and further away from the room, running down the abandoned and ghostly white hallways as far away from Nick as she could with her ears limply strung out behind her. Her teeth began to grind against one another in humiliation and uselessness, and her squinted vision began to cloud up with walls of water.

She couldn't bear to see him die again. Not ever. She had seen him die once before, all those years ago, through security footage, but now that he had returned and she had the opportunity to stay with him in his last moments she couldn't bring herself to do so. She just couldn't see him die again. She couldn't bear to see him like that...

"Judy..." Nick choked out, his voice scratchy, as he watched the mammal he loved run around him and out the sliding door on the other side of the room. His gaze followed her, and when she ran out into the hallway he began to drag himself towards the doorway, his claws scratching against the tiled floor with deathly shrieks. He didn't feel anger or sadness or anything; only pain.

The still numbness spread up his chest, consuming his heart and the center of his pain. But he still felt incomprehensibly and utterly dead, and his body became dead weight as he continued to pull himself towards the doorway with long and pained strokes. Eventually the numbness reached his shoulders and traveled up his neck and the length of his arms. He watched his paws fall to the floor in front of him, and he extended his head further out from his neck, trying in vain to reach the distant doorway.

"Judy-" He mouthed, but his voicebox was already numb. The numbness continued its steady advance, consuming his jaw and muzzle before spreading up the length of his ears. They limply fell behind his head, and he felt his skull crash into the ground.

He couldn't do anything except shed a single, silent tear. He still wasn't disappointed or angry or anything; just in pain. He wanted to stay with Judy, to be with her one last time, but it wasn't meant to be. The numbness consumed his mind before moving into his eyes, leaving him staring at darkness in its absolute form.

He had no final thought. Nor did his partner, who had collapsed onto a hallway's floor half a building away and curled up into a ball, crying her heart out alone and cold. All she needed out of all the things in the endless universe was him, and all he needed to feel like he had one something with his life was her.

But neither of them would achieve their needs.

Nicholas P. Wilde was dead, and that was the end of it.

Nick...

Primal: A Zootopia Fanfiction Chapter 17 - January 31

A Fox in Shining Armor: A Zootopia Fanfiction Chapter 6 - February 28

This chapter was last edited January 17, 2016