Animal Crossing New Leaf:

THE NIGHTMARE OF AIKA


(Summary: The four unluckiest humans in the world meet the wolf in charge of the village. Things become tense, and that leads to an escape into the heart of Aika Village.)


CHAPTER 3: The Keeper of Aika

"Wait!" Cecelia burst out. "We didn't mean to crash your house!" Large tears slipped from her eyes. "We're sorry. Please don't make us go back out there!"

The wolf strode forward. He lowered his arm, but kept his claws at the ready. Too much of his existence in this town taught him to never let his guard down, or trust at the first flow of alligator tears. His footsteps were loud against the creaky old wood-board floor as he stepped toward us and we backed away. The claws of his toes scraped against the wood.

His yellow eyes narrowed at the shovel in my trembling hands. "They allowed you to keep your tools?" his bass voice growled. "You mustn't be much of a threat, then. Why would the Rovers bother me with you?" He grumped.

"The Rovers?" Kenshin repeated curiously. He'd never heard of a group going by that title before. He only knew one Rover, and that was the cat he'd met on the train when he moved to Seaside.

"N-no one brought us here," I volunteered. "We were attacked and—"

"Shut up!" The wolf howled. He put the key into the pocket of his button up shirt. The buttons looked like one flex of the muscles beneath would rend them from their threads. "Tell me." He stepped up close to me, leaning down to be at face level. "What crime did you commit? Did you pull a cruel prank? Steal from the Nooks? Torture smaller animals for pleasure?" He tapped directly over my heart, "End someone's breath?"

I couldn't answer. His aura was crushing, and as dark as the loathing in his voice. How could anyone do such monstrous things? I shook my head from side to side.

"W-we didn't...commit anything." Sweat beaded on Taki's brow. "We're not supposed to be here."

"That's what they all say," The wolf rolled his eyes. He backed up.

"All?" He hated the sound of that. "There aren't really other humans here, are there? That's just a story to scare us...right?"

The wolf remained silent.

"Right?" Taki swallowed, hating the mute answer.

"We're serious." Kenshin spoke up. He remained strong when the rest of us wanted to pee our pants. "We were forced into this town by a tarantula horde that attacked our train. We had no other choice but to run."

"All we want is to get out of here," I blurted out before thinking.

The wolf moved inches away from Kenshin, glowering down. Though Kenshin was tall, the wolf easily breached two meters. He bore his teeth again, glinting with saliva.

Kenshin knew he was in a dangerous situation. He held the gold leaf in his hand, ready to deleaf the tool as soon as his or the other humans' lives were in danger.

"You," the wolf sniffed him. "don't fear me as they do. The stench of their terror burns my nostrils, but you are calm. Still," his eyes flicked to the gold leaf, then back, "you recognize a threat." He 'humphed' loudly, then laughed. The sound was coarse, like a wire brushed scratched along rough metal. He moved in a flash, gripping Kenshin's shirt in his fist and hauling the other to his toes.

"Kenshin..." I squeaked.

His hot breath melted over Kenshin's face. "What do you feel? Do you feel remorse? Regret? Empathy? Compassion? Love?"

A grunted effort left Kenshin as he pulled at his collar to keep it from choking him. "Are you the mayor of this town?" he asked, completely avoiding the questions, mostly because he wasn't sure how to answer them.

The wolf's gaze lingered before letting him go. "I'm the Keeper. There hasn't been need for a mayor in years."

I bit my lip, forcing bravery to confront an animal who could easily crush my face in his paw. "This is a human's house. You're a wolf. Wh-why did you call it...your house?"

He turned to stare at me.

"That piano..." I continued, "the music on the floor, it's—"

"None of your business, Human!" the white wolf snapped at me.

I reached back instinctively for the nearest hand to clasp.

Taki squeezed my palm. I held on, refusing to let go. The contact seemed to bolster his courage as well.

"Ok," he held up one hand. "We're all a little on edge here. Why don't we start over?" he releafed his slingshot as a gesture of good will. "I'm Mayor Taki of Leafside," This is Cecelia, Mayor of Sugarpine, and Mel and Kenshin are from Seaside. Our train had to stop because of downed trees. On my honor as Mayor, I swear to you we're telling the truth. We mean no ill intention, and we are certainly not criminals. The only crime I've committed is telling bad puns," he chuckled, trying feebly to disarm the dangerous atmosphere. "U-unless bad puns are worthy of sentencing to this place."

The failed mirth dissolved against the wolf's cranky shield. "Bad puns are worthy of a beating. Not imprisonment." Annoyed with the humans, he moved over to a desk against the wall.

"Then you underst—"

"One more sound out of any of you, and I'll rip your tongue out." He removed a notebook from the middle drawer and flipped through it, scanning for new names.

Cecelia scooted over to lean against Kenshin. He wrapped his arm around her in comfort.

She'd been silent this whole time, which I found to be a little odd. Cecelia spoke her mind. Now, she reminded me of a mouse nervous around a coiled trap.

I still hadn't let go of Taki's hand, and it didn't feel like he would let me.

I wanted out of this house now. That animal looked ready to tear our limbs off like dry bread sticks. On rare occasions, the differences between my kind and animal kind would be as stark as a full moon's light against fresh snow. Any one of them could hurt me, Kenshin, or Kosei if they wanted. They had claws, teeth, quills, venom... and we had...nothing. Then the moment would pass as I'd shake my head. We were all from the same world. We were the same. The animals would never harm us. We were friends.

Right now, that wolf was bringing all those thoughts back—painting a clear line in just how different we are.

Finally, he closed the book. "You're not on my list." He seemed to relax slightly.

"See?" Taki risked. "Just like we said. We're victims of circumstance. We'll just be on our way, then." He eased forward, pulling me with him.

The wolf moved so fast, I barely had time to exhale. In that second, he'd spanned the distance across the room, rammed his paw into Taki's chest, and slammed him up against the wall. The impact rattled the single picture hanging cooked on a nail.

I noticed that he quickly reached up to straighten the picture without ever taking his eyes from his prey. Why would he care about something like that?

Taki grunted at the pressure of the wolf's warm paw pressing his head against the plaster.

"You'll set foot outside this house when I tell you. Not before," he ordered.

"Stop it!" I yelled, holding up my shovel. "Let him go!"

After a moment of piercing his command through, he let his 'guest' go.

Taki rubbed at his left temple. "There's no reason," he panted, trying to keep his diplomatic training, but losing. "To act that way. We're not your enemies."

"You're Humans. That's reason enough." His eyes flicked to me.

I raised the shovel in defense, clenching my jaw and breathing hard through the fear.

"You'll turn on your own kind in a heartbeat if it suits you. Your pathetic species disgusts me." He opened a side drawer on the desk and pulled out another skeleton key. "They should have left you all there to rot."

I was too confused and scared to ask for any clarification. Right now I wanted to take my friends and run and forget this place ever existed.

Cecelia's lip quivered. "Why are you being so mean?" she muttered, hugging the doll in the red dress. "What happened to you? You used to be funny, Fang."

The wolf froze. He turned slowly to stare at the little girl. "How did you know my name?" He finally noticed the doll in her arms and his vengeful tone returned, this time backed with anger. "You're a thief! Drop it! Now!"

"No," She shook her head, locks of her wet red hair throwing droplets of water. "It's mine!"

"Cecelia," I warned. If she didn't stop, this wolf would redecorate the room with our blood.

Fang reached for her, but she dodged. He chased her around the room, swiping to snare the doll on his claw, but she avoided him.

"No! You're not hearing me, Fang! You never hear me!" Overcome from the events, she ran for the front door, and disappeared into the storm.

Fang's features shifted slightly to shock. The way she addressed him with familiarity seemed almost like he'd just betrayed her.

"Cecelia!" Kenshin yelled. He ran after her. She couldn't be left alone in a place like this. If they lost sight of her, she could disappear into this village for good.

Taki took his chance to deleaf his slingshot and fired a pebble from his pocket at the wolf. It struck the large animal's cheek, causing him to recoil from pain. The impact, however, had replaced the momentary confusion with anger. The feral eyes that met with ours chilled me more than the cold air.

"Run!" Taki yelled.

We used that moment to escape back into the small clearing flanking the house.

My breath froze in my lungs as the rain lashed at us.

A Long low howl pierced the rain, the darkness, through our souls.

My legs wanted to follow suit with my breath, to freeze up from the sound that tried to pull my body to the sod.

I kept my eyes on the back of Taki's head. Seeing another person helped to keep me going when it felt like the ground would swallow me up. We hurried through rows of perfect roses and perfect peach trees—the only signs of anything living.

I was wrong.

Out of the shrubs burst dozens of mutant arachnids to join the chase.

"Tarantulas!"

I heard the snap of sticks in the darkness beneath a heavy weight. My dilated pupils strained to make out the shifting shadowy forms in the brush. The thundering in my ears seemed louder than the angered sky spitting out bolts of lightning across the clouded ceiling.

Taki grabbed my hand, pulling me to the south until we reached a river. We hurried along the rocky banks, sliding in the mud.

The rapid footfalls were closer, now, so close I felt like the large wolf would leap from the trees at any second, jaws open and ready to stain his fur red.

"There's a bridge!" He gripped my hand tighter, making sure not to lose me.

My sneakers threatened to slip on the wet gray stones.

We made it to the other side and turned around.

Fang stopped at the foot of the bridge. Behind him, so did the spiders. They skittered at the edge of the river, but didn't try to attack the wolf, or scramble across the bridge.

We panted to catch our breath. Rain drops peppered the river.

Fang pulled the key from his pocket and tossed it toward us. It pinged against the cold stone and came to rest in the dirt on the other side.

We both looked to it, then back to the wolf. Taki steeled his resolve and stepped forward to pick up the key. It was old, made of iron, and weighed heavy in his palm.

"There is only one bridge!" he snarled as he moved away to blend into the stormy night. "Remember its location. And avoid the humans as long as you can." Despite the shade of his fur, he melted into the ominous darkness of the grove of perfect peach trees.

What exactly did he mean by that? I wanted to ask, but in reality, I didn't want to know the gory details. My imagination did enough damage.

We watched as the spiders dispersed into the shadows between throbs of lighting, listening to the 'tick' of their legs rattling against their bodies until they were gone, and we existed in silence. The winds moaned through the trees.

"Why didn't they chase us over the bridge?" I pushed my long hair out of my face.

"I don't know," Taki frowned. "Let's be glad they didn't, though, all right?"

I nodded. "Yeah," I fought to calm my racing heart. "Small victories."

Taki opened his palm to stare at the key. Whatever this was used for, Fang gave it to them on purpose. "Let's find Kenshin and Cecelia and get back to the train. Hopefully the animals will be all right and have the tracks cleared."

"We split up," I lamented. "That's bad."

Taki rubbed at the sore spot on his head. "Yeah. I've seen those movies. Never split the party."

I noticed his action. "Are you ok? I mean, he did try to throw you through a wall."

"I'm fine. I've had worse."

"Worse than a wall?" I kept speaking to try to save my sanity and hope.

"I've fallen into my town's Resetti den before."

"Did he leave the cover open?"

He shook his head in a negative. "I was going out for a walk to catch some bugs at night and didn't watch where I was going and stepped in a pitfall. It was buried at a point where the mole's tunnel skimmed the surface. My weight broke clean through the dirt."

"Sounds like that must have made him really mad."

"'Mad' is putting it mildly."

"H-how long have you lived in Leafside?" I tried to keep my head by continuing the conversation.

"Five years. I've been Mayor for four. I moved from another town and accepted the position."

"Oh. Where was it?"

"It was more inland..." he paused, fighting to recall anything he could about his previous town –the smell, the layout, the town fruit, the villagers—but all he could see were blurry images. He chuckled slightly. "I don't really remember. I guess time dulled my memory. I was happy there, though." He looked to me. "What about you? Where did you live before you moved to Seaside?"

"I...lived with Mom." I answered almost robotically. "I don't really recall much. It's more a feeling than an image. Like the smell of a sunflower will remind me of a sunny porch, or a song will remind me of her smile..." I paused as the image of the sheet music scattered around the floor of that human house flashed vividly through my minds eye. The tune on it held such strong familiarity. I knew that song inside and out. It was part of me.

Something cried out in the distance. I stiffened, unsure if what I heard was a bird, an animal, or a broken human. I swallowed hard.

The tenebrous night surrounded us as we moved carefully across a carpet of lifeless leaves toward the heart of Aika village. We were soaking wet, cold, and exposed. I feared the storm would lure out unknown predators from their lairs to break our bones and drag us away in pieces.

A small house stood as a lonely sentry in a barren yard filled with old tires, boots, and other trash. We started toward it when a light winked on within.

Quickly, we scrambled behind a tree to hide from anyone inside. Heeding the advice of Fang, we avoided it.

In a moment of charity, the rain stopped.

I looked up as the storm clouds allowed a single beam of moonlight through to feebly light the town. The susurration of the ocean waves shushed softly against a distant sandy shore, and I was struck with homesickness. My house perched at the cliff edge of Seaside. I would fall asleep to that sound every night.

Would anyone come looking for us? Kenshin and Kosei were my family –the only family I knew besides Mom and Dad. As much as they drove me nuts, I honestly couldn't see my life without those two jokers in it. I glanced to Taki and bit my lip to hold back the thoughts of the four of us never seeing our homes or our friends again.

Cecelia had said this is where broken members of our kind were sent to disappear. But we weren't broken. We were just trapped in the worst possible place a human could tread.

No, I couldn't break. Not now. I wasn't alone. Right now, this other human was the most important person in my life. We needed to stick together to find Kenshin and Cecelia. If we didn't, we might never see them again.

Kenshin, I put my resolute thought to the foreground to hold onto. I'll find you. I swear we'll all get out of here with our breath intact. That's a promise.

I suddenly froze when a morbid thought pierced through my chest. "Taki."

He stopped.

"Kenshin and Cecelia..." The blood drained from my face, and I knew I looked as bleached as the lifeless moonlight, "they don't know to avoid the humans."


TBC