Chapter 37
The Stories We Share
It was a long, and mostly silent car ride to Northampton before the Hamato Clan teenagers arrived at April's country home.
But finally, the party wagon turned into the dirt driveway past a rusted old mailbox that still said 'O'Neil' in faint, scratched paint.
As Casey pulled to a stop in front of the house, Miwa looked out the windshield skeptically at it. "This it?" she asked.
April opened the back door of the party wagon, and hopped out to take in the sight of her family's old farmhouse. "Yup, this is it, guys." she said.
"What a dump," Casey blurted out, making Miwa elbow him in the gut.
April took a second glance at the farmhouse, and noticed that since her last time there when she was six, the place had become very worn down. Some windows were cracked, and the paint had peeled off several parts of the building.
"It looks haunted," Mikey whimpered behind her as he looked out.
Raph slapped Mikey on the back of the head for that.
"It's not haunted, bonehead. April would know if it was," Miwa added dryly.
Mikey shot April a desperate look, and the redhead replied, "It's not."
Mikey let out an audible sigh of relief at that.
Donnie, who had been monitoring Leo's vitals the entire trip, looked over at April and said, "Is there more than one bathroom?" he asked. "We'll need to put Leo in a place that will keep him hydrated until he wakes up. Regular turtles burrow into moist ground to hibernate, but…" Donnie trailed off and glanced down at the latest of his family to mutate. "I don't think any of us want to bury Leo alive. So if we can let him constantly soak in lukewarm water, it should be fine."
The rest of the group exchanged uneasy glances at that thought, and nodded in agreement.
"Yeah," said April. "There's two bathrooms in the house. One upstairs and one down. We can keep Leo in the upstairs one. If I remember right, its bathtub is bigger. We just need to make sure the water still works."
Donnie sent her a grateful nod, and Raph and Mikey moved to gently lift Leo from the van, and carry him into the house. Fortunately, while Raph had been gathering supplies at the dojo, he and Casey had managed to get Leo onto Donnie's x-ray machine, and fire it up, saving the image on Donnie's laptop. Thanks to that, the genius was able to conclude that Leo was not suffering from any prominent internal damage, and other than hibernating he should be fine.
But what he didn't share with the others was his concerns of what Leo's mutation could have caused. Mikey and Raph had both been mutated with pure mutagen straight from the canister. Leo, by contrast, had been dunked in sewer water mixed with mutagen, and until he awakened it was unclear what problems that could cause, both mentally and physically.
The genius privately vowed to create an elixir that would repair any damage the diluted mutagen could have done, as well as do his best to make more retro-mutagen to help his family, and the rest of the city.
The second they stepped inside, the entire group started coughing as ten years of dust kicked up around them.
"Looks like an early spring cleaning is on our list of things to do," Miwa said, pulling her scarf over her nose to avoid breathing in more dust.
Unable to do anything without dropping Leo, Mikey and Raph had to suffer through their sneezing fits as they carried the hibernating turtle up the stairs after April to the bathroom.
Fortunately, when April tried the faucet she found it worked, and the tub was soon filled with lukewarm water.
Mikey and Raph lowered their brother gently into the tub, and Donnie worked to position him to ensure his head never slipped below the water.
There was a moment of silence as everyone stared down at the turtle in the tub, and everything that had happened once again sank in.
Then slowly they trickled out of the room, unable to bare the silence any longer.
All, that is, except Raphael.
"You coming?" asked Casey when he saw his best friend lingering next to the tub.
Raph glanced his way, then shook his head. He silently reached over to grab a stool in the bathroom (no doubt once used by a child April to reach the sink), and sat down upon it, almost never taking his eyes off his brother the entire time.
"Suit yourself," said Casey with a shrug as he followed the others back downstairs.
The truth was he was starting to get concerned for the red wearing turtle. Raph had fallen silent after they had left the city, and hadn't spoken a word since.
When Casey reached the bottom of the stairs, he saw that the others were all opening the windows, despite the cold, allowing all the dust to waft out.
"We should clean before anything else," April explained when she saw him. "Just because there isn't snow outside right now, doesn't mean it'll stay that way. We should try to make this place livable while the weather is still good."
She then glanced at the stairs behind Casey and asked, "Where's Raph?"
Casey glanced back behind him, and shrugged. "I think he wants to keep an eye on Leo for now."
"You think?" asked Miwa.
Casey gave her a helpless glance, and shrugged again. "He didn't say anything."
The others glanced at each other at that.
"It's weird," said Mikey, looking concerned. "Raph's usually not this quiet."
"I think he's in shock, Mikey," Donnie admitted, also looking worried. "The trauma of what he saw happen to Leo, along with the rest of all that happened finally caught up with him now that the adrenalin in his system is gone, and going silent is some sort of coping mechanism. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if we all start showing signs of trauma after what happened. We just need to coax Raph back out of his shell, so to speak. Say things that encourage him to answer, and he'll start talking again…"
The 'I hope' was not said, but they all heard it anyway.
Miwa slammed a window open and glared at what she saw out it. "He saw the Shredder stab our brother with his own sword, and then mutate into a half-dead turtle. If he's traumatized, I don't blame him," she said bitterly.
There was an uncomfortable silence that followed that remark.
Feeling awkward, Donnie gave a cough, and said, "So, April, where'd you keep the cleaning supplies around here?"
The cleaning of the farmhouse lasted all day, and served as a good distraction for those involved. By the time night fell, a person could walk through most of the house without gagging on dust, and the place no longer smelled as musty. Donnie had even managed to get the old heating system working, and Casey and Mikey had double-teamed cleaning the fireplace so that they could use it later, so the whole house started feeling toasty, especially in the living room
But throughout it, Raph never left Leo's side in the bathroom, and did little more than stare silently at his sleeping brother the entire time. At April's prompting, he had dully accepted some offered cleaning tools for the bathroom, but other than that a quick scrubbing of the entire room, he had not moved from his stool.
"It's like both of them are hibernating," Mikey whispered to Donnie and Miwa as the three siblings peered into the bathroom to spy on their brothers.
Even though there was no way Raph hadn't heard what Mikey said, he didn't give any indication of doing so.
Miwa shot Donnie a look over the youngest's head, and the genius winced as he realized what it meant.
Leaving Mikey to continue his spying, the two made their way down the hall where into the room April was sharing with Miwa to talk in private.
"You're thinking about that conversation we had a few months ago, aren't you," Donnie said. "The one we had after Mikey mutated."
"How can I not?" Miwa asked. "It's looking like it'll come true more and more."
Donnie shook his head. "Just because you saw us as turtles in other dimensions, doesn't mean it'll happen here. It doesn't mean I'll be turning into a turtle next, Mi. And even if I do, first thing I did when coming here is tack the recipe for retro-mutagen to the fridge, and told everyone where it is. Even if, by some chance, I do mutate, and am unable to make a retro-mutagen myself, I trust that you guys will be able to follow those instructions and help me. Whatever happens, we can fix it."
Miwa crossed her arms, and nodded grudgingly. "Just promise me you'll be careful, Donnie," she said. "You haven't said anything, but I can tell by how you act that you're worried how Leo will be when he wakes up."
Donnie refused to look at his sister as the guilt and frustration he felt at not having answers welled up in him once again. "Like I said, we'll fix it," he said shortly as he walked back out of the room.
"Yeah, I thought so," Miwa said as he shut the door behind him.
The next day was far too bright and sunny for the gloomy mood that was hanging over the O'Neil farmhouse.
Mikey, unable to sleep from nightmares, had risen unusually early and made breakfast for everyone. Thanks to the supplies Casey and Raph managed to grab, he was able to cook up a diverse (if unhealthy) spread.
With all the food piled onto the table, he nodded in satisfaction, threw his head back, and bellowed at the top of his lungs, "BREAKFAST IS ON! COME AND GET IT!"
There was a series of bumps and swears, as Mikey's shout had no doubt startled at least more than one teenager out of their bed and onto the floor.
Slowly, the rest of the house emerged from their rooms and took their place around the table.
"Morning!" Mikey chirped, trying his best to be cheerful enough for all of them.
What he got in response was a series of groans and mumbled replies.
Laughing slightly at how bedraggled they all looked, Mikey paused when he noticed one place at the table was still empty. "Is Raph still sleeping?" he asked the others.
Casey yawned and shook his head. "Nah, I saw him as I was coming down. He never left Leo last night. I don't think he even slept."
Instantly all eyes were drawn to the door to the upstairs bathroom and the two turtles within.
Unable to take the silence, Mikey snatched up his plate, and reached over to grab Raph's. "I'll take his food up and eat with him," he said, though this time his cheer was a lot more forced. "He hasn't eaten since before the- before we left, so he's gotta be hungry by now."
The youngest didn't miss how the others exchanged glances at his suggestion, but he ignored it and hurried up the stairs.
Pushing the bathroom door open, he spotted Raph still parked on his stool, his eyes glued to Leo's face.
"I didn't want you to miss breakfast, bro," the orange wearing turtle said, shoving the plate of food into Raph's hands. "It's the most important meal of the day."
He then reached over to close the lid of the toilet and sat himself upon it. "I'll stay and eat with you," he continued, as if not noticing Raph's silence. "I just made it all fresh, so eat it while it's hot."
Raph made no response, but to Mikey's relief, he picked the fork off the plate, and mechanically began eating the food.
Releasing a breath he didn't know he was holding, Mikey beamed at his brother. At least he was eating, even if he didn't seem to be enjoying it at all. In the back of his mind, Mikey couldn't help but wonder if he could have given Raph cockroaches to eat, and the turtle would have given the same response.
Remembering what Donnie had said about trying to get Raph to talk, Mikey said, "Nice place April's got here, right?"
Raph just swallowed a bite of food, and scooped up another.
"I mean, we've never been to a farm before," Mikey continued as if that hadn't bothered him (even though it did). "Closest we've ever been is the petting zoo."
Silence.
Mikey tried not to let this discourage him, and he racked his brain for more to say.
Glancing over at Leo, Mikey's eyes lit up, and he said, "Remember that time when we were eight, and I really wanted to pet that goat even though it was off limits. If it hadn't been for Leo, I'd probably be in a wheelchair right now."
That got a response. Raph set his fork down, and turned to give Mikey a questioning look, clearly having no idea what he was talking about.
Grinning at the reaction, Mikey set his plate down to tell the story. "It was a dark and stormy night-"
At Raph's deadpan expression, Mikey's grin widened, and he amended, "Okay so it was really just a regular day at the petting zoo…"
It was a sunny summer day in New York City, and Yoshi and Tang Shen had decided to treat their children to a trip to the zoo.
All five were delighted for various reasons. Miwa and Raphael wanted to see all the ferocious carnivores the zoo had to offer, and argued loudly between themselves over which of their favorites would win in a fight.
Donnie was eager to learn everything he could about the multitude of creatures, and spent most of his time there pestering the zookeepers and tour guides with various difficult questions that they had a hard time answering.
Mikey just wanted to name every animal that he saw, regardless if the zoo had already given them names or not (besides, the names the zoo had given them were inferior to the sheer awesomeness of the names Mikey had picked).
Leo never said why he had wanted to go to the zoo, but he had enjoyed the day nonetheless. Especially when they stopped by the lion pen, where he was ecstatic to see his namesake.
But finally, after a long (and exhausting) day of walking through the zoo, the Hamato family came to a stop at the petting zoo before leaving.
Raph immediately went over to the handler with the baby crocodile, and he and Miwa got into another argument over if it was actually a crocodile or an alligator. The handler would have set them straight, but he was currently too busy being distracted by Donnie's insistent questions.
Mikey, on the other hand, was determined to pet and name every animal in the petting zoo, and Leo trialed a ways behind him to keep him out of trouble.
Mikey managed to get to every single chicken, rabbit, duck, sheep, pony, and even the llama in the penned in area, and was about to call it quits when he heard a bleating sound in the colorful barn that the animals slept in at night.
Ignoring the 'Keep Out' sign, Mikey snuck into the barn and looked around. "Hello?" he called.
There was another bleat, and the sound of a hoof pawing the ground.
Grinning at finding another animal, Mikey followed the sound to a paddock holding a big goat with large horns.
"Hi!" said Mikey brightly to the goat. "I think I'll call you…" he paused as he thought hard about it. "Little Big Horn," he declared triumphantly.
The goat only blinked in response.
Seeing as he hadn't pet this animal yet, Mikey wasted no time climbing over the paddock gate, and into the stable with the goat. As he came closer to the animal, he failed to notice how agitated it got with every step he took.
When he was close enough, Mikey reached out to stroke the goat's muzzle, only to pull back his hand with a cry of pain.
Looking at the bleeding bite mark on his head, Mikey barely noticed that the goat had brought its head down, and was running at him. But at the last second he saw it coming, and ducked out of the way, making the goat crash into the wall of the stable, shaking the entire structure.
That only seemed to make the goat angrier, so it turned so that its horns were pointed at Mikey again, and it pawed the ground as it prepared to charge again.
Not waiting for it to do so, Mikey bolted for the gate and safety. Behind him, he could hear the goat gaining on him, determined to ram the boy with its horns.
Mikey managed to reach the gate, but when he tried to climb up it, the bite on his hand flared in pain, making him let go and drop back into the goat's path.
The little boy squeezed his eyes shut as he waited for the animal to crash into him, only to open them in surprise when he felt someone grab the collar of his shirt, and yank him upwards.
Looking around wildly, he saw Leo with his legs braced against the top of the gate so that he could reach down and haul Mikey to safety.
Leo had just managed to tug Mikey up to the top of the gate when the goat crashed into it, sending them both tumbling off it as the door shook.
Fortunately, they fell away from the goat, and back into the barn.
Mikey felt tears well up in his eyes, both from the scare he'd just had, and the fact that his still bleeding hand was throbbing in pain.
The fact that Leo was standing over him looking furious didn't help matters.
"Are you crazy, Mikey?" Leo demanded, waving his hands in the air for emphasis. "I know you have a hard time reading, but the sign had pictures that said not to come in here! If it wasn't for me, that goat would have turned you into a pancake!"
Mikey let out a hiccup, then burst out crying, making Leo stop his rant and really look at him.
With a sigh, Leo reached into his pocket for some tissues he kept there, and pressed them to Mikey's injured hand. "Don't scare me like that. Okay, Mikey."
Mikey nodded tearfully, and allowed Leo to lead him out to their now frantic parents.
"- Mom and Dad wouldn't let me watch any TV for a week when they found out, and I had a ton of extra training when my hand was better," said Mikey as he finished off his story. "But if it wasn't for Leo looking out for me, who knows what would have happened. He's always looking out for us, you know?"
Raph had been listening silently to the whole thing, and shook his head in what looked like amusement at the tale.
Seeing that, Mikey scowled, "Hey, that goat was vicious I tell you! VICIOUS!"
Raph sent him a look that clearly said, 'If you say so.'
Mikey huffed, and scooped up his now cold plate, and took Raph's empty one from him. Casting one last look at Leo, he felt the good mood he'd gotten from sharing the story falter.
Then he felt a hand on his shoulder, and looked over to see Raph standing next to him. Raph gave his shoulder a little squeeze, before turning to sit back on his stool and resume his watch on their oldest brother.
Mikey sent him a grin, before heading back downstairs with the plates. Hopefully April's microwave still worked, and he could finish his meal.
When Mikey reported what had happened with him and Raph, Donnie felt that it was a good sign. Though he still hadn't said anything, he was still responding to those around him, and paying attention to the present.
Still, the genius was a little uneasy as he stood outside the bathroom with his first aid kit in hand. He had given all their injuries treatment on the ride to the farmhouse, but now it was time to check them again.
Taking a deep breath, Donnie knocked on the door, before pushing it open and stepping inside.
Raph was staring up at him curiously, but didn't voice any questions.
Donnie let out a nervous chuckle, and held up the first aid kit. "I want to look Leo over again," he said. "Make sure I didn't miss anything."
Raph nodded, and silently helped Donnie lift Leo out of the tub so the genius could get a better look at him.
The process only took a few minutes, and Donnie declared that Leo had no new injuries, and the two gently put him back in the tub.
With that done, Donnie looked over at Raph, and said, "Now it's time to change your bandages," he said. "In fact, it's overdue time to do that, but with yesterday…" Donnie trailed off and waved his hand vaguely, unable to find the words to describe it.
Raph nodded in understanding, and sat at his stool at an angle that would allow Donnie to get to his shoulder wound without trouble.
That unnerved Donnie far more than the silence had. When it came to injuries, Raph was one of the worst patients there were. He would always either insist that he was fine, or that he could take care of it himself, even if he actually couldn't. Seeing Raph act so complacent just wasn't right.
Biting his tongue to keep from voicing this, Donnie busied himself with unwrapping the bandages around Raph's shoulder to reveal the lightning bolt shaped chunk missing from his plastron and the puckered and raw scaled flesh beneath it.
Looking at the missing chunk, Donnie couldn't suppress a shudder at the thought of how Raph had received it. Leo's wound had closed during his mutation, so it was easier to ignore, but it was clear Raph would always bare the scar of what had happened that day.
Of just how close they'd come to loosing their oldest brother…
Raph saw that reaction and patted Donnie shoulder awkwardly, but offered no words of comfort.
Swallowing his distaste at the thoughts in his head, Donnie focused on cleaning the wound, and wrapping a fresh set of bandages around it.
"There," he said as he tied the last knot. "Any discomfort?"
Raph rubbed the bandages, but shook his head in reply.
"Right," Donnie said awkwardly.
A part of him was sorely tempted to just leave Raph to his vigil, but he knew he had to do his part to help his immediate older brother out of his slump.
Taking a leaf out of Mikey's book he blurted out, "Remember back when Vernon Fenwick was picking on me in grade school?"
The look Raph gave him made it clear the turtle was questioning his sanity.
Donnie coughed and started again. "Maybe you don't. It wasn't like Vernon was beating me up or anything. It was what he said that got to me back then."
The look on Raph's face darkened, and Donnie got the feeling that if Vernon wasn't currently a Kraang-hybrid trapped back in New York, he would likely have been finding himself getting his teeth punched out by a vengeful turtle.
Donnie smiled at Raph's protectiveness, and continued, "It was back when the school finally decided to let me skip third grade and instead start the fourth early…"
Donnie waved his hand wildly in the air, wanting the teacher to call on him to answer the question on the board.
The teacher, a kindly old woman named Mrs. Morrison, smiled at him and said, "Yes, Donatello, what is the answer."
Donnie beamed as he rattled off the correct answer to the question, before sitting down feeling very proud of himself.
It had become clear practically since kindergarten that Donnie was a gifted student. His ability to soak up knowledge like a sponge always shined through in an academic setting, and his perfect grade point average was solid proof of that.
Unfortunately, his intelligence often left him bored in the classes with kids his age, and because of that he often got convinced to go along with whatever hijinks Mikey, Raph, or (on the rare occasion) Leo would come up with. Hijinks that more often than not ended with trouble.
So Donnie was utterly ecstatic when the school finally allowed him to move up a grade, and begin more challenging classes.
The first few days of school were awesome in Donnie's opinion. He was finally learning things he didn't already know, and the challenge of learning it was great. He was in a different class than Miwa, but he didn't mind that too much.
But a week after school started that year, Donnie began noticing things he hadn't before.
Whenever he raised his hand to answer questions, he would hear the soft sound of people snickering around him.
Unsure of whether or not that he was the cause of the quiet laughter, he started paying more attention to when other people answered the questions. But he never heard it for them, it was only when he rose his hand that the giggling started.
Determined to find the source of the laughter, Donnie made sure to pay attention to the students around him the next time he rose his hand.
There!
From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Vernon Fenwick leaning over to whisper in the ear of the boy in front of him. The boy let out a snicker at whatever Vernon said, and Donnie was so engrossed in paying attention to them, that he almost failed to answer the question.
"Donatello?" asked Mrs. Morrison, prompting him back to the present.
Jerking his attention forward, Donnie said, "Oh, uh, forty-seven, ma'am."
That time he didn't have to pay attention to the other students, as the snickering they all did at his expense was perfectly audible.
Mrs. Morrison didn't notice it, and instead gave Donnie an encouraging smile. "Correct," she said, writing his answer on the board, and explaining how Donnie had solved for that.
Later that day at recess, instead of going to meet with his brothers and sister like he usually did, Donnie subtly followed Vernon and his gaggle of friends as they went to a corner of the playground.
"-And did you see the look on his face," Vernon was saying in a snooty tone of voice as Donnie got close enough to hear. He began dancing around and waving his hand in the air mockingly. "Ooh, ooh, pick me, Mrs. Morrison, I'm such a boring bookworm that I know everything."
Vernon's friends laughed, and Donnie felt his heart sink as he realized they were making fun of him.
Vernon stopped his act, and let out a snort. "What a loser," he said. "I bet he tries so hard to get the teacher's attention 'cause he can't get it from anywhere else. Suck-up Teacher's Pet."
"Yeah," agreed one of Vernon's friends. "He's got, like, three brothers and a sister. I bet he studies so hard because they think he's too boring to hang out with."
"Poor kids, having to put up with that," laughed another.
Donnie practically wilted at what he was hearing. His siblings didn't 'put up' with him. Did they?
Unbidden, he remembered all the times his siblings made jokes about him being a nerd, or them saying they didn't want to hear his technical explanations for everything. Had he really been that much of a bother for his siblings at those times?
It was like a train wreck. Donnie hated what he was hearing, but at the same time he couldn't turn away. He spent the rest of recess sitting and listening in on all that Vernon and his friends had to say about what a dull nerd he was. It wasn't until he reflected back later that he realized that the entire time he was eavesdropping, the group of boys would subtly glance in his direction as though to check if he was listening.
He went back the over the next week to hear much of the same thing. He never heard Vernon and his crew mock anyone else. It was just him that got the treatment, and he felt awful for it.
After that Donnie rarely raised his hand in class, and he ignored the worried glances Mrs. Morrison shot him at the change in his behavior. That same day when he went home, he shut himself in his room to study so he wouldn't be a bother to his siblings.
He did the same the next day, and pretended not to notice the concerned looks everyone in his family was giving him, or how Mrs. Morrison pulled him aside to offer an open ear if he needed it.
But he didn't say anything to anyone, and continued to keep his insecurities to himself. He likely would have continued to do this if it hadn't been for one roadblock in his misery.
Leonardo.
On the third day of his self-imposed isolation, Leo dragged Donnie aside, and said, "Okay, what's wrong."
Donnie opened his mouth to say something along the lines of, 'Nothing,' but Leo held up a hand to stop him before he did.
"And I know something is wrong, so don't say it isn't. I notice these things," he continued. "You've been locking yourself in your room, and Mom got a call from school that you've been acting weird in class. So what's wrong?"
Donnie stared at his feet. "Leo…" he said quietly. "Do you…?"
"What?" Leo prompted.
"Do-you-think-I'm-a-boring-nerd?" he blurted out in a rush.
Leo looked at him in surprise, then he frowned. "Did Raph say that?" he demanded.
Donnie shook his head quickly, not wanting to start another fight between his brothers. "No, Vernon did."
Leo's eyebrows climbed up his forehead in surprise. "Who's Vernon?"
Donnie went back to studying his feet. "A guy from my class," he muttered.
Leo frowned angrily, but he put a hand on Donnie's shoulder and said firmly. "Listen to me, Donnie. You are about as far from boring as a person can get."
Donnie looked at his brother in surprise, but Leo continued, "You're smarter than all the rest of us, and we're all proud of that (even if we don't tell you that much). Who else knows how to keep Mikey entertained by making chemistry kits blow up, or taking apart the toaster to make it work better. Not to mention the fact you, me, and the others are going to be ninjas someday. That's about as far from boring as you can get."
Donnie was studying his feet again, but this time out of bashfulness rather than shame.
"So I don't want to hear any more about you being all weird and avoiding us," Leo concluded, trying to mimic their father when he lay down the law.
"Okay," said Donnie, still bashful.
Leo nodded in satisfaction, and turned to head for the living room. Space Heroes was about to come on, and he didn't want to miss it.
"Leo," Donnie called after him, making him pause. "Thanks for noticing."
Leo glanced back at him and grinned. "Anytime, little brother."
"-After that I went back to being my usual self, to heck with what others thought," Donnie said as he finished his story. He then sent Raph a grin and added, "Strangely enough, the next day Vernon and his friends all showed up with black eyes and bruises, and didn't laugh at me anymore. I wonder how that could have happened."
Raph snapped his fingers as if he had just remembered something, and Donnie felt his grin widen.
Packing up his first aid tools, he made his way towards the door. Pausing at the threshold, he said, "Raph, you know you can talk to us if something's bothering you. Right?"
Raph glanced his way and nodded, but still didn't say anything.
Feeling that was as good as he was going to get, Donnie nodded back and walked out the door. He still needed to fix Metalhead, and April said he could set up a lab in the barn…
As the morning wore on Donnie got help from April in moving his meager lab supplies into the barn, as well as the still non-functioning Metalhead. As he did so, he told her about his and Mikey's excursions into the bathroom, and how they both had told Raph old stories from their childhood about Leo, and how he seemed to be listening if nothing else, and showing signs of being more animated even if he still wasn't talking. Either way, it was a vast improvement to the lifeless stillness that Raph had displayed yesterday.
So when lunch rolled around, April took that as an opportunity to give it a shot herself.
When Raph didn't come down for lunch either, April grabbed the sandwich Mikey had made for him, and volunteering to take it up.
Walking into the bathroom, she slapped on a look of false cheer and practically chirped, "Hey Raph, want some lunch."
Needless to say, Raph was looking at her like she was crazy.
Wind taken out of her sails, April let the grin fall from her face, but still managed to keep a polite smile and hold out the plate of food.
Still eyeing her, Raph reached out and took the sandwich from her and started eating it.
April saw that he was still staring at her expectantly. With a small laugh, she said, "Are you expecting me to tell you a story about Leo too?"
Raph nodded slowly.
"Do you want me to?" she had to ask.
Raph gave her a half shrug that seemed to say, 'If you must.'
April let out another laugh at that, and looked over at poor Leonardo in the tub, her face falling slightly at the sight.
"You know, I haven't been friends with you guys for very long," she said to start. "We didn't even talk to each other before Dad was-" she broke off as the memory of what happened to her father flashed through her eyes.
She saw Raph looking at her in concern, and she quickly buried her own pain and waved a hand at him. "I-I'm fine," she said with a smile that was more than a little watery. "It just feels like I just got my Dad back only to loose him again, you know."
Raph glanced over at Leo, and nodded in agreement.
Swallowing her tears, April focused her gaze on Leo, and said, "But anyway, just because I haven't known you guys for all that long, doesn't mean I don't have a story to tell…"
For April O'Neil, her life was on cloud nine, and she couldn't be happier for it.
She had her Father was back! And Donnie. Sweet, brainy, and caring Donatello had braved an entire Kraang facility to bring him back to her. April was torn at being horrified of the danger they'd been in, and thinking that it was the sweetest thing anyone had ever done for her.
She had absolutely no regrets about accepting Donnie's invitation to go out on a date. To be perfectly honest, she had been waiting for him to ask her for a while now, but had wanted to see if he could get up the nerve to ask himself.
And now, on the night of her date, she was currently digging through her closet in the guest room of the dojo to find something to wear. Donnie had told her he would be by her room to pick her up in two hours, and knowing him, she expected him to be there exactly on the dot, if not earlier.
So when she heard a knock on her bedroom door, she had hurried over to open it expecting it to be him.
Imagine her surprise when it was Leo who stepped through her door instead, looking slightly embarrassed at pretty much inviting himself into a girl's room.
"Leo," said April in surprise at the sight of him. "What are you doing here? Did something happen?"
"No," Leo said quickly to reassure her. "At least, nothing bad. Mikey put plastic cockroaches in Raph's cereal and now both of them are grounded, but that's nothing new."
April had to giggle at the mental picture she got of how that must have gone down and lamenting having missed that, before turning her attention back to the matter at hand. "So if nothing's wrong, why are you here?" she asked curiously.
Leo looked down and twiddled his thumbs. "I, uh, I came here to talk to you about Donnie," he said hesitantly.
April frowned. Did he disapprove of their date, or something? "Donnie?" she asked.
Leo nodded and took a deep breath. "In the time honored tradition of older siblings, I am here to warn you that if you ever hurt my brother, the consequences will be extremely severe."
He said it with such a stiff and serious expression that April didn't know if she should take him seriously, or burst out laughing at the look on his face.
Seeing that she was leaning towards the latter, Leo's shoulders slumped and he frowned at her. "I'm serious, April. You don't know what you'd do to him."
That brought April away from her hilarity, and she looked at Leo with a curious expression. What could she possibly do to hurt Donnie? She was only just getting into her training as a kunoichi, and if Donnie wanted to he could no doubt beat her with his eyes closed and both hands tied behind his back.
"I mean emotionally," Leo said, as if reading her mind. "As I'm sure you know, Donnie has had a crush on you for awhile now."
April felt a fond smile spread across her face at that. "It was pretty obvious," she said fairly.
"But you don't realize how big of a crush he has," Leo continued. "Not to put any pressure on you, but my brother pretty much adores the ground you walk on. Heck, he has plans to build a rocket within an hour on the off chance you ever want to go to the moon."
April stared at him with wide eyes, but the lead ninja paid her no mind as he continued on. "I mean, look at all he's done without you two even dating. He promised you we'd get your father back the day we practically met you, and just the other day he broke into a Kraang prison all on his own just to keep that promise. You are nothing short of his dream girl, April, and if you break his heart he'd be devastated."
April opened and closed her mouth a few times in shock, before managing to say, "He-he can't possibly like me that much!"
Leo shook his head. "No, he does. Trust me. When you're not around, most of the stuff that comes out of his mouth is how nice you are, or how he thought you looked cute despite the fact you'd just come out of training with Father as a sweaty mess, or what he can do to get you to have fun even though you're stuck hiding here for your own safety. He's crazy about just about everything about you, good, bad, or otherwise."
Once again April felt herself feeling torn between thinking that this was all too much, or that that was the sweetest thing she'd ever heard.
Leo looked at her sternly as he said his final piece. "I'm not saying that you should lead him on even if you don't feel the same. That would be unfair to both of you, and would only lead to broken hearts in the end. All I ask is that you keep this stuff in mind and don't hurt him. With all that he's done for you, that is the least you can do."
With that, he stepped back out the door, leaving April to her thoughts.
"… I did a lot of thinking between then and our date after that," April said as she finished her story, feeling a bit more at peace than when she'd started. "But as you know, I decided to go on the date anyway." She smiled fondly at the memory. "And I have to say, it was the best first date I'd ever been on. I may mean the world to Donnie, but Leo helped me realize that Donnie means a lot to me too."
Raph looked amused at the idea of his older brother giving love advise, but otherwise he looked thoughtful about it all.
April stepped away from the tub, and sent Raph a smile. "He's always looking out for you guys. Makes me wonder what he'll have to say when you get a girlfriend, Raph," she said teasingly.
Raph gave her a look that said he was questioning her sanity again.
April shrugged. "Hey, you won't be a turtle forever, I'm sure there's a nice girl out there for you somewhere. Though, probably not on this planet."
April's ninja training was the only thing that allowed her to catch the plastic sandwich plate that Raph tried to chuck at her head in retaliation. Laughing at the look on his face, April darted out of the room before he found something else to throw at her.
After lunch, and more than a few pointed remarks, Casey found himself trudging upstairs to try his hand a pulling Raph from his funk.
Raph looked up as he entered, and looked as though he had been expecting him.
Casey hovered by the door when he saw Raph look up, and wondered briefly if he and Raph could make this a 'let's not and say we did' thing.
"Casey Jones, if you don't do your part I'll make you be the one who cleans out the chicken coop later!" shouted April from downstairs. "It's my house, I can make that happen!"
Casey winced, so much for that plan.
"This is so stupid," the boy groused as he walked farther into the bathroom and plopped down next to Raph, who nodded in agreement.
"I mean, do they really expect us telling you stories is gonna help get you talking again?" Casey continued.
Raph gave a shrug.
Casey sent him a hopeful look. "Hey, maybe if you say something now we can stop doing this, and get on with our lives."
Raph frowned, and opened his mouth to say something, only for nothing to come out. After a minute of trying, he gave Casey a helpless shrug.
Casey groaned in defeat. "Might as well get this over with, I guess," he said.
Raph shuffled to get more comfortable on his stool, and turned his attention to Casey.
Casey frowned as he tried to think of a suitable story. Thinking of one, he sent Raph a smirk. "Blue boy'll probably kill me when he finds out I told you this, but remember that little blond girl Shadow likes -" he broke off with a wince at the mention of his sister, but only for a second and amended, "-liked to play with. Maddie, the one who always insisted on having tea parties with her stuffed animals?"
Raph nodded thoughtfully.
"Well, about a month after you and me became friends, I was stuck over at my house to watching the two of them while my Dad was running some errands. After he left, Leo came over 'cause I left something over at your house that earlier day…"
Casey Jones was currently not in a very good mood. Shadow had her friend Maddie over to play, and he had only just managed to avoid getting dragged into their tea party by claiming he had homework.
Unfortunately, by using that as an excuse he was stuck having to actually do his homework, a dull task not made any easier by the fact his history book was had gone AWOL.
As he dug through his backpack for the fifth time (he knew he'd put the book in there before leaving school, dammit) he heard a knock at the front door.
Welcoming the distraction, Casey abandoned his backpack and hurried to answer the door.
He was surprised to see his new friend's brother standing there. While he and Raph were well on their way to becoming best friends, Casey couldn't say he knew too much about his fellow hothead's brothers, or his sister (even though said sister was pretty hot). He knew them all by name, and knew some of Raph's favorite complaints about them, but that was about it.
Leo, however, gave him a polite smile, and held out his missing history book. "You left this at our dojo earlier," he said with politeness that matched his smile. "I think it fell out of your bag."
Casey managed to return his grin, and take the book. "Thanks, man. I was looking all over for this," he said.
Leo opened his mouth to no doubt say a courteous goodbye, when there was the sound of something breaking, and a high-pitched shriek coming from Shadow's bedroom.
"CASEYYY!" wailed Shadow as she came running out of her room, tears streaming down her cheeks. She held out her hand to him, and Casey saw that there was a long, but, fortunately, not very deep cut across her palm.
"M-my tea cup b-broke and cut m-my hand!" Shadow hiccupped as Casey looked over her bleeding hand. "It h-hurts!"
"It's okay, Shadow," Casey said in as gentle a voice as he could. "I'll put a Band-Aid on it, and it'll be all better."
He then turned and started to go to where they kept the Band-Aids and other medical supplies, but froze as he remembered he'd just used up all the bandages to patch himself up after a particularly brutal hockey practice the day before.
Wincing, he turned back to his sister and said, "We'll need to go borrow some from Old Mrs. Bridge," he said, taking Shadow's uninjured hand and leading her towards the door.
Remembering Maddie at the last second, he turned to Leo, who had been standing awkwardly in the doorway during the whole affair, and said, "Can you watch her friend Maddie for a few minutes? Mrs. Bridge lives just next door, and we'll try to be quick."
He quickly led Shadow out the door before Leo could reply either way, leaving the other boy to the tender mercies of Maddie.
A few minutes later, Casey and Shadow returned to see that Leo had taken over Shadow's spot at the tea table, and was wearing a flowery bonnet as Maddie poured him pretend tea.
Casey stifled a laugh as Leo awkwardly raised the cup to his lips, only for Maddie to stop him. "N-n-n-no," she said shaking her finger at him. "You have to hold your pinkie out."
She then delicately picked up her own cup and demonstrated.
Leo flushed, and quickly adjusted his grip on the tiny cup, and Shadow decided it was time to make their presence known.
"Didn't anyone ever teach you how to drink tea?" she asked as she went over and pulled another chair up to the table.
Leo looked startled to realize they were back, and sent an embarrassed glance in Casey's direction, only to see the other boy shoving his fist in his mouth to muffle his laughter at the sight.
"Er," said Leo distractedly, "Yes, I learned how to drink tea. But I drink it Japanese style as part of my heritage. Tea ceremonies are very traditional to my family's culture."
Both Shadow and Maddie let out 'Oooh's' of admiration at that, and Leo attempted to get up from the table and make his leave.
But Maddie grabbed his hand and pulled him back down. "No, it's bad manners to leave a tea party 'til it's over. You gotta stay."
"And you can tell us about Japan tea parties, pretty please," begged Shadow.
With both little girls looking at him with pleading looks, Leo caved and agreed to stay for a while longer.
And that was when Casey beat a hasty retreat to avoid getting roped in next.
"…Funny as it was, Leo spent the rest of the afternoon playing tea party with them, and didn't once get impatient," Casey said. He sent Raph a look and added, "And you know with my sister, that's no easy feat."
An amused looking Raph nodded in agreement, remembering what a handful Shadow could be when she wanted too.
"So moral of the story, your brother's a nice guy. Feel like talking yet?" Casey asked, looking at Raph expectantly.
Raph frowned, but opened his mouth again, only for nothing but silence to come out.
Casey gave a sigh, then shrugged. "Worth a shot."
Raph rolled his eyes, but still nodded in agreement.
Despite the fact that everyone else had come to say their part, Raph hadn't really been expecting Miwa to come take a crack at it. As much as he loved his sister, this really wasn't the type of thing she tended to do, especially when it was something she'd rather avoid.
So it was a great surprise when she showed up that evening with his dinner in hand, and a scowl on her face.
"The others won't stop nagging me until I do this, so listen up because I'm not saying anything twice," she snapped, shoving the plate into his hands.
Despite that declaration, she caught sight of Leo's sleeping form and fell silent for several minutes, just staring at him with a look of regret.
When she finally spoke again, it was in a much softer tone. "You know, I always hated being the oldest growing up."
Raph stared at her in surprise, but Miwa didn't seem to notice.
"I never wanted the responsibility," she admitted. "Sure it was nice to boss you all around, but when it came to the heavy stuff, I wanted no part of it."
She let out a bitter laugh. "Remember when Father was about to pick a leader, and you were all looking at me to do it? That horrified me. I couldn't stand the thought of being leader, and I wanted nothing to do with the position. So when Father let it slide when I said no, I was relieved. More than that, I was ecstatic. If someone else was leader, that meant I wouldn't have to be as much of the responsible one being the oldest, there would be someone else to carry that weight instead. And when Father picked Leo, I knew he was way better for the job than me."
For the first time since she first entered the room, Miwa turned to glance at Raph, who was staring at her in shock. The Miwa he knew never spoke like this, and the fact she was only spoke volumes of how messed up their recent loss had made them.
"Thing is, I knew Leo was better at being responsible than I was for a while before that," Miwa continued. "It was back when Mikey was sick and the two of us were stuck babysitting…"
A preteen Miwa scowled as Tang Shen and Yoshi worked to make sure Raph and Donnie had everything they needed to go to martial arts summer camp. The parents were also attending the camp as counselors, and had been planning to do so for months.
"Why do I have to stay home," she moaned. "I wanted to go too."
Shen gave her daughter a sympathetic glance. "I'm sorry, my dear, but we have to ask you to stay and watch your brother today. I'm worried about that cold he has, and I wasn't able to find someone to watch him in time. You can go to camp tomorrow, I promise."
"But why me?" Miwa complained.
"Because you are the oldest, my daughter," said Yoshi kindly but firmly. "You have a responsibility to watch out for your brothers."
Miwa stomped her foot and pouted. "But Leo already said he'd stay and do it. Why can't I go and he stay?"
"Leonardo has volunteered to stay and help you," Yoshi said sternly. "He is staying to help, but caring for Michelangelo is a big job and I would rather have both of you do it, rather than just one."
Miwa scowled, and shot a glare in the direction of Mikey's bedroom. Through the door she could already see Leo sitting by their brother's bedside and making sure he drank a glass of water before lying down to sleep.
"But-" she tried to say again, but a look from her parents quelled her protest.
So as the girl sulked, Tang Shen and Yoshi took Raph and Donnie and left her and Leo to look after the sick Mikey.
Leo walked over to her after taking care of Mikey. "He drank the whole cup," he said. "And now he's sleeping. I don't think he'll wake up anytime soon."
Miwa threw her hands into the air in annoyance and said, "Great. I'm gonna go watch TV or something. At least that's not as boring as sitting around all day."
Leo blinked at her in surprise. "Wait, but shouldn't we be looking after Mikey?"
Miwa waved his concern away. "He'll be fine," she said dismissively. "You just said all he was gonna do was sleep. We can have some fun while he does that."
Leo cast a worried glance back at Mikey's room. "But-"
"I'm watching TV," Miwa snapped at him, making him stare at her with wide eyes. "If you're so worried you can sit in there with him, but I'm not."
Leo frowned at her. "But Mother and Father said-"
"Well they're not here right now, and I'm the oldest," Miwa said with a note of finality in her voice. "So there."
She then stormed away to the living room, leaving Leo behind in the hallway looking disappointed, before walking back into Mikey's room and sitting down next to his bed.
The next few hours passed with Miwa letting herself fall into a stupor while watching television. At first, Leo tried for a few times to drag her away, but he quickly gave up and went back to Mikey. Not even Space Heroes coming on the TV distracted him from his task.
Miwa knew she was being a brat about the whole thing, but at the moment she didn't care. She had been looking forward to going to martial arts camp all summer, and to show everyone just how good the students at the Renaissance Dojo were. To be told she couldn't go after waiting for it for so long made the girl more than a little bitter at her youngest brother.
"Of all the days he had get sick," she griped to herself as she watched an old show called Crognard the Barbarian come on the TV. She wasn't that interested in the show, but was currently feeling to lazy to change the channel.
"MIWA!" came a sudden shout from Leo.
Miwa was so surprised that she leapt a foot in the air, and landed next to the couch in a heap.
Before she could get back to her feet, Leo was rushing into the room with a look of panic on his face. "Mikey's forehead's really, really hot!" he said. "And he's coughing really bad now!"
Her earlier ire vanished, and Miwa bolted for Mikey's bedroom with Leo at her heels. Once there, Miwa grabbed the ear thermometer and stuck it into Mikey's ear. She'd have gone for the mouth one, but as Leo had said, the youngest was currently coughing up a lung, and she doubted he could keep it in his mouth.
When the thermometer beeped, Miwa looked at the readings and paled. "One O' Eight," she said, exchanging a concerned look with Leo. "Donnie said anything over a hundred is really bad."
Leo looked aghast at that, and Miwa felt herself starting to panic. What was she supposed to do? Mikey was in trouble, but she was coming up with a blank on how to help him.
Next to her, Mikey's body shook as another coughing fit burst out of him, and Miwa could do nothing but rub his back and rack her brain for something she could do to help.
She was brought out of her panic by the sound of Leo's voice.
"Nine One One?" he said as he held the hallway phone to his ear. "My brother's really sick, and we need help."
Miwa stared at him blankly as Leo rattled off Mikey's symptoms and listened carefully to the instructions the voice on the other end said. He then shoved the phone into Miwa's hands and told her to call their parents.
The next few minutes passed in a blur as Leo told Miwa what they should do, and the two prepared for the ambulance that Nine One One was going to send, or for their parents to return home. Whichever came first.
It turns out that worried parents beat ambulance any day, as Shen and Yoshi burst into the dojo and immediately began doting on their ailing son. Not long after, the ambulance arrived, and a frantic Shen climbed in the back with Mikey to go have a doctor check him out.
Yoshi left not long after that to fetch Donnie and Raph from camp, leaving Miwa and Leo alone again.
Once what happened sank in, Miwa shuddered, and looked over at Leo with wide eyes. "If you hadn't been with him…" she said as the horrifying truth dawned on her.
Leo reached over and patted her on the shoulder. "Mikey'll be alright, Sis," he said reassuringly. "Don't think about it."
But Miwa did think about it for a long time after that. That was the first time that she really wished that Leo had been born the oldest instead of her.
Miwa fell silent as she finished her tale. Then, refusing to look at Raph, she turned on her heel and walk out of the room without another word.
Raph set down his now empty dinner plate, and looked out the window to see the moon hovering in the sky. He hadn't even realized how late it had gotten until he saw it.
Glancing back down at Leo, he saw that his older brother looked the same as he had the entire day, still and silent as the grave.
"Bet you loved that, didn't you?" he muttered aloud without even realizing it. "Hearing everyone sing your praises all day. Maybe it's good that you are asleep, or else your swelled head wouldn't fit inside the house."
Leo said nothing. But he didn't need to as Raph realized he'd been speaking on his own.
"The hell…" he said as that hit him.
He then sent an annoyed look in Leo's direction. "I bet you want me to tell you some story about how great you are too, don't cha."
Silence.
Raph let out a sigh of regret. "To be honest, I don't have one that wouldn't just be a something you already know." His gaze lowered, and he began studying the tiles of the bathroom floor. "You protect us from getting hurt, and not just when it comes to the physical stuff, you always notice when something's bothering us, you're nice, you're responsible. I got nothing that wouldn't just be a repeat of all that."
He dragged his eyes back up to Leo's sleeping face. "But I can tell ya a story about what'll happen if you don't wake up. I-we can't do this without you, bro."
Leo only lay in the tub peacefully.
Raph took a deep breath to start. "Remember that time we were fighting over you being leader. The night Snakeweed was snatching people off the streets, and Shredder was out looking to recruit Mi? You and her ran off after that fight, and I don't know if anyone ever told you what happened with the rest of us…"
For Raph, being angry was nothing new. But being cheated out of getting to kick Snakeweed's butt because of Leo's lame plan was making him more steamed than usual, and he made sure to say as much to his 'leader'.
Leo wasn't any happier about Snakeweed getting away, and had the gall to blame Raph for slowing them down instead.
Finally in frustration, Leo said, "You know what, Raph? If you think you could do better, why don't you lead?"
"First good idea you've had all say," Raph snapped in reply.
"We'll compromise," said Mikey, suddenly popping up between them. "I'll lead."
The withering glares the two sent him were enough to make Mikey back away without further protest.
Leo turned back to Raph and said scathingly, "Fine, Raph. The team's yours. I'm out of here."
With that he turned and stomped off into the night.
Raph couldn't help but feel smug about winning the argument. Plus, now he got to be leader of the team, and they could actually get stuff done.
He was brought off his high horse when Mikey let out a disappointed groan of, "I can't believe he's gone."
Raph frowned, but Donnie sent his little brother a sympathetic look. "Aw, don't worry Mikey. Leo, uh, he just needs some space," said the genius.
Mikey turned to give Donnie a dry look.
Remembering who had just been snatched up by Snakeweed, Donnie smacked his forehead and said, "You meant the pizza guy, didn't you," he asked rhetorically.
"Yeah," said Mikey wistfully.
Raph rolled his eyes, and waited to hear the sarcastic comment he knew Miwa was about to dish out.
Only for it to never come.
Looking around, Raph finally realized that their sister was absent from the roof.
"Where's Mi?" he asked in confusion.
Donnie and Mikey both sent him unimpressed looks. "She took off while you and Leo were yelling at each other," said Donnie.
Mikey snapped his fingers, and added, "Speaking of which, she wanted to know who won." He quickly pulled out his cell phone to send his sister a text to give that answer.
"Should we call her back?" Donnie asked.
Raph thought about it for a minute, then shook his head. "Nah, so long as she lets us know if she spots Snakeweed she'll be fine." He pulled out his own hone to text that order to his sister, then turned and gave his brothers a wicked smirk. "Now let's get to work."
Raph's brilliant plan to find Snakeweed turned out to be giving Donnie a map, and having him (okay, forcing him under threat of pummeling) figure out where all the people had been taken from and calculating where Snakeweed could be because of it.
Finally, Donnie said, "I think I figured out where he is. The radial pattern of recent Snakeweed sightings indicates his lair is at the epicenter of Forty-Seventh and Broadway."
"Then what are we waiting for?" Raph asked.
Mikey tapped his chin as though thinking about the answer to that, but Raph shoved him to get him moving. "It was a rhetorical question, bonehead. Let's go."
Donnie's discovery led them to the sewer tunnels under that location. As Raph led the way through the tunnels, Mikey had to complain, "Man, it really stinks around here."
"It is a sewer, Mikey," Raph deadpanned to him.
"But is it always this bad?" Mikey said pinching his nose. "Where does all this stuff come from anyway?"
Raph and Donnie exchanged glances, before Donnie leaned over to whisper into the youngest's ear.
Mikey paled and jerked away from the stream of water flowing past their walkway with a shout of, "GROSS!"
"Keep it down, guys," snapped Raph, knowing that if they kept this up Snakeweed would hear them coming a mile away.
Mikey and Donnie looked at him like he'd grown a second head. "Wow, you sound just like Leo," Donnie said in surprise.
Raph wheeled around and snarled, "You say that one more time, and I'll shove your head in this sewage."
Donnie winced, and said, "And now you sound like you again."
Finally, the tunnel opened up to a big room under the city that was alit with large glowing tube-shaped plants that were full of a nauseating yellow liquid. It was definitely Snakeweed's lair.
Peering into one of the tube like plants, Mikey yelped in alarm to see the pizza guy's face looking up at him from it.
Donnie and Raph hurried over to see, and gasped as well.
"He's growing humans," Mikey squeaked.
"He's not growing them, idiot, he's holding them captive," Donnie hissed to his little brother.
"For what?" Raph asked as he looked around at the other people filled tubes. "He's a plant. He can't eat them."
"He's probably turning them into fertilizer," Donnie whispered back.
Mikey made a noise of disgust. "Is that really where fertilizer comes from?"
Donnie looked uncomfortable, and once again leaned over to whisper the answer into his ear.
"WHAT!" Mikey squawked. "Is there anything that doesn't come from that?"
"Enough," Raph snapped. "Let's cut 'em loose."
The red wearing teen began slicing through the tube plants, allowing the people to drain out along with the liquid. Mikey and Donnie quickly hurried to do the same with the others.
"What now?" Mikey asked as the people lay at their feet and started coming too.
"Now," Raph said, making things up as he went along. An idea struck him, and he tugged off his mask, but kept his hood pulled low over his face. "Now we help these people out of here. Then we come back and turn Snakeweed into chopped salad."
"But our clothes," Donnie said worriedly as he and Mikey pulled off their own masks and hid them in their pockets.
"It's dark down here," Raph said, "They won't be able to tell. And if they do, we say we were snatched on the way home from martial arts practice, 'r something like."
Mikey and Donnie looked reluctant, but the point was moot as around them the people started getting up and looking around in confusion.
"Wha- happened?" asked the pizza guy in a groggy voice as he pushed himself to his feet.
The brothers exchanged glances, and Mikey hurried over to help. "You don't wanna know, dude. Trust me," he said as he slung the pizza boy's arm over his shoulder and more people began to come too.
"Everyone!" called Raph in as loud a voice as he dared. "Let's get out of here, come on!"
Slowly, the people started moving after him, still too groggy to wonder why a strangely dressed teenage boy was apparently in charge.
At least until a blond woman happened to look behind them and started screaming.
Instantly wide-awake, everyone else turned to look and the rest of the civilians started screaming too.
Rearing up above the tube plants was none other than Snakeweed, and he did not look happy. "My fertilizer!" he snarled as he saw the people out of their pods.
The civilians all looked sick as they realized what he was talking about.
Mikey, meanwhile, leaned over to whisper to Raph, "What now, Boss?"
Raph shot a glance at the terrified people, then looked over at where Snakeweed was drawing closer by the second.
"You people run!" shouted Raph, pointing at the exit, and they needed no further prompting. Looking at his brothers, he said, "We gotta cover them. So give Snakeweed all you've got!"
With that the brothers quickly drew their weapons and charged the weed monster, only to promptly get thrown back by the mutant's superior strength.
Snakeweed snarled at their attempts, but in seeing the escaping people, he leapt over their heads to block the exit, snapping at them with his claw like leaves.
The people screamed and scrambled back, searching frantically for another exit as the ninjas hurried to get between them and the mutant. The three ninjas did their best to fight Snakeweed off, but every hit they gave had them being tossed aside like ragdolls, and the people behind them getting more scared by the second.
"Wow, we're totally loosing!" shouted Mikey as he was smacked away once again.
Raph snarled under his breath and said, "Really, I hadn't noticed!"
Mikey scowled, missing his sarcasm. "Then get your head in the game, Bro! You're supposed to be the leader!"
Donnie managed to jump high and aim a blow for Snakeweed's head, as he had been doing for most of the fight. But the plant blocked the attack and threw Donnie at his brothers' feet.
They and the civilians then had to scramble away as Snakeweed's thorny vine came shooting towards their position.
"Get back in there!" Raph yelled as he tried to attack again.
"And do what?" Donnie asked frantically.
"Go for the head!" Raph called back as he blocked a vine from getting a cowering civilian.
"I just did!" Donnie squawked in reply.
Raph tried to think of a better tactic, but between fighting the vines and keeping the innocent people safe he was coming up empty. "Do it better!" he yelled finally.
Donnie rolled his eyes at that suggestion. "Oh great! Four times in a row, he'll never see that coming!"
But despite his protests, Donnie shot forward and tried for the head a fourth time, only to be smacked aside before he even got close.
"Now what, Chief!" Mikey yelled next to Raph, who was looking more and more stressed by the second.
"Go for the head," he said weakly, still unable to come up with anything else.
Mikey shrugged and readied his nunchucks, "Fifth time's the charm!" he shouted as he rushed forward.
But Snakeweed snagged the youngest by the ankle and swung him around, before sending him flying into a wall. Mikey's head cracked hard against the cement wall, and he fell to the floor in a crumpled heap.
"TENSHI!" shouted Raph, running over to his brother, and barely noticing the terrified civilians following after him for protection.
Slicing his way though the vines, Raph rushed over to his baby brother, and was utter relieved to see that he was still breathing. Donnie hurried over to join them, and looked Mikey over with a critical eye while Raph blocked the people's view of the youngest's face.
"Concussion. He'll live," said Donnie.
Raph nodded weakly, his eyes still wide and horrified at from the sight of Mikey collapsed on the ground.
Donnie suddenly shoved their brother into Raph's hands as he jumped up and blocked another reaching vine from getting the civilians. "So what do we do now, Iyasa!" he called as he struggled to keep the vines at bay.
Raph frantically looked down at the unconscious Mikey, to the terrified people they were trying to protect, to Donnie barely keeping Snakeweed away from them.
The weight of the pressure on him reached an all time high, and to Raph's horror, he found himself freezing up, unable to even say anything, much less lead them out of there.
"Iyasa!" Donnie called again.
But Raph was too busy panicking to answer.
"I'll smash you rotten brats!" snarled Snakeweed down to Donnie as he tried to pry the teen's bō from his grip. "Into the ground!"
Donnie wrenched his staff free and dodged as Snakeweed tried to crush him with his leaf claws. With a bit of quick thinking, he launched himself across the room and managed to tie the mutants vines to a nearby pipe to buy them some time, and he hurried back over to his brothers.
"Iyasa!" Donnie said, trying to snap his brother out of his funk by grabbing his shoulders and shaking them. "We don't have much time before he grows back. Let's grab Tenshi, and get these people out of here!"
Raph shook his head to clear it, and immediately reached down to scoop Mikey up. Then they hurried to lead the civilians to safety.
When they reached a manhole back to the surface, the people thanked the three of them profusely before climbing to the world above.
But Raph barely heard it. All he could think about was the fact that he's failed to protect his brothers.
Raph sighed as he finished telling his tale.
"That's why you've gotta get better, Leo," he said. "None of us can be the leader you are. We can try, but no one could do it half as well as you."
He glanced over at Leo's sleeping form, and tried to think up what his brother would say if he was awake right now.
He couldn't think of anything that Leo would say, but he got a hunch on what he was supposed to do anyway.
"But it looks like I gotta try anyway, don't I," he said regretfully. "Mi and Mikey want nothing to do with the responsibility after their last tries, April and Casey don't have the training, and Donnie'll be too busy trying to fix everything to even give it a shot."
Raph's eyes hardened in resolve, and he said, "I'll try to lead for now. But just until you get better, Leo. It's your job, and like everyone's been saying all day, you're the best one for it. And from the sound of things, you've been at it even before we needed a leader."
With that resolution in mind, Raph got to his feet and left to find a sleeping bag he could unfurl in the bathroom. Just because he'd decided to shoulder the responsibility of his family didn't mean he was giving up his vigil on Leo either. Like in Miwa's story, he had to be there just in case Leo got worse before he got better.
But as Raph left the bathroom for the first time since their arrival, he failed to notice something resembling a smile gracing Leo's lips for a brief instant, before vanishing as the turtle slipped even deeper into his winter slumber.
A/N To start off, I do have permission from Andrea O'Down to call the tea party girl Maddie. Those who don't know what I'm talking about should read her fic My Mr. Turtle, it's really cute. As you probably tell, this chapter was homage to Tales of Leo from the 2003 series, but with my own spin on it. I can see Raph getting traumatized by what I put him through the last few chapters, but lucky for him his family won't let him stay that way. Though, they all have their own traumas to work through as well. Now the aforementioned Maddie reference has been pointed out, but I made a lot more references in the names of the people I used in this chapter. Let me know what you caught.
Disclaimer: I own nothing