Warning: Everything?
Author's note: It took a long time since I need to jump off the cliff many times to visit the darker side of myself, and here it is.
Again, some conversations are from LoU script.
He was curious, as usual.
Aaaand he happened to know the best turtle who was willing to give an answer (or he would bug him until he got what he wants anyway).
He was cooking (or trying to) because Splinter was busy educating Raph and Leo not to destroy training weapon in the dojo. Cooking wasn't that hard. He didn't even need a stove because, well, it was like instant meal? Who really wanted boiled algae? Boiled or not, the taste was the same, and to him it was perfect.
But this time Donnie insisted it should be boiled, or in his word, "pasteurize", which made no sense to him but well, if Donnie wanted it that way he would try it. Donnie told him do not eat raw food or he would get sick, but he ate it and it was okay. It was fine!
"Hey D-D."
"First of all, don't call me like that. It's too girly," Donnie said without looking at him; he was busy reading, again. Ugh. "and second, don't swing a ladle like that. I like my book and table clean, okay?"
Mikey shrugged, putting the ladle back into the pot. "Okay D. Can I ask a question?"
"About what?"
He tapped his chin, pretending to think since it made him look less a fool. "You know, Algae is green..."
Donnie closed his book and turned full attention to him. "Wait. I'm not going to regret whatever I have to answer to you, right? I told you it must be boiled before eating."
"Have some faith, D! This is important! I'm just curious..." Mikey said cheekily. He even tapped his chin and his brother still didn't take him seriously. Oh well. All joking aside, Mikey cleared his throat, hoping his question would be acceptable. "We have green skin too. Do we eat green things to stay green?"
He was failed to convince Donnie somehow because his brother gave him a blank look and answered in bored tone. "Is that metaphorical question?"
"Huh?"
Donnie sighed. Apparently he was used to Mikey's silly question and didn't mind to answer, as long as Mikey's willing to listen. "Well then, no Mikey, we don't need to eat chlorophyll-containing organisms to have green skin. Besides, I know sometimes you consume rotten stuff that aren't in green color, or used to be green, and yet you're still green turtle."
Ooooh, that made sense but… "But my skin is lighter than yours. Because I ate other things?"
"That's not how it works." Donnie raised his eye ridge. "Why don't you tell me where did you get that idea? Saw it on TV?"
"Um, umm, kinda." Mikey scratched the back of his head, totally forgot to act cool. "It's a commercial saying you are what you eat. People above don't eat this everyday like us. They have sooooooo many things to cook." Mikey glanced at the pot and sighed dramatically. "If we have food like them maybe we'll change? To be or not to be turtle?"
"'You are what you eat'? Hmm… yeah I saw it a few times." Donnie crossed his arms, thinking. Then he grinned. "Don't take it literally. We don't eat algae to be turtle. If you eat cockroach then you'll turn into one? "
He gulped. "Raph'll hate me..."
"I'm joking, little bro" Donnie laughed, before turned into one of his science-thingy mode, which usually meant he was serious. "You are not what you eat. You are what your body is capable of digesting. What you eat doesn't change what you are. Well, physically it does, but that's just it."
Mikey nodded as he began to understand it. So he could eat everything he wanted. Everything. But before he opened his mouth to reply, Donnie continued.
"But I suggest we boil algae soup before we eat so I don't have severe diarrhea like last week."
"But it tastes terrible! And the soup's thick!"
The bickering continued until Master Splinter came in, and they had algae soup for the first time.
He must admit it; it didn't taste as bad as he thought...
Their eyes met for a millisecond, then hell broke loose.
"Shoot him!"
One of them shouted as the turtle moved away. The sickle flew fast but the aim was poor since the blade missed his face by a mile. Something wasn't right. David had witnessed how Mikey fought before. His attack was vigorous, swift, and never miss the target.
Maybe he's injured. Or better, he's afraid.
But his prey was still too fast. He lost the sight of him, but he heard a cracking noise somewhere behind the counter. His prey was hiding.
David covered his face when a purple smoke bomb flown at them. They coughed and curse for a few moment. Mark was the first one to recover. "Damn. That creature's full of shitty tricks."
Don't worry. He's just a kid. David thought, And he's afraid of us.
The light from candles gave them some advantage. David could see the shadow moved behind the tables, though he didn't hear anything. Mark and Robbie went to the left, trying to block the exit.
"I know you're in there." David said, loud enough for all of them to hear.
They looked at him questionably, but David signaled them to continue the hunt while he was taunting his prey. He was very good at manipulating the young one to do what he wanted. He would use his gift to bring his prey out.
"You're easy to track. So what now? You're goin' to hide in there forever?"
David paused for a moment, scanning the entire room to find any movement. His shoe caught a broken glass bottle on the floor where his prey was a few minutes ago. Then he came to realization. David grinned.
Michelangelo was afraid, and truly lost.
"Oh, hey, the medicine. I'm sorry I forgot. I truly am. Who's he, or she? Must be your family, otherwise you don't be so determined to get it." He swabbed the glass pieces out of his way with his foot. Children were so easy to deceive; they were so naive, always believed everything he said. Family, safety, food, all that he could offer to make them come with him. It was always easy.
"Ah, you don't have to worry about your family. We'll take care of them. 'Cause we'll find them for you. Let them join with you, only after we finished what to do with you. I hope you take comfort in knowing we won't waste any part of them."
Suddenly, he heard a sharp intake on the right. Michelangelo easily fell into his trap. Kyle didn't miss it and started shooting again. His prey scrambled from the hiding place and ran out to another room. David could only see a glimpse of his grey cloak.
Mark said in the low voice. "That room's dead-end."
David gestured them to go inside. Robbie pushed the door open with his gun, taking a careful step into the room full of lighted candles, then he saw the tail of grey cloak lying on the floor behind the table. He swallowed and walked closer to take an aim.
"-fuck!"
He turned, and the first thing he saw was a lighted molotov threw at him from another direction, Mark yelled to warn his friend but it was too late. The bottle hit Robbie's face and he was immediately caught on fire. The man screamed and tried his best to run out to the snow. David and Kyle couldn't see the target, but that didn't stop them from shooting madly and hoping they would hit something. Mark ran to yank the cloak, but the piece of cloth was just a bait. The turtle was gone. David saw the row of candles fell as the moving shadow hit the table. At the corner of his eyes, he saw it ran out. He must admit, the cornered dog, no, the cornered turtle was still cunning even though it was outnumbered. Annoyed that he was tricked, David ran after it. Kyle and Mark were coming after him. Then he heard the explosion.
He should have known that the dead-end room usually used as the weapon rack. There were molotov and bombs inside, and the guard was probably too busy to check if the candles had been put out before going out, so it was only the matter of time. But what made him angry was that Michelangelo lured them into the room and tried to kill them! His head was still ringing, and his body refused to follow his command, so he just lied for a short while waiting.
But maybe he was wrong. As he pushed himself up, he looked back and only saw Kyle and Mark in the burning room, not moving. He turned to look at the open door outside. The body of Robbie was still burning, presumably dead. Not far from him, he heard a groan from the slumping green shell. It looked like Michelangelo didn't plan this explosion beforehand and was lucky that he got out of the room in time.
Gosh, this kid's such a trouble...
The entire cabin caught on fire. He saw the fire already went to the walls and ceiling. He had to act fast. Pushing his headache aside, David caught his ankle and his prey yelped. He quickly crawls on top of him, punching and pinning him down.
"Fuck! I...I wish you hadn't killed them. All those people you killed. It's just gonna make our group stronger. Fewer mouths to feed. Stronger survivors!"
He was going to hit again when his prey threw a weird chain-stick at him. David blocked with his arm, he couldn't help but scream as he felt like his arm was broken. Like adding fuel to the fire, he backhanded him hard and got up to kick him in the ribs. His prey cried out.
"S-Stop!"
He didn't. He went through all troubles just to keep his pet here, and now his pet turned out on him, killing his own men, so David had a right to be furious. He kicked and stomped and beat down the creature until he knocked his prey unconscious, lying still on the floor.
He felt like he was beating it forever until he was satisfied. David panted as he used his good arm to grab the gun and aimed at his pet's head.
"I know you're not infected. No one who's infected fights this hard to stay alive." David kicked his pet's arm to see the bite mark. It looked real, but then again, Michelangelo probably got bitten by something else. Yes, he remembered he was deceived by the bite mark. Whether it's real or not, it didn't matter anymore. "I gotta admit, you had me back there. For a second, but only for a second. Ha!"
Time to put this pitiful creature out of misery.
"I promise to be quick. Promise."
The footsteps at the door interrupted him before he could pull a trigger.
At first, he didn't turn, thought it was his comrade came to help him. Hell, he didn't care if Robbie woke up from dead. Of course his people would hear the explosion and come to see what happened. But when he heard a heavy breathing, he glanced back to see who it was. To his surprise, he saw a boy covered in snow leaning against the door. All children were evacuated, he was sure, but when he spent a few moments to look at the mysterious boy he saw the familiar green skin, bald head, and dark blue eyes wide.
David tilted his head. This strange creature kept coming to him. The boy looked completely different from Mikey, in fact, this turtle could barely stand. It had to use a weird-looking sword as a cane or else it would fall. Snow covered his head and shoulders, legs shaking, and the wound on his side looked serious. It looked like this turtle was injured before coming here. David thought, what's the reason for it to walk a long way in this state just to come here?
Then he remembered another turtle lying on the floor behind him. It didn't take long to make an assumption. David grinned.
"Ah… What do we have here?" He said with arms open as if to welcome the new turtle. "Another one?"
He couldn't tell if the turtle was still in shock to see him and his prey on the floor, or see the whole building was burning, or both. But when he spoke, it turned his head to face him, trying to be intimidated even in the worst shape. That made his grin even wider. So Michelangelo trade with him to get the medicine… for this turtle?
But when the turtle saw what behind him, it gasped in horror at the sight of another turtle lying still, not moving. David was pleased to see that he hit hard enough to take Mikey down for once (seriously, turtle was supposed to be slow, not jumping around like a rabbit). The turtle tried to call out, but his voice was too hoarse. David stared as it took a pathetic step, hand reaching out for the one on the floor. It was such a heartbreaking scene, but he didn't want to be a part of it. He was sick of their existences and didn't want any of them in his town anymore.
He kicked Michelangelo hard, and the turtle's head snapped back at him.
"You come this far for a little one? Here he is." David sneered. "I'll make sure you both stay here, forever."
An enraged fire radiated from the turtle, and to its credit, it slowly held the sword up. Without the support, its legs were shaking even more. The whole body was swaying and trembling in pain. This turtle was in the weakest state and David was sure that a single push from him would be enough to kill it. He knew that such an intelligent creature was aware that it couldn't win.
But it didn't back down. He saw a fury fire in those blue wide eyes. It was so different from his prey. This turtle took a hell trip through the blizzard to come here, and despite its injury, it still wanted to fight.
Ah, how he loved to extinguish that fire in the boys...
The excitement from the past conceived from the depth inside. Yes, if they were human, he would enjoy every last bit of them until he threw them away. Taking pleasure from the youth was like drinking from Holy Grail that extended his life in this wasted world. It was the only joy he could get from this world. David suppressed that feeling, telling himself he had to kill them eventually.
"You..."
Finally, it spoke, breaking his train of thoughts in process. Its voice came out as a hoarse whisper, more mature than his prey.
"What did you do…?"
It sounded intimidated, seeping with anger. David chuckled, Like I have to explain to you. Instead, he raised his gun and pointed at its head, making it as quick as possible so he would go back to his group and tell them the nightmare was over. Those creatures were dead, and they would live to fight another day. The turtle startled at his action but it didn't fail to point the blade back at him. If it wasn't injured, it might have a chance, but David knew it couldn't even handle the weight of the sword because now he saw its entire arms were shaking visibly.
His attention was completely on the fragile turtle in front of him that he forgot another one on the floor.
He heard Michelangelo groaned, and then a whisper calling a name.
"Leo?"
Damn, he was certain he hit it hard for good. He didn't think it would wake up so soon.
But he didn't have a chance to look down at Michelangelo as he felt as if a lightning strike hit the entire body, then his vision turned upside down. He fell hard, head hitting the floor and gasping for air, the flame on the ceiling greeted him. He heard a ringing noise mixing with a shout.
"Don't touch him!"
He couldn't believe the turtle he shot and hit several times, dropped dead at his feet a moment ago, was turned into an angry ball of flame and exploded right at his face. David was wriggling, making a gurgling sound because he felt like his lungs were cut off and he couldn't breathe. He shot him, but once again Michelangelo turned into a green blur. He tried to get up and untangled himself from the chains, but his prey stomped on his chest and screamed at the top of his lungs.
"Don't touch him! Don't touch him! Don't you dare touch him! Kono yarou!"
He shot again, but it was terrible aim. Then someone wrestled his gun away. Something sharp hit his face and he screamed, then his world was no more.
Mikey was going to shut down himself because it hurt too much to stay awake. David surely did a number on him that he couldn't even open his eyes. Then he heard a familiar voice.
"What did you do…?"
He heard David chuckled, and when he opened his eyes again, he saw the gun pointed at someone at the door. Mikey tilted his head to get a better look, and his mouth hung in shock.
"Leo?"
Leo was here. His brother looked terrible but he was here. Mikey wasted no time to get up. Leo was awake, finally! But then he realized David was aiming at his big brother, he felt his blood runs cold.
No, no, no! He's gonna kill Leo!?
I-I can't lose him again!
Something inside him snapped, and the full blast of wrath flooded in from somewhere in the back of his mind.
He lied to me. He tried to kill me! Lying! Human lied to me! He tried to kill Leo!
Kusarigama responded fast as if it was a part of his mind. As his weapon transformed, He threw the chains to wrap around David's neck and yanked it hard enough to take the full-grown adult down on the floor.
"Don't touch him!"
David snared. Even if he was strangled on the floor, he still tried to shoot him. The sound of bullet ringing near his ears made him even more violent. He went Raph-out, stomping on the man's chest and was going into berserk mode. He hit the man hard enough to crack his skull.
"Don't touch him! Don't touch him! Don't you dare touch him! Kono yarou!"
But David was still fighting him. This disgusting human was so persistent on stay alive. Then Mikey felt the Kusarigama wasn't enough, so he reached for the katana at his waist.
David screamed in pain as he first planted the man's face with the katana. Fresh torn apart, blood splashed everywhere, he would hack his face open until David stopped. The katana wasn't the best weapon for slashing since it was made for stabbing, but at this point he didn't care. He just wanted David to stop… stop squirming, stop screaming, so he couldn't hurt Leo. He would make sure David couldn't get up and hurt anyone again. He hacked and slashed repeatedly because he was afraid that if he stopped, David would get up again.
"-key! Mikey! Stop!"
No! I can't! I won't! I… I...
He felt someone walked pass him and then another katana pierced through David's throat. Mikey flinched at the gurgling sound. Blood bubbled out from the stab wound.
Suddenly, his world stopped spinning. Mikey began to feel his pains back; he was hurt, tired, drained. The katana in his hand weighed like a ton and he couldn't lift it up anymore.
He slowly turned his head to his big brother, feeling like he was seeing him for the first time. Leo's eyes were narrowed, rigid, and burned with cool hatred. Then his brother pulled the katana back, leaving blood trails on the body beneath him.
"He's dead, Mikey." Leo said quietly.
He didn't know why Leo needed to state the obvious. Of course he was dead, and if he wasn't Mikey was going to make sure he stayed dead. Maybe he needed it. He needed Leo's confirmation that David was really gone so he could stop.
Mikey looked down at the bloodbath under him. Strangely, he felt numb. He couldn't feel anything at all. He didn't even know that he already dropped the katana and Kusarigama. Then he flinched when Leo tapped his shoulder, he turned to look at him in the eyes, not caring if Leo would saw blood smeared on his face.
"Kuwareru…"
The word came out. Leo frowned when he heard it because it didn't make sense but he didn't give a comment. There must be a reason behind this madness. He was wisely waiting for his little brother to calm down.
Then Mikey whispered the same words over and over.
"Kuwareru… tasukete nii-san…"
"…Mikey, come here..." Leo embraced him, wincing a little when Mikey touched his wound unconsciously. He silently patted his back and soothed him. "Ochitsuite..."
They said no more. Leo wouldn't move an inch until his little brother's nightmare was gone.
Note: Kuwareru = (He) is going to eat me, (I'm) going to be eaten.
Kono yarou = You bastard!
Nii-san = Big brother.
Ochitsuite = It's okay.
