DISCLAIMER: I don't own TMNT. Jasper is my OC. If you would like to use him for your own fanfictions or something, just PM me.
WARNING: google translate used; google translate is not reliable.
Chapter Nine
Normal (3rd person) POV
Saki only chuckled, "I have pondered that, Karai… But I think we needn't worry of that. Besides, why would this child – my child – speak to those who had stripped him of his human appearance, of his life?"
Chapter Ten
Normal (3rd person) POV
Splinter stood by the roots of the tree in the dojo, holding his grandson to his chest. It was still late in the evening, so his sons still slept – given their appearance and the lifestyle it came with, they tended to live nocturnally. Jasper was yet to learn this. Splinter smiled softly, holding one of the small hands in his own. So small, so frail, yet so strong. Just like his father had been. Jasper yawned, his small mouth opening wide and his arms spread out either side of his head.
Splinter's mouth twitched into a sad frown as his thoughts drifted to the small infant's brother, who Saki had taken from them. Splinter had hated Saki with a burning passion and had thought he could never hate someone any more than he had – but he'd been wrong. The hate had grown and pulsed like burning lava within his veins every time thoughts of the despicable man arose. How dare that man steal his grandson!
Splinter breathed in and out deeply. It would not be wise to let himself fall victim to his anger and hate, especially when holding such a young child. Splinter looked down at the innocent infant within his arms who had – not so long ago – been restless; Jasper was now dozing off in his grasp. He was such a wonderful child. The light escaping from the grate, which lit up the tree below, shone down on the two. There was an orangey-glow, casted from the sunset. The others would be awaking soon – Jasper's father included. Splinter had a feeling Jasper would appreciate that.
The wise old rat smiled softly.
The night sky was velvety black, the many lights of New York City illuminating the sky. Leonardo sat by the opened window of the garage, his daughter in his arms. Raphael approached him slowly.
"Hey." Raph greeted.
"Hey." Leonardo replied, his voice faint, his eyes on the sleeping child within his arms.
The red clad warrior rubbed the back of his neck, not quite sure what to do. He looked up at his brother and his nephew.
"Ya okay?" Raph asked. He berated himself for the lameness of the question.
Leo hesitated, "I'm… I'll survive."
Raph nodded. He went to step forward but hesitated. Why was he even friggen' here? But – no… He couldn't just turn and leave… Or should he? No. No, he would stay; he'd talk to his brother. They hardly ever talked – maybe he should try and change that.
"Ya still haven't told us 'er name yet." Raph commented.
Leo at him from the window, a frown on his face, "I haven't?"
"Nah. Mikey keeps meanin' ta ask but, well, you know him." Raphael replied.
"Oh… Right." Leo hesitated, "Her name's Bonnie."
"Bonnie?"
"… Yeah."
Silence reigned within the room and Leonardo looked back into his daughter's beautiful sapphire blue eyes. Her hand was stretched out towards the open night sky, grasping as though trying to catch one of the many stars.
"I, uh, was going to name her Sapphire. I mean, because of her eyes," Leo added, wanting to break the silence, "But the name 'Bonnie' just… Suited her."
"Yeah," Raph agreed as he approached, "… She gotta a middle name?"
Leo nodded, "Yeah – Rose."
Raph nodded, "And Jasper?"
"He doesn't have a middle name." Leo replied. Bonnie raised her hand and clutched onto her father's mask, pulling it down from its place. He smiled softly.
"Um… Anyways, I'll, uh… Be down there, if, uh, if ya… Yeah… See ya." Raph said, turning to leave.
Leonardo looked up and watched him go, then looked back down to his beautiful daughter. She was inspecting the blue cloth, a frown on her face, the space between her eyes creased in concentration. Leonardo had to stop her from placing the cloth in the mouth seven times before the young child finally, seemingly, understood that the mask was not food.
It had been seven weeks since the overseas trips. Bonnie had settled in and April had bought some more things for the infants; she and Mikey took on the task of dressing them with glee. 'We're turtles, we ain't need ta wear clothes.' Raph continuously muttered. April and Mikey would ignore this comment – and so had the two children; they seemed to have taken a certain liking to wearing clothes. Leonardo's room was hardly recognizable from the one it had been before.
The walls had been covered with blue wallpaper as to hide the sewer-wall and carpet had been placed over the wooden floor. Leo's bed had been covered in colouring books and large soft toys, as was most of his floor – which Leonardo tried in vain to keep clean. There were now two matching baby cots. Both were made of dark wood and had dark emerald green bedding.
Leonardo was strewn across his bed, Jasper on his plastron, flipping the pages of a colourful book. Bonnie was leaning her head against Jasper's shoulder and placed her hand on the pages to stop Jasper from turning them, so that she could look at the pictures. Mikey's head poked in, and then his camera; Leonardo didn't notice, nor did his children.
Click.
Leo had to bite back the urge to shout at his little brother – he didn't want to startle Jasper or Bonnie, after all. He let out a sigh; one would have thought he'd be getting used to the photos by now.
Rip.
Leonardo looked back to the book to see Bonnie had torn a page from the book and was holding it millimetres from her face. Jasper's jaw had dropped, his eyes wide, and he was looking back and forth from the torn out page to where it had been only moments ago.
"Uh!" Jasper said indignantly.
"Bonnie," Leo scolded softly.
The small girl peered at the page for a moment longer before turning it around and showing it to her father; it was a picture of a turtle.
"Turtle!" She chirped.
Leo could feel his stomach go cold. He looked up and directly at his daughter, "What?"
"Turtle!" She repeated insistently, waving the page slightly.
"… Y-Yeah, it's… It's a turtle." Leo sat up slightly, much to Jasper's dismay, who was now running his thumb over where the torn page once was.
"Did she just…? She just…!" Mikey had walked into the room, camera still in his hands, "Dude, I just got her first word on camera! Woo!"
Bonnie frowned at him and turned from him briskly, handing the page back to Jasper, who tried to jam the page back into place. A small 'uh?' left his lips when the page didn't stay where it was. Still slightly shocked from Bonnie speaking, Leo grabbed his sticky tape from a draw.
"Ta." Leo held his hand out for the page, and Jasper, teary-eyed, handed it over, his bottom lip trembling. Leo then stuck the page in and handed the book back to Jasper.
"Ah!" He held the book above his head as if it were a trophy, a smile on his face.
Bonnie pointed to the page again, "Turtle!"
Mikey soon dragged Leo and his sons downstairs so that the others could hear Bonnie's first word, too. Raph was seated at the lounge, Splinter at the dojo and Donnie in his lab, trying to find where Saki had taken their family member. Mikey rounded them up in front of the TV, which he turned off despite Raph's protests. Leo rolled his eyes at his youngest brother – as Raph had said, this could have waited until later.
"Come on, Bonnie, say it," Mikey urged.
Bonnie ignored him and instead reached for Leonardo's childhood blanket, which was placed over Jasper's shoulders. Mikey pouted.
"'Say it'?" Donnie repeated, "She's speaking? What'd she say?"
Bonnie then turned to face her purple-clad uncle and said promptly, "Turtle."
Even Raph turned his head to see her say it. Splinter smiled at the small child and Donnie did the same.
"She even know wot she's sayin'?" Raph asked, crossing his arms over his chest and looking away, trying to act as though watching a flower grow would be more entertaining.
"Yeah – she pointed at a picture of a turtle and said it." Leo replied and felt his heart warm with pride at this.
"And I got it on camera!" Mikey boasted.
"It seems you are getting everything on camera lately, Michelangelo." Splinter chuckled, the others joining in. Mikey rolled his eyes and smiled sheepishly.
"Hey, so, anyways – I'm starving –," Mikey began.
" – No surprise there – " Raph muttered under his breath.
"I'm starving," Mikey repeated, "So what's for dinner?"
Leonardo had hardly gone topside lately; he was too busy taking care of his two children. Donnie, too, was cooping himself up more, determined to find "Maigo"; Leo's child ('lost child' in Japanese). 'I can't wait 'till we save him, and Leo can give him a proper name,' Mikey had once mumbled to Donnie, who had nodded in agreement. Raph watched through the doorway of the kitchen at Leo who was now holding the attention-seeking, whining Jasper to his chest as the child's bottle warmed within the microwave. Beep, beep, beep. Raph entered the room then and retrieved the bottle, handing it to Leonardo.
"Thanks." Leo said.
"So, ya stayin' in again?" Raph asked.
Jasper whined and reached for the bottle as they reached the lounge. Leo popped the tip of the bottle into his child's mouth; Jasper began drinking in his greedy-like fashion.
Leo shrugged and let out a sigh, "Yeah."
Raph felt like a complete doofus asking, he really did, but – Raph heaved a sigh.
"Ya want me ta take care of 'im tonight?"
Leo blinked and hesitantly looked into Raph's amber-golden eyes, "What?"
Raph looked away from his brother with another sigh, "Ya want me to take care of Jasper? So ya can go topside?"
"Y-You… Yeah… Yeah, I-I would." Leo said, "… You sure?"
Raph shrugged, "Whatever. You should probably get Don ta go with ya – he's bin coopin' himself up in 'is lab again."
"… Thanks, Raph."
"Don' mention it… Ever."
Mikey was taking care of Bonnie in the lounge room, holding her on his lap as they watched some dumb show called 'Adventure Time', which was apparently a cartoon about some thirteen year old called 'Finn', and his brother which was a magical dog called 'Jake', and other stupid stuff. Raph didn't really know – he hadn't really paid attention. Raph had retreated to his room with Jasper.
His hammock swayed as he got on, much to Jasper's glee; he giggled and clapped his hands. Raph rolled his eyes at the infant and stared at the blue polo shirt disgruntledly; they were turtles, they did not need clothes. He let out a small puff of air and lay backwards. Jasper giggled and puffed his cheeks up, trying to mimick his uncle.
"Yeh think yer cute, don't yeh?" Raph asked, "Yeh, well, I got news for yeh – yer ain't cute."
"Ya-tha-da-ma." Jasper giggled, clapping his hands enthusiastically.
"Ya'r still not cute."
Jasper pouted and smacked Raphael's plastron.
"Oh, ow, that really 'urt." Raph said sarcastically.
Jasper smiled and a mischievous giggle left his lips.
"Ya evil lil' runt." Raph muttered, though he couldn't help but feel a small twinge of sort-of-not-really-but-kinda-sort-of-love for the kid. But this only caused the guilt he felt towards not even trying to save Jasper's brother. Dammit, he was the reckless one! Why was it in that moment he'd chosen to listen to friggen' reason?
"Ah?" Jasper tapped Raph's cheek.
Raph heaved a sigh and held Jasper's small hand in his own.
"Yeh, yeh, okay – I admit it… I love ya."
Jasper smiled.
Earlier that night…
"… Thanks, Raph."
"Don' mention it… Ever."
Leo smiled softly to himself as he entered Donnie's lab. No matter how much Raph denied it, Mikey was right… he was a softie.
"Hey, Don?"
"Hm?"
The room was dark, lighted only by the computer screen of which Donatello was peering at from two inches away. Leo let out a sigh; as much as he loved Donnie helping to find his son… He really didn't want Donnie doing this to himself.
"Come on, we're going topside."
Donnie turned from the screen to face his blue clad brother, "What? I can't-,"
Leo rolled his eyes, "You have five minutes before you need to meet me at the exit. Got it?"
Donnie sighed.
"Got it."
Donatello had a purple-ish tinge under his eyes and his moves were sluggish as he and Leonardo went topside. The cold air was refreshing to both of them, who had both been stuck in the lair for far too long. They were standing on a rooftop, not yet running, as they were taking in the view of New York.
"Donnie-,"
"Oh, don't start, Leo – please don't." Donnie snapped, "I know, I know; I shouldn't be cooping myself up in my lab and everything. Please, just spare me the lecture. I mean, he's my family, too, Leo."
Leo rolled his eyes and sighed. Was he really that predictable?
"I know that, Don, but you need to-,"
"Take better care of myself, I know… It's just… If you were in my shoes – metaphorically, of course – wouldn't you be doing the same?" Donnie asked.
Leo sighed, "Of course I would be, Donnie. I'd be doing exactly what you've been doing, just as you'd be doing the same as me, telling me to take better care of myself – and then I'd do the same as you're going to do, and ignore every word with my own justifications and take even worse care of myself-,"
"Okay, I get the point." Donnie sighed and rubbed his temple, "It's just… I feel so useless. I mean, I'm no good of a fighter so I'm no good out here… This is all I can really do to contribute, Leo, and I just…"
"I understand, Don."
"No, you don't. I mean, you're… You're you. You know how to fight and strategize and make plans and…" Donnie shook his head, "And I'm just me."
"Just you?" Leo asked, "Donnie, none of us could do half the things you can. I mean, I can hardly use the toaster for crying out loud."
Donnie smiled wryly, "You've got a point."
"We need you, Donnie. I need you." Leo said, placing a hand firmly on his brother's shoulder.
Donnie nodded but didn't meet his brother's gaze. He was not going to start crying.
"Donnie?"
The purple clad genius shook his head and laughed meekly, "I'm just tired… Ugh, I feel like an idiot."
He swiped at his tears hastily. Leo chuckled and commented on how strange it was that the smartest man alive could feel like an idiot for something as small as crying. Donnie laughed at that – "Maybe not the smartest man alive." Leo scoffed in disbelief. Donnie couldn't help the small smile that slipped onto his lips; an indescribable warmth spread through his chest at his brother's words. Suddenly, the helplessness and uselessness he had been feeling for the last few weeks now slipped from his heart.
Suddenly, Leo frowned.
"Did you hear that?"
"Hear wha-?"
"Sh!"
Leonardo turned his head and listened intently. He'd sworn he'd heard… "HELP". There. That way.
"Come on." The blue clad ninja said before taking off over the rooftops.
Donnie followed his brother hastily and his brain ached tiredly – what was going on? What had Leo heard? Leonardo was now further ahead and stopped abruptly once they'd jumped over two-three roofs. Donnie went to ask what was going on but words failed him at the sight from below.
"Fuck." Donnie whispered, his eyes widened in horror.
Leonardo couldn't have said it better.
'Adventure Time' now finished, Mikey turned to his niece, who had been watching the television with utmost concentration, a small smile on her face; she had made a small, quiet whine sound every time the ads came on.
"You like that, huh?" He chuckled.
Bonnie glanced at him before back to the TV. Mikey lay on the lounge, Bonnie on his chest – everybody seemed to have taken a liking to holding the children this way. Mikey smiled and placed a hand on the back small girl's head – she was so cute! He let out a small sigh and let himself wonder how she'd even come into existence. Even Donnie wasn't sure – and that was saying something. And then there were those two organisations at work, too.
After all, wouldn't Leo need to have it, for him to have children? And there weren't any females of their 'specie'. Mikey felt his heart squeeze. Okay – he was no genius. Definitely no genius… But what if there… What if there was a female mutant, one like them? What if that organisation had somehow… If they'd gotten sperm from Leo, then wasn't it possible for him to – unknowingly – become a sort-of sperm donator, and then for the female – which could exist – to carry the kids? But they were sixteen and… Mikey's head reeled.
He was no genius; he'd haft to run this by Donnie when he got back from topside. He was probably wrong – just because it happened in a movie, didn't mean it was fact; he'd learnt that the hard way. He let out a sigh and looked down at Bonnie who had rested her head under his chin and had closed her eyes. One of her small hands were curled around his plastron.
"So cute," Mikey muttered under his breath with a small smile.
"Yeah, yeah, you're hungry, I know!" Raph snapped.
Jasper whimpered. Letting out a sigh, Raph rubbed the kid's shell and muttered a quiet 'sorry'; not that Jasper understood him… Then again, Bonnie had understood the meaning of the word 'turtle', so maybe he did have some sort of understanding. Raph couldn't help the rush of heavenly relief as the microwave beeped. Once the bottle of baby formula was finished cooling down, Raph had sat at the lounge. Mikey wasn't there, so the red clad warrior supposed his bubbly brother had gone to his room. Jasper sucked on the bottle hungrily, acting disgruntled every time Raph looked away from him.
"Leo's right – you are an attention-seeker." Raph muttered under his breath.
Finished with the bottle, Jasper jerked it from Raph's grip and the bottle landed a metre or two away with a small 'clunk'. Jasper giggled and made a farting sound with his mouth. Raph rolled his eyes and fought the urge to smile.
"I'm still mad at you, ya know." Raph grumbled.
Jasper poked out his tongue indignantly.
Leonardo and Donatello felt too shell-shocked to move. A woman – the one who had screamed? – was on the cold hard cement floor of the alley way, covered in blood which was pouring at an alarming rate from both her neck and her arm, the latter more of a stump; the appendage had seemingly been torn off… It had been torn off. Leonardo spotted it a metre away; it'd landed by the dumpster. Next to what was left of the woman was another woman with short white hair, dark black skin and narrowed eyes which were directed at the entrance – and exit – of the alleyway, which was blocked by a cluster of people. One person yelled for the woman to put her hands behind her back.
"Th-That woman," Donnie whispered, "Th-The live one… L-Look at what she's wearing! I can't believe it!"
"What?" Leonardo asked, feeling on the verge of throwing up. The other woman, the bloodied one, looked as though she'd been torn limb from limb by an animal, and it was not pretty – the blue clad ninja had yet to have seen anything to compare to the grotesqueness of this scene.
"Th-The symbol… The organisation that created Jasper, and Bonnie…" Donnie's voice trailed off.
Ahem.
Leonardo and Donatello turned to see a man wearing a black cloak, a white shirt and deerskin-like pants; bright red rimmed glasses framed the man's brown eyes. His face was narrowed and his red-and-blue coloured hair fell down to his shoulders.
"What are you two doing here? And what are you both wearing?"
"What?" Donnie and Leo asked bluntly.
The man didn't seem to be the slightest surprised to see them there and their appearances obviously didn't disturb him in the slightest – but what they wore obviously had some affect on him.
"You can just go home," The man said, waving his hand dismissively, "I told Sir Nicholas we could handle this – we don't need help."
Leonardo frowned, "Who?"
Donatello frowned, too, "I – er – we don't understand.
"Who?" The man frowned and looked them up and down, "… You do not know who Sir Nicholas is? How… Interesting."
Leonardo felt his gut squeeze and the urge to tell Donnie to start running began constricting him. Something about this man, the manner in which he was speaking, that accent… Something about him was causing the two ninja's stomachs to swirl.
"Look, it was… It was nice meeting you but… But I think we might go now." Leonardo spoke, noticing the relief flash in Donnie's eyes.
"Go where?" The man asked, "To Viridania, I am guessing?"
Leo's stomach clenched. His instinct told him to run, so he turned around to leave and Donnie did the same. Two women – one wearing the same as the man, the other wearing a tight fitting woollen, purple shirt – were there, staring at them.
"Tell us how old you are, at least." The purple-shirted lady suggested.
"It doesn't matter." Leo said, glancing back down at the horrendous scene below. If these people wanted to, they could surround them. Running the situation through his mind, he decided it best not to give these people a reason to attack.
"Then it wouldn't hurt to tell us." The cloaked woman stated, "Would it?"
"She's got a point." Donnie mumbled. When Leo nodded, Donnie told them, "Sixteen… We're sixteen. Turning seventeen."
He left out the fact that they weren't sure this was their definite age.
"Turning seventeen." The man behind them whispered, sounding amused.
He placed his red-gloved hand on Leonardo's shoulder, "How interesting."
Donnie felt his heart drop when Leonardo's eyes rolled backwards and as the blue clad ninja slumped to the ground, Donnie felt adrenaline pump within his veins. Suddenly, the man's hand was then on his shoulder and the purple clad genius faintly heard him say, "How very, very interesting" before feeling a prick in his shoulder of which the man was holding. It was then Donnie blacked out.
A/N: 100 reviews now, yay! :)
Thank you to the three people who reviewed chapter nine:
'Guest', 'raphfan1' and 'tmntlover2013'.
Ps. Did you like the name "Bonnie Rose" for Leo's daughter?