~Jack~

His paws kept punching the metal bars.

"LET ME GO! YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING!"

The grey rabbit kept hitting the bars trying to escape and hopefully break them. Unfortunately, reality doesn't work that way.

"Relax, rabbit. It's not gonna help with banging on those beams every five seconds. You're only gonna hurt yourself," the zebra in the jail with him said over the loud noise. "Your paws are already bleeding."

Jack looked down at his paws. Dark red liquid was smeared all over his gray fur and the jail bars. But the pain wasn't enough to keep him from trying.

He was attempting to get the attention of the female cheetah who was giving out the food to all the inmates. She didn't seem to care and acted as if nothing was happening.

"PLEASE LET ME GO! I'M INNOCENT! THE REAL CRIMINALS ARE STILL OUT THERE! LET ME GO! PLEASE!" he repeated over and over again.

Nothing seemed to work.

After the cheetah was finished she started heading towards the door without batting an eye at the constantly screaming rabbit.

"NO, WAIT, PLEASE! DON'T LEAVE! I'M TELLING THE TRUTH!" he kept calling after her. "COME BACK!"

His eyes were tearing up as he was continuously being ignored.

The door slammed shut as the lock beeped to assure security. Tundratown seemed to have one of the harshest and secure jails and prisons. Probably since there were a lot of hidden caves in the area to hide in if you're a criminal. Jack, growing up here, would always be an explorer and try to find as many of them close to him as possible when he was little. It's not as many as the Rainforest District has, but still a lot.

He remembered how innocent he used to be. How simple he thought his life would've been. Even after all of the drama, he thought that if he became a spy, things would finally work out. But now, they only seemed to get worse and worse.

"Told ya she wouldn't listen," the zebra spoke again. "She never does."

The words came in one ear and went out another.

He tried to slam against the beams. His body crashed and crashed but nothing seemed to happen. Plus his injured leg wouldn't allow him to charge at full speed.

He gave it the third and final try.

Again, nothing happened.

He shook the bars and called out again. "PLEASE! LET ME GO!"

But no one other than the inmates could hear him.

More tears started sliding down his cheeks, creating a path of damp fur.

"Please..." The rabbit laid his back against the wall closest to the bars and let his body slide down until he was sitting down on the cold and hard floor, head laid against the prison bars.

I can't believe I'm going through this! They framed me! It's not fair! How come no one was listening? Not even Casey...

His looked at his injured leg and then at the lilac scarf piece wrapped around the wound. The one that used to be Casey's.

He hadn't taken it off yet. How could he? It was the only thing he had reminding him of this amazing adventure.

Jack stared at the scarf, remembering the fun and exciting times he shared with that vixen. This case was the first time he started trusting someone so deeply. He had no idea what made him believe her, he just did. He felt the need to be there for her. To protect her. Not only from the dangers of the criminals but the dangers of her mind, too.

He never really felt so close to someone before. So...connected. He could feel her pain. He knew what it was like to be betrayed and abandoned. After all, that was his whole life.

Jack thought that he finally found someone that would understand him as well. He thought she'd be the one to help him out no matter what. Someone that wouldn't leave him.

Abandoned. That was what he felt all the time. His real parents abandoned him when he was a baby. He never found out why. His adoptive dad abandoned him leaving him with more tears and more questions. His grandma abandoned the whole world and left him to fight alone.

And just when he thought Casey would be there, she wasn't. She was just blankly staring at him. Doing absolutely nothing.

Part of Jack was furious at her. Lying to him about being able to trust her. Lying to him about always supporting him.

But another part was saying otherwise.

He wanted to forgive her. She made a simple mistake due to shock. He wanted to make her an exception. Someone that he wouldn't mind leaving him.

He wouldn't mind it...since he had hope that she'd come back...

Casey...please believe me...please don't don't leave me...

The striped rabbit's paw slowly moved towards the scarf. He took it off of his leg. There were some blood stains on the lilac fabric but it still seemed new as if she had just given it to him.

The bunny stared at the scarf in his paws. They reminded him so much about Casey. Her laugh and her smile. That soft, silk-like tone in her voice. Her interesting and quirky personality. Everything.

He missed her.

...

Why can't I stop thinking about her?

"Hey, you alright?" someone asked, interrupting his thoughts. Jack looked over to the male zebra now standing right in front of him.

The bunny looked back down to the floor and nodded, not saying anything.

The zebra sat down next to him. "Doesn't this floor bother you?"

The bunny blinked at him in confusion until he looked down and noticed how dirty the floor really was.

There was barf, poop, blood, everything. They probably never washed the jails at all. There were a few clean spots around and luckily Jack was in one of them with the zebra.

"Never noticed." he softly said, not looking up from the floor.

There was a short period of silence before the male zebra asked, "So, what's your name?"

"Jack Savage," he mumbled.

"Terry Streak. Nice to meet ya." He held out his paw to which Jack silently shook.

"Quiet one aren't you?" he proceeded to say.

The rabbit shrugged. He didn't really feel like talking to anyone at the moment. Right now, he just wanted to find a way to get out of this jail and talking to someone that wouldn't be much help seemed useless and a waste of time. The rabbit would usually be excited to talk since he's most extroverted but when he has his mind somewhere and would like to work, he's very focused on it. There have even been cases when strangers would think he's an introvert because of it.

"I'm gonna take that as a yes." Terry spoke, breaking Jack out of his thoughts.

"Actually I'm not. It's just that I have my mind somewhere right now." Jack cleared up.

"Oh? Well, what happened?"

"Why are you talking to me?"

"'Cause there's nothing better to do."

The rabbit sighed. He'd probably be here for a while since it was pretty late at night so he thought he might as well talk for a bit.

"Fine. I'll talk. Only because everything else is just as useless as this." Jack started.

He started explaining the story. Though, he made sure to leave out the fact that he and Casey were spies and their code names in order to not blow their cover. No one else should know that they exist. At least not that side of them.

"Man sounds like you had a good time." he sarcastically said. "Sorry you got framed, though."

"Don't be. It's fine."

"Well, let me tell you how I got here."

Jack didn't really ask or care about this random stranger's story, but he didn't feel like being alone, either. It was kind of nice to tell all of what happened to someone else and ease the burden.

"I'm not someone who's a goodie-two-shoes. I was always the more rebellious type. But despite that, I would never disobey the law. Just because I might disagree and talk back doesn't mean I'll do something illegal. But, like you, I was framed, too. One of my friends, best friends, in fact, had asked me if I wanted to hang out with him. We haven't been able to talk that much due to taking care of both our families and since I had just recently been fired and had been trying to find a new job so I agreed. We had just eaten some takeout as he took me to the nearest alley telling me he found something interesting for me. Said it was a job opportunity. If I knew what type of job he meant, I would've never taken it. He showed me a garage door and took me inside. There were four other guys. Two tigers, a bear, and a fox. I found out my buddy...was part of a gang...and wanted me to join. There was another mammal there, too. A young female raccoon. She was huddled in the corner, shaking in fear while covering herself with her clothes. They wanted me to kill her and become a member of the gang. They thought a zebra would be perfect to seem like an innocent mammal so that I could trick people after gaining their trust. I didn't want to be a part of it but they said they'd hunt my family down if I didn't...They wanted me to kill that female that they had just raped for kicks..."

Terry's face was filled with many emotions. Fear, anger, disgust. Guilt, and above all, regret.

He took a deep breath and continued. "I did it. They forced me to, blackmailing me with my family's safety. I was horrified. The look she gave me before I murdered her, the blood on my paws, her limp body just laid there on the floor right in front of me. Somehow, the cops found their spot that night. The gang was able to escape but I couldn't move due to shock. The cops thought it was me. I wouldn't blame them. I was the one holding the gun, after all. So now I'm in here while they're still investigating on whether or not it really was me."

The bunny finally spoke.

"Why didn't you tell them it wasn't you?"

"...Because I felt responsible for it..."

...

"By the way, what was your 'friend's' name?"

"Miguel Slashpaws."

Before they could say anything else, the door opened. The cheetah had gone to Jack's cell and told him to follow her. The rabbit waved good-bye to the zebra and promised he'll get him out as soon as he could

"Where am I going?"

"To a specific cabin. Chief Bogo requested me to take you there. Don't know why. Just follow me and do try anything smart."

He followed the cheetah to a police car where they drove Downtown to a familiar place.

The ZPD...

The cheetah guided him to another mammal. One of the agents from the SD. The Spy Department has a secret HQ so they had to get there by, you guessed it! Secret hallways. It was placed in both the male's and female's bathrooms, a stall that held a door to the HQ. Every agent had a key to unlock that stall and no one else had them. The agent escorted Jack to one of the cubicles and left him inside there.

As Jack was about to go back out and ask him why he's here, he stopped dead in his tracks after seeing who was there with him.

Casey Wilde.

The fox nervously smiled at him followed by an awkward wave. "Uh...h-hey Jack..."

Jack folded his arms.

"What do you want, Casey?" he said. He tried to sound angry, which he was, but his tone sounded more tired than anything. Just flat out tired. He didn't know how he felt about this.

He was mad at her and didn't even want to see her, let alone talk to her. But he was also secretly wishing to hear her voice again. He couldn't stop thinking about her no matter how hard he tried.

Basically, Jack got what he wished for but also what he didn't wish for at the same time.

His emotions weren't any clearer.

"Look, Jack, I-I know you're mad at me and all but I found out you weren't behind all this!"

"So you did think I did it? You had to find out I didn't do it?"

"T-that's not what I meant..."

"Well, it's what you implied..."

He didn't want to talk to her after this. Not because he was upset, but because he knew he'd break down if she continued. The way she was looking at him, the look of guilt and immense regret, it clogged his throat making him want to start bawling without care.

"Jack I-"

"Look, I don't want this to get too far. Tell me what you want so that we can get this over with."

She paused a bit before nodding.

"L-like I said, I found out you didn't cause any of this. I think I know who did cause it, though. When Iceheart told us about what they'd do for you, they mentioned feeding you carrots even though you said you hated them. They also said how they'd read you gardening books despite you telling me your favorite book are mystery books."

He rolled his eyes "I'm surprised you were even listening to me. Even if you were, I'd expect you to forget five seconds later."

To Jack's surprise, she didn't bother to defend herself. All she did was look down at the ground for a second and continue talking.

"Anyway, I was hoping...um..."

"Hoping what!?" he snapped, causing her to flinch a little.

"W-well...maybe you might want to...ya know, help me with this?" her voice just got quieter as she spoke.

He chuckled "And what's your excuse for not getting one of the other agents, huh?"

"...It's not the same...I just..." she sighed before continuing "I don't know..."

He observed her closely as she looked to the ground. Her arms seemed limp as if she had no energy to carry them. Her fur was messy like she didn't even try to make it look neat before coming here. And her eyes...didn't seem normal.

Jack had no idea why he felt as if her eyes were different. They were the same ocean blue eyes that she always had, why did they seem out of place? They just seemed so...

Dead.

They didn't seem to have that spark anymore. He noticed the bags formed under her eyes, showing that she hadn't slept and had just been crying all this time. Everything about her just seemed tired and dead. He was surprised he didn't notice them before now.

It tore him to see her like this...and to know he was only making it worse.

Then, the question formed.

"How am I here?"

"What?"

"Well, obviously Chief Scratcher wouldn't let me out just with a simple request. So how'd you manage to get me out?"

"I...We had a deal..."

"What kind of a deal?" he raised his brow, curious to know.

"Uh...B-basically if I can find some solid evidence to prove that you're innocent, you get your freedom and job back."

"And if you fail?"

...

"If I fail...th-then I lose my job..."

Silence filled the room. Casey was avoiding any eye contact whatsoever. Jack, however, just stood there. Staring at her in shock.

She did what?...

He couldn't believe it. She actually gave up her job for him. A job that he and almost everyone knew Casey loved more than her life. Something that she's worked to get for years.

And yet, she was willing to drain all that just for him.

"ARE YOU CRAZY!?" he screamed.

He came closer to her, placing his paws on her shoulders and shaking her.

"YOU SERIOUSLY JUST GAVE UP YOUR JOB LIKE THAT!?"

"Keep it down! Chief Scratcher doesn't want anyone to know!" she escaped his grip.

After taking a few seconds to cool down, he spoke again "Casey why would you do something so stupid? Yeah, it's true I didn't do anything but you wouldn't be able to know! Why would you just blindly trust me like that! After everyone kept betraying you how were you so sure that I didn't do the same?" his voice started to crack.

Oh, god...please don't make me cry again...

She looked him straight into his eyes.

"Because I trust you. You're not like everyone else."

Jack was dumbfounded. Nothing to say at all. Except for one thing.

"Casey...Why?"

"I...I just wanted to tell you..."

"Tell me what?" he asked, much softer than his original tone a while ago.

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry I didn't say anything...I was just so shocked! I didn't know what to do. I should've trusted you then. Like I said I did. But I do trust you now! I really am sorry! Th-this is all my fault! I was too stupid to know what to say or do and had no clue whether I should be trusting you or everyone else and I couldn't think at all and my brain just wasn't working and I got so confused and-"

He cut her off by embracing her into a hug, causing her to stumble back a bit. He could feel her breathing starting to slow down after shaking. He felt her loosen up and calm down.

He felt her slowly wrap her arms around his neck and rest her head on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry..." she said, voice shaky and quiet.

"It's okay."

Finally. A moment of peace. A smile spread across his face. The hug made it feel like nothing ever happened. It felt...

Good...

He also felt something else roll down his cheeks.

Wait...Are these...tears?

After this, expect Jack to be wondering why he hasn't been able to start crying until he met Casey and why he hasn't been able to stop crying since then.

"I'm sorry, too." he said.

The fox broke away. "Sorry? Sorry for what?" she asked, puzzled.

"I'm sorry I didn't give you a chance to speak. I didn't know how to feel about this. I wanted you to come but at the same time, I didn't. Honestly, you're not the only one who screwed up. I should've understood that you obviously would be confused. So many things happened all at once. And I of all mammals should know that you'd have problems trusting someone again. I guess I kinda forgot we'd just met a few days ago...It just felt as if we've known each other our whole lives. So I'm sorry, too. For getting so mad."

"How about this," the vixen started. "Let's just say we both played our part into this whole mess. And we both played our part in fixing it."

"Deal."

The instant he saw her eyes, they seemed alive again. The sparkle was back, showing how energetic she was. Everything seemed to flow back into her as she kept smiling.

"So...what are we gonna do now?" he asked, waiting for her next move.

"We're going back to the spot we were kidnapped. When I asked where Iceheart said the hideout was, it wasn't the same place we were in according to the maps. So hopefully, they're still where we were kidnapped in. We have to at least check there."

"Well, let's not waste any more time, then! Let's go!"

The two dashed out the cubicle and headed for the door, Jack still holding her scarf in his sweater's pocket.

Author: I AM BACK AND SO READY FOR THIS BOOK TO BE UPDATED AGAIN! Seriously I have been aching to show you guys Jack and Casey reuniting again. Like I cannot tell you how excited I am to FINALLY have my writer's block go away and feel inspired again.

Turns out all I had to do was literally just listen to Clarity which is the same exact song that gave me the idea to make this ship in the first place :V

But anywho, let me clarify some things I wanted to change. Basically, everyone who Jack and Casey have killed imagine that they just wounded them since after I got my common sense I realized it's not the best to have them ruthlessly murder everyone...:)

Also Jack's eye color is changed to a turquoise color since I think that'd look better xdddd 

Aight that is all tell me what ya thought of this chapter peeps even though I know literally no one's gonna comment cuz I guess those don't exist anymore but oH wElL :D 

Author Out! *dabs*