10
"I have the true feeling of myself only when I am unbearably unhappy."
- Franz Kafka –
"So, Leonardo has a son... this fact could be even useful for me..."
Karai was jumping roof to roof. As soon as she's read the message that his secret ally left for her, she sneaked out of the Foot Headquarter. Finally, she can show up something to her father.
Suddenly, her eyes caught who she was looking for. The man also noticed her and waited on that certain roof. As Karai jumped in front of him, she immediately asked:
"So?"
Michelangelo looked at the woman in the eyes, who was waiting for his answer.
"I hope you remember what you promised to me," he spoke.
"I do. Do you?" Karai asked, reminding the turtle that what she had promised wasn't for free.
"Yes, I do. And I'm ready to make this deal. I can give you the key of victory."
"What would that key be?" she asked curiously.
"Leonardo's son," he responded emotionlessly.
"So, you know about him..."
He nodded. "It looks like you also know about him. I can help you seize him. With him being your hostage, you will be able to catch Leonardo, and perhaps you could get Raphael too."
"Hmm..." it made her think. This offer certainly caught her attention. But what was the guarantee that this turtle wasn't just trying to fool her? What would he gain with that? Not like he made peace with his brothers all of a sudden. Also, she had what Michelangelo wanted, moreover needed so bad. After all, he had no reason to fool her, right? But would he really be able to take the kid away from his father and give him to the enemy who will who knows what do to him? But she couldn't refuse either. She had been looking for the boy for too long by now, and her father was growing impatient. She had to make this deal. She will make sure that everything will go as she wants.
"Alright. How will you catch him?"
"Just leave that to me, Karai. I will solve it," he didn't give a straight answer since he didn't know it either, how he will do it.
"Then, when will you bring him to me?"
"Within three days," he said coldly.
"Don't be late," as soon as, the words touched Michelangelo's auditory duct, she was already gone.
"I won't," he whispered, then he turned around to go home and plan out the kidnapping.
Leo was eating a tinned soup. Tequila was sitting across him, with crossed arms and legs, listening to the kid's slurping, which told him that he was eating greedily.
"Slow down, kid, it won't run away," he told him gently.
Leo stopped for a minute and looked up at the older man.
"I'm hungry," he simply answered.
"You're acting like you had been starving until now."
"Well... I feel like it. I miss pizza."
Tequila snorted at the mention of pizza. Ohh, he didn't even remember when the last time was, he ate pizza.
"There's no pizza here."
"I noticed. It just makes this world even horrible."
The older turtle chuckled. He missed pizza too. And a lot of other stuff too.
"Which one is your favorite?"
The question surprised the younger one since Tequila didn't like personal questions. But Leo didn't mind it. Moreover, he wanted to use Tequila's initiative for his own advantage.
"Ham pizza. Yours?"
"Pepperoni pizza."
"Ooo. And what's your favorite color?"
"I don't have any."
"Hoow? Mine is blue."
"I'm an adult man, furthermore blind. I don't muse on things like that. Every color is good, I guess."
"But you weren't always blind, were you? Don't you remember how colors look like?"
"I remember. Not fully, but I still have an idea how they may look like."
"Didn't you have a favorite as a child then?"
The man sighed. It looked like he couldn't escape.
"...I liked blue."
"Oh, good. Best color," Leo grinned.
"You're so childish..."
"I'm a child. What did you expect?"
Tequila smiled at his reply.
"How did you go blind?" Leo changed the subject slowly and carefully. He hoped Tequila wouldn't ditch his question.
The child noticed that the other turtle became tense. It was a touchy topic. He knew it very well that the older one didn't want to talk about it, but he needed to know! And perhaps, this time, he will finally answer it. He knew that it was the Shredder who took his sight, but he wanted to know what happened exactly 30 years ago. And not just to him, but to the whole family.
"Well... I was focusing on the Foot soldiers too much, and I didn't notice that he sneaked up on me... When I turned around, he struck down..." he said quietly. "For seconds, I didn't even know what happened to me. Everything became dark, and probably from the shock, the world went silent too. I had no idea what was going. Every noise grew muffled. I knew that my brothers were yelling things to me, but I couldn't catch a word. I covered my eyes with my hands, and I felt as the blood was flowing down between my fingers," he cleared his throat to hide the shaking. "I felt dizzy and nauseous. I was about to faint when one of my brothers grabbed me and dragged me somewhere in the sewers. And then, he left me there. I was sitting there in my blood, all alone, and I couldn't tell if my family abandoned me or put me to safety. I didn't know what was with them if they were alive or not. I didn't know anything, and it frustrated me. I had no time and energy to realize what really happened to me. My brain truly didn't comprehend that I just went blind..."
He stopped. He lifted his right hand to his eyes and rubbed the tears of sorrow out of them, then gently covered them, as he remembered that life-changing night.
He released a shaking sigh as he grabbed the armrests. Slowly, he rose to his feet, and as he straightened up, he spoke:
"This will be enough for today..." and with that, he returned to his room. "More than enough..." he whispered to himself.
Leo looked after him with a strange break in his eyes. He hugged himself, as he processed what the man told him. He felt so sorry for him. How can someone feel towards someone in two different ways at the same time? He knew who Tequila was. Still, this feeling wasn't self-pity, or was it? Who did he feel sorry for in real? For Tequila or for himself? Or both? Why was it still like that the old turtle was someone entirely different? Did his denial, his fear cause this, or was he really somehow distinct?
He hugged himself as a sudden shiver of apprehension ran through his body. This foreboding immediately knocked the previous train of thought out of his mind. He just hoped that his presentiment was lying to him, even though he knew his feeling of misgiving never failed him before.
ScribeofHeroes: I think I used one of his quotes in chapter 3 too. I'm interested in personality type tests, I've taken a lot of them. What did you most often get as a result?
I think it would have been too early for Tequila to learn it. Also, somebody gave me an idea to use it in the story, and I'm still hesitating about it. It's a little cliché, but I find it interesting. And if I will use it, then Tequila has to wait.
Leo's trying his best to unsee the reality.
Yes, I believe so, a long talk would change their mind about some things. Indeed, for Tequila, it would be humiliating and also rankling. He would realize how horrible his life really turned out to be.
I think he could sense little Leo's distress and sorrow, but since Leo didn't make any noise, he couldn't be sure.
Yes, when I watched this episode of the 2003 show, I felt like that Mikey changed the most, and became the worst. The episode time was limited, of course, but I believe so if it was an adult show with a longer version of Same as it never was, then Michelangelo's darker side would get more attention. Or at least, this is what I think. This is what I saw in him, and now I'm trying to follow this line of thought and write this into the old-Mikey scenes.
I guess that news would be more apprehensible in their situation.
Raph is trying to break through Mikey's shield.
Mikey believes that Raphael wants to prank him or kill him, no between :"D .
Raph knows how much Mikey changed
Well yes, sometimes I feel this too that this word might not fit here and there. In my language there's more word than in English, and sometimes it's hard to find the right one :"D I started to write fanfictions to improve my English, I struggled with this language so much ^^".
It is really a big question what really happened to Splinter. I was curious, but unfortunately the episode didn't answer my questions.
Thank you for your long review again 😃
.-I don't own the characters-.
please, leave a review if you have some time :)
