Ancient Prophecy.
The rating has gone up just to be on the safe side. There is reference to a manga known as Slayers but they belong to Hajime Kanzaka not me, although I suggest you read the translated novels (unless you can read Japanese of course) they rock! Anywho, on with the story!
Chapter Twelve:
"Leo can I talk to you?"Don slipped into the dojo pleased to find Leo practising his katas alone.
"Sure, something wrong?" Leo re-sheathed his swords and turned to him as Don silently closed the door.
"It depends on your reaction." He shrugged and considered how he was going to tell Leo when he really thought that Serena should be doing this, "Um, Serena asked me to check something for her."
"Is she okay?" Leo couldn't hide the panic in his voice and Don could see the leader was ready to rush to her side at any given moment.
"Physically she's perfectly fine," he told his older brother and took a deep breath, "she wanted me to check to see if . . . Um, well the thing is I ran a few tests and found that . . . Oh hell Leo you're going to be a dad." He finally spat out and nearly slapped himself for saying it that way.
"Say that again?" Leo asked in a daze.
"Leo, Serena's pregnant." The brainy turtle placed a hand on his brother's shoulder.
"Why didn't she tell me herself?" Leo asked quietly looking in the direction of the rooms.
"She didn't want to worry you, but this is why she kept getting ill for no reason. She was suffering from morning sickness." Don smiled reassuringly, "I think she's a little scared Leo, particularly of how you'd react to the news."
"Thanks Don." He said as he began walking out of the dojo and made his way slowly to his room where he was sure she would be waiting for him. He smiled as he drew close and saw her shadow by the doorway, as he got to the entrance she moved and stood with her back to him on the other side of the wall. He stopped and mirrored her position on his side of the wall, "Don just told me." He glanced to his side to see if she had moved and sighed when she hadn't, "I wish you'd told me yourself." Still she said nothing, "So do you want to keep it?"
"What! Of course I want to keep it! It's a part of you I could never . . !" Leo's smile grew as he turned slightly to find her now leaning against the door frame looking up at him with frightened eyes.
"We're going to be parents then huh?" he brushed a strand of ebony hair out of her face.
"It's a little scary. I mean we're not even out of our teens yet."
"We'll manage and we'll do it together," he looked down when a thought struck him, "it'll be different though, it won't have a normal life like Shadow will. Our child will have to grow and live in the shadows like me and my brothers did."
"I know that, but does it really matter," she kissed him gaining his full attention, "I won't get rid of it no matter what and so long as it has a family that loves it that's all our baby will need."
"One last thing though."
"What?" Serena looked at him quizzically.
"Are you going to tell Splinter or am I?" he laughed, "And Raph's gonna love this! Guess I'm not the perfect son anymore huh?"
"You're still perfect to me." She hugged him and Jumped when they heard Don shouting for Leo.
"Leo!" Don panted as he ran up to them, "It's Raph, Mikey and Yuri! They've been attacked. Mikey says Yuri's not breathing!"
Xxx
(Earlier that day).
Raphael sighed, the night terrors had finally stopped to a certain extent. He still had nightmares, still heard Hun's laugh, felt the pain caused by Zuko's torture and the fear of Hex's spells but the terrifying images he had seen in his dreams from his youth had finally stopped haunting him, or at least for the moment.
"Yuri!" Raph grimaced and looked over the back of the sofa to see Mikey searching for his friend, "Come on girl you promised me you'd go with me to get those comics, it's a convention so I can walk right in with all the other kids and you can say you're a fan of Slayers."
"Slayers?" Raph asked raising an eyebrow, "What in the hell's slayers, she don't look nothing like anything from Buffy or nothing!"
"It's an anime by some Japanese guy, kinda funny but they all wear clothes like the ones Yuri wears." He turned to see her and his face beamed as she approached finishing her single braid and tying the ribbon around the end.
"I'm ready Mikey, but Splinter says he doesn't want you staying out in the open long," she told him ignoring the surprised look on Raph's face but then turning to face the other turtle, "he also says you can accompany us if you want to." She grinned as Mikey turned to his brother who groaned. The youngest gave the second youngest his 'look' and Raph rolled his eyes.
"Thanks." He said eyeing Yuri and limped off ahead. They took Donnie's upgraded taxi and were at the small store on the outskirts of the city that was surrounded by several kids and even some adults all in some form of costume. Mikey was out of the vehicle before he'd even stopped it properly and Raph had to reach across and put it in park before it moved anywhere, "I can't believe you got me inta this! He is such an odd ball." Raph got out of the car to follow his brother out of the alleyway and eyed Mikey as he jumped up and down in pure excitement waiting for the owner to open it up for the so called convention, "A little small for a convention." He murmured to himself.
"Hey it shuts him up and gets you out of the lair, besides you love him really," she shrugged, "how've the nightmares been?" He shrugged and leant against the wall a little way from the gathering crowd purposely ignoring the comment about his love for Mikey.
"It's kinda weird, I mean I still have bad dreams about what happened when the foot had me and from what Hun did ta me," he sighed, "but so far I haven't had anything like the dreams I've had since I was little," he rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled, "not that I had them all that often, sometimes I would have a few in a row then others I wouldn't have one for months even anything up to a year."
When Mikey turned and saw his brother talking with Yuri he smiled, he liked that Raph seemed to have someone a little saner than Casey to talk to and Sayuri only really talked to him and Raph. Leo she avoided unless Splinter asked her to join in their training sessions or if she had no choice and half the time she would get annoyed with Donnie for talking about things she simply did not know about and not explaining. Don would then get irritated with her for being irritable with him then they would snap at each other, consequently he was also avoided unless she needed to ask him something. But then Yuri was so much like Raph in that she seemed unable to express feelings like most people. Most of the time the girl fought alone disappearing at nightfall and reappearing at dawn, she got less sleep than Leo did. When he turned back to the store he realised the doors were opened and he let out a yelp of joy before running up to his companions and grabbing their wrists to pull them inside.
"Mikey slow down!" Raph snapped wincing a little as some of his muscles complained from the harsh treatment.
"Sorry bro but I gotta get in there!" Mikey told him and let go so that he could rush in more quickly.
"It's really that important to him?" Yuri asked shaking her head in disbelief at the younger turtle's actions.
"Yeah, his comics are like what my sais and your sword means to us," he shrugged, "even when we were in the future he collected them, only they was all electronic."
"Thank the gods I live now and not a hundred years in the future." She said thinking of how confusing it would be to live in a world that relied so fully on technology; even now she had problems actually using it despite her friends so helpfully trying to teach her and Donatello had banned her from using anything in the kitchen since she blew up the toaster.
"Don't tell me you're afraid of a few machines?" he grinned at her as she blushed.
"I most certainly am not," she grimaced, "they just don't like me, I prefer doing things the old fashioned way."
"You say so. Shall we?" Raph held out an arm as if he were about to escort her into a fancy ball and he grinned wider.
"Lets." Yuri laughed as she wrapped her arm around the one offered and they walked into the store with him. They found Mikey rushing around with an ever growing armful of comics and jabbering on to various kids as he went. Raph shook his head and walked over to some of the comics he used to like reading as a kid and having a look with Yuri at his side watching the humans as they happily wandered around the store arguing over the small books full of colourful characters.
"Hey Yuri?!" Mikey waved her over and she obliged giving Raph a look, "These books over here, I know you'll like them!" He waved at her as she approached him, "Come look! I got enough money to get you a few!"
"I'm sure that's not necessary," she told him when she got to him, "You don't need to buy me anything."
"Sure I do! I mean you're like part of the family now and you're not good with the whole technology thing," he grinned at her embarrassed look, "so it's not like you can play video games with me or anything so I'll get you some books," he turned and found what he had been looking for, "here," he handed one to her that was called 'Slayers; The Ruby Eye' by Hajime Kanzaka, "I've seen the cartoon they made based on this and it's real good and I heard the books are better but well I prefer comics so I'll get you this one and if you like it then I'll find you the others to read okay?"
"Um."
"Cool, I'm gonna go pay for these and put them in the car so I've got enough room to carry more!" Mikey almost skipped to the counter and handed the money over before rushing back out to the car and placing everything carefully in the boot.
"Where exactly does that boy get his money from?" Yuri asked Raph chuckling.
"April let's him do odd jobs and I think he said something about havin' traded a few online in case he found anythin' he felt he really needed." Raph shrugged and sighed before frowning and looking around as if he heard something, "You feel that?"
"Feel what?" She asked paying more attention to what was going on around her and then feeling it right before the first screams.
"What's going on?!" Mikey ran back in and looking on in horror at what was occurring, "Oh God!" None of them could take their eyes off of the other customers and the assistants who were screaming in agony then one by one they dropped to the floor and their screaming stopped leaving an eerie silence. The three survivors of whatever had just happened just stood in shock staring at the bodies.
"Hello little sister." Yuri didn't have time to turn fully before she was grabbed by the neck and slammed up against the wall.
"Yuri!" Raph yelled and took a step forward.
"Move and I break her neck!" Zuko growled at him.
"Zuko you monster!" Yuri spat.
"Come now sister I haven't seen you since you and your friends kept that book from me," he grinned as Hex snapped her fingers and before they knew what was happening Raphael and Michelangelo were entangled in invisible bonds that held them just above the ground spread eagled, "and now it would seem that you have found yourself a new . . ," he looked at Mikey, "family was it? Well enjoy it while you still can."
"If you hurt any of them I swear!" She clawed at his hand, but every time she thought she might manage to break his grip he tightened it and made her more helpless.
"Sayuri!" Both boys yelled trying to break free.
"Quiet you two!" Hex waved her hand and though their mouths moved and their brains were telling them to speak nothing came out.
"Don't worry little boys," Zuko sneered, "I'm not here to fight. I only want to give my only living sibling a message. After all what kind of a big brother would I be if I forgot my little sister's sweet sixteenth birthday." He grinned at their shocked expressions assuming they obviously thought Yuri was older, a common mistake, "I am acquiring a gift for you baby sister." He told her as he squeezed tighter and leaned in so that his mouth was by her ear, "If you want it then you will come to the foot headquarters at sunset on your birthday or I will hunt your new friends down one by one until each one has suffered a slow and painful death by our hands." He stopped when he realised she had let go of his arms and had lost consciousness. Shrugging he let her slip from his grip and her body crumpled to the floor like a rag doll. The evil swordsman turned to the turtles, "Make sure she gets all that won't you? I would hate for her not to get it." If either of them could have talked then the two boys would have been screaming at the top of their lungs at the murderers in front of them and they paled as they heard approaching sirens, "Hex I do believe it's time for us to go, make sure they're not caught as well, that might interfere with our plans." The woman nodded and snapped her fingers making the space around them shift to a sewer tunnel. Both Mikey and Raph yelped as the spells cast on them were suddenly lifted and they fell heavily to the ground.
"Where's Yuri?" Mikey asked looking around.
"They took . . !" Raph started but Yuri appeared in mid air and fell to the ground. "Yuri!" Raph ran as best as he could to her side and pulled her onto her back. He checked her pulse and was relieved that he found one, but he blanched when he realised she wasn't breathing. "No, don't do this!" He tilted her head back and made sure her tongue wasn't blocking anything before beginning to breathe for her. "Come on Sayuri, breathe!"
"Raphie?" Mikey stood behind the pair unable to move as he watched his brother trying to save Yuri's life, "She okay?"
"Not now Mikey!" the older teen snapped, "Get Don and Leo now!" Mikey yelped and pulled out his shell cell and before long Raph could here Mikey talking over the line to someone, but he paid no attention to it as he tried again to get her to breathe. Yuri suddenly began to cough and he turned her on her side rubbing her back.
"Raph?" he winced at the sound of her voice but smiled before she could notice. "What happened? Where are we?"
"I'm not sure," he told her helping her into a sitting position, "but looks like your bro don't want us dead yet. He was even kind enough ta send us back to the sewers so the cops couldn't find us."
"How kind." She made a face and had a coughing fit.
"We'd better get you back home." Raph helped her to her feet and she nearly fell back down again so he wrapped an arm around her and held her up.
"Don says he'll track us and be with us as soon as he can." Mikey informed them and stood on her other side pulling the arm closet over his shoulder. "Maybe we should get going and meet them half way, you okay Yuri?" She nodded having given up using her voice, instead she leaned her head against Raph's shoulder taking in his scent and allowing them to help her for once not having to worry about taking care of herself.
"We'll send Casey back to get the car later." Raph said hoping his blush wasn't too obvious, "I'm surprised you haven't been complaining about leaving your comic behind."
"I'm not that bad Raph!" Mikey defended himself trying not to raise his voice so he wouldn't be shouting in Yuri's ear. "I mean all those people, and most of them were little kids. And we couldn't do anything to help them they just . . ."
"It's okay Mikey there was nothing we could do." Raph assured his brother.
"Raph, Mikey!" Don appeared around a corner with Leo hot on his heels, "Are you guys okay?"
"Yuri stopped breathing, but Raph saved her. But Zuko killed all these people and he said he wanted Yuri to go to foot headquarters on her birthday so he can give her a present or something." Mikey and Raph kept hold of Yuri as Donnie checked her vitals, "He choked her till she passed out." Leonardo took in the scene, he noted the bruising that was developing on her neck but also how she rested on his hot headed brother and how that brother's gaze rested on her with a gentle look he rarely saw in his brother's eyes.
"It looks like you'll have a sore throat for a few days but otherwise I can't see anything else that may be a problem. Did he hurt you anywhere else?" she shook her head no. "Well the sewer slider's just around the corner in one of the bigger tunnels, let's get you home."
Xxx
"We have the tomes we need lover." Hex declared leaning against the wall. "The others will not be needed."
"Good and my gift?" He smiled looking out of the window.
"The spell will take effect shortly, and when it does dear little Sayuri will tell me everything she knows whether she wants to or not!" She laughed, "The spell should take quite a toll on her as well."
"What of the other witches, will they be able to break it or the connection?" He turned to her.
"Not before I get what we need," she shrugged, "If they do break it then we'll already have the information and it won't matter anyway. Besides I doubt they'll even know what it is that I've done to her."
"Good, if all goes to plan then we will be able to ring in the new order before the next solstice."
Well there's another one! I hope you like it! Angel xxx