Judy Hopps stared up above her, clutching her injured leg with one paw and leaning on her other one for support. Nick Wilde sat beside her, also looking up at Mayor Bellwether, who stood above the two of them on the circular opening of the museum's exhibit on prehistoric, primitive mammals.

The mayor was exactly where they wanted her. She didn't know it, but they had switched the Night Howler toxins inside the gun with harmless blueberries. All Judy and Nick needed to do now was stall long enough for the Zootopia Police Department officers to show up and hear her confess to everything.

The Night Howlers, the missing mammals, the prejudice against Zootopia's predator population… It had been Bellwether all along, and now they needed for her to frame herself.

Bellwether was clutching the briefcase that held the gun. To her side stood several sheep, each of them ready to help her out in any way they could. But it seemed Bellwether had everything under control on her own. "Well, you should have just stayed on the carrot farm, huh?" she called down to Judy, after a quick chuckle. She shook her head, as if she genuinely felt sorry for the bunny. "It really is too bad. I did like you."

Judy narrowed her eyes. She felt her emotions swell up inside her chest. Bellwether had done so much to hurt Zootopia, and now she had the nerve to sweet-talk her as well? It was all Judy could do to contain herself, and not blab right then and there that Bellwether was falling right into their trap.

Instead, she jeered, "What are you going to do? Kill me?"

Bellwether wouldn't, of course. She was as sheep. She had done many things, but all the dirty work had been done by her henchmen. But Judy had to lead her on, and her next action was exactly what she hoped for.

"Oh, no, of course not." Bellwether's chuckle cased when she retrieved the gun and aimed it into the enclosure. "He is."

The gun fired, and a second later, Nick recoiled, clawing desperately at his neck. Judy knew it was just blueberries, but even so, she felt bad for the poor fox.

To the illusion, Judy jumped over to Nick as quickly as she could with her injured leg and shook his shoulder. "No! Nick!" she screamed. It was all fine, though. Nick was just pretending. His growls were forced, and his dilating pupils were just the result of his blood pressure rising.

Bellwether was on the phone. "Yes, police! There's a savage fox in the Natural History Museum. Officer Hopps is down! Please, hurry."

This is going almost too easily. She doesn't suspect a thing. But Judy had to keep it up. If Bellwether caught on too quickly, the she would escape before the ZPD would arrive. Now it was time for her to blab.

Judy turned back to Nick. "No, Nick. Don't do this. Fight it." She could almost see him wink at her beneath the growls, as if to reassure her he was okay.

Bellwether handed the phone to one of her cronies. "But he can't help it, can he?" The smile returned to her face. "Since preds are just biologically predisposed to be savages."

Nick's growls disappeared, replaced by a full-fledged snarl. It was so loud, and sounded so real, that Judy reflexively jumped back. If she didn't know any better, she could have sworn Nick really was going savage.

I guess he's just that good of an actor. It probably came from all those years of being a con artist. Judy ran away from Nick as fast as she could, and could feel his breath on her tail with every step. She knew she was perfectly safe, but she couldn't allow Bellwether to see even a hint of calm in her. She grabbed a nearby deer figurine and threw it behind her. Nick, closer behind than she would have liked, took it to the face, and proceeded to rip it apart as she retreated into some faux brush.

"Gosh. Think of the headline!" Bellwether was eating it up, not the least bit suspicious. "'Hero cop killed by savage fox'."

Nick tore the deer in several pieces with ease, his predator teeth and claws making quick work of the poor thing. His attention turned back to Judy and he slowly approached her, walking on all fours, saliva dripping from his mouth, ungodly sounds emerging from his throat.

Judy had to keep Bellwether busy. "So that's it?" she called up. "Prey fears predator, and you stay in power?"

Bellwether twirled the gun in her hand, seemingly proud of hearing the statement out loud. "Yeah, pretty much."

"It won't work!"

"Fear always works," Bellwether shot back. She motioned to Nick. "And I'll dart every predator in Zootopia to keep it that way."

Nick's growls caught Judy's attention again as his orange head emerged from behind the brush. He was loud, and it was all she could do to stay put. The ZPD would be here any second, and once they arrived, Nick would go back to his normal self, Bellwether would be put behind bars, and things would go back to normal.

"I trust you, Nick," she whispered, in such a low voice she could hardly even hear herself over Nick's snarls.

Somehow, though, even Bellwether herself heard her. "Don't take me for a fool, Judy!" she yelled. She opened the briefcase again, retrieved a small object, and tossed it carelessly into the enclosure.

Judy's breath caught. It was one of the blueberries they had put into the gun.

Bellwether knew. She knew all along.

Suddenly, Nick's growls no longer sounded forced. His eyes no longer looked trusting. He no longer looked like he was just pretending.

Nick was affected by the Night Howlers. He was going to kill her.

Judy instinctively backed up, but she was up against the wall of the enclosure. She was stuck here, with the one mammal in all of Zootopia who she had been able to trust—and now that trust was gone.

Nick was inches away from her now. There was nothing she could do. Her injured leg prevented her from running, and the Night Howlers prevented Nick from hearing her words.

She could just scream, desperate that someone could hear her—that the ZPD could stop Nick in time—that this was all just a bad dream—that anything could stop Nick from killing her.

The last thing she felt was Nick sink his teeth into her neck, before darkness closed in around her. She could only hear her screaming, and soon enough, even that was replaced by a loud ringing in her ears.

The ringing stopped.

And then started again.

Judy's vision returned to her, but only a small part of it—the small part that told her that it was now five o'clock. The ringing kept coming and going, coming and going, coming and going…

Judy had to force her screaming to stop, and managed to find enough control over her paws to turn off her alarm clock. She took a moment to analyze her situation. She was sitting up in her bed, caked in sweat, throat dry from yelling so loudly, heart beating much faster than she was used to.

One of her wishes had come true, in her final moments: It had all been just a bad dream.

It was so real, so vivid, so terrifying… She had a hard time calming down, even now that she knew it was all over. Bellwether had been locked up a long time ago. Their plan had worked. Nick was never under the effect of the Night Howlers, and he was even her partner on the police force now.

The only mark she had from it all was the scar on her leg. And that wasn't even Nick's fault; she had sliced it open on the sharp tusk of a skeleton while they were running from Bellwether.

And yet she still sat up in her bed for a long time, trying to make sense of the dream. All her life, Judy had tried to keep herself from discriminating against predators—particularly foxes—but it wasn't until she met Nick that she realized just how bad she had it against them. She had been wary of Nick since the day she met him, and it had taken that moment of vulnerability for her to fully trust him.

But with this dream, she suddenly wondered if she did trust him fully. What was her brain trying to tell her? That Nick could turn on her at any time? That she still had reservation about him, or foxes in general, or even predators in general?

She shook her head, forcing the thoughts out of her mind. She closed her eyes tight, gripped her paws into fists, and took a deep breath. "Get a hold of yourself, Judy," she whispered out loud. "You're better than this. It was just a dream. It was just a bad dream."

Her mind was made up. Judy did trust Nick, with her life. It had paid off against Bellwether—and several times since then—and she wasn't about to lose that over a dumb dream. Nick was now a police officer with the Zootopia Police Department, just like she was—the first fox, her partner, and one of the best mammals she knew. He might still be shrewd and sly when he needed to be, but to her, he was the best friend she could ask for.

Any prejudices she held against him, or any other predators, were long gone. And she intended to keep it that way.

The clock read 5:20 by the time she finally got out of bed, though by then at least her heart was beating at a normal rate again. She laid out her police clothes on her bed and turned on the shower. While she waited for the water to warm up, she turned on her phone and opened the ZNN app, ready to hear whatever news came up for the day.

A wolf was outside of City Hall, the sky barely beginning to brighten for the day. "The mayor's office today informed us that Mayor Lionheart will announce his new assistant mayor later today. As you all remember, his previous assistant was Dawn Bellwether, who framed Lionheart last year in the Night Howler case. Lionheart was given his position back by popular public demand, and he has assured us that his new assistant mayor, and I quote, 'will have the best intentions for both Zootopia and its mammals'. Kodi London, ZNN."

The camera went back to the two anchors in the studio, a snow leopard and a bison. "Thank you, Kodi," the snow leopard acknowledged, before turning to her co-anchor. "We'll have to see who Mayor Lionheart chooses."

"Yes, indeed," the bison responded. "I imagine another member of the prey family would be a smart choice, and so far all our sources say that the Mayor is going to choose between three of those."

"Yes, indeed," the snow leopard responded, and several pictures flashed on screen of the three choices. "Including one of our former ZNN news anchors, Peter Moosenbridge, but also up for consideration are real estate mongrel Ollie Font, and what is considered the frontrunner, Sheldon 'Nuts' Cheeks." She stared at the screen for a minute, before turning aside and whispering off-screen, "Is that really his name, or are you…" She blinked. "That's really his name?"

The camera switched over to the bison, who seemed to be put on the spot. He hesitated for a moment, thinking of something to say, before talking. "Reports say that Mayor Lionheart has already chosen his assistant mayor, as early as yesterday, and is simply waiting until this afternoon's press conference to officially announce who it is. Prior to that, he is expected to tell Chief Bogo of the Zootopia Police Department, which is expected to provide security for the event. Whoever the new assistant mayor is, they will be sworn in next Thursday at a public event outside City Hall."

It seemed the leopard was ready to speak again. "Looking at the weather for today, it appears that we will not be having anything unexpected. The weather generators in each of the districts are currently working as expected, with the exception of The Marshlands, which is having some difficulties that are expected to be resolved sometime later this morning. Elsewhere, expect some natural rain to enter The Outback tomorrow afternoon, so all you kangaroos and koalas should prepare accordingly."

The camera cut back to the bison. "This just in, we have some breaking news here. We have reports that a polar bear is wrecking havoc in Savannah Central, close to the Grand Pangolin apartment complex. Police officers are in hot pursuit, but they are maintaining their distance, as it appears the polar b—"

By now, Judy had barely gotten out of the shower, but she had heard everything she needed to. The polar bear was right outside her apartment complex, and she, as a ZPD officer, was ready to intercept and help out any way she could.

She didn't even bother putting on all her clothes. She settled with just her blue shirt and dark blue pants, and grabbed her utility belt as she ran out the door. Already, she could hear the loud voices of her police officer friends outside as they yelled for the polar bear to stop, only to then hear the loud noises of miniature earthquakes as the polar bear continued to run.

Judy's body felt sore as she ran; her dream the night before had drained much of her energy. But she had spent her whole life training to be a cop, and a little bit of soreness wasn't about to slow her down. In fact, as one of the fastest mammals on the force, she almost felt like she needed to move her legs even quicker to catch up to the polar bear.

As she made her way to the street, she realized she didn't need to catch up, because the polar bear was already there. In fact, it was mere feet away from her, waving its arms around wildly and yelling at the top of its lungs. It almost reminded Judy of when she had seen other mammals go savage the previous year, except here, the polar bear was very much aware of what it was doing.

How could she tell? Because she could hear him say, "Catch me if you can!"

Lucky for her, he was yelling at the other cops, all of whom were in the opposite direction. The polar bear turned back around to continue its escape, only to find Judy standing in the middle of the street, tapping her foot patiently, arms crossed in front of her chest, sly smile on her face.

"I just did," she smirked. "And it wasn't even that hard."

The polar bear blinked in surprise, probably wondering how Judy got there in the first place. For a moment, he seemed to even consider surrendering right then and there. However, that moment passed, and he narrowed his eyes, turned to the side, and began running down the alley between the apartment buildings. Judy was hot on his tail before the other cops had a chance of catching up.

The polar bear was surprisingly agile for its size, and within seconds it was weaving between the various alleyways of the apartment complex. The Grand Pangolin was one of several in this area of Savannah Central, which was almost entirely a housing district anyway. The polar bear had no trouble losing the other officers in the sea of alleys surrounding them.

But not Judy Hopps. The bunny was fast and agile, and despite the polar bear's best efforts, she was able to keep up with relative ease, even with the soreness in her legs. And on top of that, she was used to these back alleys; after all, she lived here, whereas the polar bear almost certainly lived in Tundra Town.

That didn't stop the polar bear from improvising. Dumpsters appeared every once in a while, which he easily shoved behind him in an attempt to slow down Judy. Every time, Judy would simply spring over them, barely losing more than a step at a time.

But those steps added up, and soon Judy found herself falling behind the polar bear. She had to find a way of catching up, otherwise she ran of the risk of losing him. She thought quickly about the various passages that the alleys led, and an idea came to her mind.

"Hey, I wouldn't turn right if I were you!" she yelled. "It's a dead end!"

The polar bear took the bait, and at the next fork, ran to the right. Judy slowed down just long enough to pull out her tranquilizer gun, and followed the polar bear into the alleyway.

The polar bear was at the end of it, at a dead end, just as Judy had told him. "Told you," she said with a smile. She pointed her gun at the bear's chest. "Now, we can do this the easy way—"

The bear jumped in her direction, all teeth and claws. It was obvious he was desperate enough to get away that he was even willing to resort to violence now.

Left with no choice, Judy pulled the trigger, barely having enough time to jump out of the way before she could even see if she hit.

The bear landed hard on the ground, and did not move any more.

Judy sighed in relief, glad that her aim was not off. She slid her tranquilizer gun back into her belt and retrieved her handcuffs, approaching the polar bear in preparation to arrest him.

The bear's eyes jerked open and he exposed his teeth. It was such a sudden act, Judy froze in her tracks, letting out an involuntary yelp of shock. She and the bear locked eyes for several long, tense seconds, before Judy finally realized that the bear was unconscious.

It was still not as big a relief as she hoped. She couldn't help but stare at the bear's wide, dead eyes, and his sharp carnivorous teeth. It reminded her a bit too much of the dream she had just woken up from not an hour before.

Finally, she was able to tear her gaze away from the bear's face long enough to put the handcuffs on, before backing away as quickly as she could. She could already hear the other officers searching the alleys nearby with their flashlights, trying to find the two of them. She didn't have the voice to lead them in her direction; she just sat in the fork separating the dead end from the rest of the alleys, waiting for the other ZPD officers to find her.

The whole time, she couldn't stop looking at the bear's face. The face that she had seen so many times before—but a face that she now looked upon so differently.

Maybe the dream had had more of an effect on her than she thought.