Night Wolf here!

Before I go on to another topic, I have an announcement to make! Jknight97, the author of the story "True Love Defined," and a couple others, has offered me assistance with editing.

He has already proven to be a skilled writer and has greatly improved the state of this chapter. Without him, this chapter would be much more of a mess. Simply put, it can be difficult for me to find mistakes I've made in my own writing. He has already found a great number of issues I have never noticed before. I greatly appreciate his help.

So, if you're willing, check out his stories. I think you may find something you like!

And now… on to the next thing! Originally, the events in this chapter were going to be drastically different. Remember when I said that I am "winging" these chapters? Well, I still am, and this chapter was going to be not quite as good, in my opinion, as it is now.

The new idea for this chapter actually came to me a few minutes before I fell to sleep one night. I scrambled for my phone and quickly typed in my idea - the writing was barely readable - and collapsed back into my bed. If I hadn't done that, then I would've likey forgotten all of it… I'm lucky to have written it down. I was even tempted not to!

Perhaps, I should take this as a lesson and actually think about future chapters much more than I already have…. Heh, I'll try.

Well, that's about it. Not much more to say, really. Remember to leave what you think down in the reviews!

And thanks, Jknight97, for being such a big help!

…..

All she could hear was chaos. It was comforting, in a way.

It would be unusual for her kithood home to be quiet and still. With over two hundred siblings, peace was simply impossible. The only way you could ever get peace was if you made your way to a designated quiet area; an area that her parents obviously were nowhere near at the moment.

"Judy?" the muffled voice of her father entered her ear from her phone's speaker. It was extremely difficult to pick out his voice from the chaos of their home. "Give me…a sec…" the rabbit heard, already growing quite a bit annoyed. "Going… somewhere quiet…"

…

Stuart motioned his wife over to him as he waded his way through the sea of their children. There was no way for Bonnie and him to speak to their daughter with the kits drowning out their voices. Thankfully, they built their home with designated areas made for instances when someone needed some silence. That was where he was heading.

First, however, Stuart needed to make it there. It can be difficult to make your way through a horde of tiny, young rabbits.

It was a beautiful sight, though, he thought with a smile. The aging rabbit loved seeing his children so happy. While it became difficult from time to time - moving around becoming increasingly difficult and annoying - he wouldn't give up his life for anything.

Stu could never get over the sheer amount of love he felt for each and every one of them. He had no favourites, and neither did Bonnie, but each kit was special in their own way. Each kit was an amazing mammal with a heart of gold.

They tried to raise their kits right.

Stuart and Bonnie were not at all perfect. Far from it, actually. Just like every other animal out there. But they did their best to steer their kits towards being good citizens of society. So far, they seemed to be doing well.

So much so that one of them had become a police officer.

It was almost a relief to hear that she was fired. They knew it was an awful thing to feel, but…a safer job never hurt, in their opinion. Something like farming.

That was something they intended to speak to her about soon. They had intended to go to Zootopia and find her and have a serious discussion with her. Of course, they were going to take her back home, first. Zootopia just wasn't safe right now.

But things had gotten in the way. Their hands were tied - metaphorically. So, this phone call was actually a pleasant surprise. It would be a lie to say that they were not worried.

Rabbits always worry. Plus, with that fox with her…

"Judy," her father said once he had reached his destination. The silence was…odd. One gets used to the constant commotion of having over two hundred kits. At least now he could hear his daughter on the other side of the phone line. "Or should I say: Jude the Dude?"

"Father," his daughter said in a stern voice. Bonnie had just entered. "You will listen to me and not say a word until I am finished. Do you understand me?"

Her mother took a step backwards with widened eyes. "Oh…uh…okay, Judith."

"Oh, good, you're here. Same with you."

Bonnie was about to scold her daughter but he put up his paw, silencing her.

"Firstly, I'm safe." A few seconds passed by. "Secondly, my BOYFRIEND," their daughter emphasized, "nearly died on me. You know why? Because bigots hate him for no fucking reason."

The parents gasped. Did their daughter just cuss? That is what startled them. Not that the fox was injured. No. The cuss word startled them. They didn't care much about him.

"I know you're thinking that he deserved it, somehow. Am I right?" She didn't give them any time to answer. "I know I'm right. He's a fox. You're both rabbits. It pains you to see a stranger get hurt - as long as the stranger happens to be prey. If it was a predator, you couldn't care less. Right? Sure, perhaps you'd care if you knew the predator was a good mammal - like Gideon, your business partner. But otherwise, no, you wouldn't care. You believe they all should be collared, right?"

"Judy," her father said in a very small voice.

"No! Don't Judy, me! I don't want to hear it!" He sighed and allowed her to continue. "I love Nicholas with all of my heart. He has been there for me when neither of you were. Oh no, I'm a police officer; I'm going to get gobbled up on my first day! He didn't believe that, but you both did. He trusted me, a tiny rabbit, with his life. He believed in me. He knows that just because I am a rabbit doesn't mean I can't be an officer of the law."

"Honey, you know that…"

"Shut it!" Both parents exchanged looks. "He is an amazing mammal and much better than either of you think! Predators as a whole are better than you think!"

Her father sighed. "Predators are killing machines, hon. They…"

"Thousands of years ago, Stuart! They have changed! Every single species has changed since then, and that includes predators!" Not father. No. Just Stuart. His daughter refused to say that. "Animals these days are nothing like the ones from back then! I have facts to prove it! Did you know that last year, the prey population of Zootopia AND BunnyBurrows murdered more animals than the predator population? Two years ago, more prey were involved with gangs than predators! These days, predators and prey are more and more alike! You are just as likely to be murdered by a tiny bunny than by a bear!"

"That…that can't be true." Yet, Bonnie felt like what Judy was saying was the truth.

"And Nick puts his life on the line for the entirety of Zootopia everyday! Even with the both of us being fired, he is still going out there trying to make the world a better place!" She took a shaky breath. "And he's…he's collared."

"Good th…"

"Don't you dare continue that sentence, Stuart! He got collared trying to prevent a riot! And he was nearly killed by his collar when he saw his mother mercilessly dragged out of our house by a horde of prey! Nick was beaten and shocked until he passed out!" A sparkling tear fell onto the floor by Judy's hind paws. "He did nothing wrong - same with his mother - and yet he is in an unimaginable amount of pain right now. He cannot even move from the bed! And guess what? His mother is collared and she is likely to die soon! There's a kill timer on the collars they are forcing onto predators. Amber, his mother… she's an unlucky one. Her timer is short. She won't live to see next week if we don't get that thing off of her."

Neither of her parents knew what to say.

"Predators are good animals and they are being murdered simply because of that word, that label. Imagine if you were a fox or a lion, but still kept your personality, your morals. How would it feel?!"

No one spoke for several moments.

"It would be nice to have accepting parents. Prejudice is an awful thing and you two are part of the problem. Think about it…please. My best friend could die tomorrow because of the bigotry. His mother probably will die. Many predators have already died. They don't deserve it. They are just as good as prey… many are better. Some are even more accepting of our relationship compared to the two of you!"

The line went dead. Bonnie and Stuart were left speechless.

…

Judy ended the call and shoved her phone back into her pocket. She hadn't noticed the polar bear behind her thanks to the constant thumping of her paw and her yelling.

"Ms. Hopps," he started, "Lewis, at your service. We are ready to go whenever you are."

She took a look around and deflated. "Yeah… Let's do this."

"Oh, and Hopps?"

"Hmm?"

"I shouldn't have lingered around… but I did. I heard most of your, uh, conversation. It was…refreshing to hear a prey say that. I can see why Mr. Big has taken such a liking to you and your fox."

She smiled. "Well, it's true, what I said. More mammals need unclouded minds." One of her ears drooped and her smile disappeared. "Animals like my parents…their minds are about as clouded as the sky during a thunderstorm."

"But the Sun always shines through in the end. Just give them time." The rabbit responded with a nod. "Now, let's find some dirt on a certain Mayor we both hate."

"Um, Lewis? Do you think it would be better if I went in alone? That way, we would be less likely to be caught."

He took a step backwards. "Uh...we are meant to protect you, Ms. Hopps. With all due respect, I do not believe that is a good idea."

"We are most certainly going to be caught if you come inside with me. But if you and the others create a distraction…then we could all get away cleanly."

The polar bear grumbled, pondering it for a moment. He looked at her to decline, but he saw a rather determined look on the rabbit. "I shouldn't even try to argue, right? Just…let me take it up with Mr. Big. He gets to make that call, not I."

…

Thirty-one hours.

Amber has only thirty-one hours left, and those hours were likely to go by quickly for her. Judy couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to see your death slowly approaching you, watching the hand on a clock tick slowly towards your end.

It would be agonizing, but she'd be glad to know that she had not even two days left to live. Better to be prepared and live your last hours to the fullest. Amber doesn't even know, though. She hasn't been told.

Judy made a mental note to somehow tell her. How would she do that, though? How does one tell their best friend's mother that she will likely die soon? She wasn't certain she'd be able to handle that. However, it did serve to motivate her to do whatever she could do to take that despicable device off of her neck - as if she needed the motivation.

Judy began thinking about what she'd do in her final hours if she was in a similar situation. It was a difficult question to answer. It's not like it's an enjoyable topic. In fact, she often avoided it. Death already looms over each and every living being, threatening to snatch anyone up at a moment's notice. And what is left afterwards? Endless happiness? Non-existence? An eternity of pain? Something else?

What exactly would happen to Amber, if they failed to find a solution?

The rabbit leaned back in her seat and let her eyes succumb to darkness. The limo shook subtlety with every crack and bump in the road, keeping her from falling asleep. A soothing rhythm of breaths, emitting from the polar bears around her, helped to remind the bunny that she was not alone with these battles inside her head.

"Ms. Hopps," a voice from her left vibrated the air around her, "Are you sure about this? About you going in alone?"

Judy leaned forward and opened her eyes. She ended up staring at the carpeted floor of the limo. Soft and impossibly clean. Almost like new. "I'm not going to have any of you die on my behalf. And I should be able to sneak in without any problems as long as your distraction works."

"We'll see to it." Lewis readjusted his suit and wiped off some fur that had fallen on his sleeve. "We're here. Do you have everything?"

Judy checked to make sure she had her carrot pen and phone. "Yeah, I do. Be careful. I won't call until I am ready to be picked up. If I'm not out in an hour…inform the others."

The rabbit stepped out and planted her paws softly on the concrete in the alleyway they had hidden themselves within.

The city felt…calm, somehow, she observed. Even during the trip here. It didn't make sense. Had the prey stopped attacking? What had happened?

The limo crept out of the alleyway and swiftly made its way towards a location only a mile from the City Hall. There, Mr. Big's polar bears would set up harmless explosives - bright and ear-splitting, but not at all dangerous - in hopes to give Judy a chance to slip into City Hall, and subsequently Keegan's office, unnoticed.

She hoped with all of her heart for them to stay safe and for the plan to work. They simply could not fail. To fail would mean the complete loss of Zootopia's ideals - peace and harmony between all things - and the death of thousands, perhaps millions, of individuals.

The lapin couldn't stand the thought of more death.

Judy waited there for several minutes. For a while, her breathing was quick and sporadic, but then softened into a gentle motion. Her paws never ceased shaking, however. What they were doing, what she was doing, was rather insane.

The fact that it was three in the afternoon didn't help matters. No darkness to hide her movements.

But they couldn't keep waiting. This had to be done as quickly as possible.

Judy began to question the overall calmness of the city even more than previously. It didn't make sense to her. From her hiding spot, Judy could see prey walking the streets as if nothing happened. Some were even chatting and laughing with their friends. There was even a full restaurant nearby.

None of them seemed to be fazed at all by all the murder and killing that had occurred not even a day ago. She wanted to puke. They thought predators were the mindless killers…

Thankfully, she didn't have to watch them for too long. Mr. Big's family had done their job. An explosion violently shook her entire body and effectively blasted her hearing to the point of temporary uselessness.

The crowd of prey ahead of her ran for their lives, hiding in every nook and cranny. It was utter chaos, very similar to the riots of before.

She noticed many of the animals running inside of City Hall; exactly what she wanted. She joined them and blended in. Soon enough, she was inside of City Hall with no one knowing who she actually was.

Judy took a moment to look for a staircase that would lead to the Mayor's office. Thankfully, she noticed a multitude of prey had a similar idea and were flooding into a staircase that led all the way to the top floor. The security could not even stop them; there were too many terrified animals. It was amazingly easy for her to slip past them and make her way upwards. The plan worked flawlessly.

After a lot of climbing and not-so-gentle shoves from rude animals trying to get ahead of Judy and closer towards what they hoped was safety, she made it to the floor where the Mayor's office was kept.

She didn't even have any trouble entering Keegan's office. The guards up there were focused on calming the crowd and breaking up a mild fight that occurred between a few animals. Apparently, all you needed was an explosion - thankfully, this one was harmless and more similar to a firework - to make mammals forget they were civilized.

Once she entered, she took a moment to lock the door behind her. Luckily, Keegan was nowhere to be seen; probably had gone to a hidden shelter inside of the building.

The room itself was not what you would expect the Mayor's office to look like. The room looked like it flowed.

It was primarily made of stone and hardwood. The wood spit up the stone and formed what looked like waves in the walls and more circular shapes in the floor.

On the far wall, there was a rather large window that cut into the floor and rounded just before it touched the ceiling. The Mayor's desk was only a few feet ahead of the window, giving Keegan a stunning view of the city's skyscrapers and streets down below.

Judy quickly hopped into action and began searching through the drawers of Keegan's desk for anything useful.

She, at first, found schematics of a couple of new buildings in the city's southern docks. There were some plans detailing the dates, but not the discussion topics, of future City-Council Meetings. Even a few letters and several other documents were mixed in there, but nothing else. Nothing of real value to her.

She was about to move on to a second drawer, but discovered a mysterious object, under another letter, and found it was just a thin pane of glass protecting an old photo. There was no frame.

She pulled it out and instantly recognized Mayor Keegan as a child. He was hugging a slightly taller, female coyote. They both looked at each other with the goofiest grins you could imagine on a hare and coyote.

Judy wanted to smile back.

She shook her head and gently placed the photo in its glass frame back into the drawer, and then placed the other documents back within the drawer.

There was a knock on the door and her ears perked up even higher than they already were. She heard nothing else, though. No keys being entered, no jiggling of the door handle.

She hesitantly turned back towards the next drawer and pulled it open. In it, there was a compact laptop. She set it on top of the desk and continued to rummage through the documents it was sitting on top of. There was no use in trying to get into it. It likely had a password. It would be better to simply take it back to Mr. Big and get it checked out instead of wasting time with it.

The voices from the panicked mammals coming from behind the door suddenly went silent as she heard Keegan's voice. Judy felt herself shrink a thousand times smaller. Her fur stood on end.

"Get out of here! The explosion was only some dumb kits playing with fireworks! Knock it off!" she heard him shout at the scared mammals in front of his office door. Judy began frantically shoving the papers back into the drawer. "What are you sheep doing?! You're not supposed to let a mob of civilians anywhere up here! What do we pay you for?!" Just as Judy grabbed the last stack of papers, she heard the door handle move. "Stupid ruminants!" she heard him mutter outside of the doorway.

Judy had finally gotten the last of the papers back in the drawer by the time she heard a key slide into the lock. She grabbed the laptop and hid herself under the desk with it under her arm.

The door finally creaked open.

"Did any of you lock the door?" the Mayor asked. A sheep grunted in a manner that meant no.

"Let me check it out," a gruff voice answered. Judy's ears heard the steady clicking and clacking of hooves on stone and polished wood. Some soft pawsteps followed after.

Her eyes darted towards the drawer and she mentally facepalmed. She had left it open.

Crawling as quietly as she could, she made her way closer to the drawer.

The hoofsteps were steadily getting louder. The sheep was somewhere in the middle of the room.

Judy put her paw on the drawer and began to slide it back into place. The soft sound of wood pushing against wood shivered Judy's ears.

The hoofsteps came closer, nearing the desk.

The rabbit continued pulling at it. The sounds it was making was difficult even for her to hear thanks to the sheep and his hooves. She doubted they could hear the wood rubbing against itself.

She had only an inch left to pull when the hooves were right beside her right ear, making it and her nose twitch uncontrollably. Judy withdrew her paw and sunk back into the desk. The drawer was not shut completely.

"Lucas, I doubt anyone is in here. One of you must've locked it."

"But sir-"

"Out!"

The door closed shut with the sheep exiting the room. Keegan crept up to the desk and sat in his chair. His paws were hanging dangerously close to Judy's nose.

The Mayor grunted and rubbed his forehead. Today was becoming a rather long day for him.

His paw reached for a drawer and pulled it out. He fished around until he felt glass and pulled out a photo of his childhood. Leaning forward, he set the photo down and then set his elbows on the top of his desk with his paws holding up his head, staring intently at the eyes of the coyote in the photo.

Judy caught a sniffle from the Mayor. She raised an eyebrow.

Keegan huffed and stood up with the photo and glass in had paws and proceeded to step towards the window. His sniffling became louder and quicker, and by the time he reached the window, he was sobbing.

His eyes traced the outlines of the clouds above him until his eyes became too blurry to see anything more than two feet away. Keegan dropped the photo and let the glass shatter. He turned around and slumped against the window, sliding down it until he reached the floor.

Judy didn't know what to think.

His sobs became quicker and louder with every passing second. His body jerked violently to the rhythm of his misery.

She slowly crawled out of the desk and headed towards the Mayor. "Keegan?"

He looked up for a moment before his head fell back down. "…H-Hopps."

She knew this was a bad idea, but it felt wrong to just leave without understanding what was going on. Judy was more or less stuck in there, anyway. She'd have to contact Mr. Big and figure out a way to get her out if there. There were almost certainly guards standing right outside his door. So, against her better judgement, Judy came closer to the Mayor and spoke with a voice softer than a rose's petals. "What's wrong?"

One of the Mayor's ears raised slightly, but fell right back down. He didn't notice Judy take a carrot pen out of her pocket. She was recording this conversation. "I-I never wanted this…"

She felt anger bubbling within her. "Yeah, I never wanted to watch my best friend get beaten by a crowd of heartless prey." she hissed.

"Ms. Hopps, let me-"

"His mother will die in thirty hours thanks to your collars!"

His misery grew exponentially, his tears bursting from under his eyes like a dam had broken.

"Predators were being hunted by prey, and hundreds, if not thousands, have been killed by them!"

Keegan looked up into the other rabbit's eyes and whispered, "If I do not do what I am told, I'll lose everyone I care for."

He dug his tiny claws into his own skin, breathing slowly until he found enough strength to speak again. "She'll kill them if I do not follow her every command. The moment I-I fall out of line, she'll slice open each of their throats with me watching!"

"Who is-"

"I can't tell you!" he continued to cry, "I can't…I can't…"

Judy almost felt pity. Almost. "So you were willing to murder the entire predator population?! Did you even consider any other options?! If you would've went to the ZPD, we-"

Keegan stared daggers straight at Judy, "You don't know that! I couldn't risk it! I-I couldn't…I'm a miserable…"

She knew she didn't know the full picture. Perhaps he really couldn't tell them. Maybe he was being watched. But to doom millions of mammals…she had to show this conversation to Nick.

His voice shot out again. "I know I'm an awful mammal…I deserve to die a thousand times over! I condemned them all to a miserable and painful death…I deserve to die…" Judy watched his paw move to his pocket as he spoke, "I-I-I should die…"

She saw him pull out a small pistol from his pocket and pointed it at himself.

"Tell them… that I'm s-sorr-"

Before he could pull the trigger, Judy darted towards him and shoved his paw backwards. The bullet shot out through the glass, sailing through the air and hitting the side of a stone building.

The door burst open with Keegan's guards rushing in. Judy shoved her phone and the carrot pen into the Mayor's arms. "Call Mr. Big or Nick! Find them! Show them the pen!"

The guards reached Judy and pointed their weapons at her. She stood up slowly and let herself be taken into their custody.

….….

I must say, that is the longest chapter I've ever written! I hope to do this more often.