The Nothing Mammals: Part 1

"Stop-it!S-stop-h-hurting-h-him!"

The little rabbit made her voice loud and strong. She only quivered slightly when the fox turned to look at her with his sharp teeth biting down on the ears of her closest friend.

D-don't cry, don't- don't tw-twitch…

She fought hard against her instincts in order to look strong. If she didn't, Judy knew she would be helpless.

D-don't l-look weak…Like last time…

Violet eyes focused hard as she made the meanest face she knew towards the fox in front of the TV.

The look worked well enough to make the bully spit Jack's ears out from between his teeth. However, when his eyes caught hers, she had to fight hard to keep her body from shrinking away.

His intense staring eyes captured her. They were deep green like the leaves of the oak near her house and pretty in their unique color, but that was overshadowed by how they watched her.

It felt as if they were waiting for her to shiver or cry. To Judy, it was like they knew she was only putting on a brave face. Like they knew she would break…

…Like they knew she was already broken.

When the green eyes of the fox finally did shift away, she wanted to let out a breath but couldn't. With the stuffed toy removed from the fox's maw, nothing concealed the dangerous, white points jutting over the bottom lip of the predator. A few teeth were sticking out from under the fox's lip.

The little rabbit had stood strong against the same sort of teeth only a month ago, but now…

Y-you can't look scared; you can't show him you're just a weak bunny for him to h-hurt…

Violet eyes blinked away the glossy layer trying to build up behind them. Now, every second was a battle against her instincts to shrink away in fear at the danger.

But with the opening themes of the hero music from the tv, she knew she had to stick up for Jack. So, Judy rallied herself, raising her voice with the angriest tone she could muster,

"Give Jack back NOW!"

The words tumbled out inelegantly, coming across as frantic more than anything else and making her ears fall behind her back at her impotence.

That wouldn't be enough to work on a predator. How could scared words from a small, pathetic rabbit work on a hateful, mean fox?

Indeed, her words only made the dangerous mammal pull Jack behind the large paper in his paws, concealing her friend from the little bunny entirely.

Losing sight of the toy distressed Judy greatly. Her stomach dropped as she realized what was happening,

"L-let him go! You can't hurt him anymore! Let Jack go!" Judy shouted.

More weak, scared words, though louder than the first tumbled from her muzzle.

The fox was taking Jack Silver away to hurt him and there wasn't anything she could do.

Not him, y-you c-can't take th-this fr-from me too!

To take her last friend.

But even her meanest yelling voice hadn't made the fox listen. If anything, it only encouraged the fox to do worse! And just as her eyes widened in fear at the way the fox concealed Jack from her, they now froze in place.

Purple eyes didn't blink- couldn't blink- as they watched the sharp points of a paw migrate away from the paper and towards Jack.

She was unable to move as her vision locked to the razor-like appendages.

She knew that they stung, that they burned like fire, that they didn't care or flinch, even when the mammal they were hurting cried and pleaded for help.

Claws like that could only cause pain. They could only ruin and hurt others. They were dangerous and hateful and too hard to look away from and-

'You should've known when to quit, stupid bunny.'

-and they scared her.

Judy's eyes went distant as the voice played in her head, forcing her gaze to follow the claws.

In front of her, a vision was unfolding, causing the little bunny's whole body to tremble subconsciously.

Before the weak and defenseless rabbit, a much larger paw superimposed over this fox's movements. In an instant, russet furred arms transformed into thicker, tawnier limbs, all while relatively dull claws, were suddenly and purposely lengthened and filed sharp.

And she couldn't move.

Judy's fur stood on end as a rough, angry voice seethed in her ears,

'I'll make you remember this moment, bunny…'

And then, everything turned sideways.

The stinging cuts on her cheek suddenly throbbed with every beat of her heart as her eyes twitched but couldn't close or tear away. There was no use trying to escape what they were seeing.

No! Don't! Her own voice shouted in her head.

But it was too late. And, though Judy stared with open eyes, she was now somewhere else.

Somewhere again.

Back at the Carrot Days Festival.

Back behind the booths in the open space where he laughed at her nose twitching before she made the mistake of trying to be brave.

Back when she kicked him in the nose and his eyes turned to glass, not with tears but with an emotion she hoped never to see with her eyes again.

In her head, Judy was in the crawling seconds where the brute force and weight of a larger mammal pinned her down to the dirt and had no intention of being content with intimidation alone.

'Maybe you need a reminder why dumb bunnies should never forget their place.'

Judy could see the icy, remorseless blues staring. They were unmoving. Even when she cried and screamed and kicked and bled, they only stared. Unmoving even when Sharla had shouted and rushed away to get the adults.

In her ears, she could hear the growling muzzle.

The rumbling only stopped when the big fox grinned at her tears, letting out a little laugh at her expense. He saw how her eyes focused on his sharpened claws, on how he had filed them to a point. He had wanted her to mull it over, to think about it as he slowly set them against her face.

She couldn't look away any more than she could move under his strength or glare as he pressed his claws into her breaking skin.

She lived it all again. How his scowl deepened as she cried when her face went hot with blood. How he sliced his claws slowly and intentional as she squirmed. How even when the fair employees had grabbed his arms to pry his bloody paws away, it was not really over,

'Remember this moment…' He gave one last angry shout before the big ram could pull his arm off of the side of her head, 'Remember this the next time you think you will be anything more than a dumb, worthless bunny.'

As Judy's eyes came back into focus, whatever semblance of composure left was broken.

When her eyes locked back onto Jack and the bad fox, not everything from the flashback had quite left.

Ribbons of crimson streams poured from razored pinpoints, only this time they were from the green-eyed fox's grip on the toy-

-On her only friend left.

Judy gasped in horror as words spewed out from her shredded up heart, "NO, give Jack back! You can't hurt him! You can't hurt him, you bad fox!"

It was only now, when she could finally muster an actually angry voice in all her fear, was she able to act. In a panicked haze she tackled the other kit,

I won't let you hurt him- I won't let you hurt him- I won't let you hurt him like-

In a heap and a scuffle and a barely grazing touch of his claws against her own paws, she had pulled her friend free before desperately retreating from that corner of the room.

It's okay Jack, he can't hurt you. He can't hurt us. He c-can't- can't hurt us like-

Her throat choked as her thoughts swirled in her lightheaded state. Adrenaline was still strong, making her ability to think blur.

H-he can't- He can't-

As Judy squeezed the plushie ranger tight, she retreated in unsteady, faltering steps to the other side of the room. Tears streamed from purple eyes the whole way as little muttering whispers quietly cried against the fabric of the toy,

"H-he can't h-hurt me- can't hurt me a-again."

Her heart beat uncontrollably and scooting herself into the opposite corner of the room didn't comfort her.

She had saved her friend, but… nothing felt better then.

Even now red stained her vision and her brain whirled as a menacing voice repeated over and over again in her head,

'Remember this…' The angry voice whispered in her ears… 'You're nothing.'

She huddled into a ball, waiting for the voice to stop.

She wasn't brave. She wouldn't be able to help people like the heroes on tv or the police in Zootopia.

She was just…

"Nothing…"

AN: The next chapter will come rather shortly, as I am almost finished with it. This was a sad chapter, so I will not leave you long in it, but it was necessary to explain the other side of it. The next chapter should be out in this upcoming week, and we will start to see some resolutions to all of this pain.