Rating: T

Word Count: 1,768

I do not own TMNT.


05. Dark

"It's time," Saki said gravely, his gloved hand holding open the door.

Karai stood up, her eyes briefly flickering with fear before it was wiped out, like a stain off her expression. She stole a glance at the tanto in her hand one last time before it was tucked away and out of sight. Saki gave her a nod and they both left the waiting room.

Lining the hall were silent men with hard red masks covering their faces. Their spears rested perfectly parallel to the ground. Karai turned her head to look at their faces - the masks were smooth, crimson red, and had two dark points where instead of eyes were dark abysses, empty and staring. On their foreheads were black stamps of the clan. The paint dripped down their masks like inky tears frozen in time.

"Look only forwards," Saki said firmly, taking Karai's chin in one hand and turning her face away. Karai's eyes - young and wide - darted back to the men lining the wall. The masked men did not move, not the slightest shift of a foot or twitch of a hand. It was the deep breath before the plunge, the calm in the eye of a storm.

At the end of the hall was a door, and Saki brought them to a halt before they could enter. The man turned to his daughter, the leathery skin on his face crinkling in some semblance of a smile.

"You have made me very proud, Karai," Saki said quietly, placing a hand on her shoulder. Karai's heart skipped a beat and she straightened her poise just a bit. Father had always avoided praising her directly to settle any rumor of favoritism - in fact, if anything Karai had been tested harder and given less recognition than those who she knew were lesser ninja than her. But today - today Saki was recognizing her achievements, and today she would earn respect among her clan.

"I will continue to make you proud Father," Karai said confidently. "I promise." Her blood was raging under her skin. Whatever foe lied behind that door, she would bring it crashing down and come out victorious. This was what she was raised for, trained for, born for.

"You may not leave the room until someone comes to take you out. Leaving the room before the test is over means that you automatically fail. Am I clear?" Saki said sternly.

"Yes Father," Karai replied.

"Then you may begin," Saki pulled open the door and Karai stepped into the room.

It was empty.

Karai looked around in disbelief. It was small - almost suffocatingly so - with cold gray walls. A single, dim light hung from the ceiling.

And that was all.

"Father?" Karai turned around, but the door clicked shut and she was alone. Nervously, Karai moved so that she was underneath the light and draw her tanto.

"What is this?" she called out. The echo of the empty room was her only answer. Where was the enemy?

There was a showering of sparks that made Karai's heart jump into her throat. She had a split second to look up and see the light flicker - then it died. It was black, pitch black, and when she blinked she couldn't tell the difference between her eyes being open and closed.

"The lights went out!" Karai shouted. "I can't see!" A tightness rose in her throat, a desperate panic clawing its way out of her. She stumbled to the left and hit the wall. Using her hands, she felt along the wall until her fingers pressed against a door. She patted her hand against the wall until it ran into a knob. Her hand curled around it and she twisted it -

"Leaving the room before the test is over means that you automatically fail."

Her hand stopped before she could push open the door. A creeping dread took hold of her and she suddenly understood. Her hand pulled away from the knob and she stepped back. This was the test. Karai took in a few ragged breaths before she carefully sat down, folding her legs criss-cross and dropping her tanto in front of her.

And there she sat. Everything was invisible and everything was silent. It was nothing, and yet it was overwhelming. But she could do this. She could sit in the nothing for as many hours as they wanted if it meant she would pass. For thirty minutes she kept herself calm and waited.

Then the ticks began. It started with a single echoing tick of a metronome, played far too loudly over some hidden speaker. Karai flinched at the noise - the silence had made her ears sensitive. Another tick came, and another, and soon it became a rhythm. The rhythm was not so bad at first, but then it began to drive itself into her skull and all she could think was tick, tick, tick.

I can escape, she thought to herself. If I just jump up and go out of the door. The temptation was tantalizingly close, knowing that the door was just in front of her and it was unlocked. But that was the test - could she follow her orders through to the end? Could she conquer the mental adversary trying to chip away at her resolve?

Perhaps it was an hour, perhaps it was five, but eventually the metronome stopped. Then the flashing began. All at once the light turned back on, and it burned her eyes so badly that she cried out and covered them. It was over in a few seconds, before her eyes could properly adjust, and she was left back in the darkness. She waited in silent anticipation, counting the seconds to herself. And in a few agonizing minutes, the light flashed back on with a deafening buzz of electricity. This went on for a long time, and Karai nearly went mad each time waiting for the next burst of light. Karai wanted with all her soul to run out of the room, to escape this hell, but she couldn't. She had to pass. Finally, the flashes stopped.

There was the distinct clank of metal boots - a noise Karai had long ago learned to associate with the approach of her father, and then the door to the room opened. She shielded her eyes from the light. Her head throbbed and she wanted to scream from the way the tick, tick, tick still echoed in her head and the bright flashes still lingered at the edges of her vision. Karai stumbled to her feet, her pupils dilated and her heart bursting.

"The test is over," Saki rumbled. "You passed the first Dark Room."

All at once, Karai awoke, sweat gathering on her brow as she jerked out of bed. The room was dark, and for a moment she couldn't breathe. She was back in that room, with that tick, tick, tick and the flashing lights -

But no. It had been years since then, and now she was home with her real father and although her new family was still warming up to her, no one would ever force her back to the Foot and their horrible rooms and tests. That test had not been the worst by far, but it stuck in her memory because it had been the first, and at her young age she hadn't realized what the dark rooms were. They were designed to make you immune to torture by subjecting you to it in supposedly harmless amounts. Karai dug the heels of her hands into her forehead - somewhere in the back of her head that metronome still clicked on.

"Karai?"

Karai blinked a few times and suddenly saw that there was a timid figure in the doorway to the room who was watching her with concerned blue eyes.

"Leo," Karai sighed, her shoulders drooping. Leo's hand brushed against the knob of the door and his eyes flickered between the busted lock and Karai.

"How did you get in the spare room?" Leo asked.

"Little bit of lock picking," Karai shrugged. "I figured you wouldn't mind."

"What are you doing here?" Leo said in confusion. "I thought you said you didn't want to stay with us."

"I'm heading back to the old Foot headquarters before dawn," Karai quickly defended. "I only came to stay the night." Leo's mouth twisted into a frown and he drifted into the room, softly closing the door behind him.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Nothing."

"Karai."

"Nothing!" Karai snapped back, drawing her arms around her torso and glaring at Leonardo. Leo let out a quiet sigh and moved to sit on the bed beside her. The mattress sunk under his weight and for a few moments, there was a quiet, contemplative silence.

"Why don't you stay here?" Leo finally murmured. "With your family?" Karai didn't reply, just stared downward at her knees. Leonardo, seeing that that question would get him nowhere, quickly tried his hand at something else.

"Karai...you must have had some reason for coming," Leo stated, turning his gaze towards her and giving her that look that she hated so much. His big blue eyes were impossible to say no to.

"There were too many memories in that old church," Karai said reluctantly. "I needed to get away from them. Not that it helped. They just followed me here."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No."

"Okay."

Leo brought his arm around her shoulder in a gesture of comfort, his thumb gently massaging circles on her arm. They stayed like that, for how long Karai couldn't tell. It was a gentle sort of comfort that Karai wasn't familiar with, but she soaked it up and let it drive off the lingering thoughts of dark rooms.

"I hate him," Karai finally said, spitting out the words like they were a bad taste in her mouth. "He should be dead. He should be put down, like the fucking dog he is."

"I know," Leo sighed. "But what's the point? We won, and he's not a threat anymore. We'd just be feeding our own revenge."

"I should go," Karai said, pulling away. Disappointment shone clear in Leo's eyes.

"Are you sure this is what you want to do Karai?" Leo asked once more, pleading.

"Don't worry Leo. We'll run into each other soon enough," Karai flashed him a small, wavering grin. "We always do." Karai slipped her armor back on over her black underclothes. Leo watched with a slightly wistful expression, and Karai turned to leave. She paused in the doorframe, caught in a moment of indecision. A terrible idea took root. She turned to face Leo.

"He's still out there," Karai stated. "And he hates us more than ever. He still has a few resources left. A few people he can talk to. Do you really think we're safe Leo?"

Leo's expression shifted into an uncertain look, and Karai caught a glimpse of fear flicker in his eyes like a cornered rabbit. Her gut twisted because she knew she was manipulating his feelings. As she left, she told herself it was for his own good. Their family deserved to see Saki dead after everything he had done to them. She wasn't going to let anybody tell her otherwise.