That you all so much for your reviews. For those of you that picked up that Mona's mutation into a lizard was a result of her having a pet lizard as mentioned in the chapter "Divide and Conquer", then my hat goes off to you for seeing that earlier. Hope you enjoy the newest chapter.
(Donnie's POV)
It was silent in the shell raiser on the way back to the lair.
I couldn't believe everything I just witnessed tonight, and all of us have seen some pretty messed up stuff in the past.
Raph's sitting as his station but he was holding Mona, who was sitting on his lap and still looked like she was in a severe case of shock. I couldn't believe and also could believe at the same time that the Kraang mutated her.
I felt so bad just looking at her. This is literally the worst possible scenario. She lost her family and her physical identity in the course of only two days.
I've always really liked and cared about Mona, she's like a sister to me. Actually, when we walked out in public together in the past people thought we were brother and sister because of the similar eye and hair color.
She never poked fun at me for being a 'nerd', with her being a child prodigy herself. She always listened to my scientific explanations and even offered back up for me when no one else seemed to understand.
Don't worry Mona, I may not have the ability to bring back your parents, but I will not stop until I find a way to reverse your mutation. I swear.
We got back to the lair and Mona still looked like she was in shock, but she was able to walk. Raph was just guiding her along into the mainroom.
Master Splinter walked in and looked surprised by what he saw in front of him. But, he smiled when he saw Mona. It made us all feel relieved, she needed all the acceptance she could get right now.
"Sensei, can I talk to you?" Raph asks, still in a state of absolute seriousness. "Of course." Splinter responds.
Raph looked back at us. "Leo." He says and motions to Mona. Leo nods and goes to Mona as Raph walks to the dojo with Splinter.
"It's okay Mona, I got you." Leo says soothingly as he puts his arm around her shoulders to lead Mona along and guides her to sit down with him on the bench.
10 minutes later
Splinter and Raphael returned to the mainroom and Splinter approached Mona.
She looked up at him slightly, her face looking almost drained of life. He smiles down at her.
"Mona, Raphael has explained to me your present situation and I don't want you to worry about where you are to go or do because you are completely welcome to live here for as long as you like. I will sort out a room for you, and until then Raphael is letting you sleep in his room. You don't need to worry about a thing." Splinters explains reassuringly.
"Thank you." Mona mumbles, almost inaudibly.
We all felt a certain relief when we heard her speak.
That was the first thing we heard her say since her dad disappeared 3 hours ago.
"Speaking of which. I think we all could do with some sleep. You all look done in." Splinter says and we all make our way to our rooms, quietly. I saw Raph leading Mona to his room.
(Raph's POV)
I got her into my room and sat her down on my bed.
She looked awful, but she had every right to look that way, and it wasn't because of her mutation at all. She just looked totally drained of life and her clothes were dirty and ripped.
I looked in my drawers and pulled out one of my pairs of basketball shorts and a t-shirt for her. "Here, put these on for now, I'll go to your place soon to get your clothes and whatever else you need." I tell her and set them on her lap, smiling at her before I walk out.
I stood outside my door for awhile until I saw her open the door. She was just standing there in the clothes I gave her looking at me. I smirk at her.
"That's better, right? Here, let's get you comfortable." I say and pick her up as I carry her over to my bed. I put a new pillow down for her as I take mine in my hand. "I'll be in the mainroom if you need me, okay?" I tell her, smiling at her a little before kissing her on the forehead and pulling a blanket over her.
I was relieved when I saw her practically fall asleep once her head hit the pillow.
I walked out and put my pillow down on the bench in the main room and I saw sensei left a blanket for me out here too. I put my head down and I also felt myself give in to sleep. Not surprising since I haven't slept in a little over two days.
I was beat.
I was running down this endless hallway.
It looked like TCRI, but I was all alone. My brothers were nowhere in sight.
I didn't know why I was running or what I was running from. But then I heard screaming, her screaming. I kept calling her name but I couldn't find her anywhere. I just heard her screaming surrounding me and it kept getting louder and more deafening.
I crumbled to the ground, gritting my teeth, shutting my eyes and putting my hands over my ears.
My eyes sprung open and I still heard her screaming. Then I realized that she was actually screaming.
"DAD! DAD, NO!" She cried out. I immediately sprung up to my feet and booked it to my room as fast as I could. "NO! DAD!" She screamed out again as I ran to my door and noticed my brothers all woke up and came out of their rooms to see what was going on as I flung the door open as Mona continued screaming.
I looked at her clutching her pillow on my bed and crying out, "DAD! DAD!"
"Mona!" I yell as I ran over to her and shook her shoulders a little to wake her up. "Mona! Mona! It's me, it's Raph. It's not real, wake up." I practically beg. She looked like she was coming out of it and then she saw me.
Her eyes were brimming with tears as she looked at me and her bottom lip was trembling as she looked like she was desperately trying to hold it in. But then she totally lost all control. She threw her arms around my neck and cried into my chest.
I didn't know what to do, so I just held her close to me. I looked and saw my brothers standing in the doorway. I gave them a look, wanting them to go away. "Let's go back to bed guys." Leo says and then shuts my door.
I look back at her and she was still crying uncontrollably. "You're okay, Mona. I'm here. Everything's okay." I tell her, not knowing what else to say, as I kissed the top of her head.
After about 5 more minutes of intense, hysterical crying, she finally started to calm down.
She kept choking back sobs but she was regaining control of herself.
She let go of me a little and I shifted away slightly. Then one of her hands grabbed my arm. It took me back 9 months ago when I saved her that one night and she wanted me to stay with her until she fell asleep.
"Don't go." She pleads, looking entirely desperate. It was ripping me apart to see her like this.
Mona wasn't a soft, emotional girly girl. Mona's tough as nails, brave, and has more confidence than anyone I've ever met. Now… that girl was completely broken in every way possible.
The Kraang took almost everything from her.
I was literally all she had left.
"I'm not going anywhere, I promise." I tell her and shift myself under the covers with her as she cuddled up to me as close as possible and I wrapped my arms around her and rubbed my hand up and down her back until she calmed down enough to fall asleep again.
I hope she doesn't have another nightmare. I don't know how many more times tonight I could stand seeing her in pain.
I kept looking at her and running my hand through her hair a little bit. Even as a mutant, she was still beautiful. It didn't matter to me that she was like this, she was still herself and she was still alive and she was safe with me.
I swear, even if her dad didn't ask me to do it, I will never let anyone or anything hurt her ever again.
(Mona's POV)
My name is Mona Lisa. I'm 16 years old and turning 17 in 64 days. I'm a Physics major at Emerson who just completed her first year.
Up until the last two days… my life, by any standard of a 16 year old, was perfect. I had great parents, I had an awesome group of friends, and a beyond amazing boyfriend.
Now… everything was shattered.
My parents were taken to another dimension by a race of hideous, evil, alien freaks and are probably being enslaved, tortured, … or even killed. My father's last words to me were still ringing in my head. He told me he loved me and I didn't have time to tell him I loved him back and I'm probably never going to see him again.
Now I had nothing and I'm just a hideous freak.
I was up again and I couldn't fall back asleep as I just stared at the ceiling. I was in Raphael's room in his bed with him holding me. I felt so pathetic with the way I just broke down in front of him, but he just let me do whatever I had to do.
I kept looking at his ceiling.
I've been in his room a couple times before this in the past… it's not what you think, I just came in here for only a couple seconds in those times before. But I noticed some things were moved around from the last time I was in here, well his posters were moved.
Then I caught something out of the corner of my eye on the wall next to his bed that I was also closest to. I shifted my head to look in that direction, and my eyes widen slightly.
His wall was covered in pictures… of me? Well of me or us together.
My eyes settled on one of the pictures my mom took of us before we went out to prom. I looked at my hand, the webbing between my fingers and the scaly skin that now covered my whole body as I kept glancing back at my former self.
I tensed up slightly when I saw his hand come into my view and rest on my upper arm before pulling me closer against him.
Then I noticed something around his hand, it didn't look like tape. Wait… my prom garter? He's holding my prom garter?
I glanced up at him, in a deep sleep with his mouth hanging open slightly. I didn't know what to think of any of this right now. My head was spinning and I still was unable to form any words...
But, I decided to try and will myself back to sleep.
Two days later
(Leo's POV)
We were sitting in the mainroom.
We were all just trying to go about our usual routine, but now we have Mona living with us full time. Raph and I have been pretty much tag teaming when comes to watching Mona since two nights ago night. But I only took over when Raph had to go to the bathroom or something.
Right now, Mona came back from the bathroom and walked into the room with caution. I knew she still felt self conscious about how she looked.
"Hey, there she is. C'mon babe, have a seat right here." Raph says, smiling, and pats this spot between his legs as he sat in the corner of the bench. Mona froze before walking cautiously over to Raph and sitting where he motioned to.
Raph smirked as he rested his hands over her stomach and kissed the top of her head as she slowly leaned back against his chest.
It was still weird to see Raph act like this. Look, if you grew up with him for the past 16 years and saw what he was like before, then you'd also find this behavior from him totally shocking and slightly disturbing too. But, it also reassured to me that my brother did have a heart somewhere in there.
It just took almost 16 years for Mona to show up to prove that point.
"Do you want anything?" He asks her. I just saw her shrug, her face was expressionless but full of sorrow. We all knew what she really wanted, but we knew we couldn't get them back for her.
"You're probably thirsty, I haven't seen you drink anything since last night. I'll be right back, alright?" He says smirking at her. I was about to walk over to sit with her when Mikey sat next to her and smiled at her. I just let it go.
It's Mikey, what's the worst that can happen?
I saw Mikey reach for the pizza box that was sitting on this milk crate since he brought it down about an hour ago. "Mo-na, it's your favorite... garbage pizza. Remember you and me'd always fight over the last slice? C'mon, you know you want it..." Mikey says nudging her on the shoulder trying to cheer her up and waving the last slice in the box in front of her.
She hasn't eaten at all except for half of a slice of dry toast this morning. But I'm pretty sure she only forced it down to soothe Raph's nerves about her not eating.
Mona remained unresponsive.
"C'mon Mona, it could be worse?" Mikey says and Donnie and I both simultaneously shoot our eyes in Mikey's direction as soon as he said that.
Mona's head turned to look at him almost robotically. Her expression looked cold but still entirely broken. "Worse… Worse? Are you kidding me? How can things possibly be worse?! I'm a hideous freak, my parents were taken away from me and are probably… are… ah…" Then I saw her put her hand over the lower half of her face and get up abruptly before she ran out of the room.
Raph walked back in holding a glass of water and heard her start to choke back tears as we all watched her run toward, most likely, Raph's room.
Raph looked at her and then looked slowly back at us. His body was shaking. His face was contorting in rage as the glass of water trembled in his hand. Then the glass shattered under his intense grip before lunging to grab Mikey and pin his back against the pillar.
"MIKEY! What did you do?!" He spits out enraged. All I could think of right now was if Mikey wasn't our brother and if he was just some random person that made Mona cry... Raph would not hesitate to rip them apart.
"NOTHING! I, I just told her it could be worse?!" Mikey says defensively.
Raph's face went even more toward rage. Donnie and I were ready to restrain him if needed, just in case he did decide to kill Mikey.
"Worse?! WORSE?! Mikey, she's lost EVERYTHING!" Raph shouts in his face, now beyond the point of rage. "I, I, I'm sorry. I, I didn't…" "Just shut up Mikey." Raph says, releasing Mikey and his expression was now shifting to concerned as he looked in the direction of our rooms.
"Mona! Babe, come back! He didn't mean it like that!" He yells as he ran to his room.
It was dead space in the room for awhile.
"Guys, I was just trying to help. I didn't mean to make her cry." Mikey says, looking guilty. "We know Mikey, but you can't say stuff like that around Mona… not right now." I explain.
Look, Mikey may say the wrong thing sometimes, but he's never on purpose made someone upset in his whole life. He just doesn't think things through and Donnie and I both knew that.
We all still felt so pained to see Mona like this... but at the rate she's going... she's probably going to be like this for awhile and we're just going to have to get used to it.
(Raph's POV)
Great! Mikey, just had to open his big, stupid mouth and make her cry again!
I heard her sobbing behind my bedroom door. This is why I hate this. Because when someone does this kind of stuff to her, it doesn't just affect her, it also affects me.
"Mona?" I say as I knock on my door. I didn't give her time to respond as I opened my door a little and saw her with her face down on my bed, crying into the pillow. I walked in and sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed my hand on her back as she kept crying.
Then I saw her look up at me after she calmed down. She turned over and sat facing me, hugging her knees to her chest.
"I'm sorry." She mumbles. "Babe, you don't have to say sorry for anything. Mikey should be the one saying sorry to you." I assure her, just wanting her to stop crying.
"No, not about that. I'm sorry for me. I'm making everything harder for all of you. I'm just… I have nothing. I have nothing to me anymore." She finally concludes, resting her forehead against her knees. I lift her chin up to make her look at me.
"No… you have me… and I'm not going anywhere." I tell her serious and decide to seal my point by kissing her. It felt a little different to kiss her now but still better than when the situation was reversed between us.
I pulled away from her and she looked at me with these defeated eyes.
"Raph, you don't have to do this. I'm a grotesque monster. You don't need to keep doing this with me. I'll understand if you don't want to." She says hanging her head.
I looked at her like she was totally out of her mind.
"Mona… do you really think I'm that shallow that I'd stop liking you because you… changed." I say, trying to put it as lightly as possible. "Raph, I'm just saying… that I'll understand if you no longer… like me. I mean look at me. I'm a hideous, scaly freak." She says, looking at her hands with scorn.
"No you're not and to quote you when I was a mutant… I couldn't care less." I say, hoping to get my point across to her. "I just don't…" She starts, but then she was silent.
"Mona, I'm not going to listen to this anymore. Look, I'm going out to get stuff for you from your place. I'll get Leo or Donnie for you, okay?" I tell her and kiss her again.
I was kind of glad to get out in some way. I just want her to come out of her funk. Or just even to see her smile.
I was putting things in a crate that I brought from the lair. I was thinking of what she might need. I looked at her empty backpack next to her dresser.
Well, she'll need clothes, right?
I opened the main bottom drawer and took a couple pairs of jeans and several T-shirts. Then I opened the drawer above it and my face felt like it combusted into flames.
The first thing I saw was a... bra. I just stared at it and gulped. Look, I'm not an idiot and I know girls wear them and stuff, but my brain was exploding at the conclusion it came to.
That has touched Mona's... boobs.
I shook my head, knowing I shouldn't be thinking about that right now.
Ugh, but how many times have I thought about it?! C'mon Raph, it's just a bra… just a… bra.
I grit my teeth and then grabbed it and shoved it into her backpack. Surprisingly, grabbing her underwear was more difficult than her bras for me. It just filled my head with every fantasy that I had almost every night about her. I know I shouldn't think that way about her right now… but I can't stop.
She's just so… I slapped myself across the face to get a grip.
I grabbed each pair with my eyes shut tight as I put them in the backpack. But then I let myself look again and then I saw something shoved to the back of her drawer.
It was a pair of her underwear. But it jumped out at me… it was red with black lace around the edges. I was hypnotized as I held it in my hands.
Am I drooling?
The things I would do to see her in this. Seriously, if someone told me I had to light myself on fire and then drag my whole body across a field of hot coals just to see her wearing this… so worth it.
I felt so sick for what I was doing. But I couldn't stop myself as I shoved them into a pouch on my utility belt.
I'm so weak.
I decided to walk away before I got anymore ideas. I walked over to her bed and saw stuff on her nightstand. Next to her lamp were two pictures. One was of me and her at Prom and the other one was her with her parents.
It felt cryptic looking at that picture. Knowing that Mona will probably never see them again. But, I knew it was only more reinforcement for me to want to take care of Mona. Her dad told me to look after her and I love her more than anything; that's all I needed for motivation.
I put both of the pictures in the crate, along with some of her favorite posters from the walls of her room. At that moment I remembered something. I looked in the corner and felt disappointment as I looked at the overturned cage with the door open.
I walked over to it.
After, or tied with, me, Fin was the next thing she cared about. He was her Spike. But he was gone. I hung my head, but then I heard that weird gurgling, hiss sound that I've heard millions of times.
I grinned at who I saw huddling against the grating in the floor for heat. I bent down and put my hand out. "Hey there little guy." I say, smirking at him as he crawled into my hand.
I was amazed that he was here and still alive after almost 4 whole days. But his water bowl was still maintaining a small amount of water and there was still a leaf of lettuce laying on the floor with a few bites in it.
I lifted up the cage and put him back in as I collected some stuff to put in there with him. "Is she gonna be happy to see you." I say, smirking as I grabbed everything and make my way back to the lair.
"Don't worry buddy, I'll try not to shake you around too much." I say. I don't care if I look weird for talking like this to a lizard. Besides, he's in the same boat with me when it comes to Mona.
If this doesn't make her happy, then I don't know what will.
(Donnie's POV)
I was sitting with Mona, she still hasn't said anything.
I was trying to show her things to catch her interest. Showing her a new device that I'm wiring, showing her some new blueprints for things that I'm working on, but she was hollow.
Then I heard foot fall and saw Raph, grinning in her direction. "Hey babe, look who I found hanging out at your place?" He says and Mona looked in his direction. Her facial expression slowly softened and then I saw her smile.
"Fin?" She says and briskly walked over to this cage that contained a lizard that looked like an Uromastyx. "You found Fin?" She asks after a long period of her looking at the lizard.
"He got out of his cage, but he survived on his own for 4 days. He's a fighter." Raph says and Mona immediately threw her arms around him. "Thank you." She mumbles into his shirt.
Raph smirked and wrapped his free arm around her and closed his eyes as he rested his chin on top of her head. I felt better too. I could see Leo and Mikey also looking relieved.
This was progress.
Mona Lisa smiled, sorry for the cliche art pun. lol. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and please review. I'd really like to know how you like the story so far.
