Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“What’s… wrong… dear?” Priscilla said from just behind Flash, a clawed paw slowly reaching over to rest gently on his shoulder.

“Nothing.” Flash lied, but Priscilla saw right through it. After all, she knew him like the back of her claws, having been with him for the better part of two years, as well as recently getting engaged to him less than a month earlier.

A gentle squeeze and stroke of his shoulder, and the truth would come out of him, like water from a broken dam.

Sighing deeply, Flash slowly turned around on his chair to look Priscilla in the eye. “It’s… just… that… I… feel… so…” he struggled to find the appropriate word, “…wrecked.”

“What… do… you… mean?”

“Well… work… is… really… busy… and… we… don’t… have… fun… anymore.”

“Oh… Don’t… worry… Flash. I’m… here… to… make… everything… all… right.”

Priscilla knew what he was talking about. Recently, there had been a noticeable increase in vehicle registrations, renewals and other administrative tasks, which had left the two of them exhausted. Often times, the first thing either of them did when getting home was to eat the bare minimum of food to keep them functional, before they would slump down and sleep at the closest and most comfortable place in the house. That could be anywhere from the bed, couch or even the coffee table. One time, Flash even fell asleep on the toilet.

This had gone on for months, and Flash was starting to get agitated at this. After all, his engagement should have been a happy event, filled with nothing but the best memories of him and Priscilla. Such memories shouldn’t have been pushed out by yet another boring day slogging through forms and registrations, or managing the rude complaints of impatient Zootopians.

Priscilla understood all this well enough of course, having been affected by this as much as he was. Now with the DMV near closing time, and with a slightly more relaxed pace than usual, she decided that tonight might be the time to break the monotony.

“Hey… Flash… I… know… what… we… should… do.” Priscilla said, watching his eyebrows raise in response. “You… know… the… old… Wolford… stone… bridge?”

“Sort… of. Is… it… the… old… stone… bridge… in… the… Rainforest… district? The… one… over… the… “magical” … lake?”

“Yes… Flash. That’s… the… one. Let’s… go… see... it… tonight.”

“Okay.”

Closing time came, and Flash and Priscilla exited through the front doors of the DMV, paw in paw, heading to Flash’ bright red sports car parked nearby.

Ever the gentleman, Flash opened the passenger door for Priscilla, helping her inside, before shutting the door for her and making his way to the driver’s seat. Once he was buckled in to his seat, he started the car and roared out of the parking lot in a manner not particularly safe for most mammals, let alone sloths.

Flash continued speeding like a madman along the city streets, weaving in and out of traffic as best as he could and breaking the speed limit by as much as fifty to eighty miles an hour, depending on the heaviness of the night traffic around him.

Only when he was caught by a traffic light, did he break the silence in the car. “So… this… Wolford… bridge... It’s… over… some… magical… lake… right? How… is… it… magical?”

“Well…,” began Priscilla, wracking her brain for the details, “Fifty… years… ago…, there… was… this… wolf… named… Wolford…”

The grey wolf strode purposefully to the construction site, back held upright and a confident smile on his face. Today was the day that he would open the Wolford bridge to the public.

The bridge was mainly symbolic; there wasn’t really a need for a bridge at this spot, but this bridge was constructed in honor of his late father, Gareth Wolford. Gareth was a kind hearted man, who had offered his services as a bridge engineer for free in an attempt to improve the transportation situation in the Rainforest District. Unfortunately, he was killed when attempting to build a stone bridge. The cement that they had used was not up to the task, and the bridge had collapsed with him on it.

Stone was always his favourite material to work with, and Jeremy Wolford couldn’t think of a better way to honor him than to finish what his father started.

Walking over to the entrance of the bridge, he took in the solid stone construction of the two low pillars marking either side, and the low walls jutting out slightly lower than the tops of the pillars and running down the entire length of the bridge to the other side.

The bridge may have only been medium sized and relatively simple, but it was still magnificent in his eyes.

Less is more, he thought, as he looked out across the murky green lake. Dad would be proud.

The water was eerily calm as usual, as much of the wind was blocked by the trees. He had heard much about the lake and its special properties, but he couldn’t fathom why this lake was considered anything other than yet another boring, dirty and stinking lake. Apparently, in the light of the full moon, this place would grant you whatever you had once lost, so long as your heart was pure and clean.

Wolford snorted to himself at the thought. What nonsense some mammals believe.

Pushing the thoughts out of his mind, he turned around and strolled back to the assembled crowd of builders, engineers and government representatives building up a fair few paces in front of him.

“Everyone.” he said, coming to a stop and spreading his paws wide, “Let’s begin, shall we?”

Later in the day:

The opening ceremony had gone without a hitch. Mammals from all walks of life came, inspected the bridge and talked amongst one another until sunset before heading back home. This left only Wolford and his wife standing in the centre of the bridge, looking out over the lake which was now illuminated in the bright white light of the full moon.

“So,” Jeremy began, turning to his wife by his side, “what do you think is so magical about this lake?”

“From what I heard, it can bring back things you lost. All you have to do is throw a fragment of it into the lake, turn three times in a full circle to the right, and once to the left. Then the lake gives you the thing back.”

“Anything? Like… cars, people… Really anything?”

“So I’ve heard.”

Jeremy snorted derisively. “The stuff mammals believe these days. Maybe they should all come down here and get all their lost tax money back from the government.”

“It only works if your heart is pure, dear. Doing that would be greed. Then your heart wouldn’t be pure anymore.”

Jeremy snorted again. “Whatever. Silly superstitions. You don’t believe that stuff now, do you?”

“No… Well I don’t think so.”

“Good. Now how about we sit down instead?”

Looking out over the lake again, Jeremy decided to climb the low wall and sit down, legs dangling over the edge.

“Join me.” He said, patting the space beside him. However, before his wife could move, the stone that he was sitting on gave way, breaking out of the still slightly wet cement and sending him flailing into the water below. More heavy looking rocks from the surrounding area broke away as well, falling after him and landing with heavy splashes.

“Jeremy!” His wife looked over the edge, frantically trying to find him in the murky water, to no avail. She knew that he was a very weak swimmer due to his age and poor fitness, and that he would surely drown if she didn’t find him soon. “Jeremy! Where are you!”

There was no response. Scanning the water, she finally spotted a muzzle breaking the surface of water, a large gash along the top side, spilling a huge amount of blood. Apparently, the rocks had done their work.

Suddenly, she was screaming, an incoherent cry of grief and fear. Tears flowed like a river from her eyes and soaking her grey fur. She tried to call out to him, but could only choke as the words caught in her throat. She lashed out at the bridge wall in front of her, banging it hard with her paws until they were both bruised and bloody. Finally, she was spent and slid down against the wall and leaned back against it, curling her knees to her body and resting her face in her paws.

As she did so, she caught the glint of her wedding ring on her middle digit of her left paw. On her other paw was the wedding ring of her husband. He had given it to her for safekeeping while he was working on the bridge. Once the launch was over, she was supposed to give it back to him.

Suddenly, she recalled the magic of the lake, and the ritual to be performed to bring back what you had lost.

Although she wasn’t superstitious, she decided to try it. After all, she had nothing to lose.

Slowly, she pushed herself up with her paws, bringing herself to full height. Hesitantly, she looked out over the lake again, pulling off her husband’s wedding ring as she did so. Clasping it tightly in her shaking paw, she closed her eyes and held it over the side of the bridge, turning her slowly opening paw to allow it to slide off and fall into the murky water below.

Then after stepping back a few steps from the wall, slowly she began to turn three times to the right, silently praying to herself that this would prove fruitful with every turn. She reached her third turn and stopped, pausing slightly before turning around the other way, though much slower this time.

She was reaching the end of the final turn, slowing down with every step she took, scared of what would or wouldn’t happen. She had no way of knowing whether this silly little dance would work, and the anticipation that built up with every step was beyond intense.

If it worked, and she got her husband back, she’d be overjoyed beyond any measure. However, if she didn’t… The thought was almost too horrible to entertain.

She took her final step, completing the final turn and clenched her jaws and eyes shut even tighter than they already were, waiting for the result.

Through her closed eyelids, she could see a bright white glow, which built up in intensity until they hurt her eyes and made her see spots. When it subsided, she slowly opened her eyes and anxiously held her breath, hoping for the best.

Her eyes were fully opened now, and as her vision cleared, she took in what was in front of her…

…and what she saw in front of her made her cry with relief.

Her husband was standing there, dressed in the exact same clothes as earlier and without a single scratch on him.

“What’s wrong?” Jeremy appeared unaware of what had just happened. Meanwhile, his wife had surged forward and caught him in a crushing embrace.

“It’s true! It’s true!” She was sobbing uncontrollably now, the words barely comprehensible as they tumbled out of her mouth.

“What’s true?” Still confused, Jeremy simply brought his paws up to stroke the back of his wife while she sobbed into his neck.

Flash’s face contorted slowly into a laugh.

“Ha… Ha… Ha… that… dumb… wolf… should… have… waited… for… the… cement… to… dry! So… stupid!”

Priscilla said nothing as Flash continued to slowly laugh. Finally, he was done, and silence descended on them again.

The bridge was starting to become visible over the horizon now, but Flash didn’t slow down, having fallen into deep thought soon after he had finished laughing.

“So…,” said Flash, turning to Priscilla, “what… if… the… lake… really… is… magic?”

Priscilla smiled. “Oh… don’t… worry… Flash. I’m… here… to… make… everything… all… right.”

Flash smiled back, before slowly turning his attention back to the road. The bridge was quite close now, with the two stone pillars marking the entrance approaching at an alarming rate, and Flash widened his eyes in horror when he realized that he was driving too fast. In a panic, he slammed on the brakes as fast as he could, causing the wheels to lock up and send the car into a drift across the slick tarmac, still wet from recent rainfall. There was no avoiding a crash now.

The passenger half of the bonnet slammed into the stone pillar, crumpling it immediately and sending the car rolling down the length of the bridge, bouncing between the two low walls like a pinball. Eventually, the car landed on its punctured wheels on the other side of the bridge with a loud thud.

Flash only had time to look at the mangled, bleeding form of Priscilla in the passenger seat, the blood soaking her pink sweater and flowing down her arm to the gleaming engagement ring on her claw, before blackness overtook his vision and he passed out.

Chapter Text

Flash woke up to the harsh white fluorescent lighting of a hospital.

Blinking a few times, he took in his surroundings. He was in a hospital room, no doubt. His left arm was in a plaster cast while his right was bandaged heavily. There also were large bandages placed across his chest and forehead. He was also dressed in a hospital gown.

Suddenly, a female doctor appeared in the doorway of his room. She was dressed in a white doctor’s robe, and clasped a clipboard in both paws.

“Hello Flash. Good to see you awake. My name is Dr Madge…” She was cut off when Flash slowly raised a paw.

“Where’s… Priscilla…”

“Um…” Dr Madge hesitated, which did not escape Flash’s attention.

“Where... is… she…” Flash said again, this time more insistently.

The doctor hung her head. That was all the confirmation Flash needed for his worst fears.

She respectfully averted her eyes as Flash’s face slowly contorted into an expression of raw grief. Slowly, he began to cry, his wails echoing down the corridor.

The most severe damage to the car was on the passenger side, so Flash was able to escape the worst of injuries, having only a broken left arm, lacerations and a concussion.

By now, he was well enough to be discharged to the care of a friend from the DMV, a fellow sloth named Milo. Flash was sitting in the passenger side of Milo’s white sedan as they drove back to his apartment, in a new set of clothes that looked identical to what he was wearing before, while glumly looking out the side window.

In his paws were the Priscilla’s belongings that the hospital had given to him: a bloodstained silver engagement ring, and a brown wallet, with a thin long shard of car bodywork piercing through the fabric.

His carelessness had cost him everything. Thanks to him, the love of his life was dead, and his car, his most prized possession was a crumpled heap.

Now Flash felt completely alone. Nobody would understand him as well as Priscilla did. No one else’s paws could comfort him after a tough day of work like Priscilla’s did. There was no sloth that could replace her.

In addition to that, his prized sports car, which he’d been saving up for well over a decade to buy, would probably never be replaced. He had grown attached to that vehicle; it was the first thing that he owned that removed the limitations of being a sloth. Flash had never felt so free in his life as he had behind the wheel of that car. The general slowness of sloths and the associated limitations that came with it were stripped away when he put his foot down on the pedal, and watched the world whiz by him.

Now with that gone as well, he would be forced to rely on public transport and his own feet again. The very thought made him feel disabled.

“Are… you…” said Milo, in an attempt to break the silence in the car. However, a glance over to Flash’s direction changed his mind, and he decided to leave him be.

They had made it to the parking lot now, located under the apartments, and Milo parked his car and got out, walking over to the passenger side to help Flash.

He was still in a state of shock, so Milo nearly had to drag him out of the car and into the lifts at the far end.

The two of them said nothing as they rode the elevators up to Milo’s floor, and then slowly trod their way to the far end of the hallway to his room.

Once inside, Flash simply flopped down on the couch in front of the TV, staring off into space and still clutching Priscilla’s items.

Milo sighed at the sight of his friend. There wasn’t much more he could do for him now, so he made himself a coffee and sat at the other end of the couch, placing the mug down on the coffee table in front of him and turning on the TV soon after.

A news report played, with images of the Wolford bridge flashed across the screen. “…police say that the car was travelling over 80 miles per hour when it collided with the pillar...”

Feeling Flash shift in the seat, Milo pressed the change channel button as fast as he could. The channel was a competing news report, also reporting on the Wolford crash. “…reports say that an employee of the DMV was involved in this high speed collision…”

Milo changed the channel again. This time, another news report, though focusing on the high school sporting teams. Milo let out the breath he hadn’t realized he had been holding and allowed himself to sink back into the couch.

Unfortunately, at that moment, the report about the high school basketball teams ended, and the program switched. “An employee of the DMV has been involved in a high speed collision…”

Milo switched off the TV as fast as he could. Beside him, Flash was still silent, but now his eyes were as wide as saucers. His memories of the night were scattered throughout his mind, and he could only recall small fragments of what had happened that night. However, one thing that he did remember in its entirety was Priscilla’s dead body beside him, bleeding profusely. There was no escaping the thought of who was responsible for that.

Milo sighed, looking over to Flash. “I… think… you… need… help.” Ignoring Flash’s indifference, he continued. “I… know… a… guy.”

This time, Flash slowly turned his head.

Flash was brought to the Mystic Springs Oasis, the naturist club in Sahara Square that had once provided valuable information to Officer Hopps in the Missing Mammals case.

Flash was simply in too much grief to express shock at his friend’s hobbies outside work.

Yax was there as usual behind the front desk, meditating deeply and seemingly oblivious to the swarm of flies buzzing around his head.

“Hello… Yax…” Milo called out, “I’ve… brought… someone… who… needs… help... and… enlightenment…”

“Heyyyy Milo! Good to see you again.”

Milo slowly made his way to the front desk, with Flash trudging behind, a blank look on his face.

“What’s the matter with him?” Yax said, gesturing toward Flash.

“He’s… lost… everything. Wolford… accident…” Milo trailed off, cautious about triggering his friend.

“Ah, right. I can help. Bring him over here.” He said, walking toward the double doors to the right which lead outside to the courtyard. “I’ll get started right away.”

To say that Flash was having a bad day would be an understatement.

Flash was slowly trying to “clear his mind” as Yax put it, by sitting in various uncomfortable positions, while slowly chanting.

It wasn’t working.

Every time Flash tried to empty his mind, said mind would always attempt to fill it with something else. That something, was always remnants of his memories of the crash. However, even in his depressed state, he still knew that his friends around him had the best of intentions, so he gave his best effort at the various calming routines and poses that Yax had him do.

If the yak was to be believed, all this would teach him to accept life as it was; it would teach him to accept that there were things outside his control, and that he had to move on, regardless of the rough patches.

“You need to learn to let go.” Yax said from beside him. Turning his head to look at him, he could see the yak looking at him intently.

“How…?”

“I know what’s happening. You’re trying too hard, and that’s making it hard. Let your mind go, and it becomes easy.”

“But… I… don’t… want… to… let… my… mind… go.”

“You have to if you wanna heal. Accept that some things just have to go.”

“I… can’t…” Flash didn’t really want to let go. His life was near perfect before the accident. Now all he had were memories, and if he let them go he was afraid that he would sever his connection with whatever remnant of happiness remained in him. “I… just… want… everything… back.”

“That’s impossible man. Stuff is temporary. Things disappear all the time. Unless you believe in the magic lake that can bring back stuff, it’s not going to happen.”

That comment triggered a memory in Flash’s mind. A sliver of a memory came back to him. In it, he was driving to the Wolford bridge, with Priscilla regaling him with the tale of the magical lake. It was only a fragment, tantalisingly incomplete, but Flash held on to that fragment, hoping to piece together more of it.

“Let’s try again.” Yax piped up from beside him.

Flash closed his eyes again, slowly chanting, but instead of clearing his mind, he focused on that sliver of memory, expending all his energy into building it up into a full picture. Soon enough, he remembered everything – the story of the stupid wolf, the fall into the lake, and the ritual in the light of the full moon which brought him back.

Flash didn’t need to let go. He needed to take his stuff back.

Opening his eyes, he pushed himself up on his good paw, before strolling toward the exit.

“Hey, where you going?” Yax called out sometime later, once he had realized that Flash wasn’t seated next to him.

Flash didn’t bother responding as he left the courtyard and out through the front doors.

Flash had checked his phone for the day of the full moon when he left the naturist club. Conveniently, it had informed him that the full moon would be tonight.

Milo had left him alone at the club, so Flash had to call him to pick him up. When his car rolled up alongside the entrance, Flash got in and requested a drop off at the Wolford bridge so that he could be alone. Milo looked quizzically at him, but seeing his desperate face, didn’t ask any questions, and simply did as he asked. Besides, he seemed okay enough to be on his own by now.

Now Flash was left alone at the entrance to the Wolford bridge. The sun was setting in the horizon by now, and Flash strolled to the centre of the bridge, trying his best not to look too much at the scratch marks along the length of each stone wall.

Once he reached the middle, he looked out over the lake and reached into his pockets, fishing out the two items that were in there, the bloody engagement ring, and the shrapnel pierced wallet, placing them on the low wall in front of him.

Flash went through the routine and caveats in his head over and over, not wanting to make a single mistake.

Pure heart… three times right, one time left… throw something in of the thing you want back…pure heart…

These thoughts raced through his mind over and over again, until the sun was well below the horizon, and the bright white light of the full moon illuminated the lake.

Reaching out to pick up the ring, he held it in his claw, admiring the way the moonlight glinted of it. Soon, he would have Priscilla back.

As he reached out over the edge of the bridge wall, his eye caught the thin piece of red car bodywork embedded in the wallet. Suddenly, his mind had another idea. Why couldn’t he have both back?

His mind recalled fleeting snippets about a pure heart, something about greed, and Yax’s pseudo-philosophical ramblings about “letting go.”

However, Flash didn’t want to let go. He just wanted everything from his old life back. Was that really so bad? Flash pushed all uncertainty and doubt from his mind. It appeared that he had learned something from that Yak. He wanted everything he had lost so badly that he was willing to take some risk to get it.

Placing the ring loosely around the claw of his left paw, he reached down with his right to pluck the thin red piece of car body out of the wallet. Then he brought the ring to the metal shard, feeding one end through the ring before bending both ends downward, and pinching the ends together so that they were intertwined.

Slipping the ring off his finger, he held it out over the bridge wall once again, pausing to consider what he was doing.

The doubts once again flashed through his mind, but he paid them no mind. There was no turning back now; no regrets.

Flash turned to his left, not wanting to see what he was about to do. Opening his claws, he dropped the ring into the lake and closed his eyes.

Slowly, he began to turn three times to the right, silently praying to himself that this would prove fruitful with every turn.

Flash reached the end of his third turn and paused, slowly turning the other way though much slower this time. With each step, time itself seemed to slow down, as the anticipation and fear welled up inside his gut, making his fur stand on end.

He took the final step, completing the final turn and clenched his eyes shut even tighter than they already were, waiting for the result.

Through his closed eyelids, he could see a bright white glow, which built up in intensity until they hurt his eyes and made him see spots. When it subsided, Flash slowly opened his eyes and anxiously held his breath, hoping for the best.

His eyes were fully opened now, and as his vision cleared, he took in what was in front of him…

…and what he saw in front of him made him want to scream.

Less than ten feet in front of him in the middle of the bridge was his favourite red sports car. However, Flash had never seen it like this before.

The front two tires had been replaced by two oversized sloth paws, jutting out from the wheel arches. The grille of the bonnet had been replaced with the mouth of a sloth and the headlights had been replaced with a pair of sloth eyes, the light from behind them making the irises shine like burning embers. Brown sloth fur sprouted out of the red bodywork at random spots.

Flash also noticed the bloodied engagement ring, now enlarged, wrapped around a claw on the left paw.

Flash tried to say something, but the words caught in his throat, leaving him to look at what was in front of him with a look of pure horror.

“What’s… wrong… dear?” Priscilla’s voice emanated from the mouth of the car, slightly distorted in such a way that it sounded like there were two voices instead of one, speaking slightly out of sync.

“Uh… argh… Priscilla…” Flash said, backing away and trying to find the appropriate words to describe what he was seeing. “You’re… you’re…”

Flash’s feet caught on the tarmac and he fell backward onto his rump. “You’re… wrecked!” he said, voice trembling as he tried to crawl backwards.

The smile on the car grew wider. “Oh… Don’t… worry… Flash,” it said, engine revving louder as it crawled forward on its paws. “I’m… here… to… make… everything… all… right.”