These Dark Wounds:
Donny was used to Mikey's never ending flood of chatter, that was welcome, harmless, and easily ignored. It was strange how something so mundane was now so sorely missed.
And now, Mikey sat, silent and rigid as a hunted animal, barely acknowledging Don's gentle hands as he probed Mikey's side in search of any wounds or hidden hurts. Normally, Mikey would fuss and whine about being forced into being still for so long, but now, he seemed frozen and uncertain. Donny inwardly winced when he saw Mikey's disbelieving eyes fall onto Raphael's body.
Raphael had mercifully passed out shortly after the savage removal of his own weapon from his wrist. Don had kept a tense, anguished vigil over his brother, worried over the possibility of shock, or worse. Thank God, Raph had only fainted from the pain, and apparently his overtaxed body had finally given out. Mikey and Donny had lovingly carried his slack body to the cot in the infirmary and bundled him up as well as they could. The mutilated wrist had been hastily cleansed, stitched up, bandaged, and now lay elevated on the pillow next to Raphael. Don took the liberty of injecting the sedative that he knew would keep Raphael unconscious until the very worst of the agony had faded into a more manageable level.
Sighing inwardly, Don winced and rolled his shoulders to ease some of the ache. Mikey tilted his head with concern at the small noise of pain.
"You alright, bro?" Mikey's uncertain whisper was absolutely nothing like his normally bright cheer. Hell, it sounded like a loud noise might shatter the world.
"I'm good, Mikey. Don't worry about me, okay?" Mikey gave him a thin, tolerant smile for his false attempt at reassurance.
"Don…"Mikey's eyes flooded before he blinked back the sudden blur. Swallowing hard, he whispered, "What happened tonight?"
Don's eyes narrowed, and his lips thinned before he finally answered, flatly, "Well, Mikey, Leo tried to kill Raphael, and you."
The tremor of rage was barely concealed as Don shook his head, bitterly. "That's not very hard to understand."
Mikey flinched at Don's brittle tone. "Dude, it is hard to understand. Since when the heck does Leo flip out like that? Have you ever seen him lose it like this?"
Donny was silent, as he very carefully set Raphael's wrist back on the pillow. It was odd how so much blood could have poured out from such a deceptively small wound. The puncture itself just looked like a deep hole embedded in Raph's wrist, carefully held together by the jagged edges of flesh that Don had sewn together after stopping the bleeding and disinfecting what he could. Now, Raph's wrist was adorned by a neat dark line of string and held together by little more than prayer and good intentions.
"Don?" The pleading uncertainty in Mikey's tone finally made Donny halt from his useless but distracting task.
"What is it, Mikey?"
Mikey gave the dojo a long stare before he sat down next to Don. "Do you have any idea what could be wrong with Leo? Like…could he have some sort of brain thingy going on?"
Don inwardly snarled at the desperate, searching hope in Mikey's undertone. He paused to work his curled lips into the wilted, false smile of reassurance.
"A brain thingy? Such as?" His mouth quirked with mild amusement as Mikey shrugged.
"I don't know…like a brain tumor? Or rabies?"
Donny gave Mikey an indulgent pat on the shell. "It might be that Leo's sudden change of behavior is organic and has a biological component. "
Mikey raised an eyebrow. "So, wouldn't that mean that Leo can't control himself after all?"
Mikey flinched at the dark scowl and the sudden lurch as Don rose, quaking with the abrupt and alien flood of rage in his veins.
"Leo has no excuse for this, Mikey. And I'm not going to sit here and exonerate him when Raph nearly died from his actions. "
Mikey made a small sound of protest, before he timidly gestured towards the dojo. "Don, what would you do if the situation was reversed?"
Don breathed a heavy sigh, and tilted his head, to indicate that he was listening. "Reversed?"
"Yeah, dude….like what if it were you flipping out and hurting people? Wouldn't you want us to see what was going on? Try to help? Do something before you hurt anybody else?"
Mikey's hand against his shoulder was warm, and his eyes beseeching as he plunged onward, heedless of Don's anger.
"Don, you just said yourself that you don't know what is making Leo so crazy right now. And if it is something that he has no control over, don't we owe to him to help him? Isn't that what you would want him to do if the situation was reversed?"
Mikey only felt the absence of Don's shoulder as he sharply turned away, and presented Mikey with an unyielding shell.
"Why don't you go see if Master Splinter needs some rest, Mikey?" Don said, flatly, as he sat back down next to Raph.
"And if Leo needs some help?"
Mikey watched as Don shuddered before resuming his thin veneer of calm.
"I'll take care of it." Don said, flatly.
It? Not him? What, Leo's now just an it? Mikey shivered at the disgust and indifference in Don's tone, as he resolutely turned back to Raphael's vigil.
Suddenly terrified, Mikey turned and fled before he had to ponder exactly how Don would take care of "it."
Numbly, Mikey crossed the dark hallway and then halted at the massive, gloaming room of the dojo. The overhead light bulb was dully humming, and cast a wan glow over the chaos left behind.
Equipment overturned, the weapon rack toppled and the various implements flung over the worn mats. And there, in the middle of the mat, screamed the scarlet pool and the heap of bloodied rags that had been left in the rush to save Raph's life. The sai was laying, forgotten in the corner where Don had tossed it. Don's bow was laying forlornly beside it.
Grimacing, Mikey turned away, towards the room where he and Splinter had dragged Leo. He would clean up what he could of the mess, later.
Warily, Mikey drummed his knuckles against Splinter's door, waiting. He heard the tap of Splinter's cane, the shift of cloth and the door was slid open, as Splinter greeted him with a wan smile.
"My son."
"Hey, sensei." Mikey hitched his shoulders, apologetically. "How are you?"
"Do you care to keep an old rat company,Michelangelo? I am deeply troubled."
Mikey nodded, uncertainly. Normally, Splinter saved the deep stuff for Leo. His gut clenched as he stepped in after Splinter's waving paw.
The old rat's room had always felt like home. Here , the sharp edges of bricks were blurred by the Japanese paintings, the cushions, the silk that Splinter had accumulated over the years. The whole place was awash with the wan gold of candle glow. Here, was peace.
"Would you care to sit, Michelangelo?" Splinter asked over his shoulder, as he quietly poured two cups of tea into the chipped porcelain cups.
"Uh, sure, Master Splinter. How is Leo?"
"He is not well, my son. But do not fear him. I will not allow him to harm any of you again."
Splinter shuffled over, placing the steaming tea into Mikey's hands. Mikey breathed out the question.
"How?"
Splinter only gave him a sad shake of his head. "You may see him, if you wish. But it pains my heart make such methods….necessary."
Splinter drew a measured breath. "Do you wish to see him, my son?"
Mikey swallowed hard, and nodded.
"Very well. But brace yourself, Michelangelo. Leonardo is still not himself."
He had been drugged. The bitter realization came from the heaviness of his limbs and the dull slither of his own awareness. The soft mattress, the sheets…. He found himself staring at the unfamiliar ceiling of Splinter's room, and blearily wondering why it was so hard to move at all. Grunting, he tried to raise his left wrist and flinched to feel the tug of something looped over his arm. Leo's eyes shot open in terror. The world tilted and swam before his eyes as his raised his head from the mattress and stared, wide eyed. Shivering, he tried to yank his arms free, his ankles anything.
The realization was as cruel as It was sudden in all of its brutality. Leo numbly stared at the knots securely anchoring both his feet and ankles into the sprawl across the bed.
His family had drugged him and tied him down like an animal. Surely, surely Karai would be pleased with this. And the quicker he was free from this, the quicker he could flee and save what was left of his fractured family.
Attempting to swallow back the mounting panic, Leo tried to raise his left wrist to his teeth, attempting to untie it. He growled in frustration to see that his tether only allowed him to move a few inches. There was no way in hell he could bring his limbs together, or his mouth to the knots.
The hell with it. There was more than one way of getting free. He winced as he tried to twist around, and see if there were any sharp objects in the room.
Nothing. Nothing but bricks, the bed, and these infernal knots. After staring at them for a moment, Leo's heart quelled when the sickening realization hit like a blow.
Splinter had tied them. They were tight enough to keep him bound, but not to the point of cutting off circulation. Enough slack to allow him to move a few inches, but not enough to even let him sit up.
He wished, wished, wished that Splinter had been far kinder and taken his katana to his throat, and ended this whole thing. It would have been so much easier.
He allowed his head to flop back onto the mattress, and shut his eyes, trying and failing to keep the tears from dribbling down his cheeks. All he needed was for Karai to watch him weeping.
The snarled sob rose to a roar as he reared back and shrieked at the unseen cameras, "DAMN YOU! DAMN YOU TO HELL FOR WHAT YOU'VE DONE TO ME!"
Rage cauterized any scrape of reason he had left as he arched against the restraints and tried to hurl himself free. The knots bit into his flesh, but did not yield, or tighten. Infuriated, he curled the few inches he could, and wailed, and thrashed and clawed like a frenzied animal.
From the firestorm that had erupted across his brain, he heard the door open and Splinter's sharp cry of his name. A gentle, steadying paw against his quaking shoulder as he shrieked again and tried to rip his arm free from the kind grip of his sensei.
It was like the shock of water dribbling over the burn, and it only made it worse.
"Leonardo, my son, calm yourself! Please!" Splinter's entreaty seared like acid as Leo shuddered under his hand in tears.
"Leave me ALONE!" Leo screamed as he shut his burning eyes, slumping into exhaustion.
Leo felt Splinter's fingers tighten, and then the brush of fur against his forehead as Splinter tried to soothe him. Leo exhaled and turned his head away.
"Sensei…" Leo breathed out, pleading.
Splinter's caress stopped, but the paw did not leave.
"Leonardo, please. Please tell me how I may help you."
Splinter felt something inside fracture as Leo wrenched himself free from his paw.
"Sedate me."
Leo heard Splinter's sharp exhalation, and Splinter saw the broken pleading in Leo's eyes.
Leo brushed Splinter's paw with his temple.
"Sensei, please. Sedate me, and at least give me a few hours away from this."
Splinter's eyes were full of tears. "Why, my son? Why do you demand this of me?"
Leo winced at the agony he had inflicted and drew a breath, scraping and cobbling together every last bit of will to break his father's heart and save his life.
"Because it's all that I have left, Master Splinter. A few hours of oblivion before…" Leo's jaw clamped shut and the words rammed against his very soul. He had come so close to spewing out Karai's demand, and damning them all….