Author's Note: Here's Chapter 7! I got nothing much to say other than thanks again for the support, and please continue to leave reviews, favs and follows, I absolutely love what you guys write about the story, I love to hear your thoughts and where you think it is going. As always, feel free to send me messages, and I hope you enjoy!

Also, I am reaching a state of the story that is not 100% planned out yet, so if an update is late it is because I have hit the end of my plot string for now. Chapter 8 is happily on the way though, and for the WildexHopps fans amongst you, I think we got some cute little scenes coming up.

Chapter 7

Moonlight Walk

Far from Zootopia, in a broken down shack in the woods, a fox and a bunny were enveloped in silence. The fire was crackling, devouring the broken pieces of dry wood with insatiable fervour. Even after Nick had concluded his tale, Judy had been too stunned to say a word. She had shifted for comfort a few times, closer to the fire, closer to him, and had watched him with wary mindfulness as he poked the fire and spoke. His voice had been lowered by grim severity, and his gaze had set on the dancing flames where it remained.

Judy felt as though the fox was barely aware of her presence. His face contorted with sincere emotion as he spoke, as though he was experiencing it all again for the first time, as though talking made him connect with the story in a way he had never done before. When he spoke of this theme park and friends, his gaze softened and his lips twisted into a smile. When his memory became gruesome, Judy watched him shudder and turn cold and stiff in the heat of the fire.

At first she had been burning up with questions. He had hardly uttered a sentence when she wanted to know about the theme park, Wilde Times, about his accomplices, and his motives for the criminal establishment. She wanted to ask again about his contacts, the prospect of losing collars, about the clinic and his source of income. But as the fox spoke, the bunny could only stare silently and listen. She felt the severity of his memories and dared not interrupt the natural flow in which he seemed caught. After a few minutes, even the tapping of her feet calmed down. Her ears stood alert, her eyes widened with fascination.

The silence had stretched over minutes now. Nick absentmindedly watched the embers fly from the fire as the bunny worked up the courage to speak. She awkwardly cleared her throat. "Nick."

The fugitive looked up, alert, hopeful, scared. Would she believe him? Would she denounce him?

She felt her chest tightened at the trust in his eyes. "I'm glad you told me.", she said. "Really."

"Carrots. Do you…"

"Believe you?", she jumped in. "I don't know.", she said sincerely.

His face dropped. She hurried to raise a paw and continue. "But I don't disbelieve you, either. I just…I have questions."

With some effort a smile returned to his face. He leant back, supporting his weight on his paws. "I thought you would. Shoot, Fluff. I can say that safely now that you don't have a gun."

The rabbit shuffled, her foot was tapping, her nose twitching – she was a bundle of eager curiosity now, impatient to have all her queries answered. "Who did you hear speak before you were shot? Did you see them? What did you hear flying through the air? Are you sure it was a tranquilizer dart? Did no one test you for that?"

"Slow down, Rabbit! You should breathe once in a while, unless you want another revival session…"

"Wilde!"

"Fine. Alright. I have no idea who I heard. It wasn't anyone I recognized, and I didn't spot them. I don't know what was flying either, but…it wasn't so different from the sound of the tranquilizer dart, you know? A sort of… Swoooosh." He pointed his lips to copy the sound, rushing his paws through the air for added effect. Judy nodded eagerly. "Yeah, like…an arrow? An air gun?"

The fox shrugged. "I was hit with a tranquilizer, alright? Like I said. I passed out, I can't remember anything from before I woke up covered in blood." His expression lost some mirth at the thought.

Uncomfortably, the bunny looked at anything but him. "Nick…you were covered in blood…it was on your claws. It was in your mouth. Maybe…maybe you went savage, and then woke up fine? So Prey can go savage – fine. I am willing to entertain that idea for a moment. So maybe you went savage too, and then it passed! It wasn't your fault, in that case. It's just…in your…" She stopped herself.

No, it wasn't in his nature. Not if prey could turn savage too. It had nothing to do with predators, and with that knowledge, it was rather strange that only predators had been going savage all this time. And the one time a sheep goes savage? It is ripped apart, supposedly by a predator.

Nick had pulled his guard up, acted defensive. "Carrots, I didn't go savage! My collar didn't shock me once. Believe me, I would have felt the pain of that the day after still. The tranquilizer took me right out – no way did I wake up and kill a sheep through that."

"They didn't find a tranquilizer dart in your shoulder…"

"Think, Rabbit! Whoever shot me in the first place took it out and made it look like I killed that sheep."

"Everything points towards you. Blaming you is just the simplest solution."

He growled. This time the bunny didn't flinch. "That's exactly what they wanted it to look like."

Judy nodded, fell silent. She had no way of proving or disproving his statement, but it threw up questions she was willing to consider. Her gut instinct told her that he was telling the truth, that he wasn't an ice cold killer. He had pulled her out of the river, made her breathe again when she had nearly drowned. He hadn't let her die. Why?

"They're right about you with one thing, though.", she murmured. Nick's glance shot up at her.

"What's that? Hm?"

The officer rose an eyebrow at him, her expression somewhere between nervous and impressed. "You really don't set your collar off. All this ordeal – the whole interrogation, later in the van, the jump into the river… none of it provoked you."

Finally, Nick set the stick with which he had been stirring in the smaller pieces of wood under the fire aside, and straightened. The intensity of his glance on her made her nervous, but she willed herself to endure the stare. Nick bared his fangs in a smile.

"Does that scare you?"

"Yeah. A little. Maybe you didn't kill Ramsey, but I think that maybe you could have."

The fox shook his head, sadly, unthreatening. "Never let them see that they get to you, Carrots.", he murmured. "Do you know how prey children bully preds on the street? They annoy them, prod them, poke them, startle them…they insult their families and throw things. All in the hope that the predator may get angry and hurt himself. We don't have the right to feel angry, even if it's justified. Do you have any idea how that feels?"

Judy didn't.

"The only way we get to live a somewhat normal life, is by steeling ourselves against emotion. I wasn't going to let anyone rob me of my dignity any more. So maybe I am good at keeping my cool. That doesn't make me a killer, Rabbit. Believe me, I have my limits."

The thought of Nick's well trained apathy alone didn't scare Judy. She saw, for the first time, the prospect of predators all across Zootopia developing similar skills. But that alone would surely only make them as dangerous as prey is, too. Perhaps they could commit petty crimes calmly and remorselessly – but murder? Could such a composed and calm mammal even go savage? Could someone like Nick suddenly turn into a feral and furious beast with no self-control? Could she?

They sat silently. The quiet was surprisingly pleasant. Judy's fear had slowly slipped away during their conversation. With each passing second she was instinctively more convinced that he would do her no harm, and her resolve to drag him back to the police lessened. Her sense of duty was still strong, however. She firmly believed that if she took Nick back to the station and let him explain like he had explained to her, Chief Bogo would support them. But she also knew that Nick would be opposed to this decision – and she was not sure she would be able to force him back without the pressure of a fire arm or a remote to his shock collar. As such she observed him carefully, her thoughts racing around her options. He in turn observed her, cautiously weighing the chances that she was still the enemy. The longer he stayed in her presence, Judy realized, the smaller were his chances of absolute escape.

"I can't let you run.", Judy said after a while.

"Because you don't trust me.", Nick sighed.

"No. Because it would be wrong. We need to go about this the right way, Nick. Come back to the station with me, and we can sort this out."

"Haven't you learnt anything from my story, Carrots? The authorities don't love me. I'm not coming back with you. And you have no way to make me come."

The bunny nodded. "No, I don't. But your collar…"

Nick glanced to the side, looking caught. "Yeah. I know."

High security collars such as his had a tracker built into them. It was a miracle that they had not yet been found, but Judy imagined the signal might be obstructed by the trees. Perhaps the officers had not found them in the deep and maze like forest during the day, and stood no chance of finding them at night. They thought Nick had a hostage. Judy.

But the fox and the bunny couldn't stay in the forest forever. It was a siege Nick couldn't win. Eventually they'd track him, and he would be found and captured. Did he look defeated however? No. No he didn't.

The topic had forced open another rift between them. To Nick it had re-established them as enemies. To Judy, it had clarified their position. She was willing to help him, if only he let her help him her way. The silence had turned uncomfortable after all. They looked anywhere but at each other, enemies cooped together in one place to escape the pitch black night and cold.

"What is this place, anyway?", Judy asked amiably. "How did you find it?"

Success. His eyes lit up. He was almost eager to tell. "Oh, I used to come camping around here with my dad when I was a kit. This little hut has always been here. I loved the place – great hide out."

Judy could just imagine little Nick claiming the broken down building as his hide out, protecting it with utter pride. It was as good as a tree house. A club house for one. Or maybe his father had followed him there, and he had shown it off as though it was a castle. She realized too late that she was smiling at him, and that he was smiling back. When he realized his mistake, he shook his head as though to get rid of water lodged in his fur, and quickly averted his gaze to the fire.

"You should, urh…get some sleep. I'll keep the fire going."

"You're the injured one.", the bunny protested meekly.

"I'm a fox. Nocturnal, remember? Not sleepy in the slightest. But I caught you yawning a few times when I talked."

He saw that she thought she should better keep an eye on him – but the exhaustion of a long and stressful day had gotten to her, and she couldn't deny that she wouldn't mind a little shut eye. She shifted back against the wall and rested her head against it, glancing at him with one last threatening gaze. He smiled smugly. "Nigh-night, Fluff."

She closed her eyes.

The peaceful blackness didn't last for long. A twig cracked audibly just outside the house, and both the bunny cop and Nick rose with a start, their eyes darting towards the entrance to the little hut. For painfully long seconds only silence and darkness greeted them, then a body shifted into the open space. Nick froze, a low growl stuck in his throat. Judy recognized the uniform as a prison guard's at once. Her heart skipped beats in confusion. Foe or friend? She wasn't sure whether she should welcome this intruder or not.

It was a ram. Powerful horns adorned his head, and his expression was serious and professional. He was a muscular, proud and strong looking specimen whose dark eyes travelled over Judy momentarily, and then hefted themselves onto Nick. He had a tranquilizer gun drawn from its holster, and when Nick all but flinched, the Ram trained it on him.

"Stand down, Wilde.", the ram ordered, and turned to Judy. "Officer Hopps, you are safe now. Step away from him, over to me. I'll take it from here."

Judy nervously glanced between the two, but the voice was full of authority. Almost immediately her dutiful police nature drew her towards the mammal. She picked her bag up off of the floor and stepped next to him with uncertain steps, guilt ridden and worried. She heard Nick whine. "Carrots?", he asked, with heart breaking pain layered in his voice. Just as she stepped behind the Ram, he took one step closer towards the fox. A draft from the open entrance made the flames flicker and hit the bunny's and the ram's back. When Judy looked up at Nick, his eyes were wide, his ears had fallen back. He was petrified.

Judy hesitated. There was something about his fear that struck him as odd. His collar, she noticed, had tinted yellow. Her thoughts raced, tried to dissect the situation. The fox was too terrified to suit the situation, she thought. He was frightened to the point of losing his composure.

"You did a good job keeping him occupied.", the Ram praised her without any sincerity. He looked incredibly pleased with himself.

"Carrots…", Nick murmured, whimpered. "Carrots, that's the guy that stabbed me."

Judy froze in place. What?

"Quiet, Wilde.", the ram ordered.

"Fluff, I can smell him. That's him. That's definitely him. Carrots…you have to believe me…"

Judy didn't know what to believe. She saw the powerful back of the ram, blocking her sight on the fire, and she saw Nick, tiny and weak in comparison. All his confidence was wiped away. His fear was sincere. If he was telling the truth…

"They're going to kill me.", the fox said. He had watched Judy in her passiveness, and the hope in his eyes had vanished until the green irises looked matted and dull.

"That's quite enough.", the Ram said. Judy saw him place a finger on the trigger, and she acted before she could think. She bent her knees, then with one powerful thrust against the floor she threw herself at the Ram. Tackled him. He stumbled under the rabbit's assault, fired a tranquilizer dart into the ceiling. The rabbit landed on the ram's side when the guard hit the wooden floor with a groan. From the corner of her eyes she saw Nick jump back into motion. His eyes were wide with surprise now – surprise and hope.

Judy glanced at him with urgency, her teeth gritted. "What are you doing, Wilde? RUN!"

The fox was happy to obey that command. He darted past the rabbit and the ram quick enough to blur into a flash of red for Judy's eyes. The moment he was through the entrance, she felt the mammal below her stir, his muscles tensing with strength and anger. The growl he emitted might as well have been that of a predator. She placed one strong kick in his face and then hurried after Nick, out into the darkness. The pitch black darkness. She felt herself tripping over roots. The moonlight barely filtered through the thick tree crowns. She couldn't spot Nick. He was hidden in the dark, and she was lost, alone, with only a rectangle of fire light outside of the hut to guide her back to imminent danger.

Her heart was beating frantically, and she had to beat the desire to cower down in the undergrowth.

Out of the darkness, a paw found her wrist. She tried to pull away, but the paw found hers and gripped it tightly. She nearly screamed. Someone hissed "Shhh." Into her ear, and she stilled, because the paw in hers was that of a fox, and the voice in her ear was Nick's. This was no shock to her. She surprised herself with how calm she felt realizing that it was the fugitive who had reached her, not the prison guard.

He started leading her away, slowly at first, then quicker. She was stumbling still, but the path they treaded on was free of thorns and roots. Nick, capable of seeing in the dark, made sure she could walk. He gave her time to trust him, and once she no longer resisted his lead, they walked quicker and quicker. Behind them, they could hear twigs breaking and a harsh voice cursing, but Judy's hearing was fine – and she heard him kicking against roots and ripping cloth on thorns. She could hear the ram curse, huff, pant.

Judy, whose heart slowly calmed, focused her eyes on the green light of Nick's collar. It was like a beacon of hope in the dark now, hovering there just in front of her, whilst his paw lay warm in hers. They didn't talk. They treaded silently, their hearts beating quickly in unison. They didn't need to speak about what had happened. They both knew that Judy had trusted him. And Nick revelled in that trust, and guided her carefully as to not destroy it.

Judy couldn't tell how long they walked. It felt as though hours passed. Her feet became tired. Her eyes, heavy with the day's exhaustion, threatened to close at any moment. Her mind was fuzzy with sleepiness. She began tripping over her own feet, began falling against Nick's back. He had to stop a few times to let her rest, but gently urged her on each time.

Eventually the forest grew lighter. What was pitch black darkness became a dark blue, then a misty twilight, then the first rays of cold sun light twisting their way through the woods. Judy wordlessly collapsed, her fall softened by a bed of moss and dried leaves. She smelled the mildew on the plant matter, felt moisture seek into her fur. She didn't care. Nick silently picked her up under the arms and dragged her onto a dry spot. She half expected him to urge her to keep walking, but he himself knelt onto the ground by her side and was soon laying there himself, breathing gently.

She distantly felt his tail cover the both of them. The morning air was crisp and cold. Unconsciously, she edged closer to him, and was too tired to resist even when she felt his snout resting tiredly on her head. In a state of strange calm, comforted by the warmth of another body, she fell asleep.