Ancient Prophecy.
Chapter Eleven:
"Casey Jones I swear if you ever touch me again there won't be enough left of you to identify you with!" April screamed as her vice like grip threatened to break the larger human's hand whilst Donatello drove like a maniac to get his friend to the hospital where she could have her baby. She was three weeks early and they hadn't been expecting it as the babies in both the Jones' family and the O'Neill family were usually late. They could only hope that there was nothing wrong with it and that the couple would be blessed with a healthy baby.
"I'm sorry babe," Casey murmured every few minutes as he tried to ignore the pain in his hand whilst holding on to the side of the truck to stop him from falling on his girl, "I'm really sorry." If April wasn't screaming in pain every few minutes Don would have found the way his two friends were acting hilariously funny he glanced in the rear view mirror to the only other passenger in the truck. Serena looked like she wanted to throw up and looked almost as green as he did and he couldn't help thinking about the discussion he'd had with her only a few hours before when she'd come to him asking about the possibilities of Leo getting her pregnant and looked back to the road.
"Oh God Donnie hurry up!" April yelled.
"We're nearly there April, just keep breathing like they told you in that class." Donnie reassured growling as the lights went against them and considering who was driving he couldn't risk running it in case they were stopped. A few minutes later and they were outside the hospital and Serena cast the glamour around Donnie so that he could be there at April's request and they rushed her into the emergency room. Casey followed April to the delivery room as Donnie and Serena were shown to a waiting room.
"I looked into it once." Donnie started.
"Huh?"
"Whether or not me and my brothers can father children." He blushed hoping no one was interested in what they were talking about. Serena looked at him and she had an odd almost frightened look in her eyes. "Um, well I was limited with how much I could test especially with Mikey and Raph being particularly worried about needles. But I found that with our mutation we do have a three percent chance of being compatible enough with human DNA," the last part he said as a whisper then placed a hand on Serena's shoulder who seemed to think the floor was very interesting, "Renie, it's no secret that you and Leo . . . well you know. Are you worried you might be. . ?"
"I'm not sure," she replied hugging herself, "I mean I've missed a couple of periods and I can't stop eating and then some days I can't move from the bathroom as my stomach empties itself." Donnie wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close, "I'm only seventeen Donnie, what am I going to do?"
"It's okay." He sighed, "Listen; when we get home I'll do some tests to be sure okay?" She nodded and he squeezed her a little, "Does Leo know?" She shook her head no.
"What am I supposed to tell him?" she asked, "We're not even out of our teens and we're going to be parents! I'm terrified Don and I certainly don't want to give Leo anything more to worry about."
"Leo's good at worrying," he teased trying to raise the mood; "if there was a prize for it then he'd win the gold medal!" That earned him a chuckle.
"So when's Elyssa back?" She asked changing the subject and catching Don off guard. Elyssa and Rose had decided that they would search for the rest of Ellyon's tomes. Don had been particularly upset about it and had been moping about ever since.
"I spoke to her the other day she said they're close to finding another one," he shrugged, "if they find it first then they'll be back for a few days before going off again to look for the next one."
"You miss her right?"
"A little," he laughed, "you know at first she was a pain. But then it was kinda nice having someone who wouldn't just shrug and walk off when they thought I should be eating or sleeping. And what she could do with a gadget was incredible; you know she created a whole new form of magic that could make even the best mechanic ashamed."
"Do you like her?"
"Of course I like her! I mean she's like the only friend I've got that's my age and understands my techno babble!" He blushed as he realised what she had actually meant. "Oh, you mean. . . I don't know, I kinda like having her as just a friend, I'm not sure I'd want to have something like you and Leo have. At least not yet and I wouldn't want our friendship to be lost if something went wrong."
"That doesn't always happen," Renie smiled, "and if you want to talk techno babble then you are more than welcome to spout it at me, just don't expect me to understand it." He laughed at her last comment and jumped as the doors burst open and Casey ran up to then pulling them into a large bear hug.
"It's a girl!" He bellowed, "I'm a dad! We've got a beautiful baby girl!"
"That's wonderful Casey!" Serena exclaimed and gasped for breath once he let go.
"How's April?" Don enquired smiling.
"Askin' for you Don!" The tall human grabbed the teenager's wrists and pulled them down several halls to a private room where they found an exhausted April breast feeding a tiny baby, "Doc says for a premature baby she's real strong an healthy! They checked her over and she don't need ta be put in one of them incubathers or anything!"
"It's an incubator Casey." April chuckled, "Well would the two of you like to meet Shadow Jones?"
"Hey there." Don cooed quietly as Serena accepted the child from April and cradled it for a few minutes before handing her to Donnie. "Did the delivery go okay?"
"Fine," she said, "they want to keep me and the baby in for a few days longer than normal just to be sure, but that's just cause she's premature."
"So why Shadow?" Serena asked leaning over Don's shoulder to keep looking at the child who was starting to whine.
"I think I did something wrong." Donnie said looking sheepish and handing the little girl back to April who laughed.
"You didn't do anything wrong Donnie," she reassured, "all babies cry, "I would have thought you'd know that."
"I guess." He grinned, "She's adorable April."
"Oh and seeing as our best friends are all ninja's, but also all guys we wanted a name that would sort of be in honour of her uncles." April smiled.
"Yeah," Casey placed an arm around his fiancé's shoulders and stared lovingly at his newborn daughter, "and I remembered Master Splinter tellin' me once that you was all shadow warriors and stuff so April an me talked about it an well. . ."
"We came up with Shadow." The red head smiled at her shocked looking friend.
"Wow! I mean that's so . . ." Don was speechless.
"I think he means thank you April." Renie giggled.
"You'll tell the guys won't you?!" April asked then yawned.
"We're on our way," Don smiled and stroked the baby's head, "get some rest April I'm sure the proud dad would be more than happy to watch little Shadow for a while." Don grinned and laughed as Casey suddenly looked a little over eager, "Just try not to drop her Casey, we don't need her ending up like you!"
"Hey, my ma never dropped me once!" The raven haired human grumped as he took his daughter, "And daddy will neva drop you my little princess! Daddy's gonna make sure you grow up big and strong and your uncles an I are gonna make sure no one'll eva lay a finger on ya as long as we all live!"
"Um, you do know she's about an hour old right?" Serena bit back a laugh as the human gave her a look that told her he had no idea what she was talking about. "Maybe we should go; my glamour will probably wear off soon. It wasn't a particularly strong one and I bet you anything the guys will want to know all about Shadow. Oh and before I forget," she pulled out her cell phone and took a picture with the camera, "Splinter would never forgive me if I didn't take a picture and I'll bet you'll want to send one to Elyssa and Rose right Don?"
"Bye April." Don smiled and gave her a peck on the cheek and shook Casey's spare hand, "Come on let's go home and leave the parents to gush over their new addition."
Xxx
"Enter my son." Splinter watched as his second youngest awkwardly walked in still using a cane and knelt down slowly in front of him.
"You wanted ta see me master." Raph asked quietly worried he'd done something wrong. He was sure he had done nothing recently except maybe shout at Mikey once or twice and stepped on the new cat's tail once, but that last was an accident and he was pretty sure that his father wouldn't be angry about that, especially as he'd gone and got the feline a can of tuna by way of an apology.
"You are very nearly healed my son."
"Yeah Donnie says that I can probably stop usin this stupid walkin' stick soon." The young turtle eyed the stick with some distaste.
"So I hear," Splinter sighed, "Raphael you have still yet to talk to any of your family about your," he paused to consider his words, "emotional injuries."
"Sensie I . . ."
"Please let me finish Raphael," Splinter sighed, "you have endangered yourself with your actions. . ."
"No I. . ."
"Silence! You are not in trouble my son. You are only here to give you the opportunity to tell me why it is you felt you needed to resort to harming yourself."
"Master I . . . I'm not sure that I can." Raph looked away trying to control his emotions. It wasn't that he didn't want to tell his father why he was so depressed it was more that he wasn't sure how. He felt that if he did it would be yet more proof of just how much of a failure he really was.
"Very well my son," Splinter closed his eyes and took a deep breath before continuing, "If you are unwilling to accept either my or your brothers' help then I have no choice." Son looked at father with utter confusion in his eyes, he had thought he'd been told he wasn't in trouble. "Until your brothers and I feel that you are no longer a threat to yourself you are forbidden to train with us unless it is meditation, I have your sias in this room and I will not return them to you until you are ready . . ."
"Master no I. . !"
"And furthermore you are forbidden to leave the lair unaccompanied, is that understood?"
"But father." Raph clenched his fists.
"Is that understood?!" Splinter raised his voice only slightly and did not miss the minute flinch.
"Yes master." Raph bowed and pulled himself to his feet to hobble back out of the room feeling even more hopeless than before. He headed for his room trying to control his breathing.
"I'm guessing your talk with Splinter didn't go well." He stopped to see Sayuri leaning against the wall just outside the room she'd shared with Elyssa.
"Apparently I gotta be on a leash until I tell em all my secrets." He spat.
"What exactly does that mean?" she asked curiously.
"I ain't allowed out unless it's with someone to keep baby Raphie safe," he said angrily, "Splinter's gonna keep my weapons from me until he thinks I can handle em again and just ta add salt ta my wounds I ain't even allowed ta train with em unless they meditating!"
"Did he actually say with your brothers or include any training?" Yuri smiled when he looked at her questioningly.
"With my bros"
"Well then he didn't forbid you from training with me did he?" she grinned at him, "and if you want to go anywhere just go the same time as me."
"If one of the others or Master Splinter finds out I'm dead." He said not really caring.
"Then we'll just have to make sure they don't find out won't we?"
"I like the way you think babe." He smirked.
"One little thing though." She crossed her arms, "Don't call me babe."
"Anything you say Mistress Yuri?" he bowed whilst chuckling.
"Very funny, now are you ready for more help with those dreams?" He nodded and they went to his room. Once in there he locked the door then both sat in a lotus position opposite each other. "Remember to focus on the energies around you, allow them to become one with your own and let them flow through you so that their energy allows you to slip into the dreamscape." Raph focussed on what she was saying and had to admit he was finding it easier every time he'd tried it but so far he'd been unable to enter what Yuri had described as the dreamscape without her help and he was worried that he would fail at this like he did his father's meditation sessions, "You're not focussing." Yuri sang with her eyes closed.
"Sorry Yuri but I've never been all that good at meditating," Raph sighed and looked at the purple haired beauty in front of him, "I mean I'm no good at all this thinkin' stuff." He looked away from her dejectedly.
"Stop being so hard on yourself," Sayuri made him look at her once more, "it took me years to even enter the dreamscape with my mother's help and you did it after two goes with mine." She smiled, "For someone who's supposed to be so prideful you certainly have a low self esteem." He shrugged but couldn't hide the small smile that graced his lips, "You tell yourself that you are a failure that you will never be as good as Leonardo or as good as your father wishes you to be but I say that's all hog wash."
"Hog what?" she laughed at his question.
"It doesn't matter, all that matters is that you can be as good as you want to be you only have to believe in yourself."
"That only works in corny movies and fairy tales." He shook his head in disbelief wondering how someone who was such a good fighter could sound like a hopeless romantic.
"I grew up in those fairy tales." She replied indignantly, "Do you want my help or not?"
"I'm sorry it's just I'm so used to being second best." Raph clenched his fists, "With Leo around I'll never be anything but a hot head," he laughed bitterly, "my brothers' secret weapon."
"Do you want more than that?"
"I don't know. I guess I'd just like to be accepted for who I am instead of what I'm expected to be." He looked up at her and smiled, "Can we try again?" Yuri grinned and nodded before closing her eyes and this time she held out her hands for his which he took before closing his own eyes. He felt for the energy she spoke of and let it flow into him, all the while feeling Yuri's supporting presence guiding some of the energy to make it easier for him to sense. He felt as if his body was a beacon filling up with light, his heart fluttered in fear as the energy filled him and he felt something change. When he opened his eyes he found a place that looked like it belonged in a cartoon. Everything was brighter than it should have been and the whole place looked like a summer meadow surrounded by trees, dark ominous trees. "This ain't like before."
"That's because the last time you were in my dreamscape." He spun around to see Yuri no far from him walking around the meadow taking in all the details, "I told you you could do Raphael." She turned and smiled at him warmly.
"So why's it a meadow and what's with all the trees?" he looked around, "I though you said a person's personal dreamscape reflects their hopes and fears."
"It does," she got closer to the trees and Raph took a step to stop her but unsure as to why, "I would guess that this meadow was created by you to act as a safe haven where you can take solace in the fact that no one can attack you unawares. Enemies can come out from the cover of the trees but you can see them from any point around the clearing and be ready for them."
"So if this is safe then maybe we should stay here." He glanced nervously at the trees wondering why they made him worried. All of the dreams he'd had over the years were in desolate places where nothing seemed to grow. The last had been in a desert and the sand dunes had swallowed him and his family before taking them to an underworld full of lava and demonic creatures, just thinking about it made him shudder.
"You're not afraid are you?" she raised an eyebrow.
"Of course not!"
"Well then let's have a look around," she took his wrist and pulled him past the first line of trees and they were plunged into a green murky light, "just remember this is your dreamscape, so you're in control. If you want something to happen then you must concentrate on what you want and it should materialise." He nodded and gulped following her through the trees. They could hear things crawling around in the under growth and the odd bird call that didn't sound like a sweet little finch.
"Wow!" Raph said as they reached another clearing and saw a large castle on a cliff side.
"My thought's exactly," she said staring at the scene ahead of her, "if I didn't know any better I'd say you grew up in my world not under a concrete jungle."
"I used ta read a lot of fantasy novels when I was a kid." He shrugged, "I liked the ones about knights fighting the bad guys and livin in castles."
"How terribly romantic of you." She teased. "Let's go see what's in this castle of yours." As they approached the castle Raph felt himself wanting to run back to the meadow. Instead he mentally scolded himself and kept up with Yuri as she confidently walked ahead, "There's something out of place here." She said out loud more to herself than to Raph.
"What?" Raph looked up at the ominous building and couldn't remember seeing it in any dream, seeing it on a show or even reading about something similar, "Is that why this place gives me the creeps," he frowned, "man I sound like Mikey."
"And what's wrong with that?"
"Well cause it's. . .It's cause it's Mikey and all he ever does is joke around." He replied in defence.
"No he doesn't all he does is look on the bright side of a situation," she scolded, "and there's nothing wrong with looking at life with the glass half full. In fact I admire how your brother seems to take everything with a smile despite how much he must worry."
"Any one would think you had a crush on him." She blushed and looked away missing the upset look on his face.
"Certainly not!" She snapped again, "Besides he's not my type." The blush grew and she was glad he was behind her, "This way." She could sense something that didn't belong, a dreamscape always had the same energy as the person who created it and whatever it was she could sense was nothing to do with Raphael. This energy was cold and unforgiving, giving out a feeling of despair and hopelessness that she had never felt before. She led him through several corridors and before long they entered a courtyard where in the centre was a ball of black energy. All of the dark feelings she could sense were emanating from that dark ball that looked almost like a miniature black sun.
"What's that?" Raph asked as he drew near it almost mesmerised, Yuri gasped as images flashed through her mind, images of a darkness older than the written word that had once tried to rise but had been stopped by Mab and her fairy folk, she saw that the darkness had not been destroyed only contained and that this ball was somehow connected to it.
"Raph stop!" She grabbed his hand before he could touch it and pulled him away, "You mustn't touch it!" She pulled him further away and they fell over some rubble on the floor, they looked at the orb floating in the centre of the yard, "But we can't leave it here." She looked at him she held his face, "this is your dreamscape and whoever controls that orb is intruding," she paused and stood up not taking her eyes off of him, "only you can banish it from your mind, that thing's damage has already been done but you will never heal from that damage unless you force it out of your dreamscape!" Lightening erupted from the orb and gale force winds began to blow forcing them to hold on to something to stop them being blown away.
"I don't know how!" He bellowed holding onto a stone pillar on the edge of the yard for dear life.
"Focus Raph!" Yuri yelled over the din, "reach for its energy and force it out!" She said and yelped in surprised as a bolt of lightening hit her and she was engulfed in black energy.
"You will not interfere, child!" A deep voice yelled and the next thing she knew she was waking up on Raphael's floor to see him sweating and tensing up.
"Please Raph," she whispered, "fight it. Push it out! I know you can." He yelled out and as he did all of the lights went out bathing the whole layer in darkness, "Raph?!"
"I did it!" Raph said through heavy breathing, "I did what you said and I forced that thing out, it was gonna kill me and I won! I actually did it!" She smiled at him and got up.
"Well then I think that's more than enough for today don't you?" he laughed at her, "Oh and Raph," he looked up to see she'd already reached the door, "I told you you could do it."
Xxx
"I should have the results in a few minutes Renie." Don said reassuringly looking up to see Yuri in the doorway.
"Um, sorry to interrupt but I need to ask Serena something." She purposely ignored what she had heard so as not to invade on the older girl's privacy, she had her suspicions as to why Renie was behaving like she was but she wasn't going to voice them to anyone in case she embarrassed the witch and she'd learnt from a very young age that you do not want to embarrass or annoy anyone who can wield magic.
"Something wrong Yuri?" Serena moved so that the other girl couldn't see anything important regarding her.
"You don't happen to have anything on the lost cities do you?" She hoped that the human world still called them that but she wasn't sure. "You know," she carried on when she saw Serena's blank look, "the city of Avalon, Val Halla, Olympus places like that?"
"Cities of the gods and heroes?" Don raised an eyebrow, "They're just legends and myths."
"Right but I just want to check something." Yuri tried to keep her cool about the great cities of her worlds being called myths.
"I think there are some books in my aunt's library," Renie answered the original question, "you can have a look if you like but they're pretty ancient so you may not be able to read them. You're welcome to dig them out and have a look though."
"Thanks I will." With that she left them to continue the conversation she'd walked in on and slipped over to the area converted into a small library to house Isabella's books. She'd lost track of how long she'd been looking before she finally came across something and when she looked at it it wasn't any use. After looking at three more books she finally found something and took it over to the living area to browse through it. It was in an ancient language and the book felt old and fragile in her hands so she placed it on a table and pulled the chair close enough to read it as carefully as possible.
"What ya readin?" Mikey asked almost making her jump.
"A history book."
"Boring!" Mikey rolled his eyes, "I though you were fun!"
"Sometimes boring things have to be done if we're to get something done properly." She said cryptically reading the ancient symbols and growing more worried the more she read.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he asked as he knelt down beside the table and looked at the book himself, "and can you even read that, it doesn't look English?"
"It's not, it's a dead language long forgotten by your people," she replied patiently as she read one paragraph again to make sure she was reading it correctly, "fortunately my people still make their young learn it as part of their schooling."
"So you can read it then?"
"That's what I just said." She rolled her eyes.
"So what's it say?"
"It speaks of something that happened centuries ago," she told him, "when two worlds were one and to seal a great darkness those known as the keepers of the light had to separate the worlds. But not long after a respected seer in this world foretold a prophecy that the darkness would be set free and Mab's chosen would lead those from both worlds against it."
"Does it say who wins?" Mikey looked up at her wondering why she looked so worried when it was obviously only a legend or something.
"Prophecies are rarely like that," she replied closing the book carefully and looking in the direction of Raph's room, "they usually say what the event will be not the final outcome. The fates would never try to influence things like that."
"So why are you worried girl," he slapped her on the back grinning, "it's just some weird legend from one of Renie's creepy books, it's not real right?"
"It also says that the darkness still has some power and will recognise Mab's chosen." She bit her lip, a habit left over from childhood that she did when truly worried about something, "He'll try to destroy them from the inside out, not all of them will know how to combat it. They will fall before the battle even commences."
"Harsh."
"Exactly."
"Hey on a better note," he said picking up a passing Klunk, "I thought of a name for the white cat."
"That so huh?" she gave him a lopsided smile.
"Duchess." He said proudly, "I though it suited her. Oh and even better, April had a baby girl! I'm finally an uncle!" Sayuri chuckled.
"I'm very happy for them, and I think Duchess will suit her very well." She rose to leave and took the book with her to replace it.
Not entirely sure about this one but I have a super busy weekend and I wanted to get something out before it. Thanks for all the great reviews! Toodles Angel xxx.