Chapter 9: Until the End - New Leaves Turned

Some say that true happiness is something that cannot be bought or found. That happiness is merely temporary, and grows bland in time. True happiness is something that comes in time, when the time is right, and stays with you once discovered. Some discover it alone, while others achieve it together. Regardless, an animal will know when it comes to them, for they will feel it for the rest of their lives. For Judy and Nick, this was their true happiness. Children, their children. They were parents, and nothing in the entire world could make them happier.

The night crept across the warm sky at Zootopia Hospital, and the fox and bunny laid their heads to rest with their babies in the cribs. Judy needed this sleep so her body could begin to recover. Bunnies have litters of kits ranging averagely from six to twelve at a time, and each one is born one after another. Peter was about the size of eight kits, so giving birth to him was a rather painful strain on her. Dr. Jane Hoover visited her while Nick was still unconscious, and told her of the dangers of what may happen because of it. Even as the lead director behind the soul purpose of giving interspecies couples the chance of having children, she warned Judy that if she and Nick were to have children again, to possibly just adopt. But if they were to do the gene splicing again, and she were to have more than one fox in her litter that she would have to do a Cesarean, otherwise the strain on her body could possibly kill her. Judy hardly even considered it, she was too happy with her three right now. The future could wait, this was now, and she wasn't going anywhere.

She was safe with her husband and her babies; until the absolute worst would soon unknowingly come.

The door creaked open quietly and the light flooded across the floor making it to the foot of the bed. He slipped in, and quietly pryed it open behind him with the stopper. He motioned past the bed hosting the fox and bunny, and went over to the cribs holding the babies. His shadow creeps across their sleeping figures. He stares down at them from left to right. A couple of kits, but his attention is grasped at the third one, the sleeping fox pup. A malicious smile creeps across his dark face.

Peter lets out a little cry, shaking Nick and Judy from their sleep. Judy shifts under the sheets, eyes still closed from her sleep as she gets ready to slump over to the crib to care for the baby, when Nick speaks up. "Don't worry, I got him." He sits up from the pillows and rubs the slumber from his eyes. Nick's eyes quickly adjust to the darkness of the room, and is completely frozen from shock and pure fear, unable to fully comprehend if what he was seeing was true.

Nick's crying pup was held in the arms of his brother, James. His crooked psychotic smile froze him in his place, unable to scream, or react, or anything. A dark, evil chuckle leaves his lips. "Judgement day has come, little brother." It didn't even sound like his brother anymore, it only sounded like a maniac. As he finally shakes from his awestruck state, James shoots a low dose tranquilizer into Nick's chest, just enough to give James a head start. He yelps as the dart enters his shoulder. Judy shoots up from the bed, and her expression also shows the shock of what laid before her. Her baby was in the clutch of that monster. "You may have destroyed what I have created, but I can do the same!" He yells.

In an instant, the window of the room shatters to pieces. The other babies are awoken and cry from the unknown fear of the noise. A harpoon drives deep into the concrete above the window box. Judy's attention is brought back to James holding Peter. He now have a heavy duty glove on his paw. With an evil smirk, he runs for the window. Judy could do nothing but scream at the sight of him holding her pup as he rides down the makeshift zip line. "Peter!" Her screams turned into small sobs from the pure fear she felt. James had Peter, and God knows what that monster would do to her sweet baby boy.

Nick rips the dart from his shoulder and stumbles to his feet as he watches from the broken window where James would land. He was at the main entrance, and he stared back up at him, almost waiting for the fox to come after him. Nick glares down at James as he runs to the bedside and grabs his belt. Nurses and doctors rush in from the commotion. He walks past Judy. "Stay here with the babies! I'm going after him!"

Judy breaks from her shock and hops off the bed to her husband. "No! He has my baby! If you're going, I'm going too!" He stared at her for a minute, and knew she would not stay put at a moment like this. He looks up to the nurses, and his look told them enough. 'Take care of the kits,' it read. Nick then glances back down at Judy.

"Okay. Let's get our son back." As if it were straight from one of those romance adventure movies, Nick takes a tight grasp at Judy's side, she grabs his chest, and Nick takes a leap out the window, using his utility belt as a zip line cord. He stares at James's unmoving figure as their speed increases. When they reach close to the ground, they let go and tumble on the ground to break their fall. Their eyes transfix on a black car approacing quickly, and halting next to James, who swings the passenger door open, and ducks his head inside. They could both hear the cries of their son, it rang in their ears. 'That fucker is not going to put a claw on my son,' they both thought. Nick runs for the halted car, barely missing the backseat door handle as it speeds off. Judy thinks fast, and sees an ambulance coming up to the driveway. She races to the vehicle, ordering the paramedics out, Nick joins her side. Luckily, there were no patients, so Nick floors the pedal and chases after Todd.

They followed close after the black car, each sharp turn making Judy's heart race, knowing her pup is in that car. They turn onto the highway to a most familiar place; the Rain Forest District. Nick and Judy follow again. The car comes to a halt at the Emergent Overlook, the steepest cliff in the Rain Forest District, protected only by a metal beam by the edge of the road. The passenger seat swings open and James steps out with the little fox pup, his cries dying down a little. He walks to the edge of the Overlook, gazing out at the District in its entirety, seeing Savannah Central start over the horizon. His ear perks at the sound of the ambulance coming to a halt. The headlights flooded the fox's coat into visibility. He turns his head, still wearing his smirk, and looks to the sky at the sound of building rain clouds.

Nick and Judy rush out of the ambulance and stop no more than ten feet away from the evil fox holding their baby. He turns in their direction, and the rain begins to fall. Nick and Judy do not know what to say, their animosity fill their thoughts. "If killing hundreds of animals will not get me anywhere to take control of this damned city, then maybe taking its two best cops will."

"You're a maniac, James! If you hurt my son, I will fucking slaughter you!" Nick yelled retracting his claws. Judy never saw him like this, he never got this angry. James simply gave a huff of laughter.

"Big talk, little bro, but you forget that you won't do shit! Because I have your pup," James takes a hold of the pup in his palm, almost taunting the two, Judy's heart begins to race faster, "and if you don't do exactly as I say, you can watch him fall to the canopy!" He threatened. Judy began to whimper in her breaths. He wouldn't. Nick's expression turned to pure fear, and he faced facts. James had won. He puts his paws up as a sign of forfeit.

"Alright, you win. We won't do anything, just please give us our baby back, James." His smile vanished into a flat look. He glanced down at Peter's figure, shivering from the cold. He closes his eyes, and small malevolent chuckle passes his lips along with the return of that damn evil smile,

"You're right, Nick..." He looks up at the two of them, and his disgusting teal eyes spoke everything to them. Nick and Judy froze in terror. "You won't do anything..."

He jerks his body and positions his physique as if he were preparing to throw a football. Judy's heart sinks and her eyes instantly tear up. She lunges forward, reaching out with her paw as she cried out, begging for him not to do it.

"NO! PLEASE, NOOO!"

An unbearable pain rockets through James's spine. His body jolts and shakes at the sensation, then is halted, only to be met with a brass knuckle to the lip. He looses his grip on Peter, but the pup is safely caught before hitting the ground by someone. Judy and Nick watch the fox fall in a daze to the asphalt, and look up to see Billy Stride, safely cradling the baby in one arm as he shuts the power off his fox taser.

He takes a moment to look down at the pup who began to cry again. He was a little uncomfortable, being the first time he has held a baby, let alone a fox pup. He bumped his arm as he shushed him. Peter soon calmed down for the first time in that moment. Billy sighs with a smile, and his attention is brought back as he runs over to the couple. Judy extends her arms out, and Billy hands Peter over to his mother so she can cradle him safe in her arms once again. Judy was in frightful tears as she held him close to her bosom. "O-oh Peter!" She laid kiss after kiss on the pup's head, before suddenly pulling Billy into a cherished hug. "Thank you, Billy! Thank you!"

The bunny pulled out of her thankful embrace. Billy placed a paw on her shoulder, exerting his last signs of courtesy and compassion to his one true friend. "Judy, I am so sorry for all that I have done. Even though I know full well some things can't be forgiven, so I won't ask of it from you. All I can do is redeem myself. It all ends here."

James fell out of existence at that moment. Judy felt like she was crying, but no tears could be registered. She half knew what he was going to do. "I was wrong. It really looks like he can give you everything you ever needed. He even gave you children, and he is so beautiful." Billy did not see Alex and Johanna, however, for they were safe and sound in the arms of the nurses back at the hospital. "I am so happy for you, Judy. Please, take care of yourself out there, okay?"

Judy reached up and stroked his cheek with her open paw, a final heartwarming smile crept across her face for the bunny as she pulled him into a hug. Each rested their chins on one another's shoulders. A single tear left Billy's eye as he rubbed her back. "Goodbye, my sweet Cottontail."

"Goodbye, thank you for everything, Billy." She said.

They release each other from the hug. Billy looks down at her fox pup with a smile as he gently rubs Peter's head. He was not entirely sure it was real, but he could have sworn he saw a smile on the little baby's face. Perhaps it was his way of saying 'thank you.'

His eyes glance over to Nick. He walks over to him, standing directly in front of the fox. He half expected him to show no emotion of care towards him, but was surprised when he gave him a smile, not his trademark smirk,but a real, genuine smile. "Take care of her for me, okay?" Nick places his paw on his shoulder.

"You got it, Easter Bunny." He says still wearing his smile. He pulls the bunny in for a hug, which he gladly accepts as a final sign of forgiveness.

With that, his kind, caring expression turns serious, as he motions over to the fox now finally getting back to his feet. Billy steps to him faster and faster, and clenches his brass knuckles tight as he delivers a long waited punch to the ribs. James lets out a grunt of pain as he stumbles back, trying to get a solid balance on the rain slick asphalt. As he finally recollects from his stupor, James glares up at the bunny, standing in his boxing position.

"You traitorous son of a bitch. I hope you enjoyed your last day, fucker." He flips open his suit coat reaching into his pocket, but is quickly shocked to find the detonator that held the bunny to his leash was missing. He turns to Billy, wearing a stern face as he holds the detonator in one paw, and rips off the explosive pendant with the other. He briefly glances down at the wiring on the backside of the fox-bunny pendant, before he throws them both aside.

"I'm not a traitor if I was never with you. You have done too much harm to this family, and I am here to stop you. Once and for all." Billy charges into the fox. James acts fast and pulls out his knives, but it is a little too late. He starts shoving him backwards, towards the guardrail protecting them from plummeting off of the steep cliff of the mountain. James stabs the knives deep into Billy's sides. It was agonizing, but it did not stop him. He kept pushing forward as blood began to leak from the wounds. Billy knew he hit some organs but it did not matter anymore, all that mattered was finishing that bastard off, even if it meant he were to die too.

James's back meets the cold metal of the guardrail, and Billy keeps pushing, sending them both flipping over. The fox let's go of the knives out of instinct and tries to grab onto something as to not fall. That something was Billy's legs. He struggled to hold onto the ledge as the fox weighed him down more and more. Through his struggles, he glances up at Judy and Nick, holding their baby and each other close. 'It all ends now.' Billy smiled, closed his eyes, and let go of the ledge. The screams of the fox were mere background noise. He kept his eyes closed, for he did not want to see his impending death come to him as his body met with the asphalt in a blacked out thud. Instead, he imagined the good things one last time. Judy, that wonderfully beautiful bunny. He loved her then, and he loved her now. The tears fly from his closed eyes, and he smiled one final time. 'Goodbye, Judy. I love you.' First came the loud crack, and then pitch black and absolute nothing. Not even the light at the end of the tunnel. At the cost of another life, it all was finally over. James Todd Wilde was dead... Billy Christopher Stride was dead...

Judy and Nick were broken, but at the same time mended at the bunny's sacrifice. He killed himself to save their son, their family. And they could not be more thankful. James was gone, the plague of their relationship had finally died, and they were free from his malicious ways for good. Judy clung to her pup close, and Nick drifted off into his imagination as the flashes of blue and red approached them closer through the dying rain. Billy had saved them. The words could not leave his throat, but he still mouthed the phrase.

"Thank you."

In Memory of

Billy Christopher Stride

The Savior

Born and raised in Bunnyburrow, and owner of Carrot Top Industries, Billy Stride will go down in history. He was a good friend of our first bunny cop, Officer Judy Hopps as a child, and they grew apart from one another. Out of spite, he joined the biggest crime empire that Zootopia has ever seen. The Cleansing, only to be the one to bring its rampage to an end. Billy saw the error of his ways, and seeing the leader James Todd threatening his good friend and her family, he put an end to him, taking his own life along. A true act of valor, as Billy saved Peter Wilde, the first hybrid fox, and the child of Judy Hopps and Nicholas Wilde.

You will go down in history not as the partner of The Cleansing, but as the avenger of the fallen animals from his actions. The citizens of Zootopia will never forget what you have done for this city.

May you rest in peace.

The first week passed by rather fast, and Judy decided to take a little visit to the ZPD. She maneuvered the stroller through the rotating door, driving it to the front desk and a very giddy Benjamin Clawhauser. He looks down at the sleeping babies with pure joy, and lets out a quiet, "Aaaaawwww!"

She continues on her way to the bull pen. That room where she would enter every morning for the past three years. The officers turn their heads, at give her congratulating smiles as she walks to the front. Every officer leaned their heads in as she passed, trying to catch a glimpse of her children. All of the officers planned a celebration party for her and Nick, and speak of the devil, the red fox walked to the bunny and the stroller. He unfastens the belts and pulls out his kits. The officers gave small 'aww's and other cheer for the new parents.

Judy Laverne Wilde Hopps and Nicholas Piberius Wilde.

Peter Billy Wilde, Alex Christopher Wilde, and Johanna Stride Wilde.

They held their children closer than any couple could. As it was said before, and shall be said again and again, they would never let this go. They would never, never let this absolutely perfect moment go...

Until the end.

ATTENTION:

I would just like to take a moment to talk about this chapter, and this story.

I want to thank all of you so impossibly much for reading "Until the End."

I am an online student of Colorado, and I have lost almost all of my friends when I transfered to online school. Life has become a little bit hard for me again, and that is why I started posting these stories. In a vague hope that even one person would read it, and I am still amazed that my email is filling up with faves, follows and votes on Wattpad and on Fanfiction. I am ever so glad that you enjoy this story. I have almost cried from joy after reading your kind words, and how you love my story, my writing, and that even some of you wanted tips on how I do my work.

I did not do this for fame, I did not do this for money, I did this story because it was a fun idea that sparked in my brain, and I do believe that Nick and Judy will inspire me for years to come.

All thanks to wonderful inspiring films like Zootopia, and even more wonderful people such as you giving me the hope that I can make people happy, because that is all I want. To make you happy, for it makes me happy in return.

This is not a sappy planned script, there are no copying or pasting, what I wrote is all how I truly feel.

So may I just say once again, from the bottom of my heart...

Thank you.

I will of course keep posting stories on Wattpad, on Fanfiction, and soon on if you would like to support my stories!

And as always, stay tuned!

~Neptune the Fennec