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Chapter Two: Napolareon Complex

It was nearly as quick exiting the prison as it was to enter it. Within the course of an hour Dawn had signed her requisite paperwork, had her collar removed, had her last prison shower, and received her confiscated belongings much to her delight. She spent a good solid minute hugging the stack of her old clothes before putting them on, and nearly cried as she swapped her prison specs for her trusty old tortoise shell frames. As she sat in her parole officer's office she kept compulsively touching her glasses and straightening her floral skirt, as if to re-affirm that this was all really happening. Her attention snapped to the door as a stout polar bear suddenly entered.

Officer Polaraski sat at his desk and smiled at the slightly twitchy ewe.

"Take it you're pretty excited huh Dawn?" He chuckled. The sheep stilled herself.

"...and nervous" She mumbled, tapping her hooves together.

"Now, now Dawn, you served your time. You were a model prisoner, you deserve your freedom." He replied.

"I don't think I really deserve anything, but I'm happy to be given this chance." She looked down, swinging her feet as they dangled from the rather large chair.

The bear chuckled again, before beginning to flip through his paperwork. Bellwether smiled slightly. Officer Polaraski had always been kind to her during her stay here, unlike the rest of the staff. He was an old bear, his white fur dinged and claws darkened with age. He also bore some striking physical scars that showed that he'd seen a great deal in his time. His most notable was deep claw marks running down the side of his muzzle. Today he was dressed casually, a simple button down shirt which was being held down by over-stretched suspenders. It was significantly less imposing than his guard uniform but not by much. Yet despite his gruff exterior he had always managed to have the air of gentleness around him. If he had any ill will toward her, he certainly managed to hide it well.

She had met him during her first week in prison. She could remember her arrival vividly, but at the time she looked as though she was brain dead. Actually arriving in jail had practically rendered her catatonic. She had known it was coming, she had done her best to mentally prepare for it, but being there was a whole different story. She had to be helped to change into her prison gear, and barely even registered when they placed the shock collar on her.

Gods, the collars. Alpine Crag Women's Correctional Facility was one of the few places that still used them due to the nature of the place. "The Crag" was home to Zootopia's most dangerous criminals, prey and predator alike, and they had sent her there. No white collar prison like that smug Lionheart, no the runtish ewe was placed in the facility where more inmates are known to leave in body bags rather than filling a sentance. The collars were kept in place here as a deterrent, to keep inmates from killing each other as well as the staff.

Granted given her size and strength she was barely capable of hurting a fly, but as long as everyone had to wear them it was a small price to pay for her guaranteed safety. Anyone planning to get a little 'street justice' on Dawn shouldn't have been able to act without being disabled by the collar.

"Shouldn't have" being the key words, but unfortunately for the timid sheep that unlikely scenario played out in less than a week. Her third scheduled day of yard exercise, which was really just her standing around in a zombie like stupor by herself, was abruptly cut short by a large she wolf rushing her. As she wailed on her Dawn felt her mind slipping further away. She could see the collar on the wolf flicker, zapping pathetically to which the wolfess barely flinched in kind. It was clear she was so enraged she was well beyond registering the pain; the collar couldn't stop the pure adrenalin. Dawn was certain she was going to die, and she made peace with it. She deserved it after all.

It was only when the flurry of blows ceased that she came back to her senses to find officer Polaraski subduing the beastly wolf. As she began to lose consciousness, the last thing she could hear before she blacked out was Polaraski calling for the other inactive guards to get the ewe to the medical wing immediately.

The next time Dawn opened her eyes she found herself staring at fluorescent lights. She would come to find that she had been in the medical area for two weeks coalescing from her trauma in the yard. Polaraski was there shortly after she awoke, apologizing wholeheartedly for the failure of the collar deterrent, and especially the failure of the guards in the yard to act more quickly.

"They've been let go." The bear stated with a serious look. "They are supposed to protect the inmates from each other and their failure to act due to personal bias-"

The lamb knew they had ignored her; the guards hated her as much as the inmates.

"-clearly shows they were not suited for the job." The bear groaned, placing his head in his paw. "I'm sorry Ms. Bellwether, truly I am."

That shocked her, the sincerity. She leered at the bear in partial disbelief. After a moment she managed to croak a simple word. "Why?"

The bear looked at her, now he was surprised. "Why what?"

"Why are you sorry? Why save a monster?" The lamb spat. The bear regained his somewhat stern visage.

"It's my job ma'am. And I take my job very seriously. I protect the inmates, regardless of what they did. And I apologize when I fail to do my job. Ain't that how it's supposed to be?" The bear concluded.

The ewe's head simply slunk down as she began to fade back into that cloudy haze of disbelief, now over still being alive rather than being in prison. A part of her was disappointed. At the time she saw death as the easier prospect. The bear continued to talk, but she only heard bits and pieces.

He explained the wolf that had attacked her was a relative of a nighthowler victim, and seeing Dawn must have enraged her to the point where the collar was rendered in-effective. The Wolf had been punished, and Polaraski immediately had Dawn transferred to solitary for her own safety. As he placed her in a wheelchair, and rolled her to her new cell he continued to explain the situation. He had filed all the requisite paperwork to have Dawn kept under his watch specifically, so that there wouldn't be a repeat of the incident in the yard. He had even spent a great deal of time going over her case, trying to figure out exactly why these precautions had not been put in place when she was first placed in the prison. The lamb dumbly nodded, only half listening to the bear as he spoke.

It was when he dropped her off in her cell, now seated on her cot that she finally managed to find her words again.

"You-"She said as the bear was turning to leave. He stopped. "You're a predator."

"Yes ma'am, I am." The large bear nodded.

The sheep gulped. "Aren't you mad? Don't you hate me?" She staggered to her feet. "Why are you treating me so..." her thoughts were muddled. "N-nicely?"

The bear simply smiled with a genuine smile. "I told you Ms. Bellwether, it's my job." And with that, he turned and left her alone.

As days slowly became weeks, and weeks became months Dawn became used to regiment of life in solitary. Polaraski had stayed true to his words and kept watch over the sheep. He was always close by when Dawn had to be outside her cell for mandatory activities. He also handled her personal affairs, which included her in house legal needs as well as setting up with her court appointed therapist. He even supplied her with novels and puzzles when the boredom of solitary became too insufferable. In all that time the bear's merciful motives continued to elude her.

But Dawn's demeanor was sharply in the decline. As the initial shock of imprisonment faded she began to emotionally unravel. Her days became more filled with tension and stress, and she began to get frustrated at the smallest things. At night while trying to sleep she'd become overcome with anger at her circumstance and at all those who were responsible for her being there. Jessie, Walter, Lionheart, Doug, even Nick and Judy despite knowing they were right to stop her. Sure she rationalized she had done some terrible things, but she had been manipulated and surely she didn't deserve to be there.

Her therapist would later explain to her that she had been experiencing the five stages of grief. While no one in her life had passed away, she was grieving the life she could have had if she hadn't committed her crimes.

But at the time she didn't have access to the therapy. Dr. Gnu practiced outside the prison, and only had one free day a week to devote to treating inmates. On top of that patients who weren't established had to be placed on a waiting list, and Dawn being at the end of it meant a few more months of waiting. Months that she would have to wade through that turmoil on her own.

It was about seven months in, a month or so before her first appointment when Dawn's emotional trauma came to a head. She could remember the night the dam broke, sitting in the small Rec Room with a few of the inmates, all supervised by Polaraski. Dawn was only half heartily paying attention to the T.V.; she was too busy stewing in her own angry thoughts. Gazelle was performing live, and as "Try Everything" bellowed from the speakers Dawn sneered. She had always hated that song; of course she hated most of Zootopia's top one hundred. It was when the camera cut to a crowd shot that the lamb was struck dumb. There, center frame were Nick and Judy. They were dancing to the music along with various other members of the ZPD. At first Dawn gritted her teeth and growled. She could still remember what she thought as she stared.

"Look at them! Aren't they great! Zootopia's darlings! Having the time of their lives while I rot in here!" The thought seared in her mind. "And I-"

As the camera held on them, she saw their happy smiles, the fox and the rabbit even danced together.

"I should be-"She was beginning to shake. She could see more faces in the crowd, predators, prey, all of them united. Dancing and swaying to the music and filled with joy.

"I deserve to be here." The dam broke, and with it came the tears and choking sobs. "What was I even thinking? It was my fault! It was all my fault!" The Ewe began to gasp as Polaraski rushed over. "It doesn't matter what Doug did, or what Lionheart did, it's what I did!" The bear placed a paw on her shoulder as she felt silent, her head hung in shame. "It's what I did." The lamb said quietly, tears still streaming.

"Let's get you back to your cell okay Dawn?" The bear said softly. And with that, Dawn quietly got up, and was escorted back to her cell.

With the clarity, the rebuilding could begin, and it was only hastened by actually meeting Dr. Gnu. Dr. Atticus Gnu was a worn looking old wildebeest, whose coat was starting to sprout the grey highlights of an older mammal. He was quite large, but he looked somewhat frail. His horns however were meticulously maintained, clearly a point of personal pride for the doctor. He was also always dressed in a fine tan suit, with a small pair of glasses adorning his snout.

He had been following Dawn's case since she had been apprehended, and in preparation for her sessions he had dug up everything on the lamb's history he could find. Their first session was spent covering Dawn's outburst in the Rec Room, and the revelation on her experiencing the stages of grief. But their next session began to really delve into her history.

Dawn had been born the only child to Aster and Clover Bellwether. The family name was a historic one, which had produced many proud rams whose hooves had helped shape Zootopia's government since the city was founded.

"And that's where the problems began." She could remember saying, staring at the office ceiling from the lounge chair. Gnu lowered his glasses and glanced at the ewe.

"Being born?" He chuckled slightly.

"Being born to the Bellwether's" She sighed.

"Yes, I can see by the records your father was...ahem" Gnu wiped his glasses. "-quite vocal in his desire to have a son."

"Does it say that in the file?" Dawn looked surprised.

The Gnu massaged his temples. "More or less. The day you were born the doctors noted a particularly loud fight between your mother and father." He flipped a page over. "Not to mention scads of references to PTA and school event altercations."

"Yes, and my father was just as verbally abusive at home too" The ewe shifted uncomfortably. "...and physically for that matter."

The Gnu stroked his beard. "Dawn, whatever you aren't comfortable discussing we don't have to talk about today. Just let me kn-"

"No, no, I want to." The ewe sat up, giving the doctor a determined glance. He simply nodded for the ewe to continue.

Dawn's father was stern and strict, and on top of that he was a heavy drinker. That coupled with a timid and feeble mother was a recipe for disaster. From what she could remember, her father paid her little attention during the first years of her life. He had instead focused on trying to sire a son. After numerous failures and medical intervention it had turned out Aster was nearly infertile. Doctors had been amazed that he had been able to have Dawn in the first place. Defeated and reluctant Dawn became his focus, and he was determined to "make the best of a bad situation".

When she started elementary school she remembered her father laying out each step of her future for her. Good grades, honor student, college, and the various political echelons it would take her to reach "Mayor of Zootopia". That was a lot to lay on a five year old, but she did her best to mind her father. She wanted more than anything to make him proud, and was happy to say so. But her father still felt the need to warn her that any deviation from the plan would lead to punishment. Such deviations included less than stellar grades, not placing her studies first, and most importantly fraternizing with 'uncivilized mammals'. He ended that speech with a sample of what was in store for her should she fail. Her tanned hide was sore for the rest of the day.

Dawn had always been a smart child; she loved puzzles and word games, and spent a lot of her free time getting lost in books. That on top of the studying made her somewhat of a sheltered student. At the time she couldn't remember having a single friend before college. It was only through the doctor's prodding that Dawn was able to recover a long lost memory.

"Really Dawn, there must have been someone to be-friend you during all that time?" The old Wildebeest queried.

"I was a nerd, and was pretty small for a ewe. I spent most of my time getting harassed by predators." She sighed.

"Just predators?" He wiped his glasses with a napkin before returning them to his snout.

"Well..." She rolled her eyes, trying to recover her thoughts. "Prey too. Pretty much any mammal larger than I was, and there were a lot of them. Otherwise I was just avoided, nobody likes a book-" She stopped as a memory returned to her.

"Wait! Wait! I can't believe I forgot!" She practically stood on her chair.

"Hmm?" Gnu replied, leaning in with interest.

"There was someone! He was my friend in third grade! His name was...um...uh." She tried to recall it desperately but after a few minutes she slumped in the lounge, crossing her arms in frustration. "I can't remember..."

"Well what do you remember about him?" Gnu prodded.

"Puppy, I called him Puppy....but that wasn't his name." The ewe nodded.

"Puppy huh? So he was a predator then?" Gnu looked at his notes.

"Y-yes...yes he was. A wolf I think. Gah! What was his name?" The ewe was frustrated, rubbing her temples trying to conjure the memory.

"I'm sure it will come to you eventually." The doctor readied his pen.

"I remember I was getting picked on about my glasses, they looked even bigger on me back then. A large Oryx boy pushed me down and took them, waiving them around, when out of nowhere this little wolf barreled into him at full speed." She clacked her hooves together as she reminisced.

"They got into a fight, but the wolf was probably as big as I was. If it wasn't for his brother coming over and scaring the Oryx off he wouldn't have stood a chance. But he still gave me back my glasses like he'd won the fight. He was so proud." The lamb chuckled. "His brother called him Puppy, and that's where I got it from."

The Wildebeest simply nodded and scribbled in his notepad.

"He had a big family, like six or seven brothers. But he was a runt, just like me. And so we sort of became friends, schoolyard friends anyway." Dawn scratched her chin as she continued to recall her friend.

"He called me Floofy." She laughed. "Yeah, that was his answer for Puppy. He hated his brothers calling him it, but I was allowed too for some reason. But he gave me a nickname to match his."

Dawn's face suddenly grew sad. "It was only for about three months before..." she paused. "Before Dad found out." She gently touched beneath her right eye, wincing reflexively.

"Turns out Puppy was one of those 'uncivilized mammals' Dad talked about, a predator, and worse the natural enemy of sheep-kind. I got pulled from school immediately, and after two weeks in the hospital for..." She stifled a sob. "Falling off a jungle gym" she said with heavy sarcasm "I was transferred to an all prey private school. Never saw Puppy again."

A deathly silence hung over the room for a good moment before the beleaguered old Gnu broke it with a heartfelt sigh.

"I'm so sorry Dawn; I can see why you had such a hard time remembering your friend. Traumatic events have a way of creating gaps in ones memories." The Gnu added.

"Then there's going to be a lot of gaps to fill doctor, because I have plenty of them." Dawn laughed halfheartedly, as her face settled into a bitter expression.

The sessions continued as her sentence meandered on. Each one usually went over some abuse Aster had laid upon her in response to accidentally deviating from his plan. Her mother's meekness prevented her from intervening, but by Dawn's teenage years she had become used to it. When college came along she dormed at home, allowing her father to still keep some semblance of tabs on the girl.

Aster's grip was a tad lighter, but he had more of Dawn's life to manage. Aside from her grades, her extra-curriculars, and who she fraternized with, he also scrutinized the ewes love life. All of her boyfriends had to be approved by dear old dad, and any rams that fell short of his standards were chased off. Doug had been her father's favorite of all the rams she brought home, and after she broke up with him her father used Doug as the benchmark to weigh all her other suitors against. She tried for a little longer after Doug, but with each new approved ram there was always something that repelled her from them in the long run, probably how each potential mate looked too much like her dad for comfort. So eventually she put her love life on hold, it was easier to just stop trying.

Post college saw her finally break away from life in the Meadowlands and move to Zootopia proper. There she began her civil service work, keeping to the ultimate goal of one day becoming Zootopia's mayor. That's where she met Leodore, and her first rebellious thought came into her head.

"Leodore seemed like such an honest lion. Everything he wanted for Zootopia was what I wanted too. Peace, love, acceptance, utopia, blah-blah-blah." Dawn pantomimed blathering mouths with her hooves. "I can't believe I fell for that. Who would believe a politician?"

"You wouldn't be the first." Dr. Gnu chuckled.

"So I thought I'd help him, be his running mate and get the prey in his corner. I'd get to be second in command, and down the line I might get a shot at Mayor in a different election." A smug grin crept across her face. "And I'd get to piss dad off too."

"He told me how important I'd be, and how much change I'd make. I wouldn't have to work my butt off for years in civil service to get a position so lofty, and I rode the Lionheart hype train right into my own personal hell." She scoffed, crossing her arms.

"I'd heard your testimony, your time under the Mayor sounded quite insufferable." The doctor replied.

"It was like my Dad was my co-worker. Well, at least Lionfart wasn't drunk half the time, and he didn't hit me. But he might as well have. If I had known I was signing up to be a glorified secretary I would have told him when and where to shove it!" She stood on the couch for a moment, before slumping down defeated.

"Did you know I came up with the 'Mammal Inclusion Iniative?'" Dawn asked rhetorically. "Lionheart thought it was ridiculous. 'Small mammals aren't suited for big jobs.' She mocked his voice. "He said that to me! To my face!" She glared as if the Lion was standing across from her.

"I remember exactly when I had it, down to the hour. It was seven o' three in the morning. I could barely get up I was so sick." She crossed her arms. "So I call up the office to let them know I was sick as a dog, when Lionheart gets on the line and demands I get over my 'little cold' and get in there post haste." She was now clutching her arms. "I protested, but he insisted that with the Pandese ambassador visiting not showing up would be cause an 'international incident'. He demanded I get in there or I'd be demoted to assistant janitor." She bit her lip.

"So I'm sitting at my desk like a good little ewe, running to the bathroom every few minutes to throw up my breakfast and feeling like death when he buzzes me. Apparently I'm supposed to be present at the meeting between the two of them, despite not having any 'speaking roles.'" She was glowering now, venom in her voice. "So I drag myself into his office to tell him I really need to go home, that I'm nearly ready to pass out. Of course, rather than be concerned Lionheart comments on how disheveled I look and tells me to clean up before the press conference."

"Oh no...you're talking about-" The doctor covered his mouth in horror.

Dawn continued. "I tried; I really tried to keep it together out there. But it was so hot, and the conference was going on forever." Her ears dropped. "But, I couldn't contain it." She sniffled.

"So that's why you vomited all over the ambassador." The doctor was biting his hoof.

"And Lionheart had the gall to make it all about me, and how I shamed Zootopia. And to top it all off the video of that went viral for a solid week." She groaned.

"Yes, I-" Gnu cleared his throat. "- I remember several co-worker's sending it to me at the time." The therapist placed a hoof on her shoulder. "It was really awful."

"What's awful is what I did that night, when I broke down and called Doug ready to work with him." She sighed. "...and the rest is history."

The following silence was dull and cold. Dawn hung her head in shame.

"I wish the vomit thing was still the worst thing I was known for."

Her third year in prison ended with the good doctor signing her off on a clean bill of health. Dawn had worked through her problems with flying colors in his eyes, and was ready to be re-integrated into society. From the doctor to Polaraski, and from Polaraski to the parole board work began right away to release the ewe. It didn't take long, and only three months into her forth year here she sat, waiting to see how much the outside had changed with nervous anticipation.

"You still with me there Dawn?" Polaraski interrupted her reprieve.

Dawn snapped her attention to the bear." Oh I'm sorry, I was just...thinking."

"Relax Dawn, you'll do fine out there. I know you will." The bear smiled before removing a piece of paper from a folder and handing it to her. It displayed a small one room apartment.

"Now let's get down to brass tacks. I managed to scrounge you up an apartment in Seaside Towers; it's close to the coast in downtown Zootopia. It ain't much but err..." He scratched the back of his head. "I had a hard time finding it."

"Okay." Dawn contained a grimace, it was really small. But at the very least it looked clean.

"I'll be driving you down to the storage place holding your furniture, and help ya move your key belongings. I'm sorry you won't be able to fit it all, but that storage is yours for as long as you need it." He continued.

The ewe simply nodded, listening intently as the bear produced a particularly ratty looking phone from his desk.

"Now, this fellas a little old, but till you can get your hands on a new one this'll be your cell phone. Chances are the Carrot phone you got back needs a new service plan worked out, so until then you'll have this. My numbers already in it, as well as Doctor Gnu's."

"Okay." The lamb looked down at the old brick like phone now in her hooves with uncertainty.

"You are required to have a job, but I haven't found anything for you yet. Hopefully I'll have something tomorrow and we'll get it sorted out. I'm warning you now though; it's probably not going to be high end." The bear stood up from his chair and began straightening the papers out.

"You will be meeting with me once a month and I will call to check in once a week. After a year the parole board will re-asses how closely you need to be monitored, and if you are lucky we'll never have to see each other again." The bear smiled. "Do you understand everything I said Dawn?" He asked.

The ewe stood up and nodded, rubbing her hooves together in excitement.

"Welp, then let's get you back to the outside world." He stated promptly, and proceeded to make his way to the door.

"Wait!" Dawn started. The bear turned somewhat confused.

"What is it?" He asked.

"I know you said..." She gulped. "That it was your job to help me."

He nodded.

"But there had to be more to it than that? Why did you pity me?" She asked pleadingly.

The large bear sighed, before walking back over to the little sheep. He eased down on his haunches to look her in the eyes.

"I had a friend growing up, reminded me a lot of you. Leona Frost." He scratched his bridge. "She was really short by polar bear standards. And so she did everything she could to prove she was just as good if not better than any other polar bear." He sighed.

"And when the world pushed back against her, telling her that she couldn't do it she decided to fight the world." He looked down for a moment "Doc Gnu calls that a Napolareon complex."

Silence hung for a moment before he continued. "Eventually when I got older I went into law, but Leona, she turned to crime. That...well, that didn't end so well." He sighed. "I still remember the wake. I remember just wishing I had been there more."

Dawn was rapt in the bear's story. Her eyes were beginning to tear.

"I see a lot of her in you. And that's why I wanted to help you." He stood back up, trying to mask a tear swelling to the surface in his eye.

"In helping you, I'm sorta giving that second chance to her I guess. The one she never got to have." He turned away from the ewe and began to walk toward the door.

"Thank you..." Dawn sniffled.

"Don" The bear replied.

"Don?" Dawn asked.

"My first name, never told you. You're not a prisoner anymore, no need for the formalities." He held the door open. "You coming?" He asked?

The lamb quickly scurried up to the door, and as she joined the bear they proceeded to leave the office.

The duo walked down the hall, Dawn doing her best to keep even with the bear's greater stride before coming to the main door.

"You ready?" He turned to her.

"Yes! Yes! I'm ready." The lamb nodded vigorously.

With a nod Polaraski began to slide the door away, it clanked loudly as it rolled down the track. With the door clear, Dawn placed one hoof outside nervously, taking a deep breath before stepping all the way out. The sun was beaming brightly, enveloping her in its warmth. Dawn smiled.