Waves a flag of victory. I FINISHED SNOW-COVERED MEMORIES! Cheers.
DISCAIMER: I don't own anything, except the title of the story and the title of the chapters and the story plot. Everything else, I'm just borrowing.
So, a few things to note:
Words in ITALICS are THOUGHTS.
Chapter 8: The shadows still clinging
"So?"
April had called together an emergency meeting. Everyone, except Leo, was there. Raph, as well, even though he was still impatient and pissed about what happened.
April sighed. "I don't think you guys really understand the situation here—"
Raph snorted at that, interrupting April for the second time. "What's there to get? Leo's afraid of us. So what? It'll go away—"
"It's NOT so what!" April snapped. "Leo isn't afraid of you—"
"Oh really?" Raph said sarcastically. "'Cause I kinda got the idea that he hid under the bed…"
"—He's terrified of you!" April stated, raising her voice to be heard above Raph.
Raph immediately shut up. "Wha?"
Mikey also looked at April surprised. "Terrified?"
"Yes terrified! He refused to come out while you were there, and still was shaking in fear after you all left! And this sort of thing isn't going to go away!" April yelled.
Raph gritted his teeth stubbornly at that. "Oh yes it is! We just gotta pretend it ain't there—"
"That'll just make things worse!"
"IT WON'T!" Raph roared over April, jumping up.
"But isn't Raph right?" Mikey asked timidly, his eyes wide. "The Shred-head's gone now, so everything will be fine, right?"
Don, who had been silent throughout the whole thing, now spoke up. "No. It's not okay. The damage is already there."
Raph snorted, making an irritated face. "Damage. What damage? Sure, Leo's banged up a lil', but—"
"A LITTLE?" April screeched. "HE'S MANAGED TO BREAK TWO RIBS AND AN ANKLE, NOT TO MENTION NEEDING A BLOOD TRANSFUSION BECAUSE OF ALL THE BLOOD HE'S LOST, AND IF THAT'S NOT ENOUGH, HE NEEDED A WHOLE BUNCH OF STITCHES BECAUSE MOST OF HIS CUTS ARE BONE-DEEP! I THINK THAT QUALIFIES AS MORE THAN A LITTLE!"
Raph crossed his arms, looking bored at April's outburst. "So? He's wounded. He can heal. He did so so many times before, didn't he?"
Don shook his head. "This isn't physical wounds Raph. It's mental wounds I'm talking about."
"Mental wounds. What kind of shit is that? Is Leo suddenly a retard or somethin'?"
Don shook his head harder, slamming his hands onto the table as he stood up. "You're not listening Raph!"
"Well maybe I don't want to listen! Leo's gonna be fine!"
Casey jumped up as well. "He ain't gonna be fine! You didn't see how he cowered in front of us jus' 'cause he spilt some damn trash! You didn't see how scared he looked jus' 'cause I raised my hand 'ta confort him! HE AIN'T JUS' GONNA BE FINE!"
But the fire in Raph's eyes was raging. They knew that he was refusing to believe it. They knew that what they were saying wasn't going to Raph's head.
Don threw up his hands into the air. "I GIVE UP! If you're so damn hard-headed, Raph, then I GIVE UP!" Don, at that, pushed back his chair and began to march to the door, when a voice rang out.
"SIT DOWN."
Everyone turned, shocked, towards Mikey.
Mikey was shaking from rage, his hands clenched into fists, and his eyes full of tears. "EVERYONE JUST SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN."
Don shakily sat down, quite unused to the sudden character change in Mikey. No funny jokes, no childish actions, just pure anger.
Raph stood still, silently challenging Mikey's newfound authority.
Mikey glared at him. "Sit your ass down, Raphael. I've had enough of your arrogance and shit for today."
Raph blinked in surprise as he numbly sat. Mikey just cursed. Twice. He, Raph, usually cursed.
Mikey was now glaring at them all. "You all bloody well act like it's all Leo's fault. But it ain't! Did we somehow forget that Leo gave up his bloody life and traded it for ours? Or does that somehow not matter? Did we somehow forget that Leo could've just run away whenever he wanted? But he didn't did he?"
Mikey paused for a breather before he continued again, his anger getting the best of him.
"Guess what? There's a window in almost every room in that goddamn apartment! There's a fire-escape ladder that he could've crawled down even if he was missing a foot. There's the staircase. We aren't that far up. Even a person without ninja training could jump out of a window and live with no broken bones. Leo could've escaped at anytime. But he didn't, did he? He stayed and figured out what the bloody hell was wrong with us and fixed it the only way he could. And how do we thank him? By throwing everything away that he did and blaming everything on him." Mikey's voice suddenly changed from anger to sarcasm. "Yes! It's all his fault that we're fighting! Yes, it's all his fault that we had to face the Shredder. It's all his fault that we beat the Shredder. It's all his fault we were abusive in the first place! In fact—" Mikey grabbed a random mug and threw it onto the floor, so that it smashed into a million pieces. "—That was Leo's fault too! Sure, it was just a mug and we'll blatantly ignore the fact that he's at the other end of the Lair and he was nowhere near the stupid mug, but we'll all forget that and blame it all on him!"
Mikey stopped, he was huffing now; the anger still being there, but not enough for him to continue.
Splinter slowly smiled, leaning back into his chair, a gleam of pride flickering in his eyes towards Michaelangelo. "I could not agree more." Was all he said.
Don, too, smiled slowly. "God we're so stupid! We're sitting here arguing instead of focusing on Leo. This isn't about us. This is about Leo. He's been hurt, bad. And instead of helping, we're doing the exact opposite! Making it worse!"
Raph, too, smiled, seemingly calm now. "Fine." He mumbled. "I don't like this, but I'm listening."
And for the first time in days, the tension that was so thick you could cut it with a knife, lessened.
(a week later)
Things were going smoothly. They had managed to work out a plan on how to deal with Leo. The first and foremost thing was for them to regain Leo's trust in them by showing that they will not abuse him.
But that had turned out to be the hardest step of all.
Mikey, after his little outburst had calmed down incredibly and was now more than willing to do anything to help his elder brother.
Raph, too, had a sudden change in character, much to the surprise of everyone. Instead of being rebellious and impatient with the whole thing, he did exactly the opposite. He calmed down and was actually patient with Leo for once, not fighting with him every chance he got like he used to.
April had become Leo's counselor, always trying to reassure him about everything. Telling him that they won't hurt him and that they love him.
Of course, Leo was still jumping at every small move anyone made, and he was always tense and ready to bolt, but slowly, ever so slowly, he began to relax around them.
And three more weeks slowly passed like that. With Leo progressing slowly, ever so slowly to recovery.
Sorry for the so brief descriptions and the hurried recovery. The last chapter will definitely be longer and more an in depth analysis of what Leo went and is going through. Smiles. Notice the 'went' word? And are you confused? You'd better be, because it isn't going to be about what you are thinking right now…
R&R PLEASE!
