Zootopia: Secrets And Deception

Chapter 23. Sacrifice

As the figure got closer, it began to grow darker and darker, and then it stepped into the clearing!
"It's Black!" Nick yelled and took aim. Black was holding a blade in his hand and dragging the tip of it across the gravel, making that scraping sound, but he then stopped.
"I thought the message I sent both of you was clear by sparing both your lives in that apartment." Black said, maintaining his distance from them, and looking at them with his sky-blue eyes.
"Didn't know THAT was your message. Even if it was, did you think we would stop?" She replied as she began to take aim as well.
"I knew you wouldn't, that is why I told Jeremiah I would kill both of you, but he ordered me not to. That is why I didn't let that dagger pierce your heart, and directed it just centimeter's away from your side." Black replied as he raised his sword and pointed it at them.
"What now?" Nick asked as he motioned for Judy to start backing up slowly.
"Now? Now you must die!" Black said just before he advanced in his steppes.
"Judy, run!" Nick shouted as he fired a few rounds at him. Black then swung his blade violently in the direction he was firing, and causing bullets to split in two or get stuck half way on his blade. But then he vanished into the mist, and Nick was standing there confused while reloading his next clip, and began looking around to see where he would come from.

Judy was crossing the bridge as Nick continued to look. She looked back to see him as she walked further onto the bridge, just before the mist blocked her view.
"Nick.....be careful?" She said into her coms, but only got static. Just as she got to the center of the bridge, it suddenly jerked to the right violently, and almost made her fall off, but she grabbed the rope railing made of rope and caught herself. But then she heard footsteps ahead of her, and drew her weapon as it came closer and closer. She couldn't see due to the thick mist, until a throwing knife flew through the air, knocking her down and the gun out of her hands, causing it to fall off the bridge. "No...." she whispered as she tried to catch it, but it was too late.
"Oh, now that is a pity. What will you do now, Judy?" It was Black! Taunting her with his metallic voice. She turned to find him standing above her, still holding his blade in his hand.

Nick turned to look at the bridge that she was walking across, and the mist cleared just for an instant, revealing Black standing above her and start to raise his blade above his head, before they were covered by the mist again!
"Judy!" Nick shouted as he turned and sprinted towards her.
"He won't get here in time to save you, I'll make sure of that!" Black stated as both he and Judy heard his screams, and swung the blade downwards towards her head! She closed her eyes as the blade came down!

But it hit something else that rang through the air. The blade had hit something metal! And she opened her eyes to see another blade blocking the one intended for her, and used as a shield of defense for her! She followed that blade until it came to.....
"White!" She yelled with surprise.
"Yeah?" He asked.
"White?" Black said in a deeper than usual tone.
"Yeah." He replied as he raised both their swords with his own, and drop kicked Black square in the chest. Sending him backwards through the air for a couple of seconds. When he landed with a *Grunt*, he rolled backwards and rose to his feet.
"Traitor!" Black shouted as he drew his second blade from his back.
"Judy, get behind me!" White said quietly as he raised his sword in a defensive stance. Nick came running through the mist to find Judy standing behind White, who was defending her from Black.
"Judy!" Nick said as he ran towards her.
"Are you alright?" He asked with concern in his eyes.
"Yes, I'm fine, thanks to White." She replied as she looked over at him.
"We're not out of this yet. When I move, go around us and make your way to the facility." White whispered to them through their coms. The bridge is about two elephant's wide, making their escape a little challenging.
"You were my brother, Black! Why have you done this?" He asked as he reached behind him and grabbed his other, shorter blade that was sticking out to his left.
"Our master was weak! And you foresaw this, but I saw what we could do. We could've ruled this city and her people together, but now I see that you have become blind and are helping the weak and innocent!" Black shouted in reply.
"It is you that has become blind, for you serve a deluded master that wants nothing but destruction and chaos for this city. You betrayed us! I once honored you and called you brother, and was proud to have you fight by my side, but I now see that you didn't want the title of protector. You wanted the mantle of a slave and a coward!" White shouted back. They were exchanging heated words between them, like throwing straw into a fire. It burns, but only for a moment.
"If that mantle promises a rule over this city, so be it!" Black replied as he began walking towards them.
"We could've been the Yin and Yang! Ruling this city and creating peace and order throughout it!" Black shouted as he raised his swords in an attack formation.
"I never believed any of that mysticism, even though our master taught us it! Peace cannot truly be accomplished unless we stop all the war, the violence, the bloodshed, the sickness and diseases, and death itself!" White replied, as their blades met and he pushed Black towards one side of the bridge. "Nick! Judy! Move!" He shouted as he tried to keep him there. Both Judy and Nick moved around them and started running towards the end of the bridge. White and Black exchanged some sword techniques of jabs and slices, while trying to distract or confuse each other.
"Come on, Judy! We're almost there!" Nick shouted as they were nearing the other side. Black and White were then stuck with blades together, and pushing at each other, but Black looked past the left side of Whites mask.
"No!" He shouted, and leaped into the air which pushed White back, and he threw one of his swords at them! White saw where it was going to hit, and rolled back as he drew one of his Glocks, aimed, and then fired! Everything was moving in slow motion to White, his fall, Blacks' sword, his gun, and the bullet, which was moving towards the tip of the blade! Suddenly, with a clang, the bullet ricocheted off the blade, causing to go off its original course, but struck the rope railing and destabilized the bridge, causing the right side of it to point straight down towards the mist! Nick and Judy lost their footing when it did so, and they were now airborne, but Judy grabbed onto the cut rope and then Nick, and was now holding on for their lives!
"Nick! Judy!" White shouted and tried to get to them, but Black moved right in front of him, to keep him from saving them.
"Let's watch them die together!" he shouted as he swung a blade meant for Whites' head!

"Hold on, Nick! Hold on!" Judy shouted in pain from his weight. Suddenly, the rope that she was holding onto began crackling! The sound of it snapping and twisting apart before their eyes, and there was nothing that they could do to stop it!
"Carrots! It won't hold both of us! You need.....you need to let me go!" Nick shouted as the tears began to fill his eyes.
"What? No! I'm not.....not letting you go, Nick!" she replied, as the rope continued to crack more and more with each passing moment!
"Let me go, carrots." He said to her with a stern look on his face, and in a calm tone.
"It will.....*sniff*.....hold us both!" she shouted as her tears began to fall from her face, past Nick, and disappear into the mist below.
"I'm sorry, carrots....." He began to say softly, and released his grip. His hand was sliding away from her grasp!
"Nick! Don't you dare! Hold on.....*sniff*....." She cried as she tried to hold onto him tighter, but it was no use! With a river of tears flowing from his face, and saddened eyes.....
"Goodbye, carrots....." He said softly, as his hand slid off of hers! She watched in horror as he plummeted until he vanished into the mist below!
"Nick! No.....Nick.....*sob*.....no....." She whispered in vain. She was in shock and everything began to grow darker, while rain began to sprinkle down, then drew to a pour.

White was thrown to the floor of the bridge when he heard her screams and cries, and he looked to find her alone. Black then looked behind him and saw the same.
"My job here, is done." He said darkly before he disappeared into the mist. White then got up and sprinted towards her.

The rope that she was holding onto snapped, and she began to fall! As she looked up, her hand was then grabbed by White and she was thrown to the other side, before the bridge finally collapsed beneath him! But he used his sword and drove it into the side of the cliff, so he could climb. When he reached the top, he looked over at Judy who has holding her knees and sobbing her eyes out! He then walked over to her, and sat right next to her.
"I'm.....I'm so sorry....." he began to say, before he looked at her as she continued to sob. Suddenly, he reached over and gave her a tight hug to comfort her, which almost made her scream. He hugged her for the longest time, before she buried her face into his shoulder and cried even harder.

That night, was filled with rain drops mixed with tear drops of sorrow, and pain. While the moon began to slowly turn from a pale white, to an orange mixed with blood red color.