While Rainie was sleeping, her family and friends were looking through her least favourite sketch books. All of the drawings were a bit sketchy and coloured in with dark or dull colours. They were similar- the guys would be in a fight or someone was hurt and lying on their bed with the others around them. Something was going on; something that Rainie didn't want her brothers' doing- fighting the Shredder, getting hurt. There were several pictures like these, each one more graphic than the last
In the third sketch book, however, the last twenty or so pages were sketched in, almost entirely black. There were, on most of the pages, blank shapes which Rainie had left for some bizarre purpose.
"Don, she ain't gonna like that." Raph warned as Donnie ripped the pages out.
"It's just these pages. Besides, she doesn't like these books. You saw what happened. She probably wouldn't care if we burned them." Raph saw that his brother had a point and stayed quiet. "Leo, give us a hand." Donnie sat on the floor, spreading the pages out in front of him.
"Donnie, what are you doing?"
"Dude, it's a puzzle!" Mikey said, gaining strange looks from his brothers. "Dudes, its classic. I've seen it on movies- a kid does sketches that all fit together."
"Friggin' movies." Raph muttered, folding his arms.
"I wanna help!" Mikey insisted, sitting down with Donnie and Leo. Together they sorted out the pictures, trying to fit them all together.
Raph sighed and went to sit with his sister. She was sleeping soundly, a small smile on her face. Raph frowned. Why had she gone from playful and bubbly to ill and tearful in a matter of seconds at the sight of a drawing?
He didn't understand and it ticked him off.
An hour later:
"Raph! Come 'n' check this out." Raph sighed irritably and left his sister's side. He saw that his brothers, April and Casey had put Rainie's 'puzzle' together. "Dude, what is it?" Mikey scrambled to his feet and moved back, staring intently at the picture. "That's us, dudes! Man, we're so small!"
In the bottom right corner were four silhouettes- the Turtles- all with their weapons drawn. They were no bigger than Raph's palm. Towering over them was four human like figures that had a light shade of grey surrounding them, like an aura. One held a spear, another a war hammer, the third a trident and the fourth with a curved sword.
Mikey didn't look too happy. "How come a happy-go-lucky kid can draw really intimidating pictures?" He asked.
"Ya can get weird kids anywhere, Mike." Raph grunted. Mikey smiled half-heartedly.
"What do you think of this, Sensei?" Master Splinter looked down at the picture. His eyes widened and he stiffened. "Master Splinter?"
"Sensei, do you know what this means?"
"No, Donatello."
"What's the matter then?" Mikey asked innocently.
"Rainie's drawing reminds me of a… vision I had years ago. During Rainie's first night here, she woke up on the stroke of midnight. I wasn't sure what was happening, but I only had to look into her eyes to see this image."
"What? So, Rainie can see the future?" Mikey looked expectantly at his father. Master Splinter sighed.
"You could put it like that, Michelangelo. But I wouldn't."
"Wouldn't you?"
"No."
"What would you put it as then, Sensei?" Master Splinter stayed quiet. Donnie's brain was in overdrive. Rainie's babyhood habits, her reaction to the picture…
"Donatello, what did you discover earlier?"
"Erm… well, I think Rainie may be… autistic." He looked round at the worried and horrified expressions of his family and friends. Don explained his hunches and his research, making connections between Rainie's old habits and the symptoms of autism. "She's not so much now, but it could explain why she hasn't taken to learning ninjutsu."
"Sensei?"
"Yes, Leonardo?" Leo seemed to have more than Rainie's possible autism troubling him.
"You said you wouldn't call Rainie's… ability as 'seeing into the future'. What would you call it?"
"I would call it what it is and what it has been known as for a long time."
"What's that then, sensei?" Master Splinter sighed.
"A curse."
