A/N: Okay. Don't let the chapter title confuse you: I'll probably do an Epilogue, so this isn't gonna be the last chapter, exactly. I wanted to wrap it all up, 'cause it's been dragged out too long. If something doesn't add up to something in a previous chapter, tell me in a review.
Chapter 11
Happy Ending
White. A huge, blank space. She blinked. Where was she?
I'm dead. The realization hit her hard. This is it. I've died. That can't be right… Perhaps I'm not dead. She brightened at this prospect. Let's see… she tried to wake up, but it was if she was trapped within a dream, and unable to break out of it.
What happened? She remembered the enemy archer hitting her with an arrow… she was dead. No way could she have survived that.
"I'm dead." The sound erupted from her, only to emerge a hoarse croak. Her eyes snapped open. More white. Except this was an off-white colour, with stains here and there. And it had a texture, like interwoven threads. It tickled her nose. She sat up.
She was in the infirmary, in the lair. The off-white was a sheet that had been pulled up over her, hiding her face. She looked down to see the horrible arrow had been removed, and she had been bandaged. Her head throbbed. With extreme care, she slid her legs out from under the sheet and onto the floor; the cold cement sent spasms of pain up her legs, which she ignored. She unhooked a dressing gown from beside the bed and put it on before hobbling out of the room.
The lair was deserted. She padded cautiously toward the kitchen with the intention of getting a drink for her parched mouth when she heard voices emitting from the room.
"- is going crazy. He didn't even stick around when we brought her down, just ran topside and disappeared. Splinter says to let him alone, but –"
"He'll calm down. You want some more tea?" The sound of liquid being poured into a cup; someone took a gulp and sighed appreciatively. Akasha's mouth began to water.
"Sensei said we'd better bury her when Raph gets back." It was a bleak statement.
They think I'm dead! Akasha thought. So did I. I'm glad they waited.
She leaned a little too hard on the door; it opened, and she stumbled into the room. Three green heads turned. Three sets of eyes of varying colours stared at her in disbelief.
"Ahh! It's a ghost!" Michelangelo screamed, dumping his cup of tea all over the table.
"Ash? But, you're dead!" Donatello blinked. "We're hallucinating."
"Nope. Try again." Akasha was in no mood for this. She was tired, thirsty, and she ached all over. Her mind was teeming with unanswered questions. She wanted to know what had happened to her mother, and where Raphael was. It was Leonardo who pulled up a chair for her and poured her some tea. She drank greedily, oblivious to the scalding temperature. She sat in the chair. The turtles kept looking at her carefully, as if she was going to explode at any minute.
"Okay, who are you, and what have you done with Akasha?" Mikey asked.
"Well I'm sure not Akasha. I ache too much. Akasha's powers would fix it," she grumbled. "How long have I been out?"
"Almost twenty-four hours," Don answered promptly. "Master Splinter removed the arrow, and bandaged you up incase, but… you didn't have a pulse. We all thought you were…" he trailed off.
"What about my mom?"
"She's still unconsious, but she'll recover. April is with her."
"And Touch and Go?"
"Chris intercepted them and got the information. They fled the scene. The information is here now, for safekeeping. Chris is at Leatherhead's place."
"Okay." Akasha eyed the turtles. "I am real, you know. I'm not going to explode, or anything."
"But, you were dead," Leo murmured. "You didn't have a pulse. Your heart stopped."
"Only 'cause the arrow actually hit my heart," Akasha explained patiently. "My powers took a while to kick in." She sighed and rubbed her temples. "I'm exhausted… where's Raph?"
They hesitated.
"He went topside after you… y'know. We havn't seen him since." Leo sounded worried.
"And Splinter?"
"Somewere in the lair. You're asking a lot of questions for somebody who just died."
"I didn't die. My life was just sort of postponed," Akasha sniffed primly.
"She's scaring me," Mikey whined.
"Akasha?" April had entered the room. "You're all right!" she hugged her neice. "You had me worried."
"Sorry. I would've woken up sooner, had I the chance. Is mom okay?"
April's smile was tired. "She'll be fine. They smashed her pretty hard on the head, but at least she doesn't have a concussion. I don't know what we'd have done without Donnie. I'm glad someone other than Splinter has a level head! He was calm throughout the whole thing." She smiled at the purple-banded turtle. He blushed and looked down.
Akasha couldn't help it. She giggled. Mikey heard her and burst out laughing. Leo did his best to look disapproving, but failed, and broke out into a smile. Don looked confused, and April gave her neice the evil eye.
"This is to noisy for me," April sniffed. "Let's continue our discussion elsewhere, Don." She sailed out of the door, a bewildered Donatello following in her wake. Mikey lapsed into hiccups.
"Did you see the look on his face?" he gasped, wiping away the tears of mirth that had accumulated on his bandanna. "Like this." He made a grotesque face of Don, eyes crossed, tongue lolling out the corner of his mouth. This caused Akasha to laugh all the harder, until her sides ached even more.
"I see that Miss Andrews is feeling better." Splinter came into the room, beady black eyes watching Akasha curiously.
"Hi – hic! – Master," Mikey greeted his sensei. "Akasha isn't – hic! – dead!"
"Yes, I can see that," Splinter told his son, eyes crinkling with mirth.
They explained about Akasha's powers, and Splinter listened with interest. Finally Akasha asked,
"Do you know where Raph is?"
"His is above," Splinter said solemnly. "I do not know his exact whereabouts, but I suspect he is at his friend Casey Jones's apartment. He usually goes there when he is not feeling his best."
"I'll go and get dressed," Akasha said, having noticed she was still in her dressing gown. "April has some spare clothes here, I think I'll fit into. Then I'll go and tell him I'm okay." She left the kitchen and made her way back to the infirmary. She was just at the door when the front doors opened and Raphael entered. He looked tired and miserable. He shuffled toward her, but did not see her because he was staring at his feet.
"Er, Raph?" Akasha asked tentatively. His head snapped up. His eyes widened.
"I'm seein' things," he whispered.
"Not you too," Akasha sighed. "I'm not dead. I have healing powers, remember?"
"Donnie said you were dead," Raph shook his head. "That arrow hit ya in the heart. It was fatal."
"I have really powerful powers." Akasha looked at him in concern. "Are you okay…?"
Raphael looked like he wanted to do or say something, but he seemed to change his mind. All he said was, "Yeah, I'm okay." They went to the kitchen where Mikey and Leo were finishing their umpteenth cups of tea. Splinter was nowhere to be seen.
"Hey, dude!" Mikey greeted his red-clad brother. "Where ya been?"
"Casey's," Raph answered, sitting down. "I usually go there when… I don't feel so good." He turned to Akasha. "You're sure you're -?"
"Real? Yes. Believe me, I hurt to much to not be real." Akasha rubbed the back of her neck.
"Ya look dead on your feet," Raph agreed.
"Gee, thanks," said Akasha acidly. "I needed that."
Chris arrived a few hours later, followed by Leatherhead. The two giant mutants were busily exchanging tips of how to reprogramme computer systems. Chris held a metal tube in one enormous paw: Dr. Andrew's information. Raph, Leo, Akasha, and Mikey were watching TV. If they noticed that April and Don, both somewhat red in the face, slunk into the room a little while later, no one commented.
Akasha's mother woke up later that day, slightly disoriated, but perfectly healthy, save the purple knot on her head where the Foot had hit her. Akasha filled her in and introduced her to the turtles in a clipped voice. She also added about her powers saving her. She noted that the turtles were now trying to sidle out of the room, to leave them in private.
"So your powers finally have a use." Lilly sighed. She smoothed the coarse sheet fabric on her bed in the infermary, not looking at her daughter.
"You could call it that," Akasha agreed flatly. "They stopped me from dying, yes. But what about when I don't what to stay alive? I'll have to die of old age eventually. What about that?"
"I was not aware of the side-effects," her mother said softly, dull green eyes still intent on the sheets. She ran a hand through her shoulder-length pale ginger hair with agitation. "I did not know that it would prevent you from dying. It was not even supposed to touch you. I was going to test it on one of my test subjects –"
"You still don't get it!" Akasha cried furiously. "I hate you using people and animals as test subjects! It's disgusting! You don't ask their permission. You catch them and use them against their will! You shouldn't even have made the mutagen in the first place!"
Her mother had paled considerably during this outburst. Now she ducked her head further and continued her study of the bedclothes. Finally she answered, "It was a mistake. I accidentally mixed a portion of mutagen with an elixier I had been working on. I had intended to transfer the elixier to a premutated subject, but I erred and was too hasty. I thought to blend the two beforhand, but I was wrong." She added in a whisper, "I'm sorry."
"I guess I shouldn't have wandered off," Akasha said bitterly. "I guess I should have stayed in the office. But what could I do? All you ever did was bring me to the lab, dump me in the office, and leave me in the care of Chris, or some other assisstent. Then you'd run off to investigate some new mutating chemical or some illegal acid your agent brought you. I was bored one evening, and you'd forgot to lock the door, so I slipped out."
"And found my test room with all my mutagen." Lilly's eyes were shadowed. "I remember finding you in there – you were only six – sitting in a pool of slime. The broken canister at your feet, my biggest mistake…" she trailed off.
"You thought I'd be dead within minutes," Akasha murmured. "But I was okay. You washed me off, scolded me, forbid me to leave the office again. You bought me toys to entertain myself with. Then you noticed changes."
"Little things." Her mother nodded. "When every normal eight-year-old child had chicken-pox, you were fine. When everyone in our apartment building got the flu, you were fine. Any injuries you sustained were never there for long. You never got sick. You were never ill. I realized which mutagen you must have touched, and presumed that you powers could not possible hurt you. So I gave up looking for an antidote and returned to my work."
"But you didn't think it my prevent me from dying?" Akasha asked.
"Do you wish you had have died from that wound?" Lilly wanted to know. "Aren't you glad you're alive?"
"Yes," Akasha said slowly. "But I don't want to never die, if you know what I mean."
"Perhaps we can find an antidote," he mother suggested. "I had been very close to finding one when I gave up. As soon as I can I'll see what I can do."
"Yo, dudettes! Pizza's here!" Michelangelo's voice rang out. Akasha grinned at her mother's startled expression.
"You get used to Mikey," she reassured her. "C'mon, you must be starving."
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In the weeks that followed, Lilly slowly adjusted to the turtles and Splinter. She, Don, Leatherhead and Chris often sat in the makeshift laboritory, exchanging information and various scientific theories. April sometimes joined them. Akasha noted that she and Don would, on occasion, disappear for a while. When she questioned her aunt about this, the read-headed woman simply flapped her hand and changed the subject. Akasha let her do in, tucking a smirk behind her hand.
Akasha trained with the turtles now. She knew how to handle several kinds of weapons. She showed them her chigiriki. Mikey begged her to let him use it; he was the best one at using it, partly because of his nunchuku's.
One day her mother was busily researching an antidote for Akasha. The bruise on her head still pained her some, and she rubbed it with her hand absently.
"Does that still hurt?" Akasha asked, coming up behind her mother.
"A little." Her mother shrugged. Akasha prepared to send a stream of healing into it, but she pulled back. Her power was only a weak, dull flicker as opposed to its original fire.
"My powers!" she gasped. "They're almost gone!" Her mother smiled sadly.
"I've been meaning to tell you," she said, closing her book. "You used so much of your powers when you stopped yourself from dying that you have almost none left. It's one of the side-effects; I've been doing a lot of research about it." She patted her daughter's hand sympathetically. "I'm sorry."
But Akasha was elated.
"You mean I couldn't prevent myself from dying again?" she asked.
"I very much doubt it." Her mother shook her head. "You have so little left."
"That's great!" Akasha beamed. "You don't have to find an antidote after all!" she hugged her mother enthusiastically and bounced out of the room to tell April.
"So you're not immortal anymore?" Raph asked. They sat on the sofa. Akasha had just told him about her powers shrinking.
"Nope!" she smiled happily.
"Well, so long's you're happy." He shrugged.
"Oh, yes, I am," she agreed. They fell silent.
"I guess you're gonna go home soon," Raph finally said.
"Yeah, I guess." Akasha traced the pattern of the faded sofa with one forefinger. "But I'll always visit, if I can."
"Yeah, I doubt Mikey'll be able to survive without your chigiriki to entertain him," Raph said dryly. "I've never seen him so occupied."
"Mm hm." Akasha glanced at him. "You'll come and visit, I suppose? When I'm back at home? It's not that far from April's place…"
"Yeah, I'll come," Raph interrupted with a grin. Akasha's stomach fluttered. She swallowed the feeling.
"'Cause I could do with some help with training. I'd be better if I could spar with someone." She knew she was babbling, but she couldn't help it.
He nodded. His eyes never left her face. She flushed. He noticed and his grin widened, teeth flashing. Suddenly they were closer than before; his hand touched hers. She stopped herself from instinctively jerking backwards. He leaned in slightly…
"AKASHA!"
I'm gonna kill Mikey. Akasha thought calmly. Kill him. Kill him over and over till he's very dead…
"Probably got the chigiriki chain in a knot." Raph muttered. He looked annoyed too. Akasha finally plucked up her courage and kissed him at lightening speed on the cheek before launching herself off the sofa and yelling in response, "I'm coming Mike!" She practically sprinted toward his room.
A/N: I added romance! YaY! Did I write it well? Lemme know. Don't forget I'll probably add an Epilogue.