Chapter 23 What is Friendship?

Judy took a seat right next to Wendy. For a brief spell, there was silence, a tense silence that made Judy's heart pound. The Koopa girl kept her head in her lap, not daring to lift it. As a consequence, she didn't even seem to notice Judy in such close proximity to her. Judy reached out her hand, debating whether or not she should comfort her captor. After a minute, Judy decided to put her hand on Wendy's shoulder. This caused her to lift up her head, looking at Judy with what was possibly the most shocked expression the rabbit officer had ever seen.

"Judy…" after a minute, she sighed, turning her face away. "You shouldn't do this. I don't deserve it."

Judy bit her lip, debating over what the right thing to say was. "That… that maybe true. But… well…" she hesitated, once again asking herself why she was doing this in the first place. "I feel like I should."

"But… but… why?" Wendy wiped her eyes, staring at Judy with such an intense, unrelenting gaze. "Why would you do this?"

"Because…" Judy cringed, but said what was on her mind regardless. "It's the right thing to do."

Wendy was silent for a brief minute. She eventually sniffled. "Well, that is admirable of you to do then." She put her face in her lap again. "But I didn't do the right thing at all in this whole endeavor." She snorted, the sound far from humorous and closer to indicating internal, self-directed derision. "Shouldn't I be cast to the side because of that fact."

Wendy whimpered again, and as a consequence, Judy didn't really know what to say. The two girls just sat there, sat there as moonlight poured down on the great metropolis of Zootopia. Judy bit her lip, feeling like there were a million things she wanted to say. She had many things she wanted to get off her mind, a million frustrations that she would love to just… vent. But… interestingly enough, another part of her didn't want to say anyone of those things. She didn't know why though, as Wendy didn't deserve any form of comfort or even a common courtesy. She had been ungodly selfish, unreasonably and incredibly delusional. By all means, Judy shouldn't be anywhere near her. So… why wasn't she getting up and walking away? Did it have something to do with the fact that Wendy finally realized the error of her ways? Maybe that was it. That fact did help Judy feel a little better. At the very least she didn't feel scared that her captor was going to… well, capture her again. But even still, she certainly wasn't willing to be close to the Koopa girl.

So, Judy was more or less frozen. She wasn't comforting Wendy, but she wasn't abandoning her either. In a way, she was somewhere in the middle of the two extreme actions that she could be taking; she considered this a compromise more than anything else. She sighed, looking down at the ray gun situated in her hands. As she did, something that she could say finally made itself known in her mind. She didn't hide it, nor did she mince words for Wendy.

"You had said that you did this because you wanted to be friends with me." She shook her head. "But that's not how friendship works. Friendship is a wonderful and amazing thing. But what you tried to do with me was… not it. It was the wrong thing to do, and on top of that, your actions more or less prevented any sort of bond forming between the two of us at all."

Wendy sat still, eerily still, before whimpering and swallowing a hiccup. "I… I think you're right." She sighed, her whole form sinking into the ground. "It would seem I have no idea what friendship really is." She looked down at the ground. "I wish I did. I wish I had a clear way of seeing what friendship truly is."

"Well… I'll tell you what it's not." Judy adjusted her sitting position. "Friendship isn't something you can force. It's something that someone has to earn. It's something that another person has to be drawn to. It's… it's very similar to love, in that sense. And just like love, if you try to get it from a place where it's not, and if you don't take the needs or wants of the other person into consideration… well, then it's not friendship. It's not friendship, and it will never be friendship. Ultimately, what you have is a fake, steaming pile of misery." She sunk a little bit into the ground. "And… yes, friendship is something that a grand majority of people want. I don't blame you for feeling like you want to make friends. But… if you go about it in this way, without any thought, consideration, or worry about the person you're trying to befriend… well, I hate to say it, but you're eventually going to wind up all alone."

Wendy, who had been listening to this with an interested expression, had her face fall at the last part of the very last sentence. "Alone…" she squirmed. Something in her body language changed, going from the enthusiastically psychotic girl that Judy had become acquainted with to a little girl who was more lost than anything else.

"You're right," Wendy said. "You're absolutely right."

Judy nodded, frowning a deep frown as she did. "And… and I hate to say it kiddo… but I don't want to be your friend. I don't want to exist in the state that you pushed me into. Not only because it's a miserable experience, but also because… well, I want something real. I want to have friends as much as you probably do. I love the thought of having someone to share the journey of life with. I love the idea of laughing with others, crying with others, being with others through the thick and thin." A small smile graced her lips before it suddenly fell. "But I can't get that if I'm being held prisoner. Nothing that resembles real respect or a real bond can bloom in my heart while I'm stuck in your castle with no way home." She looked at Wendy. "And as bizarre as this sounds… I don't think it can bloom in your heart either."

Wendy bit her lip. "You're… you're…" a sort of realization dawned on her face. "You're right about that too." She chuckled, wiping her nose as she did. "Man, how do you so much about friendship?"

Judy chuckled. "Well, I've acquired some really awesome friends of my own over the years. And sure, our relationships didn't always get off to a great start. The journeys we went on together were also considerably rocky. But here's the thing, that didn't make the friendship any less real. In fact, I would argue that the hard times we went through made our bonds even stronger."

Wendy nodded, finally starting to look considerably less… gloomy. "That makes sense." She sighed. "I never would've considered that position though. I mean… I can't remember the last time I've had a real friendship. Either the relationship was ended suddenly by me, or it was ended suddenly by the other person. So, when I saw you for the first time… well, not only did I think you were drop-dead adorable…" Judy wrinkled her brow when she heard this, but decided not to let it bother her too much. "But I thought that something that cute had to be mine. I… I hate to admit it, but I thought of you more as a possession than an actual person. I didn't consider that you had your own goals and dreams. Like you said… I only focused on what I wanted. That…" she squirmed a little bit. "I can see that as being one-sided now." She sharply exhaled. "It's just too bad that it took you sneaking out of my room to find an interdimensional portal gun to realize this."

Judy nodded. Like before, she didn't exactly know what to say next. Thankfully, Wendy still wasn't done, so at the very least, she wasn't experiencing an uncomfortable silence.

"Which makes me wonder… would I make a good friend at all? I don't have any right now, but if I were to try to make friends when I got back to my dimension… would I be the kind of friend the other person needs me to be? Would I be able to allow the seed of friendship to grow and bloom naturally? Or would I… would I shuff it out by doing something… horrible?"

Judy bit her lip. "Uh, well…" After a little bit, she somehow managed to put on a smile. "Well, here's the way I see it." She looked Wendy right in the eye. "If nothing else, you can consider this whole debacle a learning experience. You can know what is or isn't conducive to forming friendships, and you can realize when the friendship isn't really given the opportunity to develop and grow naturally."

Wendy blinked. She put her hand to her chin, taking time to consider those words. "I… I guess you're right." She smiled at the rabbit officer. "Thank you Judy."

"Of course. I wouldn't exactly call you a friend… but if nothing else, I can feel at least a little good knowing that I helped you in some form."

Wendy's smile grew bigger. "Man, you are just a good person through and through." She stood up. "And… I suppose I should say this, because it is more than warranted." She scratched the back of her head. "I'm sorry, Judy."

Judy stood up too. "It's fine. At least I'm home now." She handed the ray gun back to Wendy. "And hey, when you get home yourself, you'll be more… aware of how the world works." She beamed. "I consider that a great thing."

"Yeah." Wendy turned, shooting the gun to create a portal. "It… I think it is too." She took a breath before stepping closer to the portal. "Well… goodbye, Judy."

"Goodbye, Wendy."

With one more large inhale and a wave for good measure, Wendy entered the portal. Judy watched it as it closed, all the while feeling like layers of fright and worry were being shed off of her soul. After a little bit, she smiled and turned around. She didn't know where she was going to go first. Maybe she would go see Nick, maybe she would go home and sleep the rest of the week away. But there was one thing she was definitely certain of.

She was glad to be back home.

AN: Don't go away! There's one chapter after this, so stay tuned!