When it came to Hide and Seek, Judy preferred being the seeker. That had applied during her childhood, and it applied to her now. By sundown most of the NEST agents had left, leaving behind a skeleton crew to salvage what they could from the grounded ship. Judy didn't have much time to do the same.

She checked the time on a clock high up the wall of the Captain's quarters. Little less than three hours had passed since the ship ran aground, and the pain in her muzzle had eased into a minor ache. She checked her ears again. No fluids. She checked her nose for good measure. Nothing there either. She could still think straight. A third good sign, but she still feared whatever may be going on beneath her skull.

After her initial impact into the window, she'd been out cold while the ship still grinded its way through the coast, waking up to the floor vibrating beneath her small body before coming to a stop. She'd ended up wedged in the small space between the console and the window. That impromptu hiding place had been what saved her from recapture.

The goons had forced their way into the bridge before she could work herself free, and she'd very nearly given herself away with a shout. Think smarter, had been the thought that stopped her. So, she'd frozen in place as on the other side of the console, Agents Savage and Skyfall were taken. The agents had demanded the whereabouts of Judy Hopps. Inflicted the dull thud of a punch when Alyssa gave a snide response.

All she could do was listen.

When she'd heard the approaching footsteps of someone smart enough to check behind the console, she'd wiggled free of the tight space and clambered in the tighter space between this console and the next. She'd barely been able to breathe, but a paw over her mouth kept her quiet enough to evade discovery.

She'd waited ten, then twenty minutes after they'd left, only emerging from her hiding place when no-one else entered the bridge. A cute little bunny crawling out of her burrow into a world full of hunters. Alone.

Trying to figure out the comms console had been the first thing she'd done. Failing was the second. The only communications systems she was familiar with were smart phones and police radios. Judy still planned on trying again after she found Nick.

"Nick…" She whispered and turned away from the clock. "You better be alive."

She hoped they were all alive. When Nick wasn't around to pass on his street smarts, Bogo had been there to keep her on the right path with a scowl, even though he was no longer her direct superior. He'd stuck by her during those gruelling interviews with Internal Affairs after the Twilight debacle even as he himself had fallen under scrutiny.

Elba's intervention had been what saved them from disciplinary action. Elba, who'd been on their side from the very beginning, fighting the corruption from within like a one leukocyte army. She hadn't seen him on the Tender, but she knew in her gut that he was here. Dead or alive, she didn't know, and it sickened her to not know.

And Ben… sweet, eager Ben who'd opened the door and let her into his life with full knowledge of what she'd done to him. After his month-long hiatus in Pottermass's villa, he'd needed a friend who wasn't in some form of prison. That's where Judy had come in. She'd needed a non-incarcerated friend too, and hadn't realised that until she'd worked up the courage to visit him at the museum and apologise officially for shooting him. That trip had ended in a fun tour of the place including the new Aquatic exhibit. They'd hung out often since then, coping with their shared trauma through extensive Gazelle music marathons and binging every kind of tv genre except for horror and true crime. Whenever he wore short sleeves, she'd check the scars those pilsners had torn into his arm. By the time of Nick's intended release, they had almost completely vanished beneath his fur. Only then had she been able to forgive herself.

She had to get off this ship and find them.

She had no illusions as to her chances just jumping into the sea from the upper decks. For last couple of hours she'd crept through the darker hallways of the ship, making her way downward and sticking to the shadows. Creeping around like an escaped fugitive. Sweet cheese and crackers, was this how Nick had felt during his own time on the run? This relentless fear. The constant looking over your shoulder. The paranoia that someone was about to jump you the second you stop looking-

Something in her case. She hadn't forgotten. Would never forget.

She tightened the strap of the black tactical pouch, worn as a makeshift bag pack, and made a beeline for the stern's stairwell.

She'd found the device in the Captain's quarters after her initial plan to retrace her steps back down below had been thwarted by an approaching patrol. When she'd slipped into the room she'd seen it right there on the desk, some sort of black custom PDA. It had been left on, a splatter of blood implicating the reason its owner had failed to lock the device. Its mostly plastic shell made it easy for her to carry. She'd explain her reasons for taking it to the others when she found them.

At the bottom of the stairwell, she found the A deck partly flooded. Little more than a puddle at first, but the depth lowered the further she travelled. By the time she found herself back at the room where they'd found Subject 0's gruesome handiwork, the water was bunny-waist deep.

The bodies lay partly submerged alongside the open cage. She waded between them, swallowing back bile, to get to the side-shell door. The door hung wide open, and beyond that, open water rippled black and white in the darkness.

Judy didn't know if the device was waterproof, but she was confident enough she could make it to the beach with one arm to swim with. It was nearly pitch black, but the water seemed calm. Distant lights indicated the direction of shore. She could do this…

"For once in your life will you please just listen?!" Nick's low, frustrated snarl came back to her, along with the look on his face when she began prattling about going after Lupine and Swineton, getting in over her head like always. Just like the turf war. Just like the nightmare in Founders Mount Asylum.

Judy's heart sank.

No. She was doing it again. She wasn't thinking things through. The water was cold. Her makeshift bag pack could weigh her down. The calm surface could be hiding an undertow that would carry her away the moment she left the ship.

Judy looked around. A simple flotation device would do, maybe one of those life jackets tucked into the cabinet nearby. They looked like the biggest ones, thick vests filled with stiff foam, intended for trips on open water. She only needed one for about ten minutes, if that.

None of the jackets were bunny sized, so she just picked one and dropped it in the water like one of those red flotation rings she saw hooked up around the lakes back in Bunnyburrow. She had never seen one used.

With one arm clinging to the jacket, Judy eased herself into the deep cool water outside of the ship. The lights beckoned to her, but she aimed instead for the darkness further left of the lights.

She shuddered, longing for the heated indoor pool she did laps in. Just keep swimming, just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming, swimming…

Judy swam diagonally at first, putting some distance between herself and the stricken hull in case a stray wave smashed her against it. The ocean seemed on her side. There was no current to fight against, and the water didn't feel so cold now that she was up to her neck and her body had grown accustomed. Other than the occasional light splash in her face, her journey went unheeded.

It's so dark, her primal instincts complained, regardless of how easy the swim was. The new moon hovered invisibly in the sky. All she could see beneath the sky were the lights coming from the island. Had it not been for the stars, the world would be more or less an abyss.

Judy kept swimming through the sea of darkness, her arm looped around the arm hole of the life jacket. Above her, the sea of stars sparkled like Gazelle's dress. Despite the danger, she thought of Nick.

After Lupine had made them crash their car and took off with the photos of the Swineton Codice, Judy, Jack and the others and trudged through mud, grass and rain with their tails between their legs, making it back to the motel at eleven at night. Nick had been waiting for them alongside Mossberg, perched on a bench between the motel and nearby diner, holding his jacket around himself like a blanket. When the fox had laid eyes on her, she could have sworn his eyes had welled up. She'd had little time to convince herself it was just the rain before he'd leapt from the bench and threw his arms around her.

A volatile mix of anxiety and physical soreness had made falling asleep difficult. When she'd woken up at one in the morning, the rain had stopped, and a window had been left open. She'd followed the wet tracks up drainpipe and found Nick on the rooftop, alone, lying on a ventilation duct and gazing at the night sky.

Just seeing the stars alone had been enough to convince her to join him, sweeping the rainwater from the cool metal and lying down next to the fox. They'd barely talked. They hadn't needed to talk. They'd just laid there, close enough to hold hands, Nick's paws unusually wet, simply admiring the distant suns and enjoying the calm before the storm.

Somewhere close to 2 am, Nick had begun to cry. Not dramatic, ugly crying, but a soft relentless sob that had broken Judy's heart. He'd mumbled something about blood on his paws before Judy had rolled on her side to take him in her arms and cradle his head.

She didn't remember when they'd returned to their room.

In the present, as she forced her way through the black ocean with no way of knowing how far she was from the beach, Judy realised that she wanted to do that again. She wanted to find Nick and bring him home. She wanted to know the nearest date with a clear sky and a decent temperature. She wanted to find a wine with a good year, cook up a hot meal, pack it all in in a basket and drag Nick to Zootopia Overlook. She wanted him to know true peace. With her at his side.

First thing's first… get to that stupid shore.

The water whispered to her. The life jacket bobbed, the orange fabric dulled by lack of light. The lights swelled the closer she got.

Then it happened. The presence came from below, so silent even her rabbit ears had failed to hear it approaching. Something much bigger than her emerged from beneath the inky water, a wide, flat snout with skin like sandpaper beneath her exposed arm when it brushed against her. Judy caught a glimpse of teeth before the jaws closed on the lifejacket and pulled her under.

Judy knew what it was even before her eyes went under the surface and everything went pitch black.

Oh fuck.

Panic. It ambushed her senses just as the shark had ambushed her body.

Shit, shit, shit!

Her scream came out as bubbles. She felt a tug as the shark let go and bit down again, adjusting its grip. She couldn't see its teeth, but she knew how close they were. The armhole of the jacket had twisted, pinning her arm. When she tugged, her arm barely budged. The shark gave a brief shake, and she heard the jacket rip. An ugly sound. The jacket didn't let go of her arm.

She thought she saw its eye at one point. How had that movie described it? A black eye. A dead eye, like a doll eye. Or it could have been a bubble. She kicked out, trying to push off its side, but all her leg hit was water. Any moment now it would bite down a third time, those teeth sinking into her body, the dark eyes rolling over white…

Nononofuckshitnotlikethis…

Just as her lungs started to really hurt, it ended just as unexpectedly as it started. She hadn't realised the shark was gone until her head broke free of the water, the jacket having ferried her to the surface the moment it was released. Shrieking with fright between gasps, Judy whirled around in the water, searching for a dorsal fin or a tail.

Nothing. Not a gosh darn thing.

Judy forced herself to settle down. Ben had showed her the shark exhibit back in the museum. On one wall a bullet point list had spelled out what to do if one encounters a shark.

One of the points had warned against splashing. It made one resemble a tasty fish, apparently. Judy gripped the shredded jacket with both paws and curled into a ball, bracing herself for any pain that may indicate a gruesome injury.

The ocean was quiet. Dark. Deceptively calm.

Judy relaxed just a little and slowly understood what had just happened. It hadn't been attacking her. Not really. It had just been interested. Unfortunately, without hands or flippers to handle the strange orange item, it had used its mouth instead. Ben had called it an 'exploratory bite.'

Thank fuck sharks didn't like life jackets. If it had bitten down a little more to the left…

Judy didn't finish that thought. Her heart was still thumping as she continued on toward the shore, this time swimming as gently as possible.

When she touched down on the beach several minutes later, at long freaking last, she checked on the device. It still worked. The picture of Honey's first translation glowed against the grey sand.

Thank the Dickens for small miracles.

She looked out at the dark surf. No sign of the great fish that had surprised her. That had actually happened, hadn't it? She checked the jagged tears in the life jacket to confirm that it had.

"This is not my day." Judy muttered. She hugged her knees to her chest, resolving to look for the others as soon as the shock wore off and she could stand again.