Watching Cerdo's lackeys advance with torcs in their paws was pretty far from ideal, but Nick wasn't quite panicking. Not quite, at least. There was still a very slim chance that he was clinging to, which was always a bit of an uncomfortable feeling. He had always done his best, as a mostly legitimate mammal of business and not, to go for the sure things. It was far better, in Nick's mind, to go with what he knew would work and come back with a modest return rather than going for the riskier but more rewarding path.

It was a style that had worked pretty well for a reasonably long amount of time. All things considered, he had built a wonderfully stable and free life for himself, however much there was lurking in his past waiting to tear it all down. It made it sort of ironic, then, that if he failed now it wouldn't be one of those old ghosts that did so. It was even more ironic that failing would, in essence, mean getting everything he wouldn't have ever let himself dream of achieving. A position as an alchemist at the side of the leader of the kingdom would be about as far as it was possible to rise, with rewards far beyond anything he could hope to earn traveling from barony to barony and doing his work for hire.

Of course, achieving that position would mean losing control over his very mind, but still. A lot of mammals would happily make that trade. Nick wasn't one of them, though, and even as he tried to maintain his composure in the face of near certain doom, his mind was racing as he considered the best way to communicate what he needed to. His paws were a bit tied in terms of what he could actually do, though, and what happened in the next thirty seconds would probably decide the fate of the kingdom for years to come. If he gave away his idea too early, it'd certainly fail, and so Nick tried desperately to wear the right mask.

His usual smug and aloof look simply wouldn't work; Cerdo had proven himself to be a remarkably shrewd judge of mammals and would probably notice if Nick didn't appear to be acting suitably for the situation. Which was, Nick reminded himself as he tried putting his features into an appropriately dismayed and beaten look, pretty dire.

And then, with Cerdo watching over it all, the guard approaching Nick had gotten far enough to put a torc on him. Nick mentally made a prayer to the gods, hoping against hope that Cerdo's lack of specificity would work against him. Nick felt the cold metal going around his neck, nestled above the torc he already wore, and had to resist the urge to smile.

"The three of you will obey my commands," Cerdo said, and he gestured at the guards who had held Nick, Judy, and the princess aloft, "Put them down."

"Now that this nonsense is over," Cerdo said, busying himself shuffling through the papers on his desk, "It's time to see to the fate of the kingdom itself. The first order of business, of course, is going to be getting the alchemical array around all of Zootopia finished, and from there we can start planning the princess's marriage. I've started narrowing down the candidates who will most contribute to the stability of the kingdom, naturally, but I see no reason not to let the princess herself choose her favorite from them."

"That's very generous of you," the princess said, all but spitting the words.

She had her head held high, and despite the high note of fear in her voice was seemingly doing her best to stand strong to the last moment. It was kind of impressive, and yet at the same time it made Nick wince internally. It really wasn't the right time for defiance, however smart his own mouth might tend to be. Nick tried catching her eye without drawing attention to himself, but she seemed too entirely focused on Cerdo.

"It is," Cerdo agreed, "I could simply force you to choose someone—even myself, were I that sort of mammal—but it's better this way. Nobler, I think. It's not about getting control for my own selfish ends, but for the good of the kingdom as a whole. It's about everyone's happiness, and that does include yours."

"I'll do whatever I can to fight you," the princess said, and her voice was trembling, "I will."

Nick couldn't blame her for thinking that he had failed in his own efforts and everything was up to her, but it didn't make it easier to watch. He almost had the perfect thing to say, and then Cerdo shook his head. "No, you won't," he said, "I order you not to."

Everything that happened afterwards seemed to happen all at once.

The princess had screamed the word "No!" with such an incredible depth of defiance that it hardly seemed possible to have come from her.

Cerdo's eyes widened as he began to realize something had gone terribly wrong with his plan.

Judy stole a belt's worth of quauhxicallis from the guard who had been restraining her.

Nick grabbed both torcs on his neck and ripped them off with one paw, pointing at Cerdo as he did so with his other, and shouted "Get his torc!"

What happened first was impossible to tell, and what followed was sheer chaos.

Cerdo yelled for the guards even as the princess snatched a sword from the belt of the closest guard and twisted out of reach, running for Cerdo. Judy was little more than a blur, bowling over the nearest guards and heading for the pig while Nick dropped to the floor and placed both his paws against it spread wide. Performing alchemy without a focus was much easier with a philosopher's stone, but Nick had used nearly all of the stone's power.

Nearly all wasn't the same thing as all, though, and the stones of the floor obeyed his command, cracking and heaving like a flower blooming. It was far from his best work as an alchemist—that would probably have to be what he had done to the torcs—but it did the job. Judy was scrambling across the altered ground, which rose and fell in a crazed topology, so quickly that it was as though it was completely flat.

Nick, for his part, tried to keep giving her an advantage, but even though the other members of the City Guard weren't nearly as agile as she was it wasn't long before one managed to grab him. "Get it on and tell everyone to stop!" Nick urged before a meaty arm caught him in the crook of a massive elbow.

Nick somehow wasn't surprised that it had been Bogo who managed to snag him, but at least the buffalo wasn't trying to rip him in half, which Nick had considered as a very real possibility. Still, it would have felt wrong to hurt mammals who weren't acting on their own free will, and he was glad that Cerdo was apparently genuine in his desire to avoid hurting others. Well, physically at least.

He watched, his heart pounding, as the princess was the next to be captured, hauled off the ground even as she threw her sword at Cerdo. She missed by a rather significant margin, but Nick could appreciate the fight left in her. That left Judy, and he couldn't help but admire how quickly she had gone along with his plan without even knowing the details.

Granted, he hadn't known the details until he had actually tried it; it had simply been a desperate last effort attempt when he converted the torcs meant to control them into anti-alchemy arrays. It would have been easier to simply make them inert, and wearing one meant he had basically handicapped his own ability to do alchemy, but as he watched Judy take a flying leap to snag the torc off from around Cerdo's neck, he had to admit it had worked almost as well as though he had actually planned it.

Even as Cerdo reached out in apparent horror, still not seeming to understand how he had been beaten, Judy stood up, the torc now around her own neck.

"Everyone stop!" Judy cried, and the room all but froze.

It might have been comical under other circumstances, as every mammal save Cerdo halted in the middle of whatever they had been doing. Mammals trying to get back on their feet stopped in place, and Nick could feel Bogo stiffening behind him.

Cerdo, as out of shape as he was, tried futilely lunging after Judy, stumbling on the heaved floor. "You can fix everything!" he pleaded, "It doesn't have to end like this! My plan is the only way, don't you see? You can't let it end. You can't! You have to let me work!"

"Seize him," Judy ordered, and the guards who had until recently been under his thrall grabbed the pig bodily.

"Wait a minute," Judy said, and Nick saw her pick up something from the floor.

It was, he saw, the torc Bogo had put around his own neck, the anti-alchemy array inside it still working. Judy had to stand on her tip-toes to get it around Cerdo's neck, where it barely fit; the pig's neck was significantly thicker. But it did fit, and it seemed like a reasonable precaution.

"Are you going to declare yourself queen now?" Cerdo sneered, "You want that power, don't you?"

Judy regarded him levelly for a moment, and Nick wondered what was going through her head. "No," she said at last, "I don't. Everyone, I want you to stop obeying any commands Cerdo gave you."

All of the mammals in the room stayed still for a moment, and Nick prompted her. "Or you," he said quietly.

"Oh!" Judy said, her ears shooting up, "Right. Yes. Me too. Stop obeying any commands I gave you."

Mammals started moving again, far more naturally than before, although the guards still had a now weeping Cerdo tightly secured. "Cerdo is still under arrest, though," the queen said, "Get him in the nearest cell that can contain an alchemist."

Nick exchanged a glance with Judy. "I... may have to go fix that," he said, remembering what they had done as they escaped Phoenix, and the queen nodded.

"Of course," she said, "But before you go, I must thank you for your service. And you as well, Commandant Totchli."

Judy bowed and Nick immediately followed suit, and when she said, "It was my honor to help, your majesty," Nick hastily repeated the words.

"Why don't you go with Captain Nicholas to see to the prisoner?" the queen said.

Judy eagerly agreed, but Nick lingered a moment longer, watching the queen and the princess as they approached each other and tightly embraced.

"What he offered wasn't freedom," the queen said quietly, "There are some changes we'll have to make, but not Cerdo's. What he did can never happen again."

"I have some ideas about that," the princess said, standing tall.

She sounded somehow older to Nick's ears than she had before, and Nick turned away as Judy walked over to where he was and pulled herself under his arm, cradling the top of her head against the bottom of his. Nick took in the scent of her, something that somehow still called to mind open farmland despite everything they had been through, and listened as the present and future rulers of Zootopia spoke.

He was only half-paying attention, no matter how valuable the information was; there were, after all, far more pressing things on his mind as he walked out of the room, Judy warm against him. There would, Nick was sure, be time enough for everything.

"So this is where you grew up?" Nick asked, taking in the sight before him.

The castle—no matter what Judy called it, that's what it looked like to him—loomed in front of them, somehow managing to be both imposing and homey at the same time. It looked built more for comfort than for defense, all neat and solid stone with a layer of ivy covering most of the walls and moving gently in the breeze.

At his side, Judy nodded, but as he looked down at her he saw the look that had come into her eyes. Something not quite sad, but in about the same neighborhood. He didn't have to ask, but he did anyway. It was, he told himself, what a good boyfriend would do. "He said that too, didn't he?" Nick asked quietly, and Judy nodded again.

There was no question as to what it meant when her ears drooped slightly, and Nick could certainly understand her mixed feelings. In the months that had passed since the final confrontation with Cerdo, Judy had told him, as best as she could manage, about her experience with the other Nick, the one who had existed only briefly and then only in her head. Judy had confessed, once, that it felt strange to mourn someone when he was also still around, but Nick had known what she meant. That Nick, who had sacrificed himself to save her, was gone for good. However short his existence had been, he had been his own fox, and it was a little touching that Judy still wished it hadn't happened. It was, Nick thought, one of the sure signs of how much Judy cared.

It was one of the things he loved about her. And when Judy looked up at him, her expression brightening, he saw one of the other things. She was moving on, in a way he never really had before meeting her. It didn't mean that she was forgetting that other Nick—he was reasonably sure she never would—but she wasn't going to keep dwelling on it.

She looked from him to the seat of Totchli Barony, a smile touching her face. "I'll show you around," she said, "Everyone's going to love you."

Judy had said almost exactly the same thing before, on their way to the barony, and Nick put on his most charming smile, as he had before. "Well of course they will," Nick said, tenting his fingers on his chest, "The life of the party, that's me."

Judy rolled her eyes, nudging him in the chest. There was a faint metallic ringing as she did, which Nick was still getting used to. The armor of a member of the City Guard still didn't quite feel right, even after months of wearing it. Sometimes, when he looked at the gleaming breastplate in the mornings before putting it on, it didn't seem real. It made him feel almost like a fraud, like he was putting on a disguise or a costume rather than a uniform. But he wore it all the same, and it was starting to feel almost natural.

Almost.

But staying in the City Guard, at least for just a little bit longer, felt right. More than that, it felt like he was doing the right thing, and Nick was enjoying the feeling. Continued membership wasn't without its downsides, but it wasn't without its perks, either.

As if she had been able to tell what he was thinking, Judy raised her fingers and brushed them against the emblem embossed on his breastplate over his heart. That was probably more different for Judy than it had been for Nick; he had barely worn the old uniform before the new ones were released.

The ones without an accompanying torc.

Nick sometimes saw Judy play with the fur of her own neck, running her fingers across it like she expected something more solid than the slim chain necklace she wore to be there no matter how often she did it and came away without the solid thickness of a torc. Sort of the same way a mammal used to wearing spectacles would sometimes gesture to push them up the bridge of their muzzle even when they weren't wearing them. The torcs were gone now—for good, if the queen was to be believed—and with that the emblem of the City Guard had been relocated onto the armor they all wore.

"You don't regret this?" Judy asked softly, her fingers still running over the knotted starburst pattern of the sigil.

Nick smiled down at Judy and caught her fingers in his. The fingers of a paw so similar to his own, paw pads and all. "I could ask you the same thing," he said, squeezing gently.

"You have," Judy said.

"You have," Nick echoed.

There were two discussions they had both held, more than once. The queen had offered to have a court alchemist undo Nick's crude and desperate attempt to save Judy's life so that she could be entirely a bunny again rather than having a chimeric mixture with a fox. But that would have been a long and difficult and likely quite painful process, because the changes Nick had made were far more than skin deep. It wasn't just her arm, after all, but all the internal organs Nick had copied into her and integrated so thoroughly that it was almost as though they had always been there.

It almost felt like some kind of metaphor to Nick, but he didn't pursue the line of thought any further. All that mattered, in his mind, was that Judy had refused. She had given a practical reason first. It would likely take months of treatment, and for long stretches of it she'd be without an arm altogether and unfit for duty. The City Guard, after all, was still in desperate need of good mammals, especially considering its new mandate. But the other reason she had given, the more personal one, was an answer that Nick had echoed when it came to why he also stayed in the City Guard.

She liked it.

"No rest for the wicked, and all that," Nick said, entwining his fingers into hers as they continued their approach to the seat of Totchli Barony.

It was still too far away for him to make out the faces of the bunnies watching their approach from the many windows as anything other than blobs of white or gray or brown, but he could see them. And they, no doubt, could see what he and Judy were doing. But Judy, surely as aware as he was of their potential audience, didn't pull away from his touch or otherwise give any sort of sign that she minded.

"The queen doesn't expect us to do nothing but work, you know," Judy replied.

"Oh?" Nick asked, "Do my ears deceive me, or did Commandant Totchli say that there's more to life than working? I must be an awful influence, really."

Judy laughed, squeezing his fingers in hers until Nick could almost feel her pulse. "So you think it was a coincidence we were assigned to Totchli Barony together?"

"Mmm, I don't know," Nick teased, "Surely it was simply the logical decision. You know the barony better than any other officer, and I have it on pretty good authority that I'm a decent alchemist."

For all he joked, though, Nick knew she was right. The royal decree that torcs would no longer be used had been quite simple, as had been the deactivation of the alchemy that kept them working at the level of the kingdom. But ensuring that Cerdo hadn't left behind any sleeper agents was another thing altogether. It'd be the work of a lifetime, probably. More than that, Nick didn't know how they'd ever be sure that they were done. Cerdo had been, for all his faults, a cunning and meticulous planner. It didn't seem unreasonable to assume that he had foreseen the possibility that an accident might befall him before his plan had come to fruition and left behind someone to carry on his work in his place.

Or maybe that was simply paranoia. Cerdo had been a mammal, after all, not a god. He had failed because of what he couldn't foresee, no matter how clever he was. It'd probably be a better idea for Nick to treat their assignment to Totchli Barony—along with the support staff that was probably all set to meet them once they were formally received by Judy's parents—as a bit of a vacation. They had, at most, a month or two before they'd continue their circuit of the Middle Baronies before making their way inwards again.

"You're an excellent alchemist, Captain Flamel," Judy said, her tone completely genuine rather than full of the mock formality she could have used.

That was another change, and for Nick perhaps the hardest one to get used to. He had spent so long as simply Nicholas of the Middle Baronies that thinking of himself as Nicholas Flamel felt like even more of a put-upon than thinking of himself as a member of the City Guard. Of course, when the queen herself offered land and a title as a reward for services rendered, it would have been foolish to say no. Nick hadn't even set foot in Flamel Barony yet, which had been among Cerdo's holdings before the queen had split them up, but it sounded nice. Smaller than Totchli Barony by far, of course, just a modest holding in the Middle Baronies, but it was all his.

As far as rewards went, though, having Judy back was beyond anything he could have ever asked for, and while that was a particularly sappy thought Nick didn't particularly care. "Of course I am," Nick said, his smile widening.

They walked in silence for a bit longer, the castle growing ever larger as they made it further and further down the charming little road that led up to it. "Nick?" Judy asked suddenly.

"Yes?" he replied.

"Do you think someone will actually try it again? What Cerdo did, I mean."

The easy answer, of course, would have been to say no. To say that Cerdo had been an aberration, a mammal unique in his knowledge and drive and access to the power and money he needed to try. But it wouldn't have been an honest answer. Knowledge could certainly be lost—the wonders and horrors underneath Phoenix certainly attested to that much—but destroying it was a whole other matter. Even if Cerdo hadn't left an agent behind, someone else might discover what he had. Or, for that matter, that someone might come from beyond the kingdom itself, as Cerdo had pretended to do.

"Yes," Nick said, "Someone probably will. But it won't matter."

"Why not?" Judy asked, looking up at him.

His tone had been completely serious, and he knew she could tell. His sincerity was one of those things she loved about him. When he showed it, at least, which wasn't always easy. For Judy, though, he would always be willing to try.

"Because there are mammals like you," Nick said, and he could see her ears flushing ever so slightly at the warmth and care in his voice, "And I guess me, too."

"We aren't going to live forever, you know," she said, and Nick nodded.

"Well, sure," he said, "But as long as there are mammals after us who'll do the right thing, that's all it'll take."

It was a bit more optimistic than Nick was used to being, but it still felt right to say, and for another moment there was silence as Judy seemed to consider his words. "Nick?" Judy said, looking back up into his face, "Are you trying to tell me we should have kits?"

"I..." Nick stammered, "That is... I meant..."

Judy laughed, reaching up to grab either side of his muzzle and pulling it down until his head was on the same level as hers. "Lost for words?" she said, "That's rare."

Nick nodded; he would admit when she had him beat. It hadn't been even close to what he had meant, but hearing her say it...

The world seemed remarkably full of possibilities as she gave him a gentle kiss on the lips and then let go of his head. "We can talk about it later," she said, still smiling, and she pulled down on Nick's uniform tunic beneath his armor to straighten out a fold he hadn't noticed.

"Yeah," Nick said, and then he cleared his throat, regaining his composure, "Let's save that for later. Unless that's the first thing your parents are going to ask when they see me. Is it going to be the first thing they ask?"

Judy sighed. "We'll see," she said, with something of a resigned air.

"Talking to your parents can't be any worse than taking on Cerdo," Nick said, smiling, "We'll get through it together."

Judy ran her paw around her neck again, catching the thin chain of her necklace and running her fingers along it until they came to the small golden carrot that hung from it. "Together," she agreed, and then she let the little ornament slip out of her grasp to grab Nick's paw again.

Author's Notes:

Well, it's been a while, hasn't it? I've held off on author's notes for quite a few chapters now, for a few different reasons. The first, and perhaps simplest, is that with a grand total of 75 chapters there simply were fewer and fewer things worth mentioning as the story neared its end. All the pieces had been set up and explained in the notes for earlier chapters, and there simply didn't seem like a need. Beyond that, the last sequence of chapters was sort of designed to flow one after the other, and I didn't want notes cluttering things up.

But there was one final reason for my reluctance to have author's notes, and I'll get to it momentarily. First, though, here are the points I figure are worth mentioning from this and previous chapters.

Xiuhcoatl was previously referenced very early in the story as a warrior; in chapter 74 we see also a reference to the name as a god, which reflects a bit of duality in terms of how things are seen for quasi-historical figures.

Nick and Judy did indeed do quite a number on the anti-alchemy cell in Phoenix, so it probably is for the best that he went to fix it.

Nick taking on the surname Flamel is, naturally, a reference to the historical alchemist Nicolas Flamel. Although Flamel might be well-known now for his importance to the plot of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (or Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone for my fellow Americans), he was an actual person. Amusingly enough, all Hermione would have had to do is crack open a decent Muggle encyclopedia to learn exactly who he was! In any case, though, the real Nicolas Flamel was a French scribe who was born around 1330 and died in 1418, although about two centuries after his death he developed a reputation for having secretly achieved immortality via alchemical means.

As previously established much earlier in the story, the little torc ornament Nick gave Judy was, for rabbits, something understood to be a sign of proposing. Although this chapter shows that torcs are no longer worn, this chapter shows that Judy has made her decision and is displaying it on a regular necklace instead.

There's one more reason I've held off on author's notes, and that's because I have an announcement I have very mixed feelings about. I've known this was coming for a long time now, and it was very difficult for me to figure out the best way to say it. But, here and now, at the end of the story, the time has definitely come for me to say it.

I've made the decision to go on hiatus from weekly updates for Zootopia stories. This was a very difficult decision for me, as I've greatly enjoyed participating in the fandom in my own small way, and I cannot say enough how much I've enjoyed having you, the reader, along for the ride. However, I've previously mentioned, in a few author's notes, my outlook on writing fan fiction as preparation for writing an original story.

I have, therefore, decided to stop posting Zootopia stories on a weekly basis so that I can focus on an original work. I'm very excited by this original project of mine, which I can honestly say is also some of the most fun I've had writing and really represents an attempt by me to bring my writing to that next, higher level.

It is, however, not solely my work, as I have a partner in all of this. I am very excited to officially announce that TheWyvernsWeaver and I are working together on an original work with no connection whatsoever to Zootopia.

Weaver and I first started talking a bit more than a year ago, when he did a fantastic bit of fan art for my first ever Zootopia story as an incredible gift. He's a wonderful artist, and you may have seen his work in the Zootopia fandom before for Sunderance, which he has been illustrating.

Through our conversations together, we found a shared desire to create something new, and I am very happy to announce that we've set up a website for it:

LastFables . com (get rid of the spaces to go there; unfortunately FanFiction won't allow me to include a direct link)

Last Fables is a work of anthropomorphic fantasy, featuring an original setting and cast of characters that Weaver and I developed together. I'm writing the story and he's doing the accompanying illustrations, and I can hardly wait to be able to share more details! We'll use the website as the location for future announcements, the first of which will come soon, so if you like my writing or Weaver's art I'd encourage you to check it out.

But while it is very exciting to be working on this project, it's also sad to be leaving behind my weekly Zootopia story updates. I think I had a good run, going from September of 2016 all the way up to February of 2020 without missing a single week. It's been a long time, and a lot of chapters, and it's been a wonderful learning experience. I like to think that I'm a better writer now than I was when I started, and a lot of that is thanks to you as a reader.

I greatly, deeply, and sincerely appreciate everyone who has read my work, and especially those who have commented on it. Working in the Zootopia fandom has been enormously rewarding for me, and I've met a number of fantastic people in the process. It was a very difficult decision for me to decide to stop posting on a weekly basis, but I've decided that Last Fables needs my full attention as a writer in order to come to life.

Still, I would like to emphasize that this is a hiatus, not a full stop. My appreciation of Zootopia and its fandom hasn't lessened, and if Disney releases a Zootopia 2 I'll be seeing it on opening night without any question! I will be back for future Zootopia stories, I can promise that much, such as one-shot works. Both because it'll help me sort of play around with ideas and because I genuinely love the characters and the setting and I can't bear to set them fully aside. I can also still be found on a couple Zootopia-related Discords, and I'm always happy to respond to questions I get there or through PMs.

In closing, therefore, I want to say thank you again. As a reader, you've made the effort that I've put into my Zootopia stories worthwhile, and I cannot thank you enough for that. As always, if you're so inclined as to comment, I'd love to hear what you think!