A/N : Special thanks to pacphys for editing for me
Chapter 10 Of Dreams and Nightmares
What do you wish for Donatello? The mysterious voice floated through his dreams. What do you desire, Donatello? What will bring peace to your soul?
Not sure what the voice meant, Donatello answered it. "I don't understand, what does what I want have to do with peace?"
"It has to do with them," the voice answered. Donatello found himself on a granite outcropping of rock just above the ocean. It was no place he recognized. There were no buildings or familiar landmarks around him. The ocean was a bight sapphire blue, not the normal murky green of New York waters. There wasn't a sign of civilization anywhere. There was just these high lonely cliffs being gently caressed by the ocean.
In the water there played about a dozen mermaids. Donatello could hear the mermaids clearly as they cavorted, and dove into the foamy surf. Again Donatello felt the emotional tug he experienced around Lillian. He still didn't understand the emotions. Around the mermaids he felt secure, content. Like Raphael, Donatello found himself liking this feeling. Still he knew he needed to understand why he felt this way.
"You mean you don't know yet?" The voice asked amused. Donatello turned towards the sound to be confronted by his exact duplicate. Donatello's double was lounging on a sofa shaped rock watching his counterpart with a knowing grin.
Now Donatello knew that he must be dreaming. He stared at his doppelganger completely confused.
Donatello's double regarded him lazily. "You still don't get it do you?" His duplicate asked. "You have no idea why they move you. Why your heart races when you see them, and your blood flows faster at the very sound of their voices. Why before they say a single word, your very soul seeks to help them."
"Donatello nodded uneasily. "And I suppose you do?" He asked with a slight edge to his voice. "Who are you? Why do you look like me?"
The Donatello double laughed at that. "I am you, Don! I'm the part of you that knows, understands, and accepts them. Didn't you tell the others you felt torn in two?"
He had. All of them had described that feeling of being internally divided. As he looked at his double he thought it was an odd way to represent an internal struggle.
"Okay," Donatello said, throwing the challenge to his doppelganger. "Explain it to me then! Why are we compelled to help and protect them!"
His double gave a sly grin. "Because they help and protect us. They have since the beginning, and they will until the very end. They are a part of us, as we are a part of them. We've sung the same song since before we were hatched." Donatello still didn't understand. "Look again," his double suggested. "Look, then you will understand."
Donatello turned back to the ocean. Again he marveled as the mermaids played in the waves. Suddenly Donatello glimpsed a strange green brown algae covered stone floating in the waves besides the mermaids.
That a stone should be floating struck Donatello by surprise. This was strange even for a dream! As he watched, however, he saw a head pop up, and realized that it wasn't a floating rock at all. It was the biggest sea turtle he had ever seen. There was no way that this was a modern sea turtle. This dream turtle had to be from the time of the dinosaurs, when gigantic shelled sea reptiles swam alongside it's cousins liplurodon, and ichthyosaurus.
The sight of one giant prehistoric turtle was more than enough to fill Donatello with awe. Suddenly he saw another brown green shell, and another, and another. There were more and more of the giant turtles swimming alongside the mermaids. The mermaids were laughing and talking to the turtles as if they were old friends. They even grabbed hold of the reptiles' shells, hitching a ride. One mermaid was even so bold as to jump up out of the water and onto the turtle's back. She sat there as if he were her own personal floating island. Donatello could almost swear that the turtle was as amused with the situation as the mermaids were.
We've sung the same song since before we were hatched, his double had said. Now Donatello understood. This song, the song of the ocean came from his ancestors, those ancient giant sea turtles he saw below in the sea. This song, this genetically programed instinct was so deeply a part of them that it could not be denied.
"Accept it Donatello," he heard his double say. "Accept what you are. It is far less painful than rejecting it."
There was no way Donatello could argue with that. He saw what rejecting it was doing to Leonardo. Donatello closed his eyes, took a deep breath, then opened his mind fully to the song he heard in the distance, and he felt in his heart.
A wave of peace settled over him. He still didn't know anything about the mermaids, but he knew what his instincts told him. Mermaids were friends to the oceans, and to any who called them home. That friendship would extend to the decedents of sea turtles, even mutant turtles.
Friends His own instincts would demand that he treat the mermaids as friends. That they were to be trusted and helped. But help does not mean that you follow blindly obeying all they say. His double whispered into his mind. Help often means you do what is best for them, even if they do not desire it.
That knowledge freed Donatello like nothing else. This was why Michelangelo could order mermaids around, and contradict them, and if Michelangelo could do it, so could he.
'So Donatello, I ask you again. What do you wish for? What do you need to know?"
Despite the revelations of his instincts, dozens of questions came to his mind for the mermaids.
His double laughed heartily. "I should have known. We always want to know everything! Well Like sensei always says. There is only one way to know anything."
Donatello knew the end line to that particular proverb. "The only way to know anything is to learn it."
Donatello's double laughed again. "So wake up, Donatello. Wake up and begin to learn."
"Huh?" Donatello blinked suddenly awake. Gone were the high cliffs, and the ocean waves. He was back in the lair laying on the floor against the couch. Six inches away from his nose sat the mermaid Lillian.
That's....She's.....she's still singing! Donatello tried to remember what had happened. He and Splinter had heard her singing and had fallen asleep. Splinter was still asleep in his chair, and Raphael was still snoring next to him. None of that explained why he was awake now while she was still singing.
Unless it was because I wanted to learn about her, he thought. Wake up and begin to learn. Somehow that dream he had given them the ability to listen to Lillian's song now and not get bewitched by it. He was awake now, because the one thing that would make him comfortable around mermaids was learning about them.
Lillian finished her healing song, and gently kissed Michelangelo on the forehead. Michelangelo was sleeping so deeply he didn't even stir.
April was watching amazed. Had April allowed the mermaid in? She must have. The emergency exit to the lair had been secured every since Lillian's last visit. "What will that do for Mikey?" She asked softly as if she was afraid of waking the others. Donatello held absolute still so they would not know he was awake.
Lillian smiled down at Michelangelo. "Our singing stirs their blood and spirit. We can stimulate their bodies to heal faster. That along with the healing water will make him well very soon.
Donatello watched as April adjusted Michelangelo's blankets. Sure enough his injuries did not seem as severe as they had been before. With his trained scientific eye, Donatello noted that Michelangelo's breathing was no longer labored, but slow and even. Somehow Lillian's song had healed Michelangelo.
"What will it do to the others?" April asked.
Lillian sighed. "It is hard to say." The mermaid explained. "For those who are confused, their dreams will bring clarity to their hearts and minds. For Leonardo though," here she lowered her head sadly. "He is not confused. He knows what we are, and he fears it. I can touch his soul and I know his thoughts. He wishes to reject the forces that bind him to us, but in doing so he rejects himself."
"Leo thought he knew who he was," April said in that same resigned tone that Lillian used. "You and Mikey showed him that he didn't, and it bothers him. He likes to be in control of things, even himself."
Lillian nodded. I fear that if he chooses to reject what he is he cannot win this battle within. The only way he can regain the mastery of his spirit is to give it up. His dreams will be troublesome as that which is within him confronts him on his fears."
"It's not his fault that he doesn't get it," April said testily.
"I did not say that it was," Lillian explained. "He is at war with himself, and his dreams will reflect that internal struggle. He must–" Lillian suddenly paused and tilted her head as if to listen better.
"What is it, Lillian?" April asked.
"Something is wrong," the mermaid said with a worried frown. "I hear the song of another of my people, but none should be here. We have all retreated to the temple for security."
Donatello couldn't hear this other mermaid or could he? He closed his eyes again and relaxed, trying to find that place in his mind that the dream had shown him. The moment he found it he heard the song. It was a soft and uncertain copy of Lillian's healing song. It didn't carry Donatello away into a dream again. On the contrary, if he focused on the sound, they almost became words. Grow well grow strong brave warrior of the seas. Your sisters love you we rely on you to defend us, and we will protect you. Our hearts swim as one. We are joined by the oceans that gave us life. Be well my friend so we can swim the seas together.
"Sharks and eels! That child is going to cause waves of trouble!" Lillian said exasperated. Quicky she turned back to April. "My friend, I'm sorry to be so rude, but I must see to my younger sister. She is not supposed to be here above the waves. Especially not as such a dangerous time!"
"I agree," April said. "Go take care of whoever that is. With the Shredder after you it's dangerous for any of your people to be around."
"Thank you my friend," Lillian said. She leaped to her feet, gave Michelangelo one last kiss on the top of his head, then ran and dove for the pond. In seconds her legs were a tail again and she slipped into the water. Only the ripples betrayed that she had been there at all.
Even though Donatello was no longer mesmerized by the mermaids his instincts were telling him that he should help Lillian see to her unknown companion.
"Maybe I should go after her," Donatello said finally raising his head up to look at April.
"Don? You're awake?" April asked jumping in surprise.
Donatello nodded as he got to his feet. "In....in my dreams I said I wanted to learn more about Lillian, so I woke up. I heard what she said about someone being above the surface who shouldn't be. April, am I losing it, or am I right in thinking that she could use someone watching her back?"
April sighed, and smiled. "You must be reading my mind, because I was thinking the same thing."
Donatello nodded and grabbed his bo. "In that case I am going after her." Still on the floor Raphael began to stir.
"Huh? Go after who?" Raphael asked as he blinked and rubbed his eyes.
"You got your wish, Raph," Donatello explained. "Lillian was here. She just left! Come on!"
Instantly Raph was on his feet his sais tucked in his belt. "We're going after her?"
"She needs our help," Donatello said quickly. "I'll explain on the way."
"Wait a minute Don," April said, "what about Leo?"
Donatello sighed, and glanced up at Leonardo's room. "You heard what Lillian said about him. Even if he wasn't rattled by the dreams, he hasn't resolved his feelings about her. I don't want to risk him freezing up on us. We'll be fine. Come on Raph!"
Raphael gave April a questioning glance. With a long sad sigh, April nodded. Raphael shrugged then followed Donatello out of the lair.
Donatello was pretty sure he knew where Lillian was getting into and out of the sewers. He and Raphael were using a land route, but he knew that the underground river that fed water into the pond in the lair had an exit in nearly the same place they were going to. He and Raphael entered the tunnel that held the underground river. For the first time since he had been aware of the place he ignored the surge of adrenaline that always came with being so close to the place he nearly died. His only concern at the moment was Lillian.
The river had an exit by Pier 17. Above the river's exit was a storm drain where Donatello stood as he peered out into the night. As usual he did everything Master Splinter had told him about going above. He listened intently for signs of trouble, and looked around. There was nothing to see or hear. The only thing he could see was the river reflecting the night lights from the city above. The only thing he could hear were the waves gently lapping the shore. Slowly Donatello moved out of the storm drain motioning to Raphael to follow.
"I don't see anybody here," Raphael said. "How are we gonna find her?"
Donatello thought a moment. "I'm going to see if that dream I had taught me anything." Donatello said. He closed his eyes and tried to feel inside of himself where the dream had come from.
"You had some freaky dream about the mermaids too?" Raphael asked surprised.
Somehow Donatello wasn't surprised to hear Raphael say 'too,' "We can compare notes later. Let me concentrate now!" Again Donatello tried to find the place in his mind where the dream had come from. It took a few minutes, but eventually Donatello had achieved the mental state he desired. As in his dream he was connected into the link between him, his ancestors, and the mermaids. In that instant he knew that Lillian was closer than they thought.
Following that stranger inner prompt that only he could hear Donatello lead the way to one of the darkened narrowed streets of downtown. They caught up with Lillian on Whitehall Street. She was hidden in a shadow, watching as thirty of the new female Foot Tech Ninjas were trying to fish something out of the water."
"It has escaped again, mistress," One of the ninja women said, as the net came up empty.
Raphael tightened his grip on Donatello's arm as the leader of the female Foot chastize her warriors. "Fools! You're trying to capture something fishermen never see! You'll never trap her in a net!"
They're after the other mermaid. The one Lillian said is out here, Donatello thought. Again he glanced up at Lillian. She had not moved, nor revealed herself to the Foot. As long as the other mermaid was safe, Lillian would avoid the Foot.
"Don," Raphael whispered from behind him. "We gotta distract those girl Foot, and get them away from the water so Lil can dive in!"
Donatello nodded. "But we can't let ourselves be seen. The Foot would use us to catch Lillian. Donatello tried to think of a way to lure The Foot away.
Raphael was thinking too. Suddenly a wicked grin played across his face. "Stay here Brainiac," he said with a low chuckle. "I've got an idea." Before Donatello could ask him what he was up too, Raphael vanished into the shadows. Seconds later Donatello heard a distinct metallic clanging sound. The Foot women heard it, and went off to investigate. As soon as all The Foot were gone Lillian moved from her hiding spot. Donatello went forward to meet her.
"Donatello? What are you doing here?" she demanded.
"We're trying to help you," Donatello explained. "You said you had to find someone who wasn't supposed to be here above the water."
"But if The Foot finds us..." Lillian said uncertainly. She furrowed her lovely brow in thought. "No, I cannot allow you to be placed in such danger." She looked him directly in the eye. "Please, you and your brother must go home."
Donatello to his own surprise shook off the suggestion easily. "Sorry, Lillian, your own healing song fixed me and Raph. You said so yourself. You wouldn't be chasing Mikey off, and he wouldn't let you. You know you need our help."
"You are wrong, Donatello," Lillian said with a sigh. "I would try to chase Michelangelo off, but like you, he would choose to stand by my side."
"Then lets not argue," Donatello answered with a grin. He had won that argument. "Where is the other mermaid?"
Lillian turned her attention to the water. "She was by the entrance to your domain, but was chased here by The Foot Tech Amazons. They almost had her when your brother distracted them.
They were both gazing into the river water when they heard a new voice say, "Distracted no more." Before Donatello could react a Foot Tech Amazon planted a foot into his side, knocking him into the ground. When Donatello looked up two dozen female Foot Tech Ninjas were surrounding the pair.
"Yee Ha!" Raphael came from behind the Foot Tech Amazons, and began to attack. Keeping close to Lillian Donatello defended the mermaid, but he knew that they were hopelessly outnumbered.
To his surprise Lillian was not completely helpless. She had a pair of beautiful knives with mother of pearl handles. They weren't as long as Raphael's sai, but she wheeled them with deadly efficiency.
Together they managed to fight their way to Raphael who was fighting Foot Tech Amazons and having the time of this life. He was fighting back five of them three armed with manriki gusari, and two with swords. A sixth appeared wheedling a seven foot bo with a metal point on each end. She managed to get Raphael on the back of the head scratching him, and sending him over the railing into the water.
"Raph!" Donatello shouted out. He tried to move over to where he saw Raphael fall in, but the Foot Tech Amazons were too much for him. One almost clipped him with a battle ax , but Lillian's knives deflected it. In the next instant the ax came down for her, and Donatello knew that no matter how fast he moved he wasn't going to be able to block it in time.
The seconds slowed to an agonizing crawl as Donatello watched the ax blade move towards Lillian's neck.
Suddenly a sword blade came between the ax and Lillian. Surprised Donatello looked to see Leonardo calmly parrying a second attack with his other katana.
"Leo!" Donatello exclaimed amazed and delighted.
"Do me a favor, Don," Leonardo said as he tumbled out of the way, and drove back three Foot with a single slash of his katana. "The next time you go chasing mermaids, at least give me the option of saying 'no' before you go out without me."
Donatello smiled in answer, then more seriously said, "Raph went over the rail. We have to get to him!"
"Trying, Donny!" Leonardo answered back, but as usual with their dealings with The Foot, they were hopelessly outnumbered.
A glancing blow to the head made Donatello see stars, and drop to his knees. When his vision cleared he saw Lillian on her knees. The strange ninja female had her razor sharp rope around Lillian's neck.
"Surrender," the ninja said, "or watch her head roll off of these lovely shoulders."
Donatello dropped his weapon immediately. Leonardo held his blades as if unwilling to part with them.
"Do it now!" The ninja demanded.
Still Leonardo hesitated.
"Mikey will kill us if we let anything happen to Lillian," Donatello reminded his brother.
Leonardo sighed, and dropped his katana to the ground.
"Very sensible," The purple and black clad leader said. Then to The Foot Tech Amazons, she said, "take them."
As Lillian and the two ninja turtles were forced into the back of a truck. One of the Foot Tech Amazons said, "There is no sign of the third turtle, or the mermaid."
The young woman frowned and looked out to sea. "She is somewhere near, but we do not need her now. This one will tell us what we wish to know, or else her two little pets will suffer."
"I told you, you should not have aided me, Donatello," Lillian said sadly."
"It's all right, Lillian. Leonardo said. "I'd rather die then go back and tell Mikey we lost you."
Coming Soon: Sylvia
As his brothers and Lillian were being led away, Lillian turned back to the water and looked directly at Raphael.
Her gaze struck him like a blow to the head. Information began to flood his mind. It wasn't exactly words, and it wasn't really an emotion, but it was powerful, and it shook him to his soul.
Sylvia was to be protected at all costs. She was only a child. He was to keep her from danger until Michelangelo was able to take her home.