Author's Note:
Life continues to push back against my love of writing, but I am bearing with it. It will get easier once I have my job situation sorted. It's not been easy, but with help from friends and fans and with art commissions and the like, I've kept my head above water. Thank you for all your concern and support. I hope to focus on the things that make me happy more in the coming weeks!
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. ^^
Zootopia ain't mine, no matter how much I wish it would have been. I have created worlds in the past, but they were always fantasy-oriented. Having more in common with the characters is actually pretty refreshing.
Also! A HUGE shout-out to J. N. Squire for assisting with editing for Season 2! In some cases he doesn't get to edit until after posting because scheduling means you may all have to wait a lot longer for a chapter that just gets some slight typographical and flow-setup attention. Thank you, everyone, for your patience and support with this long-term personal endeavor.
Guardian Blue: Season Two
Episode 16: Unity
Nick gazed up quietly at the stars alongside Judy as she rested on her side pushed up close to him. It was some time before dawn. They had slept fitfully with the uncertainty that they would be discovered, despite members of the group keeping guard. The forest was dense and it was impossible to tell if they were being followed. Some sleep had still happened. It had been a terribly long day. It felt like almost a week worth of things had passed in that time and it was hard for Judy to get her mind around the things that were going on.
They had nearly drowned rafting over the rapids. Skye and Jack had gotten into a serious fight that was then emotionally resolved. The group nearly died from a planted bomb. They had been taken captive and locked in the mines. Pembe had intervened inexplicably. They had rescued the missing mammals from the villages around the mine. They had uncovered a possible government conspiracy concerning the secrets that this indigenous population had been protecting. There had been kidnappings. There had been murders. These were extremely dangerous mammals. Soon, however, they would not be alone in this. The conspiracy, like the one she'd discovered at the beginning of her career, was not universal. These mammals would pay for what they'd done.
"I missed this, honestly," the fox whispered beside her. Judy perked up a bit, shaken from her thoughts. The soft sounds of other mammals in their dark wooded camp softly snoring or shifting on leaves made it so it wasn't a full break of silence, but her attention fixed on her partner.
"Missed running for our lives and nearly being killed every hour, on the hour?" Judy asked with a tired chuckle.
"No, Fluff," Nick laughed back softly, "Camping. I missed camping. I wish I'd done this with you sooner. With a tent. And bug spray. And marshmallows." Nick's voice was wistful as he smiled. Judy was amazed at how calm he could be when things got hard. They had not spoken about his panic in the mine. This was not the time.
"You like camping?" Judy asked, pushing in even closer to her beloved vulpine and stroking his bare chest. His shirt was spread out under them to give them something other than bare ground to rest on, which suited Judy just fine. The cuddling pair simply wasn't bothering to conceal their relationship. No one was even really paying attention to it. They had their own important things going on right there.
"My dad and I used to do this a long time ago." Judy's heart lurched. It was one of those rare occasions where she got to look a little deeper into the heart of her fox. Her ears lifted and she focused on him so hard it utterly muted the other sounds around the smoldering campfire. "It's what we did the only time I ever went to New Reynard. I think I was only five or six back then. It's strange how the smell of the fire and the sounds of the forest at night can make you really remember that stuff, even so far back." Nick put his paws behind his head, propping it up a little, looking up through the small divide in the canopy to see the myriad of bright stars unfettered by the lights of the city.
"Happy memories I hope?" Judy asked. She was concerned at the kinds of things that would be remembered by someone who had lost their father so young.
"Yeah. I mean… I don't remember much about the uh… the bad parts," Nick looked into his partner's eyes, murmuring softly, "I guess I never told you about what actually happened to him, huh?" He sounded regretful.
Judy shook her head and leaned in, planting a soft kiss just below his eye, on his cheek bone. "Nick, you don't have to talk to me about that if you don't want to. I know it's not something you enjoy discussing."
"Judy, I'm vowed up to you," Nick said calmly. "That wall's not for you anymore. There's a little bunny-shaped door in it now, you can come as close as you want. I'll not hide. It won't always be happy stuff but you can ask me anything. If… If it's something you don't want to know, then I understand that. It's not a happy memory after all."
Judy lifted her head, looking into her partner's uneasy eyes. Did he really think she would not want to know about something so important? She stroked his muzzle with her small paw tenderly. "Nick… You can talk to me about anything. When I claimed you as my fox, I didn't just claim your soft, fluffy tail to cuddle at night. I really did want the whole fox." She grinned at that, feeling a little wrong for how possessive she sounded, but his expression shifted to something less worried and she felt better for it. He then relaxed and looked back up at the stars.
"It was sudden." Nick said with a sigh. "See, my dad was a tailor. He'd just, with some difficulty and some painful loans, opened a shop where the canals bumped up against Happytown. It was a rough start, and he had to work late hours to get the loans paid off and still support a family. He worked really hard." Judy sat up a bit, paw on his slowly rising and falling chest. He wasn't looking at the bunny as he spoke, just the stars, as if letting himself more clearly remember these long unspoken things.
"Overwork? Was that… what happened?" she asked. She had heard of quite a few mammals burning out like that.
"No… uh… actually…" Nick looked into Judy's eyes and then away again. "One day, as he locked up shop to come home early to take mom to dinner… a rare treat…" He finally looked back into his partner's eyes. "There were these two kids. Giraffes. They fell into the canal. My dad tried to save them." Nick looked away again, sighing softly. "He didn't have a chance, from what the witnesses said. They were panicked and they pulled him under. None of them made it out."
Judy cupped her paws over her muzzle. That was way worse than what she was thinking. He died trying to save someone. Another shock ran through Judy of agonized realization. How had Vivienne even been able to look Judy in the eyes when her son had nearly died nearly exactly the same way? The bunny whispered, "Nick, I'm so sorry. I… I know he tried. I know he didn't mean to leave you and your mom…"
"I know," Nick said hastily. "I know that. I mean, I was very angry for a while, I remember that. I was a little kit. I didn't feel like he abandoned us or anything. I just felt like it was all so… meaningless. It didn't help anyone and it left my mom to try to pay off his loans and me to try to find the bright side. There's not any. That was the part that really ate at me. He was a good mammal, I knew that, but it felt like being a good mammal didn't count in the big, scary world. Like a lot of things in life, you try to find meaning, but there's not. You just keep going. He had to have known what his chances would be to actually save them. He did it anyway. I thought it was dumb, not valiant or anything like that."
Judy traced her tiny claw tips back and forth over Nick's chest. "I don't think your dad thought it was dumb. He had to have thought there was a chance. You should be proud of him, Nick."
Her partner sat up and wrapped his arms around the smaller doe. "Judy, I am proud of him. At least, I am now. I will admit, most of my life I didn't understand why he did it. He knew what could happen, and he did it and I honestly never understood. Not until I got the chance to make that choice myself. The day came where I got to risk dying to save someone who I'd never met. Risk everything for a chance for someone who might not even remember me. And I made the same choice he did without hesitation. Twice now, actually. I knew the chance that we could be killed trying to go back into the mines, but the same choice came up and my answer was the same."
"Nick…" Judy whispered.
"If we don't help them, no one else will. No one else jumped in to save those kids. My dad didn't want to be a hero, Carrots. He only thought he could give them a chance. Not a sure bet. A chance..." Nick looked into Judy's eyes, a gentle smile on his russet face, green irises fixed on her. "He just knew he was the only chance they had. I wish he was still around, but I kind of doubt we'd be together if he had been. Everything might be different. So we move forward, and I like to think he'd be proud of me." Judy pinched her eyes shut at that and leaned in and kissed her fox.
"Of course he would," she whispered. She was deeply glad he had told her this.
"Wow," came a soft voice beside them. Judy looked to see the shirtless lioness, arms wrapped around her middle. This was the one nursing an injury to her midsection. She had kept up with the group well enough so it seemed to be healing. Judy looked at her partner, not sure what to tell the big cat.
"It's complicated." Nick said flatly.
"Riiiight. Uh, we have a problem." The tone from the lioness made it sound like it was a real problem, so Judy and Nick both say up on his laid out shirt.
"What's wrong?" the fox asked.
"The lycaons left," she said in a tone that made it seem like they were cutting class. It was a much, much bigger problem than that.
"What?!" Nick shouted. It startled a few of the others from their sleep obviously. Skye and Jack's heads popped up together.
The feline shrugged a bit. "I don't even know when. I think it was during one of their watches. I heard them talking about thinking we couldn't be safe travelling in a noisy group, and we'd be better off if we split up. The oldest one put that argument to bed, I thought. I guess they changed their mind."
Nick got up, Judy moving to get off of his shirt so he could hastily put it on. He stated anxiously, "We have to go." He rose his voice. "All of you. We gotta go!"
"We aren't being followed, and they probably just went home or something." The lioness sounded like she felt that it wasn't as big a problem. Others began to stir.
"What's going on?" asked Motti's mother.
Judy spoke up, loudly, "The lycaon's bailed in the night. If they get found, our heading at least might be compromised. We are depending on help getting to us before not-help reaches us."
"Can we catch em?" Motti asked, struggling to get to her feet.
Judy shook her head, stretching a bit. "We do that and we give up the only chance we have to call for back up. Trust me… we are better off taking our chance with my team in Zootopia at least knowing what's going on. The Lycaon's chance is better that way too."
"Why are we following the smallest mammal in the group again?" asked the uninjured lioness indignantly. Judy tightened up anxiously. The stress was building. She knew it would happen so long as they were in danger.
"Shetani is small, but she is the strongest. My family follows her," Motti said resolutely. The three other hyenas looked a little uncertain, but nodded. They valued Motti's opinion of the bunny, it appeared. Judy loosened her shoulders a little. If it came to a vote at least, she knew it would go their way.
The non-injured lioness hissed, "We appreciate the assist, but the longer we are following you on your mission the easier it is for us to get caught and put right back in that mine or worse!"
"Judy is a well-respected police officer." Jack stated solidly in the other bunny's defense. The fact that he was also a bunny got a dismissive eye-roll from the lioness. "She's trained to deal with these things." Skye stood up slowly, obviously concerned about the mood. Judy's partner was getting concerned too.
Nick spoke up quickly. "Look, you are right, we don't have much time, and we can't spend it arguing here!"
"He's right," Skye said bluntly. She already had their pack slung over her shoulder. She was ready to go at a moment's notice.
Judy focused back on the hyenas who were the locals in the group. "Motti, how much further do we have to go until we are able to use the cell tower for the other village?"
"I don't have a cell phone, I don't know exactly." Motti said.
"It's line of site, pretty much," Nick said. "How far do we have to go until we could see the tower?"
Motti's father answered, his voice a bit gravelly with age. "Over the next ridge, actually. It's not far. But there's a risk. I don't know if anyone in town's gonna be part of Jonas' private little army, so we don't want to be seen on that ridge, and it's been clear-cut. That was a lumber-town years ago." Judy gritted her teeth. A clear cut ridge would let even a bunny stick out brilliantly against the sky behind it. Her attention then focused ono one word that had been used.
"Wait, when you say army, how many people are we talking about?" the doe asked, tensing up a lot.
"Not that many, but you don't need a lot of mammals out here. Just the right ones. Big, mean ones with weapons." The older hyena answered.
Nick spoke again. "I don't like it either but we gotta get on the ridge, regardless. We have to chance being seen. Once they know we got out of the mine, they are gonna know what we will likely do next.
A female voice took the attention of the group again. The uninjured lioness spoke uneasily. "W-We are not going with you, we'd be better off walking back to the mine." The last part was delivered more resolutely.
"We stay together," Judy ordered. The more they fragmented the less control they were going to have of an already precarious situation. "When I call for help, I can only help the ones who are with me." The lioness who was still wearing a top strode over to the smaller officer and just picked her up by the back of the shirt. "Hey!" Judy exclaimed in irritated surprise. Nick and Skye both moved to intervene. While Judy might have originally not wanted Skye involved in anything physical, the vixen seemed almost as capable in a scrape as her own partner, so she welcomed the help. The captured bunny cop tensed up immediately at the feel of sharp claws pushed to the side of her face.
The fully clad lioness growled slowly, in a cold, harsh tone. "We follow me and my sister and keep quiet until this blows over. If anyone makes a move otherwise, I change this bunny's identity for her." Judy felt a spike of rage. She was helping this mammal, and she actually took her hostage?
The other lioness winced a bit. "No, Cassie, that's not what we talked about! Put her down!" she pleaded. "She's still a cop!"
"Out of jurisdiction. She's just a bunny." Cassie angrily shouted back, focused entirely on her suddenly second-guessing sister. That was her second mistake, right behind underestimating Judy's training.
"Mom, dad, don't look." Motti said bluntly.
Judy put both her little paws on the lioness' strong wrist where she was gripping the back of the bunny's shirt. Judy very quickly flipped up and over Cassie's arm backwards so that it wrapped her shirt over it. This let Judy drop right out of the garment and onto the ground. The smallest officer gave a fast, very hard backward spin-kick to the back of her assailant's knee. Cassie, already off balance trying to grab the agile bunny, cried out and went to the ground with an unceremonious thump. A loud groan came from Motti's family who had still been looking.
"Woah," Motti's brother said in disbelief as Judy bolted quickly to the relative added defense of literally everyone but Cassie.
"Told you." Motti said without emotion.
"Cassie!" the other lioness said, bolting to her sister's side. Judy relaxed a little as her attacker remained on her back, a bit stunned. She did not want to do that, but she could not let herself be used to endanger the group. Their best chance was still contacting the precinct for help. If this was a larger conspiracy they would not be safe out here without serious help. Not anywhere.
Motti's dad spoke seriously. "If they don't want to go, leave them here. They'll cause trouble."
"No, we stay together." Judy said, picking up her shirt and putting it back on. Having been in the Mystic Spring Oasis with Nick, it was a lot less embarrassing than she might have found it before that experience. Judy dusted herself off a bit and continued talking. "It's not like we can't understand how afraid they are. We all are. But we can't split up." She leaned down over Cassie, checking on the lioness. Hopefully there weren't both injured now. "Are you okay? Can you stand up? I tried to be careful."
"Uggh… That was careful?" Cassie asked, shaking her head a bit. She leaned up into a sitting position. Cassie sitting up made her sister relax again.
"Hey, I got knocked out completely for attacking her." Motti laughed, "Trust me, she went easy on you."
"Wait, what?" asked Motti's mother.
"She's really a nice bunny, we promise," Skye said, which Judy appreciated. It did not really relax the suddenly worried expressions of the elder hyenas or the sudden look of wonder on her brother Kijivu's face. Judy was just never going to come back to this place. That was all.
"Can we please get going before we lose our only chance to survive this?" asked Jack with some exasperation.
"Seconded," Nick said with authority.
"Are you okay?" Cassie's sister asked.
"Yeah, I can walk." She got up a bit unsteadily. "I'm so gonna file a 'police brutality' claim if we survive this." she grumbled.
"Out of jurisdiction," stated Motti.
"Oh shut up," growled Cassie, falling into step behind the other lioness.
Judy spent the next hour or so holding Nick's tail, certain that Jack was doing the same with his vixen. Neither could see as keenly in the dark as their predatory counterpart, though they could see a bit in the starlight. It was enough to know the tree cover was dense, they were not on an actual trail, and even the hyenas were using nothing more than the stars to determine the direction of travel. Having Motti's family to guide them turned out to be as helpful as Judy having a cell phone was about to be.
As the sun rose and the blue-grey misty morning began to unfurl out ahead of them, the bunnies didn't need to have their fingers buried in fox-fluff. Both took their partner by the paw instead. There were a few off color muttered comments by the lionesses, but other than that the light and quiet conversations going on were not in a language Judy understood. She tried not to let her self-consciousness fuel the assumption that they were talking about her, but with how Jack occasionally chuckled and looked back at her, she was pretty sure they were.
After about an hour of walking, Motti diverted them away from the hillside Judy was sure they would have to walk up. She was sure because it had been clear-cut. It was stripped bare of trees and only grass and rock and low stumps remained. The lions protested a bit at the hesitation and Motti explained that they needed to get water. Judy had to agree there. They had been sharing the canteen in Skye's pack and it was empty before the end of the previous day. Begrudgingly, Cassie agreed. Her sister, Charisse, was less confrontational. She had apologized to Judy twice during their walk, very softly so the other sister couldn't hear.
It was not far down the hill before they found a small stream that had cold, clear water bubbling down through the rocks. There was what could only be described as a small cliff that lead down to it.
"Seems risky." Nick stated with some discomfort.
Judy spoke reassuringly. "Those rocks look dry. I can jump down from each one easily enough."
"I could manage it, yeah." Nick said. There was a tone of uncertainty there that Judy knew exactly how to read. His leg hurt. Jumping down would be agonizing.
Judy shook her head. "I don't want you to, Nick, your leg's still mending. Skye, are you good at climbing and the like?"
"I wanna do it." Jack said flatly.
"What?" Skye asked predictably.
The striped buck chuckled a bit dismissively at her tone of protective alarm. "I'm at least a little athletic, Skye. It shouldn't surprise you to know I did some of my own stunts."
"Yeah, with a team of medics on standby, Jack." The white vixen crossed her arms.
"I can do this, it's certainly not the hardest I've done. I want to," he insisted.
"Alright. Just… Be careful," his vixen offered tenderly. She nibbled the back of one of Jack's ears where it met his head.
"Wait, them too?" asked Kijivu behind them. He was shushed by Motti.
Judy distracted them from that conversation. "I'll be right back, Nick. Everyone rest a bit in the meantime. We might have a pretty hectic time ahead of us." Grumbling, Cassie flopped down on the leaves. Charisse sat down beside her, talking softly. Judy sighed. Even if she managed to save them, she bet there was serious moral damage there. She could not help but wonder if she could have handled things differently to make it better.
Carefully, she hopped down from one large white rock to another, further and further down the cliff. It was probably only twenty-five meters or so, but she was carefully watching to make sure Jack was doing alright. He seemed competent enough, so perhaps he really had done rock hopping before. Skye cheered him on, and Nick watched quietly to make sure the bunnies both got down okay before his head vanished from the edge of the incline. He definitely needed to rest, Judy thought. She would take her time.
She placed her little paws into the cold, pure water and then dipped down, quietly drinking. She would reduce the amount she needed to carry in the canteen by getting her fill right from the source. Jack did this as well, taking even longer to drink before beginning to fill the canteen he'd brought.
This was done in relative silence before the buck finally spoke up. "So, uh… keep your voice real low, Judy. I wanna ask you something personal." Judy looked up at him as she filed her canteen and just nodded. Nothing was quieter than just not talking. Him wanting to talk to her made his valor on the cliff suddenly make way more sense. Was he concerned about something the hyenas had been talking about? Were they starting to side with the lions? It was a distressing thought. Jack looked up at the cliff, perhaps seeing if anyone was leaning over it. He then spoke. "I almost died yesterday. You know that, right? I almost stepped on a damned bomb." The doe nodded at that. Of course Jack was still rattled, and he hadn't really talked to anyone about it.
"It's alright," Judy stated softly, "I don't expect you to want to put yourself into this kind of situation. It's a lot, and it's really scary. You've done very well under these desperate circumstances." She wanted him to know how he behaved, as a civilian, was not shameful. He froze up in front of the cave and had been pretty helpless. That was actually perfectly normal. He nearly got blown up and the hippo had that massive gun. Everyone was scared, not just him.
"Skye saved me, Judy. She's amazing," Jack continued. There was tension in his voice.
"We both have really nice foxes!" the doe chuckled in a whispered laugh. There was still novelty in her being friends with perhaps the only other fox-bunny couple in Zootopia.
Jack lowered his head a little, nose down, seeming so small there at the stream's edge. His blue eyes stared up into hers. He said in a low and very serious tone, "Tell me about the vows, Judy." The doe had to actually stifle a gasp.
"Jack…" she said, not even sure how to respond to that. Did he understand at all what that meant? Did he have a clue of how serious that would be?
"I mean it. I wanna know. Skye mentioned it. I was…" He hesitated. "Please don't laugh here… but I was a little jealous of Nick. You know… He's another fox. He's a really great one." Judy had to stifle a laugh at that. The idea that Nick and Skye were compatible as a couple was a lot funnier to someone who knew what living with that teasing, frustrating vulpine was actually like. With Skye's temper, that would be a disaster. Jack kept whispering. "…so I worried. What buck wouldn't? Skye realized how anxious it made me and she told me to stop worrying about that because he was 'vowed up' and that was more binding than a signature from any justice of the peace." Judy looked wide-eyed at the nervous-looking buck. He was serious.
Judy lowered her voice as well, continuing to fill the canteen. "Okay, first, yes. It's a big deal. The biggest deal. I think in some ways it's bigger than how we see marriage because it can go one way. It doesn't have to be both. When you take the vow, you are giving yourself to them for not one, but two lifetimes. That's the promise." She felt a little guilty again that Nick had done this, but her guilt was waning in light of how very much she looked forward to both lifetimes with him.
"Wow… so… What if I vow, but she doesn't vow back? Can she leave me?" he asked.
Judy folded her ears back. "If you are doing this because you are afraid she might leave you when we get back to Zootopia, it's the wrong choice, Jack." She sealed her full canteen.
"I can't bear the thought of being without her, Judy," Jack whined. "Would you have left Nick after he vowed?" he asked. That was not a very fair question.
"Absolutely not, but I don't think I could have anyway. But… he couldn't have known that for sure," Judy explained. She hadn't really considered how scary it was for Nick to use his promise without even knowing for sure if Judy would want him the way she did. Still, Nick wasn't blind to her actions. He had to have known something was there.
"What if you had said no?" Jack asked, obviously afraid of that possibility of rejection to his promise.
Judy took a long, slow breath, collecting her thoughts. She could not let Jack pursue this recklessly. It was way too important. "From what I understand, Jack, I can't say no, I just don't have to promise anything in return. That's how it really is. That was his promise to make. His to keep. I can just keep living my life knowing that Nick's mine, even as I start a family of my own. I can even decide he won't be a part of it. But he will always be mine. Two lifetimes. It's two lifetimes, whether I want to reciprocate anything or not. If I don't want him, he gets to be alone. For Nick, this sad possibility is only gonna happen if I die first." She said that a little louder to ensure that Jack knew that Nick didn't waste his promise.
"Geeze…" Jack stated in a hushed tone. "That's… super heavy."
"Yeah," Judy murmured. "You can imagine how freaked out I was when he gave me his vow in front of both our parents."
"Holy cow," Jack said in reverent awe. "He really went all the way. Gave you everything no matter what would happen. He just… knew that was what he was going to do." The sound of wonder in the buck's voice brought a gentle smile to Judy's lips. She was glad he knew the seriousness of Nick's dedication to her.
"Before you ask, I haven't given the vows back to him yet," Judy said softly. "He wanted to take dating a little slower and enjoy all the aspects of having a relationship. But I doubt I need to tell you how I feel about him."
"Can you tell me the vows?" he asked.
"What? Here? Now?" Judy hissed under her breath, "Jack, I'm not the right mammal to tell you those." Her heart was suddenly racing. Sure, Nick had told them to her while she was medicated. He wasn't even supposed to be in her field of view when he said it. It was that… what? Dangerous? Serious? Magical? Judy felt a little shock run through her. Of course Jack would be interested. It was very mysterious and magical to him. But how would Skye feel if the buck did this? Would she be angry? Would she be happy? Judy didn't know her well enough to promise that.
Jack spoke again. "Judy, we could die today. I need to tell her. I need to." His voice was a little higher and softly pleading. Judy sank a bit. This was hard, but she couldn't tell him what he needed to know because she literally wasn't able to.
"Jack, when Nick gave me the vow, I was terrified. I didn't memorize the words. This might be less comfortable for you, but if you are serious… If you really intend to do this… you really need to ask Nick for help." Judy was being honest. She knew the 'to love and protect' part, and the 'all that I am, all that I was, all that I ever will be' part, and she was pretty sure the 'in this life and the next' was in there, but that wasn't the whole thing. Jack could not afford to mess this up.
"Oh crap," Jack murmured. "Man, I doubt I can get him alone. Crap." He sighed in exasperation. Judy took a deep breath. She wanted them to be happy. Would this make them happy?
"I can try to get you alone with him when I go on the ridge to make the call. I'm small and I stand the best chance of not being seen. I'm gonna crawl in the taller grass to stay hidden if I can. You will stay with everyone else in the cover of the forest and I will try to think of a reason that you need to pair off with Nick. But we need to focus on survival first, Jack. Keep your feelings on the back burner so you and Skye have more than just the next life to spend together, alright?"
Jack stood up straighter, nodding confidently. "Alright. I can do that. Thank you..."