Leo was jolted from sleep when he was tossed into a cold room, his wings sprawling clumsily on the ground. Carefully, he looked up to see Raph peering at him. Don's hands were going over his body, and Mikey was hugging him. The metal in his throat swelled suddenly and Leonardo choked, trying to cough it out but failing.
"Don!" Raph called, panicked as their leader's mouth opened and closed like a fish on land. "Don, he can't breathe!"
Their smart brother came over quickly and forced Leo's mouth open, then looked down it, shaking his head. "No good. I can't see anything in this light. Mikey, Raph, go over his wings and make sure he isn't hurt badly. I'll see what I can do here."
Don rolled his brother onto his side and got a good look at Leo's plastron. It was covered in metal, and then he noticed the metal in his brother's mouth. Perhaps that was choking him…
But before Donnie could do anything, Leonardo gasped and coughed. Mike pounded his shell only to tear a cry from Leo.
"Ah! Don't do that!" the blue-banded turtle ordered, pushing himself to his hands and knees. He looked up, then down at his plastron. "Aw, shell."
Mikey couldn't even grin when Leo, the Leo, cursed. Instead, he called for Donnie. "Dude, his wing's torn over here!"
"Yeah," Leo agreed, standing with Raph's help. He left his wings open, though. "Bishop decided he liked the membrane of my wing so much he had to have a sample."
Don winced; by the bland way Leo said it, Bishop hadn't used painkillers or sedatives, just sliced and diced.
"What's with your shell and plastron?" Don asked, tapping the metal.
"Not a clue. I fell asleep in the wind tunnel and woke up when I was thrown in here. Well, I know Stockman burned off a piece of my shell, but Bishop ordered him to put it back on. I think that's why it hurts right now. Are you all okay?"
"Fine," Raph snorted, pacing again. "Except that we're slowly freezing to death."
"You should grow a pair of wings," Leo teased, opening said limbs and hugging his brothers close. "They're really warm."
"No muzzle?" Don asked suddenly, huddled close to Leo. They all heard their leader chuckle heatedly, and it sent goose bumps crawling over Raph's skin.
"Muzzle? No. Choking device? Yes." Leo huffed. "Something is coating my throat, and it feels like metal. It expanded, that's why I couldn't breathe. It's also suppressing my fire-breathing and I can't tell if I can eat yet."
"Kavara," Mike suddenly said.
"What?" Raph, Don, and Leo said at once.
"Kavara," Mikey repeated. "It means "Dragon Mother" or "Mother" to a dragonet. I just remembered. So you're my kavara, Leo."
"Weird. Mikey, why do you remember this at such a time?" Leo asked, pulling Mikey closer in his wing. He felt his little brother shrug against his side. He'd grown again, and now stood nearly a foot and a half taller than Michelangelo.
"I dunno. You can call me kalian, though. That means "Dragon Son" or "Dragonet". And isn't that what I am to you?"
"Sure," Leo whispered, patting Mikey's head and chortling. "Kalian. I like it."
"Well, I was looking up Elvish names to see if they had "Ugly Hothead" for Raph there and found this site(1)… It was really cool."
"Hm. So, is there one for Ugly Hothead?" Leo asked, teasingly.
"No, but there is Arnlys, which means South Breeze. Or Fir'rae, which is Dark Beast. I think both fit. Oh, and Renis, which is Bear of the Dawn, or Morning Bear!" Mikey listed.
"Wow. To think you have studied so hard for something so trivial," Don whistled.
"Hey!" Mike protested. "I study hard for ninjistsu, too!" He muttered something.
"What?" Don asked.
"Thohar. It means True Knowledge or True Wisdom. For me to call you that, it would mean One Who Seeks True Wisdom."
"I like it. Thohar."
"Does anything mean Black Fire?" Raph asked. "Or Dark Fire?"
"Um… yeah. Let me think. Kor-something means Black-something, and fire is –iat. So that'd be Koriat. Or Firiat for Dark Fire."
"So, I'm Kavara, you're Kalian, Raph's Koriat, and Donnie's name is Thohar?" Leo murmured. "Hm. I like Kavara; it sounds protecting."
"And feminine," Raph pointed out mockingly. "Should we call you Lea now? Leonarda?"
"No!" Leo blushed, and by the sound of his voice, he was trying not to laugh. "What about you? Dark Fire? Please. Mikey, is there anything for Soft Rose?"
"Let me think… Yes! Or, close. "Nim" means deep, or "Fis" means light, or… ah! Soft is "seh". Rose is… well, flower is "or" or "oro". "Sal" means sweet," Mikey added.
"Very well. For teasing purposes, Raph's name is Sehoro, Soft Flower," Leo laughed.
"Mike, what's the translation for Bruised One?"
"There is none."
"Okay, how about Female Turtle?"
"Closest is "ara", which is a woman. I don't know "turtle" in Elvish."
"Alright, how about Winged Woman?"
"Umm… I'd say Aradrim, which is like Flying Woman, or Arathil, with is Winged Woman…"
"Alright, then Leo shall be known as Arathil," Raph announced.
"Mikey, is there a word or Knights of the Same Heart?" Don asked.
"Um… knight is "ael". Heart is "nes". So Aelnes."
"Alright, we'll call Leo Aelnes and Raph… what's Guardian of the Heart?" Don didn't like bowing to Mikey's superior knowledge, but he relented and decided that it was fun to rename each other.
"Baelnes," Mikey answered immediately, betraying his familiarity with the name.
"So, Leo is Aelnes and Raph will be Baelnes." Don chucked to himself at his smarts.
"We're having too much fun with this," Raph muttered darkly. "Kavara, humph!"
"Oh, please," Leo groaned, his face muscles stretching into a smile. "We'll call you Baelnes, not those others Mike and I came up with. Okay? Just don't call me Lea, or Leanarda. That's just weird."
"What's weird is that we're having fun," Don said. "I mean, this is Bishop's place. Shouldn't we be trying to get out or seomthing?"
"Oh, yeah…"
(1): the site is listed in my bio… check it out!