Leo finished off the move with a double flip, sweeping the landing. He sighed, looking around. The training room was empty, save for him, with the tree in the center. He had always loved that tree. It always shone with an understated brilliance, like a moonstone. It always made him feel better.
Fitting, he thought wryly, that a ninja's favorite stone would be the one named after the moon.
But today it hardly shone at all. It looked sick. Its leaves were dry and wrinkled, and the trunk looked more bent than usual.
"They say that trees such as these oftentimes take on the characteristics of the strongest soul near it."
Leo nearly jumped out of his shell. Master Splinter saw this, and chuckled.
"My apologies, Leonardo. I was not aware you were so unaware."
Leo dropped his head, staring at the intricate pattern at his feet.
"I'm sorry, Master. I shouldn't have been caught off guard." Dark blue eyes peered up from behind a mask to look at his father, and teacher.
"It is all right, my son. I have the feeling none of us are so 'on guard' these days."
Splinter looked up at the tree.
It looked worse than ever. A leaf fell.
Leo prompted him, "You were saying about the tree?"
Splinter continued, "It shares its strength with him-or her. The tree also pays the same price as the person it takes on.
By giving them some of its strength, it also receives similar 'wounds', so to speak, as a person might in a battle. It was often used in ancient times as an indication of whether a loved one was still alive or not, and how they were faring."
Leo looked at the tree. In the moonlight, it was highlighted. It looked gaunt. Leaves were dropping from it. Its limbs were long and spindly, rather than thick and strong as they used to be. It brilliance was fading away.
He came to a sudden realization.
"Master, are you saying this tree is-well, that its taken on Mikey?"
The air seemed to freeze as Splinter took his time replying.
"Of course not! It is only a tree, Leonardo." But Splinter smiled as he walked out.
Some legends were, indeed legends, but some seemed to be true.
Leonardo needed to figure that out for himself.
He left Leo staring at the tree, twin blades still sheathed.
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Raph walked into Mikey's room. It was, surprisingly, pretty clean.
He walked in. All the comics were in numerical order.
His action figures were standing up on a shelf high above his bed. They looked dusty now that Mikey wasn't there every day, cleaning them.
The thing that seemed the most out of place was the skateboard. It sat on his bed, ready to go-without a rider.
He walked over to it, running a hand over it. His fingers came away dusty and gray.
Raph sat on the bed, stroking the covers absentmindedly. He was thinking about his little brother. About all of the times they had done things together.
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"Raph-please?" Mikey begged, big blue eyes pouting up at him.
"Fine, you little monster!" Raph huffed, then stormed off into the living room.
Mikey followed him, plopping onto the couch with a big bowl of popcorn. There was a stack of fluffy blankets next to him.
Raph grumbled, "You better not talk, Mikey. I wanna watch this-without interruptions this time!"
Popping a DVD in the player, he sat down next to his brother, shoving him over so there was more room.
"Hey!" Mikey squealed.
"Shut up, Mikey!" Raph growled.
Mikey shut up.
They settled in to watch the movie. It was a cheap horror flick. Mikey got more and more scared by the minute.
'They scream, backing away from the zombies that have cornered them. A zombie reaches out and grabs the girl with glasses by the head. As he chews on it, blood is spurting out of the eyeballs.'
Raph cheered.
Mikey shivered.
'The last person left swallowed a scream as the zombies glided past his hiding place. He lets out a sigh. The clicking noises of their shoes, which had gradually been getting weaker, stop, and turn back to the room. He curses himself, then prepares for one last showdown.
As they come in, he fires at them with a gun. When it runs out of bullets, they are still walking at him. He takes a knife and disembowels one of the zombies.'
Mikey gasped, burying his head into the blankets.
Raph noticed this and paused the movie.
"What's wrong, Mikey?" Mikey just stayed under the blankets, breathing heavy. Raph knew, in his little ten year old heart, that something was wrong.
"Mike." He hauled his littlest brother out from under the covers and froze. Mikey's face was covered with tears, spilling out from his eyes, overflowing.
"Aw shell." Raph said as he pulled Mikey to his chest.
"R-Raph?" Mikey questioned shakily.
"Yeah, I got you, little brother." Raph told him.
"I-I-I'm sorry. I know you-you wanted to w-watch that m-movie w-without interruptings." Mikey whispers to him, voice muffled from being pressed into his older brother's shell.
"Interruptions." Raph corrected him. When he felt Mikey shaking, he dropped it.
"It's okay, Mike. You know that movie wasn't real, right?" He asked nervously.
"Y-yeah. I'm not stupid!" Mikey peered up balefully.
"I know, I know." Raph said soothingly.
Mikey shook.
"So, what's wrong?" Raph asked his little brother before he could escape the question.
"Move was scary." Mikey said pitifully.
Raph felt a stab of guilt. This was his fault. Mikey was crying because he hadn't thought to put in a movie good for someone like Mikey.
He made a promise to himself. One he would inadvertently break six years later. No matter what, he never wanted to see Mikey sad again. He would protect him.
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Donnie watched as Astrid prepared the medicine in the right quantities, tongue sticking out of the side in concentration. He was nervous. He'd never admit it to his brothers, but for the first time in his life, he wasn't able to do anything to help his littlest brother. Mikey. What would happen if Mikey died?
He really kept the family together. There were too many conflicting personalities within the small group, and without Mikey to break up the tension and force them together, he was afraid they would just drift apart.
He shook his head. No, that wouldn't-couldn't-happen. Mikey was too strong, too full of it to die on them. He couldn't. Could he?
A voice startled him out of his morbid thinking.
"You know, shaking your head won't get rid of the bad thoughts."
He turned, and saw Astrid standing right next to him.
"I know." He said softly.
Something came over her face then, and he watched as a hint of-was that sadness?-flicker over his features. It didn't find any purchase around her mouth or on her forehead, but it did find a place in her eyes. He wondered what she had seen in her life as a doctor, and as a person. He would have to find out. Donnie didn't like mysteries.
Astrid studied him. He was looking off as if so far into his own thoughts that he had forgotten about her. The highly trained medic in her noted the bloodshot eyes, the faint trembling in his hands, and the glaze on his normally expressive chestnut eyes. She hadn't missed the fact that he, trained in the martial arts as he was, had missed her taking his arm.
He jumped.
"Wh-What are you doing?" He asked, looking at her as if he'd figured something dreadful out.
"Taking you to your bed." She replied, dragging him along.
"What!?" He protested, trying to pull away from her.
For such a small person, she was surprisingly strong.
He couldn't pull away, so he gave in. If the Raph ever found out about this, he would never hear the end of it.
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"Sit." She ordered, a single long finger pointing to the bed.
He did as he was commanded, dropping heavily onto it.
She studied his face for a moment, then pulled the covers over him.
"Thanks." He whispered.
Before she left, she sat down on the floor next to his bed.
"You and Mikey are close, huh?" Her eyes looked at a poster above his wall.
It showed a detailed diagram of the International Space Station. It looked as if a professional artist had done it. Then she looked closely at the signature.
Michelangelo Hamato.
She felt her jaw drop. Donnie chuckled. "Yeah, he's an amazing artist. You'd never know it, because he bounces around. Doesn't look like he'd be able to sit still for that long."
She nodded. From what she'd heard, Mikey was the comic relief in the family. He was the littlest, and a clown. She already liked him.
"Mikey and I have always been close," He started, addressing her original question. "He's always taken care of us."
Astrid looked up, trying to catch his facial expression. He didn't look at her, preferring instead to stare at a distant corner of his wall.
"Whenever one of us was sick, Mikey's first instinct was to help us. He didn't care if he got sick, as long as we were okay. I remember he said something once. Master Splinter had asked him why he felt the need to help Raph to the toilet when he got sick, when Splinter could handle it on his own." He paused, saying, "Mikey must have been around five or something. He said that it was his job to make sure that his older brothers don't get sick and die, because if they were gone he'd have no reason to be around, either. Master Splinter's jaw must have fallen to his feet. Mikey went on like it was the most normal thing in the world to say."
Donnie yawned. "He said it like-like he knew the future, like he could see all the possible outcomes. I wonder about him. He is pretty empathetic-that's what Splinter said. It's like he can sense what we feel and then tries to interact with us based on that. I wonder-wonder..." He dozed off in the middle of his sentence.
Astrid smiled and drew the covers up to his chin.
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Finally, they hit upon a mix of medicines and nutrients that seemed to stabilize the youngest turtle.
"Problem is, the Phenobarbitol-the anti-convulsants, are highly toxic. So we need to get him off the meds before the medicine kills him. " Astrid was explaining to them.
"So, let me get this straight." Raph started out, leaning onto his hands. "The stuff that's saving Mikey is also killing him?"
The brothers, April, Casey, and Splinter had been sitting on the couch when the doctor had had a eureka moment. She had discovered that a mix of anti-convulsants, nutrients, and Methotrexate, another drug, this to help combat infection, would stabilize him. The only problem was that the high concentrations of the chemicals together produced a sort of toxin as well. What was, in some ways, his angel, was also the angel with a knife behind its back, so to speak.
"Yes." She nodded, blue eyes flashing with excitement. "We've got it, guys. I can save your brother."
LINE BREAK
In the lab, Astrid prepared to put the needle for the IV into Mikey's arm. He thrashed in his sleep, and Raph picked him up gently, holding him tight so he couldn't hurt himself or the doctor.
"It's all right, Mikey. I've gotcha." He muttered. His forehead was wrinkled down, indicating his worry. He looked like he hadn't gotten any sleep in ages.
Donnie and Leo were standing together, on one side of the bed, kneeling down next to it. They exchanged glances.
Splinter was at the foot of the bed, looking up at his son, face calm and unreadable.
Casey was hugging April, and for once, Donnie didn't notice. There were more important things.
Astrid bit her lip, then slid the needle in quickly. Mikey slumped when the medicine coursed through his veins.
They all relaxed.
He started screaming.
Raph held onto him tightly as his eyes flew open for the first time in days.
"Mikey! Mikey, it's okay! We're here! Calm down!" Raph yelled to him.
April his her face in Casey's chest.
Splinter came up to Mikey and, with three quick jabs to pressure points on his neck and shell, knocked him out.
Astrid stared in amazement.
Until he stopped in front of her, eyes ablaze. His fur was sticking up on the back of his neck. His hands were clenched into fists.
"Why was it necessary for me to knock my own son out?" He asked in a calm, chilling tone.
Blue eyes flashed at him dangerously, as if they could cut him down with a single sweep.
"I told you, this stuff is poisonous!" Astrid said, tone steely.
He noticed how she was tensing up, as if ready for a fight, and, with a good deal of effort, forced himself to calm down.
April and Casey snuck out, clearly anticipating a fight. He saw them hugging the boys good night before they left.
Turning his back to her, he called to his sons, "Come. It is time for bed."
Ignoring the whines of,
"Come on!", and "Are you kidding me!?", he swept towards his room.
When he looked back, only Raph remained where he was. He was holding onto Mikey, who was mumbling uneasily in his sleep. Every now and then, a tremor would shake him.
Splinter made sure his other boys went to bed, then went to Raph.
Putting a hand on his second oldest son's shoulder, he wasn't surprised to feel it shaking.
"My son."
That was all it took.
"Master. I can't take it anymore. I was supposed to protect him. To keep him safe. I failed him, Master." Raph whispered, voice shaking as hard as the rest of him.
"Get some rest, Raphael. Tomorrow will look better through fresh eyes." Splinter told him gently.
Raph slid off the bed, laying Mikey down carefully. Mikey shifted, eyelids twitching before relaxing.
"Good night, Master."
"Good night, my son."
Splinter watched him go, and wasn't surprised to hear a loud thud as Raph punched a wall in his room.
Sighing, he settled in for the night. Only to think about Astrid.
She had poured her heart out to him, and he had repayed that act of trust by turning his back on her. She had disappeared. He couldn't blame her. Splinter decided to talk to her in the morning, and apologize.
With that, he closed his eyes and welcomed the darkness that cooled his soul.
Okay, so this isn't really as good as my other chapters, but I'm trying to update every night. I am in Massachusetts instead of New York tonight, with my family, so it's tough. Family is...not fun. Ah well, that's what I've got all of you lovely people for! As always, please leave a review, my lovelies!
~EmberAmberFirdaus~