Giselle didn't think that a night of searching for her mysterious savior would lead to this.

A full week had passed since Ashe had helped her with Clovis, and Giselle had been trying to figure out what kind of animal he was to best thank him for it. Eventually, with her research bearing no fruit, she decided to sit on it.

"It doesn't make any sense," Giselle murmured to herself, flopping onto her couch. "HE seems to be a mix of everything and nothing at the same time…" the eyes of a feline, the teeth of a canine, the claws of a lizard or bird, the scales of a serpent…' she sighed, turning on the news. 'Who or what is he?'

The television flickered on, right where she left in on the news station. Savanna-grass eyes widened at the headline: "The Relic has been cornered in Savannah Square by the brave pursuit of the Zootopis Police Department," the news anchor said, the roar of the helicopter marelt allowing the tigress to let herself be heard. "After a fast seven mile chase, the Relic is being closed in on around West Grassland Street, but from the looks of it up here, he could get- Oh, my god!"

Giselle was already up and out the door, sprinting down the street as the image of Ashe getting rammed by a police cruiser flashed over the screen.

"A brutal takedown by the police cruisers… the Relic seems to be getting back up, but it appears to be injured-!"

He was terrified.

That was all Giselle could see as she pushed through the crowd of mammals as the gawked and pointed at the anomaly in their mist. Guns were leveled, and Ashe was favoring his right side heavily, wrapping an arm around his torso even as he spread his wings wide, making himself bigger than he already was. Metal and flesh flashed in a rippling pattern, striking unease into the hearts of everyone present, save for Giselle.

Somehow, she knew he wouldn't try to hurt anyone, at least not purposefully.

However, she couldn't speek for everyone , pushing onto them what she thought…

After all, Giselle certainly didn't think as she ran between the police and the strange creature that saved her moved to intercept her, the growing tension coming to a boiling point. Muzzles fired their bullets at the same time Ashe made a leap for her rapidly approaching self, wings and arms spread wide as if to tackle her. Giselle's vision went dark as hardened membrane swept around to entrap the female in a cocoon. Scaly arms banded around her figure to make sure she was still, and a tail wrapped about to hold her even tighter. A millisecond later the pings of bullets against metal echoed in her ears. The body mashed tightly to her jolts and a stifled grunt meets her ears, the blooming smell of copper filled the air as bystanders screamed and ducked for cover, even if they weren't in the line of fire.

"Cease fire! Cease fire!" gradually, the popping guns fell silent, and the air was so thick with tension, you could cut it with a knife. Slowly, Ashe let his hold on Giselle loosen, and he stumbled back, leaving the gazelle to stare, shellshocked, at his condition.

Somehow, Ashe was still conscious, but blood pooled around his tal0ned feet as he staggered. He crashed to his knees with a grunt and hunched over himself, but even as the blood flowed from his body, Giselle could see his skin knitting together where the scales had flaked off in the rain of bullets. The creature lurched forwards, his chest pulsing blue, his horns glowing dangerously. Turning glowing blue eyes to the gazelle, Ashe grits out two words through sharp teeth and curled lips.

"Get… away!"

Lurching forwards a second time, clawed hands fly to his mouth, trying to keep an impending maelstrom of fire and ash back. His tail slams against the pavement, cracking the asphalt under its strength. "Move in!" Giselle's ears twitch at the bellowing order from Chief Bogo, and she turns to see the cape buffalo reloading his gun, leveling it with the Relic's chest.

Ashe chokes back a cry, the pulsing in his chest growing faster.

Stop…

Giselle grits her teeth, watching as the ZPD relentlessly close in on Ashe's form. The injured creature has wrapped his wings around himself, desperate to keep whatever he wants to unleash locked inside.

Burning blue connects with golden brown savanna grass.

Stop it!

A taser rod shoots forwards, scoring a hit in Ashe's side, and his hands drop from his mouth as Giselle's voice screams.

"STOP IT!"

A boiling plume of blue flame explodes from the creature just as Giselle cries out. However, Ashe's pupils slit into narrow lines at the sound of her distress. Angling his face skywards, the Relic avoids hurting anyone in the devastating burst of heat and soot, the blue fire flying high over everyone's heads. The crowd's screams fall silent at the awe-inspiring, if bone-chillingly terrifying, display, and the police halt their advance as the gazelle stands in their way. Ashe slumps against the wall, shaking from the force of his fire breathing, before it dies out, leaving him panting heavily.

"What is the matter with you all…?" Giselle demands quietly, staring down the chief as he towers over his fellow herbivore.

"Miss Giselle," Bogo says calmly, his eyes never straying from the dangerous creature behind her. "I must ask you to step away from the criminal." Giselle's eyes widen before she scowls, an expression no one had ever seen on the beloved singer's face before. She lowers her head, instinctively brandishing her antlers slightly, as she stands her ground.

"Criminal?" she says breathlessly. "All I see is a creature who was hurt after running away from you." She furrows her brow. "What is his crime?" she presses. "Waking up in a world not his own? Not knowing his situation and trying to flee? Trying to defend himself?! You are policemen, you may have been reacting to the situation as best you could, but you must put yourself in his place!" the policemen shuffled nervously, wary of the shuddering Relic behind the beloved celebrity but unwilling to get on her bad side.

Bogo's eyes narrowed. "You have no idea what he could do," the buffalo pressed. "Please step away-." He cut himself off when he saw Giselle turn her back on him, sighing in disappointment. "I had thought that, after the Nighthowler Incident, we would not be so quick to accuse without proof…" the gazelle gazed at Ashe sadly. "As I said then, I'll say again: This is not the Zootopia I love."

Striding purposefully towards Ashe, the Gazelle kneels beside him, shuddering at the feel of blood soaking into her fur and clothes from the ground. Icy blue eyes stare hazily into golden grass amber, and Ashe sucks in a startled breath when he registers who it is in front of him.

"You're alright," he murmurs, exhaling a relieved cloud of smoke at the realization. Giselle nods gently. "Yes," she said. "You protected me again… thank you."

Behind them, the crowd murmured, some catching the exchange. What did the Angel with Horns mean by protected her again?

Ashe makes to stand, but his knees buckle under his weight. He felt weak, and his limbs loose and floppy. Giselle grunted as she caught him, soothing him as she murmured, "I've got you. You're safe." Turning to the crowd of mammals, she flicked her eyes through the masses. "Is anyone here a doctor?!"

A beat of silence before a small, squeaky voice spoke up from the mass.

"I- I am!" Looking down, Ashe's eyes widened slightly at the small creature that scurried to the front of the crowd- it was a tiny cat, a rusty-colored spotted cat the size of one of Ashe's tailfin joints, if that. "If we could get him to a cleaner spot, then I can field treat him for now."

A blue-clad wolf growled. "That goes against protocol-."

"…No," a voice says flatly. A rabbit in a police uniform draws Ashe's attention- it was the rabbit who had first chased him; her fox partner stood behind her, focused on the Relic with narrow green eyes. "Giselle's right… we haven't really let the Relic explain himself…" she turned to Bogo and the buffalo snorted a sigh. "…Very well," he said. "Treat the Relic, but once that is done, I want him brought back to the hospital. He will be put in accommodations, and he must be questioned."

He turned to Ashe, and the force tensed. The Relic's horns glowed dully as he leaned heavily against Giselle.

Finally, after several moments of silence, he sighed. "…Fine," he grunted. "Just… let me have something to eat… haven't eaten since… I woke up."