Note: Alllllll right fellas, we're goin' to war! I am absolutely TMNT nerdy right now, to the point where I've cut holes in my old orange Tae Kwon Do belt and begun wearing it around my head in public. Yes, I'm insane, and no, you may not judge me. I would be wearing a red one for my favorite turtle (Raphael, durr) but I never got to that color of belt before I quit taking Tae Kwon Do. Green belt was the highest I achieved. Therefore, I'm stuck with Mikey. Speaking of Mikey, I've made him SERIOUSLY like, ADD in this fic, mostly because that's how I am and that's how I perceive his character. It's funnier that way.
I am in fact still working on Father's Scorn, Mother's Regret, but my combination of sleep-deprivation and TMNT nerdiness has spawned this hellish fanfic. I BANISH THEE FROM WHENCE THY CAME! No, actually, I banish it to , where I wrote it and you all have to look at it. I am so sorry, especially since my infamous fan-character is here... God! I promised myself I wouldn't keep doing this!
I don't own TMNT, the... person who does... does. Or something. But I don't, so suing me would gain you nothing.
A Dreamer's Final Wish
Innocent, out-of-tune whistling echoed throughout the Lair as Michaelangelo swept up the remains of a lamp he'd broken, hoping to hide the shards away before Leo or Master Splinter figured it out. He scooped the shards of glass and ceramic into a dust pan, and took the dust pan outside the lair to the garbage. As he dumped the pan, the garbage shuddered and cried out. "Whoa! Dude, I didn't know garbage could do that."
The bags shuddered more still, and one fell away to reveal a thick, scaly tail made of solid muscle. "Whoa!" Mikey grabbed the tail and pulled, revealing the injured body of a giant hooded cobra in a mask. Or was it a mask? It was hard to tell. The cobra struggled to get up, using arms that shouldn't have been there.
"'Elp...meee..." It whispered raspily, before falling down, collapsing on top of Mikey. It was then that Mikey noticed the grievous burn injuries and blood covering the majority of what appeared to be his face and body, hidden by long dark hair.
"Dude, what the shell?" Mikey called out, dragging the giant serpent mutant inside the lair to help tend to its wounds. "Aw, man, Leo and the others better be back soon..."
Mikey decided to pull the cobra's hair back in a loose braid, to make it easier to tend to the wounds underneath the hair. He almost stopped and freaked out when it turned out that most of the cobra's right half of his face had been burned away, leaving nothing but oozing flesh and charred bone behind. So it wasn't a mask, Mikey thought. "Hot damn, snake dude, somebody shelled you up."
The snake opened his eye, a piercing green eye with a slit for a pupil. A black streak ran from just above his eye ridge to just below his high cheekbone. He looked angry, but weak.
"Dude, are you ok?"
The snake coughed up soot, covering his entire front in black inky goo. "It... 'urts..." He rasped, each word clipped and quiet, as if the snake did not want to let this strange turtle hear his true voice.
"It looks like it hurts, dude. Here, lay on the couch, and I'll get you somethin' to drink to wash out that inky taste you've probably got in your mouth." Mikey gently pushed the large reptile down onto the battered old couch.
"Non, non! I must go." The snake finally found a voice, one of French origin and hissing pitch. "I cannot stay. I am not safe."
"Dude, you're bleeding and all burned up. Stay here, don't worry, I'm a friend. I won't hurt you, I promise. When my brothers and our sensei get home, just explain the situation and I promise you they'll take good care of you. But don't freak out, snake dude. Whatever happened to you is over now. Take a chill pill and chillax, legless. I promise nothin' bad is gonna happen to you here." Mikey said calmly, holding out a glass of water to the cobra.
The snake slowly reached for the glass, almost scared-looking. Finally his tri-taloned hand closed around the glass, slowly taking it back towards him. He looked inside, sniffed it, decided it wasn't poison, and gulped it down in one giant sip. He flicked his forked tongue out to get the last drops.
"See, snake dude? Not gonna hurt ya."
"I... I thank you for your hospitality, but I really must go." The snake tried to stand up, but collapsed back down, crying in pain.
"Ahh! Ok, dude, hold on, I'm gonna call my brothers back early, maybe they can fix you up." Mikey grabbed the Shell-Cell, dialing Donatello's number.
"What, Mikey? We're kind of in the middle of something."
"Dude, I went to take out the garbage, and there was this giant snake guy in it! He's bleeding and all burned up and I'm afraid he's gonna hurt himself more, and I dunno what to do, and ooh look a butterfly-"
"Mikey, focus!"
"Sorry! You guys gotta come back as soon as you can. He's really shelled up. I dunno what to do or how to treat 'im! At least you gotta come back, Donny! I can't do this by myself!"
"Okay, okay. I'll be there as soon as I can." Donatello hung up, and Mikey put the phone down.
"Okay, snake dude, my brother Donny will be back soon. He's really good with medical stuff, he'll fix you right up good, ok? You'll be good as new in no time."
"Why are you 'elping me?" The cobra asked.
"'Cause dude, you were shelled up! You needed help. I'm not just gonna leave ya there to die, that's not the Turtle way, dude."
"Tur...tle? You are mutated turtle?"
"Dude, you're a mutated snake. Speakin' of which, I can't just keep callin' ya 'snake dude'. You've got a name, doncha?"
"Only if you tell me yours."
"Okay, fair deal, I guess. My name's Michaelangelo, but you can call me Mikey, ok? Now what's your name?"
"My name is Droiture." The cobra said, wiping blood off his eyes with the backs of his hands.
Mikey grimaced. "Ok... dude, I can't even hope to pronounce that right. You got something easier I can call you? Something my pizza-and-video-game-addicted attention span can remember?" Mikey tapped the side of his head with his big green finger.
"I would not know. Think of something, I suppose." Droiture said, grimacing in pain as he tried to move.
"Okay... uhhh... Dragg...drugga...gerard... Jerry? Can I just call you Jerry?"
"Err... Jerry sounds nothing like my name, but I guess if it suits you, you may call me what you wish."
The lair doors opened, and immediately Droiture threw his hands up, protecting his face with his forearms.
"Dude, calm down it's just my brother Donny. He's here to help you, ok, Jerry?"
Donatello ran up and knelt by Droiture, who slowly lowered his shaking arms. "Wow, you are messed up. My name is Donny, what's yours?"
"Apparently my name is Jerry now." Droiture said.
"I can't pronounce his real name so I call him Jerry. He doesn't seem to care." Mikey explained.
"Ok, then, Jerry. You seem to be burned very severely. Burns like this usually don't heal, no matter what kind of medical attention you get. The most I can really do is dress your wounds, clean off the blood, and administer some painkillers. Is that alright with you?"
"I would almost rather you not go through the trouble and simply let me leave." Droiture, err, Jerry said, not looking Donny in the eye.
"I can't do that, Jerry. You're really hurt and it's amazing you're still able to speak with your jaw melted over like that. It's ok. I'm not going to hurt you or do anything horrible when you're on the painkillers. Turtle's honor."
"I am sorry to cause you trouble." Jerry said, his hands in his lap, or where his lap would be if he had legs.
"It's no trouble at all. Us Turtles pride ourselves on being good people, and that means we help people in need. Once my brothers and our sensei come home, they'll tell you the exact same thing."
Jerry said nothing, and simply let Donny begin to disinfect and clean his burns. One particularly violent muscle spasm, caused by the sting of the disinfectant, caused Jerry to hiss angrily, shooting venom from his forefangs.
"Ahh!" Donny said, dodging the venom shot, and watched with horror as the floor melted away. "That so could have been my face."
"I apologize. Sometimes I cannot help defending myself in the presence of pain."
"It's alright. But just remember I'm here to help you, not hurt you. Just relax and let me bandage your wounds. How did these wounds happen anyway?"
"I have traveled a very long way. I come here from France, because I had heard that there were others like me."
"Other mutants, you mean?"
"Yes. I think I have found them."
"Yes, I believe you're right, unless there are any other giant mutated reptiles floating about in New York's sewer system." Donny answered.
"Oui, oui, I had heard there were others like me and wanted to be with them. However, I didn't realize you lived in shadow."
"You traveled around on the surface and the humans were afraid of you."
"I was captured and tortured. They threw me down the sewer, hoping me to die."
"We've always known how the humans would react to us. That's why we were trained as ninjas, and that's why we live down in the sewers. We knew that if the humans knew about us, they'd capture and torture us, too. Maybe even kill us. Humans are like that." Donny said, finishing with one bandage and moving onto another. "Not all humans, of course, but a lot of them."
"I fear for my sister. We were separated in the sewer system. I fear she may already be dead. She was sick, very sick, and the humans did worse to her than they did to me. I can no longer connect to her mind as I could before... I fear the worst."
"Don't worry, Jerry, we're gonna find your sister dead or alive. Hopefully alive."
"Hopefully, but very unlikely." Jerry responded grimly as Donny finished with the final bandage, the one covering his face. Donny left his mouth uncovered, though his nose was covered up. The bandages snaked around his face and around his good eye, leaving that eye and his mouth free.
The lair doors opened again and Leo, Raph, and Splinter made their way inside. "Hey Donny, where's our new friend you mentioned before running off like that?" Raph asked.
"He's over here, guys. I just finished bandaging his wounds. It seems a pack of fearful humans did this to him."
"My sister! Ask if they found my sister!" Jerry whispered furiously.
"He wants to know if you've found another mutant snake around. Smaller, curly hair, big eyes," Donny said, going by the frantic hand motions Jerry was making from the couch. "And what appears to a little frilly outfit or something."
"No, we didn't. We're sorry. We'll keep on the lookout, though. What's your name, friend?"
Jerry sighed in annoyance. "Jerry." He said in a monotone, please-kill-me voice.
"Okay. I'm Leonardo, and this is my brother Raphael. Our master and father is Master Splinter, he's over there." Leo pointed to Splinter, who was meditating.
"You are turtles... but your father is a rat?"
"Don't ask. We were adopted." Donny said dully. "Anyway, don't worry about that. It's time to worry about yourself. Your injuries would be life-threatening if I hadn't gotten here when I did." Donny said. "In fact, they might have been fatal. Burns like that often cause major organ damage. You're actually lucky it was only your face and arm that was burned. A burn like that to your abdomen could have destroyed your intestines, one to the chest could have stopped your heart." Donny said grimly. "I doubt you'll ever get full mobility of that hand again, and it's a guarantee your eye is blinded permanently."
"I like you. You cut right to the chase." Jerry said, smiling softly.
"I simply don't see the point of sugar-coating the truth." Donny replied.
Jerry's tail slithered around off the edge of the couch. It shook and twitched, but as Jerry was not a rattlesnake, it made no sound. It eventually slithered up and caused Jerry to slide off the couch, before forcing himself upright. "Even if my hand and eye are crippled, I will find my sister. She is all I have."
"Was all you had, dude. Come on, we're the Ninja Turtles! We'll be your friends." Mikey said happily.
"I am sorry. I am grateful for your aid and hospitality, but I must find Annabella first. She is my first priority. Once I have her safe and sound, then I will talk about friendship."
"Let us help you. It'll be a lot easier to scour the entire sewer system if there's four of us searching instead of one." Leonardo said.
"Five." Jerry corrected.
"No, four. You're staying here and resting. You've been through a shell of a lot in the last 24 hours, apparently, and you are in no condition to be searching through filthy, bacteria-infested sewers. You'll infect your burns. The turtles and I will go, and we promise, if we find your sister, we will protect her with our lives. You have our promise as ninjas." Leo said.
"But she is my sister! I made a promise to her to protect her always. I made a promise, not you!" Jerry said, venom dripping down his chin.
"Please, Jerry. Let us go. We swear on our lives to keep her safe." Leo said.
Jerry wheezed, coughed up a bubble of blood, and collapsed back onto the couch. Donny rushed to his side. "See? This is why you need to stay here. Your lungs may have been damaged in the fight. You. Need. To. Heal."
Jerry managed to stop coughing up thick, black blood and venom long enough to glare at Leo angrily before nodding at him. "But swear to me that dead or alive, my sister will be brought back here to me."
"We swear, Jerry. Dead or alive, we bring her back with us. If we find her."
"When you find her." Jerry said.
"Yes. When we find her." Leo said. Jerry coughed up some more venom and blood before passing out, the world going dark.
"Annabella..."
Donny stood up. He went over to Splinter. "Splinter, we're going to go look for Jerry's sister. Could you keep an eye on Jerry for us and call me if like, he starts coughing up more blood or he soaks through his bandages?"
"I can and will do this for you, my son. Go now. This young serpent has been through a lot, and still he focuses on his goal. It is the least we can do to allow him to fulfill his duty of protecting his dear sister." Splinter said, moving his meditation mat and candles closer to Jerry's unconscious form.
"Thanks, Master Splinter! We'll be back soon, I hope. Come on, Mikey."
"Coming, dude."
The Turtles left the lair, and Splinter began meditating once more.