A Million Miles Apart
A/N: New chapter! Sorry for the late update, but I've had a lot of things to do lately. Like, I've moved into a new room and for now, has slightly shaky Wi-Fi, so I'll try to update as good as I can with this current Wi-Fi situation.
Also, I hate to sound like I'm doing this only for the reviews, but I've noticed that not that many people seems to be reading my stories anymore. No reviews, very few people who favorite or follow and I just hope that I'm still good at writing and that my story is uninteresting and not worth reading anymore. If it is, please tell me what you want me to do in order to improve it.
I hope you'll like this chapter and please review, favorite and follow!
Chapter 12, Lowering Defenses And Regret
The room was rather quiet, except for grunts or groans from varying aliens as they cleaned their assigned areas. I tried not to complain, since it wouldn't help anyone in the slightest, but it was hard since cleaning this place was both boring and quite a chore. Seriously, how often did they clean these floors? It was covered in dried food, blood, and dirt, and it looked like it hadn't been cleaned in months. If I ever got back home again, I would never complain about how the sewer smelled or how dirty it was ever again. Compared to this, it was a paradise.
Jhanna was sweeping the floor with a frown on her face, like she was restraining her anger and frustration as well as she could. And, I have to admit, I could sympathize. This wasn't exactly my idea of a good time, but what could we do? We had to follow orders or we would only get in more trouble. As I tried to clean a spot of particularly stubborn and crusty blood, I felt someone halfheartedly punch my shoulder to gain my attention.
"So, what is your plan, anyway?" I looked up and saw that Jhanna had approached me, one hand on her hip and the broom in the other. She looked both tired and slightly angry, or at least a bit moody. I put the mop back down in the bucket, turned to Jhanna and folded my arms over my chest.
"What? What do you mean, what is my plan? In case you couldn't tell, I'm kinda making things up as I go along at this point! I don't know how this place works or even the security, for that matter. I can't come up with an escape plan when I've only been here for half a day." Jhanna shook her head, dropped the broom and pushed her finger into my chest. I couldn't tell if she was angry, curious, or both, but she clearly had some interest in something about me.
"No! I mean, what's going on in your head right now? So far you've done nothing but pick fights with some nasty people and care about complete strangers who can't take care of themselves! You haven't exactly been laying low, which- need I remind you- was your idea!" I narrowed my eyes at her and poked her chest in annoyance.
"And need I remind you that it was your idea to be the tough guy? You said we had to fight back and not let ourselves be pushed around, and you said that we shouldn't let the Triceratons sit on top of us! Can't you just make up your mind on what you think we should do?" Jhanna rolled her eyes, blew her bangs out of her face and glared up at me.
"Yeah, if they tried to push us around! But so far, no one except Rynokk has picked a fight with you, and you've stuck your nose into things that aren't your business, like the fight with that little Salamandarian girl from before. How smart was that?" I grabbed my mop, lifted it out of the bucket and squeezed out some of the water. Then I met Jhanna's eyes again.
"Well, that's how I've been raised. I was taught to defend those who can't defend themselves and to do the right thing, no matter what happens or what the odds are. My father taught me about honor, justice, truth, and fighting for the right reasons. So I did: I helped a girl who couldn't defend herself against four bigger aliens, 'cause it was the right thing to do. And as for the plan, I'm working on it; I bet I'll even have it done by tomorrow- you'll see! Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a floor to clean." I turned my back on her and started to swab the floor again... And instantly regretted the motion, as I accidentally plunged my mop directly into a pile of what appeared to be something similar to feces. I heard her scoff at me and I had a pretty good feeling that she was rolling her eyes. I looked around and tried to see anything that could possibly aid in our escape- anything at all that could be useful.
I saw an air vent about ten feet above the floor, big enough for the two of us to squeeze through. But where did it lead? I would have to figure that out. It might be useful. I guess we could try to sneak out through the sewers (if there were any), but again, where would the sewers lead us? Urgh! What would be the better choice? Hm, maybe Mona Lisa would be able to give me some information. Or maybe I could-
"Are you freaks not done yet?!" I was brought out of my thoughts as I heard a door slide open. That Triceraton, and his two pals from before, were back. He looked out over us with stern and angry eyes and his arms crossed over his chest. I scanned over the other aliens and saw that they looked either scared or defiant. Jhanna had her arms crossed over her chest, glaring at him through her tousled bangs with fiery eyes, and pressed her lips together. In a way, she looked like a disobedient child. The Triceraton walked a few feet into the room and then looked at me.
"Hmm… I hope you don't plan to cause any more problem for us, you little brat! I'll be watching you; every day I will be watching you. And your little friend, too!" I scowled up at the creature and gripped the broom a little tighter in my hand, feeling my nails dig into my palms.
"Master Gruel, what do you want us to do with the prisoners? Take them back to their cells, torture, The Arena?" One of the other Triceratons asked. 'Gruel'? Okay, what the heck was up with these names? Although, to be fair, that name fit him pretty well.
The way that other Triceraton had said 'The Arena' made me quiver slightly. Something told me that the absolute worst thing they could do to us was take us to that place. Jhanna looked up from the floor and at the Triceraton who had spoken, confusion in her eyes.
"The Arena? What the heck is The Arena?" Gruel turned to her with a hefty glare, leaned down so he could look her in the eye, and smirked sadistically at her.
"Pray that you'll never find out, Princess. You would never survive in that place, anyway. After all, you're just a little girl. A child. Besides," He stood up straight again, "everyone knows that women can't fight for themselves." The other Triceratons started to laugh loudly. Jhanna, however, growled in predictable anger, her left eye twitching. She clutched her broom tightly in her hand. Then, so fast it was a bit hard to see clearly, she smacked her broom across Gruel's face, making the Triceraton stumble and almost fall to the floor and (I'm really not kidding here) spit out a big, yellow-brownish tooth, leaving all Triceratons and aliens flabbergasted. Jhanna just smirked cockily at him and placed her hand on her hip.
"Did you say something? Something about women not being able to fight, huh? And don't you ever call me Princess, you big smelly, ugly, rotten, sexist pig son of a b,-!" She was interrupted by a sharp slap from Gruel that made her fall to the floor with a soft thud and a yelp of pain and surprise. The slap left a huge bruise and she spat out a little blood as she stared up from the floor with hate-filled eyes. Gruel stood over her angrily.
"You'd better watch your tongue, missy. It might get you into even bigger trouble one of these days." I watched the whole scene as a nasty flavor filled my mouth. Jhanna may not exactly be my favorite person, but we were currently partners in crime, working together toward a common goal, and had decided to try and get along a bit better as well. Plus, she was undeserving of such violent punishment- she had just been trying to fight back against an alien that insulted her. And hitting someone that much smaller and (for lack of a better word) weaker than you was just wrong in so many ways. Gruel approached her with a wicked smirk and a raised hand, as if he was ready to strike once more.
"Now, I think you need to learn some respect. I think I'll have to smack some into you." My fists clenched and my eyes narrowed. That's it. I couldn't stand to watch any more of this. I raised my mop, braced my legs, and struck. I slammed my temporary bō staff against his head, jump-kicked his jaw midair, and then smacked the mop against his head again- this time so hard that the tool broke straight down the middle, the other part falling to the floor with a soft squish as the wet, soft material landed. This time, Gruel actually hit the ground and almost lost consciousness. I glared down at him, slung the remaining stick- formerly a mop- over my shoulder, and tried to look tough.
"Hey! Don't you big freaks have better things to do than to beat up aliens smaller and weaker than you? Don't you have any sense of honor at all, you prehistoric leftovers? Besides, haven't you ever learned that it's rude to hit girls? If you mess with her, you mess with me- got it? So stay away from her!" Jhanna looked a bit offended when I said it was rude to hit girls, but her glare softened a bit by the end of my declaration, like she was confused and somewhat touched by my words.
No one in the room dared to make a sound; not the prisoners, not the guards. Even the air seemed quiet. Gruel tried to shake it all off and stood up on slightly shaky legs glaring at us- we made an odd pair, Jhanna and I, and really must have been quite the sight.
"I will give you two one last chance. If you cause any more trouble around here, it's off to The Arena with both of you. Is that understood?" I just rolled my eyes at him, but still nodded halfheartedly in acquiescence. Jhanna just stood up slowly, crossed her arms over her chest defensively, and nodded slowly.
Gruel turned to me and raised his hand, and for a second I thought he was gonna hit me, so I got ready to defend myself; but he only grabbed me by the strap over my chest and pulled me up to his face so he could look me straight in the eyes.
"And as for you, you rebellious little brat: you've got a lot of attitude and guts for somebody so small. That could get you into trouble if you keep up the feistiness. But don't worry, I'll be sure to beat that feisty attitude out of you before you know it." He pulled me closer to his face, making me cringe at the smell coming from his mouth, and whispered in my ear. "Whether you like it or not." I glared up at him as he pulled me back a bit, and fought against the urge to spit in his eyes.
"You can always try, Lard Butt, but I can tell you right now: I'm not gonna make it easy for you." Gruel just smirked ominously at me, which wasn't the reaction I had expected, and leaned closer to my ear, whispering,
"We'll see about that, won't we?"
And with that, he dropped me. When I hit the floor, I landed slightly off-kilter and I immediately felt my right ankle crack; but I bit my lip to hold back a yell of pain, and instead hissed while clutching my ankle as it throbbed unbearably.
Suddenly Jhanna stood in above me, and I looked up at her in suspicion. She tried to smile, though it seemed a bit forced and slightly awkward, and reached out her hand for me to grab. I hesitated for a second; this girl hadn't exactly been consistent with her behavior towards me, and she hadn't been very friendly, now that I think about it. But she was trying to help me, here, so maybe I should accept her help. I slowly grabbed her hand and she helped me get back up on my feet. Or maybe I should say foot, seeing as how my right ankle was (at the very least) sprained. Jhanna saw how I limped slightly and placed my arm around her shoulders and her arm around my shell to keep me upright.
"Are you okay?" I bit my lip and nodded, though I knew it looked reluctant.
"Y-yeah, I'm fine… But I think my ankle is sprained. I'll be fine, though, if I rest it a bit." She nodded and helped me walk over to a table and sit down. Gruel watched us, summoned one of the guards that had followed him and pointed at us.
"Get those two back in their cells. I don't want them to cause any more trouble than they have already." The Triceraton nodded, grabbed us by the arms and started to drag us towards our cell. I tried to keep up, but my ankle and the quick pace made it nearly impossible to do so. And it certainly didn't help that the Triceraton wasn't all that sympathetic, actually making a point of walking faster and faster each time I grunted at the sharp pains shooting up my leg as I struggled to remain on my feet. By the time we reached the halfway point, he was practically dragging me as I finally managed to trip on my own feet and couldn't seem to recover any traction on the tiled floors.
When we finally got to our cell, the guard just threw me inside as if he was taking out the garbage, ignoring the fact that I landed on my injured foot and my subsequent squawk of pain. Jhanna reacted immediately.
"Hey! Leave him alone! Can't you see he's hurt?" But he didn't listen, instead opting to fling her into the cell before slamming the door behind her. Jhanna glared at the door, spat at it and then turned to me with a softer expression. I sat up and rubbed my ankle, and she knelt down beside me and placed her hand on my shoulder.
"Are you okay?" I nodded. My ankle hurt, yes, but now that I could relax and look over the injury I could tell that it was nothing more than a small crack in the bone at most. Nothing to worry about; after all, I was Raphael's brother. I could just walk it off, easy. I looked up at her and tried to smile through the pain.
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's not too bad, I can walk it off and I'll be fine by tomorrow. Thanks for standing up for me before, by the way. You didn't have to, though." Jhanna bit her lip, shrugged and tilted her head from side to side. She looked down at the floor and played a little with her fingers. When her eyes finally met mine, there was a new look in them. A humble, slightly remorseful, look. That was certainly a welcomed surprise from her.
"Well, you helped me when Gruel was about to attack me and I was down. I had to help you in some way, right? I mean, it only seemed fair." She then raised her eyebrow at me and looked more confused this time. "But why did you help me? I haven't exactly been that helpful or friendly, so why?" The way she said that- the tone of her voice and the choice of words- made me stop and think. It sounded like she was surprised and, in a way, a bit flabbergasted. Hmm, maybe there was a legitimate reason behind her being cold and reserved.
I smiled and placed my large hand on her skinny shoulder, and she looked up in surprise.
"Well, like I said. My father taught me everything I know about fighting, how and why to fight. He has always told my brothers and I to fight for the right reasons, to defend and to help those who need it. We never fight to hurt people- we fight to help people." Jhanna looked up at me, clearly still befuddled.
"But do you have any reason to? Why don't you just let those people deal with their own problems and focus on dealing with your own? That's what every alien on my planet does- they deal with their own problems and don't care about other people as long as they don't get themselves into trouble with my father." I hadn't quite thought about that before. Splinter had always taught the four of us to defend others, and those many years of being raised into those teachings had paid off in the form of defending others being more of a base instinct than an actual conscious decision for us.
"Because that's how we were raised. Our father was a ninja- a warrior on my planet- and fought for the good of his fellow people. But then he lost everything because his own brother was jealous of what he had- he lost his wife, his child, his home. His story inspired us to do the same, to fight for the good of others, but to also seek justice where justice is deserved. Hah, it all boils down to nature vs. nurture." Jhanna raised her hands in a 'hold it' way.
"Whoa, whoa, slow down. 'Us'? There are more warriors like you other than your father?" I involuntary gasped and felt small tears form in my eyes. It had been hard enough to talk about my father, who had done me no direct wrong. But my brothers? Oh, why couldn't I have kept my big trap shut? I took a deep, slightly shaky, breath. It was difficult to make and maintain eye contact with her, but somehow I managed to.
"Yeah, there are. There's me, my father… and my brothers." Apparently Jhanna heard the sadness in my voice and leaned closer to me in a rare display of compassion, but what I appreciated more than that was the look in her eyes that acknowledged that she was walking on thin ice when she pushed the topic further, and subsequently looked ready to accept any refusal I might give.
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hit a nerve." I nodded and wiped my hand across my eyes, fighting back tears the best I could.
"Yeah, I know. It's just... Look, Jhanna, I can't really talk about it right now." She nodded in acceptance, as I had expected and was quite grateful for, and moved away from me slightly. We sat there on the floor for a while, with me trying to fight back my tears and Jhanna looking rather awkwardly at me while trying to disguise the fact that she was totally staring. After a few minutes Jhanna stood up and sat on her bunk.
"I'll… Uh… I'll take a little nap. So, y-you know, you might wanna keep it down. N-not that you'll be that loud, but… you know..." I nodded and watched her lie down on the mattress and eventually fall asleep. I climbed up on my own bunk, leaned back against the wall and gathered up my legs in my arms. After that, the floodgates burst open and the tears that I had so valiantly tried to fight now cascaded down my cheeks.
My brothers… my family… my everything. They were all back home… And… And the last thing I had said to them was 'I hate you'. What kind of heartless monster did that make me? What did that make them? The thoughts made my heart hurt so very much. I missed them- neglect, rudeness and all.
Did they miss me?
While I had been cleaning the floor earlier, I had had a lot of time to think about that argument we had before we had gone to fight the Kraang. And I have to say; I don't think I've ever felt this ashamed in my life.
I had been mistreated and unappreciated, sure. But I had also acted like a three-year-old child who tried to force his family to listen to him without ever thinking about their point of view or what they had to say. Instead of yelling and screaming like I did, I should have been calm and collected, I should have listened to the others. And I really shouldn't have brought the whole thing up just before we went on patrol. I had acted like a spoiled, ungrateful, disrespectful brat. Really, I wouldn't blame my family if they actually were happy that I was gone, now. Finally, they wouldn't have to deal with me.
But no matter how much I tried to convince myself that they would be justified in feeling that way, just the thought of their rejoicing my absence was enough to nearly shove me over the edge. If they were glad I was gone, I had no reason to continue this journey. Why work so hard to return to a family that doesn't want me?
More tears filled my eyes and I bit back a howl of despair. As I raised my arm to dry my face, I felt something small and hard in my belt and reached down to check what it was. My probing fingers found my T-Phone, which I had completely forgotten about. In fact, I had been certain that it had been destroyed in the portal that ripped me from my family. I looked it over and saw that it was, miraculously, still intact.
With shaking fingers I typed in my passcode and unlocked it, and the first thing that met my eyes was a picture of my brothers and I. Leo was holding the phone and wearing a big smile; Raph stood beside him with a smug smirk- he had placed two fingers behind Leo's head, making it look like he had bunny ears. Mikey smiled into the camera, trying to look cool while making a peace sign with his fingers. I stood behind them, in between Raph and Mikey, with my arms around their shoulders and a small smile on my face.
As I looked at the picture I felt myself tear up again. This was a picture we had taken a few weeks after we had taken down that Kraang invasion a few months back when we had no enemies at the time and no troubles. Just the four of us, having a good time and with no worries at all. More tears started to fall down my cheeks as I stroked the picture with my thumb and started to sob out loud.
Because those smiling faces held nothing less than love, a deep, brotherly love radiating from every pore. Those were the faces of three brothers who loved the fourth one just as much as he unconditionally and endlessly loved them. Words could be fabricated, could easily convey a lie; but pictures, as they say, are worth a thousand words. You can't fake genuine emotion, and you can't pretend to look loving for the camera. Well, you can always try… but in the end, anyone who views the photo can just tell what emotions lie right underneath the forced love.
"I... I'm sorry, guys. I… I never meant to say that I hate you! I don't, I really don't, I love you. And I miss you. So, so much. I wish I were home again, or at least that you were here with me! I love and miss you so much right now!" I dropped the phone, lay down on the bunk and just cried into my pillow, hoping that Jhanna wouldn't be woken up by my private grief.
And eventually, I cried myself to sleep.
A/N: And it's finally done!
So, today the episode with Mona Lisa came out, and I don't think I will make her or her people quite like they were portrayed in this episode, but I will make Mona Lisa at least a little bit like she was in the episode. Strong, honorbound, smart, a capable fighter and also quick on her feet. Just so you know.
I hope you liked the chapter and please review, favorite and follow!