Power Struggles
Incredible heat radiated from the orb in the center of the table. The silvery starfire shimmered and flickered within, becoming more golden by the second.
"Alexis, please!" Leonardo objected. He tried to keep his tone even but could do little more to hide the intensity of his concern. "Just give it the flame. There is no reason to offer it more."
The protest was not a command—yet. He had no wish to challenge the authority of the Hamato guardian in front of the rest of the clan. But she was ignoring his frantic mental hails and he couldn't proceed with this plan.
Her first instinct is always to give too much. Her soul is something I will not sacrifice.
The dragon didn't even open her eyes. "We desire the salamander's help so this safeguard I must provide."
"Why? What will it do?" Donatello asked.
"When this small part of me it consumes, any wrong done to it returns also upon me."
"Does that include physical attacks?"
"Any harm from anyone."
"How long does the effect last?"
"Permanent, it is."
"But what happens if it gets hurt later?" Donnie narrowed his eyes. "By something outside our family? Or, forbid the thought, coerced or destroyed?"
"Damaged I would be; as if standing under the blade or spell."
Over my dead body.
Leonardo swallowed a growl and stilled his hand as it twitched toward his sword. He had vocalized his objection and weapons were useless unless the creature actually appeared. His forced calm didn't fool everyone, however. Splinter tilted his head in Leo's direction and Morgan started to protest.
Someone else beat her to it.
"That sounds rather drastic," April cut in with a frown. "Surely there's another option?"
Leo heaved a mental sigh of relief.
I'm not overreacting. April, Don, and even Morgan think it's a bad idea.
"If it must have such a surety, flavor it with mine instead," he suggested.
The corner of Alexis' mouth twitched upward as if she were suppressing a smirk. "Forgive me, Warrior, but no. You are not the one it fears."
Another deep growl, one he could not suppress, escaped his throat. "I will be if it makes a move on your soul."
Shocked by his anger, the dragon opened her eyes. They were solid gold. The others may have seen flickers of her power before, but only Leonardo had experienced her true gaze. Now, her golden iris crackled with copper light and flashed enough raw strength to stop a freight train.
"Woah," Casey exclaimed. He wasn't one to suffer blind fear, but he leaned away as everyone else around the table muttered similar sounds of surprise and discomfort.
Leo squared his shoulders and stared back, fighting the desire to give in to the hypnotic influence of her molten eyes. "You don't need to do this!"
"Nothing is free in this world," Alexis admonished. Her voice sounded gentle, but it was velvet-coated steel. And while she controlled the brightness of her aura for Morgan's sake, the intensity behind her suppressed energy ratcheted up the tension in the tiny kitchen. "Information we require, Leonardo. This sacrifice I am willing to make."
Leo closed his eyes and resisted the urge to lower his head in submission. He couldn't exactly pinpoint why, but it still knocked him off guard—like an unexpected blow—when Alexis spoke his given name. It increased her influence over him tenfold.
But he refused to be distracted from the point this time.
Her well-being, her spirit, is too precious to risk.
Despite her status, he had to take back command. The mask of leadership settled over his features and when he opened his eyes again his gaze revealed nothing but cool determination.
"The price is too high," he stated flatly. "If you won't retrieve your soul, I will."
He stretched out a hand toward the flame.
"Iya! Yame! NO!"
Alexis' loud interjection made everyone flinch as she snatched at Leo's elbow. With supernatural speed, she spun him around and pressed his shell against the table, then pinned both his arms to his sides and held him in a tight embrace.
"You have not the power to absorb such heat! Badly burned you would be!"
Leonardo's gaze flickered to her lips, a mere inch from his own. They trembled with true fear as she spoke. He leaned in until his forehead tenderly bumped hers, staring into frightened gold eyes.
"That is a sacrifice I am willing to make."
He hooked his foot around her ankle and dropped his weight to the left—tumbling them to the floor away from the table. They rolled toward the other end of the kitchen where he escaped her grasp and bounded to his feet. He lunged at the fireball again only to find his route blocked by an unexpected opponent.
Splinter stood before him, drawn up to his full height. "Leonardo! Enough!"
The powerful command stopped Leo cold. He wavered, rocking back on his heels and forward on his toes as years of training, obedience, and respect collided with his overwhelming desire to protect Alexis at all costs.
"Yeah, get a room," Michelangelo crowed, "and quit brawling in my kitchen."
"You can't let her do this!" Leo pleaded, trying to connect with his father behind the stern mask of the master in front of him.
Splinter's eyes softened, but his authoritative posture did not change. "You are no stranger to difficult choices, my son. Nor to sacrifice if it serves a greater purpose. You have baited far more dangerous traps with yourself."
"Like last week!" Raphael agreed with a snarl. "This is no worse than confronting Stockman. Alone. Without telling anyone."
"The Guardian's knowledge in this matter outweighs our own," Splinter continued, ignoring Raphael's outburst. "If she deems this offering necessary for the safety of our clan, so be it."
"Uh, guys?" Casey said, "I don't think it matters anymore."
"Of course, it does," Leo spat.
The glare he directed at the vigilante would have melted stone, but Casey wasn't phased— mostly because he wasn't looking at the leader. His eyes were glued to the table where a small creature perched.
The salamander did indeed resemble its mortal namesake. Its lizard-like form glowed with a soft halo of red misty flame as it tested the air with a flickering forked tongue. A dissipating wisp of a trail of fire followed behind as it scuttled forward.
Everyone froze.
"That's it," Morgan announced into the sudden silence. "That's the aura of what chased the monster away."
Cautiously, the elemental approached the warded ball of fire. It cocked its head, observing the offering with suspicion before reaching a tiny clawed hand towards the glow. A strangled noise of protest escaped Leonardo's lips and the creature paused. Its head snapped in his direction. Only then did it realize how many people were gathered around. Eyes narrowing, it peered up at the circle of faces staring back.
Surprisingly, it dismissed the disheveled dragon almost immediately despite her impressive aura. Instead, it tilted its head at Leonardo and gave a small nod to Splinter. It blinked knowingly at Donatello and Michelangelo and gazed the longest at Morgan and Raphael.
It veered away from the 'treat' to dart toward them.
The young feyian squeaked at the sudden movement and leaned back into Raphael's plastron as it stopped right in front of them. Raph twisted them away, preparing to shelter her from a fiery attack with his shell, but the creature just rose up on its hind legs using its tail for balance in a way no ordinary animal would. It waved its tiny foreleg at them.
"Is it… greeting her?" April wondered.
Morgan poked her head around Raphael's protective forearm.
"Uh, hi?" She curled her fingers into the slight wave she might give a child.
The salamander repeated the action and began weaving its claws together in rapid swirling patterns.
"It's some sort of sign language," Donatello said.
Alexis cleared her throat. "Many elementals use such as a common tongue. Easier it is for other species to master than their own."
"Amazing," Don breathed. He wore a wonder-struck expression as he leaned down in slow motion so as not to startle the creature and put the table at eye level. Surreptitiously, he raised the medical scanner until the antenna peeked above the edge of the furniture and fiddled with a knob on the front, searching for a frequency that registered the immortal.
The salamander glanced at him, blinked each of his eyelids individually, then refocused on Morgan.
"I can almost hear its thoughts. No, his thoughts. He's unquestionably male. But the sensations I'm getting are too rapid and... strange. I can't quite make words out of them," Morgan said. "Does anyone know what he's saying?"
Alexis frowned and shifted behind the couple to better discern the fast-moving claws. "He asks if well, you are. He did not like how the monster made you feel."
"Made me feel?"
"Sense, he can, your emotions—as you do his. Frightened you were. It disturbed him."
"Disturbed him?" Raph groused. "So the neighbor only came out to see why the dog was barkin'? There goes your theory it cares."
Leo stifled another growl at Raphael's demeaning tone.
How dare he speak to the Guardian like that?
"Do not misunderstand," Alexis scolded. "My translation rough may be, but care he does. Drained him, did the blast used to drive off the intruder. His light is pale. Much brighter should he burn. Starving he must be, yet he turns away from a feast to talk first with your mate."
Morgan elbowed Raph in the plastron for his rudeness and turned to address the little creature.
"I… I'm alright. I… thank you for saving me"—Morgan paused and touched her belly—"For saving us." When the salamander only stared, she asked Alexis. "Does he understand?"
"Unknown. Translate, I can, into flame-tongue with your permission."
When Morgan nodded, the dragon leaned over her shoulder and vocalized a series of hisses and crackles that sounded for all the world like wood popping in a fireplace. The creature hissed irritably at her and she drew back, nonplused. The little claws waved frantically again.
Alexis shook her head.
"Stubborn creature," she grumbled. "Refuse, he does, to plainly speak to me. Insists he must use the signs. Though told him, I have, this company knows them not." Alexis inhaled a calming breath and turned to Morgan.
"Relayed, I have, your thanks. And the reassurance. But fixated on you he remains. Perhaps best it would be if you conduct the interview about the intruder. Continue to translate, I will."
"I don't know what to ask," Morgan protested.
"Start with 'What the hell was that monster?'" Raphael rumbled, tightening his grip.
Morgan made a face at him and returned to the expectant little salamander. "My name is Morgan. What's yours?"
Alexis shot her a startled glance and her aura flared before she remembered to damp it down.
"What?" Morgan asked, squinting against the sudden light, "Is that a bad question?"
"No. Simply one unexpected from an immortal."
Morgan let out a breathy, nervous little laugh. "Not really immortal over here. Clearly, I'm a quite flawed human being with a few special talents."
Alexis's head tilted. "Surprised you might be, to find that is not the case. Certain you are, you wish to give him your name? Even so small a portion of it? Common it may be to humans, but among the fey and other immortals names hold power."
"What kind of power?" Donatello asked. The conversation had turned intriguing enough to pull his eyes away from the salamander.
Alexis went quiet and Leo frowned in concern, but she was only considering her words. English remained a difficult language for her to express complex ideologies.
"A binding identifier a being's true name is," she replied at last. "Used it can be to summon the bearer. Or to form a connection across vast distances—which may be undesirable. Unless arrogant the owner is, a full one is only offered in confidence as a rare show of trust. Most times a house or title suffices. Though a foreshortened version may be granted where one has reason to believe trust may follow—as when the stranger being met is part of one's own clan."
"Hence, you're 'the Guardian' or 'the Hamato Guardian'," Don reasoned.
"Yes. Alexis may be used as well among ourselves, yet a form of respect it is to use instead a title if one is in mixed company."
"But that doesn't apply to humans? Uh, mortals?" April asked in fascination.
"Most times, no. Too often, they reuse names and many lack the soul spark necessary for spells to bind to. But our young clanswoman"— she nodded at Morgan— "is in between. Amiss in my duties I would be, if caution you against such things I did not."
Leonardo blinked, startled. Was that the reason she frequently called him Warrier? To protect him? He had to admit, his name certainly hit home when she spoke it.
Perhaps we have a powerful 'soul spark' as well?
He made a mental note to request clarification the next time she allowed him a private chat.
Morgan nodded, "Yes, I will give him my 'short' name. He has shown us loyalty. He saved me from… whatever that was. And he hasn't touched your offering. I suppose I shouldn't ask for his though if it might be offensive. Please just thank him again and see if he is willing to answer some questions about the monster."
The salamander had been watching Morgan's face intently, but his gaze snapped to Alexis the moment she began hissing. His pupils dilated and he turned back to Morgan to execute a perfect bow before standing and signing rapidly.
Alexis' eyes narrowed and she started to translate: "Honored I am to be granted such a gift, Little Mother."
"Little Mother?" Morgan blurted.
The dragon shrugged. "His words I gave you the best I can, though something lost may be in the translation. His inflection implies it is a title of honor."
"I see. Ok. Well, what does he know about the black thing?"
Another brief stint of hissing and waving was exchanged until Alexis glanced at Leonardo in puzzlement.
"Once it was, he says, a mortal being who now no longer exists?"
"A ghost?" Mikey asked, "Like our ancestors?"
"I do not think these are the right words," Alexis said.
Frustrated by her lack of understanding, she clicked at the little lizard again. This time he answered her question with speech instead of the twisted signs, cackling, cracking, and hissing like a broken radiator.
"Unknown if a proper title the creature has. As a human it began life," Alexis explained. "One who bound itself by free will to an oni. Believed, the mortal did, he was the master of the two. But corrupted in thought, deed, and spirit he became—until owned, he was by the oni."
Casey looked confused so April leaned over and clarified, "An oni is a bad kind of yōkai."
The vigilante shook his head. "I still don't get it."
"Some people equate oni to demons in Western culture," Donatello chimed in. "And some of them were portrayed as such. But in traditional Japanese folklore, they can be orcs, ogres, or troll-like beings as well. The one thing all translations agree on though is their fierce and evil nature."
Leonardo kicked Michelangelo under the table, stopping the inevitable 'Demons are real?' screech he saw building in the back of his brother's throat. They didn't need to restart that conversation.
"What kind of evil are we talkin' here?" Raph demanded.
"Primarily a propensity for murder and cannibalism," Donatello said with a shrug. "But I suppose there must be some spiritual element in this case if the salamander's understanding is accurate."
"So some idiot made a deal with a devil and got his soul owned? Wicked," Casey snarked.
"What else can he tell us about it?" Leo asked, redirecting the exchange.
Alexis consulted the salamander again. "Once corrupted, the being is not truly 'alive.' Go on with daily routines the body may, but the spirit itself can detach in the form of a… Gah! What word is this? 'Kokuei' it is in the old tongue."
"A dark shadow? Or maybe, silhouette?" Donatello translated the Japanese word.
"This is near enough," Alexis decided. "Long distances the shadow may travel from the body to feed on the fear of its prey. Use them, the oni does, as a pawn or scout."
"Well, how do we kill it?" Raphael growled. The salamander arched his back and a small jet of flame came out of his mouth. Raph instantly drew back, clasping Morgan tight to his chest. "What the hell?!"
Alexis smiled. "Fear not this fierce little one, clan brother. He merely answered you. Destroy it with fire."
"So he does understand English!"
"No, but attuned he is to emotions. Your desire to destroy he felt, and interpret it correctly he did." Her eyes narrowed as she watched the salamander's gaze flick from person to person, taking the emotional temperature of the room. "Understands well, does he, this group it appears."
"Will it be back?" Mikey asked, "The kokuei, I mean?"
The salamander hissed, looking offended.
"Destroyed, it was," Alexis reassured them with a small grin for the elemental's antics. "The sulfur I scented earlier was all that remained."
"And the body?" Don asked, intrigued, "What happens to it without the shadow spirit?"
Alexis raised a brow at his curiosity but she directed the question to the little fire being.
"Collapse, it will, into true death when its shadow is defeated. Beheading the physical form will also defeat an absent shadow."
"Great! Millions of people live in the city," Raph complained. "An' I bet plenty of 'em have gone sour enough to attract a demon. How can we recognize these 'Kokuei' if we come across 'em? 'Specially if they are doing normal things?"
Alexis shrugged. "The salamander has not seen one, so I cannot, with certainty, answer. There may be no way to tell if the parts together are. If separate, a sun shadow the human will lack."
"Will there be more?" Morgan asked, her voice shaking.
The salamander appeared distressed by the fear in her question. He gestured slowly, pressing both palms towards the tabletop as if calming a wild animal, hushing her without words. His tongue flicked out to touch her wrist gently in reassurance, though Raph drew her out of reach again.
This time, the little elemental stared at the dragon and spoke out strongly.
"Safe we are for now," Alexis translated. "He destroyed it entirely, so unable it was to report back to its creator. All the oni will learn is the servant perished. Not where or how. Unlikely it is that another finds its way here anytime soon."
"We can't be too sure of that, can we? I mean, how did this one get in? Are we supposed to just wander around with lit torches, wavin' em at every shadow?" Raph asked.
Alexis snorted, holding back a laugh. "A more fitting and slightly less flammable solution, I propose."
"And what exactly does it entail?" Leonardo asked.
This time he was determined to get all the details upfront so she would not slip something untoward past him. He had not forgotten the flaming soul essence sitting on the table. And he continued to monitor the salamander's distance from it with his eyes. So far, the little thing had been helpful, but he didn't trust it to leave such a tempting 'treat' alone for too long.
"From his acceptance of this group, believe I do this salamander has lived among you for a while. Perhaps he could be persuaded to stay on guard?"
"Can one cover the whole lair?" Donnie asked.
"Maybe he's got friends," Casey said.
"That might work," Don mused, "With more of them, we could post one to each room, or assign them to follow specific people so they wouldn't be guarding empty spaces."
"What if there aren't?" Mikey asked.
Donatello shrugged again. "Then I vote he protects Morgan. We can probably handle the fear aspect but the kokuei takes away her sight. That is far worse. Hey! He might even convince the other elemental, the sylph, to join in as an early warning system. It could alert the rest of us if something supernatural infiltrates the lair."
"Woah, hang on a minute," Raphael said. "We already got an oversized fox-pony sleeping at the end of our bed, we ain't hosting a petting zoo here."
Morgan giggled behind her palm and the salamander screwed up its face and gave Raph a pointed look then shook its head; making Leo wonder how much of this conversation it was following.
"Worry not," Alexis said. "See them you would not, unless they allow you."
"The real question," Leonardo interrupted in a cool voice, "is what do they expect in return?"
He nodded towards the burning flame in the center of the table to make his point. But the action had the opposite effect he intended. Instead of warning the group of dire consequences, he only managed to remind the elemental that food was available. It slipped across the surface to stand next to the starfire and reached out a claw.
Before anyone could blink, Leo's katana had left its sheath and cleaved the air between the lizard and the soul fragment, forming a shining steel wall against the tabletop. All it would take was a quick twist of his wrist to slice the elemental in half.
"Don't." Leonardo issued the command in a deadly quiet voice.
"Warrior! Of this, we spoke already. His reward this is."
"Leo, don't do nothin' crazy," Raphael warned. "It saved Morgan, remember?"
"And we can't see them unless they want us to," Don said at the same time. "We could be surrounded right now. If you hurt this one, others might burn us out of our home."
The salamander shuddered at the influx of tense emotions. It started to sign, heaved what looked like a sigh, then spat a long string of hisses and pops at Alexis instead.
Alexis blinked in surprise. "He assures you there is nothing to fear. He offers his help and that of his entire pod, his… colony. Many they are. More than enough to handle the task. They ask nothing in return except the honor to continue to serve."
"Why?" Leonardo's eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Hey, man," Michelangelo said, "Anyone ever tell you not to look a gift salamander in the mouth? They want to do it."
"As the Guardian so pointedly stated, nothing is free in this world," Leonardo nearly growled. "Don't you think we ought to discover WHY they wish to?"
Alexis started to repeat the question in flame, but the salamander's voice crackled again. "Why should they not?" she translated. "Looking after you and your family has been their duty since before you could crawl."
