Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT and I am not making any money off this story.
A/N: Sorry this bit took me so long. Hope that everyone likes it. Please leave a review if you do. I really like to hear what you think and if there is anything that I can improve upon. Thanks! (-:
Chapter 9
Karai's Revelation
Blades that had been pointed dangerously close to Karai were pulled back, not completely but enough that she didn't feel she was in immediate danger. Quickly she scanned her surroundings, both for Leo and for a possible escape. None presented itself that wouldn't involver her possible death.
"Mistress Karai?" the question was repeated with a bit more force and she snapped back to attention.
"Yes, my name is Karai." She dragged herself to her feet and stood a bit unsteady. The Foot soldiers began to mutter amongst themselves. Karai was able to catch bits and peaces, something about she was too young to be the daughter of the Shredder; which was true in this world. Again she looked about herself. Leonardo was still close, she could feel him but there was no way he was going to attack in the open. It was just too dangerous.
One of the Foot, the tallest out of the bunch, stepped up to her bringing his blade about to rest less than an inch from her neck. She did not flinch, it would do no good to show any fear to these ninja, to do so would more than likely bring about her death.
"You are not Karai." The voice was short and cold.
Looking him in the eye, or at least where the eye guards were on his mask, she answered him. "Yes, I am Karai." It was the truth after all so she felt no guilt as she said it. Her confidence in her identity was probably the only thing that was going to save her. As long as she could keep the half wits guessing there was a good possibility that it could lead to an opportunity to escape.
Again the muttering amongst themselves before the one who spoke before turned back to her. "Fine, we will let the Shredder decide what he wants to do with you."
Karai's heart sunk, there was a time when that would have brought her great joy but now she shuddered at the thought. A part of her loved her father, more than she liked to admit, but her eyes had opened somewhat to what he was capable of. He had always talked about having absolute power and she had averted her eyes in shame and tried to pretend that her father wasn't serious. However, now there was no denying just to what length he would go in order to gain his absolute power.
"Move!" her concentration must have faltered again as she was unprepared for the slap from the flat of a sword against her shoulders. She staggered and gritted her teeth as her arm was jarred again. More than anything Karai wanted to be home, in her New York. She needed to find Donatello.
"I said move!" this time she was ready for the swing and moved just beyond the reach of the blade. Giving the man her best look of anger she started to move out with the group of ninjas.
They stayed mostly to the main roads rather than the shadows as she had hopped. These ninja obviously felt no need to hide from anyone; after all everyone went out of their way to hide from them.
As they walked Karai continued to look about her. Leonardo was out of sight but she was sure he was still following. There was no logical reason as to why she knew this, it was just intuition. Long time ago she had learned not to ignore her intuitions, they seldom failed her. Idly she wondered why it was that she could touch his presence so easily. There was something about him that called out to her, it always had.
She was poked in her side once more but with less force then the last few times. Apparently she wasn't walking fast enough so she stepped up her pace. They were almost to their destination; if she wanted to look up she would see the light on the tower. Her feet became heavy and she moved with reluctance. For once she wanted nothing more than to be saved. She wanted Leonardo to jump out with all of his enthusiasm. It was the enthusiasm of a warrior who only met defeat in passing. Although, she knew it wouldn't happen, the Leo who followed her had met defeat in the worst possible way. The scars he carried went deeper than flesh; his soul had been cleaved in two. Still, his presence gave her hope and she held onto that feeling for all that she was worth. It was the only thing that kept her anchored, her only glimmer of light in a dark tunnel. That is why it was that much harder when she realized that he was falling back.
They had reached the marble steps that lead to her father's tower. Logically she knew that there was no way Leonardo could follow her where she was going but it didn't kill the need she felt for him. Karai was not afraid of facing her father as much as she was afraid of herself. Would she beg his forgiveness? Would she feel obligated to offer him her services? What if she really was as weak as what Leonardo had pegged her for, would she let a child she had called her daughter to be killed?
A deep seeded panic was welling up insider her. She tried to keep her breathing steady as large doors opened to admit them into the main foray. There were a number of people about, going to and fro with purpose. It looked, well it looked normal. That is if you ignored the armed guards who stood at every entrance and thought the entire floor. That is when she looked a little close at the people who seemed to be working. They averted their eyes and dropped their shoulders. Karai had the distinct impression that these people were not here by their own volition. This truly was a slave world with no hope of a revolution.
The group she was walking with suddenly stopped and she followed suit still gazing about herself. One of the Foot ninja walked up to a guard and Karai knew that they were talking about her but she really didn't care. They were given clearance and she was then shoved into one of the many elevators. The guard followed them and put an all too familiar key into the control panel allowing them to go straight to her Father's office.
The rest of the ride was a blur for Karai. She didn't even recall coming out of the elevator or their movements from one room to another. The moment she came back to herself was when she felt two powerful hands grip her shoulders in order to push her down to the ground. She looked back in annoyance but froze when a familiar voice spoke up.
"What is the meaning of this?!" clear annoyance at being bothered rang out.
"My Lord," the one ninja stepped forward and bowed to his master. "We found this woman who claims to be your daughter."
Their eyes met and a deep chill ran down her spine. He did not have about him his metal armor, just the Foot Elite. The Utron had become so comfortable with himself that he no longer felt the need to hide from the world. Karai averted her own gaze. When he was like this it was hard for her to pretend that he was not what she wanted him to be which was a good man and her father. His eyes were cold and malicious by nature and they burned into her as a wicked smile crept across his thin lips.
"You are dismissed. Good that you brought this imposter to me rather than kill her." He watched them leave and then turned to his honored guards and addressed them. "Follow that team and eliminate them."
"Yes My Lord," was the response as two of four Elite left their master to follow their prey.
Karai was horror stricken. "Father you can't! That would be dishonorable!" She hadn't meant to slip up, to call him Father. Her resolve where he was concerned, man or alien was weak and she berated herself her lack of will power.
"Dishonorable?" the creature had now turned its full attention back upon the human. "What do I care about honor? That is your concern Karai, if you are indeed her." There was a moment where he seemed to looking through her and she felt the need to hide herself from him but resisted looking at him without showing any of the fear she was feeling.
"You are her but," he announced as if his acknowledging it made it real. "How have you come here?"
That she was not about to tell him! "I fell though time, it was a mistake."
"Hmmm," he appeared to be thinking. "And can you get back to your time?"
"No," the lie stung her lips even as she said it, but there was no way she wanted this thing that she used to hold so dear to follow her back to her time.
"Such a shame," the light of interest in his eyes faded and his eyes were cold and bare once more. "You always were such a disappointment to me."
If he wanted to hurt her then he had just succeeded without any effort. "What do you mean by that?" she asked, her voice suddenly weak as if she had received a blow to her stomach.
"You silly little girl, you still think it a coincident that I found you alone in that house? Still think you are something that I would have taken pity on?" his words were cold and harsh and it felt to her that they left red welt across her face.
"Your real father worked for me," he continued, uncaring or unnoticing the pain he was causing the human. "The man committed the worse crime against me; he was sabotaging the company I had worked so hard to build. He was turning over some of my less legal activities over to the authorities. I had to silence him but I wanted him to suffer, death would have been far too easy an option. So I built a prison and locked him away. He bagged for me to let him go so that he could save you. Apparently you were the only thing that he ever really cared about. He should have thought of that before he decided to take me on. However, he did make me think. I finally knew how I could torture him for the rest of his natural life. Take the daughter he had left unprotected and raise her as my own. Have her fight by my side and to aid me in the growth of my ambitions. Take that little girl and mold her into what I wanted her to be and make sure the man rotting away in that far away cell would always know what he lost and what I had gained." He finished the last bit with a smile adding to the twisting pain of his words.
She shook her head; she didn't want to believe him! How could this be, she didn't remember anything about her real parents. She did remember though when she was little she had asked her adopted father about her real parents. He always told her the same thing until finally she stopped asking. He would tell her that her parents didn't want her so they just left her to die. Never really knowing why, those words never set well with her; they had always seemed false and hollow somehow. Yet, he never faltered in his answer so she simply learned to accept it, what else could she do? However, now she knew why she never really believed him, vague shadows of a lost memory swam to the surface of her thoughts. A gentle hand and soft words spoken to her, something the Shredder had never done.
"No! You can not speak the truth!" still she rallied against the possible truth of his words. If she accepted them then her life would have been one huge lie.
"What reason would I have to lie to you little girl?" he turned away from her as if she were of no more importance then a sack of trash and addressed another of his guards. "Take this girl to the Compost for execution with all of the other rebels captured on the last raid."
"What!?" it was the final verbal strike that she could not withstand. The invisible blade pierced her heart and she thought for sure she would die from the subsequence pain it caused her. Tears formed in the corner of her eyes as her arms were grabbed. There was even more pain from her broken appendage but if paled to the pain that was from a far deeper wound. That creature she had defended, cared for, saved, called Father, and loved was tossing her aside like a used rag.
She began to struggle, both physically and mentally against everything. There was no form to her fight; it was simply a mindless struggle against everything that she had been told, everything that had happened to her. A fist connected with her chin but it didn't faze her. Again and again she was struck as she was dragged from the room. Nothing mattered now; if they killed her then she would see it as a blessing. Anything to stop what she was feeling inside she would welcome with open arms. Karai was aware of another blow to her head and this time she felt herself losing her grip on reality. There was a world of darkness that beckoned her forth and she followed it willingly.
The body the guards had been struggling with finally went limp in their combined arms and they sighed with relief. There was nothing more difficult then trying to hold down a wild lioness.
With little ceremony they dragged the limp form out of the Foot tower and to the afore mentioned encampment. It wasn't far from the tower itself, in fact, the tower was even visible to the occupants. It was a constant reminder as to why they were imprisoned and why they would be executed.
There was little security around accept for a couple of guards and a large chain link fence with sharp barbed wire at the top. For the most part there were not a lot of security measures needed for such an establishment. Most of the occupants were far too weak from hunger and old wounds to even attempt an escape attempt. That isn't to say that it hadn't been tried, but it just meant that everyone's execution would come that much faster. If the guards opened fire on one then they opened fire on everyone, no one would be spared.
Karai was tossed to the ground which would have been painful if she had been awake. As it was she was still blissfully oblivious to everything around her. The guards left, talking amongst themselves about odd little things such as the weather and who would take what shift the following day. They ignored those around them, the beaten and battered that was desperately trying to hide within the shadows hopping to go unnoticed.
Slowly Karai came back to herself. Pain radiated through her but it didn't matter. Her spirit had been broken in a way she had never dreamed possible. The understanding that her entire life was a lie for the first time became crystal clear. She rolled over onto her back staring idly at the dark skies. How long had she been in this world? She was no longer sure, truly, she wasn't sure of anything anymore. Except that she was going to die. All hope that she held for an escape had been demolished by her father…by that creature that she had once called her father. Day had rushed into night which had turned to day only to be thrown under the cover of dark once more. Or was it so desperate here that the sun never bothered to come out anymore? Karai felt the lone tear break away and roll down a swollen cheek unabated.
At the corner of her awareness she felt the return of a familiar presence. It was warm and soft and it draped itself over her protectively. The warmth caressed her as a gentle and caring hand and she welcomed it. Allowed herself the luxury of momentarily forgetting where she was. Karai remembered the past events as if they were a foggy dream she could escape from or at least pretend that it really was just a dream. Without care she allowed the images to flow from her, she was an open book and held nothing back and like a dry sponge they were being soaked up by the other.
The dream was fading as was the presence that surrounded her. Leaving her cold and bare as it pulled away but did not leave her completely. She heard a foot fall as someone walked towards her; Karai knew it was a deliberate sound meant for her ears alone. The sound had stopped just outside the chain linked fence. A part of her wanted to turn and reach out for him, wanted him to help her but a larger part felt she deserved to be exactly where she was.
"Never thought you would be willing to give up just because he was mean to you."
Leonardo's voice was a sweet melody to her ears and it was the push she needed to will herself to move. She pushed herself into a sitting position with one arm and dragged herself the short distance to the fence that separated them. She looked for the guards but really didn't need to concern herself with them. They were both at the other end of the compound deeply interested in some card game. She let the side of her face fall against the cold metal, relishing the cool contrast it offered her against her hot skin. Karai could not see her face but she knew that she looked a mess. There was no way she could take that many blows to the head and still look normal. At least Leo was blind so it wouldn't matter. Gently Leonardo pushed his fingers through the links and brushed them against her cheek.
"That must hurt," was all that he said. She could feel him withdrawing and desperately she grabbed onto him, unwilling to lose the physical contact so soon. It felt that for a moment he was going to break away from her so she tightened her hold. Only when she felt him relax did she loosen her own grip, her fingers resting in his.
There was a soft sigh from beside her ear. "I can't stay here Karai."
"Why not?" she whispered back, she felt like something was going to break inside her again and she wasn't all that sure she could take it. Why couldn't he just save her? Now that she was willing to be saved it seemed like it was the last thing he wanted to do.
"Why can't you just save me?" she hadn't meant to say it out loud, but she guessed that it didn't really matter anymore.
"Because you are not mine to save."
There it was a hard but cold truth. He was not her Leonardo and she was not his Karai. They had each made choices in their lives which had divided them into who they had become. Choices that had forever altered their individual paths that they each traveled so that they would never meet again except for by a fluke accident. They were past and present looking at one another and both wishing they had made different choices. Yet, nether one could change what they had already done.
"There was a time when I would have given anything to hear those words from your lips." Leo whispered more to himself than to her.
"You used to be so passionate, what happened to that part of you?" she whispered in a broken voice.
His fingers tightened around hers before he answered her. His own voice sounded just as broken as hers had a moment before. It sounded as if he were also close to tears of his own. She glanced at his face but found his expression blank, void of the feeling that was behind his voice.
"I used to care; I used to think I could save everyone. Including you, but then you took my will, my life, my passion and my family the day you went back to the Shredder. The day you betrayed and destroyed my family, I live because I do not know how to do anything else. I am a living shell of who I once was because of the things that you have done."
"I am not that person…" a choked sob escaped her and she tried to suck it back in. She did not want to break down before him! She hadn't cried in front of anyone since she was three years old. Karai struggled to gain some form of control of herself again.
"I know you are not her, but you could be. If you did not know the things you know right now would you have really done anything differently?"
"I…" she wanted to say that she wouldn't have run to her father but she knew that it would have been another lie. But now it was different, she could see him now clearly, all of the things, all of the wrong he had ever done was evident to her now. "I wouldn't, not now! After everything he has done, I would die before I went back to him."
"I hope you remember that if the opportunity ever arises for you."
He was closer now. She could feel the fingers of his other hand ghost across her cheek. Fingers tightened around hers once more before he whispered in her ear again.
"Karai, I really must go." The sinking feeling was back. He really was going to leave her. Desperately she tightened her grip on his hand even though she knew it was a fruitless gesture as he could break her hold easily.
"Please Leonardo, don't leave me here." Could that be considered begging? She didn't care if it was; she just wasn't prepared to be alone. Karai couldn't bear the thought of not being able to feel his presence.
"Karai," his voice was soft and she was happy that at least she knew her plea had reached him on some level as he sounded as broken and close to tears as she felt. "Please let go."
Everything in her screamed at her not to do it, but she let her fingers slowly slip from his. Allowing the hand to fall like a dead weight to the ground. He stayed there for a few more moments, she felt that there was more that he wanted to say but nothing came. She heard his coat brush against the fence as he stood up and moved away from her. There were no foot steps that she could hear but she knew without looking that he had stopped just a few feet away from her.
"I am sorry Karai, that I can't be who you need me to be. I am no longer anyone's knight in shinning armor. I'm not even a tarnished knight. I am nothing more than a living shadow."
Leonardo was gone and this time she knew he wasn't coming back for her. Despite knowing this she still snapped her head around in the vein hope that she would see him, but as she expected there was nothing. Nothing but an empty street and her memory to keep her company, she closed her eyes and hoped that death would not wait to long to come and claim her. Karai closed her eyes against a world she no longer wanted to see.
There was a commotion going on in the compound but Karai could not will herself to open her eyes again. She was simply too exhausted to do so. That is until she felt strong fingers gently probing her shoulder.
"Karai?" she knew that voice but it seemed impossible that he would have found her.
"Leo?" she breathed out the name.
"No, not Leo, it's me Donnie." Don looked down at the broken form in his arms. Karai looked like she had been hit by a freight train. When he had come over to her he had almost not recognized her. One side of her face was swollen beyond recognition.
"Oh Donatello," Karai tried to look at him but her eyes were stubborn. The swelling on her face was trying to seal her eyes shut and she found that thought a bit terrifying. "Donatello, I am sorry, for everything."
"Okay," he was a little taken aback by the apology as it wasn't what he was expecting her to say. There was some noise off in the distance and he was sure that staying where they were was not going to be a good idea. He had knocked out the two guards but he had a feeling the place was under other surveillance if the camera he had seen was anything to go by. It would only be a matter of time before there would be others.
"Come on Karai, stay with me just a little longer." Mindful of his own injuries he hauled the woman up onto her feet. Karai was leaning heavily on him; he had one arm wrapped around her tiny waste to hold her up. Donatello pulled the Staff from his back and held it in front of them both.
"Karai, grab the Staff." Slowly one hand moved and did as he asked. "Now think of going home, before any of this started. Can you do that?"
She gave him a small nod so he turned his attention back to the cursed thing and thought about being home. There was a bright light that was slowly engulfing them and a sensation of being pulled somewhere.
A second before they departed Karai felt Leonardo's presence touch her one last time. A gentle caress followed by kind words of hope he no longer claimed to feel.
"Good luck Karai, don't make the same mistakes again…" the words floated to her as if in a dream and then it all disappeared.
Just as quickly as it had begun it was all over. Pavement was beneath their feet and as they opened their eyes they were on the same street where everything had begun. That is except for the accident, Foot ninja and his brothers.
Karai lost her battle with consciousness and would have fallen if not for Don's grip about her waist. He had no choice and gritted his teeth against the sharp protest his shoulder gave him as he lifted her up into his arms. There was no way he could take her to a hospital, that would be too close to people and he still wasn't sure when they had landed. They could be past, present or future. It was possible that they had followed time in a parallel fashion. There were just too many variables to take into consideration. However, there was no way he was going to risk taking Karai to their lair, not given her track record with them.
The garage would be the best bet. He could leave her there while he went to get supplies and try and figure out where they had come back to. That and he wouldn't have to carry her that far.
He moved through the streets in complete silence, entering the old garage without notice. Don found a work bench that was in decent shape and laid his burden down. He had thought her unconscious so was surprised when a small hand reached out for him.
"Please, Donatello, know that I am sorry for everything that I have done. I would never try and bring that monster back here." The voice was weak, but seemed desperate for him to believe her. She went to try and say more when he didn't answer her but he stopped her.
"Karai don't worry. Just rest okay? I am going to go and get some supplies and try and figure out where we are. You just stay here and keep quiet. I will be back in about fifteen minutes, promise." He patted the hand that was gripping his arm so desperately. At his promise to come back he felt the grip loosen.
Karai had appeared to loose consciousness again so he took it as his opportunity to leave. It took only a matter of a few minutes to get back home and he called out for his brothers. There was no one there, but he knew that before he had even called their names. The place just felt barren. Knowing his brother's he hopped they were out looking for him. Then the image of his own body laying forgotten in an underground cell came back to him but he shook it off. He wouldn't allow himself to think about that, he didn't have time for his walking nightmares.
Quickly he ran into his lab and grabbed everything that he thought he might need and threw it into one of his many bags. He took time to spare a glance at his computer to confirm that they were in the correct year. It seemed that several days had past but they were at least home, he was sure of it. He was headed for the door when he saw it. The large patch of blood on the floor and Donatello's heart hit rock bottom.
He knelt down by the red patch; one of his brothers had been wounded obviously. He reached for his cell phone to call April but then remembered that she was still at the convention in Los Angeles and wouldn't be home for another week. There was nothing he could do except hope that his brothers were okay and that he would catch up with them soon.
Reluctantly he headed up to the streets of New York towards the wounded ninja he had promised to return to. Once enemies, now reliant on each other more then they ever knew. Their lives, like two vivid strands of thread had become intricately entwined by that hands of fate, neither would ever be the same as they were before their misadventures had begun. For better or for worse, they faced a new unwritten future.