Chapter Twenty-Five:

Decisions:

{Karai}

My heart is a hummingbird with wings beating a thousand times a minute. The sludge of the sewer has soaked me through, but I don't feel the cold or smell the stench anymore. My eyes are wide and glued to the scene splayed out before me; ears tuned to the voices that ring through the tunnel.

I can't believe it—any of it. This can't be what I'm seeing. It's…it's impossible…

Isn't it?

That's not Leo—there's no way that could ever be Leo standing over there. But his voice, his movements, his…his everything…is Leo. The feeling in my chest is undeniable. I recognize it—him.

But how is that possible? How could he look like that? Human? No green, no scales, no shell—there isn't a mutant thing about him. But I know it's him.

Everything in me is a storm, a whirlwind of questions and fear mixed with an intense curiosity, the urge to know more, to see more. It's too dark to make out his facial features, and his back is to me now. But I have to see… I have to know that those blue eyes are still there, stark and piercing and vibrant and full of so much heart.

I don't understand what's happening, but I watch, crouched down in the muck behind a concrete pillar. Their voices leap, thunder and lightning, striking from cloud to cloud. I watch Raph turn away, and Leo chases after him, and I flinch when Red whirls around and punches Blue to the curb, his body tumbling in the water and smacking the walkway. So weightless, so much smaller against Raph's hulking mutant form.

Leo struggles to get up, shoulders heaving with frustration. His labored breath echoes through the sewers and my hairs stand on edge.

"You wanna know why I did this?" he screams. His desperation strikes me to the core. "I did this because I'm tired, Raph!"

Every word seems to land on my shoulders. I become so weighed down by the sight before me, by my confusion, by my feelings that mix and swirl and fight amongst themselves inside of me. I can't move. I can barely breathe.

Raph is walking away, leaving Leo alone in the tunnel. His footsteps slosh the water and fade away to nothing, until it's just Leo, on his knees, shaking. My heart aches—and it burns, too. I should leave. I need to leave before he sees me—

My step is too clumsy. Damn water.

His head whirls around, eyes tired and red, but still blue, and his face makes my bones freeze up.

"Karai," he says softly. "Karai, I…"

He looks from me to the tunnel where Raph walked through, and then back to me. Those eyes. They're the same. Except something makes it hurt more than it used to.

"I'm sorry."

He gets up, scrambling in the water and down the tunnel toward Raph—and away from me.

~T~

[Raph]

I stomp through the sewer, lost in the anger bubbling in my veins. I know I'm going the wrong way. I know, I don't care, I just need to be somewhere that isn't here.

Stupid Leo. Stupid Karai. Stupid retromutagen and stupid genius brother. Humans are dumb. Humans are predictable, boring—they're lives are nowhere near the intensity that we live every day. Who would want to be like them? Who would want to throw away what we've built for ourselves for a life of mediocrity?

My fists clench at my sides. I hope he's happy back there, sucking up to that witch. I hope she's worth destroying our whole family over—

"Raph!"

I stop as his voice echoes through the tunnel. When I decide to turn around, I see him running after me. Well, as much as you can run through knee-high sewage, anyway.

"Raph, wait!"

I cross my arms.

"What," I call. "Didn't your little girlfriend like the new you?"

He reaches me, panting, and skids to a stop, doubling over with his hands on his knees while he tries to catch his breath.

"We can have it both ways, huh?" My face tugs into a sneer. "Except when a little jog through some sewage has you 'bout to keel over."

"I'm sorry," he pants.

"For which thing?" I ask. "Did you even talk to her?"

He shakes his head and I frown.

"Come on, Leo—you changed your entire freaking biology, and you're not gonna talk to her?"

He looks away, face melting from one expression to another. God, he really is an idiot. He's going to ruin our whole family, and not even attempt to get what he wants because he's full of guilt.

"You're ridiculous," I snap. "Make your damn decision already, Leo. If you wanted this so badly that you did all of this, then you better not wimp out because everyone is pissed at you. And I don't want to hear you moping around because you don't have the guts to go through with something—"

"I'm just scared, Raph—"

I jab my finger at him. "You should be! Last time you saw her, she tried to kill you, you idiot! You should be scared." He looks at me with those big blue eyes and I scoff. "Go on, Leo. We talked, connected and whatever—but I'm done for the day."

"Raph, I don't—"

"No, shut up." The anger swims under my scales. I need to be alone, away from him, from that face that's his but not his. I know what he's doing, but I'm done. No conversation is going to make me feel any less angry toward him and Boy Genius.

"There's nothing left to say, alright? You don't have to follow me around waiting for me to say I forgive you and shit, 'cause I don't, and I'm not going to be okay with anything you're doing. And don't act like you suddenly care what I think, either. I hate that."

I turn away from him and keep walking, wishing the sludge would just pull me under and make everything go quiet. That's what I need. A nice, deep swim where I can lay under twenty feet of water and pretend nothing else exists.

He goes silent, but even with my back turned, I can feel his eyes on me. My skin prickles, burning. Always angry.

"Go on," I grit. "Go talk to her—get your disappointment over with so I don't have to listen to your crap anymore."

I keep walking, waiting for him to say something else, like he always does. But there is only the sound of my feet pushing through the muck as I leave.

And this time, he doesn't follow.