Guardian Blue: Season 2

by sarsis

Judy is still reeling from the events of the last month, and she is very much ready for things to calm down so she recover and also come to terms with how she feels about the fox she nearly lost. But, when it rains, it pours. They will take an assignment that challenges their comfort zones, and they will uncover a plot that may go beyond Zootopia itself, and out into the world.

14. Chapter 14

Author's Note:

I haven't done an arc involving direct character conflict really since Nick's 'Bunnyburrow Hustle' in the beginning of Season One. Sometimes even if we have the same hopes and dreams in our heart, conflict can come from a simple difference in perspective. As we get angry with those we care for, and we inevitably do, it's important to try to remind ourselves that we care for them for a reason, and sometimes we just don't see this big scary world in quite the same way.

If you are just joining Guardian Blue for the first timeyou will want to check out Season 1 first, and I would highly recommend Thanks for the Fox before that as well so everything makes sense. ^^

All these characters and this fun universe belong to Disney. I write not with their permission, but with their dream in my heart. I provide these stories to you free of charge, which is scary right now but I hope to be re-employed soon. Maybe Disney's hiring writers for 2topia... .

Also! A HUGE shout-out to J. N. Squire for assisting with editing for Season 2! I often write faster than the editing can happen, but I promise, those edits do eventually happen. Hopefully my typos and such are still minimal enough, but I like to get these works to you quickly, especially if I end on a cliff hanger.

Guardian Blue: Season Two

Episode 14: Support

The grey doe ran swiftly, mostly quietly along the trail lined in tall grass and small saplings, though the sides of the trail faded into dense undergrowth beneath enormous trees that blotted out any real visibility into the forest greater than about twenty meters. Every fifty meters or so, Judy stopped and listened. She suspected that Skye was not trying to be very quiet given how she ran off. After listening for only a second or two, Judy would bolt again, her feet carrying her as swiftly as possible. She reflected on the preposterous fact that she was actually hunting a fox as she came to a stop again.

She finally heard it. The vixen ahead of her was still running, but Skye wasn't built for distance. Judy was off like a shot again, running even faster now that she knew she had not accidentally passed a hunkered down and hiding fox. She knew that Skye had a temper. She had seen the vixen blow up at Nick a couple of times early on, but this was beyond the pale. They didn't have the time to stop and deal with this, but it absolutely had to be dealt with.

Coming around a slight curve in the trail, Judy finally saw Skye. The vixen was running a lot slower, and stumbled. It was the middle of the afternoon and the sun was high. It was very hot and humid outside the trees on the trail. The fox got up and continued mostly trotting along, coughing a little. It was obvious that she was crying. Judy slowed just a little, not wanting to frighten her. She didn't want to cause a confrontation between her and Skye.

"Wait up! Skye!" Judy called, panting heavily. The fox crumpled to the trail, heavily panting, just on all fours. She tried to crawl a little.

"What have I done?!" she sobbed. She then promptly vomited. Judy opted to stay back a bit from that. Helping raise little brothers and sisters got her over any issues with sympathy sickness, but it was still not something she wanted to crowd the distraught vixen with. Judy stood quietly a moment, catching her breath not far from the retching white fox. "I won't… run. I won't fight. I'm so… sorry," she cried, gasping between words. Judy's heart ached to see her friend like this. Judy wondered if she and Nick would ever get into an argument that bad. Nick could get angry, she knew, but he certainly didn't have Skye's temper.

"Take your time. Catch your breath, Skye." Judy said softly, moving into a spot of shade just off the trail.

Skye sobbed a little longer before she shakily asked, "Is he… Is he dead? Please don't let him be dead." She curled into a ball on her knees, tucking her head under her as if ducking for cover from a bomb blast. Judy widened her eyes at that. She had only tackled and winded Jack! Did she honestly think bunnies could be killed that easily? It then instantly dawned on Judy how absolutely terrified this fox must have been at that moment. She moved in a flash to Skye's side, ignoring the mess out in front of her.

"Jack's fine! You didn't kill him, Skye!" Judy exclaimed immediately. She put a paw on her back, the khaki material of her button-up shirt warm in the sun. Skye sobbed louder, but it seemed at least a more grateful sort of crying. Then it shifted right back to despair.

"I've lost him! Oh, Judy, I ruined everything! Why! Why?!" She was shaking. Judy was profoundly uncomfortable in this situation. She was not in her element here.

"Hey, it's alright… you don't know that for sure. Jack's pretty… forgiving." Judy was honestly not sure about it as she said that. After all, his girlfriend just punctuated an argument with assault and battery. Had it been in Zootopia the fox would be in cuffs and most definitely a muzzle. That thought pained Judy. Skye might actually need some help with her temper. Judy didn't want to push her right then, just letting her have it out. A bit more dry-heaving got the bunny's paws off her a moment, but she resumed crying in that tight little ball. Skye's forehead remained on the ground as she clutched pawfuls of grass like she never wanted to let it go. Judy sighed and just stroked the inconsolable vixen's back and let her cry. She didn't want to outright lie to comfort her. It was entirely possible that everything was not going to be okay.

"I'm sorry Judy! I'm sorry for ruining everything." She sobbed with an added hiccup. "I know I'm going to jail, but let me tell Jack I'm sorry. Please! Let me make sure he'll be okay…" she asked plaintively. Judy flattened her ears, stunned. She had no intention of arresting Skye out of jurisdiction. Even if she wanted to she couldn't. She could call the local authorities and hold her till they arrived, but that wasn't about to happen unless…

"I refuse to press charges." Jack's words from behind her made Judy's breath just rush out in a relieved sigh. The magic 'get out of taking Skye back to Zootopia in a muzzle' card had been dealt. Judy looked back to the approaching buck. He was a bit out of breath, but she could not tell if it was because he ran, or because he was still a bit winded.

Skye didn't even look up, she only wailed into the dirt louder. If it were even possible, she balled up tighter and mashed herself lower to the grass in anguish. "I didn't want to do that! I didn't want that! I didn't mean to!" she cried hysterically. Judy looked back to the buck as Nick and Motti more calmly approached. Nick gestured for the hyena not to get closer. It wasn't dangerous of course. Nick just knew that this moment might have been sensitive and private. Jack stopped in his tracks, looking pretty stunned at the condition of his fox, and obviously noticing that she'd gotten sick. The hyena merely veered off the trail to stand in some shade. She didn't seem irritated or inconvenienced. That was a surprise, given how inconvenient it was to have the mammals you enlisted to help you be barely able to maintain themselves on a simple trail through the woods.

"Skye, I wanna say I'm sorry. I'm sorry for saying that," Jack said. He looked extremely pained as he said it. It was a genuine apology. Judy had a suspicion that the culturally literate buck knew exactly how sensitive the topic he attacked actually was.

The white fox finally lifted her head, eyes pinched nearly shut as she fairly screamed back at him, "No! Don't apologize to me after I did that! I attacked you! I thought I killed you!" she sobbed and then fell to her side, shaking and sobbing again. Judy tried to pull the vixen's head up into her lap, looking at Nick with a 'please come help' expression. Her partner came over to her and helped her haul Skye into a sitting position. She dropped right back down, head on Judy's lap at least, and not grinding white fur into the red clay of the trail.

"You just winded him as all." Nick offered helpfully.

"He couldn't breathe!" Skye cried, looking up at the scattered clouds. "He was just lying there trying… and he couldn't! And I thought I broke him! Or that he was too scared and his heart…" Skye couldn't say it, and just shook. That was enough for Jack. Even if he was afraid she could attack him again, he was there in a flash.

He put his smaller arms around her. She appeared to be indecisive, if it she might not deserve to hug him back, but she just couldn't deny herself the comfort. She embraced him, and Jack sputtered a little too. Judy had to look away to keep her own emotions in check. Skye whimpered out soft, shaky apologies and Jack kept trying to tell her it was his fault. She kept telling him it wasn't and that she was completely out of line.

Nick finally interrupted, "Can we be miserable in the shade for a little bit?"

"Yeah, and away from the… I'm sorry… Ugh…" Skye sat up and with some help from Jack, shuffled over to the fallen tree in the shade where Motti was sitting.

"Are we… okay?" the hyena asked.

"Give us a bit," Nick stated apologetically. The spotty female opened her pack and took out some dried, salted fish. Judy's partner scooted away.

"Skye, listen, no… stop…" Jack started to speak but the vixen started to shake her head, eagerly denying his attempt at what sounded like another apology. He spoke up, holding her cheeks, "I'm okay… first of all. I'm not hurt. But I could have been. You know that. And I know you don't want that. So let's… Let's fix this."

"How? How are we supposed to fix this?" Skye whimpered. Judy's heart sank. She did not want them to give up. Not so fast. Not like this.

"We communicate." Jack said. Nick nodded at his partner. Judy realized suddenly that Nick might have coached Jack a bit on what he needed to do here. This greatly encouraged the doe. Her partner had a gift for salvaging a broken situation.

"I was wrong to attack you, let me make that absolutely clear." Skye said with obvious self-disgust. "There's never, ever an excuse for what I did. I can hate what you said all I want, but I shouldn't have… I should never…" She choked. "How can you hold me, knowing what I did to you!?"

Jack scoffed. "Please. I've begged you to do more damage to me than that before, Skye." Judy's ears felt like they'd been left behind in the sun. They pitched right down her shoulders.

Nick murmured a barely perceptible, "Wow…" This got a half-sob, half-laugh out of the vixen and she shook her head.

"Never again!" she whimpered. "I p-promise!" Jack was briefly shaken by how intense the vixen's reaction was. He then gritted his teeth, as if suddenly determined.

Jack clutched her tighter as she leaned against him, saying softly, "…and I will help you with that by not intentionally saying the absolute most awful thing I can think of to you. That part was completely my fault, and it was stupid, arrogant, and selfish. To what, win an argument on semantics? Skye, I want to drop the whole argument, it's not worth this. It has never been worth this. I won't bring it up again, I promise."

Nick spoke in a slow, careful tone, "… is what you would say if you never wanted to solve the problem and wanted to resent this moment in your memories forever. You just said you wanted to communicate, Jack. You need to do that." Judy snapped her attention to Nick. Provoking them was a terrible idea! What was he trying to do?

"No, I'm serious, Fox-lax, I'm dropping it." Jack said with an edge to his voice. Skye stifled a laugh mid-sob. The buck continued, "I don't need to win a dumb argument about semantics and fantasy. I need Skye. What if this was Judy, laying in your arms, thinking everything's gone dark, huh?" Skye sputtered at that, but the aggression from the striped bunny drove ice through Judy's heart, despite the ridiculous nickname from Jack concerning Nick's past misadventures in modeling.

Skye sat up, looking the buck in the eyes. "Jack, he's right. I don't want to think you gave up part of yourself because you were scared of me!"

"I'm not scared of you, Skye! I'm afraid of losing you!" Jack said in frustration.

"It's still fear." Nick added. Judy paid attention. Nick had trust issues. He had very few friends. Why was he confident here, where she was not? She remembered how careful Nick was with her feelings after finding out that she was afraid she could lose him. He was really quite perceptive about that stuff. Jack shot an angry glance at Nick.

Skye looked into Jack's eyes insistently, turning his head. "I don't want… fear… as part of what we are. We can talk. It's safe. Please." The striped buck finally deflated a bit.

"You guys want any of this fish?" Motti asked. She was obviously trying to soften some of the tension.

"Judy'll have some." Jack grumbled.

"No, stop deflecting, talk." Skye half-whispered. She was thankfully over her emotional explosion from earlier, even though her face was a bit of a mess from both crying and being ground into the dirt.

"What then? How do we talk about this?" he asked with more than a hint of hopelessness in his voice. "I want my universe to have stupid magic in it so bad I just said what I honestly can only hope is the most bitterly speciest, heartless, ignorant thing you've ever heard in your life. I just gave you every reason to never trust my feelings for you are genuine, and I have no reason to ever think you want the real, superstition-embracing, ignorant Jack Savage. Not one hundred percent. Does talking about it really help here?" he asked, his pitch rising as his throat tightened. Judy looked at Nick warily as if he might fix that somehow. His ears were back and he only silently watched the pair.

"You really want some?" Motti asked, holding the dried meat out to the bunny. Judy had to restrain herself from shooing the well-meaning hyena away rudely, as she was so transfixed on the discussion. She took the piece of offered food and just held it so Motti would focus on her own food instead.

Skye considered that a moment. She was definitely conflicted. The vixen finally inhaled deeply, eyes closed before looking back into Jack's blue eyes. "Alright Jack, then we can talk about magic," she said resolutely.

"What?" Jack asked incredulously.

"Tell me about why you need magic. What is it about that idea that makes you happy? That's what this is about, right? Magic makes you happy. That should be important to me because I want to make you happy." The buck gazed at her intently a moment, as if unsure that she was serious. He finally sat up a little straighter and thought about it.

"Well… I guess… I grew up with my studies and all… I wanted to do something to make my parents proud. They tried so hard just to have me, and they gave me everything they had after they passed," he explained. Skye nodded, focused on him completely. "I grew up grateful for what I have. I don't ignore my responsibilities to the city and those less fortunate. I want Zootopia to be a great place to live and I have more power than most to make it that way. I've believed that since I was a kit… but…" He looked away.

"It's okay," Skye whispered. "I'm listening."

Jack inhaled deeply and continued, "Part of that was getting a good education. And I had only the best. What came with that education was a pretty good sense of how the world worked. And as I learned every detail, nuance, scientific name and satellite picture, the mysteries of the world were laid bare. I was starved for it. I loved it. I lusted for it!" he said excitedly. Completely absorbed, Judy took a bite of her dried fish. She froze. Eyes wide, she looked at Nick. He hadn't seen it. Out of the corners of her eyes she saw that Motti absolutely had seen it and was staring. If Judy spit it out, the hyena might be horribly offended. Then the flavor hit. It was so salty. With the intensity of the past few days, Judy felt like maybe was a bit depleted. The moment the taste hit her tongue she craved it with intensity. Slowly she chewed, able to taste little other than the heavenly saltiness. She would just… quietly chew. That was okay, right.

Skye distracted Judy from her inner turmoil as she spoke. "But these things aren't magic, Jack, it's just the world. You loved the world. I knew that about you, it's part of why I love you."

Jack smiled and took the vixen's paws in his as well as his smaller paws could manage. "That's just it. It was real, but there was only so far real could go. And so much that I wanted to fix and no one could… Those were things that were real. One of the absolute most glaring things for me, growing up, was the very real matter of my existence. My mom and dad could never have a kit of their own, no matter how much they loved each other, no matter how much they wished for it. I took years of trial and error and many failures no other mammals should ever endure like my parents did. Just to get me. Even the all-powerful science I grew up respecting and supporting could only go so far in that matter." Judy found herself taking another bite of fish. She immediately dismissed that she'd done it. What Jack was talking about was incredibly deep.

"So that's why you give so much money to the surrogacy groups and the Genetic Research Foundation?" asked Skye with a gentle tone.

"Right," Jack responded straight away. "But it felt like I was so far out on the fringes. It was lonely even wishing it were possible. It got me to also search through books and history to see how many others felt like I did. Was I really that alone? I found very little through history texts, but I met a teacher, Professor Lupin…" he stated.

"Lupin?" asked Motti suddenly.

"Yeah, that one." Jack clarified. Judy was suddenly intensely focused.

"He was searching for something that had everything to do with what I cared about at that point in my life."

"You said he was searching for details about The Origin Story." Nick said. "This actually has something to do with your parent's relationship and hybrid families? I'm a little… uh… lost…" Judy looked up as her partner trailed off. Her heart sank. She froze as she looked meekly back up at her fox as he gazed with wide eyes down at her hand which clutched the half-eaten strip of dried fish. She felt suddenly like she had betrayed him, and she looked down dejectedly, ears back, nose wiggling.

Jack pulled Nick's attention off of his suddenly scared and ashamed little bunny. "The professor sincerely believed that The Origin Story had its beginnings in a love story, not in what is the currently accepted model… a trade agreement during a drought."

Nick spoke, his tone seeming fine, which breathed some life back into Judy. "Jack, those trade agreements go back centuries. There's a tablet and everything. This is physical evidence that we're talking about here. Why did Lupin think it was something else?" he asked.

"Stories." Jack said frankly. "Roland wanted to find the absolute earliest record of the interaction of the organized groups of predator and prey. What we had was established trade, but it was not something that specified the first amicable contact, and certainly not their agreement. But he found stories that had been passed by word of mouth in the interior."

"This is secret talk." Motti said in a warning tone.

"There is a secret about the first meeting?" Jack asked.

"Motti is not saying. It is stories. These are our stories, though. We do not give them to outsiders." Her tone was suddenly severe.

"Drop that for now, Jack," Nick instructed. The buck huffed, puffing up a bit. "Please." Nick said. He deflated with a sigh and then looked back at a pained vixen. He shook his head. "Sorry. That… That doesn't really matter now. Look, I helped him look for answers in the old stories. Not much more than a kit myself, I willingly funded his travels and he brought so many crazy tales back, and they were so full of mysteries, magic, old folklore handed down, impossible dreams and the fantastical things I had never even dreamed of. Sure, I knew these things were stories, and maybe nothing was more than that, but I felt joy like I'd never felt before. I wanted my world to be magical, dark, and mysterious… new answers waiting to be found in some unexplored place, a discovery out there left to be made that no one had seen before. Secret adventures and incredible memories could be out there, I just needed to look!"

"Jack…" whispered Skye in a wondering tone.

Jack continued, a little bit frantic. "I found out around then that people loved seeing me tell those stories. I know it was partly because I was exotic, and the stories were exotic too, but it was enough that teachers shuffled me in the direction of theatre and drama. That became my calling, of course, and I loved it, but I felt a little empty still, you know? It wasn't magic, and yet… it wasn't even real at the same time."

"So you hope that out there, somewhere, you will find magic?" Skye asked, transfixed.

"Not exactly!" Jack said hastily, "It wasn't a weird incantation, a glowing stick, or a flying deer that I wanted. It was never that kind of thing… I craved discovering the unexpected. I wanted to be surprised! It sounds silly, but it's why I couldn't stop thinking about you after I met you." His tone was softer as he said that, as if he really had just made the connection. Judy crammed the rest of the fish in her mouth shamefully, not even checking to see if Nick was looking.

"Wh… What?" Skye whispered anxiously.

Jack smiled and chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "Yeah, I guess… I guess it was. You really surprised me. I… I couldn't understand what happened. Why did that happen? What made you do that? Was there a story? Everything about you, and Nick, and Judy… was so crazy and intense. It was insanity the moment I met you. And, oh my God I could not get you out of my head. So, when Judy asked me to meet with you… I said yes. The rest you know. I had fun with you, and you were relaxed with me, like a regular friend. I really needed that." He held Skye's paws and she seemed to melt a little bit for him. Judy swallowed her shameful snack and had to wipe her eyes. This was encouraging.

"You never told me that part, you goof." Skye whimpered.

"And then, things got really crazy, and Nick died…"

"Got lost." Judy said loudly, glancing at the visibly anxious Motti.

"Right, sorry," Jack corrected, looking back at Skye, "And you nearly killed yourself helping them take that monster down. I realized immediately how horrible the thought of losing you was, even though we'd only been close for a short time…" he said with a somewhat distant voice.

"Wait, why was she fighting the monster?" asked Motti insistently.

"Shh!" Nick shushed her.

The buck continued, "Oh course I got closer to you as we kind of supported Judy together… while Nick was gone, helping her grieve." Judy preferred they not talk about the relatively short but still sensationally long period of time that she thought her beloved fox was dead. She did not interrupt, however.

"I think we all needed each other through that." Skye admitted.

"Then Judy brought Nick back. And… that night, we went home to celebrate. We had that ridiculously priced bottle of champagne that the studio gave me, remember?"

Skye laughed. "That was amazing. I feel bad for even asking you about it, that was so crazy expensive! I can't believe you just popped it right open!"

Jack shook his head, pulling a little closer to Skye. "It was the absolute right occasion. You see… To me… I had seen real magic for the first time."

Skye gasped at that, breathlessly whispering, "Jack, that was just… I mean…" She found herself speechless.

Judy's own breath hitched at the full and brutal bunny sentimentality unleashed. Even Nick cupped his muzzle. Magic was a strong word, but it was certainly a pretty intense scenario.

Jack leaned in closer, almost nose to nose with Skye as he rose up on his knees a bit by where she was sitting. He murmured, "Then, as we laughed and celebrated, I looked into your eyes… and I saw real magic a second time. And you… remember what happened next, I am sure." Skye's inner ears were bright pink as her bright blue eyes took in the view of her striped bunny. Those ears then went back and she choked out a sob and completely engulfed Jack, tail curled around him. Her arms and legs enveloped him as she stole him close and made it so only his ears peeked up over the ball of white fox.

"What? What happened next?" Motti asked. No one answered. Judy cupped her face, eyes soaked, and she quietly savored the sentimental moment. She hadn't really asked any of these questions of the pair, but it was not lost on her that she and Nick were a part of it all. She just let her friends revel in one another's embrace. They needed this. Judy barely caught the soft tone of Nick's whisper to the hyena. The bunny could not hear what he said, but Motti spoke in a regular tone. "Oh. Right. I knew that."

Jack and Skye embraced and quietly talked for a bit longer as Judy and Nick sat over by Motti. They needed their space. The grey doe was actually proud of Jack for how he talked to the distraught fox and turned that mess around. It was heartwarming.

"It's okay, Judy. I'm not upset." Nick said from behind her, making her jump a little. Judy turned and looked into his eyes, her own wide.

"What?" she asked.

"I just might… prefer fox-nibbling for a bit and not kissing," he admitted.

Judy gasped slightly. "Oh. Oh, Nick, I'm sorry, I got handed the fish and I just…" She felt awful about it.

"Hey!" Nick smiled at her. "I said it's okay. Like I told you before, I won't eat it, but I don't care that other people do. The issue I had wasn't that I ate them, it was that I…" He looked away. Judy held Nick's paw. He forced a smile. "Well, like I said… You're fine. And I am glad this… didn't get worse…" He nodded at Jack and Skye, the vixen rocking a little with her bunny in her arms.

"Thank you, Nick," Judy whispered, "I… I don't know that I could have dealt with that alone."

"You ate a fish." Motti said unhelpfully. "But Nick doesn't eat them?" The doe actually kind of felt bad for her new hyena friend. The bunny found her own life confusing and alarming sometimes, she could not imagine playing catch-up from the outside at this point in her life.

"I have a lot of experience with repressing my feelings. I know the hazards." Nick explained as he ignored Motti's question, giving Judy at least some clue as to why he was so perceptive about it, and why he knew that he needed to provoke the conversation to really fix the issue.

"Can we talk about carnivorous rabbit?" Motti asked.

"Sure!" Nick said, turning around, causing Judy's ears to fall back. She did not want to talk about that. She didn't even really want the fish! "But before I tell you all about that, let's hear the Origin Story handed down in your village." Motti looked with wide, surprised eyes back at Nick.

"Shetani's diet must remain a secret," she said in an official-sounding tone. Judy rolled her eyes. Clever fox.

"Okay, I think we're ready." Jack said, padding up to the seated group with Skye beside him, holding his paw. "I'm so sorry about the delay. It will not be repeated." Nick stood up, helping Motti to her feet as well. Judy dusted herself off.

"You aren't always going to get along," Nick said casually. "Even Judy and I will have our spats, but you will find they happen less if you talk like you did there." They fell into step behind Motti who plodded along as if they had merely stopped for a snack.

After a few minutes of just walking along, Skye seeming very tired and emotionally drained, Jack spoke again. "So… I can ask questions about the story I ended up insulting?" he asked. Skye tensed up a bit, and then sighed out heavily.

"We don't have to," she said after a moment. "I know you said what you did just because it would get a rise out of me, but you already know the studies or you would not have referenced them. That story has certainly been blamed for the whole buffet of fox stereotypes you so eloquently listed for us, and I'm not going to gain anything by defending it. It's just a story." Judy looked over to Nick beside her. He could help with that, right? Surely he knew something to help with that. Nick did not intervene, however. Was he upset over Jack's viciousness about that character too? The doe considered the statue in the middle of New Reynard.

"Do you feel that way about the story, Skye?" Judy asked, not wanting to leave it at that. Nick squeezed Judy's paw warningly.

"Oh no! Certainly not!" The tone Skye used was defensive, as if the doe had accused her of abandoning her very culture.

"So, then… explain what he means to you," Jack said calmly, still holding Skye's paw.

"What?" the white vixen asked, caught perhaps off guard.

"He doesn't represent those things to you. That's what Judy was asking about… So how do foxes see him?" Jack asked with genuine curiosity in his voice. Judy smiled at that. It was a good question. She was actually glad she said it.

"Well… I guess… First of all I want to know why you don't like him," Skye said. Judy tightened up anxiously. Then again, maybe that wasn't such a good idea.

"I never said I didn't like him," Jack responded.

Skye's blue eyes tracked back to her stripped bunny as she spoke. "Okay, then you don't respect him. He helped people. You help people. He was brave and stood up for what he believed was right. You do that. You have things in common. Why don't you respect him?"

"Uh, well, because I can be all those things and still respect the rule of law?" Jack offered with an air of superiority.

"So you just see him as a criminal." Skye said with a tone of bitterness in her voice.

"Was he not?" the bunny asked. "I mean, don't get me wrong, it's good to help, I help all the time, but I am happy to give it, I don't want it just taken. I'm not greedy, but stealing is stealing." Judy felt a sinking sensation of dread. She screwed it up. She pulled Nick's hand. Help.

Nick finally spoke. "Jack, if you were to meet him right here, right now, what would you ask him to do?"

"What?" Skye asked.

Jack looked up at Nick curiously, slowing a little before he answered. "I'd tell him that there's a better way to take care of the problem! You can help people and not drag yourself, your family, your whole species down." Skye sighed a bit at that.

"It's okay, we don't have to talk about this," she said rather sullenly. Nick sighed as well, causing his partner to grit her teeth. She caused this. Her mind raced for a while as they plodded along silently.

Jack spoke meekly. "No, I'm sorry, Skye. I am not trying to be closed-minded, I want to understand. I need to understand. You are worth it to me to understand."

Skye held his paw up a little, squeezing it reassuringly. "We can talk about it later… when we are not so drained, Jack, it's alright. I'm not mad, just really tired. We'll figure it out. I still love you." He nodded sadly, and they continued to walk. Judy thought hard for a while. Jack's hang-up was on something specific. He hated what was being done, not who was doing it or why, but wasn't the thing that was being done still genuinely wrong? What if she had this conversation with Nick? Would it be the same? Did Nick still respect this hero, even though he was a cop? How would Nick deal with him if he were real, alive in Zootopia, stealing from the rich to give to the poor? Would he steal from Jack? Jack already gave so much… Judy snapped her ears up high. That was it.

"If he came into existence in Zootopia, he'd be pretty bored," Judy proclaimed out of nowhere.

"What?" Nick and Skye both asked at once.

"If he were alive today, no one would notice." Judy said firmly.

"Judy…" Nick's tone was one of warning. She was treading on something sensitive. The bunny knew that.

"No, I want to hear her explain this." Skye said. Jack nodded. Nick gave a very firm squeeze to his lover's paw.

Judy continued anyway. "Nick, if we found a family with starving children at work tomorrow, what would we do?"

Nick shrugged. "Help them get set up for assistance payments, job-training, all that. I know what you're saying… it's a different world out there for the poor now, but…"

The bunny shook her head. "No buts, that's exactly where the misunderstanding is." Judy said with some confidence. "Jack, you have watched the story played out in movies, maybe had it read to you as a kit, maybe even read it yourself, but you missed part of the story because of something you never had growing up. You only felt it once, and that changed your entire point of view about the world."

"Do tell." Jack said, appearing interested. He likely welcomed anything that would help him mend things with his fox. Nick still looked as nervous as he could look.

"Hopelessness," Judy said earnestly. Skye looked curious, but neither she nor her frustrated lover seemed to get it. Judy inhaled deeply, "Jack, you think the story is, as face value, a tale about money being taken from those with money and given to the poor who needed it. I'm sure you understand that there were not programs in place to help them in those darker days. They had nothing to eat. They often had nowhere to live. Those poor mammals, left with nothing, were being asked for still more when they had nothing to give. When this fox came along and used his skill and cleverness to take back some of what had been plundered from the poor, he wasn't giving them money, Jack."

"Uhhh." Jack tried to interject, to inform Judy that was exactly what he was giving them.

Judy cut him off. "That's never been what that story was about, Jack. He was giving them hope." Nick squeezed Judy's paw again, but this slow and warm squeeze was not the sort he used to warn her. She looked to him, seeing a warm smile on his muzzle.

"Please," he nodded, indicating she should keep explaining.

"Yes, please." Jack asked, eyes locked on her in interest. Skye looked back and forth between her bunny and Judy. She looked confused.

"Jack, you've grown up not having to really worry that much about how far you were going to go, and you know that you have had advantages. You have integrity and you give back to those less fortunate. You are altruistic and kind," Judy explained.

"Oh please go on," Jack said with a grin, getting his ear tugged by a smirking vixen.

"But when you ultimately realized that there was a big problem out there that all your money, time, and effort could not fix, you felt hopelessness. You wanted an answer, but there was no answer. Sometimes a problem is there that you just can't fix. How much money did you give to the Genetic Research Foundation last year, Jack?"

"Kind of personal," the striped bunny said.

"Ten million." Skye stated.

"Skye!" Jack huffed.

"Let her talk, Squeaker!" his lover insisted. He suddenly didn't seem to mind being called that, pulling himself closer to her. He was still her Squeaker.

"Why?" Judy asked.

"Because you deserve to finish what you were saying." Skye answered.

"No," Judy said, a little more clearly, "Jack, why do you give them the money? You said yourself… that in your lifetime they haven't made a real breakthrough. You can't change this undeniable reality around it. Why ten million? Why anything?"

Jack was visibly a little stressed and answered, "Hell, I don't know. Because they need to see we are doing something!" He was pulled a little closer to Skye, as if protectively. "I know how bad my mom and dad wanted it, how much it hurt that not everyone could just hold their child like they could hold me. I see how much others want it, wish it… how much joy they see others have that they can never experience." Judy felt a hard tug at her heart. This was it. This was exactly what she was after.

"So it's not about the money." Judy stated flatly.

"Oh, God." Nick whispered. Jack stood, stunned, eyes wide, pupils moving side to side a little as it obviously began to fall entirely into place for him.

Judy spoke louder, not letting herself be interrupted. "They need hope. That one day it will be better. Just like him… You are there to tell them to keep their chin up. One day there will be happiness again."

"Yes!" Jack cried suddenly. "Oh God yes! That's all I want!" He was pulled hard into Skye and she ended up back on her knees, holding him in an embrace, thick white tail coiling around him again.

"It's okay…" she whimpered to him.

"I'm sorry, Skye! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to be… I didn't get it! I didn't understand… I do now. I do." Jack cried quite freely, and Motti sighed as she sat right back down alongside the trail. The hyena was being patient, fortunately. Judy felt like this was not a delay, however. This was needed. All of this needed to happen. She regretted little about it.

Nick pulled Judy close, arms wrapped tight around her. She sighed happily. She was grateful, feeling immensely better with the direction things finally went. She then tensed up and gasped as she felt Nick's teeth on her right shoulder. It was a firm squeeze, a very good indication of a passionately grateful fox. Nick was often proud of Judy, but this was a gesture that told her how much. Her body tingled with a rush of joy at the feeling of foxy approval under his teeth.

Motti finally spoke, shaking her head as Judy looked up to her, "This is why we are happy being in the forest and not the city. City is making mammals too complicated. Motti is now travelling with scary Sungura ya Shetani, fox who is back from Hell, and monster-fighting other fox who loves strange bunny who is painted with stripes. Motti can never tell this story," she said with a sigh of resignation.

"Hey, his stripes aren't painted!" Judy said, looking around Nick's arm as he nibbled the back of her neck, making her tail twitch.

"Why is a bunny having stripes, then?" Motti asked, understandably.

Skye looked up and smiled helpfully to their newest travelling companion. She stated matter-of-factly, "His mother was a striped hyena."

Motti's face went blank. "No."