Remember when I said that I didn't want this fic to get too convoluted? Yeah. Me neither. We're reaching the home stretch now, folks! Thank you so very, very, very much for staying by me with this. I hope I can pull off this ending. Yes. Ending. This will be the third to last chapter, the last being an epilogue. Let's dive in, shall we?
A sharp knock at the door startled Annabelle out of her sleep. "Is that you, Angus? Look, I know you grumpy-old-men type like to stay up, like, really late, but I don't want any visitors right now! I'm trying to, like, slee—"
"Annabelle."
"Oh. It's you." She walked slowly, hesitantly, to the door. She held herself back from spitting in the face of the gray wolf that stood before her. "What do you want?"
"I came to get you. Hurry and pack your things. Not to sound cliché, but we don't have much time."
"For the record, you do sound cliché. And what do you mean, 'not much time'?" She mocked his voice poorly, hoping that her actions conveyed her disgust.
"Just what I said. This place. . ." He took a deep breath, letting himself in and ignoring the death glare being given to him. "This place will be gone soon. I wanted to make sure you made it out alive."
"Ha!" Her fake, bitter laughter startled him. "As if you care whether or not I'm alive or not. If it weren't for you, I'd be out there chasing my dream! I'd be munching on a big bowl of candy and practicing the guitar. Or maybe the flute. Drums. I don't know! Point is, you are a horrible, cold-hearted old man and I, like, hate you!" She folded her arms and twisted her face into the angriest expression she could muster. This went against her nature and was, therefor, not very effective. Still, it was enough to confuse the wolf.
"What do you mean I don't care? My bodyguards are out pouring gasoline as we speak. This place will go up in flames. I did that for you." The awkward silence stretched on for all of five seconds, which was about as long as Annabelle could stay quiet on a normal basis.
"WHAT?!" She stomped her foot in surprise, anger, and confusion. "I-I don't. . .I can't. . .WHAT?!" She paced the floor of her small home, letting her mouth go on autopilot. "Okay, one, that's. . .I can't even begin to describe how messed the flip up that is. That has to be, like, the dumbest statement I've ever heard and, believe me, I know dumb statements. Two, how dare you come in here and pretend you care about my well being? You're the one who wanted me to sabotage the mayor. You're the one who said I couldn't leave. You're the one who hired that scary man who called me!"
"Scary. . .man. . ." Xavier's brain began to put the pieces together. "Annabelle. . .that man. . .he doesn't work for me."
"Likely story."
"I'm serious. I work for him. Not only that, but the only reason I'm even associated with him is because he told me he'd kill you if I didn't help him."
"Hmph!"
"Annabelle, please." The art of expressing positive, sentimental-type emotions was one Xavier hadn't bothered to become skilled in. he, like most of the males in his species, preferred not to socialize or become attached to many people, so he had naturally not developed such an ability. Everything within him was supposed to despise one so cheerful and outgoing as Annabelle and anyone like her, making most of his interactions with those similar to her usually end on a sour note. Still, he knew he had to try. "Everything you said about me—that I'm a horrible, cold-hearted fool—"
"Old man."
"Right. Old man. I can live with that. It's true. All of that is true. But what's also true," he growled, trying to muster up that "nicer person" that he had been told to be on more than one occasion, "is that you're the first real friend I've had in years. I don't get it. Really, I don't. We didn't even—oh, what's it called?—'hang out' together even once. If anything, I should hate you as well." He took out the paint set and showed it to her. "I don't. I've gone to lengths far more terrible than I wanted to just to protect you. I don't have anything against the mayor here, Annabelle. I'm not destroying this town just because I can. That man, the one you thought worked for me—"
"He hates Mayor Lee." Annabelle's voice was matter-of-fact, holding hardly any emotion.
"Correct. He's a very petty, vengeful man. Whereas a normal human would be mad about being wronged, he takes it to the next level. He's not only mad, he's on the war path. He wants to make sure everything Mr. Gregory—"
"Mayor Lee."
". . .Mayor Lee loves is taken from him." As if on cue, the world outside Annabelle's window began to dance in a display of orange, yellow, and white. She shrieked as the sound of a roaring inferno grew in strength and surrounded her home. Xavier rushed to the door, only to have his paw burned on the doorknob. A beam from the ceiling gave way as the roof caught flame, hitting him squarely on the head. He fell to the floor, unconscious. Annabelle stood, unsure of what to do or how to act. This is my fault. He did this for me. I deserve to die. I should just stay here and fall with the house. She looked down at the wolf on the floor. What am I saying? She thrust the board aside and, using the bottom of her shirt as a makeshift mitt, turned the doorknob with all of her strength. A wall of fire blocked her exit and invited itself in, consuming the walls and floors with an unrealistic speed. Nearly panicking, Annabelle grabbed the blanket from her bed and wrapped Xavier up as best she could and, fueled by the sudden rush of adrenaline to her system, barreled through the fire, taking Xavier with her. She half ran with, half dragged him to the beach where a familiar kappa was still at his post.
"Here!" She thrust him into the boat, surprising the captain. "Take care of this for me. I have work to do."
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
The smell of smoke brought Lee out of sleep in a panic. He could hear frantic shouts of terror outside and opened his door to find the entire village was on fire. All around him, his neighbors were being awoken from their rest, either by the tell-tale signs of the unforgiving blaze, or the voices of their friends and, thankfully, even their enemies. One in particular stood out to him- an orange anteater who was hurriedly running about assisting anyone who needed it and shouting at the top of her lungs.
"Wake up! Vona is on fire! Get to the beach now!" He saw that some had already done so and were coming back with buckets of seawater to try and douse the flames. As he was about to go back inside to find anything that would hold a large amount of water to aid in their efforts, he heard Annabelle shout to him. "Mayor! Town Hall!" It took him a moment to process what she meant. When he did, his feet took off full-force. Isabelle!
0-0-0-0-0-0-0
"Let me go!" Isabelle struggled against the grip of her captor, a man whom she had never seen before. He was slightly shorter and not as built as the other two men that she had seen yesterday, but he was far taller and much older than Lee. He had barged into Town Hall in the middle of the night, not bothering to introduce himself. He had immediately grabbed her, one arm around her waste, keeping her arms immobile, the other around her neck. At present, he was tying her arms to her sides, ignoring her angry protests. "I don't even know who you are! Why the heck—" The man pulled out a knife and held it to her throat.
"Stop talking, mutt."
I've got to be dreaming. This has to be some sort of nightmare. She swung her head backwards in an attempt to hit it against the shelf. As her arms were now useless, this would have to suffice for a pinch. How did this happen? She didn't want to admit it, but she knew exactly how. She ventured a guess as to who the man was.
"You're the man Lee told me about."
"Quiet!" Her statement was met with a fist to the side of the head. Her ears rang and she let out a small cry similar to that of one of her non-bipedal relatives. How can you be the same species as Lee? You're a brute and a monster! She feared what might happen if she said these things aloud, so she kept them to herself. She could hear the sounds of burning buildings and frantic villagers outside. More of your doings, no doubt. She wished that she could be out there helping to stop the fire. She wished that she could be one of the many voices that were hollering to those still asleep. She wanted to be anywhere but here. Lee, are you safe? Did you make it out? Are you still alive? The door to Town Hall slammed open, revealing a panic-stricken and seething Lee. He wasted no time in lunging towards the man, who quickly put the blade back to the poor dog's neck. Not surprisingly, this stopped Lee's forward motion. "Not another step." The look on Lee's face was heartbreaking for Isabelle. He looked at her, at the situation she was in, and every ounce of strength in him seemed to drain away. He looked pathetic, defeated, all of the energy that he had come in with now gone in a single instant. Time seemed to stop, the only sounds those from outside and the pounding of the blood in Isabelle's ears. Lee was the first to break the silence.
"Mr. Reeds, please. . .please let her go." The fear in his voice was unmistakable. She looked up at the now-identified Reeds, whose eyes held triumph and cockiness, but whose face held nothing but solid distain. He didn't even bother to smirk. "Please. I'll do anything! Your friend can have my role as mayor. I'll stand trial for what I did. Heck, I'll stand trial for stuff I didn't do! I-I'll plead guilty and not even argue. I'll go straight to jail with no objections. . ." he swallowed, his voice cracking under the weight of his emotions and fear. "I won't fight the death penalty that you will surely get approved. Please. All I ask is that you let my friend go. Please. Please. Let Isabelle go."
More silence. The man, Mr. Reeds, seemed to be taking his own sweet time. He didn't seem to care that the fire would soon reach the building and, if they were not allowed to leave, kill them all.
"No." With that single word, he brought the weapon across Isabelle's face, leaving a deep wound. She held back her scream, not wanting to provoke the unstable man. His eyes were wide and his face was growing redder and redder, his breathing now clearly audible. The fire was now eating away at the walls of the building, but the heat from this evil man seemed much more threatening. "I want you to suffer, you little slanderous worm!" He reached behind him and grabbed the various decorations that Tortimer had set up, flinging them one at a time at Lee. One of them, a rather nice looking potted plant, made contact with Lee's stomach. The man had surprising throwing strength and the force of the impact knocked the wind out of Lee's lungs. The fire continued to rage. "I'm going to kill her. Slowly. Painfully. I'll stab her twice for every word you said. Then, I'm going to stab you and leave you here to burn, along with your miserable little tow—AAH!" Lee didn't bother to let him finish his little tirade. Pushing past the pain from yesterday that hadn't quite healed and the punch in the gut from a small flora, he leapt forward, arms outstretched and mouth open in an angry yell. Isabelle had only a moment to think, but she took the small amount of time given to kick her attacker's shin with all of the strength she could summon.
His shout of pain was cut short by a storm of punches and kicks, one of which was a cheap-shot that sent the awful man to the floor. Lee pried the knife from his hands, cutting the ropes that had held his friend captive. He threw the knife as far as he could and only then noticed that most of Town Hall was now burning. The fire had crept into the confines of the building and was now turning it into a large furnace. In a moment that will surely and undoubtedly cause a severe case of de ja vu, a large board gave way from the ceiling, one much larger and heavier than the one previously mentioned. As if the building itself were taking vengeance against what had been done to it, the blow cracked Reed's skull, leaving nothing but a lifeless corpse on the floor. The sight made Isabelle nauseous, but she didn't have much time to think about it, for she was being pulled along by Lee. The door didn't need to be opened, for it, too, collapsed and was eaten by the fire. The two of them ran out of the remains of the building and into the cool night air. They watched helplessly as the last of their workspace came tumbling down upon itself and the body inside it.
"He's dead." Lee said.
"He's dead." Isabelle echoed. Neither of their voices held any trace of victory, nor any malice.
"Just like that."
"Just like that."
Neither of them could muster any sadness, though they tried. He was, after all, a living creature. Well, not anymore, but at some recent point he was. Thankfully, the sky did all the crying that they couldn't. It came without warning and with full-force. Fat tears of rain fell upon the smoldering village, killing the last of the flames that hadn't already been extinguished by the villagers' efforts, eating away any embers of death that might still be awaiting fuel.
"Come on." Lee's voice was quiet and tired.
"Where are we going?"
"The Plaza, assuming it's still there." He held out his hand and she took it. The two of them walked hand-in-paw across the charred and broken landscape. There were no dead bodies. No wails of anguish that came from the loss of a loved one. Rather, it was eerily silent. The yelling had stopped. There was no need to evacuate anyone anymore, as all had gotten out safely and pitched in to salvage their village. The houses were nothing more than blackened shells of what they had been. The young trees that hadn't had a chance to bear fruit were gone completely. Re-Tail hadn't survived, either, and the two alpacas were standing outside the mess and looking at what remained. The blue one was comforting his wife, who was sobbing quietly. The Roost was nothing more than a heap of rubble, its stoic proprietor hanging his head in defeat. The sight was too much for Isabelle to take. She stopped, letting the tears roll down her still-bleeding face. They mixed with the blood, washing it away. Lee had no words that could comfort her adequately, so he settled on wrapping his arms around her and letting her use one of his sleeves as a temporary stand-in gauze. It's going to be okay, Isabelle. Everything is going to be okay. He ran a hand across her head, hoping that she wouldn't think that he was implying that she was like one the far-less-intelligent canines that his species had domesticated. Thankfully, she took it for what it was—a simple gesture of consolation.
"Thank you." She sniffled, wiping her face with the back of a paw. She assured him that she could make it the rest of the way and they continued onwards. A few of the animals on the beach spotted them walking towards the Plaza and decided to follow. This, in turn, caused more to follow. Soon, the entire village was behind them, the entire company of animals looking like some sort of nomadic group wandering the wilderness. At last, they reached what was left of the Plaza. The cobblestone paving was still there, as well as the bricks that once held the town's tree. The tree in question was no more, a few scrawny roots the only indication that it had been there in the first place. Lee placed a shaky foot on the bricks, then the other. He had to place a hand on Isabelle's shoulder to steady himself, for his system was tired both physically and emotionally. Still, he knew what had to be done. A few of the villagers were murmuring, mostly about the loss of their once beautiful home. Annabelle was the one to silence them.
"Quiet, you guys. The Mayor has something to say."