Disclaimer: The Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles do not belong to me, or anyone I know for that matter. Any characters from the series featured in this story belong to someone else and I'm not even going to try claiming them. Any irregular characters, however, do belong to me and you can bet you woolen underwear that I claim them.
**A/N. Just so you know, I am an idiot. What else could I be if I'm trying to write a fanfic about a TV show I've never even seen? I hope I don't skewer the dudes too badly, I'm forming their attitudes from other people's work- yeah, you people are my inspiration. And you're more than welcome to make suggestions, I'm afraid that I only know of five characters in TMNT, the turtles and Splinter... oh, yeah, you can definitely tell how good this story will be.
If I haven't completely put you off of this story- good. I write better if I'm free to alter the characters to my whim. Want proof? Read on, Believers... Read on.**
"Aw, admit it dude, you're a wuss."
"I am not and I will not admit it. A moron like you couldn't possibly appreciate the true meaning of the story."
"Whatever. That still doesn't change the fact that you were crying over that movie."
"It was very beautifully written. A young girl who rebels against the oppressive rule of her father to cross the species barrier and find true love. It's classic."
"I hate to tell you this, Don, but it's The Little Mermaid."
"So? Besides, I've read the book."
"The book... now that's a bit obsessive isn't it?"
"In the original story, her name is Marina and she ends up dieing because her love of the prince won't let her kill him."
"Riiiiight. Dude, more pizza."
Donatello sighed and passed a greasy pizza box to his brother. Sometimes he wished Raphael had a bit more sophistication. He looked at Rapheal, who was wolfing down another slice of pizza and nearly gagged. A lot more sophistication.
"You guys ever want to try something other than pizza? Like real food?"
Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo all looked at Donatello. "But pizza IS real food."
"No. It isn't. Real food is like... like..."
His three brothers grinned, smirked and smiled, respectively, as they waited for him to continue.
"Like burgers and fries. Hot dogs... real food."
"Fast food?"
"No. You can fix them at home too."
"Bright idea, Einstein. How?"
Donatello looked around the drained sewer pipe that they called home.
"Okay, better idea. Chinese food is real food. Let's try Chinese."
"Nah, my stomach doesn't agree with change." Leonardo reached over the battered couch and Raphael for a peice of the greasy, oozey, toxic looking pizza.
"Well if you insist on pizza, why not something with a bit more real stuff on it and less chemicals?"
"What is it with you and stuff being real all of a sudden?" Michelangelo asked. "What's wrong with our pizza?"
"Or does Donny think he's above such things?" Raphael put in.
Donatello just threw his hands in the air and shook his head on his way to the door.
"Where ya goin'?"
"Out." he answered as he picked up his staff.
~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~
Donatello checked the street carefully before he crawled out of the sewer. Once in the open, he stretched out all the kinks in his muscles and began plotting the fastest course to the top of the building he was standing by.
With a few well placed jumps, assisted by his staff, Donatello was standing on the roof, bathing in the glory of a bright moon. A cool breeze rustled the ends of his purple headband and for a while he was free of the restraints of his being.
But of course, it always led back to that.
Donatello sighed and didn't even bother fighting the resentment, the bitter hate and the painful tears. He didn't bother because the more he fought with it, the longer the depression would last, and Donatello ~never~ got depressed. Or at least that was the image he had built. Why was anyone's guess. If he couldn't tell his brothers, who could he tell? No one, because everyone else would run or shoot at him or something along those lines.
See, there it goes again.
"It's not like I asked to be like this. I don't want to live in a sewer and eat imitation pizza all the time." He said out loud.
"Who said you have to? There are people out there who couldn't care less if you're a human sized turtle." A small voice answered his.
"But it's too risky to find them. I know that some people can rise above that, but most can't. It wouldn't be safe."
"Define safe. Everyone dies eventually. All safe does is prolong the inevitable. Why are you suffering? You're safe, right? You have a roof over your head, food in your stomach and you can keep yourself company. See what safe gets you?"
Donatello frowned. It was true in a way he'd never admitted to himself. Sure, there were fights against Shredder and other bad guys that sometimes left the brothers pretty banged up, but yeah, they were safe in the sewers. Admitting that to himself didn't help ease the discomfort he felt at that particular line of reasoning. Where it came from was a mystery that he hoped he never solved.
"It's just that everything is starting to feel so artificial. The same fights with the same people. The same arguements over the same things..."
"You want a change." Donatello sat on a wooden crate. "You want to stay safe, but you don't want to know that it's safe. Or do you just want to be human?"
It hurt him to hear that. It wasn't exactly true, but he did want to be one or the other, either a turtle or a human, not some freak hybrid.
"I want to fit in somewhere." He responded.
"No you don't." The voice laughed. "You're just bored with your life now and want something new. Get over it. Everyone goes through that phase and everyone regrets it later. Make a fool of yourself now so you won't be tormented about it later. Trust me. It's a torture that you do not want to experience. I think you're wanted..."
Donatello dimly registered Leonardo calling his name, but didn't answer. "This was enlightening, self. We should have more heart-to-hearts more often."
"No problem. I'm always here."
Donatello stood wearily and plodded to the side of the building. "I'm coming, I'm coming." He jumped over the side to join Raphael, who was just on his way up.
On the rooftop, a pair of eyes watched him leave. "A human sized turtle that philosophizes... interesting. I probably should have shown myself, the poor bastard's gonna start talking to himself and expecting answers now." The figure chuckled. "Oh well. Who cares?" The person sat on the crate that Donatello had just vacated. "Damn. Who am I kidding?"
~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~
They were all back in the sewers, heading back home much more slowly than they had left.
"I don't get it. How're we supposed to help if you won't let us know what's wrong?"
"Maybe I don't need help. Maybe I'm just working my way through this alone."
"C'mon Donny, this isn't like you. You're scaring all of us. Master Splinter nearly had a heart attack when he found out you left by yourself."
"I can take care of myself." Donatello said, irritated.
"We know you can handle just about anything on the streets, dude. We're just worried that you can't handle what's going on in your head."
"You don't know what's going on in my head."
"That's my point. You won't tell us."
"Another damn circle." Don muttered.
"What?"
"Look Raphael. I'm fine. Just doing a little soul searching, y'know."
"Soul searching? We'll help. We're good at finding stuff, aren't we boys?"
Leo and Michelangelo had been silent the whole time.
"As long as you don't do anything crazy, you can search as many souls as you want, man. Just snap out of it soon 'kay?" Leo said and Mike nodded.
"Don't do anything spacey, like change on us." he added.
"I won't." Donatello answered with a smile. "But if you really want to help me..."
"Nope. We're having pizza, and not for love or money will try some of that totally uncool stuff you were talking about." Raphael anticipated Donatello's request and shot it to peices.
"Just this-"
"Nope."
Don sighed again. It would have shocked him if they'd agreed anyway.
~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~
Later that night, Don stared up at the ceiling wishing he could see the stars. There was no way he could sneak outside, not if Master Splinter was worried enough to send the others after him. Raphael was probably sleeping right beside Don's door.
"Bored with life... the more I think about it, the truer it seems." He sat on the bed, legs crossed, all illusion of sleepyness gone.
"That's how it goes. It's pretty deep stuff." The voice was back and Donatello welcomed it with a smile. A sad smile, but it was a smile.
"Any more insights?" He asked.
"Yep, but I'm starving. Lucky for both of us, I'm a genius and brought some food with me."
Donatello blinked. A match was lit and in the dimlight, Don could see a hand lift it to light a cigarette.
"Don't smoke. It's bad for you." The voice said, and this time, Donatello identitied it with the person in front of him. "Name's Gaton Tair. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
"I'm Donatello. Um. How'd you get in here?"
"Through the door."
"Um... When?"
"Today. Don't ask me questions like that. I simply refuse to answer them. Now, do you want a BLT sub or the Philly Steak and Cheese?"
Donatello just stared, completely awestruck. "Does anyone else know that you're here?"
"The god of the sewer does. I think I want the BLT so you can have it and I'll eat the other."
"What?"
"Reverse psychology. I know that whatever I want to eat now will make me sick later." Gaton handed Don the wrapped sub.
"Really?" Donatello accepted the package, still mystified by the stranger.
"Yeah. You're very articulate today, or are you just a morning person?"
It took Don a moment to catch the sarcasm. "It's just..."
"Startling? Yeah, I know. I have that effect on people. Mutated turtles are no exception. Did you know I had a red eared slider named Donatello? Things got rough at home and I had to leave, so I set him free."
"Really?"
"Yeah. That was in South Carolina, though. I'm not even sure that turtle was a guy. There's suposed to be some way you can tell by looking at their tails, but I wanted to name the little guy Donatello so bad that I pretended he was male. Or she. Whatever."
Donatello marvelled at the way Gaton could smoke and chew at the same time.
Gaton gave a short laugh. "You're a funny one, all right. Did you know that turtle are sexless until about a week before they're born? The temperature of the environment is a pretty big factor in whether most of them will hatch as males or females. Once again, I forget the tiny little detail of which determines which. I think it's funny how I can remember crazy things like the fact that the letter e is the most used letter in the alphabet, but can't remember the day or what the second most used letter is. Weird, huh?"
"Not really. It's a proven fact that aimless trivia sticks better than important things. It all depends on your interest in the topic, I guess."
"Impressive, Three whole sentences."
"Wow, you actually shut your mouth long enough for me to say them."
They both started laughing.
"So. Now that we have that out of the way, it's time for the important questions."
"Like?"
"Like 'what's your favorite color?' Well, never mind. It's obviously purple. Next one is... How old are you? Oh, and my favorite color's black and I'll turn sixteen in two months."
"How cool it that? I'm sixteen."
"What? Why is everyone older than me?"
"So they can pick on you of course. My turn, What do you do for fun?"
"I creep people out and pick up meaningless facts."
"I fight bad guys and work in my lab."
"Cool. Uh, what's one thing you would like the world to know?"
"Just one? Well, everything, I guess."
"Fair enough. I would tell them that they're not alone on earth and that something big is coming to tip the scales back for Mother Earth."
"Is there?"
"Is where?"
"Is there something coming?"
"Everything is either coming or going or not moving at all."
"You're avoiding the question."
"Am I?"
"Are you?"
"Okay, yes."
"Yes what?'
"Yes to your question."
"Which one?"
"The one you asked."
"We aren't getting very far here."
"We aren't are we?"
Donatello took a bite of the sub.
"I get it."
"You get what."
"This is one of those things where you didn't tell me anything, right."
"Oooh, the turtle's got some kind of grey matter."
"Thanks. I get the feeling that's the closest to a compliment that I'll get from you."
"Just about." Don could practically hear him smile and the two of them fell into a comfortable silence.
"You believe in God?" Gaton asked abruptly.
"I never thought much of it."
"Don't."
"Don't what?"
"Don't think about it much. Either follow religion with every fibre of your being or don't follow it at all."
"Okay."
"Good."
"You're from South Carolina?"
"Not originally. I was born in Germany. My dad was in the US military when he met my mom."
"Do you travel a lot?"
"I do now. Things went bad at home and I left. I've been travelling all over the place since then."
"I think I want to travel one day."
"It's no fun if you've got a lot of stuff to take with you. Drags you down."
"Yeah? I was thinking Spain or France, but I only speak English so..." Don shrugged. "I guess it doesn't matter. How would I get there?"
"Almost all other countries teach their children four major languages, Latin, French, Spanish and English. And they learn their native language as well."
"How many languages do you know?"
"Victorian, Shakespearean, Street and Punk. And I can have a simple conversation in German and Spanish."
"Ah, so you read a lot."
"Yeah. Classics aren't really my thing, but they were among the first chapter books I read."
There was the sound of someone yawning outside.
"That's my cue to leave. Had a blast. See ya soon. Bye." Gaton opened the door wide and walked out. Donatello scurried after him to see if anyone noticed, but his passage was unnoticed.
"What's that smell?" Raphael asked. He sniffed several times. "Smells like smoke."
In the threshold of his room, Donatello gasped and slammed the door shut. Raphael and Leonardo shared a disturbed look.
Donatello didn't care. He was balling up the sub wrappers, taking care not to spill the ashes on the floor.
~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~
For three days Donatello secretly searched for Gaton but on the fourth day, he decided that Gaton had just been looking for a place to spend the night. Splinter and Don's brothers were relieved when the sounds of an explosion shook his lab. Things were back to normal.
Except Donatello wasn't eating like he used to and he slept less and less. He acted the same, but soon he began to lose weight and his skin was noticably darker.
"This is just great. As soon as we get him to start acting normal, he goes bulemic on us."
"Don't even joke about that, Raphael. It's not funny at all." Michelangelo said darkly.
"It isn't." Splinter had entered the room during the exchange and the two turtles jumped up and offered him their chairs. "No, I'm fine. But I fear we forced this on Donatello."
"How? We didn't do anything."
"We made him feel as though he had to remain as he was, that he couldn't change. He is trying so hard to keep us happy, that he is becoming sickly."
Even Raphael was silent at that. Now that he thought about it, Don's rare smiles seemed strained and he looked like he was forcing himself to eat the bare minimum just to survive.
"So how do we fix it?"
"I do not know, my son. I honestly do not know."
~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~
Donatello tossed and turned that night. He couldn't get comfortable.
"Did you know that many beauty products are made of fish scales?"
In the darkness, Donatello smiled.
"No, I didn't."
"Now you do."
Don sat up, trying to shake off his exhaustion and knowing that even on his best day, he would never be able to keep up with Gaton's sharp wit.
"It's cool. Lie back down. I just popped in to let you know I'm not dead. It's been a crazy few days, can you believe I almost got shot. It was insane. Some hitman thought I was some guy's informant and started sh-"
"But you're okay? Where was this-"
"Chill. It happens all the time. And I'm here, right?"
"You got shot, didn't you." Donatello reached for the lamp, but Gaton stopped him.
"No, I didn't. I broke my arm." The confession came slowly, as though Gaton didn't really want to admit it.
"How, what happened?"
"I... I was bench-pressing weights and when I thought I put it back on the stand, it slipped and dragged me off the bench. I landed weird." Gaton sounded so embarrassed that Don wanted to laugh. "Stop grinning. It's not funny."
"How bad does it hurt?"
"Not half as much as my pride, thank you very much. You got a tan or something? Why's your skin so dark?"
Donatello paused. The room was pitch black, how could Gaton see what color his skin was?
"The dude out there said you haven't been eating. That why? They're afraid you're anorexic. Not a very pleasant thing to have your family think. They start treating you funny and suddenly there's at least one family member everywhere you go. No privacy at all."
"I'm just not hungry."
"Shut up and eat." Gaton pressed a box in Don's hands. "How many fingers do you have?"
"Three."
"Good. There's no chance of you being able to use chopsticks better than me."
"You probably don't even know how to use them."
"I thought I told you to shut up and eat. It's some kind of Lo Mein, I think. I forgot. All I know is that its got noodles and stuff in it. Water chesnuts. I think an occasional carrot and a few other vegetables. I just heard someone mention you liked chinese food the other day when you guys were running the town and figured I pick some up."
"Thanks. You pick a lot up, don't you?"
"Huh? Oh, I just listen, that's all. You can learn more about a person by listening to them than by asking them. You think you guys can stay down here tomorrow night?"
"What? Why?"
"Don't ask me any questions like that."
"I don't know. If I try to get everyone to stay down here, they'll leave just because they can."
"They're worried about you. Just tell them you had a premonition or something."
"Is someone going to get hurt?"
"If you guys go up there, yes. Don't worry. This has nothing to do with you in specific. It's just people fighting over something they can't have. I've taken it upon myself to warn as many people as possible to stay away."
"Well if we can stop-"
"You can't. You remember I didn't tell you that something big is coming?"
"No."
"Good. I gotta go now. Work and stuff. You get some sleep. I'll be back on Thursday or I won't be back at all." Gaton disappeared with that last comment and left Donatello wondering just what exactly was going on.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day, Donatello was slow getting up. Gaton had thrown the boxes away, so he didn't have to worry about explaining them to his brothers. Donatello thought about Gaton. He said a lot of weird things. Sometimes it felt like he wanted to be straightforwaed with Donatello, but he felt as though he couldn't. And there remained the question of how he got around so easily. There were just too many questions about Gaton that Don couldn't answer.
Donatello dragged himself from bed. 'Man, I feel terrible. Was it the food?' Donatello stumbled out of his room and saw Michelangelo moving just as painfully. 'Maybe not.' Donatello decided. Besides, now that he thought about it, his stomach didn't hurt. The dull ache was in his bones.
Raphael was still asleep on the couch, and Leonardo was in his room. Master Splinter was nowhere to be found.
"So, you too?" Mike asked, raising a weary eyebrow at his brother.
"Yeah. Maybe we've got a bug or something."
"I feel like I over did it a little with the weights. Man, I haven't felt this bad since... well... ever."
Donatello made a noncommitted noise in answer. He was too tired to think of a response.
"Since its just us, I was thinking... maybe we should talk."
"You have that much energy?"
"About this, yeah. You've been acting weird lately and we're all worried."
Donatello's mind flashed back to what Gaton had told him. 'They're afraid you're bulemic.'
"It's nothing serious."
"Yes, it is. When was the last time you looked in the mirror, Don? It's like you shrank into yourself. When was the last time you got any rest? You go on as if nothing's wrong, but we can see you wasting away. What's going on?"
Donatello wondered why he was so reluctant to tell Mike about Gaton. There wasn't even a real reason that he could think of, except maybe... he didn't want to share Gaton with them.
"Its just, suddenly what we have doesn't seem good enough for me. I need a change."
"You know that doesn't work for us. What can we change? Eating different food won't make it better."
"I know. That's what I can't stand. We didn't ask for this. Why do we have to endure it?"
"Because we won't just kill ourselves."
They fell into silence for a while.
"Where's Master Splinter?"
"He went above ground for a while."
Donatello snapped his head towards Mike, all traces of weariness gone.
"He -what-? Why would he do that?"
Michelangelo was taken aback by Don's outburst.
"It's not like I question him before he leaves. He's Master Splinter, for crying out loud. He can take care of himself."
"This isn't good."
"What? What do you mean by that?"
Donatello growled to himself. Should he go after the Master, or should he trust that nothing would happen to him? What if Gaton was wrong? Going out there would be no big deal. But if he was right then Splinter could be in trouble. And if the brothers went to get him, then they would too.
Someone coughed politely and Don and Mike jumped at the sound. They sheepishly turned around, waiting to hear Raph start talking crap again. Instead, they saw a man standing there. Hovering behind him was Master Splinter.
"Donatello, I presume?" He said to Mike, not realizing his error.
"I don't like your voice." Raphael said. He was awake and had his weapons ready.
"That doesn't concern me. I'm looking for Donatello."
"That's me." Mike said, playing along.
"Excellent." The man smiled. "Gaton wishes to see you. Your companions may join you."
"Who's Gat-"
"You're lying. If you weren't, you'd know that we're brothers." The real Donatello interupted.
The man looked at him with an unpleasant smile. "If you insist on playing detective, fine. That doesn't hide the fact that I have something you want..." He waved a hand at Splinter. "Shall we go now?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Donatello could see no alternative, so he followed the stranger accompaied by his brothers. None of them said anything, but the stranger kept the silence filled with mindless chatter, much akin to Gaton's ramblings. In fact, Donatello thought to himself, the only difference is that Gaton usually babbles pointless facts. This guy just babbles.
"I can sense one of you thinking of Gaton in specific, but I admit I'm at a loss as to identifying you. How do you tell each other apart?"
"Pheromones." Donatello muttered. He could tell that his brothers wanted to know why the stranger wanted him and who Gaton was, but the first thing on their minds was Master Splinter.
"Ah, yes. A primitive tracking device, but usable. One cannot blame you for working with what you have." His tone made the Turtles' blood boil, but they kept their opinions to themselves.
More mindnumbing talk and wandering through the pipes followed. Finally they stopped under a manhole and the man looked up. "Up." he commanded, and when the Turtles didn't comply, he looked pointedly at the hovering Master. Reluctantly, the brothers climbed the ladder and left the sewers.
What if someone's up there? What if we're seen? Donatello nearly panicked when he heard his brothers gasp. He fairly flew out of the manhole and paused to join them in staring openmouthed at the garich landscape.
The city was gone. All that was in front of them was a huge platform and a veritable sea of faces. They couldn't see the Turtles because they were all focused on something on the platform. Or rather, someone.
"The time has come to reverse the process that the humans have begun. Earth can't take much more of this abuse. When I gave my life away to this side of Darkness, of True Darkness and True Light, I was told that we are the protectors of Earth. Why aren't we protecting it? It's not that we're too sympathetic to get rid of all of the humans. It's not that at all, and I know and you know and that's that. How many of us have to kill humans just to stay alive? Or exist, in special cases." There was a slight ripple of laughter from the crowd, as if the speaker had just mentioned a long-standing joke. He paused for effect and then continued. "What no one wants to say is that they like this kind of life. We've gotten lazy off the humans handy gadgets and don't want to give up that life for our former glory. Who needs humans anyway? We managed well enough without them before. I look around and all I see is death and destruction and humans. Death, destruction, disease... I can live with those. I was herald for them at one point, as all too many of you remember. But, even I can't sit by and let my own world be over run by humans. I'm a very dispicable person, I lie through my teeth, I betray everyone I know, I've broken all the rules of our kind and managed to evade punishment for it every time. I'm strong in my convictions, though. Humans are a parasite of the Earth. We must act as her cleanser and get rid of them." There was a roar of cheers and the speaker waited for them to stop applauding. "Even though I know all this to be true, I can't think of a way to kill all of the humans. There are too many people who oppose us, too many who would stand for justice and morals and other nonsensical things like that." The voice filled with scorn. "And then there are the ones who just don't want to lose the comforts of their current lives. They will fight this and I will fight them. I don't ask for you to join in. I simply ask for you to stay out of my way. When all is said and done, there will be many bodies scattered across the Earth. Someone will be needed to fill the holes." There was a significant pause and Donatello imagined a faceless speaker looking down on the thousands of people before him, clearly implying that this was a takeover campaign and the rewards would be great for those who assisted him.
"Up." The stranger pointed to a set of stairs that led onto the stage.
The Turtles looked at each other and then at Splinter, dangling two feet in the air. Donatello moved first, tightly clutching his staff and in his mind, reviewing all the nasty things he could do to that stranger. They all trudged up the stairs, single file and lined up behind he speaker. He was so into his speech that he hadn't noticed them approach. He had jet black hair that hung to his shoulders, slight as they were. He stood slightly crouched, as though he was ready to spring into the air at any second.
He looks familiar, Donatello thought. A moment later it struck him.
"Gaton?!"
He whirled around and time froze. Donatello stared into the face of his friend, but Gaton was staring past him.
"You. Why have you brought these creatures here? They are not our kind." Gaton demanded. The Turtles stepped away so that he had a clear view of the stranger.
"Oh you know why, Gaton Tair. You've broken far to many laws as it is. Do you think I would let you harm any more innocents?"
"Hypocrite." Gaton accused, turning his body to face the other man.
"Nonsense. You are a cold blooded killer, a liar and a thief."
"What about you, Demo? You haven't broken any codes?"
They locked eyes and the air between them literally turned blue.
"What's going on Don?" Leo whispered.
Donatello didn't answer because he was too busy thinking about the implications of what the two men had said.
Earlier, Gaton had said that a change was coming to help Earth recover. He had warned them to stay out of the way on this exact night, and the two after. Now he was rallying support for what seemed to be a war effort with the excuse of getting rid of Earth's 'plight'. That didn't add up to Donatello. Why would Gaton make war for the feeble reasons he was giving here? It wasn't his style. Not only that, but Gaton had done nothing to indicate that this violent streak was in him. He had taken the time to cheer Don up, even stopped by to assure him that he was okay. So, Donatello decided with finality, Gaton has at least one hidden agenda here. The stranger, Demo- if Gaton had called him by his real name- seemed to be lying outright. He accused Gaton of lying and being a criminal, implyed that he was on the side of good, yet he had taken Master Splinter hostage.
"Hey, don't think we don't know what you're up to. You knew Don and this guy were cool, so you kidnapped the Master to get us to come here. I bet you were planning on convincing us to help you beat this guy up. It's not gonna work on this turtle, dude." Raphael drew his weapons with a flourish and sank into an attack position. Mike and Leo did as well, but Don saw the other reason for having them all there.
"Gaton. No matter what, you do what you planned, 'k?" He called to his friend. Gaton broke eye contact with Demo.
"Hey Don. Guess you had to comeout, huh? Sorry about getting you involved."
"Just don't let Splinter get hurt."
"Not a problem. Hi, Don's family." Gaton smiled, completely ignoring the fact that Demo was rushing to attack him. At the last second, he sidestepped, without even honoring Demo with a look at his tumble. "Since you know, I might as well get it over with now." Gaton looked back to where Demo had been standing and looked surprised that he wasn't there. He spun around, seeking his enemy. "Now, now, Mr. Righteous. It's not nice to sneak up on people."
Demo roared and charged again. Gaton spun neatly out of the way again and slammed his elbow deep into Demo's back at the same time as he brought his knee up into Demo's stomach. He made a sound like a frog being squashed flat as the air was forced out of his lungs with enough force to actually leave a visible dent in his middle. Gaton hopped back twice as Demo stumbled to the side. He pivoted and planted his foot square in Demo's face, a blow that knocked him clear across the substantial length of the platform. From his position a few feet from the Turtles, Gaton waved and yelled to Demo, "Do you know what I do to those who oppose me and aren't worthy?" There was a murmur from the crowd that implied that everyone knew just what happened in that particular scenario.
"And how willing are you to sacrifice the lives of your friends?" Demo slowly stood to full height. He was much taller than Gaton and perhaps much older, though he didn't look old. He was also much more imposing and dangerous looking.
"For this cause, I will sacrifice a planet of sentient lifeforms whose only true crime is innocence. Don't ask me if I would sacrifice my friends. That's what I'm doing as it is." A strong breeze picked up, but it seemed centered on Gaton. "You think I'm a fool, just because I'm young. Your bad." Gaton swept one arm towards Demo and the man's eyes grew wide for a second before he was surrounded by a tornado of wind. As everyone watched, the wind weathered Demo's skin to nothing and the vortex of air became tinged with pale brown skin and deep red blood. The Turtles stood tranfixed at his awful demise. The wind even eroded Demo's bones to nothing.
Or so it seemed. As soon as they were gone, the wind stopped and a pile of dust settled on the wooden planks.
"M-man, remind me not to tick him off." Raph said.
"I hate to tell you thins, but this isn't your mentor." Gaton said. The Turtles looked back to see him bent over Splinter.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, it's a dummy. It just looks like him."
"So, where is he?"
"Dunno." Gaton said, but it was obvious that he was lieing. For someone who made a reputation for himself by killing, stealing and lieing, he was really bad at the latter. All four of the brothers fixed him with a look that said that nothing but the truth would suit them. "Everyone is somewhere, so no one can be nowhere, but you have to define the term somewhere in order to properly judge distance and location. My definition of place is different from yours since I can exist in the places that you call nowhere. Is this making sense?"
"Is he dead?" Leo asked.
"Not dead in the sense that I am aware of. How do you define --"
"Stop talking funny and just give us a straight answer!" Raph yelled at him.
"You're a demon aren't you." Donatello calmly said.
"Something like that."
"Traditionally, demons don't give straight answers. Either they don't think in the terms that we do or they're just being malicious."
"It's not like that at all." Gaton protested.
"Isn't it?"
"No. I want to help, really, but I never had to translate my terms of reality into yours. For you, there is life and death. For me there is life, existance, death and nonexistance. I can die and still exist, I can exist and not be alive. I can die if I exist, but it's not called dieing, its call expiring. For my kind of people, there is no such thing as real death in the sense that you have. I haven't spent enough time here to accurately describe where he is or his condition to you."
"Then tell us in your terms and we'll work from there." Leonardo was beginning to look ticked.
"Or better yet, take us there." Mike added.
"That I cannot do. He is in what is called distortional vortex in a type of... not suspended animation, but... it's like he's living in another person's body while his is being held captive. In that other body, he isn't aware of who he is or what his existance is to the world. It is highly unlikely that he will be able to return though. It's hard enough for me, and I am one of the most powerful Kiachorms in the known realm. A mere mortal would be torn apart by the process of removal. It is better to let him live as he is, than force him into his body and then have to leave him in the vortex. Or you could try to get him out and watch him get sucked into infinity."
"Distortional vortex..."
"Yes. When a star collapses, it sucks in everything around it an-"
"A black hole? Master Splinter's in a black hole?"
"No. Nothing that simple. I was just trying to give you something to compare it to. Imagine a very powerful source of magic that dies. Like a star, it caves in on itself and sucks in everything that gets too close."
"Magic?" Raph repeated.
"Yes."
They all paused to reflect on that.
"Where did all the people go?" Donatello wondered out loud.
"They left to see just how useful they can make themselves to me."
"Oh. What's a k-kia chorm?"
"A Kiachorm is a person like you, a halfling, only we are mixed with races like humans, who have no grasp of magic, and races that are exceptionally gifted. These kinds of pairings are rare, since the offspring usually die after birth. Or they go mad with power. Or they get possessed by a demon who drags them to its realm of existance and tortures them 'til they're near death so they can nurse you back to health and plant their spawn in you and send you back to your realm. Then the newer demon halfing is born into this world and readies it for conquest. That's it basically."
There was a very thick silence.
"You got raped by a demon? Is that what you're saying?"
"Oh no, I'm a guy. They only like girls. I'm the result of that though. The only one, I might add." He preened.
"Okay." Raph, Leo and Mike looked at one another, more than a little disturbed.
"And you're proud of that?"
"Yeah. Power means I can do stuff. Like set things right again. I don't have to bow like the rest of the Kiachoms do to the higher ups, but I'm not subject to the politics of those same people. I can make a difference this way. That's pretty much all I have. My power and the will to make things better."
Donatello found that he could relate. When you were as different as he and his brothers were, you needed something to throw yourself into wholeheartedly, even when all you had was your strength and your will.
"How can we help?" he asked.
"Don't hate me for what I do. I can't afford to think short term, there's no nice way to do this."
"To do what?"
"Something."
"When?"
"Time is manmade. I am not subject to its limitations."
"What's that suposed to mean?"
"What do you think it means?"
"I wanna know what you meant for it to mean."
"I meant for you to think of that on your own."
"Think of what?"
"What ever told you."
"What'd you tell me."
"My favorite color."
"What's that got to do with anything?"
"What do you think?"
"Not this again."
"Not what again?"
"This."
"This is everything around us, your 'this' hasn't changed and never will."
"What?"
"I wish you paid more attention to what I say."
"Me, too. But seriously, what was my question?"
"You forgot?"
"Yeah. Good. That was the point. Be safe." Gaton smiled widely and a strong gust of wind battered the Turtles. When they recovered, Gaton was gone.
"So. Can somebody tell me what just happened?" Raph asked.
"Technically, yes. But they won't." Donatello said vaguely, trying to remember what had set Gaton on the defensive. At least he thought it was the defensive. He might have just been trying to be difficult.
"Uh-huh. Man, what's up with this? How long have you known that wacko?"
"And why didn't you tell us?"
"And what makes you sure he's telling the truth about Master Splinter?"
"Of course he's not. Splinter wouldn't get caught that easily."
The three brothers began argueing over... pretty much nothing. Donatello just stared at the pile of dust on the platform.
"Magic doesn't exist anyway. Everyone knows that."
"Then how do you explain what happened?"
"And everyone knows that that giant turtles don't exist either."
"We aren't really giant turtles. There are fossils proving that at some point in history there were turtles much bigger than we are. And I think some exist today as well. We could ride on them like horses, they're that big."
"You would do that?"
"No! It's just metaphorically speaking."
"Is that the right context for that word?"
"Just shut up, I don't care."
"What is he doing?"
They all looked at Donatello. He was kneeling in the remanants of Demo and letting a fistful of dust pour from one hand to the other and staring wistfully as the fine dust caught in the wind and was scattered.
"Don?"
"I'm okay. We should leave town."
"Why?"
"Trust me." He stood and looked around as if seeing something they didn't. "He's going to reshape the planet. We don't want to be here when he does."
"If you insist."
"Are we gonna resuce the Master?"
"Of course we'll try. All we have is our strength and our will to keep our friends safe, together. That's all we need."
"I wouldn't suggest it, though." The Ninja Turtles jumped, but quickly recovered. They held their weapons a little tighter when they saw who had spoken. "My apologies. I had no intention to startling you." To be honest he looked perfectly normal. His hair was a nondescript brown, as were his eyes and his voice has a soothing quality. There was really no reason for the brothers to feel on edge around him, but they did. "As I ws saying, Gaton has a horrible gift for inspiring people. It comes in handy when you're trying to overthrow neo-gods, but taking what he says literally only causes trouble."
"Who are you?" Raph demanded in a less-than-civil tone.
"I am Gaton's second, Urib Hawthem. I know from personal experience just what happens if you listen to Gaton too hard." He made a face.
"Neo-gods?"
Urib looked confused for a moment. "Ah, I see. You have no idea just what you've been dragged into. Then let us go somewhere less...open and I will explain."
"Fine. But we decide where." Leo said, suspicious of the man. Three strangers in one night... One was obviously deadly, another kidnapped Master Splinter... Leo was begining to feel like a leaf on the brink of a waterfall.
"Of course. I don't know this place well enough to decide."
In silence, the four turtles and Urib trekked across the city. It was as if time didn't exist. No one moved, there was no wind, no sound... Mike made a mental note to ask about the stillness of the city. Donatello was busy soul searching again, Mike noticed. He didn't like the fact that Don knew that wind guy and hadn't told them. It made him wonder what else Don knew.
Donatello was, indeed, soul searching. He had already decided that Urib was trustworthy, and there was something about him that reminded Don of the best parts of all his brothers. Don figured, the fact that everything else had just put him in defensive mode. But the more he thought about it, the more Urib reminded him of Master Splinter. There was an aura around him that boasted confidence and power. He probably didn't mind going wherever the turtles chose because he could easily defeat them all.
That was it, Don decided. So far we haven't run into anyone who couldn't walk right over us. We... it's as if all those years with the Master were nothing. They make us look weak, and none of us like that.
Donatello noticed Raph glaring at Urib and hardly trying to disguise his intense dislike. Don wearily smiled. There would be a conflict, and he doubted he could do anything to stop it. The only question was...
"Will he hold his punches, or kill us just for spite?"
"You say something, Don?" Leo asked.
From his position behind Urib and to his right, Don could see the man's smile. It didn't look as happy as it could have, though.
**A/N. Just so you know, I am an idiot. What else could I be if I'm trying to write a fanfic about a TV show I've never even seen? I hope I don't skewer the dudes too badly, I'm forming their attitudes from other people's work- yeah, you people are my inspiration. And you're more than welcome to make suggestions, I'm afraid that I only know of five characters in TMNT, the turtles and Splinter... oh, yeah, you can definitely tell how good this story will be.
If I haven't completely put you off of this story- good. I write better if I'm free to alter the characters to my whim. Want proof? Read on, Believers... Read on.**
"Aw, admit it dude, you're a wuss."
"I am not and I will not admit it. A moron like you couldn't possibly appreciate the true meaning of the story."
"Whatever. That still doesn't change the fact that you were crying over that movie."
"It was very beautifully written. A young girl who rebels against the oppressive rule of her father to cross the species barrier and find true love. It's classic."
"I hate to tell you this, Don, but it's The Little Mermaid."
"So? Besides, I've read the book."
"The book... now that's a bit obsessive isn't it?"
"In the original story, her name is Marina and she ends up dieing because her love of the prince won't let her kill him."
"Riiiiight. Dude, more pizza."
Donatello sighed and passed a greasy pizza box to his brother. Sometimes he wished Raphael had a bit more sophistication. He looked at Rapheal, who was wolfing down another slice of pizza and nearly gagged. A lot more sophistication.
"You guys ever want to try something other than pizza? Like real food?"
Leonardo, Raphael and Michelangelo all looked at Donatello. "But pizza IS real food."
"No. It isn't. Real food is like... like..."
His three brothers grinned, smirked and smiled, respectively, as they waited for him to continue.
"Like burgers and fries. Hot dogs... real food."
"Fast food?"
"No. You can fix them at home too."
"Bright idea, Einstein. How?"
Donatello looked around the drained sewer pipe that they called home.
"Okay, better idea. Chinese food is real food. Let's try Chinese."
"Nah, my stomach doesn't agree with change." Leonardo reached over the battered couch and Raphael for a peice of the greasy, oozey, toxic looking pizza.
"Well if you insist on pizza, why not something with a bit more real stuff on it and less chemicals?"
"What is it with you and stuff being real all of a sudden?" Michelangelo asked. "What's wrong with our pizza?"
"Or does Donny think he's above such things?" Raphael put in.
Donatello just threw his hands in the air and shook his head on his way to the door.
"Where ya goin'?"
"Out." he answered as he picked up his staff.
~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~
Donatello checked the street carefully before he crawled out of the sewer. Once in the open, he stretched out all the kinks in his muscles and began plotting the fastest course to the top of the building he was standing by.
With a few well placed jumps, assisted by his staff, Donatello was standing on the roof, bathing in the glory of a bright moon. A cool breeze rustled the ends of his purple headband and for a while he was free of the restraints of his being.
But of course, it always led back to that.
Donatello sighed and didn't even bother fighting the resentment, the bitter hate and the painful tears. He didn't bother because the more he fought with it, the longer the depression would last, and Donatello ~never~ got depressed. Or at least that was the image he had built. Why was anyone's guess. If he couldn't tell his brothers, who could he tell? No one, because everyone else would run or shoot at him or something along those lines.
See, there it goes again.
"It's not like I asked to be like this. I don't want to live in a sewer and eat imitation pizza all the time." He said out loud.
"Who said you have to? There are people out there who couldn't care less if you're a human sized turtle." A small voice answered his.
"But it's too risky to find them. I know that some people can rise above that, but most can't. It wouldn't be safe."
"Define safe. Everyone dies eventually. All safe does is prolong the inevitable. Why are you suffering? You're safe, right? You have a roof over your head, food in your stomach and you can keep yourself company. See what safe gets you?"
Donatello frowned. It was true in a way he'd never admitted to himself. Sure, there were fights against Shredder and other bad guys that sometimes left the brothers pretty banged up, but yeah, they were safe in the sewers. Admitting that to himself didn't help ease the discomfort he felt at that particular line of reasoning. Where it came from was a mystery that he hoped he never solved.
"It's just that everything is starting to feel so artificial. The same fights with the same people. The same arguements over the same things..."
"You want a change." Donatello sat on a wooden crate. "You want to stay safe, but you don't want to know that it's safe. Or do you just want to be human?"
It hurt him to hear that. It wasn't exactly true, but he did want to be one or the other, either a turtle or a human, not some freak hybrid.
"I want to fit in somewhere." He responded.
"No you don't." The voice laughed. "You're just bored with your life now and want something new. Get over it. Everyone goes through that phase and everyone regrets it later. Make a fool of yourself now so you won't be tormented about it later. Trust me. It's a torture that you do not want to experience. I think you're wanted..."
Donatello dimly registered Leonardo calling his name, but didn't answer. "This was enlightening, self. We should have more heart-to-hearts more often."
"No problem. I'm always here."
Donatello stood wearily and plodded to the side of the building. "I'm coming, I'm coming." He jumped over the side to join Raphael, who was just on his way up.
On the rooftop, a pair of eyes watched him leave. "A human sized turtle that philosophizes... interesting. I probably should have shown myself, the poor bastard's gonna start talking to himself and expecting answers now." The figure chuckled. "Oh well. Who cares?" The person sat on the crate that Donatello had just vacated. "Damn. Who am I kidding?"
~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~
They were all back in the sewers, heading back home much more slowly than they had left.
"I don't get it. How're we supposed to help if you won't let us know what's wrong?"
"Maybe I don't need help. Maybe I'm just working my way through this alone."
"C'mon Donny, this isn't like you. You're scaring all of us. Master Splinter nearly had a heart attack when he found out you left by yourself."
"I can take care of myself." Donatello said, irritated.
"We know you can handle just about anything on the streets, dude. We're just worried that you can't handle what's going on in your head."
"You don't know what's going on in my head."
"That's my point. You won't tell us."
"Another damn circle." Don muttered.
"What?"
"Look Raphael. I'm fine. Just doing a little soul searching, y'know."
"Soul searching? We'll help. We're good at finding stuff, aren't we boys?"
Leo and Michelangelo had been silent the whole time.
"As long as you don't do anything crazy, you can search as many souls as you want, man. Just snap out of it soon 'kay?" Leo said and Mike nodded.
"Don't do anything spacey, like change on us." he added.
"I won't." Donatello answered with a smile. "But if you really want to help me..."
"Nope. We're having pizza, and not for love or money will try some of that totally uncool stuff you were talking about." Raphael anticipated Donatello's request and shot it to peices.
"Just this-"
"Nope."
Don sighed again. It would have shocked him if they'd agreed anyway.
~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~
Later that night, Don stared up at the ceiling wishing he could see the stars. There was no way he could sneak outside, not if Master Splinter was worried enough to send the others after him. Raphael was probably sleeping right beside Don's door.
"Bored with life... the more I think about it, the truer it seems." He sat on the bed, legs crossed, all illusion of sleepyness gone.
"That's how it goes. It's pretty deep stuff." The voice was back and Donatello welcomed it with a smile. A sad smile, but it was a smile.
"Any more insights?" He asked.
"Yep, but I'm starving. Lucky for both of us, I'm a genius and brought some food with me."
Donatello blinked. A match was lit and in the dimlight, Don could see a hand lift it to light a cigarette.
"Don't smoke. It's bad for you." The voice said, and this time, Donatello identitied it with the person in front of him. "Name's Gaton Tair. Pleased to make your acquaintance."
"I'm Donatello. Um. How'd you get in here?"
"Through the door."
"Um... When?"
"Today. Don't ask me questions like that. I simply refuse to answer them. Now, do you want a BLT sub or the Philly Steak and Cheese?"
Donatello just stared, completely awestruck. "Does anyone else know that you're here?"
"The god of the sewer does. I think I want the BLT so you can have it and I'll eat the other."
"What?"
"Reverse psychology. I know that whatever I want to eat now will make me sick later." Gaton handed Don the wrapped sub.
"Really?" Donatello accepted the package, still mystified by the stranger.
"Yeah. You're very articulate today, or are you just a morning person?"
It took Don a moment to catch the sarcasm. "It's just..."
"Startling? Yeah, I know. I have that effect on people. Mutated turtles are no exception. Did you know I had a red eared slider named Donatello? Things got rough at home and I had to leave, so I set him free."
"Really?"
"Yeah. That was in South Carolina, though. I'm not even sure that turtle was a guy. There's suposed to be some way you can tell by looking at their tails, but I wanted to name the little guy Donatello so bad that I pretended he was male. Or she. Whatever."
Donatello marvelled at the way Gaton could smoke and chew at the same time.
Gaton gave a short laugh. "You're a funny one, all right. Did you know that turtle are sexless until about a week before they're born? The temperature of the environment is a pretty big factor in whether most of them will hatch as males or females. Once again, I forget the tiny little detail of which determines which. I think it's funny how I can remember crazy things like the fact that the letter e is the most used letter in the alphabet, but can't remember the day or what the second most used letter is. Weird, huh?"
"Not really. It's a proven fact that aimless trivia sticks better than important things. It all depends on your interest in the topic, I guess."
"Impressive, Three whole sentences."
"Wow, you actually shut your mouth long enough for me to say them."
They both started laughing.
"So. Now that we have that out of the way, it's time for the important questions."
"Like?"
"Like 'what's your favorite color?' Well, never mind. It's obviously purple. Next one is... How old are you? Oh, and my favorite color's black and I'll turn sixteen in two months."
"How cool it that? I'm sixteen."
"What? Why is everyone older than me?"
"So they can pick on you of course. My turn, What do you do for fun?"
"I creep people out and pick up meaningless facts."
"I fight bad guys and work in my lab."
"Cool. Uh, what's one thing you would like the world to know?"
"Just one? Well, everything, I guess."
"Fair enough. I would tell them that they're not alone on earth and that something big is coming to tip the scales back for Mother Earth."
"Is there?"
"Is where?"
"Is there something coming?"
"Everything is either coming or going or not moving at all."
"You're avoiding the question."
"Am I?"
"Are you?"
"Okay, yes."
"Yes what?'
"Yes to your question."
"Which one?"
"The one you asked."
"We aren't getting very far here."
"We aren't are we?"
Donatello took a bite of the sub.
"I get it."
"You get what."
"This is one of those things where you didn't tell me anything, right."
"Oooh, the turtle's got some kind of grey matter."
"Thanks. I get the feeling that's the closest to a compliment that I'll get from you."
"Just about." Don could practically hear him smile and the two of them fell into a comfortable silence.
"You believe in God?" Gaton asked abruptly.
"I never thought much of it."
"Don't."
"Don't what?"
"Don't think about it much. Either follow religion with every fibre of your being or don't follow it at all."
"Okay."
"Good."
"You're from South Carolina?"
"Not originally. I was born in Germany. My dad was in the US military when he met my mom."
"Do you travel a lot?"
"I do now. Things went bad at home and I left. I've been travelling all over the place since then."
"I think I want to travel one day."
"It's no fun if you've got a lot of stuff to take with you. Drags you down."
"Yeah? I was thinking Spain or France, but I only speak English so..." Don shrugged. "I guess it doesn't matter. How would I get there?"
"Almost all other countries teach their children four major languages, Latin, French, Spanish and English. And they learn their native language as well."
"How many languages do you know?"
"Victorian, Shakespearean, Street and Punk. And I can have a simple conversation in German and Spanish."
"Ah, so you read a lot."
"Yeah. Classics aren't really my thing, but they were among the first chapter books I read."
There was the sound of someone yawning outside.
"That's my cue to leave. Had a blast. See ya soon. Bye." Gaton opened the door wide and walked out. Donatello scurried after him to see if anyone noticed, but his passage was unnoticed.
"What's that smell?" Raphael asked. He sniffed several times. "Smells like smoke."
In the threshold of his room, Donatello gasped and slammed the door shut. Raphael and Leonardo shared a disturbed look.
Donatello didn't care. He was balling up the sub wrappers, taking care not to spill the ashes on the floor.
~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~
For three days Donatello secretly searched for Gaton but on the fourth day, he decided that Gaton had just been looking for a place to spend the night. Splinter and Don's brothers were relieved when the sounds of an explosion shook his lab. Things were back to normal.
Except Donatello wasn't eating like he used to and he slept less and less. He acted the same, but soon he began to lose weight and his skin was noticably darker.
"This is just great. As soon as we get him to start acting normal, he goes bulemic on us."
"Don't even joke about that, Raphael. It's not funny at all." Michelangelo said darkly.
"It isn't." Splinter had entered the room during the exchange and the two turtles jumped up and offered him their chairs. "No, I'm fine. But I fear we forced this on Donatello."
"How? We didn't do anything."
"We made him feel as though he had to remain as he was, that he couldn't change. He is trying so hard to keep us happy, that he is becoming sickly."
Even Raphael was silent at that. Now that he thought about it, Don's rare smiles seemed strained and he looked like he was forcing himself to eat the bare minimum just to survive.
"So how do we fix it?"
"I do not know, my son. I honestly do not know."
~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~ ~~
Donatello tossed and turned that night. He couldn't get comfortable.
"Did you know that many beauty products are made of fish scales?"
In the darkness, Donatello smiled.
"No, I didn't."
"Now you do."
Don sat up, trying to shake off his exhaustion and knowing that even on his best day, he would never be able to keep up with Gaton's sharp wit.
"It's cool. Lie back down. I just popped in to let you know I'm not dead. It's been a crazy few days, can you believe I almost got shot. It was insane. Some hitman thought I was some guy's informant and started sh-"
"But you're okay? Where was this-"
"Chill. It happens all the time. And I'm here, right?"
"You got shot, didn't you." Donatello reached for the lamp, but Gaton stopped him.
"No, I didn't. I broke my arm." The confession came slowly, as though Gaton didn't really want to admit it.
"How, what happened?"
"I... I was bench-pressing weights and when I thought I put it back on the stand, it slipped and dragged me off the bench. I landed weird." Gaton sounded so embarrassed that Don wanted to laugh. "Stop grinning. It's not funny."
"How bad does it hurt?"
"Not half as much as my pride, thank you very much. You got a tan or something? Why's your skin so dark?"
Donatello paused. The room was pitch black, how could Gaton see what color his skin was?
"The dude out there said you haven't been eating. That why? They're afraid you're anorexic. Not a very pleasant thing to have your family think. They start treating you funny and suddenly there's at least one family member everywhere you go. No privacy at all."
"I'm just not hungry."
"Shut up and eat." Gaton pressed a box in Don's hands. "How many fingers do you have?"
"Three."
"Good. There's no chance of you being able to use chopsticks better than me."
"You probably don't even know how to use them."
"I thought I told you to shut up and eat. It's some kind of Lo Mein, I think. I forgot. All I know is that its got noodles and stuff in it. Water chesnuts. I think an occasional carrot and a few other vegetables. I just heard someone mention you liked chinese food the other day when you guys were running the town and figured I pick some up."
"Thanks. You pick a lot up, don't you?"
"Huh? Oh, I just listen, that's all. You can learn more about a person by listening to them than by asking them. You think you guys can stay down here tomorrow night?"
"What? Why?"
"Don't ask me any questions like that."
"I don't know. If I try to get everyone to stay down here, they'll leave just because they can."
"They're worried about you. Just tell them you had a premonition or something."
"Is someone going to get hurt?"
"If you guys go up there, yes. Don't worry. This has nothing to do with you in specific. It's just people fighting over something they can't have. I've taken it upon myself to warn as many people as possible to stay away."
"Well if we can stop-"
"You can't. You remember I didn't tell you that something big is coming?"
"No."
"Good. I gotta go now. Work and stuff. You get some sleep. I'll be back on Thursday or I won't be back at all." Gaton disappeared with that last comment and left Donatello wondering just what exactly was going on.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The next day, Donatello was slow getting up. Gaton had thrown the boxes away, so he didn't have to worry about explaining them to his brothers. Donatello thought about Gaton. He said a lot of weird things. Sometimes it felt like he wanted to be straightforwaed with Donatello, but he felt as though he couldn't. And there remained the question of how he got around so easily. There were just too many questions about Gaton that Don couldn't answer.
Donatello dragged himself from bed. 'Man, I feel terrible. Was it the food?' Donatello stumbled out of his room and saw Michelangelo moving just as painfully. 'Maybe not.' Donatello decided. Besides, now that he thought about it, his stomach didn't hurt. The dull ache was in his bones.
Raphael was still asleep on the couch, and Leonardo was in his room. Master Splinter was nowhere to be found.
"So, you too?" Mike asked, raising a weary eyebrow at his brother.
"Yeah. Maybe we've got a bug or something."
"I feel like I over did it a little with the weights. Man, I haven't felt this bad since... well... ever."
Donatello made a noncommitted noise in answer. He was too tired to think of a response.
"Since its just us, I was thinking... maybe we should talk."
"You have that much energy?"
"About this, yeah. You've been acting weird lately and we're all worried."
Donatello's mind flashed back to what Gaton had told him. 'They're afraid you're bulemic.'
"It's nothing serious."
"Yes, it is. When was the last time you looked in the mirror, Don? It's like you shrank into yourself. When was the last time you got any rest? You go on as if nothing's wrong, but we can see you wasting away. What's going on?"
Donatello wondered why he was so reluctant to tell Mike about Gaton. There wasn't even a real reason that he could think of, except maybe... he didn't want to share Gaton with them.
"Its just, suddenly what we have doesn't seem good enough for me. I need a change."
"You know that doesn't work for us. What can we change? Eating different food won't make it better."
"I know. That's what I can't stand. We didn't ask for this. Why do we have to endure it?"
"Because we won't just kill ourselves."
They fell into silence for a while.
"Where's Master Splinter?"
"He went above ground for a while."
Donatello snapped his head towards Mike, all traces of weariness gone.
"He -what-? Why would he do that?"
Michelangelo was taken aback by Don's outburst.
"It's not like I question him before he leaves. He's Master Splinter, for crying out loud. He can take care of himself."
"This isn't good."
"What? What do you mean by that?"
Donatello growled to himself. Should he go after the Master, or should he trust that nothing would happen to him? What if Gaton was wrong? Going out there would be no big deal. But if he was right then Splinter could be in trouble. And if the brothers went to get him, then they would too.
Someone coughed politely and Don and Mike jumped at the sound. They sheepishly turned around, waiting to hear Raph start talking crap again. Instead, they saw a man standing there. Hovering behind him was Master Splinter.
"Donatello, I presume?" He said to Mike, not realizing his error.
"I don't like your voice." Raphael said. He was awake and had his weapons ready.
"That doesn't concern me. I'm looking for Donatello."
"That's me." Mike said, playing along.
"Excellent." The man smiled. "Gaton wishes to see you. Your companions may join you."
"Who's Gat-"
"You're lying. If you weren't, you'd know that we're brothers." The real Donatello interupted.
The man looked at him with an unpleasant smile. "If you insist on playing detective, fine. That doesn't hide the fact that I have something you want..." He waved a hand at Splinter. "Shall we go now?"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Donatello could see no alternative, so he followed the stranger accompaied by his brothers. None of them said anything, but the stranger kept the silence filled with mindless chatter, much akin to Gaton's ramblings. In fact, Donatello thought to himself, the only difference is that Gaton usually babbles pointless facts. This guy just babbles.
"I can sense one of you thinking of Gaton in specific, but I admit I'm at a loss as to identifying you. How do you tell each other apart?"
"Pheromones." Donatello muttered. He could tell that his brothers wanted to know why the stranger wanted him and who Gaton was, but the first thing on their minds was Master Splinter.
"Ah, yes. A primitive tracking device, but usable. One cannot blame you for working with what you have." His tone made the Turtles' blood boil, but they kept their opinions to themselves.
More mindnumbing talk and wandering through the pipes followed. Finally they stopped under a manhole and the man looked up. "Up." he commanded, and when the Turtles didn't comply, he looked pointedly at the hovering Master. Reluctantly, the brothers climbed the ladder and left the sewers.
What if someone's up there? What if we're seen? Donatello nearly panicked when he heard his brothers gasp. He fairly flew out of the manhole and paused to join them in staring openmouthed at the garich landscape.
The city was gone. All that was in front of them was a huge platform and a veritable sea of faces. They couldn't see the Turtles because they were all focused on something on the platform. Or rather, someone.
"The time has come to reverse the process that the humans have begun. Earth can't take much more of this abuse. When I gave my life away to this side of Darkness, of True Darkness and True Light, I was told that we are the protectors of Earth. Why aren't we protecting it? It's not that we're too sympathetic to get rid of all of the humans. It's not that at all, and I know and you know and that's that. How many of us have to kill humans just to stay alive? Or exist, in special cases." There was a slight ripple of laughter from the crowd, as if the speaker had just mentioned a long-standing joke. He paused for effect and then continued. "What no one wants to say is that they like this kind of life. We've gotten lazy off the humans handy gadgets and don't want to give up that life for our former glory. Who needs humans anyway? We managed well enough without them before. I look around and all I see is death and destruction and humans. Death, destruction, disease... I can live with those. I was herald for them at one point, as all too many of you remember. But, even I can't sit by and let my own world be over run by humans. I'm a very dispicable person, I lie through my teeth, I betray everyone I know, I've broken all the rules of our kind and managed to evade punishment for it every time. I'm strong in my convictions, though. Humans are a parasite of the Earth. We must act as her cleanser and get rid of them." There was a roar of cheers and the speaker waited for them to stop applauding. "Even though I know all this to be true, I can't think of a way to kill all of the humans. There are too many people who oppose us, too many who would stand for justice and morals and other nonsensical things like that." The voice filled with scorn. "And then there are the ones who just don't want to lose the comforts of their current lives. They will fight this and I will fight them. I don't ask for you to join in. I simply ask for you to stay out of my way. When all is said and done, there will be many bodies scattered across the Earth. Someone will be needed to fill the holes." There was a significant pause and Donatello imagined a faceless speaker looking down on the thousands of people before him, clearly implying that this was a takeover campaign and the rewards would be great for those who assisted him.
"Up." The stranger pointed to a set of stairs that led onto the stage.
The Turtles looked at each other and then at Splinter, dangling two feet in the air. Donatello moved first, tightly clutching his staff and in his mind, reviewing all the nasty things he could do to that stranger. They all trudged up the stairs, single file and lined up behind he speaker. He was so into his speech that he hadn't noticed them approach. He had jet black hair that hung to his shoulders, slight as they were. He stood slightly crouched, as though he was ready to spring into the air at any second.
He looks familiar, Donatello thought. A moment later it struck him.
"Gaton?!"
He whirled around and time froze. Donatello stared into the face of his friend, but Gaton was staring past him.
"You. Why have you brought these creatures here? They are not our kind." Gaton demanded. The Turtles stepped away so that he had a clear view of the stranger.
"Oh you know why, Gaton Tair. You've broken far to many laws as it is. Do you think I would let you harm any more innocents?"
"Hypocrite." Gaton accused, turning his body to face the other man.
"Nonsense. You are a cold blooded killer, a liar and a thief."
"What about you, Demo? You haven't broken any codes?"
They locked eyes and the air between them literally turned blue.
"What's going on Don?" Leo whispered.
Donatello didn't answer because he was too busy thinking about the implications of what the two men had said.
Earlier, Gaton had said that a change was coming to help Earth recover. He had warned them to stay out of the way on this exact night, and the two after. Now he was rallying support for what seemed to be a war effort with the excuse of getting rid of Earth's 'plight'. That didn't add up to Donatello. Why would Gaton make war for the feeble reasons he was giving here? It wasn't his style. Not only that, but Gaton had done nothing to indicate that this violent streak was in him. He had taken the time to cheer Don up, even stopped by to assure him that he was okay. So, Donatello decided with finality, Gaton has at least one hidden agenda here. The stranger, Demo- if Gaton had called him by his real name- seemed to be lying outright. He accused Gaton of lying and being a criminal, implyed that he was on the side of good, yet he had taken Master Splinter hostage.
"Hey, don't think we don't know what you're up to. You knew Don and this guy were cool, so you kidnapped the Master to get us to come here. I bet you were planning on convincing us to help you beat this guy up. It's not gonna work on this turtle, dude." Raphael drew his weapons with a flourish and sank into an attack position. Mike and Leo did as well, but Don saw the other reason for having them all there.
"Gaton. No matter what, you do what you planned, 'k?" He called to his friend. Gaton broke eye contact with Demo.
"Hey Don. Guess you had to comeout, huh? Sorry about getting you involved."
"Just don't let Splinter get hurt."
"Not a problem. Hi, Don's family." Gaton smiled, completely ignoring the fact that Demo was rushing to attack him. At the last second, he sidestepped, without even honoring Demo with a look at his tumble. "Since you know, I might as well get it over with now." Gaton looked back to where Demo had been standing and looked surprised that he wasn't there. He spun around, seeking his enemy. "Now, now, Mr. Righteous. It's not nice to sneak up on people."
Demo roared and charged again. Gaton spun neatly out of the way again and slammed his elbow deep into Demo's back at the same time as he brought his knee up into Demo's stomach. He made a sound like a frog being squashed flat as the air was forced out of his lungs with enough force to actually leave a visible dent in his middle. Gaton hopped back twice as Demo stumbled to the side. He pivoted and planted his foot square in Demo's face, a blow that knocked him clear across the substantial length of the platform. From his position a few feet from the Turtles, Gaton waved and yelled to Demo, "Do you know what I do to those who oppose me and aren't worthy?" There was a murmur from the crowd that implied that everyone knew just what happened in that particular scenario.
"And how willing are you to sacrifice the lives of your friends?" Demo slowly stood to full height. He was much taller than Gaton and perhaps much older, though he didn't look old. He was also much more imposing and dangerous looking.
"For this cause, I will sacrifice a planet of sentient lifeforms whose only true crime is innocence. Don't ask me if I would sacrifice my friends. That's what I'm doing as it is." A strong breeze picked up, but it seemed centered on Gaton. "You think I'm a fool, just because I'm young. Your bad." Gaton swept one arm towards Demo and the man's eyes grew wide for a second before he was surrounded by a tornado of wind. As everyone watched, the wind weathered Demo's skin to nothing and the vortex of air became tinged with pale brown skin and deep red blood. The Turtles stood tranfixed at his awful demise. The wind even eroded Demo's bones to nothing.
Or so it seemed. As soon as they were gone, the wind stopped and a pile of dust settled on the wooden planks.
"M-man, remind me not to tick him off." Raph said.
"I hate to tell you thins, but this isn't your mentor." Gaton said. The Turtles looked back to see him bent over Splinter.
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, it's a dummy. It just looks like him."
"So, where is he?"
"Dunno." Gaton said, but it was obvious that he was lieing. For someone who made a reputation for himself by killing, stealing and lieing, he was really bad at the latter. All four of the brothers fixed him with a look that said that nothing but the truth would suit them. "Everyone is somewhere, so no one can be nowhere, but you have to define the term somewhere in order to properly judge distance and location. My definition of place is different from yours since I can exist in the places that you call nowhere. Is this making sense?"
"Is he dead?" Leo asked.
"Not dead in the sense that I am aware of. How do you define --"
"Stop talking funny and just give us a straight answer!" Raph yelled at him.
"You're a demon aren't you." Donatello calmly said.
"Something like that."
"Traditionally, demons don't give straight answers. Either they don't think in the terms that we do or they're just being malicious."
"It's not like that at all." Gaton protested.
"Isn't it?"
"No. I want to help, really, but I never had to translate my terms of reality into yours. For you, there is life and death. For me there is life, existance, death and nonexistance. I can die and still exist, I can exist and not be alive. I can die if I exist, but it's not called dieing, its call expiring. For my kind of people, there is no such thing as real death in the sense that you have. I haven't spent enough time here to accurately describe where he is or his condition to you."
"Then tell us in your terms and we'll work from there." Leonardo was beginning to look ticked.
"Or better yet, take us there." Mike added.
"That I cannot do. He is in what is called distortional vortex in a type of... not suspended animation, but... it's like he's living in another person's body while his is being held captive. In that other body, he isn't aware of who he is or what his existance is to the world. It is highly unlikely that he will be able to return though. It's hard enough for me, and I am one of the most powerful Kiachorms in the known realm. A mere mortal would be torn apart by the process of removal. It is better to let him live as he is, than force him into his body and then have to leave him in the vortex. Or you could try to get him out and watch him get sucked into infinity."
"Distortional vortex..."
"Yes. When a star collapses, it sucks in everything around it an-"
"A black hole? Master Splinter's in a black hole?"
"No. Nothing that simple. I was just trying to give you something to compare it to. Imagine a very powerful source of magic that dies. Like a star, it caves in on itself and sucks in everything that gets too close."
"Magic?" Raph repeated.
"Yes."
They all paused to reflect on that.
"Where did all the people go?" Donatello wondered out loud.
"They left to see just how useful they can make themselves to me."
"Oh. What's a k-kia chorm?"
"A Kiachorm is a person like you, a halfling, only we are mixed with races like humans, who have no grasp of magic, and races that are exceptionally gifted. These kinds of pairings are rare, since the offspring usually die after birth. Or they go mad with power. Or they get possessed by a demon who drags them to its realm of existance and tortures them 'til they're near death so they can nurse you back to health and plant their spawn in you and send you back to your realm. Then the newer demon halfing is born into this world and readies it for conquest. That's it basically."
There was a very thick silence.
"You got raped by a demon? Is that what you're saying?"
"Oh no, I'm a guy. They only like girls. I'm the result of that though. The only one, I might add." He preened.
"Okay." Raph, Leo and Mike looked at one another, more than a little disturbed.
"And you're proud of that?"
"Yeah. Power means I can do stuff. Like set things right again. I don't have to bow like the rest of the Kiachoms do to the higher ups, but I'm not subject to the politics of those same people. I can make a difference this way. That's pretty much all I have. My power and the will to make things better."
Donatello found that he could relate. When you were as different as he and his brothers were, you needed something to throw yourself into wholeheartedly, even when all you had was your strength and your will.
"How can we help?" he asked.
"Don't hate me for what I do. I can't afford to think short term, there's no nice way to do this."
"To do what?"
"Something."
"When?"
"Time is manmade. I am not subject to its limitations."
"What's that suposed to mean?"
"What do you think it means?"
"I wanna know what you meant for it to mean."
"I meant for you to think of that on your own."
"Think of what?"
"What ever told you."
"What'd you tell me."
"My favorite color."
"What's that got to do with anything?"
"What do you think?"
"Not this again."
"Not what again?"
"This."
"This is everything around us, your 'this' hasn't changed and never will."
"What?"
"I wish you paid more attention to what I say."
"Me, too. But seriously, what was my question?"
"You forgot?"
"Yeah. Good. That was the point. Be safe." Gaton smiled widely and a strong gust of wind battered the Turtles. When they recovered, Gaton was gone.
"So. Can somebody tell me what just happened?" Raph asked.
"Technically, yes. But they won't." Donatello said vaguely, trying to remember what had set Gaton on the defensive. At least he thought it was the defensive. He might have just been trying to be difficult.
"Uh-huh. Man, what's up with this? How long have you known that wacko?"
"And why didn't you tell us?"
"And what makes you sure he's telling the truth about Master Splinter?"
"Of course he's not. Splinter wouldn't get caught that easily."
The three brothers began argueing over... pretty much nothing. Donatello just stared at the pile of dust on the platform.
"Magic doesn't exist anyway. Everyone knows that."
"Then how do you explain what happened?"
"And everyone knows that that giant turtles don't exist either."
"We aren't really giant turtles. There are fossils proving that at some point in history there were turtles much bigger than we are. And I think some exist today as well. We could ride on them like horses, they're that big."
"You would do that?"
"No! It's just metaphorically speaking."
"Is that the right context for that word?"
"Just shut up, I don't care."
"What is he doing?"
They all looked at Donatello. He was kneeling in the remanants of Demo and letting a fistful of dust pour from one hand to the other and staring wistfully as the fine dust caught in the wind and was scattered.
"Don?"
"I'm okay. We should leave town."
"Why?"
"Trust me." He stood and looked around as if seeing something they didn't. "He's going to reshape the planet. We don't want to be here when he does."
"If you insist."
"Are we gonna resuce the Master?"
"Of course we'll try. All we have is our strength and our will to keep our friends safe, together. That's all we need."
"I wouldn't suggest it, though." The Ninja Turtles jumped, but quickly recovered. They held their weapons a little tighter when they saw who had spoken. "My apologies. I had no intention to startling you." To be honest he looked perfectly normal. His hair was a nondescript brown, as were his eyes and his voice has a soothing quality. There was really no reason for the brothers to feel on edge around him, but they did. "As I ws saying, Gaton has a horrible gift for inspiring people. It comes in handy when you're trying to overthrow neo-gods, but taking what he says literally only causes trouble."
"Who are you?" Raph demanded in a less-than-civil tone.
"I am Gaton's second, Urib Hawthem. I know from personal experience just what happens if you listen to Gaton too hard." He made a face.
"Neo-gods?"
Urib looked confused for a moment. "Ah, I see. You have no idea just what you've been dragged into. Then let us go somewhere less...open and I will explain."
"Fine. But we decide where." Leo said, suspicious of the man. Three strangers in one night... One was obviously deadly, another kidnapped Master Splinter... Leo was begining to feel like a leaf on the brink of a waterfall.
"Of course. I don't know this place well enough to decide."
In silence, the four turtles and Urib trekked across the city. It was as if time didn't exist. No one moved, there was no wind, no sound... Mike made a mental note to ask about the stillness of the city. Donatello was busy soul searching again, Mike noticed. He didn't like the fact that Don knew that wind guy and hadn't told them. It made him wonder what else Don knew.
Donatello was, indeed, soul searching. He had already decided that Urib was trustworthy, and there was something about him that reminded Don of the best parts of all his brothers. Don figured, the fact that everything else had just put him in defensive mode. But the more he thought about it, the more Urib reminded him of Master Splinter. There was an aura around him that boasted confidence and power. He probably didn't mind going wherever the turtles chose because he could easily defeat them all.
That was it, Don decided. So far we haven't run into anyone who couldn't walk right over us. We... it's as if all those years with the Master were nothing. They make us look weak, and none of us like that.
Donatello noticed Raph glaring at Urib and hardly trying to disguise his intense dislike. Don wearily smiled. There would be a conflict, and he doubted he could do anything to stop it. The only question was...
"Will he hold his punches, or kill us just for spite?"
"You say something, Don?" Leo asked.
From his position behind Urib and to his right, Don could see the man's smile. It didn't look as happy as it could have, though.