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In two day's time they had retraced familiar steps back down the forested slopes by the lake, and through the glades by the bridge.

They made camp in the same clearing Sedgewick had taken them to that first night, and dined on roots and berries they collected from the treeline. Judy took first watch again, and Nick second, and in the morning they crossed the broad field and made for Willow Vale.

Smoke rose into the winter air, but this time it was orderly and faint instead of the thick gouts from burning timber. Judy's sensitive ears caught sounds of industry and chatter, and she picked up her pace past the glassy remains of the magical fallout. There were mammals on the walls again, unfamiliar muzzles but with dazzling armor that she knew by heart. The Lord's Guard had come to Willow Vale.

"Ho, Sentinel!"

She beamed at Nick. Even through a week's worth of dirt and grime, they knew who she was. She pulled her eager rush to a halt at the gatehouse and saluted the horse who came down to meet them. His armor and the plumes on his long, silvery helmet denoted him as a sergeant of the Keep - many ranks her superior.

"Sir. I am Judith Hopps, of the Morrigan's Ford Council Watch." Would they believe her? It didn't matter. "My companions and I found the vergence that caused all the magical trouble. It's put to rest."

"Really." He took in her tattered cloak and dented armor, and the remains of the glaive in her paws. His fascination was plain - that she was so diminutive, or that her regalia had survived such abuse at all. "Hopps, you said?"

"Yes, Sir."

"The rabbit who left her post last week?"

Her ears wilted. She'd honestly forgotten how this had all started. But there was no getting around it. "Yes."

"Very well." He shook his head in disbelief and glanced at his companion, a stout elk. "We have orders to arrest you. And your companions." He pointed the way with a poleaxe of his own - far more elaborate and better-maintained than Judy's now, but just as functional. "You will follow us to the billet, please."

#zootopia #zootopia fanfiction #fantasy au #magic au #nick wilde #judy hopps

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Even on the farm, there's no escaping the Christmas paradox: It's fast when you want it to go slow, and slow when you want it to go fast.

Apart from the kitchen, the only sign of life was in the huge number three barn, four soaring stories high. The central section of its doors, where a second set of hinges allowed them to swing more narrowly, were propped open despite the cold, spilling the bright of worklights into the cleared lot.

Inside it was immediately warmer, thanks to the quartet of heavy wood burning stoves that were wheeled out and run every season, hooked into a set of built-in flues inside the barn shell and surrounded with benches for mammals who wanted to warm up.

And now, instead of the well-packed dirt floor that Nick remembered, a herringbone pattern of red and brown brick spread out under their paws, carefully edged around each of the building's post footings.

Judy crouched down to run her paws over the fresh groutlines. She was fascinated - but then, she would have had even stronger memories than him of the way it used to be.

It's louder," she said, her ears swinging around the space.

"Are you sure that's not just all the mammals?" Nick asked. Everyone who wasn't in the kitchen seemed to be here, finishing seasonal repairs and cleaning across every part of the barn's cavernous interior. He estimated there were at least a hundred workers busy at different tasks around an enormous stack of farming gear in the center of the space, a soaring pile of tools and equipment that was waiting for permanent storage.

#zootopia #zootopia fanfiction #wildehopps #nick x judy #nick wilde #judy hopps #christmas

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Nick met her again just outside the front door, after she collected her cookies and went to wait on the patio where the decorative globe of the hearth sculpture would keep her warm. He smiled and dropped what looked like a bundle of straws into her little bag from the shop.

"There are beekeepers here, from Rainforest," he said, and held out one of the straws. It was a waxy tube, she saw, filled with golden liquid. "I knew they'd be here somewhere. Did you ever have one of these?"

"Honey straws? Of course."

"They were my favorite treat as a kit," he said. "And they're still two bucks for a dozen, so I got some for us and some for the kits."

The market around them showed no signs of slowing down - if anything, there were probably even more mammals out here now that the sun was down. Even the amphitheater's topmost tier of vendor stalls and tents was bustling, and Judy was gratified to see Christopher had his own short line of customers. She waved hello to him and ducked past the waiting mammals to reunite with her family. Nick lingered, long enough to endorse the blueberries to the prospective buyers.

"There you are." Rita put another crateful of root vegetables on the staging table and brushed her paws. "We were wondering if you'd gotten lost."

Nick caught Judy's eye and winked. "We sure did."

#zootopia #zootopia fanfiction #wildehopps #nick x judy #halloween #harvest

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"It's Old Town above us now," Nick said.

"Above us?"

"More or less." He felt that sense of weight again, and felt the urge to lower his voice to a murmur. "That used to be the edge of the city, way back when the river was the boundary. And then they built a road to cross it for all of the trade and mammals who came through." He followed Judy's gaze up, as if they might see through to where traffic bustled along it now. "And then they redid it again when the trains were built."

She looked impressed at his knowledge. "You say you didn't come down here at all as a kit? You'd make a nice tour guide."

"Are you kidding? It scared the hackles off me." He nodded forward, at where the light picked out a sharp curve approaching. "Flashlights weren't this nice back then. Besides, it's just a tunnel."

Judy played the beam around, through dark recesses that probably hadn't seen the light for decades.

Maybe just a tunnel was selling it short. Nick could see locked diverter gates and cramped passages going every which way, and a lot of old stonework vaulting. The viaduct had once been a commercial interface of its own - the lone waterway and its attendant path had spread like a delta into Old Town back when it was open to the sky, full of workshops, storeyards and housing.

It just wouldn't have lasted long after things got built out. These days there were only a few species that still lived in fully underground burrows, and even fewer who tolerated the idea of being underfoot. Any homes that had once been down here would have long been abandoned.

Nick hoped, anyway. The harder he peered into the ancient labyrinth the more he thought of the stories his mother had told him as a young kit, of the monsters who lurked under bridges and preyed on mammals who strayed from the path...

#zootopia #zootopia fanfiction #wildehopps #nick x judy #halloween #harvest

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Happy Harvest, everybody! Here's a little something cozy and spooky for the season.

The sun was on its way down, just after the first nocturnal commute. Each descending tier of Amphitheater Park's stepped lawns and both sides of the broad pedestrian plaza at the bottom were lined with colorful awnings and booths, strung with lights or flickering with candles. Mammals from all over the city were milling through, meeting with friends, munching on seasonal snacks while they browsed the market's produce and crafted goods, or just enjoying the party atmosphere.

Beside Nick, though, Judy was still resisting the urge to join in. He looked sideways at her alert ears. She seemed to be counting.

"What are you watching for?"

"Competition," she said.

He smiled. "I wouldn't worry about that. Your family's produce sells itself. Remember the spring co-op fest thing they were at? You ran out of blueberries."

"We've never had a presence here before," she said. "Not for Harvest." She looked up at him, and her nerves became a fleeting grin. "There's a lot more mammals here."

Like the Christmas market in Old Town proper, this seasonal gathering ran on a degree of seniority. There was only so much room even in a park as broad as this one, which meant the oldest and most established names in the farmer's market scene got the prime spots down in the center. Relative newcomers, like a farming family from out of town who was here for the first time, would be out on the periphery, up on the last ring of lawns that overlooked the scene where spot were first-come, first-served.

It would be a nice view, at least, provided Judy's family got here in time to enjoy it. The park was studded with trees, and those that could change for the season were in the middle of it, showering the walkways and the awning eaves with red and yellow leaves.

#zootopia #zootopia fanfiction #wildehopps #nick x judy #harvest #halloween

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Scura was panting, disarmed and bleeding from a couple of new slashes across his arms and shoulder besides. The sight actually steadied Nick. Judy had been his better for sure. And there was genuine fear on his muzzle now, leaking past even that unsettling spark in his bulging eyes.

"You don't have it in you," Scura spat, and scrambled backward when Judy advanced on him. "You didn't before, you don't now."

"It doesn't matter what I want anymore, Scura. This is larger than the deaths on your paws, or mine." She hefted her blade. "It has to end here. All of it."

The rock beneath them shivered again, as whatever combat spooled out below them took another deafening turn. Nick risked a glance down as the magic crackled underfoot.

The raven was growing, rising on giant wings. Lightning struck the walls again and again, scoring them into glass that bubbled and shattered in the heat.

Its energies were right here now, too, arcing between the bricks, so close that Nick took a cautious step backward onto more solid footing. The whole haven must have been one big magical lodestone by now. How they weren't already consumed Nick would never know.

"Then do it, if you have the guts," Scura taunted her. His eyes glinted where they flicked to the magic and he got a little sneer. "Come and get me. See if you're good enough with that spear of yours. Else you're as soft as I thought. A little kit playing at Sentinel."

Nick could see the words cutting at her. It was in her ears. But she didn't back down from her duty now. Even amid the chaos of a magical storm, and the sacrifice and pain and death she'd already seen and caused, and the call that doubtless dragged at her as hard as any of them, Judy was grim and steady. She finally knew what she had to do.

She drew back her blade for a killing strike, and lunged.

---

Tumblr is such a black box sometimes. I'll never quite get the hang of when and why certain link posts can't be renamed. Maybe if I posted more often, huh.

That to say that this is chapter 13! Enjoy.

#zootopia #zootopia fanfiction #fantasy au #magic au #nick wilde #judy hopps

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The ruin had accelerated in their absence, like another century of decay in the blink of an eye. Their fight had thrown so much energy around that the sunken great hall had started to collapse. The hallway to where they'd found the avatar was indeed caved in, still creaking and groaning as ancient masonry settled into new piles. The main access had shifted; the top of the stairs on the other end of the room were lost to shadow. Nick wouldn't have been surprised if the foundations of the keep above them had started to shift.

"We need to bury it," Judy said, almost to herself, and traced a broad circle in the air with her glaive. "There are timbers there, that we could use as levers. If we can lure it to this spot, we might be able to bring the stairs down on it."

With just the three of them. Two, really, with the way Sedgewick looked-

Nick closed his eyes and pushed down on that thinking, hard. It didn't have a place here anymore.

Sedgewick stopped and knelt to spread one of his paws to the ground.

"It's below us again. There must be another cavern somewhere deeper." The faint light in his eyes vanished as he closed them to concentrate. "Hurry."

Nick followed Judy's direction, wrenching a beam that had once held the roof up free of the debris so he could jam it at an angle against the decorative carvings on the outside of the staircase. He would be able to move one of them easily enough when the time came, but he worried about his smaller companion. Lever or no, she was going to have to jump on hers to get it to budge.

That was what they'd been dealt, though, so they worked together in silence, shoving a makeshift fulcrum into place and rigging one of the long wooden tables the same way. Twice Nick caught Judy looking off into the dusty gloom where the hallway had collapsed, and had to reach out and touch her to get her to focus on her work again. There would be time to grieve for Pine later - if there was time for anything at all.

Sedgewick looked steadier when they returned to the base of the stairs. He listened closely as they described the trap and nodded.

"It's our best chance," he said. "Nicholas is right: Weapons and magic won't be enough to stop it otherwise." He turned to Nick. "I'll try to get it to come here. When it does, you need to help me keep it focused for long enough to Judith to get into position. Then I'll take over for you and you join her, and bring the arches down."

Judy bounced her glaive against a restless off paw. "How?"

Nick saw the serene focus on Sedgewick's muzzle. Even his whiskers were still.

"By stopping the pushing he's doing against it."

#Zootopia #zootopia fanfiction #fantasy au #magic au #Nick Wilde #judy hopps

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Judy came to slowly, between the fog on her mind and the beating fear of what she did remember.

What little she could see was dark - because it was still night, and because she was back under the cover of the thick forest they had crossed to get here. The glow of the nearby magic was faint, but Judy knew now that belied the mindless power they'd found.

Her ears still rang with its roaring, in time with the renewed throbbing from her head. And she knew it was still out there somewhere in the dark. The rest of it was crystallizing now - her ruined weapon, the pain in her shoulder.

The look on Nick's muzzle when he'd seen what he'd done.

Judy made to struggle to her feet, but firm otter paws pushed her right back down.

"Don't move, Sentinel Hopps. Not yet."

She rolled her head anyway and dared Sedgewick to stop her. She could see him better now, crouched next to her where he'd removed her pauldron to see to her arm. Nick was further off, keeping watch with his back to them, but the dim light picked out his ears as they rotated back to catch her stirring.

"It just drained another one of those walkers out there," he said, and turned his head enough that she could see that unreadable muzzle. His voice was hollow. "That's three now. I think we just made it angry."

"The more we disturb it, the more likely it is to go searching out more magic," Sedgewick said. His breath seemed to come short. "It's not anger. But we have started something."

Nick was about the last mammal Judy wanted to see just now. But he rejoined them to frown down at her condition. He was the tallest of them here, too.

"Pine," she said. "Where's Pine?"

"I need to draw the rest of this magic out. Relax."

"Sedgewick, where is she?"

#Zootopia #zootopia fanfiction #fantasy au #magic au #Nick Wilde #judy hopps

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Time to dust off a long-dormant fantasy AU. If you’d like to start from the beginning for a refresher, that’s here.

It took them an hour to negotiate the steep descent. Now they were creeping from trunk to trunk through the strange shoreline forest. Judy judged they had to be getting close - they were traveling light and the glow from somewhere just over the horizon was growing brighter all the time.

But every time they stopped in the shade of one of the low branches and saw another of the mammals out there scream and wither and dim, Judy felt the fear beating at her ribs, trying to push past her self-control. What if they found something they couldn't stop themselves? There wouldn't be time to summon anyone else.

But there was no time to talk about that, either. As they left the shoreline behind, the trees grew thicker and the indistinct looming horizons grew steeper. Judy looked back when she heard the quiet singing of metal, and saw Nick's eyes growing even wider in the dark. It was oddly reassuring.

Deeper they went, over moldering logs and past curtains of willow so thick that sunlight might never have shone. It was hot and humid, as if the forest sat on the shores of one of the southern islands. Judy wondered if the magical storm had caused that, too.

The clearing, when they came to it, was so overgrown that Judy thought it was natural at first. But as they passed between two trees and she got a look through to the other side, every inch of the fur on her neck bristled. She stopped to follow her ears around, and held out a paw to stop Nick beside her.

There was the shattered ruin of a building here, with a haze of golden light pouring from its arches and stones.

#Zootopia #zootopia fanfiction #fantasy au #magic au #Nick Wilde #judy hopps

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For the holiday season, and the unusually cold weather that's come with it.

"Told you you were going to want your big coat." Nick’s breath clouded around his snout. "It looks bleak out there."

But that was part of the draw. The steel grey skies felt heavy, like a blanket, spreading the light of the thin winter sun perfectly evenly from horizon to horizon. Low clouds raced along the encroaching cold front, where the wind robbed them of their moisture and dragged them into long ribbons. That was winter on a farm, and so different from the wide open skies of the growing seasons. Judy never realized how much she missed it.

"It'll snow soon," Judy said. "Can you smell it?"

"Oh yeah. We'll be feeling it, soon." He followed her out onto the path, still peering over the fields.

They were on the hunt for the last of the season's stubborn dandelions. The cold weather meant a whole range of hot drinks were on offer in the kitchen, but Judy had yet to see dandelion tea among them, so they had set out to fix it, if they could. Finding the flowers would be a challenge this late in the year.

Of course, if they couldn't fix it, a nice walk wasn't the worst way to spend the rest of the mild weather, before the snow chased them inside.

The number three barn stood nearly empty, its double-height doors yawning open as they passed by, awaiting delivery of a Christmas fir tree from the forest spur nearby. Scaffolding was coming down around the new communications masts on the number one tech annex next door. Crowds of rabbits repaired hoes and pitchforks with new hardwood shafts, or lined up the farm's complement of UTVs on their trickle chargers in the garage.

It was quieter as they crunched down the main path, into the empty fields.

Judy kept her head down, watching where she put her paws, scanning for the telltale stalks of the few dandelions that would still be out here braving the cold. If she had to guess, they wouldn't have been the first ones hunting this season, which meant they would have to go further afield. That was fine by her.

#Zootopia #zootopia fanfiction #wildehopps #nick x judy #Nick Wilde #judy hopps #christmas #winter #holiday

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Finishing up this year’s Harvest story! I hope you got some comfy time out of it.

I’m working on a little more art to go with it and should be done soon.

The first day of Harvest was a long way from over yet. The natural excitement of a multitude of kits, and the abundance of sweet treats and hot drinks on offer, saw to that.

So when they returned home they did a shift in the maze, posted up on the observation deck in the central clearing so they could keep an eye on young adventurers and direct traffic as needed.

It was a familiar spot for Violet, who had done most of her maze explorations as a kit only to keep an ear on Judy, and who would admit she usually preferred the slower speed of watching over things here, even now.

No matter what they did to reinforce the old structure, it tended to creak and groan in the breeze. But it was a nostalgic sound, announcing the comfortable high point where kits - and anyone else - could climb the stairs to punch their checkpoint card, see out over the waving corn hedges, and get something warm to drink from the big commercial thermoses at one end.

Violet huddled with the others around one of the sharing-sized lanterns in the lee of the platform's windbreaks, listening to the familiar creaking and turning over the night's events.

"Either Crowley is younger than he looks, or he's way older than he looks." Judy was in Nick's lap, warming her paws over the lantern's flicker, holding her fingers close to the glass. "Or he just really likes his job."

#Zootopia #zootopia fanfiction #wildehopps #nick x judy #nick wilde #judy hopps #violet hopps #halloween

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Violet couldn't help the caution, with the way the faint sounds of the night extended so far beyond what they could see. There was being an adult, a grown woman who knew enough to be sensible about what the dark out there was really like - and there was being a rabbit, with ten million years of reflex and instinct telling her brain to not take any of it for granted.

If only being aware of the distinction made it easier to address, Violet thought. Right now she could have done without the wet blanket of knowing better.

"No gates," Nick murmured, as they approached the arched entrance to Warren Mount. It was wide open, if not exactly inviting. The lamps on its columns flickered like orange sentinels, keeping watch over the way in. The dark seemed especially deep beyond them, in defiance of the moonlight.

"We don't need them in Bunnyburrow," Judy said. "Did you think we were going to have to break in or something?"

"I wondered," he said. "'Trespassing in the cemetery' has a nice ring to it, this time of year."

"No it doesn't," Violet muttered.

#Zootopia #zootopia fanfiction #wildehopps #nick x judy #Nick Wilde #judy hopps #violet hopps #Halloween

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"Pick one to carve," Judy reminded them. "We'll put it somewhere so it doesn't get eaten."

A moment from this year’s Harvest story! You can read it here.

Nick still isn’t used to pumpkin innards, it seems.

More to come soon!

#Zootopia #zootopia fanart #halloween #nick wilde #judy hopps #violet hopps

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Their work was done before dinner was, only just after the sun had started to sink in the sky. Once they had scrubbed their paws they waited on the patio around the crackling fire ring, watching the last of the heavy trucks bringing in all the corn for silage down the main field road. Closer by, a crowd of visitors and excited kits was growing around the torch-lit entrance to the maze, waiting for the official starting gun of sunset.

Judy had found a spot next to Great Aunts Carolyn and Diane, whose seniority granted them prime seating by the fire. They had been old widows for as long as Violet had known them, the sort of sisters who celebrated Harvest by breaking out the mulled wine and demolishing an entire book of crossword puzzles together.

Now Judy was peppering them with questions about their oldest sister, the one who was buried somewhere in Warren Mount. Nick was next to her, looking a bit nervous, maybe unused to the casual discussion of mortality.

"Sheila," Aunt Diane said. "That was her. Very dry and proper, she was. I think she would have preferred a palace, to a farm. And when it came time for her to plan her estate she wouldn't budge. She wanted to be buried with her old family."

Aunt Carolyn nodded, bifocals flashing in the firelight. "Her line there goes back four or five more generations," she said. "Maybe more. Her family ran the general store in town for decades. Always at the courthouse, always keeping up with the gossip."

Aunt Diane tapped their glasses together and winked. "Not like us."

"Oh no, of course not."

"What was her family's name?" Judy asked. "I remember Great-Great-Grandma Hopps. But did they put that on the grave door?"

"No, because her grandmother was a Gruyt," Diane said.

"But they had it changed to Sitka pretty quick, after that side of the family married in," Carolyn added. "They liked it better than Gruyt."

"And who wouldn't?" Diane chuckled. "Anyway, I remember being a young kit, even younger than you, Jude." she put a fond paw on Judy's arm. "We'd go along to services at the garden there. They'd be sending off a few relatives at a time, from her side of the family."

Violet winced at the look that flashed over Nick's muzzle. "That's so morbid, Aunt Diane."

"Well, we're rabbits, aren't we?" she asked. "Our great-grandparents and such didn't live as long. We would have been back there unsealing the doors every few months, hah."

#Zootopia #zootopia fanfiction #wildehopps #nick x judy #Nick Wilde #judy hopps #violet hopps #Halloween

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Happy Halloween! So begins the best part of the year.

"Warren Mount Cemetery." Nick raised his eyebrows at where the grounds twisted away up into the first foothill valley. "That's a big graveyard for such a small town."

"Bunny families are big," Judy pointed out. "I remember being here for a few interments as a kit." She squeezed his paw. "Want to go in?"

"As long as we're not bothering anyone this late."

Violet wondered if he had meant those inside the cemetery, or her. They were quickly losing their light, now with just the tops of the willows still golden with the setting sun. Nick's eyes shone with faint sensitivity as he looked down at her.

It did make her hesitate. Exploring Main Street was one thing, but this was a cemetery at sunset just before Harvest. The stories about hauntings and encounters with the paranormal were as old as the headstones in there. And even fresher in her mind were the warnings from Mom they got every year as kits, to steer clear of trouble, and be a good example for their younger siblings. They were raised better than to engage in Harvest mischief.

#Zootopia #wildehopps #nick x judy #violet hopps #Nick Wilde #judy hopps #Halloween #zootopia fanfiction

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progress

Just checked my calendar and Cause and Contract was four years ago. I was not ready for that information.

And sure, we've all been a little busy since then, but my own radio silence is starting to bug me. So here is a global update on what's been going on behind the scenes with major projects:

A Call in the High Country is still underway and I'm genuinely out of excuses for not finishing it, so that's next.

As of this week drafts are complete for two big mainline chronology entries. At least one will be part of Finding Our Way.

One of my other pandemic hobbies was to start learning how to draw, and that's coming along well enough that I can start sharing some stuff.

Hope you're all doing good out there! See you soon.

#zootopia fanfiction #progress report

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Payback

I did a little something for the anniversary of Zootopia. I didn't see it myself until a couple weeks after it came out, so this always lags a little bit.

Enjoy! And thank you all for sticking around these many years now. I hope these stories are as fun for you as they are for me.

---

"This is still about the ice cream shop thing, isn't it?"

"I do owe you."

"What part of my treat wasn't clear the first few zillion times, fox?" Judy's exasperation was patient, but it was still making her ears twitch.

"I know."

"But it never stops you." Judy detoured them under the evening lights of Riverwalk Park, so they could walk and talk. "Why is that? Jumbeaux's was so long ago now. Come on, help me understand."

Nick chewed on it for a few paces. He still wasn't sure he wanted to give it up. The way she smiled at him when she figured out his latest little gesture - even when it wasn't about the $20 - it was one of his favorite things he could get her to do.

#zootopia #zootopia fanfiction #zootopia anniversary #wildehopps #nick x judy #nick wilde #judy hopps