A/N.
Okay, that might have still taken longer than I wanted it to…
But, life get's in the way constantly, so, you know, not everything revolves around Fanfiction (sometimes though, I really wish it did). Great lesson kids, stick to it.
Anyways, on a good note, we've got more juicy drama, and I threw another wrench into the road. Shredder seems to have done the unthinkable…
But what's the unthinkable?
All will be revealed in good time… that means in the next thirty seconds or so. And once you're done with this revelation of a chapter, leave a review, favorite, follow, and as always…
Enjoy!
Chapter Seven: An Ugly Truth.
(Karai's POV).
My expression had never felt so dry as I held up the tissue for Donnie.
"Is this the first time you've hidden that you were sick?" I asked as he blew his nose as best as he possibly could. Not surprised, he shook his head. I think he knew he wouldn't get anywhere fibbing. "That's not healthy Donnie, it's pretty dangerous." I lightly chided. He cast his eyes downward, breathing stuffy.
I couldn't help but sigh. Maybe I was being a bit harsh. The poor thing has been miserable for the past two, almost three days, and he probably just wanted it to stop. I could hardly believe it's only been three days. I felt like we've been here for months already. I missed my family, but they weren't ready to have me back yet.
"I get it, you wanted to pretend everything was normal, but we don't really have a choice." I explained. He laid his head back down on the pillow, whimpering.
I felt awful for him. Mutated, isolated, injured, and now sick. This couldn't possibly get any worse.
"If you let me take care of you, you won't be in trouble. Deal?" I asked. He glanced up at me, then nodded, lacking the strength to fight back. I couldn't blame him. I felt unbelievably exhausted after all this. We were both drained dry and empty of emotions.
I flopped down next to him. "How did we get into this mess?"
He shrugged.
Apparently, he didn't know anymore than I did.
Now I felt truly lost. We were both drifting, as if on a lifeboat out on the huge ocean. Neither of us were at peace out here. A storm is coming. And all I could do was hold my little brother tight and hope he wasn't thrown overboard.
My T-Phone rang.
Sighing, I reached over and picked it up. It was Casey again. Good, I had been meaning to tell him about the motorcycle theft and the snow. I answered. "Case-"
"TURN ON THE T.V.!"
We both jumped as Casey's voice came barreling through. I fumbled with the phone, attempting to bring it away from our ears, before putting him on speaker.
"Karai, you have to turn on the T.V., right now! Shredder, he did it!"
My heart seized with dread. By 'did it', that must mean he took drastic measures. Trust me, I know. This had been the last straw.
Rushing downstairs, I turned on the T.V.
"-Has definitely fled the city, with young Karai Oroku in tow. However, their two correspondents are still at large somewhere in New York City. One is troubled teenager Arnold Jones, but he goes by the name 'Casey.' The other is classmate April O'Neil, both notoriously reported to have strange behavior by some school friends. Here are pictures of the youths, and we have one of Saki's employees on air as a caller. Sir, you are on the air."
"Thank you, Miss Grody. That Jones kid attacked us just a day or two ago. Launched a surprise attack! I mean, we managed to fight him off, but that kid won't stop until we're all in the ground! We think they're plotting some sort of terrorist attack against us! We've doubled security, put in new cameras… all the works and then some."
"And it was the snake that attacked first?"
"We know the accident was near our building. He and his family have been out to get us since before he was even born! He was raised completely in bad blood!"
"Thank you Mr. Bradford, that was very useful information."
"Anytime, Miss Groady."
"If anyone sees Jones or O'Neil, or Miss Oroku, don't hesitate to call the police. We have a hotline set up for any sightings of the three. And we also have a second one for any snake sightings as well. If you see it, do not advance. We don't need any more incidents."
That was the last thing I heard before my brain seemed to turn off.
(April's POV).
Outside the bathroom door, Leo and Raph can't stop arguing.
"This is so messed up." Casey was saying into the phone. "We didn't even think about Shredder telling the news about mutants, did we?"
"Of course not! Because I didn't think he'd actually do it!" Karai shouted back, panicked and frustrated. She had been put in an even worse mood than I had ever heard her.
Personally, I felt trapped too.
Three days. That was all it took for us to lose Donnie, tear apart at the seams, and become wanted fugitives. Within only seventy-two hours, our world had evolved into something bearing resemblance to a nightmare. Now, Casey and I had locked ourselves in the bathroom to call Karai as fast as we could, and see if there were any escape options.
Leaning against the door, I listened as the argument escalated. I don't remember who started it, and I wasn't listening to what they were saying, but it had been raging on for a while now after we watched the news. Splinter wasn't even intervening, like normal.
"Why didn't he do that at the start?" I asked, absentmindedly. "If he just let the government handle all this, it would have been so much easier to take us down."
"You think he would just swallow his pride like that? No. He wanted to take you guys down in a blaze of glory, and add to his so called 'honor'. Clearly, though, he got fed up waiting."
Good point, Karai.
"Listen Karai, we have to get out of here. And you and Donnie should probably move too. After the venom incident, it would look way too suspicious." Casey explained.
Oh, right. Donnie had managed to poison several people by accident after traveling up to Northampton in a river, lacing it with venom.
"We can't! Someone stole my motorcycle yesterday!"
Casey and I groaned loudly. Since when were there thieves in that neighborhood?!
"There's gotta be something we can do! We're running out of options. We all have to leave, alone!" he shouted. Then, he had a new thought and his frustration only grew. "And what about the others?! They'll follow us for sure!"
Then, I had an idea.
"Karai, does Shredder own any other buildings besides his own hideout?"
She took a second to think, then answered, "Yes. A mansion."
"We'll pick you two up, and then we'll go there. After that, send the guys and Splinter to use the farmhouse. They'll be safe, too." I explained. "Casey and I won't say where we're going, so they won't follow us and find you and Donnie."
Casey watched me with fascination, and I could tell that Karai was listening carefully too.
"You… April, Casey, you'd do that for us?"
"I would do it a hundred times. We'll pick you two up in a few hours. Then we head to the mansion." I said. "Deal?
Karai chuckled. "To think… using Shredder's own place against him. See you in a bit."
The line went dead. I turned to Casey. "My dad has a van we can use to go get them. The others don't even have to know."
Casey was busy staring into the mirror. "Casey, we have to pack quickly-"
"I don't feel like this is a good idea." he said. What? What did he mean?
"We're probably wanted by the entire city by now! We have to go!" I said. And then he turned, and said very quietly, "I meant leaving the others here. In their state?"
Oh. He was right. We couldn't just abandon them all, this emotional. That would be a betrayal of the worst kind. They are in no shape to be by themselves, but we had no choice. We all had to leave. And then there was the task of telling them where we were going. They would want to go with. And we couldn't have them exposed to Karai yet. They wouldn't want her in the same room as them. Except maybe Mikey, but even that's a…
Wait…
"What about Mikey?" I asked before the idea could be swallowed away. Casey looked up at me, confused.
"He's been kinda okay with Karai right now, right? You said so yourself." I said. "I never thought I would say this, but if there's anyone we can trust with keeping our location a secret at the moment, it's him."
In any other situation, I would be laughing at myself. But our world is so messed up at the moment, all sense was thrown out the window. Especially after Shredder just revealed Donnie's existence to the entire world.
"That's… a good point. Yeah! That's actually a good idea, April!" Casey said excitedly, getting up and pacing the bathroom. "He wouldn't hesitate to help us!"
"Alright then, Mikey's our key out of the city." I said. "Why don't you tell Mikey our plan, and I'll go get the van?"
"With the whole city after us?! Maybe I should-"
"Casey, you're not just gonna ground me for that reason. I go, you stay here and wait." I said firmly after he tried to argue. There was no way he was gonna hide me down here and go have all the fun.
"You do realize our plan won't hold for long, right?" he asked, the nervous look coming back. "Sooner or later, they're gonna realize what we did."
"And we'll burn that bridge when we get there." I reassured. "Just tell Mikey to hold down the fort while we're gone, and once we're away from the farmhouse, it's all theirs."
"Got it."
I left the bathroom, crossed over to the turnstiles, and looked over my shoulder one more time. Leo and Raph were still caught in a shouting match, and were so engrossed that they didn't notice me whatsoever. I felt awful for them.
'Maybe Mikey can do something for them. I wonder where he is right now?' I thought.
It didn't matter. They didn't notice me leaving anyways. As I hopped over the turnstiles, neither of them gave me a glance.
And suddenly, as I ran for the nearest manhole cover, I had a wildly exhilarating thought.
'I'm about to see Donnie again!'
A/N.
Other than the fact that this chapter took way too long to write, I will admit, it's a bit of a mess.
But as I was thinking about it a bit deeper, it might be good that it's a mess, because the characters have been flung into a very messy reality. They have had a ton of stress piled onto their shoulders, especially in this last chapter, and it's unfortunately only gonna keep coming. They have to do what they can, and make difficult choices.
Trust me, it's a very relatable thing for me right now. I have had work just piled into my lap, and it's hard to meet everyone's expectations. And more than usual lately, I have been finding that I have to redo things to satisfy people, and it's quite disheartening after doing so much hard work. Hopefully, however, you are all satisfied with this chapter. And I apologize that it's late again. I will try to make sure that doesn't ever happen again. Now that I only have two stories to work on, that might make it easier.
That's all for now! Next chapter contains a reunion we all need…
But all good things come from patience, and we need to wait until I can speed back to this. And until then (once you're done with this chapter that is), leave a review, favorite, follow, and always…
Stay tuned! ;)