Author's Note
LONGEST CHAPTER
I did a decent amount of planning on this chapter, I tried to make it a bit feely wheely, buckle up and enjoy!
Judy's POV - Scene 1 - 7:30 P.M. - Monday
I looked down at my phone again, and then back up to the building, this was the place. I parked on the side of the road and strolled over the fancy wooden doors that Nick supposedly lied behind. I knocked with a smile, ready to see Nick for the first time since, well, when I dropped him off at his apartment. An armadillo opened the door, seemingly confused.
"Can I help you miss?" She asked. I remained with a smile and took a breath.
"I'm here to pick up Nick." I placed my paws on my hips. She hummed to herself, tapping on her chin.
"Nick said he left with you ten minutes ago." She replied, perplexed. I squinted my eyes and rubbed my chin as well. My phone ringing interrupted me, I quickly retrieved it from my pocket and saw Nick's name pasted on the screen. I put the phone up to my ear.
"Nick, where are you?" I asked, slightly upset that he'd left. The armadillo closed the door, while rude, I could care less.
"Well you see Judy, Alex is being held hostage, and I decided to go help him." He spoke as if I was a child.
"Where?!" I screeched, throwing myself back into my car. "I'll get the ZPD!" I shot off down the street.
"I'm headed towards the Eastern boarder of Zootopia, it's out of town." He explained, did he really plan on having me pick him up part way there? "Also, no police." He expressed, making me frown to myself.
"No police? He is being held hostage, right?!" I scolded in anger.
"Carrots, I've been shot somewhere in the neighborhood of a dozen times this past week, I'm sure I'll be fine." He said rather sternly. "No police." He reinforced. I let out a deep sigh and continued on my way towards the Eastern edge of Zootopia. After a boring few minutes of driving, I slowed to a halt, seeing Nick awaiting me on the sidewalk. He ran around the front of the car and tossed himself into the passenger seat.
"Do you think he is okay?" I bit my lip as I asked Nick the question. He let an "ahhh" as he looked up.
"Judy, hate to be the one to tell you this, but Alex is an exile to the perpetrators. There is no way they're letting him off easy." That didn't ease the pain, Nick already seemed to regret saying it. What if he was severely injured, or worse.
"What if he is already dead!" I slammed my head on the steering wheel. After another twenty or so minutes of driving, we crossed a body of water via bridge, which lead into a grassy plains.
"Stop the car." Nick said, I quickly halted the vehicle, and Nick hopped out and headed towards rising smoke through the field; The setting sun made it obvious. I did the same and followed close behind the fox, who seemed just as curious as I was. We peeped through the obnoxiously tall grass only to see a dark jaguar, their back coated with metal shingles. The jaguar slowly peered behind him, only a fraction of his face was enough to remind us who it was, Ivan.
"The operation only took a few hours." He said calmly, "Alex is here if you'd like to speak with him." He motioned to the other side of the campfire. Alex lied sprawled out in the grass, somewhat hidden. I wasn't in police uniform, but I was keeping a taser with me rather than a tranquilizer. I raised it to Ivan's level.
"Get on the ground!" I screamed, startling Nick, who was trying to circle around the campfire to Alex's unattended body. Ivan stood up from his crouched position and turned to face me. "NOW!" I reinforced, hoping it'd do the trick.
"I saved his life." He proposed taking a step closer, the campfire casting a giant gloomy shadow over me. "Without me, he'd be dead, or worse." That caught me off guard, what's worse than being dead? He took another slow step towards me, only merely five feet from arm's reach. My lip quivered, so Alex was okay. "If you think for one second that I can't—" The prongs of the taser landed, one on his arm, the other hit his metallic chest. He grunted as he slowly fell to his knees, clearly fighting the shock. " be the good guy..." He trailed off, planting his elbows into the dirt. The shock died off, leaving Ivan panting on the floor.
"We should probably take Alex to the hospital, again." Nick finished with a dissatisfied grunt, dragging Alex's unconscious body from under his arms.
"That did me in rather well." Ivan sputtered, struggling to regain posture. I twiddled my thumbs after placing my taser back on my belt.
"I don't usually get scared." I said quietly, feeling somewhat guilty for tasing him, regardless of his aggressive manor.
"Yeah, no, it's fine," He paused to take a breath, "but pretty sure you could have killed me just then." he rolled over onto his back, spread out like he was making a snow angel, staring into the nearing nighttime sky.
"I'll just put this hunk of a wolf in the car by myself!" Nick shouted from the street, which was only about two dozen feet away. Ivan groaned as he climbed to his legs.
"I suggest you call the ZPD with haste, since we escaped, they probably won't stick around in that warehouse for long." Ivan dusted off his elbows and knees. I made my way back through the grass towards the street, still keeping a sharp eye on Ivan as he trudged slowly behind. As we approached the car, Ivan picked up his pace and walked around to the back of my car and lifted Alex's legs into the car's trunk as Nick took his arms. I sat in the front seat watching the two of them through the back mirror. The sun sunk below the horizon, drowning the fields into a slow obtained darkness. Ivan and Nick carried Alex out of the trunk and instead into the backseat. Nick took the back seat before Ivan could make a choice, so he was stuck sitting up front. I turned left part way into the field in order to spin the car around, before taking off back towards Zootopia.
The silence was ignorant of Nick's current phone call to the ZPD, as if it wasn't to be heard. The headlights lit up the dark street in front of us as we neared Zootopia's edge. Ivan had an elbow placed against the window, running his paw across his head. The streets slowly filled with bits of light and color as we pulled closer to Central Zootopia, where the ZPD awaited us. I glanced at the mirror above me to a heart warming sight. Alex's head lied on Nick's lap, just staring at the wolf, asking him to wake up without a word spoken.
Nick's POV - Scene 2 - 11:00 P.M. - Monday
I slumped in my chair as a sheep kept pushing Ivan for more information, using his involvement as blackmail. I still couldn't believe that Dr. Harris and all his flea ridden scientists managed to clear the warehouse in the scale of only a couple hours, we were just informed by the police sent there that not a single mammal was present.
"So Ivan, any idea where Dr. Harris scurried off to?" The sheep asked in a taunting manor. Ivan sighed, but the sheep continued, "If you can't give us any valuable information than we have no reason to not lock you behind bars!" He threatened. That wasn't going to work on Ivan. The investigation room door unbolted, opening to reveal Chief Bogo himself and a fox.
"You said Ivan was alone!" The fox let out a loud whisper, putting both paws over his face quickly.
"Surely it doesn't matter?" Chief Bogo said respectfully, leaning over slightly to accommodate the fox's height.
"I only speak in private." The fox said as he reversed from the door out of sight. Ivan had a perplexed look on his face, resting his chin on his paws.
"Must be private everywhere then." Judy joked, only getting a grin from me. Ivan and the sheep were unamused. Sure Judy's heard him say like two things, but she is probably right to think he does a lot of talking. It's weird, last week seeing another fox was a rare occurrence for me, but just in the last day I've seen two.
"I'm sorry, please continue." Bogo grunted before slamming the door closed.
"Mr. Sheep." Ivan snapped his fingers, regaining the attention of the confused mammal. "That fox, I must speak with him." He said impatiently, standing up from his chair.
"We aren't finished here, you give me what I want and then you don't get thrown in a jail cell." The sheep shot back, placing both hooves on the table. Ivan remained standing regardless of the threat.
"Ivan, sit down." I tapped his arm lightly, he sighed and pulled his chair in behind him, slumping in his chair.
"You want something to go off of?" Ivan said, "Give me a piece of paper." He finished, the sheep slide him a notepad and pen from his shirt pocket. Everyone waited patiently as Ivan scribbled a few things down.
"Talk to her and her husband, Dr. Harris recently hired their son." Ivan said with a sigh, "Am I free to go now?" He finished. The sheep looked satisfied with his offer.
"Thank you for your cooperation, but it's going to be a bumpy road getting you out of the shit hole you dug." The sheep explained. "However, Nick and Judy, you best get going." He urged us to leave. Carrots thanked both Ivan and the sheep for their help before we left. The ZPD building illuminated the night as we heading out into the parking lot, the street lights leading the way.
"You can just drop me off at my place, we'll visit Alex tomorrow." I yawned, my eyes tearing up as Judy started the car.
Nick's POV - Scene 3 - 6:50 P.M. - Tuesday
Judy's car pulled up next to Quarry's, a restaurant famous for it's multicultural food, both of us eager for a bite to eat.
"Wish Alex could have joined us." Judy said as I opened the restaurant door for her. I wish that too, but he wasn't in any condition to just leave the hospital, but Judy called over there last night and they said he wasn't doing too bad.
"I'm sure he won't take it to heart, Carrots." I joked as a pig awaited out silence.
"Table for two?" She asked us with a big smile. I always loved the atmosphere of this place, the hearty animals, the dim warm lighting, the old fashioned music, and the wood: oh the wood, solid wood everywhere.
"Yes please." Judy said, rocking back and forth on her feet. We only had to wait a few moments before we were directed to our table.
"Good evening, I'm Blake and I'll be your waiter tonight." A raccoon approached as Judy and I sat across from each other in the polished wooden chairs. "What can I get you to drink?" He asked, looking between both of us periodically.
"I'll have a margarita, feeling it today." I said happily, "I'm pretty sure I know what you want." I directed at Judy.
"I'll just have carrot juice." She said bluntly. I chuckled lightly, waiting for Blake to leave.
"Alright, I'll be back soon." The raccoon turned around and strolled off. I turned my attention back to Carrots.
"Carrot juice?" I grinned, "Rabbits are so typical." I finished with a snicker. Judy had a smile on her face, one of pure evil.
"Means a lot coming from a fox who stereotyped the world since he was nine years old." Judy leaned onto the table with her elbows. "I guess old habits die hard." She concluded, sitting back in her chair. I had to change the subject before she mentions that I can't think of a comeback.
"Wonder what would happen if an elephant and a mouse came in here together." I pondered. Judy took the bait and her face went from that of the devil to being in confusion. "They usually sit you at specifically sized tables, in our case, no big deal, but imagine them trying to seat an elephant and a mouse." I barked rather loudly; luckily this place wasn't quiet most the time, it's more of a party restaurant.
"Yeah I can already imagine them setting up a little tiny table and chair on an enormous table." Judy responded, looking around the room. "So what gave you the idea to go out for dinner tonight?" I thought about that for a moment, it was my idea.
"Well I figured with everything that's been going on as of recent we could do something nice for a change." I smiled, staring at the sidetracked Judy, who was probably searching for a minuscule table somewhere. That was more of a stretched truth; I just want Judy to be happy.
"May I present your drinks?" Our waiter asked, carefully lying down a fancy wine glass along side a glass cup. I pulled my margarita from the center of the table, Judy doing the same with her carrot juice.
"Thank you." Judy said before taking a sip. I starred at my drink, last time I drank a margarita was here, just around five months ago. I was celebrating with Finnick about our success that day, we made twice as much cash as usual and decided to treat ourselves.
"Ready to order?" Blake asked, holding up a notepad. Judy placed a paw on her chin for a moment. I figured I'd just go for a bug burger with some good old fashioned cockroaches, or maybe some spaghetti?
"Yes, I'll have spaghetti with a side of corn." She answered happily. I didn't want to order the same thing, that'd be unoriginal. Blake then turned his attention to me, awaiting my response.
"Uhh, I'll just have a bug burger, cockroach style." I ended with a rusty voice, making the both of them chuckle a bit.
"How would you like that cooked?"
"Medium is fine, also a side of fries, please." Blake wrote as I talked, before lowering the notepad.
"Alright, anything else?" He asked. Judy looked at me for a moment, then back to our waiter.
"No thanks." She said, Blake nodded and headed off with our orders.
"You know, I'm still curious as to when we are going to get back to normal." I sparked conversation to fill the gaps between taking sips of our drinks, and of course because I love talking.
"Yeah, it's been an entire week, hasn't it?" She replied with more of a statement rather than a question. Lucky for me I was asleep for a decent amount of it.
"When will the horrors stop?" I said with a smile. Judy took another drink from her beloved carrot juice. "Hey, after we go see Alex we should go to the movies!" A light bulb went off in my head. It'd be perfect, just me, her, and ridiculously fattening, but delicious popcorn.
"Yeah! What movie did you have in mind?" Shoot, didn't think of that one. I hummed as I browsed some recently released films in my head.
"How about 'Below the horizon'?" She didn't seem convinced.
"What's it about?" She asked. Understandable, not the most popular movie released.
"It's a movie about about a group of mammals trying to survive a terrible storm, heard it was pretty good." Judy shrugged her shoulders.
"Don't see why not." Perfect, dinner and movie night: pretty rare occasion, so I'm grateful.
"Let's just hope for a miracle that the hospital lets Alex come along." I grinned. Judy seemed to be interested in that topic.
"Speaking of Alex, do you know what happened to him?" Carrots asked, based on her face, she obviously didn't know either; guess I had to disappoint her.
"Not a clue." A sigh escaping my mouth. "Not a clue." I repeated quieter than before, looking down at the ground.
Nick's POV - Scene 4 - 8:15 P.M. - Tuesday
Judy drove as I kicked back on my phone, both of us heading towards the hospital, where Alex was probably eagerly waiting for us. She found us a pretty close parking spot, guess the hospital wasn't too popular today. We pushed through the revolving door at the entrance and made our way to the front desk.
"Hi, we're here to see Alex Howlard." Judy introduced, the pig turned to her computer without a word. As she typed, she snuck a glance or two at me.
"Room 311" She informed us, we both turned away to head to the elevators. "How did you survive?" She asked, almost guilty, which surprised me.
"What?" Judy cut in, turning back to face the desk attendant.
"You were here last week, weren't you?" The pig asked, making me think. Then it hit me, she was here when I got shot by Kevin, the polar bear.
"Yeah, I guess I'm just lucky!" I said in delight before nudging Judy to move along with me. We both hurried around the corner to the elevators.
"What was that about?" Judy whispered in anger as I pushed the button for an elevator. I tilted my head and looked at her.
"Well you see, I got shot here on, uhhh, Friday I think." I started, tapping my chin. "She saw it go down, or at least part of it." I got into the elevator as I finished, Judy following close behind. She didn't give me the response I was expecting, which would have been really anything. I pushed the button labeled three and we ascended in silence. We roamed the third floor until we found room 311, door closed. I took the lead and gave a light knock. A rhino slowly and carefully opened the door and stepped outside before closing it behind him.
"Here to see Alex I presume?" He whispered.
"Yeah, is that okay?" Carrots whispered back, even though there seemed no reason to, guess it's contagious among conversation.
"Well he is sleeping right now, and with the way he's been acting I think it's best—"
"LET JUDY IN!" A familiar wolf shouted from inside, startling all three of us. A momentary silence was shared between Judy and I, the rhino joining in.
"Does this mean we get to go in?" She asked slowly. I rolled my eyes playfully as the rhino opened the door for us.
"You guys are okay!" Alex smiled, not knowing much about our whereabouts since Ivan's place.
"Never better." I replied just as relieved, we really did get a break though, so I wasn't lying.
"So how is he?" Carrots asked one of the present doctors, there were two surprisingly, considering Alex seemed fine to me.
"He is, uhh" The goat doctor paused, "Stable." He slowly finished. Seems like he over generalized that specifically for us to ask what he meant. "Go ahead, talk to him yourself." He interrupted his own silence. Judy and I turned to face Alex, who was sitting up in his bed.
"How you feeling big guy?" I asked, mostly serious.
"I've been better, that's for sure." He said, removing the blanket that covered his lower body.
"Want to talk about what happened?" Judy jumped in, making Alex's smile fade.
"I'd like to, but it's like a lump in my throat." He sighed, throwing his legs off the side of the bed.
"Take your time, we aren't going anywhere." I tried to lighten the mood. Alex's smile half returned to my luck.
"Speaking of you guys. I wanted to thank both of you." Alex said, standing up without a problem, which seemed to perplex the doctors out of the corner of my eye. "Without you two, I don't think I'd have the will to survive that warehouse." He leaned down and pulled us both into a light hug, while usually I'd say awkward, it was called for in that moment. He retreated to his normal height with a warm smile.
"Just your neighborhood heroes Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde." I joked, lightly elbowing Judy, who joined in with my only partly forced laughter. Alex's face went from a smile to one of finding out you're all out of blue berries, and not the sad kind, but the 'who the hell ate my damn blue berries' kind.
"Alex, you okay?" Judy asked slowly, watching as Alex looked away, his jaw pressed upwards.
"Aww, does Alex need his beauty—" My continuation of Judy and I's little inside joke was cut off. Alex's claws slammed into the side of my head so fast I couldn't comprehend it fully, but at the same time, I really could. I felt my left cheek flare up as each claw dug into my fur, then my skin. Alex starred at me as blood stained my fur, his eyes so wide, his teeth so bared, his eyebrows raised high, but slanted so low. A small little drip of blood managed to fall to my suit that I was wearing from diner, leaving a tiny, oblivious stain. It was only at this point in time that I noticed I was no longer standing, I was tilted backways, my legs ahead of me. Time returned to normal with a loud crack as my head slammed against the tile, the rest of my body following not too far behind with a thud.
I remained motionless as Alex took a step closer, towering above me. The rhino officer grabbed him from behind and lifted him from the ground. Judy backed away in absolute shock, her chest heaving from breathing so hard. The doctors were freaking out and were unsure what to do. Judy fell to her knees next to me and placed a paw on my other, non-bloodied cheek. She was talking but I couldn't make out what she was saying, it was like we were underwater, except I was drowning in pain this time. Half the pain from being hit so damn hard, the rest from shock and confusion.
Judy's POV - Scene 5 - 8:40 P.M. - Tuesday
Nick sat quietly in the passenger seat as I drove towards his apartment, his cheek still gashed open. He refused any kind of medical treatment, saying it'd heal. The sun had set, leaving both of us in the darkness of the downside of Zootopia. Nick didn't exactly live in a good neighborhood. I couldn't help but sniffle every other moment, a few tears finding their way into my fur. It didn't make any sense, why would he do such a thing? I slowed the car to a halt in front of Nick's apartment. He exited the car without a word, taking to his front door. I followed behind with my head down, respecting his will to not talk. After we entered, I closed the door behind me and carefully stepped over various bits of trash in the darkness as Nick slumped onto his couch and grabbed the TV remote. He turned on the TV and dropped the remote on floor, not caring for what showed up on screen. He didn't even look at me as the screen flickered to life revealing what looked like a generic movie, an old one. I quietly sat down next to him, keeping an entire foot of space between us.
"Nick, are you okay?" I whispered slowly, not wanting to make him uneasy. However, he didn't respond, which made me uneasy instead. His gloomy face only made be sadder, contagious even. "Can we please talk about what happened?" I begged, looking him in the eyes. He shot me a quick glance, but returned to starring at the television.
"What is there to talk about?" He croaked, his body leaning to the side.
"Why Alex would do such a thing." I responded, paying no attention to anything but him.
"I don't want to even think about it." He gritted his teeth, drooping his head back against the top of the couch. I scooted closer, Nick turned his head down slightly, squinting at me. I slowly took one of his paws in my own and looked at the television. He noticed this and did the same, guess this is as close to movie night as we'd get.
Judy's POV - Scene 6 - 9:30 P.M. - Tuesday
I was knelt down next to Nick's old, torn up couch as he lied sideways, his deep breathing the only thing heard. He was still in his suit, which wasn't in the best of shape. I slowly rubbed circles around the collar of the suit, where a small dark red stain was present. His cheek was already in the process of healing, his fur the only thing left to heal. I scratched gently behind his ears like I did last time I had the chance.
"Nick, I love you, but I can't..." I whispered in between sniffles, slowly rising to my feet, making my way to the front door.
Author's Note
Fun facts about this chapter!
1. Scene 3 was originally going to be Alex's POV in the hospital, giving more details in that area.
2. I wrote out each scene before actually going into full detail with the chapter.
3. I put in the diner scene because I felt that it was needed to lighten the air, and because I felt skipping the entire day would feel too 'meh'.
4. Nick didn't seem like as much as an asshole in my original plan for Scene 5.
5. Alex was going to originally dodge a taser before being tackled after hitting Nick.
6. Alex's last name Howlard is a shitty pun I made up based on one of Zootopia's director's, named Bryon Howard.
7. The title, dining in the dark, is symbolic to how Nick goes out to dine regardless of the dark events occurring.
Did you guys like this chapter? Should I do more in detail scenes and take things slower, such as the dining scene, more often? Or do you prefer me skipping through time, or do you not care? Anyways, I tried to make this one a heavy hitter on the emotion, don't forget to review your criticism, opinions, or general thoughts on this chapter, as it's greatly appreciated. Also don't be shy to make your review longer than five or six words.