Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Disney, least of all Zootopia (yet)

"So let's take a vow and seal a pact.",the words seemed to echo in her mind. And she remembered the time that she had made a pact with Nick. She had been much younger then but she remembered how Nick had told her that she always had to be really careful with the wording of a pact.

So she went ahead and asked right away. "What are your conditions for helping me?"

Her demonic counterpart lowered its paw and straightened up a little more.

"I want you to create me a new body."

Judy was still a bit skeptical,"When you say create a new body. You mean literally creating a body? Not that you would take mine?"

The demon smirked,"smart, no I wouldn't take your body since Nick seems to be very protective of you."

Judy was very surprised by that,"why would that stop you?"

The demon's smirk softened into a happy smile,"because he is my brother. And he would not forgive me if I did. Now you may only live a century at best little rabbit, but we live for eternity. The live of one mortal is not worth the strife that would last much longer than you could imagine."

This surprised Judy and she turned to Nick,"would you really?"

Nick looked somewhat embarrassed but he nodded nevertheless.

The demon started laughing,"Yeah Nicholas has always been like that, getting attached to the weirdest things."

This time Judy felt insulted and actually got angry,"hey! I am not a thing."

The demons smirk grew even wider,"sure you are. If you want to be something else then prove that you are special. That is what you want to do anyways, right?"

This hit Judy off guard. The demon had a point she was a nobody, just some low ranking adventurer who had nothing more than her personal spirit, a dream and the clothes on her back. And yet the fact that the demon challenged her to prove herself felt weird to her. It had seemed so indifferent before now.

She was brought back from her thoughts when Nick started to speak,"but how would Judy accomplish such a feat?"

Shadow Judy swirled the sword from behind her back back to the front where she thrust it into the ground before her using it as a support to lean on.

"There are many ways for a mortal to be useful in that regard, you should know that Nick."

Judy was surprised with how angry Nick seemed upon hearing that and even more surprised when he actually growled while answering,"you can't make her loose her soul for you."

The exchange felt strange to Judy, why was Nick so defensive all of a sudden, but like always with these two she had no time to think as they went on.

Demonic Judy laughed once more and almost fell off the sword that she was leaning on,"of course not. That being said it should be relatively easy for her to use alchemy to create a body for me once she has become strong and skilled enough."

Nick seemed to ponder for a moment before replying more calmly,"alchemy is a lost art. No mortal has performed it for centuries now."

"True, as luck would have it though, our little rabbit friend here has two demons by her side that can help her by teaching her every step of the way." The demon replied smugly.

Nick still seemed to be bothered by something but Judy could not tell what exactly since what she had heard up until now seemed rather positive. She was sure that with the help of both of them that she would be able to learn about alchemy and then she would be the only alchemist in the entire world. That sounded rather legendary to her, in fact it sounded like a useful skill to have so that the gods would notice her. As far as she knew alchemy was the mythical art of creating things through equal exchange. An art that had been lost centuries ago.

"There is a reason why alchemy is a lost art.", Nick said and she could hear the concern in his voice.

"And what reason would that be?" Asked her demonic counterpart in mock confusion.

Nick seemed to be aggravated by this once more,"you know how dangerous creating life with alchemy is! Even more so when creating a magical being. Alchemy destroyed itself."

The smug grin returned onto shadow Judy's muzzle,"So you are saying just because some mortals who took things too far destroyed themselves with alchemy, you suddenly have no faith in your master anymore?"

She could see that this one was a solid hit as Nick's ears lowered instinctively.

"I am just saying that there has to be a better way."

Shadow Judy raised her paw and started moving the fingers of her paw up and down, while focusing on the movement of her paw as if bored,"what about advanced summoning magic then?"

She could literally see how Nick's brain stopped working for a moment while he looked like he had just been hit with a hammer. He recovered really fast though and answered even angrier than before,"that is even more dangerous! To summon a being strong enough to house your soul she would have to master cross dimensional summoning. And I can count on one paw the number of mortals who managed to do that!"

This surprised Judy even more. Summoning was basically a form of magic where the caster used his power to summon a creature, often a creature of the monster class, to aid them in battle.

It was a real popular type of magic among the stronger spellcasters because of its versatility.

And while she had heard that if you summoned a creature that was stronger than you without the right spells in place to pacify it, that it would fight and quite possibly kill you. But that was rare since most adventurers knew this and were prepared against it. That being said summoning magic was so popular because it was easy to learn and was also known to reap a high reward once it was mastered.

Judy wondered what the difference between cross dimensional summoning and normal summoning would be that made it so dangerous. But she realized that she probably did not want to know when Nick continued,"How dare you even suggest that? I thought I told you that her soul is off limits."

The demon just looked at Nick in what seemed to be real confusion this time,"if done right she would not damage her soul at all."

It was at this point that Judy decided to cut in, she was really amazed by how much knowledge both of them seemed to boast. But while Nick seemed to be more concerned about the future she was just focused on matter at paw. And the matter at paw was getting stronger and she knew that this demonic sword was exactly what she needed to achieve that.

"You want a new body?", she just threw the question into the discussion while achieving the desired effect.

Her demonic counterpart turned it's head and focused on her,"Yes but as you can see we are not really sure which method would be the right one for you to use."

Judy straightened herself a little and did her best to sound as professional as possible,"I know but we can worry about that once I am strong enough to actually do it. So let's not waste anymore time."

Shadow Judy seemed really happy with this and turned back to Nick who seemed rather unhappy,"Nick I think I am starting to understand why you like her so much."

Shadow Judy extended her paw once more,"I vow my loyalty to you in exchange for a body to call my own. Be wary though little rabbit. Should you not fulfill your end of the bargain then I will take your soul instead."

Judy felt really nervous. What if she failed? What if she lost her soul to a demon? The prospect was rather scary to think about but she knew that she could not let this stop her now. So she extended her paw and grabbed the paw of her mirrored self. For a second nothing happened and she felt relieved but then she felt a surge of magic go through her arm and then into her entire body. She felt her fur stand on end while the magic formed inside of her. It was an almost indescribable feeling and once it was over she could feel that something had changed deep within her. She was not entirely sure what had changed but she knew that something had changed.

She instinctively let go of shadow Judy's paw and almost staggered a bit backwards. Thankfully this was prevented by Nick who was her side immediately and supported her so that she would not fall.

Shadow Judy just mustered her with those weird eyes of her while she regained her balance.

Once Judy had actually regained her balance and moved forward once more it was the demons turn to step back leaving the sword standing up from the ground between them.

"It is yours now, take it.",said the voice that still send shivers down her spine.

The fact that the sword was now supposed to be hers filled her with pride though. And so she stepped up to the sword and firmly grabbed the grip. She could feel the raw power lingering deep within the blade while easily she pulled it out of the stone below. The leather grip felt great against her paw as if it was meant to be right there. The first thing she did was examined the sword that was now so much more closer than ever before. Her gaze was immediately caught by the ancient runes on the blade which seemed to glow without really emitting light but magic instead. Their glow was weirdly calming to her and she could not help but run her paw down the fuller of the sword in order to feel the magic that was radiating from the runes beneath her fingers. She had no idea how long she was just standing there marveling the beauty of the blade in her paws, but she did not care. The balance of the weapon itself was impeccable. The metal of the carved guard, and leather-bound hilt, balanced the heavy blade efficiently. And she could not help herself but to take a few practice swings. The blade cut through the air in a weirdly satisfying manner as she took one swing after the other. She was so focused on the blade in fact that she did not notice how her next swing went not against the thin air but rather right at her mirrored shadow self. She was snapped out of her trance when said shadow counterpart caught the blade with its bare paw in mid air.

"If you want to practice your swordplay little rabbit you should do so against real enemies. Instead of slashing through the air like a maniac.",came the amused comment from the demon itself.

First Judy was embarrassed that she had forgotten that there were others around her and that she had actually attacked someone while practicing. Then was surprised by the demons comment and for one moment she feared that she would be attacked by the shadowy creature. The same creature had just a moment before displayed how very much immune it was to the sword that she now called her own.

But instead shadow Judy gestured towards the entrance of the room where the door had already begun to swing open, revealing the guardian statues that she had been avoiding on the way here.

"Let's see how well you handle this."

Authors Note:

So this story is doing far better than my main story. I like to think this is because I have become a better writer but then again it could also be the genre.
Regardless here is to another chapter. This one is short once more and will be followed by a longer chapter where Judy finally gets to test out some powers and stuff. As always I delay the good stuff into the next chapter.
And then there should be a break where I figure out what to do with the plot in the near future since I actually need one now that I am finishing this story.
See you when I get the motivation to write the next chapter.