Disclaimer: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is the property of Viacom, Nickelodeon, Kevin Eastman, Peter Laird and all organizations associated with said names. This is non-profit.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Exile
by BrownEyedBirdie
Author's Note: I'm so excited for how this story continues to grow and evolve as I write it. And the reviews you share give me great ideas. Perhaps it might be obvious that Donatello is my favorite turtle, but I intend to, and hope I successfully, treat all the Turtles fairly and like I am writing as their fan too. Weiterlesen!
Chapter 3 – Broken
Raphael snapped awake. It was dark in the kitchen. Raphael glanced at Leo and made a careful inspection over his older brother, feeling his pulse strong and slow. Raph breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't meant to fall asleep, but it had crept up on him unexpected. Looking on it now, he wasn't sure how he'd managed to fall asleep at all. The sound of Casey and Mikey snoring sounded more like chainsaws grinding. The night before had been peaceful, even with everyone crammed in the kitchen like sardines. During the day, Donnie had managed to get the power onto the area grid tied into Niagara Falls, but he kept talking about disbursing the power more widely. In the meantime, it helped to have everyone able to spread out and sleep comfortably. A particularly loud buzz came from Mikey and Raph flung the blankets aside. He went out into the family room. Mikey and Casey were curled up on the floor wrapped in blankets. April was asleep on the couch. Donnie was nowhere in sight. A surge of panic made Raph's blood freeze until he heard the faint tapping upstairs. Raph rolled his eyes and looked at the clock. The time was 4:23 am.
"Great time to work on the plumbing," Raph grumbled.
He climbed up the stairs and went into the bathroom. His face grew more annoyed with what he saw.
The boiler was practically in pieces. New pipes and sheet metal littered the floor. The source of the tapping was currently positioning a pipe into the wall.
"Give it a rest, Mr. Goodwrench," Raph said. Donnie turned slightly and sighed.
"I'm almost done," he said, "I couldn't sleep being so close. I know I can get it to work."
"Not before the crack of dawn," Raph said.
"What time is it?" Donnie asked.
"Almost 4:30 in the am," Raph said.
"Oh," Donnie said, "Well, I've only been at this an hour."
"And how long have you been awake?" Donnie didn't reply right away.
"Longer than an hour," Donnie answered sheepishly.
"Donnie, the boiler can wait until morning," Raph said, "When the sun is up and the word is awake."
"Hey, I'm used to late nights," Donnie said, 'We would patrol until much later than this."
"Well, we aren't on patrol," Raph said, "So we should get some sleep to focus on what we have to do."
Donnie sighed. He didn't move and Raph rolled his eyes.
"You aren't going to give up on this, are you?" Raph said.
"I have other things to do in the morning," Donnie explained, "During the day, I work on making sure we have power and no one knows about it."
"You've powered this house six ways from Tuesday," Raph said, "We've got heat from the stove. No one knows we're here."
"We need hot water," Donnie said, "Leo needs it and so do we."
Raph grimaced.
"Well, if you're not going to sleep," he said, "Then let me help. I'll pull, twist, screw and break whatever you need."
Donnie smiled but shook his head.
"I can do it."
"Well, I'm not leaving so you might as well make me work."
"Fine," Donnie sighed again, "See if you can pull these pipes up. But be gentle with them. They're old and I don't want them breaking off in the floor."
Raph and Donnie spent the next half hour pulling pipes up, replacing them with new ones and clamping them into place. Donnie examined each old pipe for future use but generally found that it was better off being thrown away.
"Uh-oh," Raph said. Donnie turned.
"What's up?"
"I was being gentle!" Raph snapped, "This came up so easily, but the end is all torn up. I did what you said!"
Donnie looked closely at the pipe.
"No, it's fine," he said, "The ends aren't bent, so you didn't break it. It's probably all but dust now. Don't worry, Raph, it was already broken."
Raph stared at the pipe in a far-sighted way.
"Broken," he repeated.
"What?" Donnie asked.
"It's broken," Raph said again, "Like us. We're broken too."
"What do you mean?"
"You, me, Mikey, April, Casey," Raph said, "We're fatherless, homeless, chased out like snakes. No offense meant to Karai, but who knows if she even survived the invasion. Do you know Casey and I saw her on the rooftops just before the portals started opening? Anything could have happened to her by now. She might even be back with the Shredder."
"Raph," Donnie began, but Raph was not stopping.
"We're just hiding now, Donnie," Raph said, "We lost everything. And what do we have to show for it?"
"Each other," Donnie said. Raph looked at him in confusion and just a little air of defiant interest.
"Raph, we're broken, yes," Donnie said, "Broken, but not shattered."
Donnie took Raph's hand and placed it next to the jagged crack in his plastron.
"Do you feel that?" Donnie asked. Raph rolled his eyes yet again. Donnie shot him a look that said "Just go with me on this."
"My heartbeat," Raph said in a bored voice, "It means I'm still alive."
"It means more than that," Donnie said. He looked at the boiler.
"The boiler is a heart, Raph," Donnie explained, "All the pipes are veins that fill this house. If the boiler works, we get hot water, heat and sanitation. We can drink clean water, cook and clean and it regulates everything else in the house."
"But it's broken," Raph said.
"Just the parts around it," Donnie said. He put a hand on the boiler.
"The boiler still has and can do a job," Donnie said, "The heart still can beat."
"Your heartbeat means more than just being alive," Donnie continued, "It means everything is functioning. Even if something is seriously wounded, if the heart can still pump blood in the veins, then lungs can still breathe, organs still function, mouth can still talk; you're not beyond fixing. You can still keep going."
"But to what?" Raph said, "What is next? What happens to us now?"
Donnie was silent for a long time. Raph felt bitterly vindicated. But then Donnie smiled.
"We fix the boiler," he said, "Then we go to the next step. One day at a time."
"We're in the woods now," Donnie said, "But literally and figuratively. Let's stay on the path we're given right now and we'll see where it takes us."
"And if we're here forever?" Raph said.
"We won't be," Donnie said, "Nothing lasts forever. But it's a choice of going back, going forward or stopping. We can't go back. New York isn't safe and Leo needs to heal. We need to heal. Like you said, we're broken. We can't stop. That's not what ninja's do. We adapt. No Turtle, or human, left behind. So that leaves one choice."
"Move forward," Raph said, "But can we?"
"We're ninjas," Donnie said, "Splinter said that means "patience" and "perseverance", so that's what we do. We show patience and persevere."
Raph sighed and rubbed his eyes. His venting had resulted in a huge amount of stress leaving him and it made him feel tired.
"When did you get this smart?" he said sleepily.
"I've always been this smart," Donnie said in an attempt to lighten the mood. Raph laughed appreciatively.
"Let's finish this boiler so we can both get some sleep," Raph said. Donnie nodded and they worked the rest of the job in silence. As the last of the pipes slid into place, Raph sat back and stretched out his legs.
"How on earth do you do this for hours on end?" Raph asked.
"Practice," Donnie said, rotating a shoulder. He patted the side of the boiler.
"The water's going to be turned off for a little bit," Donnie said, "I'll need to clear all the drains and then I'll turn the main valve on. Why don't you go downstairs and try to get some more sleep?"
"Yeah, I think I will," Raph said, yawning widely. He rubbed his tired eyes and smiled.
"Thanks for the help, Raph," Donnie said.
"No problem," Raph said, "And thanks for letting me-well, you know."
Donnie grinned. Raph stretched again and stood. He went back downstairs and crawled back into the blankets in the kitchen. Leo hadn't moved. As Raph settled himself in and was drifting off to sleep, a loud banging started above him.
"Wuzzat?" Casey asked groggily.
"Just a heartbeat, Jones," Raph replied, "It's just a heartbeat."
*()()()*
Huzzah! Another chapter up! Thank you for following, favoriting and reviewing. Please don't stop. I absolutely love to hear from you. See you in the next chapter.