Authors Note: So if you read the summary you probably already know that this is a World War Two Alternate universe were instead of the Jews, the Bunnies get targeted as the main culprit for everyones problems.
So I had to do some research (obviously) and I'll try to keep many things accurate or have their parallels make sense but please just remember that not everything will be 100% exact and I will be changing some things such as how the army ranks work, invasions, how the war plays out and things like that. Remember that this was inspired by the events and is meant to entertain, not give you a history lesson with animals instead of humans.
Thank you once again for choosing to read this story and I hope you all enjoy it!
I don't own Zootopia, all rights go to Disney and Pixar.
It's funny how a few years can change your whole perspective.
Just around three years ago I wouldn't have even been able to fathom the idea about being in the current position that I was in now, having the job that I had now and holding the same beliefs that I now held.
Our country had gone to shit. After that first war, it had wrecked us completely. With all our money having been invested in our military and weaponry, not to mention the money that also had to be spent for reparations on our own country as well as compensation for the victor countries, our economy had been completely drained . We were miserable, small carriages filled with coins and zinc bills would only buy you so much as a loaf of bread and a liter or two of milk. Everyday hundreds of people lost their jobs, crime rates were at an all time high and the heat of the summer sun as well as the humidity of the weather just made everything so much worse.
It seemed as we were all on edge, always on alert, not knowing who to trust or who to rely on. Seemingly, our government had betrayed us.
Resources were limited, that made us desperate. Our desperation drove us to steal, our stealing drove us to violence, and our violence, eventually drove some to murder. Fear and chaos reigned the streets of Alemia and for the longest time, it truly was every man for himself.
'This is how things are.' 'Nothing we can do to change it' 'It's kill or be killed' That was the way the Alemian people thought.
Until she arrived.
She was just a small sheep. Every time she stood in the podium to speak they had to get her a stool, and a high one at that, but every time she spoke it ignited something in us. Her words were powerful, she spoke with such confidence and such passion in her words, you could sense her utmost love and devotion towards our country. She caught our attention, we were so lost and drained of hope, that in her we saw a beacon of light. There was a time when she wasn't in power, not officially at least, but whenever she had some sort of influence over the situation we saw changes. Sure, they were small changes and things at large were still harsh, but our people began to see improvement so naturally, when the time came for her to be in a position of authority she had the entire country's support.
But as one must know, nothing is ever free in this world, and everything good comes with a price.
When it first started, it was all very subtle. A word here, a comment there, always being vague and leaving it all to interpretation. Then, as time passed, she began to get more and more explicit. At the end of the year, her intentions had become clear and her target well known
'Our country's prosperity is at stake and our stocks are limited!' 'They keep growing in numbers, reproducing like there is no tomorrow!' 'A balance must be restored!"
Desperate circumstances lead to desperate measures.
Our country had failed, and someone had to take the blame. I could see the fear in their eyes, the pristine horror that overtook them as a new reality began to show it's ugly face. A few years ago, before the war had started I would have been absolutely disgusted at her words, her way of thinking and just her in general. I may never have been the biggest fan of bunnies, but making an entire species take the fault for something that had clearly been a mistake on our government's part was wrong. So what changed? Something had to happen along the way that made not only me but the thousands of my own species' opinions, a species that had once experienced it's own fair share of discrimination and mistreatment simply for what we were, turn on a dime.
I could see her strategy, with a broken nation what better way than to bring the people together against a common enemy? And us? My people would have probably been the first to stand up against her and make the others see the absurdity in the words that came out of her mouth, considering our own background.
Apparently, she thought of that as well.
Something that you need to understand is that after years of rejection and being shunned by society, you simply see things for how they are and learn to accept it, learn to live with it and try to make the best out of your situation. One eventually stops caring ...or so we say. The truth is that deep down, there is still that part of us. That one small, insignificant part that craves to be accepted, that is tired of being treated as lesser than, and that would do anything and everything to gain the chance, the opportunity at trust and approval from your community.
Bunnies were the target. Foxes were the natural predators of bunnies. Foxes were the new heroes.
I wish I could expand more on the change but that was how it happened. All of a sudden there was this sudden shift in the public eye. People would greet us in the street, smile at us, hold the the door open for us, accept our help whenever we offered it. We were no longer being perceived as the untrustworthy, manipulative, shifty foxes. We were now the cunning, smart, resourceful foxes who came to save the nation from the ever growing hordes of bunnies that were infesting our land and hoarding our resources.
It was overwhelming, to say the least. There is no other way of describing it. We were so used to being out casted and ignored that when people began to actually treat us decently, it astounded us. I still remember going to visit my mother on a weekend only to be greeted with a group of about 4 kids or so helping her take the groceries into her house and the oldest kid in the group asking her if she needed anything else. I was frozen in place, I didn't know how to react. A year ago, those same kids would have stepped in her flower beds and cracked her windows while playing ball without so much as leaving a note.
It also helped (or didn't help, depending on which side you were on) that our new leader had taken many foxes as officials, generals and soldiers. She would always speak so highly of us foxes, not enough to make every other animal hate us because of it but sufficiently to make us be grateful in a way for her recognition and in turn want to keep it. It now seemed natural for a fox to be part of her army. It became expected.
I thought it over. Despite everything that was happening around me I never really bought into the whole 'bunnies are the spawn of the devil' thing, not entirely at least, and I had some doubts about the actions of our own leader. But still. Foxes were being welcomed into the army as it was their second home, one in five soldiers were foxes, and no matter how nice towards me my customers had been lately towards me, no amount of smiles were going to better my pay. You can only get so far with a retail job.
Now I had a chance of becoming someone, of actually having a real goal in life and doing something worthy for my country. In the future I could look back and say that I helped my country grow and expand into the rich lands that it was that day. Plus, I wanted to help my mom like she helped me and get her a better way life. At the end of the month I had finally came to a decision.
On April 12th, 1937 at 6:30 AM I, Nicholas P. Wilde, enrolled in the unified armed forces of the Sower Party. Two years later I was appointed Captain of my own branch and I was in charge of my own camp of operations. Seven months after, I met Judy Hopps.
Ending Notes: This story will get darker as each chapter progresses, with maybe a few breaks in between. I'll make sure to tell you guys before the chapter or such. I might change the rating, depending on how explicit I feel like I should get.
Thank you so much for checking this story out and make sure to leave a review or something of the sort. This will also be posted in Archive of Our Own under this same username, so don't freak out if you happen stumble upon it.