17 years ago...

               "What are you talking about?" I hissed. "I didn't touch the thing!"

               The police officer narrowed his eyes, and took a manila folder out from under his gray, wrinkly arm. Opening it up, he flipped to a picture of a familiar little squirrel-like animal lying on a patch of dying grass. I slowly examined the glossy picture, not being able to tell what district he was in. Cocking my head to the side, I noticed how glassy his eyes were. Weird.

               "You've never seen this animal before?" The officer asked, suspicion clear in his voice.

               I rolled my eyes, pressing my dark blue-tipped ears back against my head in utter frustration. Why wouldn't this guy leave? "Yes, sir. I've never seen that animal before in my life." I swiftly lied. Sure, I knew the guy. I knew his name was Elliot Oakes and he hung out with the wrong crowds. We made small talk on a few occasions, but I was never close to him.

               "Then perhaps you can explain what exactly you were doing in the rainforest district when you should have been here, in the tundra." The rhino shut the folder and slipped it back under his arm, eyeing me. "You know, Sonata, I get that foxes are troublemakers. But they usually start doing things like this by their twenties, not when they're only 13."

                I stared at him. "Are you saying you think that I murdered him?" My voice cracked against my will.

He folded his giant arms across his chest. "I never said anything. I just simply asked you to explain what you were doing at the scene of the crime."

"I wasn't there, sir."

"Oh, but you were. Did you forget about our security camera surveillance system?" My mouth dropped open. "That's what I thought. Now, explain or I'll have no choice but to-"

"Please don't finish that sentence." I pleaded, wondering why I had broken the rule to never answer the door when my father wasn't home. Brushing my fur back, I took a deep breath. I couldn't tell him why I was really there. I couldn't tell him why I snuck out, I just couldn't. Taking a deep breath, I opened my mouth to speak. "I did not kill Elliot Oakes."

"Then who did?" The officer pressed.

I let out a small gasp of disbelief. "How am I supposed to know? Forgive me if I'm not up to date with the serial killings and their killer." I narrowed my eyes.

The officer suddenly asked a question that I wasn't expecting. "Do you have a shock collar?"

My paws flew up to my bare neck, incredulously. "No," I whispered. "Why would I?" My father had never thought it necessary to get me a shock collar like all the other animals my age. Well, all the predators. That being because I always listened. Almost always.

The rhino took out a small device and spoke into it, covering his mouth so I couldn't understand what he was saying. As soon as he put it back into his tool belt, he motioned for me to come outside. "You're coming with me."

"W-what?" I stuttered, trying to contain myself from screaming when I saw him take out fox-sized pawcuffs. "But I didn't do anything! I swear!" Tears welled in my magenta eyes as he grabbed my paws and strapped the cuffs on them. "Please, you have to believe me!" I cried, but the officer ignored me. "I don't know who did, but I didn't kill him!" A zebra who had been running nearby pulled out his cell phone to record the scene along with some neighbors who had come outside to see what all the commotion was about. And they got what they wanted. A 13-year-old moon fox being arrested for murder.

"Please, sir! You have to believe me! I can't tell you what I was doing there, but I didn't kill him! I would never do something like that!" I felt so helpless as I watched the surrounding animals snicker behind their phones as I got shoved into the back of a car five times the size of me.

"You've got the wrong fox!" I screamed right before the officer slammed the car door shut.

............................

8 years later...

               After seven horrible years of sitting in a cell, they let me out for a short period of time only to lock me up again. This time in an institute for the mentally ill. Apparently they think I have a personality disorder.

               They got me a shock collar.

Even the memory of that awful day when they strapped the thing around my neck sends shivers down my spine... "Stop it!" I screamed at the top of my lungs, thrashing my tail, my paws, my legs, trying desperately to get the armadillo away from me.
              
               I was hunched in a corner of the blinding white medical room. As soon as she pulled out the thing I ran.

              The old armadillo narrowed her eyes and turned to a lion with a mask over her mouth, a nurse. "Strap her down." She ordered. The nurse's eyes grew large.

"Don't you think that's a little unnecessary?" The lion slowly asked, eyeing me as I let out another scream. The armadillo let out a frustrated sigh, as if she had repeated this over and over again and was getting tired of animals not listening. "Just do what I tell you to. I already have another fox waiting in the other room. I would rather get this done now than later."

               Overhearing that from my position on the floor, I shook my head quickly, as fast as lightning, repeating the same word over and over. "No, no, no, no, no, no, no..."

The lion came over calmly, every movement exceptionally slow. She put her paws out in front of her cautiously. "I'm not going to hurt you, Sonata. But this needs to be done." I shook my furry blue head faster.

               The armadillo let out another sigh, and directed the nurse to take care of me while she took care of the other fox.

The lion's eyes were full of uncertainty as she rolled forward a small white stretcher from under a table. The armadillo left the room.

                "It only hurts for a second, Sonata." The nurse said, her eyes full of tenderness. I probably look like an idiot, I thought to myself before scurrying onto the stretcher. The lion began strapping down my paws and my legs and my tail, and torso. The lion wheeled me out of the white room and down the hallway until we entered an all black room. Fear racked through me as the lion walked behind a wall and came back a few seconds after with a small box.

               "W-why are we in here?" I stuttered, watching as the nurse lifted the lid to reveal a black shock collar. Tears brimmed my magenta eyes as the nurse took it out.

"The Vet wants you to get your shock collar on in a room where there are plenty of security guards in case things get a little... Out of hand." I hadn't noticed them before, but suddenly the entire room was surrounded with different animals from the police station.

I frowned. Out of hand?

               The nurse suddenly lifted up my head and slipped the back of the collar on my neck. I let out a scream as I felt a small jolt from the sudden contact, bucking my legs against their strapped down position. I wiggled desperately, wrenching my neck away from the lion's paws.

"Hold her down." The nurse ordered, and a couple of security guards came from their hiding in the shadows.

"Stop it!" I cried, tossing myself against the straps and paws. The lion was struggling to strap the thing around my neck as I continued straining to get out. "Please! Stop it! Don't do it!" Tears streamed down my furry cheeks as I fought.

And finally... The lion strapped the collar around my neck with a click.

I froze.

The guards slowly let go of me and backed away, watching as the collar turned from green to yellow to red. At the shock I let out another bloody scream. "Get it off of me!" I screamed at them, but they just stood there, useless. "What have you done?"

Breathing hard, my eyes snapped open.

...........................

6 years later...

"How have you been doing, Sonata?" My councilor asked me as I lay unmoving on the hard as cardboard bed. I didn't even bother answering her question.

I heard Mrs. Otterton (a/n: on my defense, it never said that she didn't work at the Zootopia Institute for the Mentally Ill (ZIMI) let out a sigh as she set her clipboard down on the desk and ran a paw over her slippery head. "Sonata, you're going to have to talk to me at some point. It's the only way that you'll ever get out of here."

I stared up at the blain ceiling.

Taking a quick glance at the clipboard, I saw the words 'personality disorder'. So they still haven't gotten over that idea. Huh.

                 "What if I never get better?" I asked smugly, watching with interest as Mrs. Otterton's features contorted to one of shock. I had spoken.

"What are you talking about? Of course you'll get better!" She exclaimed. But I knew, deep down, that I was a special kind of twisted. No one could fix this broken toy.

I swallowed hard and watched her as she smoothly put her paws together, and watched the floor. Silence filled after. Mrs. Otterton had been my councilor for I don't know how long. It had at least been three years since I got sent here. Now all that's left for me to look forward to in life is staring at the ceiling until my eyes dilate and I fall asleep. I can't even see the moon anymore because there's no windows. Mrs. Otterton isn't allowed to let me out.

"Sonata, if you just answer the daily questions and do... Well, nothing to harm anyone then you'll get let out." Mrs. Otterton said. "Just because you have a minor disorder doesn't mean that your future is a black hole."

"I thought you said I was getting better."

"You are! But the institute doesn't want to let you out too soon." I stared at her. Sitting in here, all alone had taught me a thing or two. It's everyone for themselves. You can't trust other animals to believe you or they'll lock you up. They won't do anything to help you.

And I knew exactly what I was destined to do next.

I had to become a runaway.

........................

Hola!

So, since I discontinued my last Zootopia Fanfiction, I decided that I still wanted to do something in that category. So here we are, Begin Again!

Keep in mind though, that I've kind of got my hands full as I'm juggling multiple projects right now, so please don't be mad if I don't update as quickly as you would like me to.

Feel free to comment and vote, you can check out my profile too! I have a wide collection of books I'm writing.

This chapter is basically just to shine some light on Sonata's past. I know, very dark. In chapter one it will be about how she goes about running away and her shock collar deal and how she avoids the police.

See you in chapter one!

Love you.

Danalpswolf 🦄