Paradox: Chapter 5
Long rodent fingers held forth the bag of candy.
Accepting the gift from his master, Leonardo ran until he reached the point where Raphael and Michelangelo eagerly awaited, then paused. He stood frozen, as if waiting for something -
"C'mon! Jump already!" Raph yelled.
"Yeah! M&Mers!" Mike practically drooled.
But Leonardo tucked the M&Ms into his belt. Then crossed his arms. "No. We're saving these until the fireworks. Promise?"
Michelangelo and Raphael looked at each other, debated it. Then nodded their agreement.
Leonardo jumped over, landing just in front of Raphael. Who waited for him to take all of four steps toward their destination before glancing sidelong at his co-conspirator. "Get 'im."
But Leonardo was ready. He sprang straight up, grabbing hold of a pipe, tucking his legs up and laughing as the two missed him.
Raphael collided with Michelangelo, who went down, entangling his brother's legs. Teetering at the edge of the channel, Raphael was about to fall in. Donatello surged forward, but Leonardo was there to grab Raphael's wrist and pull him back.
"Just saved your life," Leonardo grinned.
Don leaned on his bo, gesturing at the dark water. "Geez, Raph! You tryin' to stink things up?"
Raph-baiting. Splinter sighed, he had better put a stop to this game before it got out of hand. But there was no need to intervene, Raphael was still in a good-natured mood.
Raph solemnly bowed to Leonardo, with just a hint of his trademark smirk. "I shall repay my debt, brother." And then he strode onward, "C'mon, we don't want to be late!"
Leonardo glanced at the others, a puzzled look on his face. Raph never made formal statements.
"Uh-oh. You're in for it," Donatello said, setting off after Raphael.
"Totally," Michelangelo agreed as he left in pursuit.
Leonardo looked forlornly at Splinter, "What did I do?"
The Rat smiled and shrugged his shoulders, "I have no idea."
~o~
Renet had been waiting for half an hour, but for now, time didn't matter, not now. There was something more important she had to see, because until she did, she would not truly believe...
Shadows slipped from the storm drain's access. Shadows neither in the shape of men, nor animals, but something in between. Five shapes. Four Turtles and a Rat.
Tears formed as they passed her. He was there.
His form wavered in her watery vision; she saw him pause as if he sensed something. But Mike bumped him, and he was moving on, kicking at his brother, laughing.
Leonardo.
She had screamed his name, waking on the cold floor. The awful realization, knowing what he was doing. What Sim had known and not told them. Why the Sceptre had rejected her and become Leo's. She saw the solution. Understood it.
But it hurt. Dammit, it hurt.
I lied to you Leo! This is not what I expected.
She mentally supported him. He was making the choice...
Or - was there ever a choice for him?
But Leo's face was calm, and when he shut his eyes, his fear lessened. He found what he needed to make his sacrifice. It wasn't about saving his family anymore. He would never join them. It was beyond self. It was for everything.
Renet watched Leo dissolving into two directions. Into space, into time. Closing, healing the gap. Becoming one with the cosmos - nirvana.
I don't think they meant it quite this way. But -
Two hands, one mind. One Sceptre. One soul... Not two.
How else did I think this could be solved?
The colored forces ate their way up his arms, the blue significantly ahead. But his face showed no pain, he was beyond it, his re-opened eyes were transfixed beyond. To what? "Good-bye Leo!" she sobbed, knowing he could not hear her. That he no longer knew her at all. That he was already gone...
The blue streaked across his chest, devouring the green, enveloping it, subsuming it, sending it elsewhere...the blue glow consumed the last of the Turtle, filling the room with an overpowering light.
Renet sat on the floor, shaking as if from chills. Her vision slowly returned, colored spots dancing before her, teasing, tormenting her with the last memory of Leonardo's form. She struggled to regain her composure as she rose and looked through the window...
On the floor near a badly damaged table was a Sceptre. Only one Sceptre, the sands glowing a quiet pink, safely contained within.
The other Sceptre and its clawed holder, and Leo - her Leo - were gone. Utterly.
She let herself go through the motions of opening the door without thinking, from one of the keys taken from Jay. Let herself tentatively reach for the Sceptre, carefully, gingerly - but it was Hers again. It flashed a momentary blue, giving no punishing shock. It acknowledged her as its Mistress. And through contact with it, she knew that Leonardo had succeeded, Time was healed. Cradling the Sceptre, Renet wiped away the wet trail of tears spilling again.
Stop it! How can I mourn for him? He never should have existed! He was not the real Leonardo, just a time-slip variant fluke...
But what is it that makes up a Life?
I know what he liked, what he feared. He was my friend, the truest friend I've ever had. As long as I remember him, then that Leo was Real!
At the edge of her mind, she sensed the Presence, different somehow. She reached out to it, and found a familiar chord within. Something of a benighted soul remained...
Leo...
She smiled through her tears. Had it always been there? Maybe she'd not known what to look for until now. Maybe there was a reason she had met them that night. Not a fluke, not an accident. Fate. Destiny.
Like pulled to - like.
The Sceptre had taken her there in three years because - because of today?
Fireworks lit the night. The booming sounds of explosions in celebration of freedom rocked through her. She watched, relaxing for a few minutes of restful pleasure. Somewhere, not far away, her mutant friends were enjoying the evening too, unaware of what had been given to make it so.
A blue burst jarred her. Blue... like the Sceptre.. A voice from another time echoed in her mind, and yet a time not so long ago from here.
"Renet, promise you will tell me what I did, someday, when it's ok to... if you remember me..."
A wish of one life against the Order of Time, now one with it. Renet smiled at the fire-painted sky.
"I remember, Leo... I will..."
The End...is just another Beginning...
