Leonardo couldn't sleep.
He had been sitting in on the couch for hours, absentmindedly flipping through the television channels, trying to make his eyes droop even the slightest. His plaston rose and fell smoothly, and the blue turtle tried to take deep breaths to self-induce sleep, but ever fiber in his being seemed to be buzzing with energy. Leo wasn't quite sure why he was suddenly on edge, but it probably had something to do with the demon from Splinter's past.
What bugged Leonardo the most about the whole idea was their Sensei's secrecy. Up until now, Master Splinter had always been very open about his past, even when it involved the loss of his wife at the hand of his nemesis. Even with his more personal memories, Sensei usually would answer Leo if asked. He often liked to think of himself as Splinter's favorite because of it.
And suddenly, this new demon shows up, and master won't say a word to anyone. Well, anyone except April.
Leo felt his hand clench around the remote, to which he quickly relaxed it. It doesn't make any sense he thought, why would Sensei tell April about this spirit and not me? I'm the leader.
It's not that Leo was jealous, it's just that he hated being left out of the loop. He felt like it was his personal responsibility as the leader to protect and lend aid to anyone who needed it, and it was kind of hard to help if he had no idea what they were dealing with.
Suddenly, there was a rustling that came from the hallway behind him, and Leonardo turned to see Raphael sulking towards the kitchen.
Leo festered a smile. "Can't sleep either?"
Raphael scoffed, opening the fridge and grabbing a piece of leftover pizza. "Heroes never sleep." He said it more as unfortunately true statement than a joke.
The blue turtle sighed as his brother took a seat on the adjacent couch, and they sat watching television, with nothing but Raph's chewing jaw to break the silence. Leo threw him a quick glance and noticed that he was intensely watching the TV, even though what was on was an infomercial for a fitness program that had been on for hours.
"Hey Raph, you okay?" he asked. The red turtle didn't respond, his eyes unfocused and his gaze far. "Raph?"
Raphael snapped to attention. "What?" he barked.
"Are you okay?"
Raph's eye got wide, but were suddenly scrunched into a grimace by his furrowed brow. "I'm fine." He turned his body so that his shell was facing his brother while still maintaining a view of the infomercial. After a few seconds, Raphael's eyes peeked over his shell and saw Leo still looking at him, confused. "Why are you staring at me?"
Leo blinked and quickly looked away. Did he seem more distant and unfocused, or was Leo just making it up? It was late and his thoughts were jumbled. Leo shook his head, trying to clear his brain. "No reason," he replied. Again, there was a tense silence, as Raph turned a cold shoulder to his brother. "Thanks for helping Donnie look after April today," Leo offered, trying to coax out what was wrong with his brother.
Raph suddenly tensed, Leo had obviously touched on a sore subject. "It was no problem. Had to make sure that Gizmo Geek was doing things right," he replied curtly.
Leo smirked. "You were making sure Donnie didn't mess up? No offense, but I'll take Donnie's medical advice over yours any day."
Was Raph blushing? "Well my supervision must have worked for something, because she's all good now, isn't she?" He didn't break contact with the glowing scream.
"Well you would know," Leo mused.
Raph's glare slowly shifted towards his unnaturally calm brother. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked, jaw clenched.
Leonardo probably should've just stopped talking, taken it all back and returned to sitting in uncomfortable silence, but part of him wanted to know if what Mikey had told him was true. Plus, he loved holding information over his brother.
The oldest turtle spoke leisurely. "Oh Mikey just told me that-"
Raphael exploded.
"Mikey doesn't know what he's talking about!" he fumed. "And if you believe anything that he says, you're just as stupid as him!"
From under his mask, one of Leo's eyebrows raised. "So April wasn't in your room?"
Raph began to panic again. He was about to completely deny everything until a high-pitched cry came from the hallway. The turtle brothers quickly looked to each other, and then bolted towards April's room.
"We have to stop this Evil Spirit once and for all," commanded Leo. Raph nodded sharply and he opened the door to the girl's room.
Instantly, the brothers were surrounded by a black fog and quickly lost sight of each other. Every time one of them would open their mouth to call for help, the fog would choke them and leave them coughing like a chain-smoker. Raph tried to pull himself forward towards April bed. He crawled on the floor until his hand came in contact with the metal bedpost of April's cot. The red turtle pulled himself up and felt the bed, which to his surprise, was empty. It was then, that a fire was lit in his chest: he'd had just about enough of this creepy demon.
You won't find you precious girl here, mutant freak, whispered a voice. Raphael recognized it as the voice that was talking through April when she was possessed: the demon. The grip around his sais tightened.
"Where is she?" bellowed Raph through fits of coughing.
Do not fear, angry one, you with soon be reunited with the charming redhead. The demon let out a low cackle. She's feisty, your friend. But taking her will be nothing comparing to taking you and your brothers!
Suddenly, the floor dropped out from under Raphael, but he stayed suspended among the dark fog. He struggle, piercing the dense mist with his sais, but to no avail. He was surrounded by nothing but the occasional evil laugh of the demon.
The first sense that came back to April after she gained consciousness was her sense of smell. Taking one deep breath in, her nose was immediately filled with the scent of salt and old fish. Usually, April didn't mind seafood, sushi was a common food eaten around the turtles, but this fish smelled like it had been sitting in a plastic bag in ninety degree heat for a week, and her room was the plastic bag. After resisting the urge to vomit, April threw her feet over the side of her bed and held her head in her hands. Her ears were the next to come into focus, picking up on various rustling sounds and the creaking of some kind of wood.
April's eyes quickly snapped open, realizing what had happened.
A thousand thoughts rushed through her fragile mind. Where am I? What does the demon want with me? Where are my friends? Her blue saucers flitted around the room, and with every gaze, she felt more and more terrified.
She was nowhere near New York, this much was evident. By the looks of the decor and design, April gathered that she was on some sort of ship, and her wobbly stance confirmed this. All the furniture, what little there was, was made of wood. There was a small desk and stool across from her cot that took up about a fourth of the already small cabin. The lighting in the room was provided by various blue bottles with candles shimmering inside; obviously someone was trying to make the space seem classy despite the cracked windows and broken floorboards. As April stood and steadied herself, she realized that her body was no longer adorned in her yellow pajamas, but was instead wrapped in a tight black kimono with pink flowers. Her hands ran down the smooth silk and her eyes observed that the outfit fit very well, which left the redhead even more confused.
Taking a deep breath, April quickly opened the door that lead to a long wood hallway. Peeking her head out, April observed that there was no one on deck, and set out to find the obvious man behind her kidnapping: Kaito Yoshiro.
She pressed her body against the wall, breathing scantly as her delicate feet tiptoed down the hallway. Suddenly, April's ears perked. The sound of creaking on the wood floor simulated footsteps, and she quickly ducked behind a barrel for fear of being seen. A door opened.
But there was no noise. April sat, knees pressed as best they could in her dress to her chest, not daring to make a sound. After what felt like hours passed without a noise, she peeked her head over the side of the barrell, but was disappointed to find nothing but a door open to the room next to hers.
Maybe that's Kaito Yoshiro's room, April thought, and quickly darted into the room. To her dismay, the cabin was an exact replica of her own, complete with a desk and stool, and even a few candles. Just as she was about to leave, April turned and saw Leonardo and Raphael standing in the doorway.
"Guys!" April cried, and embraced both of them in a big hug. "I thought I'd never see you again." The hug seemed to linger as April enjoying the affection of the brothers. When they were finally pulled apart,the brother's eyes danced on her new outfit, Leo looking the most uncomfortable.
"Uh, April, I didn't know you owned a kimono," he stutter.
"Really? That's the strangest thing about this situation?" She looked down and was immediately embarrassed. "I guess my yellow pajamas weren't formal enough for an evil spirit meet-up."
"How did you get here, April?" Leo asked, after he shut the door and sat on the small stool.
April took a seat on the cot, leaving Rapheal to awkwardly stand against the door. Part of her hoped he would sit down next to her, but after their last conversation, sitting next to her was probably the last thing he wanted to do.
"The demon revisited me last night, but this time, I was determined not to let him go. He said something about us all meeting him, and then I blacked out and awoke here," April recalled.
"That's a brave thing you did, April," commented Rapheal, sincerely, "stupid, but brave."
April restrained a blush. "Well it didn't do much good, he just ended up capturing us."
"Do you know if Mikey and Donnie are here?" asked Leo.
She shrugged. "I'm honestly not sure. I was beginning to look around the ship when I found you two."
"We need to find them," said Raph, "and then convince this demon to take this ship back to New York." He hit his knuckles together, signalling that the way he would convince the demon was through force.
Oh, I've come too far to turn back the ship, whispered the voice of the demon. April covered her ears, trying to shut out the voice, but when she looked up, she realized that Raph and Leo could hear the voice as well. Join me on the main deck. And don't try anything funny, it would be a shame to kill your brothers so early in the cruise.
Hope you guys enjoy the fifth installment of this story! Sorry to change the name on you, but I felt this title was little better fitting than the other one. Also, I keep thinking of cool and new things to add to this story, so stay tuned for more!
Review, favorite, and/or follow!