~ All right a new chapter I just typed up. I think I might know where I'm going with this, a friend is helping me with idea's :o) This chapter is longer than the last. Thanks for everyone who has read and reviewed so far, I'm glad you like :o)
"Raphael, where in the world have you been. Did you know we have been sitting here worried sick over you, we…" This was how it is, every time Raphael came home. Leonardo was playing twenty questions not giving Raphael a chance to respond. Reaching his room Raphael turned to face his brother.
"Look Leo," Raphael said. "We go through this every time I come home, you want to know why I go out?" Leonardo nodded crossing his arms. "It because I'm tired of us fighting and want to get away and that'll never happen as long as I'm around you."
"Raphael it's not like that…" Raphael interrupted his brother.
"Yes it is, it's the same thing over and over. I know it well enough I could sing it in my sleep," Raphael waited for Leonardo to say something but this time he remained silent. "Now I'm going to bed." Raphael slammed the door of his room, while Leonardo looked around and sighed. He saw a sleepy Michelangelo peeking around the wall and Leonardo gave him a small smile.
"Was that Raph?" Michelangelo asked half asleep. Leonardo nodded.
"Yeah, go back to bed," Leonardo said. Michelangelo disappeared going back to his room. When Leonardo crawled into bed, thoughts of the words Raphael and him exchanged earlier drifted through his head. All they ever seemed to do any more was fight. And they all seemed to be falling apart. Michelangelo tries to keep everyone together, but lately it just hasn't been working. Donatello has been holed up in his lab. Michelangelo brings him food otherwise he wouldn't have remembered to eat. What ever it is he was doing, he wouldn't tell the guys. He would always say, 'you'll see when I am done.'
Michelangelo was still as goofy as ever, but there would be times, Leonardo would find him sitting with a frown on his face. If Leonardo tried to find out what it was about, Michelangelo looks up and just smiles saying that it's nothing. Leonardo would nod and not press but he knew something serious was going through his brother's mind.
In the morning, Master Splinter would still hold practice but never forced them to go. Leonardo went every day while Raphael and Michelangelo came every so often. Donatello was lost since he's been in that lab hole. All night the only thing Leonardo did was toss and turn. When he heard Master Splinter up, Leonardo reluctantly got out of bed, only to have his warm feet hit the cold floor. A few minutes later he padded out and found Master Splinter in the kitchen.
"Was Raphael home late again last night?" Master Splinter asked. Leonardo nodded. "Maybe you shouldn't press on him so hard. He's going through a time, something in his mind that he has to figure out which he might not be able to do here."
"He goes out because of the fights, Sensei," Leonardo said sadly. "I'm just worried that one day he'll let down his guard, get caught by scientist or something might happen to him. That's why I press so hard." Master Splinter put a hand over Leonardo's.
"Let him go, my son," Master Splinter said softly. "Still love him as your brother yes, but let him go as I have."
"But it's so hard," Master Splinter nodded at Leonardo's statement.
"I know it is my son," Master Splinter looked out the door towards Raphael's room, then towards Donatello's lab. "Believe me I know." Both went to practice and were joined by Michelangelo, no Raphael. Practice lasted for about an hour and a half until Master Splinter announced that it was enough for today. Both brother's cleaned up and went out to find Raphael on the couch.
"Don't say it Leo," Raphael said right away putting a hand up. "I don't want to hear about how I should have been to practice today." Leonardo sat down next to Raphael looking at the TV.
"I wasn't going to say anything," Leonardo said. Raphael looked at him a bit surprised and looked over to Michelangelo for an explanation. Michelangelo shrugged and picked up a bag of chips that was left there last night. Happy for a little peace Raphael sat back, while all three watched TV for a little bit.
Watching his brother's on the couch, Michelangelo sat in the arm chair crunching chips. Normally he would have crunched them as loud as possible but with Raphael and Leonardo not fighting, he didn't want to split the peace. A movie was on, some action horror flick. It was one of those movies you see on TV that almost never came to video, all with bad acting, makeup and cheesy special effects. Speaking of cheese that sounded good. Taking the chips with him Michelangelo went into the kitchen and grabbed a few slices from the fridge, eating them as so.
"Wouldn't you rather that on a sandwich?" Michelangelo turned dropping the last slice seeing Donatello standing there.
"Whoa, dude, give me a heart attack," Michelangelo said putting a hand over his heart. Then he realized some thing. "Hey, you're out of the lab, are you done with whatever you were working on?"
"You could say that," Donatello said getting a glass from the cabinet.
"Well, where is it man, I'm dying to see it," Michelangelo followed his brother around the room. Donatello smiled slightly at his brother's enthusiasm then sighed.
"It didn't work," Donatello said and flopped into a chair. Michelangelo sat next to him.
"What happened, man?" Donatello laughed.
"Funny choice of words Mikey," Donatello looked at his brother. "That's what I was trying to do, is turn us all human so we wouldn't have to hide from the world or be afraid of how people will react." Michelangelo's mouth gaped open. "Close your mouth Mikey," Donatello chastised softly. Michelangelo closed his mouth and looked towards the living room.
"What happened?" Michelangelo was happy as he was but to not have people look at them and think freak. That would be a relief.
"Well, just as I thought I was finished putting the final components in, I heard a fiz and saw that one side of the machine was glowing," Michelangelo nodded waiting for his brother to go on. "Then there was a flash and the machine split into a billion pieces all across my lab." Donatello looked ready to smash in the kitchen table as he stared at it. Michelangelo put a hand on his brother's back.
"Eat cheese," Michelangelo said. Donatello looked at him puzzled.
"What?"
"Eat cheese," Michelangelo insisted. "You'll feel better." Donatello looked at his brother like he grew a third eye then laughed. Nodding he took a piece of cheese from Michelangelo and ate it. Both smiled, Donatello because Michelangelo had just made him feel better, and Michelangelo because he was hoping that Donatello wouldn't hole himself back up in that lab.