Author's Note:

Ya'll didn't think I was gonna let THIS story happen off screen, didja?

If you are just joining this series for the first time this story is in the continuum AFTER Season 2, so you will definitely want to read Thanks for the Fox and Guardian Blue Season One and Season Two for important context, you may also want to read Winter Hearth for important causal background.

I want to think Disney would fully support what I'm doing, but my Valentines Day contribution… you know which one… that's not gonna make me any corporate pals, no siree! This is fanfiction and written just for the enjoyment of the fans! Thank you all for reading!

Also! A HUGE shout-out to J. N. Squire for assisting with editing this series! I can't believe he's still doing this. Thank you!

Sheepless in New Reynard

Chapter 1: Honey

Stupid, worthless, conniving, lying, egotistical, smug, cheating, ignorant foxes.

BAM, BAM, BAM!

Brutish, dull, arrogant, selfish, greedy, thoughtless, cruel, careless vulpines!

BAM, BAM, BAM, BAM!

Sharla wiped her face in her sleeve as she panted in frustration in a bathroom stall made for mammals up to five times her size. She wasn't big, even for a sheep. Her black wool was neatly tended to make her look even smaller and more demure. It gave her a professional appeal, and made her less imposing to the children that she taught. Most of them were smaller than sheep, so it was important not to be imposing or it would distract from the lesson. The ewe sucked in a deep breath and wiped her eyes with her sleeve. She was so angry that she'd been crying.

Never had she known a depth of utter betrayal as sour and horrible as this. Judy had been her best friend since before they were even teenagers. How could she be so cruel? Was this a joke to her? Did she have any idea the pain her now former friend was enduring? Sharla angrily punched the metal wall of her stall again.

Foxes. It wasn't Judy's fault specifically. It came back to those loathsome, petty, sneaky, thieving, shallow, crude, pointless, worthless foxes. Sharla angrily exited the stall to put some water on her face. She needed to get herself under control so she wasn't a mess walking out of here. The last thing she needed was for some judgmental PTA parent seeing her as an emotional wreck and spreading dumb rumors around town about her breaking up with someone or worse. She needed to vent. She vented. Her close relationship with a thesaurus aside, it hadn't really helped much.

Her mood did not improve as she walked away from the stall. Standing in the bathroom, probably actually waiting for her, was one of the foxes she'd just gotten done yelling at. Nicely dressed and pretending to be some kind of elegant for a trip to town, the older female vulpine simple leaned back against the wall right beside the door exiting the facilities.

"Leave me alone. Stop following me," grumbled the black-toned ewe.

"Being mad at me won't help your brother," the older lady fox observed. Sharla narrowed her eyes. So freaking smug! How dare she even bring Gareth up! He was probably torn to shreds by a bunch of her kind. At least predators. And truth be told, Judy and her fox might well have been a large part responsible because they decided to delay the only help he might have had. They wouldn't help her. They were relaxing on vacation and didn't want to be involved. It was a sheep problem. Sharla saw it for what it was.

"Your best chance to help me in a meaningful way passed when you opted to breed," the sheep responded. The lady vulpine pinned her ears back. Yeah, that got under her fur. Predator moms could be super protective. Sharla didn't care. Judy taught her long ago not to be afraid of preds. Her lack of fear had worked for her up to this point. This fox needed to respect this sheep, even if it meant Sharla needed to be uncharacteristically hostile. Being hostile was easy for her now, as mad and hurt as she was. It felt good to unload on this meddlesome mammal.

The vixen gazed away a moment, as if clearing her already empty head, and then staring back at the sheep. "Be that as it may, I do have information to give to you so you can contact someone who can help. I can't make you do anything, but I care about my family, and I know you care about yours. Judy wants to help, and this is how she thinks she can best do that." The lady fox held up the napkin that Judy had written whatever worthless pass-the-buck number she had thought of.

"Not interested. My brother is not any of your concern now, Miss…?"

"Vivienne," the fox reintroduced.

"Vivienne, I gotta know… Why Judy, huh?" Sharla walked up to the fox, almost nose to nose with her. Get in her face. That's what preds understand. Verbally bite back. That's what they respect. It's all they know. Do that and they back off. "What could he possibly want with her? Shouldn't you be worried about that?"

"He loves her. Why should that worry me?" Viv appeared unfazed.

"But why? Why a bunny? Why might he prefer someone suspiciously the size of… oh… a very, very young fox?" Sharla crossed her arms, inwardly blanching at herself. Okay, so that was actually low, even for her. That was her rage speaking. She sucked in a breath and tried to calm herself down. This was about to end up being a real fight. Sharla was way too angry and she needed to calm down. Vivienne, however, looked stoic.

"You don't know him… that's plain to see," she expressed calmly, though her ears were tight to her head and her lips were pulled up enough to show her teeth a bit as she spoke, "but I'm sure you watch the news, given that you're a teacher. You know what Judy did for him. That's not an isolated incident in their relationship. She's been the absolute best thing that's ever happened to my son, and I would honestly be far more concerned about him if he hadn't fallen in love with her."

Sharla glared at the too-good vixen. She wanted to wipe that self-assured, calm, controlled, blank expression off her pointy fox face. This fox had no idea what she and Judy had gone through when they were younger. The sheep spoke in a venomous, low tone. "You know she was attacked by a fox when she was little right? Tore her open, right in front of me. So you must understand why it's so easy for me to tell she's being abused. I'm worried about her." That mess with Gideon was not something she was ever going to forget or forgive. There was blood all over her little friend's face, the ground, her paws… Sharla had nightmares for weeks after that. Hell, she nearly ended up going to therapy. She figured Judy must have, but the doe never said anything about it. She was too proud.

Viv took a slow, deep breath and leaned back against the wall heavily again. "And Judy grew past that, Sharla. I'm a lot more worried that you have not. You're a teacher, for crying out loud. You sound like you just hate all foxes for that. That's juvenile! Don't you have to teach fox kits in your class? How do you feel about them?" she asked.

Sharla jerked at that. Oh hell no. This stupid, self-important, pretentious fox was not standing there criticizing her ability to teach the second grade. She was an award-winning teacher! She boasted the highest test-scoring class for two years running! If wool could bristle, Sharla was the rough side of Velcro. That was the last straw. She did not ask to be accosted and judged in a public freaking bathroom by this over-blown helicopter parent!

The sheep growled out with disgust, intent only on lashing out at this meddling vulpine. "I do have to teach them, yes. And it's hard. I have to struggle to cram some kind of usable something into their boggled little minds before I unleash them onto the next grade. I do my best but I still feel like I'm serving mud pies to my biggest critic. For as hard as it must be for Judy as the first bunny cop, fighting bears and blowing open scandals bigger than the whole city, I promise it's far harder to teach a fox kit fractions."

Sharla had to force down her grin. The look on Vivienne's face was priceless. She appeared absolutely sick from that. What was she gonna do? Hit a sheep in the bathroom? Bite her? Scratch her? It would be sweet, sweet revenge to make Judy arrest her husband's (gag) mother. It would honestly serve her right. Sharla felt pain in her keratin-tipped fingers from how tight she'd been clenching up in her rage.

She watched the lady fox close her eyes a moment, to compose herself, and speak again. "I know how angry you are, Sharla. You would be a pretty miserable teacher if you were unfair to your students. I don't think that's true. Let it go a moment and let me help you." Sharla put her velvety black ears back. This one was pretty refined for a fox. Fine. She would just push her harder. She wasn't gonna get to leave thinking she somehow won the day for her cowardly son and his brainwashed bunny.

The sheep took a determined step forward and practically growled out, "The foxes I get aren't students, Vivienne. They aren't there to learn. They are there because they legally have to be. My only duty to them is to keep them from biting each other. If they can learn that, they'll have an easier time in prison later. Compliance is all they can hope to learn, and that's only gotten harder to do because after Bellwether got removed they stopped letting us use muzzles on them."

A wave of ice cold seemed to cut through the whole room. Sharla took two nearly panicked steps back away from Vivienne as her emerald eyes changed in an instant. A keen, narrow, piercing gaze locked on the sheep's throat. Sharla had seen angry mammals before, but this was completely different. The sheep's back hit the stall she'd exited a moment ago. She wanted to get a rise out of Vivienne, but those were the eyes of a killer. Sharla felt immobile. She felt like she couldn't breathe just from how that fox was glaring at her. She wasn't about to be just slapped or clawed or bitten. Looking at this mother's fury, she stared for the first time into her own agonized oblivion.

Sharla went too far. She didn't actually feel that way about any of her students. Not one single kit or cub, fox or bunny, sheep or wolf she'd ever taught had ever really been treated unfairly that she could think of. She was just trying to wind up a stupid fox. This was so stupid. She knew preds were protective. What the hell had she been thinking? For a brief second, as those gleaming sharp teeth bared themselves in sickening viciousness, Sharla the sheep knew how she was going to die. All she could think in that sad, awful moment was:

Please… not in a public restroom.

But the teeth vanished, Vivienne's expression falling as she sighed. She leaned back against the wall again and crossed her arms in front of her, as if willing her claws into hiding.

Sharla spoke shakily. "I… I'm gonna leave." She meant it. She'd go straight home and deadbolt the door and stay there until she knew that fox was back in Zootopia or wherever she lived.

"Wait…" Viv commanded in a dark tone. Sharla felt nausea rush through her. This was it. She was trapped.

"You can't hold me here against my will," Sharla murmured, her voice betraying her. It wavered. She was literally shaking. She couldn't help it.

"I'm gonna… make you a deal," Vivienne announced in a slow, measured tone. The way she said it made the sheep think that this deal was the only way out of that bathroom alive.

"What kind of deal?" Sharla whispered.

"Judy's contact… won't be able to help you. We both know that. While you either don't believe it, or don't care, Judy can't help you because of how the rules for the police force work. Personal involvement… all that mess."

"Duh. It's why I said don't bother," grumbled the sheep. She didn't want any deals, she just wanted to leave.

"It's a pain. But she can't help that. However… I happen to know someone who absolutely can help you."

"Why would you help me?" interrogated the ewe. She then crossed her arms in front of her chest. She needed to stop being stubborn and get out of this bathroom.

"I personally wouldn't help you out of a burning hole if I owned a ladder factory right now. My deal... I help you in a meaningful way to resolve the mystery of your missing sibling… and you never, ever get near my son or his wife ever again. I mean it. You don't come in barking distance of them. You assure me of this, and I will help you." Sharla widened her eyes at that statement. The vixen sounded dead serious. Could she actually know something? She sounded really genuine.

"What makes you think your contact can help me?" inquired Sharla.

Vivienne glared at the black sheep, those icy verdant eyes still gripping the ewe's soft, slight form like invisible claws. If the sheep were not otherwise highly educated she would have had all kinds of superstitious worries in the moment. This mother fox was intense.

Viv spoke again, slowly. "You think that your brother's disappearance has something to do with anti-sheep sentiment… You suspect folks who were keen on the conspiracy and maybe eager to strike back… right?"

"I said that much," Sharla murmured.

"I know someone who was perhaps the most deeply involved in uncovering that conspiracy. Long before any of the stuff you saw on the news came to light, she knew all of it. She runs an unassuming Bed and Breakfast in New Reynard. No one, and I mean no one knows more about the conspiracy, and those who sought to end it, than her. Her name is Honey. If anyone out there has mentioned anything about your brother, good or bad, she'll have heard about it." Sharla stared at the fox, wide-eyed. That sounded like exactly the kind of lead that she needed. It wasn't the safe do-nothing road that Judy suggested. This sounded like what her old bunny friend, the one that cared, would actually be doing. Judy would go to this dangerous mammal and get answers. It sounded like the real solution.

"Okay, that sounds… useful to me, but how do I get her to help me? I'm a sheep."

"A good question. She doesn't trust easily. You have to go in person, and you have to tell her that Vivienne sent you. Tell her that Vivienne says you could use an arrow to point you in the right direction. She'll take care of you. I promise." Those words were still calm, slow, and careful. They were also very final. The fox turned abruptly and left the ladies room. The place seemed to depressurize with her, making it feel as if the lights themselves had even dimmed in her presence. Sharla had to remind herself that it was how adrenaline affected her eyes. Still, while a moment ago all Sharla could think of was getting out of that bathroom, she simply turned around and went right back into the stall she'd just been in, needing it more than she had ever needed one.

The train ride over was a lot shorter than Sharla had expected it would be. That was largely because she was anxious the whole time, and dreading getting into New Reynard. She knew nothing about that town other than its position on a map. That was all she taught her students about it, certainly. It was a little town, so its dot wasn't one of the white circles, it was a little black point. That meant less than five thousand mammals lived and worked there. It would be quiet and out of the way, and there was apparently a mammal living there who was not what she seemed to be. She ran a Bed and Breakfast, but she apparently had something else pretty serious and secret going on.

The ride gave Sharla a chance to reflect on the conversation itself. She was more and more unhappy about what she had said, not so much who she said them to. She didn't care how bad she upset that fox, Viv put herself in that position by following her into the bathroom knowing how pissed off she'd been. But she genuinely regretted some of the things she said.

She shouldn't have brought her students into it. How could she have ever been so angry as that? She gave up a chance at being an astronaut to teach because she really felt like the difference between a ditch-digger and a moon walker was the support a kit got while they were young. Hell, the sharpest kit in her class was actually Marcus, a little grey fox. She was so out of line for saying that, but that's how furious she had been.

It was the stress. It was making her sick. She wasn't sleeping. She ate poorly, and if she drank, half the time it was something you had to be an adult to even buy. Winter break was almost over and she hadn't even given the principle a direct answer on when she was coming back. Her life was completely off the rails. She just wanted resolution. She wanted to find her brother or at least say goodbye. This mess about missing him and not knowing was so cruel.

And she was reminded in that moment that she had lost a friend over it, and what was worse, this friend actually did know, at least to some extent, the poison Sharla was suffering from. Vivienne was right. The ewe did watch the news. Nick was lost. The city said he died. The bunny didn't stop looking.

She traded repairing that friendship for this favor, this chance to find her brother. Maybe she could still send a letter or something, and explain herself, but for now, what lie ahead was much, much more frightening. It was a dark, bleak, impossible unknown. She was going to visit a stranger to ask them to help her, and had no idea why they even should.

As the sheep dreaded this fated meeting, she saw the trees thicken around her. It was the middle of winter and all the leaves were gone. It gave an eerie, quiet, deathly feel to the ride into this unknown place. It did not help Sharla feel any less of that sense of foreboding when the train pulled up to a platform surrounded by nothing but quiet forest.

"Oh God, really?" she whispered to herself. It was already starting to get dark. What was she supposed to do, wait for a bus? It didn't feel like a bus kind of town. She got off the train and onto the platform. There was a little black and white stenciled map on a post that showed the way to town. She didn't really need it. It was the lonely, dark road that lead further away from Zootopia, and deeper into the forest. The sheep rubbed all the way down her face and glanced back at the train. She could just get back on it and go home. There was that.

No. This was for her brother. Even if it was too late for him, how would he feel on the other side, knowing his sister gave up because she was afraid of a spooky forest? After what he'd probably endured in his final moments… No. She would know what happened. She would lay him to rest. And those responsible would be brought to justice, if any could be had. This was personal. With that grim sense of determination, she turned and began to stalk down the road.

No cars. Not one single car drove past her. It was cold and quiet, and occasionally a pine cone or a limb would fall in the skeletal forest and shuffle the thick leaf-litter of the post-Autumnal ground, startling her terribly. As she arrived at the edge of New Reynard, there were still no cars driving about. There were some at a diner that she passed, but as the sun sank below the horizon it appeared nearly everyone was in for the night. Except for a black sheep wandering through town, being all strange and suspicious, of course. She quickened her pace.

This town needed a bus. It was a long enough walk just to get to the town itself. She had no idea where to look for this Bed and Breakfast, so she needed to ask someone. She moved toward the park. There were a few mammals milling around, talking, holding cups of coffee, sitting on benches. The first one she came toward was a fox, so she wrote that off immediately. She went another way, and saw a jogger approaching. Perking up, she prepared to petition for some help finding the place, but then saw that one was a fox too. Okay, she would keep searching. Another fox. Then another. And another.

No. No, no, no. What the hell was this? Was everyone in town a fox? Sharla thought about the train. It had to have left already. Maybe that was even the last one for the day. She couldn't be stuck in this place. Was Honey a fox? She hadn't even asked! He had been so afraid of Vivienne at the time she told her about this place that it hadn't even mattered then. It sure as heck mattered now! That sinking sensation became too powerful, and Sharla sat down on a bench with a thump.

This was a disaster. Was Vivienne just messing with her? How could she have not thought to do any kind of asking around or research first? Now she was stuck in fox-hell for who knew how long.

"Troubles tonight?" came a scratchy voice beside her. Sharla yelped and cast her lithe, graceful form comically onto the grass, having just flung herself out of the bench in alarm. Had there always been an old, silvering, fragile-looking fox there on the bench? When the hell had he sat down if he hadn't been? Had she really just not noticed him there?

"Geeze, don't do that! You scared me half to death!" the sheep cried, clutching her chest, her black blouse doing little to soften the hammering of her heart under her palm.

"Beggin' forgiveness m' dear, you certainly didn't look like ye' had a whole half left as'n it were. Yer lost, maybe?" He held a cane in both his gnarled paws, that cream-colored suit pressed and neat. Sharla relaxed. She could literally probably crawl faster than this ancient predator could chase after her.

"Yeah, I am. I'm trying to find the Bed and Breakfast here in town. I'm looking for someone named Honey." This old creature seemed like he would have known every stone in that town. As much as Sharla didn't want to talk to a fox, he felt both harmless and wise. It was likely the best chance she had of still succeeding in her little mission here.

His response was unexpected. Laughter. He laughed so hard that he started coughing. He nearly went to his knees from the coughing, laughing, then coughing some more. It was a rattling, terrible, fox-on-his-way-out cough. Sharla jumped up and glanced around fearfully. She was going to need to call for help! This was about to be a serious medical emergency. Finally, however, wheezing and catching his breath, he stopped. He was quiet after a bit.

"Was it… some kind of joke? Have I been pranked into coming all the way out here?! God, there's no Honey, is there?" she groaned. Of course she would. That stupid vixen made a fool of her. She used the terrible tragedy of the sheep's missing, maybe dead brother to trick her into buying a ticket to fox-ville and she was probably laughing herself half to death like this old thing.

That rattling voice took the sheep's attention off of her rekindled rage. "I kin tell yer serious about why yer here. There's definitely a Honey here, lady ewe. But who in all tarnation woulda sent yew out here to speak with her?"

"A fox," grumbled Sharla, softening a little. Okay, so at least Honey was real, but what was so funny?

"Which one?" asked the elder vulpine.

"Vivienne Wilde. She said Honey was the one who could help me." The jovial, tickled expression melted in an instant. He appeared suddenly very serious.

"Viv's the one what sentche?" he inquired, narrowing his eyes as he stared at the sheep.

"Yeah. Mother of Nick the bunny-loving fox?" she implied. She didn't care if they wanted that to be common knowledge. They certainly proclaimed it loud enough at the restaurant.

"Follow this road out of town opposite the train depot." The fox pointed a skin-and-bones claw out past the graveyard. "Yer gonna see a road that shoots off t' the right, says no outlet. Follow that road there. At the end of that yer gonna see a big house. That's it. That's the Bed and Breakfast. If Vivienne says that's where ye gotta go, you better git on over there." He was very resolute in how he stated that. Sharla dusted herself off.

"Okay. Yes. I do need to get there. It's late. I'm late. I… Thank you, mister," the sheep stammered. He was helpful, but something about even using Vivienne's name seemed to almost frighten him. What kind of mammal was that vixen?

"Elliott," he replied.

"Pardon?" asked Sharla, pulled from her thoughts.

"Name's Elliott. Enjoy your stay here, if ye can. I know yew got yer own problems and I bet they're somethin' big, but New Reynard's a helpful place. I have a bit of advice though…"

"Yes?"

"When yew see Honey, you tell her who sentche right away. Don't tarry about. Don't delay. Yew tell 'er. It'll make things loads easier for ye." His choice of language sounded very meticulous.

"They're friends?" inquired the sheep.

"Vivienne's a hero in that house." With that, the elder fox got up shakily and began to shuffle off. Sharla peered in the direction indicated. Shops, a courthouse and what looked like a school… the largest buildings in town were all closed and quiet already. No need to stay open in such a tiny place. It was charming in its own way. Too bad it had to be full of vulpines. The ewe turned back to thank the nearly-dead fox, but gasped as she found herself completely alone in the park. No one was there. She spun around with some alarm.

She was absolutely alone.

While some lights were visible in windows and such, not a single other mammal was out. That jammed a spike of fear through her soul hard. While it should have delighted her to see that all the foxes were gone, it had happened so suddenly and so eerily that it unnerved her down to her very last nerve. She took to the sidewalk hastily and made for the Bed and Breakfast. She regarded the statue of the fox in the middle of town. She knew who that was supposed to be, and it only solidified the fact that this was a majority fox settlement. She knew about segregated communities, but she didn't know this one existed. It was pretty small though. It wasn't like Fenrir or Gruffbridge. This place barely looked like it should have been self-sustaining.

She followed the road out of town as the sun disappeared, leaving her walking alone in a forest in the middle of nowhere. She didn't like this. The adrenalin was making her see things. Hear things. It felt like someone was following her. It then felt like someone was waiting for her up the road where the next bend happened. She imagined a band of foxes with knives just hanging out behind the next overly large, old-looking naked winter tree. That was silly, however. She was literally the only one on the roads. What kind of thief sat and waited on a road no one was travelling on? There was little use.

Without incident, she took the intended right turn, and then about a mile and a half up that road, as the winter chill really began cutting through her neatly trimmed wool, particularly over where she left her skin nearly bare, she made it to the huge house in the forest. It was pretty nice, all things considered. It even had a new coat of paint.

Willfully, she walked up to the door and tapped on it pretty loudly. She knew it was a large house, and she figured if the occupant was upstairs or something they might not hear it. There was a good pause as the sheep sat there waiting. She couldn't hear anything. She knocked again. Then again. Surely a Bed and Breakfast had someone working at it.

Finally, just as the dejected sheep turned to leave and head back into the forest with no where to go or stay, the door opened.

What Sharla saw as she turned was as far from expected as it could possibly be. Instead of a roughly similar-sized fox in the doorway there was a massive lady hyena.

"Welcome. How can we be helping you?" she queried in a heavy Interiors accent. This house suddenly had a much more forbidden and ominous feel to it.

"I… I've come to see Honey. I need help, and I was told she was the only one who could help me. I'm trying to find someone who is missing." The large, strong-looking mammal regarded the sheep before her quietly a moment, frowning. Her hulking form was clad in a tight fitting black short sleeve shirt and heavy dark cargo pants. She felt like a bouncer for a club, not someone running a sweet, small-town bed and breakfast.

"Honey is running Bed and Breakfast. You need Sungura ya Shetani, it sounds more like. She is not being here. You are told Honey can help though? I let her know. She will maybe say yes." The hyena stepped back, and Sharla moved to step inside, but the door was closed right in her face.

Okay, so she would just wait out there on the big wrap-around porch. It was a while, actually. The sheep sat down on the porch swing. Why did that look familiar? She could swear she'd seen a picture of it somewhere recently. It was odd. What was a Sungura ya Shetani? Where was she supposed to get one? Was it a weird talisman for finding lost mammals, she wondered? It sounded magical. The mammals in The Interior were often superstitious. The science-minded sheep wanted none of that, thank you.

The door finally opened again, and the hyena stepped outside. She fixed her eyes on the sheep and said in a casual tone, "Honey asks what is your business here?" Sharla tensed up a bit, not getting off the porch swing. Viv was not kidding. Whoever this mammal was, they were not the trusting sort. It felt like she was trying to get information from a crime boss or something.

"Tell her Vivienne Wilde sent me." There was an audible gasp from the hyena. Okay, it was bordering on scary at this point. What was that friendship-wrecking fox's mother's significance in this town, anyway. That was the second powerful reaction just using her name had gotten. The sheep added, with a sense of importance. "Tell Honey that Vivienne said I needed an arrow to point the way for me." There was a stunned expression on the hyena's face, and she turned rather robotically and went inside, slamming and dead-bolting the door. That wasn't a great sign.

A lot longer time passed, and Sharla found herself shivering on the porch. Why did this have to be so hard? Why couldn't it have been just a little private eye office and she goes in and offers money and they take care of her problem? Why did it have to feel like she was in some weird spy movie all of a sudden? There were weird, foreign characters, a spooky caricature of a town, vanishing mammals, a vixen who had a strange link to seemingly everyone here, and a faceless, mysterious Honey who might be the only solution to her problem.

For as unsettling as everything was, it was so over the top that it was hard to deny how much it felt like this was the real deal. There was something here. Something was going to happen. The door finally opened again, after what felt like twenty minutes.

"Honey will see you, lady ewe," informed the hyena.

"I'm Sharla," the sheep introduced.

"Motti," returned the hyena.

"You work here?" pressed Sharla.

"I help to run this place, yes. It is better place for Motti." She lead the black ewe down the hall, then up a flight of stairs, and then pushed on the wall.

The wall opened up. Sharla felt that wave of fear-nausea again. Hell no. Secret passages. This was absolutely not real. She was in a nightmare. She was asleep on the train, or maybe she was, that very moment, lying on a public bathroom floor, slowly bleeding out. Nothing was this crazy and weird all at once. They went through a very dark hall for a few meters before Motti opened a regular wooden door. Blue-grey light, like one saw from a television set, spilled out.

"In here. Honey will speak to you in here." The hyena indicated the room.

"Th-thank you." The sheep moved to the door and turned, stepping inside. She held her breath. The door was closed behind her. She swore she heard it latch, but her focus was more on the contents of this room. Dozens of monitors lined the back wall of this room. Cameras were all over the property. Hell, they might have been all over that little town. Was it even a real town? Was Honey running some secret thing out here at the end of the line for the trains from Zootopia. Oh, steaming chips, what had Sharla been led into?

"H… Hello?" she asked nervously, unable to restrain the slight bleat in her voice. There was a huge swivel chair with its back to the door. She saw a dark claws paw resting on the arm of it. Someone was there, watching. Always watching. Oh God, that made it feel so much more like something out of a horror movie. This was the watcher. The one who knew. This was who she was sent to see and nothing had ever felt more real and terrifying in her life. Slowly the chair turned.

It wasn't a fox. Sitting in it was a badger. She fixed narrow, hateful eyes upon the sheep who stood alone in the room with her. She drummed her claw tips on the arm of the chair, peering intently at her guest. The badger wore dark jeans and a plaid shirt, looking as if she should be out cutting trees down.

"I… I came for help," explained the sheep. State her business. That was the right thing to do.

The badger responded in a low, dark tone. "I want you t' answer my next question real honestly, caprid…" The way she practically spat it felt like how Sharla said 'fox'.

"Of course," Sharla replied. It was hard to get over the place. Those monitors. The security. How the town reacted to her. How the town reacted to Vivienne's name. This was it. She was in it. If there was an answer, nothing had ever felt more like the right direction than this. Sharla held her breath, waiting for her question. This would qualify her for the help she was requesting, perhaps. She would tell them anything if it meant she could find out what happened to Gareth. He deserved that. She would never see Judy again, that was true too. She agreed if she got real help then that chapter of her life was absolutely over. However, for Gareth, she would do it. Heck, she hardly talked to Judy any these days anyway.

She was pulled from her thoughts as the ominous beast before her spoke again. "I want you to tell me…" The lady badger leaned back and picked up a long object of some kind from under the desk behind her. She then slowly, in a calm and fluid motion unsheathed a medieval-looking, gleaming, obviously real sword, rising to her feet.

"Oh, God…" Sharla bleated. She put her hoof on the door behind her. The latch didn't budge. Locked. She was locked in! No!

"... Now, sate my curiosity, if you will, and tell me… What did you do to Vivienne Wilde to make her want you this dead?"