Chapter 7: Silence
Leonardo cringed at the sound of her voice, her slant figure standing upon that rooftop, the dark uniform of the Foot. Her green eyes could still burn holes into him, glaring down upon him from above, the sharpest weapon in existence.
His hands felt gravely empty without the hilt of his katana, the worn wood and metal that could give him any sort of comfort beneath her stabbing gaze. In the silence that surrounded them, enveloping even the bleeding foot ninja that had been maimed and injured at his feet, some still, unbreathing. Even Raphael had stopped his wheezy coughing, now breathing heavily upon his knees, his eyes closed tightly against the cool blade of the tanto pressed against his throat.
"What do you want, Karai" Leonardo seethed gravely up to that sky-torn rooftop, the icy sleet soaked ledge where she now stood, eyes bright and hate-filled, her red band tied around her forehead tangled in the wind.
For a moment, she let the silence linger heavy as the fallen snow, as if the heir to her father's awesome power could control even sound itself. But she wasn't the Shredder, she wasn't the black and white, the evil of unspoken truths, something so unquestionable and inobtainably wicked only nightmares and hellfire could brag of birthing better.
No, Karai was wicked, though she was indeed inherently human. So unlike her father's cold calculation, the black stone look of robotic eyes, she had not the steel walls of the enigma. So unlike her father, Leonardo could see into her inner workings behind those cold burning human eyes, the silent relish of the position he was in, the sick and twisted fire that burned there as she gazed back just as deeply, a slight smile clawing at the corners of her lips. She was enjoying this.
Once, he had thought her to have honor, to follow the code of Bushido, even if she was a product of her own misguided upbringing. In those days, he had thought to understand her, he had seen some likeness behind that green intensity of eyes, between the sound of his glinting twin katana clashing against her single tanto.
But how wrong he had been, those early days of wide eyed freedom and exploration, the first bitter taste of the surface world, the very first days before his life, and the life of his brother, had began its slow downward spiral into the belly of hell. He had been young all those years ago. He had been innocent, green, so easily misled, betrayed.
At one time, she had told him her vendetta on his family was lifted, exchanged one life for another, and he had blindly believed her. But here she was instead, the very picture of grotesque irony, standing glaring black upon that stark rooftop ledge, the sword of her henchman pressed against his weakened brother's throat.
"You are in no position to speak to me in such a manner, Leonardo, when your brother could so easily be felled by my ninja's hand."
He could feel that welling sensation of anger inside of him now, raging unchecked, coursing through his bloodstream.
"He's injured, Karai" he snapped. "This is low, even for you."
"That matters not to me" she said without a trace of emotion or of rage, sounding more like the cool voice of her father's than any tone capable of escaping human lips. "After what you have done to my father, Bushido dictates I have every right to avenge him. I have every right kill the both of you as you stand here before me."
Leonardo's empty hands were now shaking with rage, clenched into tight fists at his sides, wishing he could escape the hoard of ninja that surrounded him now and slice straight through her with his katana. When he spoke, his voice was stained with venomous fury.
"You know nothing of true Bushido, only the twisted beliefs your father has poisoned you with" he seethed, suddenly imaging those cold, stabbing eyes glazed and vacant beneath the gripping cloak of death, those perfect, vicious lips trickling thinly crimson blood. "If you have any honor left behind your father's seal, you'll let my brother go and face me the right way!" he roared, barreling through the wall of black cloaked ninja gathered all around him, stepping toward the crumbling fishery building, only to find himself surrounded once again.
"You dare to question my honor, child, when you yourself know so little of the world that surrounds you. You have tampered with affairs that you cannot understand, turtle, and now you must pay the consequences for your foolish mistakes. I will restore honor to my father's name, whether you choose to stop me or not" she said coldly, hesitating slightly, as if struggling to swallow back something bitter.
"If you have any honor left inside of you, Leonardo, you and your brother will simply let my ninja slay you while you still have the dignity to spare."
Like a flash of fury and light, Leo made his reply. Bursting free of the sea ninja once again, ducking into a roll to retrieve his abandoned swords from the ice covered pavement, he held both blades menacingly to the eyeless hoard, the darkening twilight sky, Karai unmoving on the rooftop. Baring his teeth and growling ferally in his maddening rage, the ninja stepped backward, stunned and reeking of fear, never daring to come too far.
"I will never surrender my family for the sake of your twisted honor" he hissed, never peeling away his venomous eyes from her stone carved glare, unchanging even in the face of such vicious anger.
With a flick of her hand, she motioned to the ninja with the tanto pressed against his brother's throat. Before Leonardo could make a move, the ninja nodded and pressed the blade into Raphael's flesh, biting only slightly, drawing a thin line of crimson blood that wept from the narrow wound with one single tear.
And Raph only closed his eyes tighter, baring his teeth just as his brother had, knowing the anger storming inside them both like his own life's blood, gently trickling down the side of his neck in a thin scarlet trail, pooling warm and sickly at the edge of his plastron.
But never did he cringe, never did he indulge Karai with a cry of pain as the blade sliced its stinging cut into his flesh. Never, ever, would he give her that sense of satisfaction. Instead, the rage was getting harder to bear, welling up inside him like a bursting volcano about to erupt. He had held his tongue long enough, played the damsel in distress, the now bleeding bargaining chip far longer than he could ever stand to be at the business end of a Foot ninja's tanto.
The blood now flowing crimson red as his brother's bandana, that sickly little trail on the ninja's cutting blade caught the corner of Leo's eyes, every memory of that promise, that dark night when he looked into her eyes and vowed to never hunt his family again, put them under her protection, a promise shattered like a plate of glass, cracked, glittering and irreparable. It had been done, that striking blow that sentenced them all to death. The Shredder was dead, but the danger was far from over.
"There was a day when I trusted you, Karai, a day when you vowed to me my family's protection. What has happened to that promise, I will never understand. My family was acting out of honor when we last faced your father, to protect the lives of millions of innocent people."
Karai's expression suddenly went blank, her gaze freezing over like the pavement below his feet. Again, she gestured to the ninja with the blade, signaling for its edge to cut deeper into his brother's skin, drawing a more steady flow of blood to course in the little river trickling down Raph's neck.
That time, Raphael couldn't help but utter a sudden cry of pain.
"If you refuse me, Leonardo, your brother shall perish. And that, my friend, is the only promise I have ever made to you."
"Fuck that stupid bitch, Leo!" he roared despite the coursing blood, the sword, the pounding in his head, the weakness that gripped him. And despite it all, he still managed to make his voice sound strong. "Jus' cut her in half" he said gravely. "Forget about me… I'll be okay."
And that's when something thick and heavy like a rock sunk deep into the pit of Leo's stomach, the rushing wave of grief, sadness, pain, fear, everything drifting on a current of blood and sorrow, failure, guilt. Raphael was kneeling there, bleeding and injured on the cold concrete, praying for mercy, for his once final sacrifice at the tip of a ninja's tanto blade. He was willing to die for this, willing to give it all away just for the chance that Leo just may be able to reach Karai before her ninja overcame him. The thought of it made him feel hollow, heavy, full of sadness that this was what Raphael felt of his life, that it was worth giving it all away just for the one small chance that Karai could be killed.
There was a quick, wicked laugh raining from the rooftop now, stinging his ears as much as his younger brother's hopeless words.
"Your otouto-chan is out of your control, Leonardo" she scoffed bitterly. "His tongue is sharp and violent. Does he understand it is not wise to insult the mistress of his captor? Such insolence will surely result in his death" she said darkly, leaping silently from her perch on crumbling rooftop ledge, just feet away from Leonardo who merely stood, eyes wide and disbelieving, swords trembling in his hands.
This wasn't how it was supposed to be. This wasn't how the world was meant to work. Never did he know that something so ugly, so scarred, so deathly hollow and wicked could ever exist in the same life that held such beauty, so many graceful things.
This was the world that Raphael sees playing through the shadows at night. This was the twisted, blackened life that had so recently become his obsession, his passion, his own life incarnate.
Death. Needless, hopeless death.
Death was never a thing to ever be taken lightly, but his own brother was willing to throw it all away. It was suicide his brother's voice had called for now, sending something chilling and electric like the clawing hand of death charring at his bones. Never had he felt so dark, so empty, such a heavy sickness in his heart.
Feeling the blade shift slightly in the open cut across his neck, Raphael looked to his brother with hungry eyes, waiting for him to make his move and bring him to his final end.
But moments turned to eons as he waited for Leo, looking so suddenly blank and frozen in the failing light, now casting him in shadows until only the blazing steel of his katana shone in the newborn moon. He wouldn't move, he couldn't move, he just couldn't find it in his heart, in his soul, to hand his brother off to his executioner. Even if the odds were different, even if he had a chance to strike her, nothing could ever make him sacrifice the life of his brother, even if he was kneeling there bleeding on the pavement, eyes begging him to end it now.
And that was when Raphael had decided he'd had enough. In one swift movement he tucked into a roll beneath the ninja's leg, using his last ounce of strength to stand and strike him sharply in the back of his head. When the ninja crumpled to the ground, every foot solider still standing all around attacked as one, a flash of blades and cutting edges, strikes that came faster than Raph could handle, the sound of Leonardo's swords clashing quickly to meet them.
But try as they may, two brothers short and Raphael with barely enough strength to stand, they were gravely outnumbered and overtaxed. In a matter of moments, Raphael was thrown onto the ground again, struggling desperately to catch his breath and gripping the cut upon his neck that suddenly began to bleed in torrents between his fingers and down his neck as the force of the struggle peeled the flesh open wider, letting free the black sludgy clots, exposing the bright crimson once again.
Leonardo's swords met the pavement as two Foot ninja took hold of his arms. He didn't struggle against them as Karai approached him steadily, hunger blazing in her eyes.
"You shoulda killed tha bitch when ya had the chance!" Raphael roared in frustration, taking his hand away from the wound long enough to gaze at the crimson blood coating it.
Leo's throat tightened suddenly when Karai turned to Raphael's new captor, venom in her voice, in her eyes.
"Silence him!" she commanded, and Leo's eyes went blank as he heard the crushing sound of impact, the swift kick to his chest, the tortured grunt of pain, the sound of his brother wheezing and dry heaving upon the pavement.
Her eyes turned back to him sharply, her lips tight with anger when she spoke. "You have refused to surrender yourself with dignity, Leonardo. It was a kindly offer, but your insolent otouto-chan dares to insult me when I choose to show you mercy."
Her eyes blazed as she stepped closer, just inches away, her breath chill against his skin. "This is your final chance. Surrender now and I will spare you your honor. Refuse, and I will make it my duty to strip you of every last shred of dignity you possess."
But Leonardo said nothing, only stared back to her stabbing gaze blankly, every moment of his life flashing him by. Raphael, his troubled younger brother, willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice for no reason at all, his katana, left cold in reckless abandon upon the ice covered pavement, the growing dark, those vicious eyes. Everything, all, it all was his fault, his failure once again.
Raphael, breathless and bleeding in the hungry darkness, a black ninja's silver tanto blade pointed at his already tattered throat. Mikey, Don, back at the Lair, waiting for his return.
They wouldn't know until it was too late, they would never find him in time if she chose to kill him on the spot. Maybe she'd be waiting for them, sitting next to his brother's cold, dead body until they found the Battle Shell, and she struck, exacted her revenge, and restored the honor of one who least deserved it.
He would die in the name of the Shredder. They would all perish for his name.
But no matter what would happen, whatever cruel and twisted things Karai had in mind to strip him of his honor, he would suffer through it all, fight against it tooth and nail, loose it all to the wind, do everything he can to prevent it from happening.
The Shredder deserved his dishonor.
"Your silence troubles me" Karai said finally, the cloak of night now making her but a wraith among the shadows. "But I cannot decide your fate. Only you have chosen the path your life has taken."
She paused but still, he remained silent.
"So be it your choice" she said gravely, a hint of pleasure betrayed within her voice. "But I assure you, your silence will not save your brothers' lives. I have made my vow, and you have sealed their fate."
"They will die in their dishonor."
Leonardo felt like he could collapse from the weight of those words, the pain-filled cries of his dying brothers filling his mind like predictions of the future, all his fault, all his failure.
Slowly, surely, he had failed them all.
"Take them" she ordered coldly into the night before she disappeared, the two last words he could remember before the darkness came to claim him and his gruesome fate was finally sealed.
