Disclaimer: I own the world! Muwhahahaha! But not Animal Crossing.
Chapter 6
Ree's already elevated heart rate shot up.
"W-who are you?" she gulped, her eyes flicking from the road back to Never to his entirely humorless smile. Anything to avoid those eyes.
"My name is Lucifer," he said nonchalantly. "But to my Cr00kz, including you, the name is Boss. Master is also a good one, or any variation of it."
"Wait a minute. Wasn't that other guy, what's-his-face, the so-called leader of the Cr00kz? I've never heard of you," Ree stalled, keeping her eyes on the leering Nate.
Lucifer laughed, and his minions around him began laughing as well. "Very good," he said, and the laughter cut off abruptly. "It seems as though one of our plans is working. Having many rumored leaders makes myself, the true leader, harder to target."
Ree moved onto her next question, successfully keeping her voice from shaking. "How did you find me?"
"And I thought you were supposed to be intelligent! Really, after that entrance, do you think that we would have any trouble following you?"
She glared up at Lucifer's forehead. "Whatever, Lucy. Why did you bother? What would you have to gain from me, a single seeder next to your massive clan?"
Rage colored his tone. "You are to address me as Boss at all times!" His hands twitched as though they were itching to clamp around her throat, but he made no move. With visible effort, he calmed himself down.
"You are a powerful seeder," he continued. "You have done things my Cr00kz have only dreamed about."
"She corrupted this pear, Boss," Nate interjected, stepping forward and handing the fruit to Lucifer. "She made a pear into a seed."
"Impossible..." he muttered, obviously taken aback. "How... how can this be possible?" Lucifer turned the pear over and over in his hands. Some measure of control returned after a few tense minutes, and the chill seeped back into his gaze. "Very well. It seems as though we have even more use for you now."
"Why?" Ree challenged. "You have all your little Cr00kz who destroy things at your whim. Why would you bother adding one more difficult, rebellious one to your collection? Lucy?"
"Deseeders!" he snarled, the word like a curse. Lucifer began to pace angrily back and forth, finally taking his eyes from Ree's face. "Seeders who've gone good. We defeated the Spectrum Pirates, we wiped the Icers off the map ages ago! But no, the deseeders undid all our glorious work, they stop us at every turn!"
Ree was readying herself to escape, but her head snapped around at his words. "They can do that? Remove seeds from a town?"
Lucifer shot her a scathing look. "What rock have you been living under? And I thought I told you to call me Boss?"
Ree ignored the taunts, caught up in her thoughts. So some of the fruits of my labor may have been erased, she thought angrily, clenching her fists.
"So self-righteous..." he muttered, glaring down at the dirt with a strange expression in his cold eyes.
Ree viciously agreed with him, and for a moment they were united against a common foe.
He raised his eyes and they met Ree's, the strange expression still in them. "The enemy of your enemy is your friend?" Lucifer said quietly, almost hopefully.
"I don't think that applies to this situation," she replied softly.
The cold fury that usually laced his features returned, and his gaze hardened. "I will have you as my minion. By the time I am through, you will come crawling and begging to serve me."
"Yeah. Sure." Ree ignored the threat. Her eyes met Nate's, and a moment of wordless communication passed between them.
Don't do it. It will only make life more difficult for you, his eyes seemed to say.
Too late, she mouthed back. Not seeing her preparations, Lucifer turned away from her, his hands clasped behind his back.
Now.
Ree struck, flinging one seed at the seeder blocking her way and another at Lucifer's back. The seeder was frozen, surprise evident on his face behind the mask. Lucifer flicked his wrist and the seed deflected, striking the dirt harmlessly. He spun around, face contorted with rage, but Ree had already pushed past the paralyzed seeder and was sprinting back to the safety of Never's gates.
Lucifer seemed to be roaring curses at the sky as wildly thrown seeds whistled past her head. The open gateway drew closer, and Ree rocketed through the entrance, pulling the heavy doors closed. Copper and Booker rushed to her aid, and she stood, panting heavily, against the door as it thudded behind her.
The only sound in the gateroom was her deep breathing. Copper watched her silently, a question in his face.
"Lock the gate," she finally muttered, not meeting his eyes. "And don't open it again, not for anything."
"Yes, Miss Ree." Copper saluted.
Ree left the gatehouse, blinking in the sudden sunlight, the last image before the gate slammed shut etched into her mind: Nate, with an expression of pity, and Lucifer, his face twisted with inhuman rage.
She shivered in a way that had nothing to do with the heat of the day.
Dotty folded her hands nervously in her lap and looked into the mayor's aged face. The mayor himself was busy with finding a comfortable spot in the chair behind his desk.
The rabbit sighed heavily. Looks like this could take a while, she thought wryly as Tortimer moved a single sheet of paper between two stacks over and over again, occasionally stopping to make a mark or erase something else.
To occupy herself, Dotty scrutinized the room. It was furnished old-fashionedly, yet plainly. If she had to name a theme, Dotty supposed she would call it ranch, although the furniture was old enough to have inspired the ranch set. The chair Dotty sat on felt especially solid, unlike Tom Nook's more modern shrinkable furniture.
The room was almost completely spartan except for three things: a picture beside the bed of a young, smiling female tortoise, a fancy chair pushed up against the back wall, and the desk around which they now sat.
"Yes," the mayor said loudly, peering down at a piece of paper. "Dolly, is it? What can I do for you?"
"I'm Dotty," she corrected. "And I'm here to talk about Ree."
"Whuzzat? Speak up, whippersnapper! Nobody can hear you if yer a'mumblin' like that! Heh heh heh HOORF!"
"REE," Dotty repeated. "There's something I need to say about Ree."
"Ree? The human? Yes, she gave me a nice massage chair a while back. Really helps the aches in these old bones! Hoorf!"
"I don't want to talk about the chair! Ree-"
"You don't like Ree's hair? Well, you'd have to take it up with that poodle, what was her name... Barry-something. Talk about Ree's hair with Barry!"
Dotty ground her teeth together, sensing that she would get no help from the senile turtle. "No, not her hair, Ree-"
"Ah, yes, Ree. Gave me a wonderful massage chair, that one did."
"AAARGH! I just came to say that Ree did something to me that made me freeze, and to ask for you to do something, but if you won't, then I'll just leave now!" Dotty threw up her paws in frustration and stormed out.
"Wait," said the mayor's wheezy voice from behind her.
Dotty paused with her paw on the door and turned her head halfway back. "What?" she asked flatly.
"Listen, sprout," he said in a peculiar, almost pleading tone. "As the mayor of Never, I have certain responsibilities and privileges, y'know? Privileges that... some citizens might enjoy having. Privileges that I would rather keep from the hands of some citizens. It's the least I can do. Acting the way I do, well..." his voice dropped to a mere mumble "... it might be the only thing keeping me alive, you know what I mean?"
"So let me get this straight." Barely suppressed anger leached into her words. "You know that something's wrong with that human. You know, you, possibly the only one in this town with the power to do something about it, but you refuse to help."
The wizened old turtle shrugged helplessly.
"Very well, then," Dotty said stiffly.
The door swung shut behind her.
