It wasn't totally unheard of for non-predators to be aggressive, even in modern times. It was rare, but there were still cases of rhinos charging angrily at other animals, rams head-butts putting someone in the hospital, and even rabbits biting other rabbits.

Nick Wilde knew all to well from childhood experience how ruthless some of the supposedly less violent animals could be, and he hoped no one would ever have to experience that same pain or even anything close to it. When he became a cop, became partners with the little bunny known as Judy Hopps around the time of the Nighthowler incident, he made a promise that he would protect those he cared about and everyone around him from the pain and humiliation he had known as a child and even in adulthood. Predator and Prey would get along without fear of each other if he had any say in it.

And yet, it was during one of those rare non-predator attacks that Judy was hurt and he couldn't do a thing to stop it.

He had taken a week off work to visit his mother when he got the call. Judy had been sent under cover and was caught. She had been held for two days and abused to the point where she would only let predators near her.

In a sick way he was relieved she felt safe near him still, yet when he saw her panic the first time a non-predator came to visit her in the hospital he nearly cried. She couldn't even go near her own parents or siblings without hyperventilating. It was just so… Wrong.

It wasn't fair, how could this have happened to his sweet little bunny. His tough little bunny that put everything on the line to become a cop, then again to make him her partner. The bunny who saved Zootopia. His partner… Damn it! She was his partner and he wasn't there to protect her!
So he did what he could to help her recover. Anyone who scared her enough to make her cry was reminded very clearly that he was a predator, and he was going to protect what he deemed precious. And for him there was nothing and no one more precious than Judy.

When he got back to work he got the file on the case she had been sent on, and he let out such an awful growl they actually sent him home for the day. She had been muzzled. Muzzled and strung up above a pit of rabid animals that had it not been for the rabies would have been otherwise completely harmless. She wouldn't even have been able to scream with as tight as the muzzle was.

If he ever found the people who did this to her, god have mercy on their souls.

He made a new promise to himself then, Judy came first, above all else. He would protect her with his life if it came down to it. Anything she wanted or needed she would have.

Because she was precious to him, and he loved her. He loved her more than anything else and so he would be her protector even when she denied needing it months after being released from the hospital.

She would never feel the ruthless bite of a muzzle against her face again. She would be safe so long as he was at her side.

It pained him every time he saw her flinch at the sight of another rabbit or sheep or duck. And his heart shattered whenever she would cry at night. But he always felt a warmth inside him when she chose him to talk to, came to him to chase away the nightmares and make her feel better.

He wished he could have pieced together their true feeling for each other another way, that she could have been spared this fear and pain and grief. But he couldn't rewrite the past, so he would have to settle for making a brighter future out of their love.

Okay so I saw the movie last weekend. I loved it so much I really wanted to write something for it but kept scraping ideas. So I wrote this in like twenty minutes and decided to put it up before I lost my nerve, and hopefully I can do something better later on. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and I would love to hear what you think in a review!