Chapter Fourteen

Day Three

My mouth couldn't form any other words. I just kept repeating her name over and over in my head. She was only inches from me now. Her pale skin shined brightly under the red and orange sky, and the scent of hibiscus flowers floated on the wind. She was so young, so beautiful. That is how I remembered her; that is how she looked the day she left me. I wanted to touch her face so badly, my fingertips started to ache. I tried with all of my might to lift my hands, but I couldn't. I lowered my eyes to the ground, and I felt too ashamed to look at her anymore.

Another passing breeze made me lift my head, and I could see the scenery around me had once again changed. We were away from the city, sitting on the vast green hillsides where Linda had taken Saki's life. She sat across from me, her head was bowed, and her palms were pressed together. I did the same, and we lifted our heads back up and stared into each other's eyes, and I could feel my mouth begin to move.

How did you find me here?

She blinked her long eyelashes a few times. You do not know?

I shook my head in response.

I've been here. This is where I have been staying. Locked away in the back of your mind.

I felt confused once more. I don't understand. If you have been here all along, why didn't you find me before this?

She lowered her head. You didn't want me to. I've had to fight my way through the darkness to come here. You hold a lot of hatred against me.

I too lowered my eyes to the ground, feeling shameful again. The ache I had felt in my chest began to start, and I suddenly felt completely disgusted with her. She was the one who turned against us! She was the one who joined the Foot! She was the one let Shredder take the life of her father! She told me she loved me, then she betrayed me. And that hurts me more than anything.

Leonardo, please!

I look back up at her, and I can feel the fire burning in my eyes.

I never meant for things to happen like they did. I wanted to help. I just wanted -

What about what I wanted? I wanted us to be together! I wanted you to always be at my side! I could feel the ache in my heart increase, and the pain shot through my body. I just wanted to love you! Was that too much to ask! I buried my eyes into my palms as tears flooded my eyes.

I was so hurt by what you had done to me! I wanted to forget everything, but I couldn't! I couldn't because I loved you. And now because of my heartless actions, not only did I lose you, I lost myself. I don't even know who I am anymore!

I could hear my cries echo around me, but I could not stop my tears from falling.

I felt so alive when I was with you, and now I'm dead inside. I wished every day that I would die just so I wouldn't have to feel the pain in my heart. I want to feel alive again! I want things to be good again. Please-

I then heard myself say the words I had been hearing in my dreams for years, realizing only now that they had been from my own lips.

Please, Linda. Please don't hate me for what I have done. I love you. I love you.

The tears flowed out through my hands like water running down a fall. I don't ever recall crying so much in my life. I soon felt the pain ease up and as I lifted my head back up, the ruby eyes of the dragon were staring back at me. As my wet eyes went farther up, Splinter and Angie were standing before me. I closed my eyes, and I felt a calm rush over me. My head was clear. My spirit was strong. I was reborn. All of the hate and anger I had held inside of me was gone, and I smiled, which is something I haven't done in a long time. I opened my eyes and stood up, looking around at the light blue that surrounded us. I bent down and retrieved the sword, remembering how it had burned my hands in my dreams. Angie smiled and pointed as a small child with long black hair rushed up to me. I placed to the sword into her open hands, and I placed a kiss on the top of her head. She smiled back, then slowly vanished as she ran away.

I turned back to Splinter and Angie, and bowed to them. I don't know if I would have made it back if not for them, and I will be forever grateful. They, in turn, bowed to me, then also slowly disappeared into nothing.

I sat back down and placed my palms together, preparing myself to wake up. I now know what I must do. I must fix what I have broken. My brothers need me back in their life, and I need Linda back in mine.

Donatello didn't know what to do. He was standing in front of Angie's apartment door, and he couldn't decide if he should knock, or turn around and walk back down the stairs. It had been three days since they had spoken, and during that time, Donatello had done a lot of thinking.

The night of the barbecue, Leonardo had locked himself into his bedroom, and no one had even bothered checking on him. Raphael made it very clear that he didn't care anymore, and Michelangelo was too busy taking care of his pop star patient. Only Donatello was starting to worry about the state of his oldest brother, and was beginning to think that Angie had been right.

Leonardo had been reaching out to them for so long, and they had been a few years too late. Leonardo had hit rock bottom, and Donatello seemed to be the only one who could feel the strain between him and his brothers. Leonardo had been their rock, the one who had kept them together, and without him, Donatello knew the family was falling apart.

He took a deep breath, then brought his closed fist to the door, only to jump back in surprise as Angie appeared.

"Don," she said with a tired sigh. Donatello stared into her face and noticed the dark circles under her eyes.

" Have you been getting any sleep lately?" He asked, feeling very concerned, but held back the urge of holding Angie in his arms.

Angie replied by shaking her head, then walked away from the door, leaving it open. Donatello hesitated at first, but then slowly walked in and closed the door behind him. He found Angie sitting on the couch with her cat Charlie in her lap. His loud purr bounced around in the small apartment as Angie stroked his fur. Angie looked up, then back down at the cat.

" Sorry, I'll go put him in my room," She started to stand up, but Donatello raised up his open palms.

" No need to. I took an antihistamine before I came over." He moved over to the coffee table and sat down on it, then looked into Angie's tired eyes. " Look, I need to apologize about the other night. It was wrong of me to yell at you like I did."

" Don, you don't have to do this." Angie lowered her head.

" Yes, I do." Donatello then took Angie's hands into his. "Leo has been falling apart right before our eyes, and we just thought that he could pull himself out of it, like he always does. We just never knew how bad he had become, and now, well, now I feel guilty about it all."

Angie sighed again, and let out the yawn she had been holding in. " Please don't feel guilty, Don. You didn't know. But Leo is fine now. You'll see him tomorrow."

Donatello pulled back and let go of Angie's hands. " What? How do you know that?"

Angie placed Charlie down onto the tan colored carpeting and watched as the cat jumped up to the windowsill. She then moved over and patted the couch cushion, motioning for Donatello to join her.

"How long have we known each other?" She asked as she took Donatello's hands back into hers.

" Two months, eight days and," He glanced down at his watch. " And twenty two hours."

Angie couldn't help but laugh. " Okay. But anyway, how much do you really know about me?"

Donatello rubbed his chin with his left hand. " I know your middle name is Calista, which means 'most beautiful one' in Greek."

Angie blushed a little. " What else?"

"Your favorite movie is The Labyrinth, because you are also a huge David Bowie fan."

Angie's smile grew a little more. " Go on."

" You hate Oriental food, but you like sushi." He said as he stuck out his tongue. " Your favorite flavor of ice cream is mint chocolate chip only because you like the color green. You love watching the sunset, taking walks in the park, and you hate to clean your apartment."

Laughter again came from Angie's mouth. " And?"

" You broke your big toe when you were five. You graduated high school a year early. And on a dare, you once ate an entire bowl of raw cake batter for ten dollars."

"Anything else?"

" Oh, and your astrological sign is Pisces."

Angie laughed harder at Donatello's last comment, then shook her head. " You really do know a lot about me, don't you?"

"As much as you have told me, anyway." Donatello shrugged.

Angie nodded then began to bite on her lower lip. "Well, there is something else I need to tell you,"

Donatello felt a little wary, but then he squeezed Angie's hands. " What is it?"

"You remember when I told you that my family has psychic abilities, right?" Angie watched as Donatello nodded, then continued. "Well, there is a lot more it than that." She released Donatello's hands and moved over to her small bookcase. When she returned to the couch, Donatello noticed she had a Greek Mythology book in her hands.

"You've heard of Circe, right?"

Donatello thought back to his childhood when he had read the book The Odyssey by Homer. " Yeah, she was a witch. She transformed Odyssues' men into pigs, and he then stayed with her for a year so he could learn how to defeat the Sirens and the monster Scylla."

Angie nodded as she turned to the page in her book and handed it to Donatello. " That's right. She was also the daughter of the sun God Helios, and she poisoned her husband so she could escape him."

Donatello read over the short description, then looked back up at Angie. " Right. So, what does this have to do with you?"

" Not everything in the world of mythology is entirely myth, Don," She lifted the pages to the very back cover of the book, then turned it around so Donatello could see what she was pointing at. "This is my family tree."

Donatello first found Angie's name, along the names of her three brothers, two sisters and her parents. Above them were the names of her grandparents, then great grandparents, and so on. He noticed that the dates kept going farther and farther back until they reached a period of time that made his nerves jump.

" Ang, this goes back to four hundred B.C.! How can this even be possible?" Donatello asked, making Angie very aware of the shock in his voice.

" Circe was a real witch, Don. She actually existed. My family is directly descended from her bloodline."

Donatello closed the book and handed it back to Angie. " That's impossible!"

" Just listen. When Circe killed her husband, she fled to the island of Aeaea, where, like you said, she met Odysseus. But she had other men that came to that island. And one of them was a creature that was half cat and half man."

Donatello's eyes grew. " A mutant?"

Angie nodded. " Yes. He had extraordinary mental powers, and together, they passed down their abilities to their children, who passed it onto their children, and so on. Their blood flows through my veins."

Donatello couldn't believe what he was hearing. " This, this is just, SO over my head, it's not even funny! But what does this have to do with my brother?"

"Years ago, when I was seven, my great-grandmother, who was a gypsy with a very strong psychic mind, told me that Fate had chosen me to save the broken spirit of a creature who was in great pain."

"A turtle creature?" Donatello interrupted.

"Yes. And for years, I thought that she was crazy, until I came into my power when I was thirteen, and I too had visions of the creature. I could feel a great sadness radiating from him, and I had made it my quest in life to find him."

Angie sighed as she saw the disbelief in Donatello's eyes, but she continued on.

" When I met you, I thought I had found the one I was looking for, but I couldn't see anything there. It was when I met Leo that I knew he was the one. For the past three days, I have been aiding your father in helping Leo regain his spirit." She grabbed Donatello's hands and held them tightly. " Don't you see? Fate put us together so that I could help Leo."

Donatello took a deep breath and relaxed his body as she placed her open palm against his cheek.

"But Fate never told me that I would fall in love with you." She smiled as Donatello did, then brought her lips to his and kissed him softly. When she pulled back, she could see the flush that spread across Donatello's face.

"So, you're sure that Leo's okay now?" he asked as he brushed Angie's hair behind her ears.

"I promise."

Donatello again smiled and shook his head. " That still amazes me about that whole story with your family. I never thought of you as being a mutant."

"We have more in common than you thought we did." Angie returned Donatello's smile. " Speaking of mutants," Angie then rose off the couch, walked over to the kitchen, then came back to the couch with a magazine.

"There is an article in this that I thought you would have interest in." She handed the magazine down to Donatello as he read the cover.

"Scientific Discoveries. Splinter used to bring this home for me when I was a kid." He flipped the pages back to where Angie had folded over the corner, and read the bold black title at the top of the page. " The Mutation of Mankind: Could the Next Generation Consist of Superbeings?"

" It goes on to talk about how the mutants and humans are interbreeding, and their offspring as reported to be immune from every single disease that exists." Angie said as she went back to the tiny kitchen and took two glasses down from the cabinets.

Donatello read a few lines down the page before something caught his eyes. " Wait! Dr. Jonathan Gershin is leading the research team on this?"

Angie could see the worry in Donatello's eyes as she handed him a glass of iced tea.

"Is that bad?"

Donatello snorted. " That guy is off in the head! He originates from Germany, and he came to the University about three years ago, after I had started teaching, and he was going on and on about the mixing of human and mutant DNA, and, well, like it says here, it would bring an end to diseases like AIDS."

" But that's a good thing, Don." Angie grabbed the magazine back and reread over the page. " You know how many people die of that?"

" You don't understand. This guy was trying to get test subjects collected to see if his theory was true or not. He was going to inject them with the AIDS virus!" Donatello leaned back and shook his head. " All he is after is the money. He doesn't care about saving the human race."

Angie looked back down at the picture of the doctor. " He's a mutant himself. A tiger, by the looks of it."

Donatello then thought back to the other day, when Michelangelo had brought home Mandy, and told them about the gunmen and the mutant that had tired to kill him over the girl.

He lunged for the magazine and stared at the picture.

"Don?"

" He was the one after Mandy." Donatello said mostly to himself. " Mandy has mutant DNA in her blood." He then looked up at Angie. " Just like you do. Do you know anyone else who does?"

Angie let out a short laugh. " Like a LOT, Don! I alone know at least of thirty some people who do! And there is more out there!"

Donatello's eyes grew wide as he looked back down at the picture of the smiling mutant tiger. " We are in some serious trouble then."