Chapter Twenty-One: A vision of you
Michelangelo awoke to the faint sound of muffled voices. His vision was fuzzy at first, but after a moment or two, he was able to make out a few strangers in lab coats and surgical masks wandering around the room to monitor different machines.
It didn't take long to realize that he was strapped to a table after he tried to move and found that he couldn't. He was staring at all this through glass and the table they had strapped him to was standing upright. The freckled turtle was still coming out of his haze after passing out like he did. The last thing he could recall was feeling cold and staring up into Eve's eyes, but after that, everything went dark. His head was aching and although his body no longer felt like it would freeze, he hurt all over, as if someone had been kicking him for hours. The doctors didn't seem to pay him any mind, perhaps they thought he was still asleep, but this gave him a second to examine the room.
Looking around the room now, Mikey was able to see that he was not alone. Donatello was passed out and strapped to a table across from him in a a sort of display case juts like he was. There were at least three doctors wandering about the room and each one looked almost identical to the other. They hid their faces with goggles and surgical masks so there was little hope in identifying any of them, (not that he could even if that were not the case) and they all seemed to be rather busy as each one walked from monitor to monitor, ignoring the turtles completely. What they were doing was of little concern to Mikey now that he had seen his brother unconscious across from him. His main concern now was finding a way out of his bonds and getting Donatello free as well. Michelangelo wasn't exactly a planner like Donnie or Leonardo, but he figured that if he could just break free, he would be able to wing it.
"Is everything all set for tonight?" Christopher asked as he entered the room with Carling.
Thinking it was best to pretend he was sleeping, Mikey lowered his head and closed his eyes a bit. It may have been more of a panic move than anything. This guy looked like the one that April had shown them in the news article. So this was the Christopher that hurt his brother and took Evelyn from them? That had to mean that Evelyn was close by. Maybe she was in the room with them and locked away like himself and Donatello.
"Yes, sir. Lady Michelle is resting comfortably now and she'll soon be brought down for the ceremony." replied Carling in a hushed voice, her face covered by the long black cloak once again.
"...and what about that Foot girl? She escaped along with that turtle. Don't you think she might return?"
"Not likely," began Carling as one of the doctors handed her a piece of paper to look at, "...we have a deal with their leader. He wouldn't risk the pay off just because we caught up his daughter."
"I don't want anything going wrong!" shouted Chris, "This is too important! Michelle is too important!"
"Calm down...it's okay. Lady Michelle will be back with us soon. If she tries to escape this time...we have a little leverage..." said Carling as she gestured to the turtles that they had locked in the cases.
Christopher didn't look convinced, but Carling turned her head to look at Michelangelo. She could see that he was pretending to sleep, but it was of little concern to her. Everything was coming together now and she was about to get the reward she had been promised.
While Mikey was trying to think of a way he could get his brother and himself out of their cases, April was alone in the woods and getting impatient as she waited there for Donatello. He had gone to get the little girl some time ago and after waiting for so long, she was starting to get worried. The redhead climbed down the trunk of the tree and rushed into the fog in hopes of finding her friend. The moment they arrived here everything had gone wrong. This was supposed to be simple. April never thought that Evelyn would be involved in something so complicated and she certainly never thought that this rescue mission would end up like this.
"AGH!" April exclaimed in pain as a sharp jabbing throbbed inside her head. She reached her hands up to grip at the sides of her head and with gritted teeth she tried to endure it as she closed her eyes tight, it was just lucky for her that it didn't last long. Once the pain was gone, April opened her eyes slowly and quickly realized that not only had the fog vanished, but she was no longer in the forest. She was in an old room filled with stuffed animals and toys, the canopy bed looked as though it was set up for a princess, but the room was shut off completely. There were no windows to light the room; only candles and a few gas burning lamps.
"Where...?" April began to ask aloud until she heard laughter in the background. She turned around quickly to see that the same little girl was running into the room, carrying a large stuffed bear. The girl looked just as she had when she called out to Donatello and herself, but there was no red ribbon in her long ebony hair this time.
"Thank you so much, Chris!" exclaimed the little girl as she ran straight through a startled April and over to her pile of stuffed animals to place the bear down.
April panicked at first when the girl passed right through her, but after a second she was able to determine that this must have been a vision of some kind. One of the little girls memories?
A young boy walked into the room now, dressed in a little suit and messy black hair. His eyes were a piercing crystal blue that seemed to brighten in the dim light of the room.
"No problem. Mother said I could buy you a souvenir from the carnival." he said with a smile.
The little girl's smile faded quickly now and she looked over at the large pile of toys.
"...I wish I could go..." she whispered, "...why do I have to stay inside all the time? ...it's not fair. You get to go out all the time. ...but mommy and daddy only let me out at night..." As she spoke, her eyes began to water and she rubbed her nose with her little hand.
"Hey...don't cry..." started little Christopher as he approached the girl, placing his hand on her shoulder. They didn't seem to be too far apart in age, he couldn't have been more than a couple years older than the girl. "I only go out some times and I hate it. I'd rather be here with you. Remember what Mother said? You're the moons favorite, you should be happy. Oh! I got you something else!" he exclaimed happily, doing his best to cheer her up by keeping his voice optimistic and cheerful. Chris reached into his pocket and pulled out a long, silk red ribbon to offer her.
"Here! I picked it out myself." he announced with pride before he made an effort to tie the girls raven curls back a bit and make a bow. He was terrible at it, but it didn't seem to matter to either of them. Once he had finished it, the little girl rushed to her large vanity mirror and her tears dried at once. She smiled and twirled around a bit in order to get a better look at it in her hair.
"I love it!" raved the little girl, "Thank you, brother! I'll never take it off!"
"You're welcome, Michelle. I'm glad you like it." he replied with a smile.
It was a pleasant scene and as April watched it unfold, she started to connect a few dots. This little boy looked a lot like the Christopher she found in the newspaper article and now that she got a closer look at the little girl, she bore a striking resemblance to the Evelyn that they knew now, but her eyes were blue like the little boys. The vision began to fade out, but instead of bringing April back to the dense forest, she was left in the dark.
"Anybody there?" shouted April after a moment of silence.
"I'm here." announced the little girl as she stepped from the shadows and into view for April to see. She looked the same as she had in the vision, except that she had the ribbon tied around her eyes like a blindfold.
"Eve-I mean...Michelle," began April cautiously, "...what happened to Donatello...?"
"She didn't need him...and she doesn't need you either..." responded the little girl quietly, making no attempt to look up at April or move.
"...where is he? Is he okay?" April asked once more.
"She doesn't need you. You're not wanted. ...neither was I..." Michelle whispered.
Before April could ask again, blood began to drip from the little girls parted lips and slowly stream from her eyes behind the ribbon that covered them. April stepped back as she watched the girls blood puddle at her bare feet. She had no idea if she was supposed to help or run away, but she had to remind herself that this was not real. It couldn't have been real. When April took another step back, something caught her foot up quickly and the moment she looked back to see what it was, the little girl was at her side and took April's hand aggressively. With a gasp, the redhead tried to pull her hand away, but Michelle held tight to her and the darkness that had snagged her foot was slowly creeping up her leg, feeling very much like a vice that was determined to ensnare her entire body.
"Let go!" demanded April in a panic while she struggled with her arm and her leg, feeling the darkness begin to creep up her other leg now and getting a little faster. It was reaching her waist and making it harder to breath; therefore, harder to struggle for freedom.
"We aren't wanted! So let's go together!" laughed Michelle as she tugged the ribbon from her eyes with her other hand. The scarlet garment was tossed to the floor and April gasped when she saw what the ribbon had been hiding. The little girls eyes were hollowed out and instead of blood, a black ooze was slowly flowing from the sockets now. It was terrifying, but what disturbed April more than anything was the smile on the girls face. Michelle was laughing and her smile seemed to stretch her cheeks as the black ooze crept down her skin. The laughter was the last thing that April heard before the darkness overcame her completely and wrapped her entire body in it's tight grip, causing April to drift quickly into unconsciousness.
His brothers were quickly getting caught up in darkness and April was sinking into the shadows as well while Leonardo held the bottle of black goop in his hand just over his head as he laid on the couch with his battered body. Master Splinter had gone back to the Dojo in order to get some rest and allow Leonardo to do the same, but Leo was wide awake and still toying with the idea of trying this black goop for himself. After all, it had healed Eve of all the broken bones that plagued her, why shouldn't it work for him? However, they still had no idea what it was or why it had healed her. No matter how much Leonardo wanted to go and help his family, was he really willing to take something so foreign in order to get back on his feet?
"Are you going to take that?" came Evelyn's voice as she appeared beside Leonardo.
The turtles leader flinched and quickly turned his head to the right in order to see if Evelyn was actually there. Turning so quickly aggravated his left shoulder and he cringed a bit, which caused Evelyn to kneel beside the couch and place her hands on his chest in concern.
"Don't move..." she urged quietly.
"Wh...how did you get here? Where are the others?" asked Leo, glancing at the raven haired girl to his side. She looked just as she had when he last saw her, but her long ebony hair was tied back slightly by a bright red ribbon.
"Are you going to take that?" asked Evelyn once more.
Leonardo raised a brow as Evelyn disregarded his questions, that wasn't like her. He knew something was off from the moment he heard her voice. There was no way that they would all be back so quickly and to have Eve just slip in without a sound was very unlikely.
"Where are my brothers?" demanded Leonardo.
Evelyn silently rose to her feet and looked down at Leonardo with a frown, "what do you care? ...you failed them. You got caught...and now you're useless again. What good are you?" she berated with a sneer.
Her words stung him, but it became clear very quickly that this was not the Evelyn he knew. Leonardo tried to lift himself from the couch, but his left arm and leg were still horribly injured, as such, it was difficult to move. Evelyn leaned down and slammed her fist into his left shoulder where he had been stabbed by Carling in order to keep him from moving. The turtle gasped in pain and Evelyn met his eyes as she snatched the bottle from his hand.
"Were you going to drink this?" questioned Eve with a smirk, "Did you think something like this would actually help you? You think that you can help anyone? You're useless! You couldn't protect your brothers, me, or Karai!"
Leonardo grit his teeth and bore with the pain in order to speak with whatever was pretending to be Evelyn.
"I...am going to-to save you...all of you..." he struggled to say, "just...wait."
"I'm done waiting," she insisted before pulling away and glaring down once more at Leonardo, "I was never really a part of this family...and now...you won't be either!" shouted Evelyn, pulling a dagger out from behind her back and gripping it with both hands before she quickly plunged the blade down towards his chest.
"Evelyn-STOP!" shouted Leonardo just as he woke from his sleep in a cold sweat. He panted for breath and noticed that the bottle had fallen from his hand to the floor while he slept. Looking down at his chest, he couldn't see a mark from the dagger and after he gave himself a little time to calm down, he determined it had all been a dream.
"...it felt so real..." he muttered in a breath; wiping the sweat from his brow with his right hand. A dream or not, the content of it had shaken Leonardo to his core. Why would he dream something like that? Evelyn had never been hostile towards him or anyone and he never saw her wear a red ribbon before, so why would he see her like that?
Was it a vision? Some sort of warning? He looked back down at the bottle of black ooze and with a new rush of conviction, he scooped it up and quickly drank the contents so that he didn't have a chance to change his mind. The ooze seemed to stick in his throat for a moment, leaving a strange burning sensation behind on its way down and he almost coughed it back up as a result. Still, Leonardo was determined to try his luck and see if this stuff would do for him what it had done for Evelyn. Only moments after he swallowed the black substance, his entire body began to heat up and it started to feel as though his blood was boiling. Despite the pain in his left shoulder, he hunched over on the couch and writhed as he rocked back and forth, doing anything he could to lessen the pain inside of him. When it felt like the fire would never die out, he actually brought his right hand to his left shoulder and gripped it tight, hoping to lessen the burning feeling by focusing on a different pain, but even as he squeezed his shoulder, there was no pain.
Leonardo gasped and rolled himself off the couch, noting quickly that he no longer felt the same kind of pain in his leg or shoulder. The burning would not cease, but everything else seemed to be healed. He took a deep breath and with what little focus he had left, Leonardo began to chant as Master Splinter had taught him in a last ditch effort to stop the burning. After what felt like forever, the burning finally started to die down and Leonardo was left panting for breath on the floor. His struggle seemed to have gone unnoticed by his father and a part of him was thankful for that. It was a little difficult to take deep breaths and he could still feel a heat on his bones, but he was healed, actually healed. His gambit had paid off and the black ooze had closed his wounds and took the pain of them away, perhaps that dream was the push he needed in order to take this risk. Leonardo got to his feet and looked back at the Dojo, master splinter would surely be upset when he woke up to find him gone, but he wanted to go and help his brothers and make sure that Evelyn got out of there safely. He always felt a little guilt when it came to letting others fight without him, but that dream really shook him. For some reason, what Evelyn had said to him left a pit in his stomach. Did she really feel that way all the time that she lived here? Did she really think she was not a member of this family? He may not have cared for her the way that she cared for him, but he did see her as family and he knew that his brothers felt the same.
"Are you going?" Evelyn asked as she suddenly appeared behind him.
Leonardo turned around to face her, but this wasn't like the dream. Evelyn seemed calmer, much more like herself. Her hair was no longer tied back in the red ribbon and her eyes were gentle once again. No longer accusing.
"Yeah. ...I'm going." her answered with a smile, "You don't have to wait much longer."
Evelyn's smile brightened and a relief seemed to wash over her.
"I believe in you...and all the others too. I'll see you soon..." replied Eve quietly.
Why or how he was talking to Evelyn right now seem to matter to Leonardo, in fact, it felt rather normal, as if it was something that happened everyday. He didn't think much of it as he offered one last smile to Evelyn and turned on his heel to head for the door and join his brothers in their attempt to bring Evelyn back home.
A/N: Well I hope that you all like the new chapter. I'll get started on the next one right away and try to keep my deadline of one chapter a week. As always, let me know what you think and I love to hear your theories. I look forward to seeing you next chapter! Bye!