Freezing

Part 1

By: Soniclover28

Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-da-doo-doo! Doo-doo-doo-doo-doo-da-doo-doo!

A pril bolted upright in her bed, wide-eyed, and now wide awake. She calmed herself when she recognized the sound in her room to be her T-phone, and mentally cursed at the ringtone for being so loud. Rubbing her eye, she reached over and picked up the shell-shaped phone and looked at the screen to see who was calling her.

Leo? Since when did Leonardo call her? Especially at… April glanced at her clock.

'Four in the morning?!' April thought, 'This had better be important…'

She answered the cell phone and put it up to her ear.

"Hello?"

"H-hey, Ap-p-pril."

April blinked in confusion. The turtle on the other side of the line sounded as if his entire form were shaking.

"Leo, what's wrong?" She asked, concern evident in her voice.

"Oh, n-nothing really. Just-t-t a bit ch-chilly down here. Ah, um… D-Don-n-nie told me t-to call-l y-you and-d ask-k-k if y-you c-could, um-m, bring ov-ver som-me blank-kets… O-Or jack-ckets, mayb-be…?" The turtle chattered. Even through the tremors in his voice, the turtle's speech was slow and slurred, as if it were hard to talk.

"Of course, Leo! Why didn't you call me sooner? I'll be right there! Should I call Casey so he can help?"

A distant 'no!' was heard on the other line, but Leonardo continued over the voice. "Th-that'd-d b-be great-t. Th-thank-ks Ap-pril…"

"No problem. Stay warm until I get there."

"W-Will d-do."

April, with a giant box in hand, went through the turnstiles of the lair, and called into the abandoned subway to make her presence known. With a shudder inside of her thick winter coat, she realized that the lair was a lot colder than it should've been, and noted that with each breath she exhaled, swirls of frost accompanied it. She placed her box on the floor, and, now that she could see over the thing, realized that all four turtles were in the pit.

A bit startled that they didn't greet her when they entered, she blinked a bit awkwardly as they slowly turned their heads to look at her.

They stayed silent until Splinter entered the room, relieving some of the tension for April.

"April—welcome, my student," He greeted, and April noticed that he was bundled up in about three kimonos and socks on his feet.

In fact—April observed—the turtles were bundled up as well. They were wrapped up in about two blankets each, though they were thin and a couple of them had a few rips in them.

"Hi, Master Splinter. Um… I see that you guys have been… um… cold," She said for lack of a better word.

"Indeed," Splinter's tone lowered as he glanced at his sons, who were still staring silently at April. "The heating system has chosen to break at the worst possible time. Donatello attempted fixing it, but the cold was too much," He explained. April was about to ask him to elaborate, when she was unintentionally interrupted.

"Hey, guys. What's up?" A new voice sounded in the room. Casey came in with coats and blankets piled up in his arms, and set them on top of April's box before looking around at the family of mutants. "Not the heat, I see," He chuckled a bit bashfully, sliding his hood off of his head.

"Hello, Casey. Thank you for coming at such a late hour—both of you," Splinter said, each word coming out with a plume of frost.

"No problem, Splinter. We're happy to help," Casey replied. "So…" He hesitated after glancing at the blank-faced turtles, "What's wrong with them?"

He received an elbow in the gut.

"Oof! It was just a question," Casey groaned, giving a glance to April, who had shoved her hands back in her pockets to warm them up.

" It is alright, April. He has a reason to be concerned," Splinter said, casting a look to his sons again. They looked at him with something that resembled pleading and hurt. "It is far too cold for them down here. Quickly; we must help them warm up."

"Right," Casey and April replied, and grabbed a few coats and blankets from their new stash of winter clothing.

April went to Donatello first with a large brown coat—one big enough to wrap around his shell—and helped his stiff limbs snake through the sleeves of the coat. His skin felt like ice, and his eyes followed her movements blankly, as if he couldn't really process what she was doing. April couldn't help but feel a pang of hurt for her cold-blooded friends. Next, she grabbed a pair of blue earmuffs and slipped them onto his head, followed by stuffing his three-fingered hands into a pair of bulky gloves. April glanced awkwardly to the pair of pants she had picked for Donnie, but, fortunately, Splinter offered to take that job.

With that, April moved on to Michelangelo. His baby blue eyes stared up at her, clouded with something that April didn't know existed in him. He quickly dressed him up, too, leaving the pants to Splinter.

She glanced over at Casey to see how he was doing, and immediately felt enraged at what she saw.

Raphael was clothed in sorely pink and purple.

"Casey!"April seethed, making the teenager jump.

"What? I'm just doing what you told me to," Casey smirked back at her.

"It is alright, April," Splinter cut in before the two could argue. "Raphael will punish him enough when his senses return."

This made Casey look at Raphael in alarm and panic.

"Speaking of which, Master Splinter," April started, picking out a pair of gloves to add to Michelangelo's outfit. "Not to be rude, but… why are they…? Y'know…"

"It is simply their instincts. Donatello informed me before he went into his current state that when turtles of their kind are found in cold temperatures, their entire body slows itself. Amazing enough, their heartbeat is even slowed to an alarming rate, yet they get along fine. Their lungs are also slowed drastically, and they can survive for days without the slightest amount of food," Splinter explained, grabbing the blankets that April and Casey had brought, and proceeded to wrap all four of his sons into a tight cocoon—only their head was visible in the mass of blankets on them.

"So, they're, like, asleep, but not…" Casey summarized to himself. "Cool."

"Donatello also informed me that turtles of their kind remain underneath a frozen pond until spring, but the ice down here does not melt until a few weeks after the actual season of spring starts. At least, not without our heating system," Splinter explained, all the while meeting the blank stares of his children. "That is why I am worried. They need plenty of moisture in their bodies, yet they cannot have it. They need to be warmed up enough to where Donatello can at least fix the heating system. He was halfway finished before he… froze up."

A shudder suddenly went through Leonardo, and the turtle gave a grunt at the cold surrounding him. Then, he went silent and still as a statue again, staring off into space.

Splinter gave a sigh of relief. "They are warming up. Thank goodness." He turned to the two teenagers at his side. "April, Casey, thank you for assisting us in our time of need. We are very grateful for your help. You should return home; I would invite you to stay overnight… but I highly doubt you would want to spend the night in this cold," Splinter said with a soft smile.

"Hai, sensei," April nodded in acknowledgement, "But I'm staying here to help. I'll go home and get a couple heaters my dad has in storage, and then I'll stay down here in case you need anything else."

"April, I cannot ask you to-"

"Sorry, Master Splinter, but you don't even have to ask for me to make this decision. I'll be fine. You should go rest, and I'll be back in about fifteen minutes," April winked, and Splinter dipped his head in gratitude.

"I wish I could stay, too, but if my dad realizes I'm not there in the morning, he's gonna have a cow."

"It is alright, Casey. Go home, to your family; April has it under control," Splinter told him, nodding his thanks to him as well.

Both teens smiled at him and quickly left the lair.

April set the last mug of hot cocoa on the metal tray she had before coming back into the living room of the lair, which had two not-very-useful heaters working. She observed her mutant friends for a moment—both curiously and sympathetically.

Raphael and Donatello seemed to be coming along well, for they were only giving involuntary shudders every so often, and their teeth had stopped chattering for the most part. Leonardo was only slightly worse; he was still a little shaky and his voice was still a tremble. Michelangelo… wasn't doing too great.

T he freckled turtle's face was still an olive-grey, he wasn't even hardly shivering—a bad sign, April had learned; when someone trembles or shudders, they're reacting to the heat around them—and his mind was still terribly slow. It had taken him an eternity to figure out that April was actually in the lair, and even longer to realize he was bundled up in clothes he didn't remember owning.

April passed around the mugs of cocoa, warning the turtles that the liquid was piping hot and retreated back to the kitchen to clean up the small mess she'd made.

While she was gone, Raphael was left holding two cups of hot chocolate—one was his, and one was his slow-working brother's.

"Here, Mike… This'll help ya' w-warm up," Raphael coaxed, gently nudging the mug into his little brother's hand. The turtle robotically held it, looking down at it blankly, his face devoid of any emotion.

It kind of creeped Raphael out; he briefly wondered if that was what he had looked like twenty minutes ago. He gingerly took a sip of his cocoa, instantly recognizing it as his little brother's special recipe; April must've borrowed it.

"Th-thanks for all you help, April… We r-really appreciate it," Donatello said after noticing the red-head come back into the room.

"No problem," She smiled, and sat down on the couch beside the svelte turtle.

D onnie suddenly grew a bit warmer.

Leonardo simply chuckled and took another sip of his hot cocoa.

April glanced over at the baby blue-eyed turtle in the room, casting him a worried look.

Donatello, who had caught this, spoke up again. "I'm sure he'll be fine, April. I'll get back on fixing the heat after I finish my hot chocolate. 'S great, by the way," He said.

"Thanks," April smiled, "It's Mikey's recipe."

Upon hearing his name, the freckled turtle slowly lifted his gaze from his still-full mug. His foggy blue eyes glimmered for a moment, as if the gears in his mind were turning, and he glanced back down to his mug.

Michelangelo gingerly took a tentative sip.

Gradually, his entire body was wracked by a heavy shudder, and he would've dropped his mug, had Raphael not gently pried it from his hands and place both his and his brother's on the floor.

"C-c-cold-d-d…" He sputtered, curling up on himself, and turning his tired gaze to Raphael.

"A bit chilly down here, ya' think?" Raphael smiled softly at his little brother, and rubbed the back of his sibling's shell for a bit, waiting patiently for the freckled turtle's trembling to lessen.

" C-could y-you h-hand-d m-me my c-c-cocoa…?" Mikey asked, nodding his head towards the floor. Raphael did as asked and watched as his brother sipped the hot liquid.

" My sons. I see you are feeling better." Everyone turned their heads to see Master Splinter coming out of his dojo.

"Hai, sensei," The four brother's replied, dipping their heads in respect.

"Donatello," Splinter addressed his techno-talented son, "I believe you have a heater to repair."

"Hai, sensei," Donatello nodded, uncovering himself, but being careful to pull his fur coat a bit tighter around him. He left the room in search of his toolbox.

"Wh-what-t h-hap-p-pened t-to… Wh-why am I…?" Mikey glanced at himself, "…w-wearing a Ch-Christmas sweat-ter…?"

"It got too cold for you guys down here, and you went into a really weird… phase. It's because you're cold-blooded, but Splinter, Casey and I took care of it," April explained softly to the trembling turtle.

"A-ah… Ok-kay. Th-thank-ks, April," Michelangelo replied, and took another sip out of his mug. He smirked as he watched April yawn. "T-tired?"

"Well, considering that it's five-thirty… yeah, a little bit," She said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.

"S'okay… 'm t-tired, too," Michelangelo chuckled lightly.

I t was then that April noticed the way Michelangelo's eyes had started to droop, and she giggled. In fact, Raphael looked a little drowsy, too. She glanced over at Leonardo, only to find that he'd already fallen asleep; he had been quieter than usual.

"April," Splinter addressed the red-head. "I cannot ask you to stay any longer. Go home. Rest. I cannot thank you enough for all of your help," The rat told her softly.

"Anytime, sensei," April smiled. She stood up, downing the rest of her hot chocolate and stretching her cold limbs. "You guys can keep the coats and stuff; no one wears them anymore on the surface. Maybe I can buy you all new ones for Christmas."

Michelangelo blinked. "S-s-sensei," He turned his head to his father, "When's the last-t t-time we had Ch-christmas?"

Splinter stroked the hair that hang from his chin in thought. "I believe it was about seven years ago, if I am not mistaken."

"What?" April exclaimed, placing her hands on her hips. "You do know that Christmas comes around every year, right?"

"I am well aware of that," Splinter gave a smile that was almost bashful. "But something always seems to come up and take away from the celebration."

"Y-yeah, I remember; one year R-raph wound up with the f-f-flu," Mikey piped.

"And after that you got a concussion," Raphael snapped.

"S-s-s'not my f-f-fault the tunnels were s-slick," Mikey muttered, taking another sip out of his mug.

"And, if I remember correctly, the year after that our lair flooded and we had to move for a short time."

April stared at the family in what looked to be pity.

"You guys—," she said, gesturing to the entire family of mutants, "—are so getting Christmas this year."