I just wanted to thank all of my lovely reviewers who encouraged me to get off my lazy ass and update! I love hearing from you! Enjoy!
The five teenagers circled around the fire Donnie had managed to make out of a few dry sticks, Mikey's lint collection that wasn't damaged by the swim, and April's shoelace. Despite the sparks the sputtered out by her feet and the blanket of woven leaves Donnie had made her, April didn't cease to shiver. It wasn't that she was cold, her clothes had already dried out from their swim, but mentally, she was still shaken. The red head couldn't help but go through again and again what had happened on the boat. Had she really thrown herself off the boat, not unlike someone releasing a feather into the wind? Had she really hit the frigid, stormy water and thought I'm going to die? Had she really been disappointed that Donnie was the first person to jump in after her?
As a child, April had never been a big fan of swimming. There used to be a nearby community center with a pool that Kirby would often take her too when she was young. April never remembered completely loathing the experience, it was just felt a little off-putting. The fact that the poor red-head immediately started to sink upon first contact with the pool, no matter how hard she paddled, scared her at first, though it was never admitted. When Kirby later enrolled her in swimming lessons, April plastered on a smile and every Wednesday from 3:30 to 5, she would learn as much as she needed to survive at a fifth grade birthday party.
There was no leisure in the sport for her, and thinking about it logically was the only this that got her through that hour and a half.
So when April had made it up in her mind to toss herself overboard, she dove into the depths of her memory to summon the skills she had learned all those years ago. It ended up not mattering anyway, all thoughts were bashed out of her brain when she first made contact with the glacial waves. All of a sudden, she was back in the community pool with her Dad, and sinking like a rock. She heard four collective voices scream her name before submerging.
Donnie's unforgiving grasp was the firm squeeze back into reality that April needed. When the redhead finally surfaced, she found herself panicking, splashing and thrashing uncontrollably. When the purple turtle tried to calm her down, he only receive a swift elbow to the chin.
She hadn't realized it until later, but it was Raphael, in the end, who was able to calm her down enough to lay her on his shell, to which she gripped for dear life while the brothers swam around, looking for any form of land. Her shivering phalanges gripped the rough outline of the terrapin's shell hard, while her bare legs dragged behind her in the water. April knew she had to be causing some discomfort, but the red turtle didn't complain. Raphael gently maneuvered each wave, even though the extra weight was causing him to lag behind his brothers.
Every now and then, April would try to lift her head and survey the area. Every time, Raph would look over his shoulder and gently whisper, "its okay April, you're doing great. We're almost there." The soft words brought warmth despite the cold, and it never ceased to bring a smile to her thin lips as they released a soft moan in response.
After what felt like hours, Donnie began to get impatient.
"I just don't see why you get to carry April the whole time," he complained to Raph, while April pretended to sleep on his back.
Her hands had moved around the red turtle's neck, and she felt his muscles clench. "We've talked about this, Donnie. I'm stronger than you."
"But even you can only last so long," Donnie pressed.
"Well maybe I wouldn't have had to last so long if you would've found land by now!" Raph refuted.
Donnie splashed, obviously throwing his hands in the air. "I'm sorry, Raph, that I have no idea where we are and thus NO IDEA WHERE LAND IS."
"Guys, enough!" silenced Leo. "We're all just tired from swimming for so long."
April heard a vague splash to her left. "Duude, I'm so tired, I just thought that bird was carrying a slice of pizza," Mikey whined, innocently.
There was silence, and then Donnie said, "Mikey, did you see a bird?"
"Yeah, dude," said the orange turtle. "It's over there."
April felt Raphael's body turn in the direction where Mikey must have been pointing, then she heard excited splashing to her right. "Mikey, you're a genius! Everybody, we have to follow that bird!"
"Wait, did I miss something?" Raph asked, his soft vocals running through his throat and vibrating under April's hands.
"Birds can't just wander around the ocean with nowhere to land," explained Donnie. "If we follow the bird, we'll find land." And so the five set out so follow the bird.
The storm had subsided immensely since they had all been tossed from the boat. The cerulean waves bounced rhythmically, making it almost impossible to stay energized. There was a soft breeze, not enough to cause a chill, but drying off from the original dip was out of the question. April longed for the moment when they would find land and she could dry out the black kimono she had been placed in upon arriving on the vessel. The comfort of a t-shirt and jeans was present in her mind, making a mental note to personally let Kaito Yoshiro know just how uncomfortable her new threads were the next time they cross paths.
Quite a bit of time had passed before Donnie finally called out that he saw an island. Looking up from the red turtle's shell, April saw the small, welcoming beach, and exhaled out of relief. She assured Raphael that she could swim the rest of the way on her own; even though he protested, April could tell he was exhausted from the long swim. Donnie also objected, but after enough persuading, she allowed him to swim behind her incase fatigue set in. When she slid off of Raphael's shell, a panic jittered through her nervous system forcing her brain to quickly remember all those swimming lessons long ago and order her appendages to perform a very clumsy breaststroke. The ice water numbed her aching fingers and wrists fingers, sore from gripping the shell, but each arm continued to push through the water, determined to show Donnie that she was fine on her own.
April had never been so happy to see sand in her life. The five collapsed on the white grainy pebbles, paying no mind to the waves that lapping at their legs. For minutes, they sat, panting out of exhaustion, before Donnie finally suggested finding shelter and building a fire.
It was nearly nightfall before they were all able to relax around the fire and think about what had happened over the past couple of hours.
Mikey was laying over a log and groaning. "Man, I'm so hungry! When are we goin' to get some food up in this joint?"
"I found some wild berries," offered Donatello. "But there's no way to tell if they're poisonous or not. I've never seen anything like them before." Mikey curled in a ball and huffed.
"So what's next?" April asked to no one in particular.
"We have to go after that creep, Kaito Yoshiro, and take him down once and for all," stated Raph.
Donnie rolled his eyes. "We couldn't defeat him once, what makes you think we can a second time?"
"Don't ask me," Raph spit back. "I'm not the leader."
All eyes turned to Leo, who was poking the fire with a stick, knees to his chest. He lowered his head in thought. "Raph's right, we will eventually need to stop Kaito Yoshiro, especially if he keeps pursuing April." Raph smirked at his younger brother. "But finding a way off of this island is our main priority."
"Our best chance is probably making a raft, given that we figure out where we are and which direction leads us back to New York," input the purple turtle.
"I know you'll find a way," April smiled. She almost didn't realize that the words had passed from her lip, after the rough day Donatello had, she knew he needed to hear it. Not-surprisingly, the turtle smiled back at her, and using the flattery as an excuse to position himself on the ground near her legs. From across the campfire flame, April saw Raphael tense up as Donnie leaned against her.
Leo nodded in Donnie's direction. "First thing in the morning, we'll start building the raft while Donnie tries to figure out where we are." The leader let out a somber yawn. "But we're not going to achieve much when we're exhausted. Everyone should get some sleep."
There was a mumble of agreement as everyone but Raphael got up to enter the shelter they had built. When Michelangelo questioned the red turtle, he simply stated that he would watch out for strange creatures while the rest of them slept. It was noble, despite the fact that Raph was probably the most exhausted, having carried another person on his back for most of the time.
The shelter was shaped like an A-frame, with logs stacked on either side for cover. The roofing and the flooring was made up of the same, large leaves that appeared to be waterproof and provides a nice barrier from the unknown. The inside was roomy enough for four turtles and a petite human girl to lay comfortably, but there was not much space other than that. April quickly occupied a spot near the edge of the shelter next to Michelangelo before Donnie could slide next to her. The view was such that if she lay down, the flickers of the dying fire could be seen easily, and with each dancing flame, Raphael was brought into view. She wondered what was going on in his head, if the memory of their talk in his room plagued his mind as much as it did hers. Could there be an underlying reason why he felt the need to carry her.
But fatigue soon overcame her, and streaks of red were the last thing she saw.
Raphael didn't mind watching the fire. Exhaustion meant nothing as long as he was able to keep friends and family safe.
But it couldn't have been more boring.
After the others were long asleep, Raphael found himself alone with his thoughts, burdened with no other task than to keep the fire alive. His stomach would growl, a cruel reminder of how very far away they were from home. He missed Master Splinter and beating up on the Foot Clan or Kraang Bots. For the first time in his life, Raphael wasn't sure that they'd come out on top against this villain, and that terrified him.
Pushing the troublesome thoughts out of his mind, Raphael picked up a stick, and began to absentmindedly draw in the sand, willing his thoughts in a more pleasant direction: April. She had been the only thing keeping him sane during this adventure. The goal of keeping her safe distracted him from the daunting end goal of taking down the bad guy.
But even the usually enjoyable thoughts of April were shattered by jealousy. Until now, Raphael was able to be respectful of his brother's feelings. Whenever Donnie would come up with one of his lame schemes to get April to go out with him, Raph would just ignore it or laugh, knowing that April would never go along with it. But after seeing his brother jump in after her, after she made the brilliantly stupid decision to go for a swim, the red turtle knew that this was no puppy-dog crush anymore. Donnie was willing to risk his life diving for this red head; he knew there was no promise he would make it out of the churning sea alive. But that wasn't what seemed to be bothering Raphael at the moment. He was madder at himself for not acting before his brother.
With an angry flurry, Raph threw the branch into the fire, setting loose an array of inferno, causing the turtle to pull away suddenly. C'mon Raph, he willed, as if the sparks were a wake-up call. You can't turn against your own brother, not now. He needs you, they all need you.
A rustle in the bushes jolted the red turtle's train of thought, as his eyes rose to meet with the cerulean saucers of the girl in question.
"Ready for a shift change?
Her voice was a charade of perkiness, even though Raphael knew April only had got a few hours of sleep. A smiled was plastered on her face, only accentuating the bags under her eyes, as she took a seat on the log opposite the turtle.
"April, its fine. I don't think I'm going to be sleeping anytime soon." He tried to copy her fallacy of a smile. April cocked an eyebrow.
"And you think I will?" she questioned sharply, but with no malicious intent. "I just threw myself from a pirate ship after a ghost asked to adopt me! All while wearing that second-skin kimono."
Raphael smirked, but made no move to go to bed, so April settled herself in, making the same decision. He was glad for the company.
"So you're not at all tired?"
Raph met her eyes through the tall flames.
"I mean," She continued, "I couldn't have weighed less than a feather. And you had to swim with me on your back for a while."
The red turtle put his hands behind his head and leaned against a log, eyes looking to the clear night sky. "It's not that I'm not tired, I'm exhausted-"
"-hey!"
He smirked. "But I just can't will myself to go to sleep." Exhale. "That sounds crazy."
April waited a beat, making the turtle's stomach tighten. "Well yes, that sounds crazy. But I understand. You don't want something else to happen to your brothers." She pulled her knees to her chest. "I guess that makes me the root of that problem."
"April, you know that's not true. That Yoshiro guy is a nut-job, and there wasn't anything you could do when he kidnapped you."
"Wasn't there?" she whispered. "I make myself up to be this great almost-kunoichi, when in reality, I'm still just the helpless little girl who got kidnapped by the Kraang the first time I met you."
Raphael's eyes flickered towards her, as he tried not to react to the fact that she said you as opposed to you guys. "That's ridiculous, you've saved our butts plenty of times. You're the strongest girl I've ever met!"
April laughed. "If only that were true."
The red turtle was at a loss for words. How could this young woman not see how amazing and strong she was? He wanted to put into words just how brave she was to have grown up in New York City with nothing but a nervous single-father to guide her. He wanted to go into detail about how secretly afraid he was whenever they'd spar, because he knew she was improving in leaps and bounds. But most of all, Raphael wanted to elaborately enthuse about how selfless and courageous it was that she had risked her life to save the four of them on the ship.
But when the red turtle opened his mouth, only a sigh tumbled out.
Suddenly, April's eyes flashed mischievously. "Wanna see something cool?"
Absolutely unsure of what to expect, Raphael nodded stupidly. The redhead jumped up and took off into the forest, moving fast for someone who only got a few hours of sleep. The red turtle followed in pursuit, as she led them deeper into the jungle environment that had not been explored enough for them to be running through it carelessly.
"Whoa, O'Neil, where are we going?" he called. But there was no reply as she kept her strides lengthy and strong.
Finally, just about as Raphael was about to voice concern, April stopped suddenly.
"April what the-" the turtle was cut off mid-sentence when the red head turned to meet his gaze. Suddenly everything was in slow motion. Her auburn waves, still damp from the swim, bounced in a way that reflected her personality as the lapis in her eyes blinked expectantly. The pale moonlight shaded and contoured her body and face in a way Raphael had only seen in magazines. He could hardly see the past hours of exhaustion that had taken a toll on her, in fact, she seemed to be glowing now more than ever. It was all he could do to keep his hands away from her radiating figure.
"What do you think?"
"It's beautiful," he answered, subconsciously.
"I know, right? I found this a couple hours ago when you guys thought I was sleeping. If you lay like this, you and see the moon and stars perfectly through the canopy."
As April lay upon the jungle floor, Raphael shifted his gaze upwards and stifled a gasp at the intended visual pleasure. Sure he had seen the moon before in New York, but not like this. The white orb was so swollen and full, the turtle swore it was going to drop out of the sky. He proceeded to lay down next to the red head and take in the sheer wonder of it all. Never would he have thought that, after today's events, the night could end so peacefully and perfectly.
So there you go! This chapter has actually been in progress since I finished the last one, so I'm glad I was able to finish it. I can't guarantee that updates are going to come frequently from here on out, but I'm definitely going to make more of an attempt. Once again, I just want to thank all of the kind and lovely reviewers. It means a lot to me!
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