Serendipity's Shadow
Rated T
Chapter 30
Nick gave Judy time to process everything. He decided he was allowed to continue when Judy settled herself into the bed comfortably.
He started at the beginning and began to tell his story. A story he thought he'd never tell the rabbit he once planned to marry.
He told her about his mother. A sweet, hard-working, petite lady that met his father by pure chance. She grew up living a thin line of normal and crime. She had three older sisters, aunts he will never meet, as they died in a drunken car crash. The drunk was his grandfather, his mother's father, who was driving the three girls to school. All four of them died on impact when her father drove onto oncoming traffic and hit a semi-trailer. Nick's mother had to deal with growing up with a mother that grieved with alcohol. And the only time she seemed to be sober was to blame her daughter, Nick's mother, for everything. Nick's mother had to survive and live for herself.
Nick's dad was born and raised NOT to be the Shadow of Zootopia. Nick's father had an older brother who was meant to be the Shadow. However, one night Nick's father and his uncle went out to a club. Where, as young men do, proceeded to get excessively drunk. What neither of them knew was that a man high on drugs was there as well. And he was there to prove himself worthy of his father. A man who had beaten the skunk every day of his life. Always taunting the skunk saying he never had the balls to do anything. A skunk, at the tender age of thirty, walked up to Nick's uncle and stabbed him fifteen times. Neither the skunk nor Nick's uncle made it out of that club alive. Nick's father's father was dying of old age and had a short amount of time to teach Nick's father everything he needed to know to be the perfect Shadow. Something Nick's uncle was in every way, as he had years of practice and guidance. Nick's father only had three years to learn the ropes.
When Nick's parents met, Nick's father was just handed the title of Shadow a year prior. And Nick's mother just finished working her day job at the laundromat. Only to immediately walk down the street to her night job at the local bar. Nick's father headed out with friends to celebrate a year of…well, being alive. According to Nick's father, it was love at first sight. According to Nick's mother, his father was a drunken idiot with a cute face. Two years later of Nick's father visited his mother every night for two months straight just to get a date, which his mother eventually said yes to. And then a slow-burn romance between the two that eventually led to a wedding. After that, in a very short amount of time, Nicholas Wilde was born. Then four years later his little sister Gwendoline Wilde. Little Gwen was everything to Nick. He had the perfect family that he loved greatly. Nick thought nothing could ruin his life as he learned the ropes to being a Shadow slowly.
What Nick hadn't noticed was that when he was around eight years old his father was doing a big no-no. His father started proclaiming his acts of the Shadow to the public. He ignored the protest from fellow crime lords. And taunted the police on a daily basis. Nick's father got away with this improper behavior for roughly two years. And then it was Nick's tenth birthday. His mother took a separate car to get the cake. While his father took Nick and his sister to the neighboring park.
Nick was happily playing with his sister on their father's lap when it happened. There was no sound, no warning, just a silent pause. When Nick felt a liquid splash across his face in a harsh manner. He looked to see his sister Gwen. She had red splattered across her face. They both looked away from each other to their father. Nick will never forget the horrific scream Gwen made at the sight of their father.
Everything after that passed in a blur. The guards loyal to the Shadow's family pulled Nick and Gwen away from their father's corpse. At some point, they were taken to a safe location where their mother eventually joined them. She cleaned and held her children tightly. All the while with an empty hollowed look in her eye.
Life for Nick and his family would no longer be the same. Families that pledge loyalty to Nick's father turned their backs on Nick's family. All were too busy fighting amongst each other in the power vacuum left by his father's death. Nick's mother had become but a shell of herself. Nick knew he had to step up to keep himself and his remaining family safe. So, he headed to the one family whose loyalty could not be shaken so easily.
Nick took only one guard and left the rest with his broken mother and scared sister. Tundra Town was his destination and Mr. Big was his mission. Nick made a deal with the vicious rodent. With Mr. Big backing Nick as the next Shadow. Nicholas Wilde tossed his childhood aside and took the next step to cement his position in the criminal underworld.
The first step, annihilating the thirteen families that plotted against Nick's family. It was easy for Nick in all honesty. He tricked the families beforehand saying he wanted one on one meetings with them. Nick knew this plan would work as long as the families were fighting each other. One after the other Nick was welcomed into the homes of his prey. It was almost laughable how these crime lords looked at Nick. As Nick remembered it, it was reminiscent of a school bully looking down on his next target. Only for them not to know that their target isn't afraid to fight back.
After Nick collected the head of the last crime lord in the thirteen families. Nick made his way to the one man he truly wanted dead.
This family was easier to kill than the thirteen families on Nick's mind. He hardly noticed it was a home of a birthday boy. Nor the horrific screams of the woman. All Nick could focus on was the feeling of pulling the trigger to the gun. He didn't hesitate to kill his father's killer and the man's family. Nick only bothered collecting the head of the assassin.
The next day, Nick sat in the Hall of Shadows known to the criminal underworld as basically the royal palace. He sat at the head of the table, his father's chair, the Shadow's throne. And called forth a meeting with the remaining crime lord families.
When the remaining families arrived some gasped in horror while others froze with fear. There, sitting at the head of the table was a little boy, a young fox, stained heavily in blood. And in thirteen seats a severed head was placed on the table.
No one questioned Nick's position after that. Especially when the deal with Mr. Big came to light.
A year later Nick's mother passed away and Gwen became his sole responsibility. Nick desperately wanted his sister to be happy and forget the horrendous sight of their dead parents. So, he spoiled her, along with forcing her to take self-defense classes. Nick had private schooling with Mr. Big and recommended tutors. While he allowed his sister to go to the best-rated schools in the community. What Nick didn't know was that it was that decision that allowed his sister to grow a huge crush on the school's biggest math nerd. At first, she started seeing the bespectacled black fox named Nigel in secret. Until Nick confronted her, and she started dating him openly. It was her both following her heart and rebelling against her brother's control. Nick wasn't happy with his sister. Even more so when in their senior year Nick found out Gwen had gotten pregnant.
Nick still had many families plotting against him. They all knew his one weakness was his sister. If they found out she was carrying what many would consider as the next heir…hell would be unleashed. Nick didn't want this life for his sister. He wanted her to be set free. So, he planned an accident that would make it seem like both Gwen, Nigel, and Nick's unborn nephew died in a car crash. Of course, that's only what it looked like. Nick got them whole new identities and sent them to live in a small community town that's at least a three-day drive from Zootopia.
The last words Nick said to his sister were. "This is your life now, Gwen. And I can't be part of it. But if you ever need me, call me. I'll be there in a heartbeat." And then he sent her on her way.
Nick lived the next eight years alone, except for Finnick's constant annoying presence, as the Shadow.
That is until a certain stubborn rabbit made her way into his life.