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blankdblank · 1 year

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Let’s Flip

Beast is passing out the weekly tasks and oc cuts in as he says, “And Logan-.”

“Oh he’s going with me to my houses this week. He can’t be in the list, I told Scott to tell you,” that has Scott look down and flip through his booklet of notes and shrug making Beast sigh and continue passing on the tasks to Ororo instead who would be much happier with those tasks anyways. Meanwhile, alongside others who never have seen them alone together, Wolverine is subtly stealing glances at oc until the meeting is over and he can join them on their usual stroll to the gardens to get to their metal storage unit turned tiny house that was parked not far from the mansion.

“Okay, not to sound ungrateful for being let out of my chores for the week, when were you going to ask me about this week of errands you’ve saddled me to?”

Oc simply turns and gives him a wide grin, “Pretty please?” His brow lifts up and they say, “If you don’t I’ll just have to tell everyone you left me high and dry and you know how Beast will double your chores after that.”

“So you intended to blackmail me, makes me feel even better,” he said in a sarcastic tone. “Now I’ll most certainly cave.”

“Well it is peer pressure if the worst kind,” oc says poking him in the arm and he couldn’t help but smirk as they added, “Plus everyone knows how you love doing good deeds and all. Gives you the warm fuzzies.”

Lowly he sighed and asked, “Alright, what’s the deal with the houses?”

“Just a few open houses, I have one I’ve got my eye on and then just have to drop by my project lot to give a new contractor a tour.”

“What happened to the old contractor?”

“I broke his nose,” his brow arches up in their look up at him, “Tried to get a bit colorful in his language about my thighs and now he whistles when he works permanently.”

After he stood by waiting for them to grab a few things, including a white gold duck foot print etched wedding band they slipped onto their ring finger.

From there he led the way to his bike and took directions on their flying squirrel shaped navigator velcroed to his handlebars to get to the first open house where as he waited for them to climb off he followed their hand that secretly slipped a wedding band in his left finger. Blankly he stared up at them in the shift of the bike onto its kickstand he’d let down out of habit only through the stares of other couples in wait by their cars to be seen being told at a volume the others could hear in the short distance, “Oh it’ll be lovely with some elbow grease, Pookie!” Then be promptly kissed on the cheek.

“You have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into,” he rumbled in a rise off his bike leaving his helmet on the handlebar then eased an arm around oc’s back beginning what would be an almost alarmingly convincing round of pretending. Not just fake dating but fake married and he most certainly even with this coming out of nowhere let in this was a farce and he was anything but devoted to his little snuggle bear who was interested in the tear down. Playfully chatting up that you were interested to widen the grin of the realtor who turned out to be a friend of yours to build up some competition between fellow flippers. He wanted a way out of being trapped at that mansion and now it seemed he had one, waiting to see this project lot of theirs that seemed fine from the front.

But through the front door oc led him to show off the moderately constructed front half that just ended having him laugh aloud at what looked like a tornado tore the back half of the house off.

“What happened here?” He managed to laugh aloud.

“You know that giant slug Deadpool and you took out five months back?” Then gestured to the back missing half of the house.

“Huh, thought this area looked familiar,” and he peered through the open half to see houses on either side already partly being rebuilt. “So who’s the contractor?”

“That Farley guy,” Wolverine blew an uncharacteristic raspberry making oc’s brow arch up this time.

“Idiot, overpriced idiot at that.”

“Well nobody else will take my call. Apparently no one else will risk being punched.”

“I know a guy.” He said pulling out his phone.

“Ya, a friend knew Farley too, how I managed to talk him into a tour.”

“Well my guy won’t mind a punch or two,” he found the right contact and hit call.

“Oh really, and how do you know he’ll be up for the job?”

“He’s my brother and I’ll kill him again if he doesn’t.” Oc’s jaw dropped to the sound of a truck parking outside and Wolverine stepped away, “Hey Victor, your contractor’s license is still up to snuff right?”

Five times the usual rate the Farley guy tried to get oc in the hook and was sent packing to a second truck pulling up and parking off to the side of his to let out Sabertooth who started to stalk around the place listening to all his half brother said about the place then came back with a nod to oc, “I’ll take the job,” offering a hand for them to shake.

“Now now, me and the little lady were just agreeing on my paycheck.”

“Must be another little lady here, you were trying to gouge me you little worm to work on what an even bigger slug did when it fell in this block!”

He huffed and said, “I came down here because Max said you’d put a muzzle on n your temper! Now you just don’t be surprised when no Architect will take the job either when I’m done telling everyone about this!”

“Well bad luck there Bub, I’m the Architect! Have fun hunting for an easy mark.” Wolverine barked back and Farley stormed off to his truck to get in and speed off once he fired up the engine.

Oc looked up at Wolverine after taking hold of Victor’s still hovering hand to ask the younger brother, “You’re an Architect?”

“Have been since 1825.”

“But your papers are current?”

“Renew it every so often. Last time they tried to argue I had to take the courses again but I backed them down. Might have to next go around but all good for some years yet. So, what’s the plan?” Nodding his head to the house they walked back inside again.

Off projections of a hovering flying squirrel bot of theirs oc shared the plans only having them pause at what seemed to be a widely sloping slide they both pointed at.

“It glitches on stairs,” making them both nod in approval. “Now, upstairs,” they said and in a running step oc gripped the grooves on a pillar to climb adorably for the brothers up to the second floor they had an easier job of getting up there after to see what the plan was up there.

But in the back yard where a planned office and separated building that had what looked to be a spiral staircase into the middle of the wall in the lower floor had them look at oc again, Victor asking, “More stairs?”

“No that one’s a slide.” Making them smirk at the entrance into a not so secret room connected to the house as well by a hidden underground tunnel.

“Alright, what are the budget limits?” Wolverine asked.

“I have roughly enough to get the bare bones up but if I want drywall that will take a wait to get another remodel sold I did last year, pre broken nose. Got a few offers on it, just they want a contingency first and that takes time…”

The brothers shared a look and Wolverine said, “Okay, I can back it to completion. Just take a 20% cut when it sells, anyone else would charge more, but, well I’m part of how it got crushed to begin with.”

“You, what?” Oc asked.

“We’re from the 1800’s we’re good for the cash and have been up for investments for ages now. Seems as good as any.” Oc’s brow arched up and he raised his left hand, “You slipped a ring on my finger Snuggle Bear, told you you didn’t know what you were getting yourself into.” His head nodded to the side while his brother’s smirk bled into a grin, “Now let’s go get some impressions of the stone siding you wanted. I know a depot they’ll cut us a bulk bargain carried his Gramps back to the base camp after Normandy never skimp on giving me a good deal after that.”

Victor said, “And you can show us pictures of your other jobs too you’ve done so far. Things pick up speed here we can look into a new project lot too. Keep the family business going and even send out for shirts, hats, the whole nine yards.”

@devilishminx328 @lilith15000 @theincaprincess @jesevans

#Wolverine #wolverine x oc #Sabertooth #Beast #Ororo #Scott #mutants #xmen #marvel #fake married #house flipping #Victor Creed #new family business #work ideas

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reignbow · 3 years

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Nighthowlers

I’m in the process of starting an account on Ao3, but I thought I’d post this story here until then.

Fandom: Zootopia

--------------- “Carrots? Carrots! Wake up!” Nick shouted as he held the rabbit officer in his paws. “Carrots! It’s okay! I’m here!”

“Officers come quick! A savage fox had been spotted at the natural history museum!” The sheep above squealed into the walkie talkie with perfect drama. “Officer Judy is down! Please hurry!”

No! No! Nick’s mind screamed. This hadn’t been the plan, they had it all thought through! Why hadn’t it gone to plan?

“N-Ni?” The bunny wheezed as the carrot pen fell from her hand, hitting the faux grass that had been washed red seconds ago.

The lights above the exhibit glared down on Nick, burning into his flesh as his heart thudded against his ribs, filling his ears with the untamed rush of adrenaline filled blood. No! This can’t be happening! His mind screamed.

The blueberry stain on his fur dripped down as the scarlet fluid stayed wet on his lips. What had he done? What had they made him do?

The tapping of feet was heard as the silver light burned into him, perfectly highlighting the orchestrated scene. The cotton of the plush deer between his teeth soaked with the dark red of the body in his hands.

The tapping of feet as they surrounded him. An audience as he sat in the soul scorching lights that put him on display in perfect irony; as the blood was quite literally on his paws, but it did not belong there.

The gasps and shrieks of the spectacle, the shuffling of uneasy feet. He heard it all. The rustle of a hidden taser that shocked nerves and forced muscles to jolt, jaws to close, teeth to rend.

But was he shocked in another way as the body of the officer lay at his hands, as blood pooled around the two. And he watched with horror as her eyes became empty and dark.

Sour was the blood that bathed his tongue, but not by comparison to the injustice that defined the spectacle. The one only he knew about.

And even as he was muzzled and torn away, was he still picturing her determined face. And still while the straight jacket held him fast in his padded room was he dreaming of the past.

“Chief Bogo, officer Judy Hopps has been killed in action.”

Three years later...

Anchovies. Nick thought. They put anchovies on my pizza.

The yellow lights flared down on him in his ironically matchy jumpsuit as he sat in the cafeteria. The tray in front of him had a sad looking flop of cheese and bread next to a couple of other things that Nick had learned not to ask what they were. The only problem to Nick right now was the little silver fish that the lunch servers had thrown on there. I asked them not to do that.

The air around Nick was filled with the heavy clattering of silverware as the other inmates ate around him, each trying not to taste what they were putting in their mouth. But Nick casually sat there with his paws in his lap, trying not to look at his food. I hate anchovies.

This may have been a little dramatic, but at the time it felt right. So many of the other prisoners had given up themselves, lost to the cycle. But not Nick. He refused.

For three years now Nick Wilde had been in this building. Never aloud to see the open streets, never allowed to venture beyond the barbed electric gate. Treated like any other murderer. And for three years now, Bellwether has been president of Zootopia and the surrounding cities. And the little wooly serpent had made sure to enforce the rules.

It had been so long since Nick had met anybody other than a predator, apart from the stone-faced officers. Not since the courtroom had ruled him guilty. Bellwether had declared that predators and prey be kept apart in the prisons at all costs, not that the prey prisons were filling up or anything. It was almost a relief that Nick had been locked away for all this time. He didn’t have to see what a mess he had made of the world.

As the bell above rang and the announcer’s voice on the speakers crackled, Nick halfheartedly grabbed his tray and filed along with the rest of the inmates. As they walked past the trash cans, he dumped his untouched food down into the third smallest one with the rest of the medium predator’s filth before following the line out. He had already eaten twice today, and if he didn’t want his dinner, then he didn’t need to eat it! Nobody was going to make him, at least Bellwether hadn’t done that yet.

The line led back to the containment room. A large open room with an all around balcony looking down from the upper level cells. The cells varied in sizes, each ready to accommodate their own size of predator. From a tiny otter, to a towering lion. All were held here.

Nick knew the motions clearly, as they had been drummed into his head over the course of the time he spent here. For thirty minutes the prisoners were allowed to roam the common area between all of the containment rooms. A group of bears and a group of lions, which had been rival gangs in the past, would get into an argument, and maybe even a fight. The wolves would sit together and talk trash about prey animals. And everybody else would sit in their own little space and dream of their past lives or create small talk with the other prisoners.

But Nick decided to be different. He decided that everyday we would do something different, and today, he decided to do one he had been dreading for a long time. He had talked to the wolves before and engaged in their heated conversations, but he had been able to turn their slanderous tongues away from prey in general and over to Bellwether, which was something they could all agree on.

But today he was doing something dangerous, because he was going to join one of the rival gangs in their arguments, which could very likely get him killed due to his inadequate size.

Breathing deep to calm his slight nervousness, he watched as the two gangs gathered back by the larger cells. “Try everything,” he whispered to himself, before laughing quietly. It was a painful laugh.

As he began to walk over, he thought about which group he was going to support. It didn’t matter, since the arguments were often stupid anyway, and this wasn’t going to be a permanent alliance or anything. He eventually chose to go with the bears.

As he crept quietly over behind the gathering bears, he heard one of the lions start. “Just because you can shoulder most animals out of the way doesn’t mean you get to walk on our side of the halls,” he said coldly.

A large grizzly bear then stepped forward to challenge the lion. “We will walk wherever we want Darion.” She growled, and Nick sighed. This had to be the pettiest gang battle known to mammalkind. But if you lived your life for conflict, you had to find it somewhere.

Another bear stepped forward, but her voice was loud and untamed. “If you have such a problem, maybe you cats should find a new side of the hall!” She roared, and Nick could already tell that this was going to be a fight. Why had he even gotten himself into this?

The lion was about to say something when Nick spoke up. “Yes, get your own side!” He said, feeling suddenly awkward as the large heads of the bears turned away from their maned rivals to stare down at the small orange fox amongst them. Nick gulped slightly.

“What do we have here?” The female grizzly bear, that Nick now understood as the leader of the gang, stood as she slowly came closer. She craned her neck further to look down at him. Nick understood this tactic, it was to make him feel even smaller than he already was. But that didn’t work on him.

“Willy Bushtail at your service,” he said with a bow. It was his fake name he used, he had used it in countless hustles before. And he used it now because the cops had given him the mercy of not telling the other inmates that he was the convicted murderer of Judy Hopps.

A couple of the bears laughed, and why shouldn’t they? He was a little orange fox wearing orange and trying to blend in with the ranks of bears. Nick knew this would happen, and brushed it off.

“Seriously? You got a new member without letting us know?” Darion, the leader of the other gang, said with mock pain in his voice, before starting to laugh. “Aww, and he’s a little bitty fox too! How adorable.”

Nick rolled his eyes, but one of the other bears, a polar bear, spun around and smacked Darion. “Put a sock in it, kitty cat!” He growled as Darion reeled slightly from the blow. And then the lion struck one himself, raking his claws through the polar bear’s orange jumpsuit.

And that’s when the fight that Nick was expecting broke out. Nick slowly backed away as the larger predators beat and clawed at each other. Doing something different was his goal, but it would take him a little longer to actually rush into one of their fights. Maybe he could do that next time.

Then at the other end of the room where the door was, cops started coming in. They were used to dealing with the fights. And pretty soon all of the members of the fight were detained.

Nick was silently creeping back to his cell as Darion turned his head to avoid the muzzle that the hippo cop had in her hands.

“Darion, if you do not cooperate, I will have to tase you,” she said matter-of-factly.

“Wait!” He shouted. “Willy Bushtail was with the bears! The fox was part of it too!”

Nick flinched when he heard this. He hadn’t considered that he might wind up in a higher security cell for a couple of days too.

The hippo suddenly stopped trying to put the muzzle on him and held it in her left hand. “Nick Wilde?” She asked.

Suddenly a hush fell upon the room, and Nick cringed. He hadn’t heard anybody use his real name for a long time, and knew that his name carried bad connotations. And now people that he had previously fooled with his fake name knew who he really was.

“Nick Wilde?” Shouted a deep male voice, and he turned to see a large wolverine stand up from next to a badger. He was one of the small talkers, Nick had noticed.

The wolverine looked down on him with an unreadable expression. “The killer of Judy Hopps.” He laughed a little bit, before turning to face around the room. “Look guys! It’s the killer of the only cop who cared about us!” The wolverine laughed some more, before his face turned hard. “You know, I really do hate foxes.”

Nick’s heart pounded as the massive predator loomed toward him. He whipped around and bolted as he heard the charging of the angry wolverine.

“Tase him!” Somebody shouted, and the sound of taser guns firing popped through the air, but did nothing to cease the pounding of paws behind Nick.

Nick scrambled up the metal stairs, heat jolting as he heard a heavier crashing join seconds after. The metal turned to tile as he leapt over the top of the stairs and dashed desperately.

The entrance to his cell was just up ahead! Nick hoped he could hold the door shut for long enough for the cops to detain his pursuer. But what if I can’t...

He could hear the cops running up the stairs… and the wolverine’s heavy footsteps right behind him. I’m not gonna make it. He knew he needed another option, quick. And with years of thinking on his feet, he saw one.

Desperate, he shot to the side, leaping over the rails and off of the balcony. This is going to hurt. He spread out his limbs to land as the ground raced up at him. Hit the table. Hit the table.

Suddenly, his body jolted as his vision whirled up, and he let out a yelp. He heard fabric tear as long claws tore through his jumpsuit and suspended him above the gawking inmates below.

He had been caught. He had never been caught before. Not since...

“Time to join your victim, fox!” The wolverine snarled, and Nick looked behind to see him lifting his massive claws to swing.

“Fire!” The voice of the hippo rang out from hind as the razors sped towards Nick’s throat. The large predator jolted as electricity pulsed through his muscles. His long claws swung up suddenly as pain exploded on the right side of Nick’s head.

The predator dropped him and fell back, stunned, and Nick fell fully this time, body slamming into a table below.

The fall hurt, but not nearly as much as the paralyzing agony Nick felt as he clutched his face. Over his closed right eye he felt the oozing of water and warm blood. And then he remembered. His mind dug up something he had long since buried deep into the back of his head.

The day he had bitten Judy, it wasn’t for real. It was only to trick the sheep into thinking that he had really gone savage. But the plan had gone wrong, and Bellwether tased him. His jaw had moved uncontrollably, and he had bitten her for real. He remembered the shock as his fangs pierced her throat, her neck crushing under the power of his teeth. He remembered the straight jacket and the muzzles, and how he was eventually found to not be affected with the nighthowler venom. But that didn’t help him now. Because if he wasn’t insane, he was a murderer. And then it all went black.

“No!” Nick shouted as he strained against his chains. “It’s not true! Don’t trust her!”

The ear splitting sound of the gavel rang out three times, each one killing the words in Nick’s throat. “Silence! Silence!” the kangaroo judge ordered. “You are lucky you even get a trial Nick Wilde. And while you are here you will speak in your turn and only in your turn!”

Nick’s pelt burned with anger. He and Judy had worked so hard to find the missing mammals, but all of it had been for nothing. Sure, the animals had been found, but Judy had been killed before they could catch the true culprit. No, Judy had been murdered. Murdered by the very accuser that sat on the other side of the judge as an eyewitness.

“Thank you, Your Honor” Bellwether said politely, before twisting her face in a strange fabricated emotion that only Nick could see through. That sheep was a sociopath. “When I first heard Judy scream, me and the upstanding citizens around me ran that way as fast as we could to make sure she was okay!”

Psssh, upstanding citizens, Nick scorned inside of his mind. Indeed the other sheep, along with Bellwether, had been the culprits. But only two people had witnessed the actual experiments, and one of them was dead.

“But when we arrived, it was too late!” The sheep said as crocodile tears pooled in the bottom of her eyes. “And Judy was dead!”

The kangaroo judge once more tapped her gavel, before turning to Nick. “What do you say in your defense, fox!”

Nick was ready to let the fire out, and burn this entire courtroom to the ground. “It is true that it was my teeth that dealt the fatal blow to Judy, but it wasn’t by my will!” He shouted.

There were several murmurs throughout the jury, but the judge looked bored. “Well if it was not your will, who made you do it,” she said dryly.

Nick swallowed hard as he thought of how to explain the situation. Through all his time in law bending activities, he had never been in a courtroom before. There was so much at stake here, the entire future of Zootopia rested on him, but he didn’t know where to start. At last when he had a truth to tell, his tongue failed to speak a single word.

With the silence, the judge tapped her gavel once more. “Bellwether, the report says that there were electric burns discovered on Nick Wilde, do you have any idea where those came from?”

At last Nick knew what to say, but the turn was not his. And one more word spoken at the wrong time could end the trial here and now. He had to trust that Bellwether would mess up, and make his story more credible by doing so.

But if she was caught off guard, she didn’t show it, until she spoke. “I had to tase him,” her voice warbled strangely.

Hope came up inside of Nick. Maybe others would hear that slight imperfection in her voice, and they would pick and chip at it until the truth came rolling out. Maybe he wasn’t the only one who saw through the psychotic creature’s lies. How foolish he was to think that though.

Tears suddenly began to spill from Bellwether’s eyes. “Because I thought… I thought that maybe I could still save-” the sheep suddenly dropped to the ground, weeping.

Nick flinched at this display, before he realized immediately what she was doing. Nonono… his mind pleaded. By perfectly mimicking the emotions that he had been forced to bury within himself, she manipulated the minds of everybody in the room. Molding their brains like clay.

After sighing, the judge spoke. “I am sorry for your loss, Bellwether.”

Nick’s heart nearly stopped. The pity in everybody’s eyes when they looked at Bellwether; instantly shifting into hatred when their gaze turned to him. His fate was sealed, and he had failed.

Suddenly bringing down her gavel three times, the judge stood up. “Order. Jury, all in belief that the accused is guilty, raise your paw.”

Nick turned away, refusing to gaze upon as every corrupted hand in the room rose against him.

The judge then continued in the same tone. “All in belief that the accused is non-guilty, raise your paw.”

Nick once more decided to not look, but when he heard the shocked gasps of the crowd, he forced himself to turn. And right there in the very center of all of the animals, was a little fennec fox. It was his partner, the very one he was working with the time he met Judy. And he was right there in the center of all of the still mammals, raising his tiny little paw in spite of all of the disgusted looks people were throwing at him.

Even though the entire world seemed to want to string Nick up, he stared gratefully at that one person who still believed him, that saw past his outside and knew the real him. And Nick mouthed a silent ‘thank you.’

But it would not be enough. The judge nodded before standing up. “The jury has spoken,” she said before turning to Nick. “I hereby sentence you to,” her eyes threatened to bore holes into Nick’s flesh. “Life in prison! For the life that you have stolen from us!”

Nick froze, as he realized what that meant exactly. His life would be over. No more traveling, no more hiding his life in the shadows and minding his own business, no more scheming another hustle. His future was gone, and every other predator’s future was broken.

He fought to hold in the tears that, after all this time of binding his emotions, threatened to escape.

As the police came up behind him to take him away, Bellwether cried out. “Wait! May I say something?” She pleaded.

After a second, the kangaroo judge nodded. “Of course Mayor Bellwether. You may get anything off of your chest that you must.”

The sheep nodded before turning to Nick. “You know Nick, when I first saw you down there, tearing Judy to pieces, I wanted to believe that you were just affected by the same madness of so many other mammals. I wanted to believe that the Nick Wilde that was Judy’s best friend was still buried deep down in there somewhere. But I was heartbroken to find out that you murdered her in cold blood,” the sheep raised her hand as she cleared a sob out of her throat. “But it is even worse to know that you are truly unsavable. Nick, this hurts me more than it hurts you.” Then, after a sniffle, the sheep turned to face the judge. “I am done, Your Honor.”

Nick was disgusted at how sick the sheep was. The way she could lie without guilt, even about something as fragile as a mammal’s life, made him want to vomit. But still, she wasn’t the only one to blame. He had failed to speak up before she sank her neurotoxic lies into the heads of the people around. He had failed to bring light onto what had really happened. He had failed Judy. As Bellwether walked down the hall to the exit and the officers cuffed and muzzled Nick and dragged him away, he knew one thing. It was her word against his, and his word had failed.

Beep.

The single small noise pierced into the darkness of Nick’s mind, as he faded back to consciousness.

Beep.

He remembered before, he had been scared of something. Not just afraid, but in mortal terror.

Beep.

He knew that his face hurt, and that what had happened before was likely the cause.

Beep.

But it didn’t matter. Because he was safe now. Nothing was chasing him. The pain was bearable. Everything was okay.

Beep.

He was safe now.

Beep.

He was safe now.

Beep.

He wasn’t safe now…

Nick’s eyes opened as he shot upright in the bed, throwing off thin covers. The bright lights stung his eye a little as he looked around the room.

A machine beeped steadily beside him, eerily consistent with it’s timing. A dark blue curtain hung beside him. The walls were a bland white. Numerous unfamiliar instruments lay around him.

He suddenly realized that he was in a hospital room. And then it all came rushing back to him.

First, he tested all of his limbs. Nothing broken. Nothing on his body seemed to even be bandaged. But as he looked around, he realized that the room was weird. It was like he couldn’t quite measure the distances.

His heart jumped . Maybe he had a concussion! His head didn’t really hurt, but maybe that was even worse.

He blinked a few times, before looking around to see if there was anything in the room that could give him a hint on his current situation. But despite his keenness for putting things together, his lack of knowledge in the medical field meant he had no idea what the objects around him meant for him personally, except for that he needed to brush up on medical science. If he ever got the chance.

Then another thought occurred to him. In the five years that he had been confined to the prison building, this may have been the first time that he had ever been outside of it.

He looked to his left, but was just met with the same dark blue curtain. Then he looked to his right, but oddly found that he hadn’t turned his head far enough the first time.

Slightly off-put, he strained his neck to look at the wall to his right, turning his body to get a better look.

But he was met only with drawers, cabinets, a sink, and a door. No windows. He assumed that if this place had any windows, that mister-lucky-side-of-the-curtain had gotten them.

Nick’s thoughts were broken into by the sound of a door creaking. He whirled back in forth in the bed a bit to see where it was coming from, before he realized that it was coming from the other side of the curtain.

Small, clopping steps echoed through the sectioned room as somebody entered the room. Nick hoped that whoever it was could explain what was going on.

A figure, tall in stature, pressed into the curtain slightly, before swiping it out of the way. Through the second the curtain was pulled back, Nick strained to see if there were any windows on the other side of the room, but the sliver of unblocked space wasn’t enough to tell him.

Nick’s gaze fell upon the zebra who entered. She was tall, just like he thought, and wore a seafoam-colored uniform that bore her name; Adamma Equus.

She wore a melancholy expression as she stepped over beside him with gloves over her hands. “Sit still,” she said, “I am just going to change out your bandages.”

Nick was confused. “Bandages?” He said, questioning.

“Yes, bandages. The ones on your face? Or were you not aware of the giant patch over your eye.”

Nick realized that he did feel something tight on his head, and his paws immediately shot up to his face. He inhaled sharply as he felt the fabric and other materials wrapped around the right side.

Paws shaking, he looked at Adamma, who was pulling supplies from the cabinets. “Wh-What happened?” He asked.

She left the question hanging for a moment as she grabbed some bandages into a bundle, before she finally responded. “Your eye was torn out. You don’t remember?” She said in the most matter-of-fact tone possible.

Panic struck Nick like cold water, as he grasped at the bandages around his head. “Tell me you’re joking,” he said, searching the area around for something slightly reflective.

Adamma’s braided black-and-white mane fell around her neck as she approached him. “Why don’t you look for yourself?”

She handed him a small spoon from within the drawers. Nick froze when he saw himself.

The entire right-side of his face had been obscured in layers of gauze and bandages. He knew that Adamma was telling the truth.

Suddenly, he remembered. The wolverine, the running, and the claws that had sliced across his face.

He dropped the spoon and felt a bit queasy.

Adamma picked it up off of the covers.

“Will you be able to fix it…” Nick said quietly, holding back his panic. In all his years of close-calls and stressful situations, he had almost always been able to squirm out of harm’s way. He had never lost a body part before. He didn’t even know if that had ever been a thought that crossed his mind! He had never really thought, could I lose a body part?

Adamma snorted, something Nick would have never expected as a response to his question, let alone from a professional.

“Maybe in a higher-class hospital we could do something. Likely not fix it entirely. But here? The best thing we can do is hope your face doesn’t look horribly maimed in the future!”

Nick froze. “Higher… class…” he spoke low and dark. Don’t tell me that means what I think it means.

“What did you expect?” Adamma said. “You’re a convicted murderer, for one. And for two, your a predator. Bellwether won’t risk you going bonkers and tearing up the patients in the prey hospitals.”

Nick had a bitter taste in his mouth from what she just said. He stared hard at his paws in his lap.

“I have seen what you creatures can do,” Adamma said, quietly and laced with spite.

Nick looked at her and saw something behind her expression. This wasn’t just a hateful person. There was something in those eyes that told him she had lost something, something to a predator.

“Is she still-“ Nick held his tongue, knowing if he finished, he could get himself into trouble. “Are… predators still going savage..?”

Adamma was selecting tools for the bandage change when he asked, and she didn’t look up from her task. “Sometimes. But the new safety measures that President Bellwether has ensured have been causing the rate to decline. Since taming collars have been released, less predators have been going savage.”

“What is a taming collar?” Nick asked.

“I’m surprised that they haven’t already been issued in the prisons,” Adamma replied. “It’s a device around a predator’s neck that administers a small electric shock when a predator gets too emotional for their own good,” Adamma replied as she began to unwrap a few layers of bandages. “It’s to prevent you from snapping. Now hold still.”

Nick felt around his neck, but only felt the soft fur of his throat. He hadn’t been collared, yet.

“I said hold still,” Adamma scolded.

Suddenly, there was a thump against the wall to his right, something had been thrown against it. Nick’s ears shot up to listen.

Nick couldn’t see whether or not Adamma reacted, but he felt her hands stop.

Adamma murmured something under her breath before continuing.

Then there was another one, except this one was much louder, and shook the entire room.

Nick’s head automatically turned to see what the cause was, but not far enough, so he turned it more.

“What the…” Adamma said as she instinctively braced herself against the side of Nick’s hospital bed.

“Could that be somebody in another room? Or…”

“No. That wall has nothing but outside on the other side,” Adamma replied, obviously thinking.

“Oh,” Nick said. Guess this place just doesn’t do windows.

They both stared at the wall in silence for about thirty seconds. Then, Adamma was satisfied. “I don’t think-“

Nick never heard the end of that sentence. There was a giant crack, and next thing he knew the world was rolling around him.

He felt himself hit against something rough, that then enveloped his vision as he whirled into darkness. He clanged against something hard.

#reignbow writes #zootopia #fanfiction #character death #judy hopps #nick wilde

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