Disclaimer: I do not own the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; they are the property of Mirage Studios, Inc. I am only borrowing them for the entertainment of those reading this. Please don't sue me, I assure you—I have no money. The other characters are mine, please don't borrow without permission.
Chapter 2: A Promise MadePsyche:
"Good morning, sunshine!" Athena didn't look like she was in the mood, but I decided to try it anyway.
"Fuck off."
"I think you've been spending too much time with Raphael."
"It's not just Raphael."
"Things still aren't going well?"
"You could say that."
"I get the feeling lately that you could say more than that too."
Athena was staring blankly at the contents of the cupboard as though she were waiting for something in there to call out, "Pick me! Pick me!" I could have let the conversation die, but I didn't. She'd changed a lot in the short time they'd been with us, so I decided to push my luck.
"You shouldn't be so hard on yourself. They've been through hell and back the last few months. They're still just learning to accept. They've only barely started to cope."
She didn't respond, but she dropped her head and stared at the counter. Well, it had been a gamble. I lost. I put the dishes in the sink and headed to the doorway.
"I made a promise."
Well, I'll be damned. "You made a promise to whom?"
"Splinter."
"What for?"
"I promised that I'd take care of them, that I'd look after them."
"You're doing that."
"Not like I should be. I thought that training them would be a good thing, that it would help give them back something they lost. Now I'm starting to think that it was the wrong decision."
"Give it time, Athena. You're teaching them something so advanced that only the people who live here know about it. You're asking them to do things with their bodies, that up until you started training them, they never even thought were possible. That in itself would be huge even if nothing else had happened, but they're having to do it with bodies that they're not even comfortable doing the old stuff with yet."
"I know; I know everyone thinks I should back off them."
"I didn't say that."
"The thing is, this is the perfect time to train them. Rather than re-teach their bodies to be comfortable doing what they used to do and then having to re-teach them the new way, it just makes more sense to teach them the new way now. I have to teach mind and body at the same time. It would be too confusing to do it any other way."
"Exactly. You're doing the right thing, just cut them, and yourself, some slack."
"I can't."
Nemesis:
I walked into the kitchen and immediately sensed a serious conversation underway. I thought about walking back out, but decided against it.
"What are you two up to?"
"Athena's frustrated because training isn't going well."
"How so?" The look on Athena's face made me sorry I asked.
"Well, let's see…this morning was a complete fiasco to the point that we finished about 2 hours early. It's not like this was the first time that's happened either. Raphael and Leonardo are at each other constantly so you can't give them even 2 seconds alone with nothing to do or they're right at each other's throats. I started trying to train them individually in the afternoons, but Raph always gets pissed and storms out. Leo's frustration level is enough to make me want to pull my own hair out; Donatello is just disinterested in the whole thing. Michaelangelo is making the best progress, but only when he trains alone with me. As soon as I put him back with his brothers, it's just like we never accomplished anything. They don't listen; they don't even try. They all said they wanted to do this, but I'm not seeing it. I just don't know what to do with them."
"Well, that's easy. You don't do anything. You just keep doing what you're doing; they'll come around."
"And if they don't?"
"They will."
"Considering I'm the one that spends all the time with them, you sound pretty sure about that."
"Just call it a hunch."
"I don't like relying on hunches."
"Bullshit! You're the queen of 'going with your gut'."
"Yeah, my gut, not yours."
"Funny."
She really had changed; as upset as she obviously was, she still managed to joke. Only months ago she would have ripped someone's head off and stormed out. It was a nice change. Strange, but nice.
"So where are the boy wonders now?"
"Michaelangelo and Donatello are out running--"
"By choice?"
"No."
"Oooh, slave driver."
"I am not."
"What about the bad apples?"
"They're not 'bad apples'. They're just polar opposites. Anyway, I sent them to their rooms."
"Wow, slave driver and evil stepmother all rolled into one! I'm impressed!"
"Neme, shut the hell up." She shot Psyche a look to kill for snickering.
"Well, come on Psyche, we've got to get going or Iris will have our asses. Some of us do still have to work around here."
"Hey, anytime you want to trade, just say the word."
"Hmmm…straightening-out-serious-psychological-scarring-while-trying-to-teach-the-most-advanced-fighting-technique-ever vs. kicking-the-ass-of-low-life-scum-bags…yeah, catch ya later!"
"Bitch."
Athena:
They were laughing away to themselves as they left the kitchen. Damn them. I so wanted out of here, even for just a few hours. I felt the need to snap some jerk's neck. I hadn't felt that urge in a while, and it was strong. I needed to go let loose in the training room for a while this afternoon and burn off some steam.
I finally settled on toast for breakfast. I picked at it while I sat alone at the counter. I didn't get much time to myself these days, and yet I really felt alone most of the time. I was basically cut off from my sisters, who were off doing their own thing most of the time--and forget about the guys. They were too busy walking around like big, gaping wounds to be any company at all, really. Part of me just wished I could hug them and make everything better, protect them from ever being hurt again. Maybe that was what tore me apart; I was up against something I didn't know how to fix. There was no simple solution for this. They were in pain, there wasn't anything I could do about it, and it sucked.
I pushed the plate across the counter and laid my head down on my arms. Splinter would know what to do. And therein lay the problem: I wasn't Splinter.
Suddenly I had a light bulb moment. I wasn't Splinter. Splinter was gone and there was no replacement, no substitute. Yet that was exactly what I'd been trying to do. I was trying to be someone I wasn't because I didn't know whom, or how, to be. No wonder we were all failing miserably. I needed to talk to Rhea, but she wasn't due to contact us until tomorrow. I could wait until then.
"You okay?"
I snapped my head up off the counter; I hadn't even felt anyone enter the room.
"I'm fine."
"You don't look fine."
"Really, I'm fine." I looked at them standing in the doorway, soaking wet.
"How was your run?"
"Lovely. Did you know it's raining outside?"
"No, but I figured it was either that or you were sweating profusely."
Michaelangelo gave me a look to let me know he wasn't appreciating my humor.
"So what happened with Mr. Sunshine and his sidekick?" I smiled. He was always coming up with nicknames for those two.
"Which one's the sidekick?"
"Depends on who started it."
"Oh, they're up in their rooms."
"You sent them to their rooms?"
"Mmm-hmm."
"Wow; I bet that went over well."
"Actually, they didn't say anything."
"Well after you threw 'em both across the room I wouldn't imagine they'd say much. You NEED to teach me that move, by the way. You're not the only one who gets tired of listening to them."
"That's going to end soon."
"Are you going to let them kill each other?" Michaelangelo could be so rotten sometimes.
"No, not exactly." I could have been wrong, but Donatello looked a little disappointed.
"Yeah, well, good luck on that—Splinter tried to keep those two off each other's backs for years with no luck. I think part of them needs it."
"Well, that's the part I've got a plan for."
"Can we place bets on this?"
"No, Michael, there will be no betting."
"Aw, come on. It'll be fun."
"There's no gamble; I made a promise and I intend to keep it. Even if it kills me."