"What are you doing, Lea!" I heard Leonardo scream at my friend. I felt the blood in my body freezing into place as I witnessed the horror that had unraveled in front of me. Leonardo was mercilessly ready to strike one of the Dragons with a fatal blow, but Lea had stepped in between Leonardo and his prey to protect the young boy. This side of Leonardo I had never seen before…it was like he was a total different person from when we left him and his brothers. Before, Leonardo had been so calm and collected, but now he was off the wall and ready to kill basically anything that moved. To me, he was 3 times Raphael. My friend had stood up against Leonardo to try to get him to come to his senses before he did his rash act. However, Leo did not approve. Now it seemed he had turned his aggression from the punks to her.
"Leo, no….please this isn't you." Lea pleaded to him. I watched her eyes water and it made my heart ache. My friend had returned back to New York because of my phone call; her heart had longed for Leonardo on her arrival and I knew it. As I told her how I ran into Casey and heard about what happened between the guys and the Shredder, I knew she wanted to see him. But everything had turned into a nightmare.
As I stood there, listening to them exchange words amongst one another, I saw that the Dragons had turned to escape. One of them had locked his eyes on me and the facial expression was clearly defined as confusion and betrayal. From all I could tell, these punks knew I was loyal to the Purple Dragons and Hun, or so they thought, but now seeing that I was in league with the turtles, the word would surely get back to Hun.
Becoming frightened and not really wanting to see my friends fight, I gently hugged myself as an uneasily feeling sank to the bottom of my stomach, I knew this upset had caused turmoil within my body, and in my present state, it wasn't good. I looked down and tried to calm myself down, trying to block out their angry words. "And YOU!" I heard Leonardo yell out. I looked up and saw that now his narrow eyes had turned away from my friend and layed upon me. His jaw was clenched and it looked as if he had great resentment towards me. "What were you doing talking to them? Why did you bring not only yourself, but your friend into a darken alleyway with CRIMINALS!" I stepped back some as he approached me, I didn't know what to tell him. I didn't want to tell him the deep secret that I had….not at this moment. I heard my friend ask about Leo's shell, I watched him turn to answer her, the anger that was within him had died. When he turned, I did notice that his shell was badly damaged. My thoughts went to Donatello and how he looked when I ran into him that one night.
Eventually our discussion had ended in the alley, and Lea had decided to follow Leonardo back to the lair. I followed too, but I felt like my feet were stone as I moved them. I was so scared on going back. When I returned to New York months ago, I didn't plan on seeing the guys anytime soon.
I stood in shock behind my friend when we reached the guys' home. The guys were in really bad state, including Master Splinter. Michelangelo had both legs broken, Raphael was bandaged a lot, and Splinter's fur was completely charred. There was no sign of Don. I was hoping deep down inside that I wouldn't have to see him yet. As I heard my friend talk Leo's brothers, I remained quiet. I hoped that now things would settle down for at least her and Leonardo, but I was gravely wrong. Leo had brought out how he didn't want to get others involved outside of family. I blinked in shock as I looked at him. What he said did hurt me…and I thought maybe he was directing it to me mostly for being with the Dragons again, but by the expression on Lea's face, I could tell he included her in the group as well outside of the family. She looked like she had been slapped across the face. Even his brothers were appalled by his words.
Then another argument rose up. Splinter and Leo's brothers replied with their disapprovals, but Leo stood firm in his choice. How could he say such things? I didn't understand…what happened to Leonardo? He was so cold inside. As I stood there and listened, I noticed out from the corner of my eye that Don had walked into the main area where we were all at. Feeling my cheeks growing hot some as I shyly began to blush a little by his presence, I turned my head away swiftly to focus back on my friend. "Leo, she's only worried about you because she cares, is that a bad thing?" I heard Don ask and I cautiously glance over at him to see that he was looking directly at me. I bit my lip and looked away.
What happened next, I couldn't believe. Lea had openingly expressed her true feelings for Leonardo to him in front of me and his family. Deep down inside, I thought for sure that this would snap him out of the stupor he was in, but he didn't. Instead he told her to go home. I wanted to scream out at him for saying such a thing, but I felt like I couldn't talk. I felt frozen in place as if I was only witnessing the event that was upon me and I could not act. Lea had pleaded him to not say such things, but Leo continued to tell her to go home. Finally after giving up, she turned and stormed off from the lair.
Seeing my friend leave, I could no longer just stand there and do nothing. I quickly turned on the haughty turtle. "What the hell is wrong with you, Leonardo!" I screamed at him. "Are you stupid!"
"NO. I am not!" He screamed back at me. He kept his eyes on me as he approached me. His angry form made me cringe some, but I stood my ground as I faced him.
"YES. There's something seriously wrong with you! She loves you! Are you that cold!" I shouted back at him, my fists clenched as defended my friend.
Suddenly I felt Leonardo grab my arm tightly with his hand as he jerked me towards him. I cried out some from the pressure as I felt his fingers grip my skin tightly. "And what about you? What is wrong with you!" He said as he shook me some, his voice was so stern and raised.
I struggled from the vice, but could not get free. I could feel my arm throbbing in pain by his grip. "Leo! Let her go!" I heard Don yell out as I felt Don grab me by the waist and pull me to him. I stumbled back as Leonardo loosened his grip and I fell back some against Don. I felt Don hold me to him as if it was pure instinct by him or something. He wasn't as tense as he used to be or shy. As he held me to him, I felt myself trembling as I looked back at Leonardo and then to Don. I hadn't been this close to him since August and I could feel myself just wanting to be with him again. Instantly my mind flashed back to that night in the woods and how I saw him watch over that blue skinned alien woman and I quickly moved away.
"I am going after her!" I said as I moved toward the elevator from where my friend had left.
"Why are you with the Purple Dragons again!" Leonardo yelled after me. I cringed by his question and stopped in my tracks, my eyes rested upon the elevator door. I knew all their eyes were on me and there was silence within the room. "Donatello found that missing laptop on you…Why are you serving Hun! You haven't changed at all…have you!"
I hung my head some as his words seeped in. I didn't know that Donatello was the one who found the laptop that I had been carrying that night when the mob tried to attack me. I wanted to tell them so bad why I was in the city…but I could not. Without replying back, I went into the elevator to head topside, determined to find my friend.
I ran out to the outside of the warehouse and looked around. I feared that my friend had managed to distance herself far from the vicinity and I would never be able to catch up to her again, but to my amazement, she was sitting next to the front of the warehouse. Her knees were pressed up against her chest and her eyes were looking out across the street, but I could tell she was somewhere else. "Lea…?" I called out to her gently as I approached. I could see the pain that was within her.
"Mel…I am such a fool…"Lea said softly as she kept her eyes straight out to the other side of the street. "He's completely shut me out Mel and I don't know if he will ever let me back in."
"He can't mean what he said…he's not himself…" I said softly as I felt my own eyes water as I saw the hurt on her face.
"I know that…I-I just don't understand what happened…what went so wrong…it's like…he's someone else…" Lea's voice was so composed. I was just in awe how she was handling the situation.
I knelt down beside her and thought for a moment and then looked around the sky. "You know…it's still pretty early in the evening…you want to go for a walk. It may do some good instead of just brooding here?" I asked with a hopeful smile on my face.
"Sure…let's do that," Lea replied as she got up from the ground.
I smiled as I watched her and waited for her to stand up before I turned to make my way towards the city.
As we made our way closer towards Soho and Chinatown to head upwards to Midtown, there was great silence between Lea and I. I wasn't quite sure on what to talk about because I didn't know if we should keep talking about Leonardo or something else and Lea was staying quiet. Finally she broke the silence. "Why did you come up here in the first place, sis?"
I froze for a moment, trying to choose my words carefully. I wasn't ready to give her the full truthful answer. "I just had some issues with my family and school that I couldn't handle, Lea."
"And with Hun?" This time she looked right at me.
I sighed and looked down for a moment. "I honestly didn't have anywhere to stay up here…"
"Why didn't you call me? Why didn't you try April and Casey or Donnie?"
"I did run into them…but Don…he's with someone else now…." I said as I felt my eyes watering up, recalling that night in the woods.
"Sis…" I could hear the playful tone in her voice. "Don't be so silly. Donnie only loves you, goofball." I glanced over to see a huge smile on her face, but I knew she was wrong. I knew sometimes I questioned Don's love, but this time it was different.
"No, Lea…I saw him with someone else. I don't know who it was…I was going to surprise them one night by visiting them when they were out near Casey's farmhouse…but Don was watching over another woman…I could tell it in his eyes…" I felt tears starting to stream down my face and I turned my face quickly to try to wipe them away and take a few breaths to calm myself down.
"Are you okay?" I heard her ask me as I felt her gaze still upon me.
I nodded my head and looked up straight ahead as we approached a crosswalk. To my horror, walking straight towards us was Hun. He was dressed in a black business suit and at first his focus wasn't upon us. I nearly froze in my tracks. I saw his brown eyes fall upon me and Lea. He glanced over at me and then her and instantly recognized the both of us. By the expression on his face I could tell he was not happy…not happy at all.
Looking nervously over to my friend, I noticed that she did not see Hun yet. I quickly grabbed her arm and dragged her across the street with me. "Let's go over here, sis!" I said quickly.
"What's going on?" She asked, startled by my sudden action.
"I think I saw a nice shop over here…" I babbled as I continued to walk fast, still holding her arm. I glanced back to see that Hun was moving towards us still, his steps becoming quicker.
"Crap! Move, Lea!" I said as I started to run.
"Mel! What's going on!" Lea cried out after me as I heard her following me in a run.
"Just go!" I yelled as I started to breathe hard. I reached back and grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a small bookstore.
The bell jingled as we went inside and I moved towards the back of the store. "Over here…" I huffed to catch my breath.
"Mel…what's going on! You're scaring me!" Lea said as I finally let go of her arm.
I glanced up on my tippytoes over the shelves of books to see the confused cashier at the front of the store looking at us. I then looked at the window to see that Hun was nowhere in sight. "It was Hun…" I panted still.
"Hun!"
"Yeah…I think we lost him though…" I said as I let out a sigh of relief, calming myself down.
After spending at least 20 minutes sifting through several shelves of books, Lea and I decided it would be safe enough to journey back out and towards the warehouse. Glancing around and seeing no one in sight that looked suspicious, she and I began to walk back in the direction that we came. I knew that going back to the warehouse wasn't something we both wanted to do, but for right now, it was the only option we had unless we wanted to face Hun.
As we passed an alley, I felt something reach out to grab my arm roughly. I cried out as I stumbled and heard her do the same. I tried to pull against my restraint, but the grip was tight. "WE have some talkin' to do, girly," I heard Hun snarl.
Accompanying Hun were three other Purple Dragons, one of them I recognized to be Fang. Hun had pushed Lea down hard onto the ground and in an instant the Dragons grabbed her. Concerned for her safety, I tried to get free from Hun's grip to go to her, but I felt his free hand grab my other arm tightly and he shoved me hard up against the alley's walls. I cried out some feeling the impact of the hard brick surface against my back. My feet were barely touching the ground as he hoisted me up. "WHERE were you!" He hissed.
"Nowhere…Master…I swear…," I squirmed some, trying to get free. I knew I couldn't defy him in my position in fear of both my and my friend's wellbeing.
"Deceitful bitch! You're lying!" Hun yelled as he pushed me against up the wall once more. The back of my head was throbbing in pain from the hit. "You are with HER again and those freaks…."
"Let her go, Hun! You bastard!" I heard Lea scream at him. I looked over with worry to see her struggling against the 3 men that were holding her. I cursed at myself deep inside from joining the Dragons in the first place. I knew that now by my decision, my friend was going to suffer as well.
"Shut up! I'll deal with you soon enough." Hun looked back at her. I silently thanked that he kept his attention on me and no harm would come to her yet so maybe I could still talk my way out of it. "You are coming back with me, Melinda. I am not done with you yet." He said as he let me back down onto the ground, and roughly grabbed my wrist to jerk me towards him. I let out a cry as I stumbled forward.
"I will not let you take her!" Lea screamed at him.
"I told you to shut up!" Hun yelled back as he threw me down onto the ground. "I guess you need to be taught a lesson first. The Purple Dragons are no longer a punch of street punks that are ruled by the Shredder. He's gone. I AM in charge now." He lifted back his hand with the intent of slapping her hard across the face.
Before his hand could touch her face, a glimmer caught my eye and I saw a silver blur move quickly towards Hun. A shuriken had stabbed Hun right in the hand. Hun let out a cry of pain as he recoiled his hand. The shuriken's blade was pressed into the side of his hand and blood was dripping down from it. Hun growled loudly and pulled the throwing star out and threw it onto the ground as his free hand grasped the wound to try to stop the bleeding. "We have something to DISCUSS, Hun…" Leonardo said as he jumped down from the rooftop above us to where he was listening and landed on his feet. His eyes were directly on the large man.