TMNT The Glasses of Life

Chapter Three, Book Three

She hadn't come back. She had been gone since five am. Mel was re-entering Donnie's new lab with a fresh ice pack. She had wrapped it in a dish cloth. "Anything?" Donnie didn't look at her.

"No."

Mel sighed and knelt next to Wayne. "Here." She placed the ice on his forehead. Wayne nodded in gratitude. He'd come down with a fever and couldn't do much besides eat, drink, and sleep.

"Mel, I'm worried," Donnie muttered. "You're certain she's just…?"

"What else could it be?" she asked nonchalantly. Mel knew she shouldn't be lying to possibly the only person that could save the girl, but she'd dealt with this sort of thing before, she'd gotten most of the pills out… three or five wouldn't kill. Plus, Mel had promised not to tell.

She'd gone to say hello to Karai that morning, ask if she wanted to accompany Mel for a morning stroll. She'd walked in on Karai trying to swallow a pill, one of Mel's allergy pills. "I didn't know you had allergies," Mel had said. Karai had slowly turned to her, lids drooping, mouth sloppy, skin blue as a sapphire. That was when Mel had reacted. No words, just dashed to Karai, forced her mouth open, and plunged her fingers down her throat. Karai had vomited a quarter of her weight. She'd muttered for Mel not to tell before she passed out. Mel had taken her to Donnie then, said she'd found her like that and couldn't wake her.

That was five hours ago. Mel hadn't left the lab except when Quinn had run in, claiming Wayne was dead. He'd merely fainted. In a way, it was lucky, Mel had suggested that Karai was sick as well, which took questioning off her unusually low supply of allergy pills. Mel sneezed and blew her runny nose. It had to be her allergy pills…

"Mel?" Mel snapped out of her trance and looked at Wayne. "I'm… not gonna train you two today…"

"No, really?"

"You two should train without me… or take the day off. You're working hard and Quinn's…"

"Getting board," Mel finished. Wayne nodded and closed his eyes. Mel rose and stood next to Donnie who was standing over Karai.

"… I don't think she got the flu or whatever Wayne has, Mel," Donnie muttered. Mel didn't respond, but she did sneeze. She groaned and blew her red nose. "You're out of pills?" Mel cursed under her breath. "You had almost the full pack when you got… here…" Donnie paled and glanced at Karai. "Oh, god."

After Mel had run up top and picked up some more pills (she intended to get a good place to keep them) she and Quinn trained for three hours. Karai had woken up at around hour two, feeling like shit. Mel would have to have a serious talk with her later. Splinter didn't suspect anything but sickness, in fact; he looked disgusted when Mel suggested she'd caught it from Wayne. As if it were Wayne's fault she-

Mel took a breath and transitioned to her third kata. No point in getting worked up; Splinter didn't know. Besides, if he wanted to blame Wayne, let him, Mel knew Wayne wouldn't care.

"I'm tired," Quinn complained.

"I'm Hungry, nice to meet you, Tired." Quinn giggled.

"Nice to meet you too, Hungry." They kept practicing for about thirty minutes. "Can we stop for a minute?"

"You can. I don't wanna."

"But who'll hangout with me? Everyone else is training."

"Karai's not." Quinn thought it over.

"Yeah but I don't wanna get sick." Mel sighed; Quinn may be smart, but she was still a kid.

"Okay, how about one more walkthrough after this, then we stop?"

Quinn groaned. "Fine."

Mel and Quinn sat against the wall singing to each other while Mel played her guitar. Mostly kiddie songs, as Mel put it, sing-alongs and campfire songs, because they could. Occasionally Mel would burst out in a rock frenzy.

They were unaware of the eavesdropping turtle on his hands and knees, hanging onto every word Mel sang.

My friends don't walk they run,

Skinny dip in rabbit holes for fun,

Popping, popping balloons with guns,

Getting high of helium.

What was helium? Oh, it made voices go up?

We paint white roses red,

Each shade from a different person's head,

This dream, dream is a killer,

Getting drunk with a blue caterpillar.

Leonardo saw and heard all of it: the bloody heads dyeing the roses, the never ending dream, the silly and fun times turned grey and rotten.

Now I'm peeling the skin off my face,

'Cause I really hate being safe,

The normals, they make me afraid,

The crazies, they make me feel sane.

The freshly peeled skin birthed the bloody skull, the razors, the cowering grey people, the laughing, colourful people.

I'm nuts! Baby I'm mad,

The craziest friend that you've ever had,

You think I'm psycho, you think I'm gone,

Tell the psychiatrist something is wrong!

The colourful people screamed, and the grey people thought them freaks.

Over the bend, entirely bonkers,

You like me best when I'm off my rocker,

Tell you a secret: I'm not alarmed,

So what if I'm crazy? The best people are!

And in the center, and colourful, laughing, angry girl. A girl with toxic eyes.

Leo opened his eyes. She'd stopped singing… why? Leo looked out his door; the girl wasn't there, but her guitar sat in its open case. She must be coming back. Leo wished she would hurry up; he could feel Keeper again… he shuddered. The cold air gave him goosebumps and made him feel sick. The walls were closing in. Leo felt his breath, his lips, his… Leo gasped, growled, bit his lip, no, he wouldn't scream. He wouldn't give Keeper the satisfaction.

As soon as he heard the strings snap, Leo relaxed and the horrid feelings left him alone. He didn't know what she was singing, but the pictures were still nice.

A pale creature with fangs crawled along the shadows. Others joined it. Eventually they had an army, and they all sang together. They sang for acceptance. They sang for each other.

Leo realized he was at the edge of his door, staring at the toxic eyed siren. She was focused on her guitar, so she didn't notice him. Leo realized she was singing in a language he didn't know. He knew Japanese and English. What other languages were there…?

"Whoa!" Leo looked at the girl and was surprised to find her looking at him. "Jesus, Leo, warn a bitch." She put her hand on her heart. Leo studied the girl: she was oddly pale, wearing a sweater and fleece pants with snowflakes on them along with fluffy socks. Her hair was short and wild. And she was looking at him. Her eyes… Leo had never seen purple eyes before. They were bright, but not neon, and they were darker than he'd thought. "Uh… hi?"

Leo realised his face was very close to the girl's. He blushed and backed away, ashamed. The girl smiled. "Come on, I'm not that scary." Leo froze: she was talking to him. What would he do? He hadn't talked to anyone for so long… especially not one as nice as this girl.

"Y-you're not… scary…" Leo then recalled why he didn't talk: his voice, that grinding growl, it ripped his throat apart. By the way the girl flinched, she felt the same way. He looked down.

"Neither are you." Wait, what? He looked up again. The girl was smiling. "You're not scary at all. You're just scared. Fear can make people do and say scary things, but that doesn't make them bad." They were silent for a while, except for the girl strumming absentmindedly. "Want me to play a song?"

Leo tried to think of something to say. "Um… yes." He looked to his side then added, "Please."

The girl smiled again. "Any requests?" Leo didn't know what she meant.

"I'm… not sure."

"I mean what type of song do you want me to play? Unless you have a specific song in mind. Can't guarantee I'll know it, though."

Leo thought about it; he still wasn't sure what she meant, but he'd liked the one slower song she'd played… "Do you know any slow songs?" the girl pursed her lips and put a finger to her chin.

"Yeah, but most are sad."

Leo shrugged. "I just like your singing." The girl grinned.

"In that case, I have an awesome song for you." Leo arched a brow. "It's called Behind Blue Eyes." As she strummed the opening chords, she grinned at him. "My name's Mel, by the way."

Leo liked Mel. She understood… and she wasn't afraid of him. She treated him like a normal person… not a mutant or a victim, a person. She joked with him. She wasn't afraid to touch him. She wasn't afraid to let him touch her. And she liked blue.

He'd told Mel how little he remembered. She'd thought it over. "Makes sense if you got hit in the head a lot." Leo averted his gaze.

"I don't remember." Mel had laughed.

"Of course you don't." Leo hugged his knees to his chest. "Is there anything specific you remember besides… you know." Leo had nodded. He hadn't told Mel exactly what had happened, but she didn't push him.

"Ninjutsu, Donnie, Raph, Mikey, and Karai." Mel had arched a brow.

"Not Splinter or April or Casey?" Leo had shaken his head.

"I don't know Casey. I know the names Splinter and April, but they mean nothing to me." Mel nodded and stroked her chin.

"Hm… interesting. Hey, Leo?"

"Yes?"

"I hope you don't mind me asking, but… were you and Karai more than friends?" Leo arched a brow.

"I don't understand your question." Mel had rubbed the back of her neck.

"Okay: did you two kiss a lot?" Leo had nodded, then looked at the floor.

"We had sex." Mel had jumped and stared at him like she'd just noticed he was a mutant. Leo had crossed his legs. He'd assumed, since Mel had told him Karai had talked to her about 'them', that she'd known. "Is this news to you?" Then again… it was Karai.

"Kinda, yeah," Mel replied after a moment's hesitation. She then bit back a grin and a squeal. "Just… just give me a moment to bask in it…" Mel took a deep breath and centered herself as if finding her chi.

That was when Donnie had shown up and taken Mel away. He'd been shocked to find her with Leo.

Mel had waved to him as she left with her guitar and Leo had waved back. He smiled at Mel's reaction to him and Karai. At least she was in favour… maybe she could help him revive himself, revive the ninja Karai had kissed that first time… maybe she could not only figure out what was wrong with him, but fix it, too. Maybe she could fix him.

Maybe Keeper wouldn't come back.

-Note-

So apparently this chapter got corrupted when I posted it the first time, but not to worry, I'm pretty sure I fixed it. Sorry for the inconvenience!