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"Leo!" The red clad ninja whispered to his left harshly. He looked back to the men, making sure that they couldn't see him talking to his brother hiding in the foliage. To Raph's relief, they were too busy with the ceremony, "If you screw this up for me, I'll make you regret it." He could see the katana blades' reflection disappear, as if sheathed.
He almost didn't notice when Gibson came over to him, holding out the little flower. Raph opened his mouth and accepted the plant onto his tongue. He chewed it, the sourness made his face contort slightly, but it wasn't so bad.
Then a large panther-like mutant with long whiskers and yellow eyes took two branches from Gibson and held them out in front on him, one in each hand, "To become men, you must first purge yourselves of the influences of the humans, to detach yourselves from the world and become one with our clan." He tilted his head back and lifted the two thin sticks, opening his mouth. What happened next horrified the turtle. He actually put the sticks down his throat! The panther choked slightly, but he continued to push the sticks into his throat even further. His hands began to shake slightly, but this caused the mutant to try and shove the sticks into his throat even faster- to alleviate the discomfort. Once the sticks had touched the pit of his stomach, the panther paused before pulling them back out, which was a good two feet of the flexible wood. Blood and mucus coated the sticks as he pulled them out, gagging as he did so, "This is the blood of our kind, now purged, which the humans have spilt with such malice that they have the audacity to have us kill each other." He held the two sticks out to Seraph, the Badger mutant.
The young mutant hesitated before gently taking the slimy sticks with his claws. It was obvious that he was now thinking twice about his decision to become a man. He stared at the flexible wood, his eyes shining in the light of the fire, before tilting his head back and guiding them into his mouth.
Leonardo didn't like the looks of this, not one bit at all. He watched carefully from the safety of a hedge of bushes, the darkness concealing Mikey and Donnie, and of course, Casey, who insisted on helping to look for their missing brother.
The blue clad ninja kept his breathing shallow so the other mutants wouldn't hear him. His heart pounded in his ears as his blood pulsated through his veins, becoming faster with each passing second. It appeared to be some sort of initiation from the looks of it, but Leo couldn't be too certain. He could see from this angle the long, jagged and bumpy scar that ran along his younger brother's thigh. It looked nearly healed, but still fresh and turning pink around the edges. Did they do this to him? However, knowing Raph, he would have fought off the mutants if they tried to do any harm to him, yet there he sat, looking content with what was happening, if not a little annoyed that his brothers were here.
"Damn, that must hurt." Casey Jones watched as the mutant began to aspirate, constantly having to reposition the sticks to not go down his windpipe. He gripped his hockey stick tighter, itching for a fight. If these goons took his friend, he would do anything to get him back, even take a life.
Mikey gasped slightly, coming to a sudden realization, "Is Raph going to have to do that? The thing with the sticks?"
The purple clad turtle responded quietly, Bo staff at the ready, "I hope not; he could seriously damage his throat and even pierce his lungs." They all knew this, but the genius was the only one willing to say it out loud.
"Well, we gotta do something." The human began to stand, almost giving away their position just as the badger mutant finally touched the pit of his stomach with the sticks. His fur on his cheeks was streaked with tears and bright blood dripped from his teeth. He was sniffing and shaking as he began to pull the sticks from his stomach, "I don't want Raph to have to do that."
The oldest turtle was quick to pull Casey back down into their hiding spot, "Calm down, Casey. We should just wait for a second and think of a plan before we do anything rash." He didn't dare say it, but he thought that maybe Raph wanted to be there; maybe he wanted to do this bizarre ritual. Leo studied Raph's face. He seemed determined to do this strange initiation, his leg bouncing as he sat Indian style next to the bear and the wolf. He knew he would have to tall his brothers of his thoughts, "Guys, maybe he wants to do this."
Donnie and Casey looked at the blue ninja in disbelief, if not annoyance, "You can't be serious." They both said flatly, at the same time.
"No," Leo shook his head, looking up to his companions, "I mean it. Maybe-" suddenly, he noticed something seemed to be missing. He looked to Donnie and then Casey, then to an empty patch of earth where their youngest brother had been merely second before.
Raph could hardly contain himself when Seraph pulled the sticks from his mouth, coughing and spitting out his own blood and bile. His legs became weak and he began to wobble, his tail swishing to try and retain balance. The other men, however, didn't seem to notice. The panther mutant took the mucus covered sticks from the badger and held them out to the three remaining boys, "Who will be next to purge their souls?" he asked, his eyes glowing in the light of the fire.
The turtle knew he had to be next, to reassure the men that although he was an outsider, he was strong and willing to participate in their customs. He stood to his feet, the scar running along his thigh only gave him a twinge of pain, but he ignored it, not willing to show any sort of hesitation to the men, or to the other boys; he didn't want them thinking he was a weakling.
He stood, holding out his hands to accept what was about to happen, but things didn't go the way he planned.
A battle cry erupted from the nearby trees, but not where Raph recalled his brothers being, "Cowabunga!"
Mikey.
Just as the red ninja though, his youngest orange brother burst from the trees, landing between him and the panther mutant, "You stay away from my brother!" he spun his nun chucks in his hands, his eyes wild with adrenaline.
Gibson approached, calm as ever, up to the frantic turtle, "Who dares interrupt the sanctity of our home?" His voice rumbled in his chest. A hissing noise came from his nostrils, but Raph doubted that he even knew he was doing it, just letting his instincts take over.
No, this couldn't be happening. After all he did, Mikey was going to ruin everything. Raph thought fast. He lashed out at Mikey and did a bear hug from behind. The little brother froze in confusion, nun chucks still spinning, "What are you doing?"
The red ninja used his strength to lift Mikey off the ground and tossed him into a nearby tree. He couldn't help but think of when he punched his brother into a tree nearly a week, or a few weeks ago, he wasn't sure, as he heard the thump of Mikey's shell making contact with the tree.
Donnie emerged from the shadows, helping his fallen brother to his feet, while Leo also came from the foliage, katanas drawn at the ready. Casey also came from the shadows, wearing his signature hockey mask, although it wasn't like any of the mutants would recognize him anyway, wielding two golf clubs in either hand. His presence seemed to have the most effect on the mutants. Some began snarling or hissing or even barking or howling at the sight of him. Even calm, collected Gibson began to foam at the mouth from the sight of a human, his bacteria-filled saliva dripping from his lips.
Now Raph was just plain angry, as angry as he's ever been. His nostrils flared and he hunched over slightly, wanting to hiss and growl himself, "Leo, what the fuck are you doing?" his voice dripped with malice. Why did is brother have to ruin everything good that ever came his way? He couldn't do anything anymore without Splinter Junior having something to say about it.
This made the oldest brother lower his weapons slightly, but before he could speak, Donnie interjected, "We're saving you. You've been gone for almost two weeks and all you can say is 'what the fuck are we doing here'?"
"Yeah, that's exactly what I'm sayin'." Raphael clenched his fists at his side, "What are you doing here?"
He repeated, this time more calm.
It was obvious to Leo now that his brother had drastically changed. Something was different, he knew as he slowly put away his katanas, standing up straight. He met the eyes of the other mutants. They were equally furious and continued to protest with animal noises and fierce howling. Leo knew he would have to be cautious. He had a feeling that if one of the mutants attacked them, Raph wouldn't help, "Raph, we are here to help you get home."
"I am home, Leonardo." Raph scowled.
"No, Raph, you're not. I mean back in New York with Donnie and Mikey, and April and Casey and Master Splinter." He took a deep breath, "Have you forgotten your duty to our family?"
Raph shook his head. He'd thought about his family a lot when he was helping the women make the sticks to shove down their throats. He thought of how they would react if they ever found him and saw him there. He knew they would not approve, but he couldn't help but feel right at home there, in the middle of the forest, with all these mutants. They knew nothing of his fiery temper, or all of his mistakes he ever made. He could have begun a new life here, one where he could be happy with Claire forever, but of course, Leo had to ruin it for him, "You're so smug, ya know that? You always think you're above me, always better than me, no matter how hard I try, no matter how hard I work." At this point, Raph's fists loosened. He could feel his body grow numb.
"What?" Leo never heard him speak like this before, "What are you talking about?"
"Shut the hell up, Splinter Junior, I was talking." He didn't give his older brother time to respond before continuing, "I was in the process of becoming a man. A man, Leo." He paused, looking down to the dirt by his feet, "Why do you always ruin everything? Any time I wish to better myself, you always interfere."
Mikey spoke once more, "That's a lie!" He stumbled to get his footing, still out of breath from having the wind knocked out of him, "Leo wants to do nothing but help you and our family."
"Mikey, I didn't ask for your opinion, so shut up." Raph snapped, "You've always called me a hot head and irresponsible and now that I want to change that, you try and stop me. You claim you never felt like that because you never listen. You've always been Splinter's favorite." He could feel malice in his voice thicken with each word he uttered, "He always loved you more than me. You don't think what it's like to be loved the least out of the family." He could feel his eyes begin to water with rage and soon tears make their paths down his cheeks, "Sometimes I think there's this wall between me an' everyone else." He never shared these feelings before with anyone else and now that everything flowed out of him, he didn't know what to feel. He didn't even know what to think as his body became more and more numb, as if he was having an out-of-body experience.
Now since was the loudest thing to be heard as everyone processed the new information. Gibson was the first to speak, "If you all are through speaking, we will continue with the ceremony," He glared at the intruders, Casey especially. Before taking the sticks from the panther mutant and holding them out to Raph.