Chapter 1: Awakening

It was the early hours of the morning and the sun was only beginning to peek out from the horizon. The golden rays cast itself amidst the clouds, painting the sky in vibrant yellow which cascaded into rich blues. A sunrise that soon cast its light on a pair of mammals resting on a lonely beach. Survivors to a tragedy, a rabbit and a fox, famous ZPD officers Judy Hopps and her partner Nick Wilde.

Nick was the first to stir from his slumber as pain seeped into every inch of his battered body. He didn't know how long he had been asleep, but he could tell it hadn't been long. He groaned while trying to get off his left side, stopped by the sensation of being tethered to something. Opening his eyes slowly, his vision adjusts to let him see a still sleeping Judy. He looked to see that he was still tied to her. The recollection of the perilous trial they faced returning to him in bits and pieces. Sighing and wincing, he attempted to undo the buckles to his life jacket. Every movement was strenuous, his muscles screaming at him to stop everything and to be still. He ignored the pain to finally get the jacket unbuckled and slipped out of it.

Standing up was to be his second greatest accomplishment next to waking this morning it would seem. His legs could only shake as he struggled to even get on one knee. Slowly and steadily he managed to stand, albeit with the painful protest of his muscles.

Nick still had on a bright yellow raincoat with his signature lime green tropical shirt and tan khakis underneath. Both articles of clothing were tattered and already had a few holes in them, as well as still being damp. His fur was a disheveled mess with sand caked onto half of his body. Against the wishes of his sore body he shook himself off and removed the coat. He homed in on the sounds before anything else; his eyes clamped shut from pain. The sounds of a gentle breeze accompanied by waves washing over sand and rocks were the initial noises to greet him.

The worn fox opened his eyes as slowly as everything else he had done for the past few minutes. He still struggled to see past even a few feet ahead, vision returning to him after a few blinks and he could finally make out his surroundings. The early light of the sun beamed down on the long stretch of sandy beach. He didn't know what he expected since he knew he would be looking at sand and trees.

What surprised him, however, was the sheer size of the island they had washed up on. He peered out along the shores and barely made out where the beach ended in the distance. He then faced away from the sea, staring with his mouth agape and wide eyed bewilderment at the jungle before him. He thought the rainforest district had some impressive trees, but they were nothing compared to the dense wall before him, each tree being nearly twice the height and thickness of the trees back in the city.

By this point, Judy began to stir as well, groaning much like her partner had done on his awakening. Steadily she brought herself to sit upright. She shook her head, clutching the left side of her head in a futile effort to stifle the headache that resonated in her skull. Grumbling, she undid the life jacket and chucked it next to Nick's. A sharp pain pierced her right shoulder causing her to grip the spot, wincing and sucking in air.

Nick turned to the noise, seeing his partner had awoken…and was clearly in pain.

"Judy! Y-you ok?!" he asked with worry in his voice as he rushed to her side, completely disregarding his own aches and kneeling to inspect her shoulder.

"I-I'm fine, Nick…I think…I think I might've landed on my shoulder last night" she explains, recalling the moment they had hit the beach. She noted that Nick had addressed her by name, something he only really did when he was being serious or showing concern. She looked to him with a weak smile to try and ease that concern. "Hey, don't go worrying about me, I'm tougher than I look," she remarked while getting up on her feet. She had on her own raincoat and under that was her pink flannel top paired with light blue jeans, also within a state of disrepair much like Nick's attire. After ditching her raincoat, she unveiled her shoulder to find that it was bruised lightly. "See? Nothing serious," she assured him with a soft laugh, trying her best to hide how much it was actually hurting her.

"You're lying to me, Carrots, I know how tough you are but that doesn't mean you can't get hurt…come on, I'll make you a sling," he offered as he reached down to grab the life jackets.

Judy couldn't really argue with the fox, he knew her too well and didn't protest as he worked. Using his claws he tore out some of the excess straps on the life jackets. He then tore off his sleeves and tied the fabrics to the straps. Nick handed her the makeshift sling to which she gratefully accepted.

"Thanks…what about you though?" she asked, seeing her partner was shaking under his own weight.

"Just sore…really sore…probably because I was trying to keep hold of you in that shit-storm," he stated, sitting down to face the sea.

Judy nodded, remembering clearly how Nick had held her while fighting the force of the waves. Had he let go, the straps would not have been enough to keep them together. She sat beside him, staring out to sea with him.

The pair sat their quietly, sighing in unison. They felt they should've been panicking, but either lacked the energy to do so or were too relieved to just be alive. Both ways panicking wouldn't have done any good and they knew it.

Judy broke the silence between them. "So…any idea where we are?" she asked while rubbing her aching head.

Nick shrugged before replying. "Nope…all I know is…that wherever we are…at least the view is nice…" he stated, watching the sun come up ever so slowly.

"We were incredibly lucky to land here, huh?" Judy added on, chuckling to herself.

"Yea, at least we didn't land on those rocks over there" Nick pointed out to his left. Sure enough, just fifteen feet from where they had landed was a row of various rocks, some of which jutted out menacingly with sharp points.

The thought of what could've happened sent shivers down the rabbit's spine, causing her to curl in on herself, resting her head against her knees. "Yea…but that wasn't what I meant…I meant we were lucky to have landed anywhere at all," she stated while keeping her gaze on the sunrise. "I was just…so certain that we were going to drown…" she added, her voice growing weak.

Nick placed a paw on her back, nodding in agreement to her statement. 'Had we given up hope and let the waves take us…' Nick shook his head, not wanting to dwell on that thought.

Another moment of silence passed, broken this time by a low rumbling. Nick looked down at his exposed belly, realizing the sound was coming from his gut. Judy giggled upon hearing the noise, stopping when she realized her own stomach was begging for sustenance.

The pair looked at each other before breaking out into small laughter. Nick stood up with less effort than before as he grew accustomed to the soreness, stretching to let his back pop. He looked to his partner, smiling and offering a paw to help her up. "Well Carrots, for now I suggest we work on getting something to eat, then we can worry about…well, whatever it is we need to do," he says while looking around.

Judy nodded at the suggestion; they were going to need all the energy they could get before working out a way off the island. Then came a small sound from behind her…

Ssssss…

The noise was rather sudden and the two looked to the source. It was the sound of sand shifting, and from the beach a crab had surfaced. Nick stared at the small crustacean as it teetered off away from them.

"…Well then, I guess I'll be having crab for breakfast," he looked to Judy, "as for you Carrots, there's a palm tree over there, and I can see some coconuts on it," he suggested, looking behind him to a large palm tree in the distance. From where they stood the tree was obviously bearing fruit, and within the pods were certainly the sweet drupes.

"Yeah, that could be tasty…just need to work out a way to get them down," she said while tapping her lips and shifting the arm resting in the sling.

Nick chuckled as he looked back at the slowly escaping crab before meeting Judy's eyes again. "Tell you what Carrots, I'll help you with the coconuts after I catch that little morsel, you work on getting-"

"Something to start a fire?" she added, finishing his sentence to which he nodded with a chuckle.

"We have a plan?" Nick asked while stretching some more.

"We have a plan." Judy confirmed, walking towards the palm tree.

"We'll rendezvous at that palm tree." Nick finished before following the crab, breaking into a jog.

And thus began their day. Despite all that had happened, they took it all in stride. They knew that they had to survive for now before planning for their rescue. What's done is done. That was the fact of the matter and it only confirmed that their lack of distress was simply out of relief of being alive. They were alive. So they were going to make sure to keep it that way.

A/N: This story was inspired by several things, some of which include Lost, Gulliver's Travels, and Castaway. Expect some…strange things to occur in upcoming chapters.