Accident

April O'Neil looks down. The cool night breeze shifts her bangs over her face. Her tessen slides from her fingertips as if in slow motion, but she can't stop it. The metallc reverberations of the loud clang it makes as it strikes the rooftop are strangely mesmerizing. A blur of quick movement catches her eye.

She blinks and it is dark for what feels like a very long time. When she opens her eyes, the world has shifted dramatically. Above her is a blanket of darkness, stars and a faint trace of city smog. The cement beneath her is cold and hard against her shoulder blades and her head is pounding a steady beat of pulsing agony. Her jaw feels stiff and breathing feels like trying to draw air through a straw. There is strange tingling feeling everywhere below her ribcage. A chill runs down her spine when she can't immediately recall how she got to be in this position... her memories are fragmented, kaleidoscopic, confusing. It seems like the last thing she remembers must have happened hours ago. She shifts a hand and her fingertips come into contact with something wet and warm on her side. A sudden flash of clarity—

She's one-on-one with a foot clan member. She's worked up a sweat, and her limbs are starting to ache, but so far she's been holding her own. With an intricate flick of her wrist, her tessen switches hands and she delivers an upwards slash that knocks her opponent down. She'll have to thank Splinter for that move later. She spins to face the next customer in line and stops short. Suddenly she can't remember what she had been about to do. Something impacted her from behind—her lower back...

—"LEO!"

The readheaded kunoichi is jolted back to the present. Sound rushes back to her before vision, and she doesn't need to see to know that it is chaos all around—shouts, yelps, weapons crashing together. A large, trembling hand is hesitantly touching her shoulder. Turning her head. Stretching her arms out straight at her sides.

"April... April." A strained voice.

Bright green eyes come into focus hovering above her. She blinks. Red mask. Those are Raphael's eyes, but they are wide and scared and darting all over. No way this is Raphael, the tough turtle with the most confidence of anyone she knew. She blinks again.

"Raph?" she mumbles. Her tongue feels thick and uncoordinated in her mouth and her jaw aches.

He shuts his eyes tight like his name from her mouth is a slap in the face. The reaction is confusing to April. Her eyes wander to his hand. It's clenched tightly around a sai. The longest blade is dark and shines wet in the moonlight. Oh...

Something impacts her from behind, in her lower back. To the left. She reaches her hand behind her on instinct. It comes into contact with the handle of a weapon. An explosion of pain. Stars burst in her vision. She gasps and retracts her hand. Looks down. Sees the last inch of the sai protruding from the front her lower abdomen. Intense prickling numbness is rapidly seeping into her body. Her trusty tessen slides from her grasp. She watches it fall, as if from far away. The foot member she was spinning to face takes this opportunity to deliver a powerful roundhouse kick to her jaw...

—"OW!" a yell wrenches itself from her as a fire has suddenly been ignited in her midsection. Her eyes burst open (were they closed?) to see Raph again. He's leaning over her. He's pressing a large hand over her middle and she desperately wishes he'd stop it, but she's so dizzy she can't think straight right enough to form a sentence.

"LEO!" the turtle yells without looking up from his task. April can't help that her breathing has turned into more of a constant stream of whimpers. Raphael makes a desperate, frustrated sound. He finally lets up on the pressure, earning a sigh of relief from April. Her muscles relax a little. The fire recedes to just a dull throb. Not like that incredible burning—"AH!"

"Shit! I'm sorry, I'm sorry, April," Raph's tone is pleading. She hates this small voice coming from him. It's not right. He's not looking at her face; he's concentrating on what he's trying to do. April blearily notices one of his wrists is bare of its usual wrappings. He has the length of cloth in his hands. He's trying to tie it around her middle, but it's awkward. He's trying to get the material around her back. His hands are clumsy, rushed; they aren't practiced in delicate work, like Donnie's. She understands; he's doing his best...

He has to lift her up slightly to wrap the cloth around, and when he slides a large hand beneath her, the pain sends her reeling into darkness.

April's vision clears again, and at first she thinks she must be dreaming. The red turtle brother is at her side, his entire form shaking. There are trails of wetness darkening Raph's red mask and streaking his cheeks as he finishes tying the material in a knot with shaking hands. She wants to reach up and touch his face to confirm that what she is seeing is real, but her arms are lead. He yanks the cloth as he knots it again and the jolt sends another yelp from the girl. The sound seems to drive the normally tough turtle to a new height of panic.

"LEO!," Raph is screaming, "LEO! DONNIE!" He's looking around for his brothers.

"Raph!?" Leonardo's voice is here now, urgent but in control, as always; this is comforting to April. His presence is like a cool calming water washing over her. "What—"

A hitched, wet inhale draws the leader's gaze down to its source.

"April!"

He's kneeling next to her in an instant, sheathing his katanas. His broad, cool hand is on her forehead. Gentle, steady. She watches as his serious blue eyes study her for a moment. Then he looks to Raph in silent askance. His brother looks miserable, helpless.

"It's my fault," he moans. "Fishface, he kicked my sai right out of…" He stops, shakes his head, "I'm so sorry, April."

The blue-masked turtle frowns and briefly grasps his brother's slumped shoulder. April can't let this continue. She musters the strength to protest.

"Raphael," she interrupts as loudly and assertively as she can manage. Two turtles look at her, alarmed, but April's wearing her best determined expression, so they lean closer to listen.

"Ss'not your fault, ok? It was—ah... accident, and I… signed up f-for this," she says haltingly, wincing through the words.

Raph looks even more broken, if anything. Leo frowns slightly and lightly pats her shoulder; he's about to tell her not to try to talk, she can tell. But she has to say this one last thing before she passes out again. Spots are crowding the edge of her vision.

"You guys…. L-love," she swallows thickly to clear the blood from her tongue, blinks hard, "Love you guys."

Raph shuts his eyes like he's in pain again. April doesn't remember starting to cry, but her cheeks are wet now. Leo's eyes are shining, but tears don't fall. They are as sharp and serious as ever. He gives her shoulder a gentle squeeze.

"We have to get her out of here," the blue-masked turtle says lowly. Raphael only nods, mute, transfixed.

Leo turns back to April, gently places a hand on her head again, "You're going to be fine." She stares at his pretty, deep blue eyes. The way he says it, April believes him. That's why he's leader.

"Try not to go to sleep, okay?" he asks of her. Of course. For Leo.

She nods weakly—a promise—and Leo gives her the tiniest of smiles, nods once. Then he disappears from her view. She can tell Raph is still there by the sound of his breathing, but he doesn't move or say anything. April tries to concentrate on counting stars to stay awake. Problem is, the sky is spinning and the stars are streaking together, which is only making her feel nauseated. She clenches her eyes shut and bites down on her tongue. She counts Raph's breaths instead.

The drop in noise level a few minutes (exactly 78 exhales from Raphael) later suggests that the fighting has finally died down. She opens her eyes and is relieved to see that the spinning has calmed to a slow revolution. She tilts her head to the side in time to see Donatello emerge from behind Leo. Pain-dulled aqua instantly connects with exhausted mahogany. The purple-masked turtle's eyes widen and he freezes for a whole second. His bo staff rolls from his slack grip. April winces as the wooden clatter ricochets off the inside of her pounding head.

"April!" Donnie gasps, and it makes something twist tight in her chest.

One blink later and he is kneeling at her side. She looks up at him and tries to give him a smile, but it ends up lopsided and trembling.

"H-hey," she exhales.

Raphael gets up and backs away slowly, he can't look at Donatello or this moment. Leo holds an arm out to stop Mikey. The youngest turtle hangs back and looks on with wide eyes, but without argument, speechless for once.

April's breath hitches as her purple turtle tenderly brushes her sweat-soaked bangs from her forehead. The way he is now repeating her name like a mantra is twisting that feeling in her chest tighter and tighter. Her gaze focuses on his reddish-brown eyes. They are warm and comforting, but unlike Leo's, they do not hide his emotions well as he takes in the full extent of her injuries. His gaze travels down to her cloth-wrapped middle, where blotches of dark red are beginning to bleed through.

April is witness to a whole series of expressions on his face that she has learned to recognize over the years; first fear, sadness, anger, and the last — as he returns his eyes to hers — she has seen glimpses of before, but has yet to categorize. It reminds her of a softly flickering candle flame behind his irises, and it always makes her feel a little warmer for some reason.

"Not as bad... as it looks, r-right?" April feebly tries to joke. Though it comes out shaky, she finds speaking is easier than it had been just a few minutes ago. Probably because the pain in her gut has mostly been replaced with numb non-feeling. This is both a relief and deeply scary. She tries to only focus on the relief part.

"Ex-exactly," Donnie returns softly, and the feeling of warmth radiating from his gaze intensifies. Reflexively, she swallows too hard, and her middle chooses this moment to remind her of the hole stabbed through it, with vicious force. Her back arches on its own as the pain ripples upward, forcing a groan out between her clenched teeth.

Donnie inhales sharply and goes rigid for a moment. April opens her eyes again. She recognizes another familiar shift in his face as he slips into concentration mode. He inspects her middle for a while, being careful not to move her or press too hard. Then he carefully takes one of her hands in his larger one... holding her wrist. She belatedly realizes that he is measuring her pulse. A frown twists his face, and he moves his other large green hand to her neck. She watches through a haze. The hand moves from her neck up to frame her face. She can't help but press into the touch. The hand is cool and she feels like she's burning up. Her body gives a shudder. Leo moves to hover behind his kneeling brother, anxiety leaking into his composure.

"Donnie?"

The turtle's grasp on her hand tightens a fraction. He makes a promise with his eyes. "I'm going to take care of you, April," Donatello's expression is determined, but the warmth is alight in his eyes again. April makes a second attempt at a feeble smile and her vision is watery.

Leo grows impatient, "Can we move her?" he asks in a hushed tone, hand on his brother's shoulder. Donnie nods, expression stony.

April watches groggily as Donnie leans forward. A cool pressure on her forehead, brief. She realizes it's his lips. She jumps a little at the contact. He's never done that before, ever...He whispers there: "I'm sorry about this, April."

She catches a flash of the blush on his cheeks as he pulls back, but then, in one smooth movement befitting of a ninja, sweeps her up into his arms. April can't help the strangled yelp that escapes her as her wound twists and stretches, even as gentle as Donnie is. Pain bursts outward like a firework speading from her core. Her head lolls onto the tall turtle's shoulder and her body goes limp. The blackness rushes in and she doesn't feel anything at all for a while.

"Hold on, April, please just hold on…"

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