Sorry this took awhile to get out; Piloting through this website when your new is like trying to pilot a jetliner through a volcanic eruption. Here's the prologue, though! There shouldn't be any plot holes or grammar/spelling errors, but if you find one, PLEASE tell me. PLEASE. I HATE spelling and grammar errors, especially if I could've prevented them. I hope you enjoy the first words of Primal: A Zootopia Fanfiction.

Judy Hopps orderly entered Chief Bogo's office, her eyes cast up at the cape buffalo as he stared out the window across from the doorway. She had arrived at the station later than normal today - her phone read 13:32 when she entered- but she didn't think Bogo called her up to his office because of her unpunctuality. Yesterday he excused her from duty because of what the papers were calling her 'heroic' arrest. That's what she suspected her meeting with him to deal with today.

Chief Bogo turned toward the rabbit standing just inside his office with a smile on his face. Judy smiled back. She knew what she had accomplished within the past 24 hours, and she was very proud of it. After two grueling years of patrolling, interrogating, and lots and lots of overtime, justice had finally been served. Happiness radiated off the small mammal, and Chief Bogo laughed wholeheartedly, proud of the officer before him.

"Congratulations, Officer Hopps," Chief Bogo boomed, moving his hoof up to salute her.

Judy continued to smile, straightening herself to stand at attention and saluting the Chief back.

"Thank you chief," she responded, grateful that he hadn't been sarcastic or critical, "But it wasn't only me. All those other officers on the scene deserve just as much credit as me for the arrest."

With a downward wave of his hoof he signaled Judy to sit down before he turned to take his place across the desk. She complied and sat at attention in the over sized chair, her eyes curiously eyeing a binder filled to the brim with papers awkwardly laying on his desk. Chief Bogo saw this but ignored it for the moment, returning instead to what she had said a moment before.

"To some extent you're correct, Officer Hopps," He agreed, praise in his voice, "But none of those officers took 100 hour work weeks for two years straight. Nor did any of them go through what you had to. I know losing him was hard, but you've pulled through spectacularly."

At his words and against her will, Judy's mind pulled up a memory from the deepest recesses it contained. She had relived the experience a thousand times over, and after every time she felt more and more depressed. The memory of first finding out that her partner was gone forever...

It had been a relatively calm work day for the ZPD. Criminal activity on the streets of the city always lapsed mid-summer, save for Tundratown. Nick had left about a week prior, heading to a maximum security prison called Arctic One to interview a suspect on a long abandoned cold case. Together she and him had solved many of these cases, ranging from kidnapping to petty theft. This one had been no different; about a year before the struggle with Bellwether a large amount of money went missing from the Central Bank of Zootopia. The huge safe which held the CBZs funds had been unopened, yet no cash was to be seen inside. There was only one suspect, but the raccoon had never been charged - there was simply no evidence against him! It was only after she and Nick had linked him to the Grizzly Brother, who was serving time for several violent atrocities, that Chief Bogo reopened the case. Now Nick got the fun part, interrogating the huge Kodiak bear, while she stayed behind to fill out the paperwork of other crimes.

Judy was sitting at her desk, filling out online forms from incidents reported by officers on duty. The mid afternoon sun hit her grey fur, reminding her of the dawn light she had observed from her tiny apartment window earlier that day. She yawned, stretching her arms above her head and shutting her eyes tight. When they opened again her paw lazily moved the report she had just finished onto her 'done' pile, which was by now more than a thousand pages high and towered above her as she stood in her standard one-size-too-huge chair.

"This needs to be smaller," she said tiredly, taking the last paper and beginning to punch information into the ZPD database that she could access on her new laptop.

"Why would he..." Judy questioned, amused that a pig had attempted to hold up a pizza shop with nothing but a broom. A smile crawled across her face and a giggle escaped her lips. Nick needs to hear this, she thought, pulling out her phone. Her paw pressed the 'on' button, revealing a selfie of her and Nick in full uniform. She was smiling profusely while Nick stood behind her, sunglasses covering his eyes and a sly grin painted onto his face. It had been on his graduation day from the academy, and she had never been more proud to call him her friend. She opened up her phone app and swiped through her contacts until she reached the name 'Sly Fox' and tapped the icon of a familiar fox next to it. Immediately she felt a vibration in her pocket and pulled out Nick's phone. The bunny sighed with a smile, leaning forward and resting her head on the desk.

No phones while on official trips. Judy thought to herself, imaging what Nick would've done if he was with her now. Her smile grew. She knew exactly what he would would do, or rather say. Well if I'm a dumb bunny then you, sir, are a jerk fox!

Putting one phone into each of her pockets, Judy gathered her belongings she had taken to work with her and placed them into her knapsack, which she had started using at her partner's recommendation. Then, as quietly as she could, she slid off her chair and piloted through the rows of cubicles until she reached the commons room, not wanting to disturb the serene silence which rarely came across the Precinct 1 headquarters. The only others Judy saw were a lone black wolf photocopying papers in the back of the office and, thankfully, Clawhauser sitting at the front desk, staring down at his phone and oblivious that a rather devious rabbit was standing right below him. Nick's starting to rub off on me, she thought as her legs extended, propelling her straight up onto the desk and startling the overweight Cheetah.

"Officer Hopps! I didn't expect that you would be finished so qui-" He exclaimed before abruptly ending as his paws attempted to catch the phone he had thrown up in the air a moment earlier.

Judy laughed and squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them again, Clawhausers phone was screen up on the desk, revealing the Gazelle App which replaced the pop icons' assistant dancers face with that of the phone's owner. In this case, a slightly unsettling photo of him with a big, toothy grin, looking more savage than happy. Judy smiled.

"Clawhauser," She began, "You know that app is, like, two years old, right?"

The cheetah snatched the phone up from the desk, taking her eyes with him. His face changed from worried to calm in half a moment and he waved his paw as his lips made a pffffft noise.

"Yeah, I know, right?" He said, trying to cover his tail, "I don't even know why I have this anymore."

The receptionist cracked an eye to see if he had tricked Judy, but dismay appeared on his face when he saw her arms crossed and foot tapping on the table. Clearly, his rouse had not worked.

"Please, Judy!" He begged, squatting behind his desk so that only his eyes were visible, "Don't tell anyone else! I just really, really like Gazelle!"

Judy pulled out her phone, typed in the password, and scrolled through her apps until she came across the one she was looking for. Turning it, Clawhauser sighed and let out a nervous laugh.

"Don't worry. EVERYBODY still has the app, Ben," Judy said, a playfully mocking grin coming onto her face. "Your secret is safe with me, Mr. Gazelle." The cheetah smiled back, moving to sit up in his chair again as she slid her phone back into her pocket.

"My my, Judy! A little devilish today, aren't we? Your boyfriend must be rubbing off on you!" Now it was Judy's turn to feel uncomfortable.

"He's not my boyfriend, Clawhauser. I've told you this how many times?" She rhetorically asked, her eyes rolling.

Clawhauser just Mmm Hmmed.

"Yeah, you two aren't dating like I don't love donuts," He jested, his many chins being held up by his massive paws.

Judy grunted, wanting to change the subject.

"Where is everyone?" She asked, noticing that she still had barely seen any mammals, even outside of the doors of the station.

Clawhauser followed her gaze out the doors and into the street, baked in the sun. Thankfully, his joking stopped.

"Most went home about fifteen hundred. It's too hot for all mammals, not just criminals," He replied.

Judy shrugged. "Alright, then," She said. The receptionist was right. It was mid-July, and the weather- while not dangerously hot- was the perfect temperature to keep criminals at bay and empty the bustling streets.

"I think I'll head out for the night," Judy finished, jumping down from the desk and waving Clawhauser goodbye.

"Bye Officer Wilde!" he replied, standing up and waving. Judy shook her head as she emerged out onto the sidewalk.

Boy, was it hot. Judy panted as she slid on a pair of sunglasses which closely resembled Nicks. A bus roared past her, and she was tempted to run after and board for its cool, crisp air. But she decided against this- her apartment was only a few blocks away, no more than ten minutes from the station. It's proximity was the driving factor why she was renting the place, besides that fact that she had a tiny budget. Trying to focus on something besides the sweat beginning to form on her forehead she pulled her phone from her pocket and hit in her password. But instead of going to the gazelle app which she had opened before, her phone instead began to play a very ... disturbing ... video of a tod and a vixen doing ... intimate things ... together. The audio wasn't much better, with loud groans and grunts coming out of the speakers, regrettably turned up to the highest volume.

Panicking, Judy muted the video and closed out of the app. She looked up from the device to see a clear sidewalk and a almost empty bus stop. Almost.

An elderly sheep dressed in a purple gown was staring at her angrily, her face scrunched in disgust. Judy's ears flushed with red and fell behind her head before she began to run toward the street corner ahead. Until she turned onto her street, she continued to feel the burning gaze bore into the back of her skull.

Her ears still behind her head, Judy sighed with relief but was still filled with embarrassment. For carrots sake, what was that! She thought, remembering how she had exited out of her ... private ... pages last night. Looking back down at the phone, which was easier to see in the shade of the building she was leaning against, she noticed that the background was no longer of both her and Nick, but instead a close up of Nick in full uniform.

Judy closed her eyes and softly banged her head against the bricks she was leaning against, an embarrassed smile forming on her face. Her free paw reached down into her other pocket and pulled out the other phone she had put there earlier. Both had the same cases, passwords, and lock screens. The only difference was in the backgrounds; hers was Nick and herself sitting on a park bench, smiling into the camera, while his was of his uniformed self.

"Nick, even when you're not here, you still embarrass me," She said, opening her eyes.

She turned off her partner's phone and put it back into her pocket, sighing. Her legs, able to work again, began to guide her down the final stretch to her apartment. Using her phone, Judy went onto Furbook to see how her friends were doing. Awww... Judy thought while looking at her friends posts. Fru Fru and Judy look sooo cute together. Suddenly, an alert appeared at the top of her screen. It was from ZNN. It read:

A ZNN Exclusive

Hero cop killed in line of duty - click to read full article

Judy awwww'd sadly, making her forget about the picture of Fru Fru. Since the 'Night Howler Incident' two years earlier, both her and her partner had met many of the other heroes of Zootopia, some of which had become acquaintances of both of them. That's so sad. Who was it? She thought, sliding her finger over the alert. Her phone switched from Furbook to the Internet, and it took the page a moment to load. As it did, Judy looked up to see that she had subconsciously finished her walk back from the station. She reached for the door to her apartment building when the page finally loaded. Scrolling past the advertisements, Judy finally laid her eyes upon the title.

Nick Wilde, Lone Fox cop and Zootopian Hero, killed during Interrogation

What? That can't be...

But as she continued to scroll down, her hand reaching for the door moved to cover her gaping mouth. Shock filled her magenta eyes, and she felt her heart drop to her feet.

She stared at her phone screen.

A lifeless Nick Wilde, slumped against a concrete wall, stared back.

The sound of Chief Bogo's hoof slamming against the table brought Judy back to reality. All she saw was the floor, and realizing she had begun to slump, Judy straightened up and sat at attention. Chief Bogo's intense stare hit hard after her memories, but she soon noticed that he seemed concerned, not angry, at her.

"Officer Hopps, do you need a moment? You're getting watery." The chief said, pushing a tissue box on his desk closer to her.

Judy reached one of her paws up to her face gently closed and wiped her eyes. They weren't wet, but damp enough for Chief Bogo to notice. She took a deep breath to calm herself. Everything is alright. Nick is dead. you know that. We've seen that memory lots of times. He's never coming back. But you've caught his killer - this tragedy is finally over. You need to get over him, Judy. It's what he'd want.

"No. I'm fine," she solemnly said, looking back up at Chief Bogo. He managed to crack a faint smile.

"Good," he responded quietly. There was a brief pause before he picked up something on his desk and leaned forward to hand it to Judy. It was the binder she had eyed earlier.

"What is this?" She asked, opening it up to find what appeared to be finance records.

Chief Bogo took his eyes off his officer's and instead stared out the window which looked out into the commons room of the station. "Yesterday, Officer Mabel was storing some evidence from a recent burglary in Savanna Central when she knocked over one of Officer Wilde's personal items."

Judy looked up from the binder. Nick didn't have a will, or if he did, it wasn't found, so the ZPD had taken all his personal belongings here at the station and put them into evidence storage in case they became useful in his own murder investigation. They would've done this with the property at his apartment he had told her about, yet after months of searching the place he always spoke of had yet to be found. Judy continued to look at the chief, but his gaze still avoided hers.

"What did she br-"

"A flower pot. Still with the shriveled flower. But within it, there was a hidden document," Chief Bogo interrupted, moving his silent stare back to her gaze. Judy felt her heart pounding and blood rushing to her ears. She was anxious to know what the paper was.

"It was his will," Chief Bogo said, "And he left everything in evidence to you."

Judy was stunned, and she shook her head mouth agape, her eyes moving down to the binder in her hands. She noticed, in awful handwriting, that there was a name at the top of the front page. It read:

Nick Wilde's finances, April 1996

It's spelling was awful and the writing itself was barely legible, but her heart warmed at the sight none the less.

"That's his financial record. That two hundred dollars he said he made a day may have been a bit of an overstatement," Chief Bogo said as he observed Judy reading over the information, "The remainder of his personal items will be delivered to your apartment by week's end. The ZPD sees no use of them in the trial against the Grizzly Brother. We can already put the monster away for life because of all his other torts."

Judy looked up at the Cape Buffalo before closing the binder and holding it close to her chest.

"Thank you," She whispered, emotion taking control of her thoughts and her ears falling behind her. "Thank you, Chief Bogo."

The Chief smirked, and Judy saluted him.

"If that's all, chief, I-"

"That's not all," Chief Bogo said, interrupting her again. Her ears became half-perked half-limp and her eyes focused in on his brown eyes.

"With your arrest of the Grizzly Brother, Mayor Lionheart has decided that Officer Wilde's body shouldn't be sitting in an abandoned prison in the arctic," Chief Bogo paused for a moment, a genuine smile coming across his face, abandoning all signs of aggression toward her over both of their careers behind. "He's put me in charge of recovering Officer Wilde's body, and I want to give you the honor of being the first mammal I ask to be part of this expedition."

Judy silently gasped, and real tears began to form in her eyes. She was so happy, yet so sad. She would get to see her partner and best friend be put to rest. This was what she had wanted since his murder, and it was truly a dream come true, yet her heart felt that all hope was lost. She had hoped that maybe, maybe Nick was alive at the top of the world, no matter how preposterous that sounded. But with the chief telling her this, that hope shattered and was replaced of a sense of closure. Both Nick and her would be at peace soon.

"I accept," She barely breathed.

Chief Bogo stood up from his desk and walked over to the door. Judy followed him with her now very watery gaze and opened her mouth to say something. But he shook his head, smiling at her as she clutched the binder with all her strength, and motioned her out the door. Judy mouthed 'thank you, chief' at her superior as she slowly made her way out the door, her ears flat behind her head.

Her feet carried her to the elevator to the elevator and she hit the down button, her mind on autopilot as she still took in the news. She was thankful that no one would see her in her current state as she boarded the elevator, because as soon as the doors closed her knees and tear ducts gave out.

Shaky breaths escaped from her as she clutched Nicks possession, now her possession, to the point where she was surprised that the vinyl binder hadn't snapped yet. Soon, everything would be finished. Soon, her and Nick's friendship would be over. Soon, her best friend would be lowered into the ground within a casket. Her breaths shortened and quickened. Why I am so sad? This is such great news! We'll both finally be at peace. And eventually we can be friends again, once I've joined you, Nick. She Paused. I'll see you then, you sly fox. I'll see you once I've finished making the world a better place so that no one has to go through what I've been through ever again!

Despite her reassurances, she failed to answer the question she asked herself. There was an unspoken sadness which had plagued her heart for the past two years, and It felt stronger than ever now. What was this? It was more than sadness. More than most other emotions. More than everything... But the elevator beeped, drawing Judy out of her thoughts. Her eyes opened and legs straightened. She had to be strong, for Chief Bogo, for herself, and especially for Nick. He wouldn't want her to be sad. A final sigh escaped her as the tears in her eyes disappeared and the midday light filled her vision.

"I miss you so much, you dumb fox."

Wow! What a time, right? This chapter was edited and updated on August 19.