Many Friends, Different Lives
Chapter 2: Join or Not
A/N: Chapter has been updated.
Disclaimer: I do not own the TMNT. I only own the characters I made up.
Everyone got up and bowed at Ashara before leaving the room to begin following their schedule. Shadow hurried to get Leo and Kay went to get Raph's food and close. Kay knocked on Raph's door once and he stood there in silence.
"Who are you?" Raph asked when he opened his door to reveal a white haired half human, half cat boy wearing only white flowing pants.
"I am Kay," Kay said, entering Raph's room. "I have brought you your close and food. The close are just like mine. All the boys under this roof wear the same thing not unless you are leader of your group, then you have a gold band on your left arm."
"Do I have to wear just these pants?" Raph asked, holding up the white flowing pants.
"Yes," Kay said. "Ashara says that is makes this place more… non-violent and even this is somewhat a healing place, there is a room where you may be in your gear and practice fighting with others like you who hate being in a nice place 24-7. Ashara, herself, hates an all nice place as well."
"Will I ever meet this Ashara person?" Raph asked, putting his gear under his bed.
"I am not the person to ask," Kay said. "Raph, please keep that stone in your pocket. I'm sorry if it bothers you but it's a map and it can help you get service."
"Great," Raph said sarcastically and he stuffed the blue oval stone back into his pocket.
Kay bowed and he left Raph's room, shutting the door behind him. Kay hurried to the dojo to begin training with the others. When he entered, Leo, Nightmare, Midnight, Gwin, Sin, and Cara were already in their training gear and waiting for the last trainer to join them.
"Has Raph received his things?" Sly, a boy with silver hair, slate eyes, asked when Kay came back into the room in full training gear.
Kay nodded and he got into position next to his twin. Leo stayed in the background while the twins reviewed and then they began to spar. Sly walked over to Leo and gestured to the last empty sparing mat. Leo nodded, knowing that Sly wanted to spar, and Leo walked over to the mat and he stood at one end as Sly stood at the other. Sly and Leo bowed and they began a hand-to-hand combat. Up on the second floor, Raph was sitting on his bed with a photo album he had found in his room. In it were pictures of a girl with a group of 5 boys hanging out and having fun. He thought that one of the boys looked familiar but he convinced himself that his mind was playing tricks on him. The only thing that scared him more was that the girl in the pictures looked odd in the group of boys. She looked like she had expected the group to end up that way. She was tall for her age but she was the shortest in the group. She had super short golden brown hair, blue green eyes, a beautiful smile, and she looked like she had so much she expected to happen in her eyes. Raph was startled when someone knocked on the door. Raph put the photo album back and he walked over to his door. When he opened it, he was surprised to see a girl with copper hair and no gold band standing in front of his door.
"Are you Raphael?" the girl asked.
"Raph, if you don't mind," Raph said.
"Your brother, Leo, asked the same thing," the girl said, still standing in front of Raph's door. "You are wanted in the health clinic."
Raph nodded and followed the girl down to the first floor and they walked to a white washed door.
"What's your name kid?" Raph asked as she pushed open the door.
"Sin," the girl said walking into the room. "Leo is already here. Ashara wants to talk to you and your brothers alone."
"Ok," Raph said, passing Sin and walking over to Leo, who was next to Mike. "Where's Don?"
Leo pointed to a bed two beds down from Mike. Raph followed Leo's pointed finger and he saw Don sleeping.
"What happened?" Raph asked.
"No clue," Leo said, becoming pale.
The door to the health clinic opened, making Raph and Leo to jump. In front of the opened door was the same girl Raph saw in the pictures but she was wearing a gold gown and she had not one but two gold bands, one on each arm.
"I am Ashara," the girl said, walking into the room, "and I want to speak to each of you alone."
"How are you going to talk to Don?" Raph asked. "He's asleep."
"He'll be awake when it is his turn," Ashara said, "but it is not his turn. It is Leo's"
Leo's face became even paler than before and Raph was afraid he would fall over.
"Do not worry Leo," Ashara said, "I am not as mean as people think."
Leo nodded and his face began to recover color. Ashara beckoned him to follow and she headed down the hall. Leo hurried to catch up and he began walking side by side with Ashara. Ashara was silent as she led Leo to a green door, where she stopped and pulled out her stone.
"Sly," she said into it, "please go to the health clinic and watch over the guests please."
Again, out of nowhere a voice, male, said ok and Ashara putted her stone back. She opened the door and led Leo in. Behind the door was not a room but a forest and wide-open grass hills.
"How the shell-" Leo said
"Magic, Leo, magic," Ashara said, walking over to a little wooden barn and she heaved the door open. "Have you've ever gone horse back riding?"
Leo said nothing. He hurried over to the barn and looked inside. The barn was huge! Despite what it looked like on the outside, the barn held 20 horses in pretty good-sized stalls.
"There is a name under the name of the horse," Ashara said, walking over to a tall black horse. "This is Storm. He's my horse."
Leo looked at the plaque on Storm's stall door. The top word was Storm and below it was Ashara.
"I see what you mean," Leo said, walking down the line of stalls looking at the plaques, looking for his name. "Venus? My horse's name is Venus?"
"She came with that name," Ashara said as she saddled up Storm. "She likes the blue gear."
Leo nodded his head and he walked over to the pegs and he got the blue gear as Ashara finished strapping gray gear on Storm. Leo didn't have any trouble with Venus and she was patent with him when he messed up and Ashara had to teach him how to do it. When the two horses were saddled and ready to go, Ashara led both horses out as Leo closed the barn door.
"Ready?" Ashara asked as Leo mounted his horse.
Leo nodded his head and he got himself situated.
"Good," Ashara said. "Yea!"
Storm began the run at a full, flat-out gallop and Venus was right behind him. A smile grew on Ashara's face as well as Leo's. She leaned close to Storm's neck and she began to talk to him. Storm led Venus and Leo into the trees of the nearby forest on a path that was ridden so often that there were no branches in the way. Ashara was, from Leo's point of view, one with her horse. She was free, alive, and happy. Leo had a strange feeling that this was a rare moment for Ashara. Ashara began to pull Storm to a walk, making Leo do the same. Leo looked around and he noticed that the path had gotten wider. Ashara stopped Storm and she dismounted. She beckoned Leo to do the same before leading Storm the remaining way. When Leo walked into an opening with Venus behind him, he was shell-shocked. This place is so beautiful! Leo accidentally let go of Venus's reins and walked ahead of her. Venus, apparently, was very smart or well trained (probably very smart) and she followed Leo. She stopped next to Storm where Ashara had left him. Ashara was standing in the middle of the opening, waiting for Leo. By the time Leo was next to her, she had sat down on the circle of grass.
"This is where I come to think as well as others in this building," Ashara said, lying back on the grass. "The horses are smart enough to know that this place is only for humans or for the others in this building."
"Wow," Leo said, still shell-shocked.
"I wanted to ask you alone if you wanted to stay here," Ashara asked, her smile disappearing. "I brought you here so you could see a small amount of magic that helps conceal the lost, wounded, and wandering inside."
"What do you mean?" Leo asked, looking at Ashara.
"When you have nowhere to go, you can always come here and run as far as you want," Ashara said. "You can run forever and never get lost. Just use your stone and the door will appear. It's just magic."
Leo sat there, watching the horses graze on the grass that was beneath the flowers. The silence wasn't strange but peaceful. Ashara sat up and began to talk again.
"So," she said, "are you staying or going back to your home? You're welcome to visit any day if you decide to leave and go back to the lair."
"I chose here," Leo said, a smile reappearing on his face.
"Before you make up your mind all the way, there are a few things that you need to know," Ashara said. "First, you get a schedule that you must follow, unless ordered otherwise. Second, please do not enter any rooms you are told are for girls only or my room. I would really appreciate it. Ok, now that you know that, have you changed your mind?"
"No," Leo said. "I can get fresh air and I can get away on my free time. Is there a curfew though?"
"No," Ashara said with a chuckle. "Just be as quiet as you can when anyone is asleep. We usually have people sleeping through the day and night because of the schedule but no one has complained."
"I bet," Leo said, getting up. "Shall we get back so you can talk to my brothers?"
"Yes," Ashara said, "but your brothers and you may be separated. I do not keep people who wish to leave. I allow them to choose."
"Has anyone left?" Leo asked as he mounted Venus.
"Only those who were uncomfortable with living with freaks," Ashara said with a smile.
Leo laughed. He knew that Ashara was trying to be funny and stern at the same time. Storm led Venus out of the woods and onto the prairie. Leo and Ashara rode next to each other all the way to the barn. By the time they were at the barn, Ashara and Leo were holding their sides with laughter. Ashara putted the gear away and Leo putted the horses away. There were others in the barn, taking care of the horses and when Ashara walked past them, they backed away with fear and Leo saw, on Ashara's face, that she hated to scare people. Ashara hurried back to the healing clinic to see Raph sitting in one of the chairs and Mike sitting up, reading a comic book.
"Raph," Ashara said, "your turn."
Raph got up and he followed Ashara down the hall to a plain door. Ashara opened the door and Raph entered. When he entered, he stopped. The room was empty and nothing was special about this room.
"Welcome to the magic room," Ashara said when she walked up, next to Raph.
"I thought every room was magical," Raph said, still disappointed that nothing was in this room.
"This is a different type of magic room," Ashara said, walking over to a wall. "This room becomes what you wish or what you want. This room can become home, this room can become a place to visit lost ones, and this place can be a place to cry. I know that you think crying makes you weak, Raphael. Trust me, keeping it in makes you weak."
"Y-you know my-" Raph stuttered.
"I know how it feels," Ashara said, keeping her back to Raph, "to think that if you showed your tears that you were weak or helpless. I know how it feels to stuff feelings in and you have to wear a mask 24-7. I lived that kind of life and I'm living it know."
Ashara's body tightened and shuttered as tears streamed down her face.
"I know what it means to have no hope, no light, no friends nor family who could help. I know how all that you can do with that feeling is run. Run so hard and far that you wish to run forever and leave everything behind." Ashara fell to her knees and still kept her back to Raph as Raph stood there frozen and bewildered. "I know how it feels to have no exit from the pain, the feeling, the wounds. I know how it feels to loose people and the fear of loosing what you have left. I lost my dad when I was 5 to a divorce, I lost a friend to death when I was about 9, my parents remarried only to divorce again, and when my dad came back, he wasn't looking for his 9 year old girl, he was looking for the 5 year old girl he left behind. I know how it feels to be bullied, to be invisible, wanting to be liked, wanting friends. I know how it feels how to run from it all and never looking back and when you do you don't remember a thing."
Ashara broke down, forgetting Raph was behind her. The room around Raph and Ashara began to change to what looked like a small cave that made Raph to get close to Ashara. Raph was unsure what to do but his body seemed to know what to do. Like being a puppet, Raph held the weeping Ashara to his chest and he just held her there, not doing anything but listening to her cry. Ashara started to calm down but Raph didn't do anything. He couldn't. His body wouldn't let his mind control it. When Raph realized that Ashara was silent, he looked at her. She had fallen asleep in his arms and Raph just sat there watching the room, once more, change this time into a room with a bed and some other things. Raph picked Ashara up and he placed her on the bed. He found a chair and he placed it next to the bed. He sat down, thinking hard.
This girl has harder then she leads you to believe, Raph told himself. But how can I let her know that there are people who can help, like a therapist. That will probably make her more depress though .I hate being soft. There has to be a way to-
His thoughts were interrupted by Ashara sitting up.
"I'm so sorry about that," Ashara said, getting up and heading towards the door to be grabbed around the grist by Raph. "This room has that affect on me. That's one reason I stay away from here."
"I didn't mind," Raph said. "Is there somewhere else you want to show me before you move onto Mike or Don?"
Ashara nodded her head and she led him out of the room. They walked down the hall to a gold washed door and Ashara opened the door. Raph followed Ashara into a really big room filled with books.
"There are all kinds of books in here," Ashara said, heading over to a nearby hover scooter. "There are even comic books."
"What kind?" Raph asked, climbing on one of the scooters.
"Any kind you want," Ashara said, starting up the silent, small hovercraft. "Follow me."
Ashara led Raph to a bookshelf full of comic books. Raph's draw dropped.
"These comic books came from many dimensions," Ashara said, making her hover scooter go strait up and having Raph follow. "These are from my dimension and I hope you find them interesting."
Ashara handed Raph a comic book with he and his brothers on the cover.
"No way," Raph said, staring at the cover.
"Yeah," Ashara said, going over to another bookshelf. "At my home, you and your brothers are cartoons. You are also one of the oldest, I think, living creations in the United States. To be honest, I don't know how old the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle series has been around."
Raph followed Ashara as she looked for a book. She stopped in front of a bookshelf and she began reading the binding of each of the books before she pulled out the one she was looking for.
"Here," she said, handing the book to Raph. "I think you might like it. I did. Give the comic to Mike. He'll like it."
"How long can we keep these?" Raph asked.
"As long as you like and no one else wants to read it," Ashara said, heading back towards the door. "Just take good care of them."
Raph followed Ashara back to where the other scooters were parked and he followed Ashara back to the health clinic.
"So do you want to stay?" Ashara asked as they walked.
"Yeah," Raph said.
"Ok," Ashara said. "Leo will explain what you must do and the rules. I will never keep you here. You are able to leave whenever you want."
"Ok."
When Ashara fell silent, Raph read the title of the book.
One Adventure After Another by Ashara Smith, Raph said to himself. I wonder how old Ashara is at her home dimension. Is she as old as she is know or is she a whole lot older? Raph walked into the health clinic and handed Mike the comic book.
"Wow," Mike said, holding the comic, arms length away from his face. "We're a comic book."
"What?" Leo asked, putting down the book he was reading. "No way."
"Yes way," Mike said, showing Leo the comic book. "See."
"Cool," Leo said. "Hey, Ashara. Where can we get these?"
"Ask Raph," Ashara said, "he'll tell ya, hopefully."
Raph wasn't paying any attention. He had his nose in the book Ashara had given him and he was lost in its pages. Sly walked out of the shadows pushing a wheelchair over to Don's bed.
"Donnie's turn?" Leo asked.
"Yeah," Ashara said as she walked over and help Sly help Don into the chair. "Don't worry. He'll be fine."
Leo nodded and he held the door open for Ashara and Don. Ashara pushed Don to a plain door with a symbol meaning creation carved into it.
"This is the metal and wood room," Ashara said as she opened the door and pushed Don in. "Here you can create anything that you want, as long as you need metal and or wood."
Don nodded his head. Ashara watched as Don's gaze fell over every inch of the room.
"This place is amazing," Don said.
"There's also a computer room where we have several computers in which you can do anything on," Ashara said, pushing Don out of the room, "but you'll see that another day. Right now, you need to get better and when you're all better let me know if you want to stay."
"I'm staying," Don said. "From what Leo told me he experienced, I have made my mind up."
"Ok," Ashara said.
Sly got Don onto his bed as Ashara helped a stiff Mike walk.
"You are able to leave now but not Donnie," Ashara said to Leo and Raph. "He hasn't completely gotten over what he has."
The three turtles nodded their heads and Ashara and Mike walked down the hall.
"Where are we going?" Mike asked.
"The party room," Ashara said.
"The what?" Mike asked.
"You'll see," Ashara chuckled.
When Ashara and Mike walked into the party room, they were greeted by music and bright lights.
"Wow."
"I heard that Leo told you about what he had experienced and I figured Raph did too?"
"Raph said only a little bit when he walked in before he started reading that book," Mike said as they walked out of the party room.
"So are you staying?" Ashara asked, leading Mike back to the clinic.
"Yeah."
"Cool," Ashara said. "I'll get Sin to take off those bandages and then you can go to your room and get your schedule."
Mike nodded his head and walked into the clinic with Ashara behind him. Sin was already taking care of Don when the two walked in and she finished what she was doing before she helped Mike. Ashara walked out of the room and up to her room that was in front of Leo's.
I'm glad that they're all staying ant they don't have to separate, Ashara told herself when she opened her door and walked in.
A/N: Please post a review. Please.