Hello everyone,

This was written as depression relief. With Jonathan Roy's "Keeping Me Alive" song at its core.

The silence dropped like an anvil.

The fox in the middle of the room sluggishly dropped to his knees, eyes wide. Gaping at the mammal in front of him, he searched her face for an answer. His efforts were in vain, as there was no sign of compassion in the bunny on the throne.

She was staring back at him with a cold, unmoved gaze of her amethyst eyes. Even her posture was as stoic as one could imagine. With her back straight and paws resting on the golden ornaments of the armrests, she was the perfect representation of an iceberg. Quite fitting with her silver Longpao gown embroidered with the images of ice dragons.

Before the fox could utter a word, a few guards surrounded him and clasped a heavy collar around his neck. It had several chains connected to it. He grasped it reflexively, tugging at it once. That's when he caught the sight of them from the corner of his eye.

Sitting in a row, positioned on the right side of the throne room, the ministers of the empire were giving him an array of the same disgusted, mocking gazes.

The fox's face switched to an enraged grimace and his head snapped back to the bunny.

Seeing this reaction, the guards yanked at the chains, holding him in place while two of them crossed the blades of their halberds on his neck, pushing him down.

Still, he lifted his head to look at her. Taking in her expression, the anger melted away to give way to helplessness. The longer he stared, the more pitiful he looked. At that point, tears began forming in his eyes. He shifted his body towards her, opening his mouth.

The prime minister immediately rose up and clapped her the ewe's signal the guards yanked the fox back, dragging him back towards the massive entrance door.

A roar escaped his throat and he rushed forward. The four guards holding the chains were knocked off their feet from the sudden pull. The fox lunged towards the throne on all fours, dragging them along.

A bulky water buffalo stepped forward from beside the empress and placed his hooved fingers on his katana.

The doe raised her paw, stopping him in place.

With one last jump, the fox reached the throne, panting and with fangs bared. His pupils turned from black into smoldering crimson. Even with his agitated presence mere inches away, the grey doe did not even blink.

The red vulpine stared down at her, breathing heavily through his nose.

She remained still with her expression unchanged.

His eyes focused on the crown on her head, a complex combination of golden dragons, beads, and feathers. The very symbol of the highest authority in the entire Zootopia Empire. He let out a growl and swinged his arm, claws first.

The grey doe raised two fingers.

A blue mist engulfed the fox and his entire body began getting rapidly encased in ice. With his last warm breath, the fox extended his arm as far as possible, before his claws froze a mere inch from the crown.

The entire throne room went silent, with the fox in an icy coffin at the center of everyone's attention.

The bunny closed her eyes and made a small wave of her paw. Her imperial guard reacted immediately and pulled at the chains again. The ice statue fall on its back and got hauled on the floor.

Halfway towards the door, the guards noticed that the figure they were pulling started giving off steam. The vulpine's eyes, even though trapped behind the arctic shell, began glowing even stronger than before. It took just a few seconds for the ice to revert to water, as more of the fox's body got released from the frozen prison.

Free, the vulpine jumped up to his feet, with his appearance different than just a minute ago. His frame seemed to be emanating little streams of smoke here and there. The air around him quivered like over an open flame. But the biggest change was in his own body. The fur darkened to an almost black color, while his features got elongated to proportions unnatural for a fox.

With a low rumble in his chest, the bizarre mammal began walking back to the throne.

The guards lunged forward to stop him.

The first two who aimed to tackle him from behind, he simultaneously hit with backpawed strikes without looking back. The pair of wolves got catapulted back into supporting pillars with enough force to make the thick wood crack. A tiger swung his halberd at the fox, only to discover that his weapon got much shorter. The striped predator stared at the smoldering end of the ramaining wooden pole in his paws.

The buffalo beside the doe shot an inquiring gaze at his empress, only to see a paw raised to stop him once again.

The transformed fox stood at the base of the few steps leading to the throne. His eyes were blazing with fire. The metal collar from earlier was gone, burned into nothingness.

The bunny empress graced him with the same, cold expression.

His expression, however, was different. Gone was the rage and shock. Now his face could be described with only two words - shattered and resignated.

Those with keener eyes would spot two little streams of steam coming from the corner of his eyes. His tears wouldn't flow, as the heat instantly vaporized them.

They shared a gaze for a few tense, silent seconds.

Eventually, the fox reached up to his neck, right to his necklace. He tore it off and threw at the doe's feet. With that done, he turned around and marched to the door. Nobody dared stopping him.

When he was gone from the room, commotion started with ministers rushing to express their views. They all instantly went silent when she shot them a cold glare.

The empress rose from her seat, causing everyone present to bow in her direction. She snapped her fingers and ice began forming from the floor level in a thin column, raising the necklace to a level of her paws. The bunny took the item and observed it for a moment before retreating her paw into her broad sleeve. Without saying a word, she headed to one of the doors at the back of the room. Servants hurried to open them for her and a couple of otter maids followed in her tracks. However, the doe waved them off and went into the revealed corridor alone. The servants accepted her order without hesitation, retreating in bowed positions.

The empty corridor ended with another pair of doors, leading to one of her private chambers. She marched the entire way and entered the room, shutting the door behind her. Only then she rested her back on them. Her earlier expression vanished, replaced by one of excruciating pain.

Clutching the necklace in her paw, the Ice Dragon Empress of Zootopia slid to the ground, sobbing with a voiceless cry.