Chapter Seven – Transfixed
("Jasmine…Jasmine!")
"HUH!? Wha…" Jasmine whispered as she slowly woke up. "Who's there?"
("You need to find the temple…and hurry!" the young female voice said hurriedly completely disregarding Jasmine's question. "I don't have a lot of time to explain…")
"Why do I need to find this…t-temple!? In the first place, I don't even know what this 'temple' looks like!" Jasmine whispered confusingly and a hint of annoyance. "And why are you in my head!?"
("You will know what I mean pretty soon…just remember that you're here for a reason, sometimes the connections aren't clear but they are always there…they will show up one way or another even if their small and hard to see, and don't forget who you truly are…." The voice said still rushing her words. Jasmine could hear a clanking sound coming from the connection from the young ominous voice. "Tch…looks like I ran out of time…Jasmine, please try to remember, you're my only hope right now and I think my time is running out." Another noise came from the connection making Jasmine jump. "Crap…I really got to go but whenever you need me just use your necklace, it's what connects the last of us together…bye jasmine, I'll talk to you later…hopefully…" There was a small click as if the other person hung up the line.)
"Wait…how do I do that?" Jasmine whispered still confused even though it was useless. "Awww MAN! Why does this keep happening to me!?"
Jasmine started to move around on the bed; she stretched her arms over her head and yawned really big. She tried to rub the sleepiness out of her eyes, but it didn't really help. "Man, how long was I out? It felt like it's been ages, and what with these dreams, and that voice sure sounded familiar," Jasmine said still rubbing her eyes. She looked around the room and tried to sit up but she couldn't move an inch, she was tangled in the blanket that Leo put on her the night before. "Hehe…well I guess I'm kinda stuck here for now," She chuckled. She sighed and relaxed her muscles, she turned around in her little blanket cocoon slowly but surely. Once she got completely turned around, she gasped. Her necklace was glowing except it was only the red one and it was giving off heat as if it was a lava rock that just got dipped in hot magma. Jasmine slowly picked it up expecting it to burn her but it didn't, in fact it was ice cold. "Huh…maybe this is the stone that the girl was talking about…but how do I use it…?" she thought to herself. "I wonder…."
Jasmine closed her eyes and concentrated on the girl's voice that she just heard moments ago. Silence, she heard absolutely nothing. "I guess I was wrong…" Jasmine sighed. "I'll just have to try it again later…hopefully it will work…maybe I can ask Leo for his help…." Once her mind was on Leo, she checked the room again to see if he was still in here, the room was completely empty. Her heart sank a little at the thought, she tried to sit up again but her movements were in vain, she was completely immobile. "How the heck did I even do this!" she yelled in frustration. "Grrrr…urrgh…errr…." she groaned and then sighed. "…I give up…." She laid there for a few moments letting her frustration die down. While she calmed down her mind wandered to the memory that she told her turtle friends. Suddenly, Jasmine jumped for joy finally figuring out who she was talking to causing her to completely fall off the bed. She yelped in pain as her body slammed into the floor, she sighed as she thought, "Of course this would happen to me…." But fortunately for Jasmine, her fall gave her the help that she needed to get un-done from her blanket cocoon. "YES! Finally, I'm free!" she yelled.
A small round, green head with a red bandana popped through a crack in the door, he heard the loud thump that came from Jasmine and came to check out who was making all of the commotion. "Ohh…it's you, why don't you keep it down a little some people are trying to sleep," Raph told Jasmine with a hint of annoyance. "And why are you in Leo's room?"
"Ummm…uhhh…errr…." Jasmine awkwardly tried to explain. "Well…I fell asleep in here when I was talking to Leo last night…."
Raph looked at her for a couple of seconds as if he was sizing her up. Raph's stare made Jasmine play with her shirt and blush, awkwardly waiting for him to stop staring at her.
"Well, next time keep the sound level down a couple of notches," Raph finally said. "I would like to get some decent amount of sleep, okay?"
"Y-yeah, sure, I'll be quiet from now on…but if I may ask, why are you still sleeping, isn't it morning yet?" Jasmine asked.
"Yeah, it is but it's like five in the morning, not really the greatest time to be woken up by loud noises," Raph told her.
"Ohh…sorry about…" Jasmine said when she realized how early it is. "I didn't realize it was that early…"
Raph smiled a little at the now embarrassed Jasmine and said, "Hmm…well you're off the hook this time, just keep it down."
Jasmine looked up at Raph and smiled while nodding her head, vigorously. Once Raph was satisfied, he left the room, leaving Jasmine sitting on the floor in a heap of blankets and pillows. Jasmine sighed and tried to stand up, once she was standing straight up on one foot, she tested her right leg by lightly putting some of her weight onto it. She let out a small yelp from the sudden shock of pain but once she put all of her weight on it her leg didn't really hurt as it did before. She slowly limped out Leo's room and went to go look for Leo or someone that was awake. She entered the main room and found that it was empty; she thought about going into Donnie's lab but decided it probably wasn't the best choice. She turned towards another hallway not completely sure of where she was going. So far, Jasmine only knew where the kitchen, Leo's room, Donnie's lab, and the main room is, she's never been to the dojo or anywhere else, in fact. She ran her fingers along the right wall making sure if she tripped or fell she would have some kind of support to help her back up. She kept limping down the hallway until she found a small light that was coming from the end of the hallway. Her face light up and she started to limp a little faster towards the light, hoping that she found the dojo. She got to the end of the hallway and found what she was looking for, the dojo.
"Wow…this place is huge…and there's even a tree in here!" Jasmine said with disbelief. "No wonder no one showed me this place…I'd probably stay in here forever."
Jasmine lifted her fingers off of the wall and started to limp towards the tree at the end of the room. She almost fell over when she was about a foot away from the tree but she regained her footing and kept going. When she got close enough to the tree, she gently put her hand onto the bark of the tree. She circled the tree slowly looking at the true nature of its aura. She closed her eyes and breathed in a slow and heavy breath, now she truly knew what the voice said meant earlier. She could feel the energy flowing through the tree from the center giving its branches and leaves energy they needed to survive. Just like the voice said everything is connected one way or another it doesn't matter the size or nature of that 'dot'; it's still a part of the connection. Jasmine slowly opened her eyes and realized she is getting closer to the truth but she wasn't nearly close enough to figure everything out.
"Enjoying the essence of my tree, Jasmine?" an anonymous voice said behind her.
Jasmine jumped from the sudden comment, making her heart beat faster from the adrenaline that just entered her system. She turned around slowly, only to find Master Splinter standing by the entrance to his room. "Ohh…it's only you…." Jasmine sighed with relief. "You gave me a heart attack…."
"Who did you think it was?" Splinter asked Jasmine.
"I don't know…you just scared me that's all…." Jasmine told Splinter.
"Hmmm…it seems to me that you have a lot on your mind, lately, am I not mistaken?" Splinter asked her.
Jasmine was shocked how Splinter knew exactly what she was thinking about, even though she didn't tell him that much. "Uhh…y-yeah, you're right…but I think I have figured out something that might be useful for my problems," Jasmine said.
"Hmm….interesting," Splinter said while stroking his beard. "And what have you found out?"
"Well that's the thing…I'm not really sure how to explain it but I can say that the girl that I saw when I was going to the market a couple of years ago is the person who is trying to contact me through my visions. In fact, just a little bit ago she contacted me to tell me to find this…this temple." Jasmine told him. Just at that moment it dawned on Jasmine, she stumbled to the floor clutching her head. "Oh my gosh, I can't believe I didn't think of it before…."
Splinter leaned down next to Jasmine and said, "What did you find out, my dear?"
Jasmine looked up at Splinter with a serious expression and told him, "We need to gather everybody together, so that I can explain it to everybody."
"Alright…." Splinter agreed.
Splinter exited the room and went to go get his sons. Jasmine stayed where she was and thought about her new discovery, she silently looked at the tree that helped her figure out part of the truth. She continued to stare at the tree until she noticed a small carving near the top of the trunk of the tree. She slowly scooted towards the tree curiosity taking over her mind. As she got closer to the random carving, it started to glow with a golden hue; she could tell it was a small four triangles that took shape of a diamond with a small square hole in the middle. Once she was near enough to touch the carving, she slowly raised her hand and gently touched the small carving. Her eyes started to lose focus and then she blacked out.
After a couple of minutes, people started to file into the dojo for the meeting that Jasmine wanted to have. Leo, Donnie, and April were the first people to enter the room; they were having a small conversation about the new invention that Donnie was building. But once they saw Jasmine they all stopped and froze in place, Jasmine was just standing in the middle of the room, staring out into space. Her eyes were glazed over as if she was hypnotized; she was swaying back and forth a little causing her hair to fall from behind her ears. Leo slowly walked up to her completely shocked by the appearance that Jasmine was in. As he got closer he noticed something was glowing around her neck. He rushed to her side and found that the source of light was coming from her necklace; all of the pendants were glowing at the same time giving off a strong source of light.
"Oh my gosh, what happened to her?" April asked no one in particular.
"I…I don't know…" Leo responded.
"It's like she in some kind of trance, completely ignoring her surroundings too," Donnie said while waving his hand in front of Jasmine's face.
Jasmine didn't flinch or respond to the movement that Donnie did. That's when he noticed the small carving that was lightly glowing on the tree. They all walked towards the tree, wondering on what that carving was doing there. Donnie got closer and leaned towards the carving but once he was close enough to see it, the carving stopped glowing and faded away.
"What!?" Donnie said.
"What happened?" Leo asked him as he tried to pear over Donnie's shoulder. Once he saw that the carving was gone, he gasped. "How did it do that? Wasn't it just there two seconds ago?"
"Yeah, but once I got close to it, it disappeared into thin air," Donnie responded.
April walked back over to Jasmine. "Hey…You guys…you might want to come over here…." April stammered. The boys came rushing to April's side finding out what she was freaking out about. Jasmine's necklace started to stop glowing, first the one on the right went out and then the one on the left went out but the last didn't stop glowing in fact, it got brighter. It kept getting brighter and brighter until it was too bright to look at but all at once the light died down until it was no longer there. Once the light was gone Jasmine groaned and collapsed to the floor, but before she hit the floor Leo was right next to her catching her in his arms. Leo cradled Jasmine in his arms and stood up.
"I-I'm going to take her to my room and lay her down," Leo said with worry. "I don't think she's going to wake up sometime soon."
"Yeah, you're probably right," Donnie said. "I'll go get Splinter and tell him what happened here and then we should meet up and try to figure out on what just happened."
"Alright, but I might not be back here in time so you can go ahead and start without me," Leo said.
"Okay," Donnie said.
Leo walked off with the limp Jasmine in his arms; he walked down to his room and entered it. He walked up to the bed and found the bundle of blankets and pillows on the floor. He gently set down Jasmine onto his bed and grabbed one of the pillows and blankets; he gently set the pillow under her head and covered her with a blanket. He sighed and started to walk out of the room but before he could get to the door, he heard rustling noises coming from behind him.
"Leo…." Jasmine croaked. "Ugh…why do I have a horrible headache?"
Leo chuckled a little bit; relieve to hear that Jasmine was already awake. He walked up to the edge of the bed as Jasmine moved over a little bit so that he could sit down next to her.
"So…what happened…cause all I remember is a glowing carving and then…nothing but blackness…" Jasmine told him but she hesitated like she wanted to say something else but wasn't sure how to say it.
"Well…you pretty much turned into a zombie and your necklace was glowing but after a bit it started to die down….and then you collapsed and I took you here…." Leo told her. "But to tell you the truth…when I saw you like that I almost died inside…I just hope that won't happen again…."
Jasmine just stared at Leo with her hand on her forehead completely shocked by his statement. After she heard that Jasmine sat up slowly and faced Leo. "Um…Leo, I have to tell you something…" Jasmine said while nervously playing with the seam of her shirt. "Uh…umm…I-I-" she tried to say but ended up stuttering her words; she tried not to break down in front of Leo but in the end she just couldn't hold it in anymore.
"JASMINE!" Mikey came rushing in followed by Raph and Splinter. "Are you okay?"
"Uhh…y-yeah I'm fine…just confused…." Jasmine responded to Mikey's question trying to hide her emotions. "Not to mention I got a splitting headache…but that's normal…."
"Hmm…I'm glad you are not hurt," Splinter said. "How about you get some sleep….you look pretty worn down…."
"Yeah, I could use some sleep, thanks," Jasmine said.
After everybody found out that Jasmine was okay, they decided that they would have to talk about it after she got some sleep. After their discussion, everybody dispersed from Leo's room. Leo was about to get off the bed when a small hand grabbed his hand and pulled him backwards. He landed on the bed beside Jasmine and next thing he knew she was hugging him tight.
"Please…don't leave me…" Jasmine pleaded. "…I'm scared…"
Leo was completely shocked; he just sat there in Jasmine's arms completely speechless, not sure on what to do or say. He snapped out of his trance and gently wrapped his arms around Jasmine, hugging her tight.
"I-I don't know what to do anymore, Leo…." Jasmine said as streams of tears started to run down her cheeks and plopped on to his chest and legs. "…help me…please…."
"Jasmine, everything is going to alright…and you know I'll always be there for you…" Leo soothed. He un-wrapped his arms from Jasmine and held her at arm's length. "Hey…why are you crying…?" he asked gently while wiping away some of the tears that were streaming down Jasmine's face. He has never seen Jasmine like this but he is going to try his best to cheer her up even if it will take hours to do so.
"I-I don't know…they just keep coming…." Jasmine whined as she rubbed her eyes trying to get rid of the excess tears on her face. "I didn't want to tell the others but something…happened…when I blacked out…a-and it freaked m-me out…a l-lot…and now I-I don't know what to d-do…."
"Well, first things first can you stop crying for me…so that you can explain to me on what happened to you…do you think you can do that for me?" Leo gently asked Jasmine.
Jasmine nodded slowly and leaned into Leo's chest, Leo gently wrapped his arms around her again, gently rubbing her back to help her calm down. Jasmine tried to slow her breaths down and did her best to calm herself down. She finally calm down and sighed heavily, she stayed in Leo grasp not wanting to move from his comfortable arms.
"You calmed down now?" Leo asked her gently.
"Yeah…yeah I am…and thanks for everything, Leo you a life saver…" Jasmine said slowly. "I'm glad I meet you….I don't know what I do without you….and well….your pretty comfortable you know that….?"
Leo laughed at her last comment making Jasmine smile from the warm sound. She could feel his chest moving up and down from his laughter making her feel very warm and fuzzy on the inside, Jasmine started to laugh along with him. He looked down at Jasmine and found her smiling and laughing the way she usually does and it made him happy to see that she is no longer crying and whining. She stopped laughing and looked up at Leo with her warm chocolate eyes even though they were red and puffy from crying he still got lost in her sweet gaze. When Jasmine looked up at Leo, she thought she probably looks like crap but she didn't care. She was completely lost in his cool, clear, crystal blue eyes, she didn't want move away from this spot even if it was the end of the world. They stayed like that for several minutes until Mikey ran past the room screaming his lungs out with Raph on his tail carrying his Sais in his hands. Jasmine watched the door and started to laugh again. Her laugh was so cute it made Leo want to laugh along with her again, he hugged her tighter making her laugh even more.
"Haha…Leo! I can't breathe…." Jasmine mumbled from within Leo grasp.
"Oh…sorry…my bad…" Leo said.
"It's ok…." Jasmine chuckled. "I knew you meant well…and thanks again. And if you want I tell you about what I saw when I blacked out…."
"Yeah, but are you ready to tell me?" Leo asked worrying about her if she would break down again just from re-telling the event.
"Yeah, I'll be fine," Jasmine replied.
She smiled that sweet smile of hers making Leo's heart skip a beat again. He wanted to tell her so badly on how he truly felt about her but he was scared that she would reject him. He looked at her again finding that she was laughing again apparently Mikey and Raph in the background were helping her cheer up pretty easily.
"WHY YOU!" Raph yelled. "YOU"RE GONNA PAY FOR THAT, MIKEY!"
"WAAAHHHHH…AH…AHHHHHH!" Mikey screamed as he was trying to escape from Raph's evil stare and Sais.
That made Jasmine laugh even harder, making new tears stream down her face except this time they were tears of joy not sadness. She started to calm down with a few laughs here and there; even when she was done laughing she couldn't stop smiling. After a couple of seconds Jasmine started to hiccup from the excessive laughing causing her to start laughing again.
"Man…hic…I di-up-dn't expect th-hiccup-is to happen t-hic-o me…hiccup…" Jasmine tried to say but kept getting interrupted by her own hiccups.
Leo started to laugh at Jasmine's comment causing Jasmine to blush a little from the embarrassment. They both sat there laughing and hiccupping as Mikey started to sneak into the room trying to hide from Raph's anger. He noticed that Jasmine was hiccupping pretty badly and started to creep up towards the bed. Once he was near the edge of the bed, he jumped up screaming "BOO!" at the couple causing Jasmine to scream and jump about two feet into the air. She landed down onto the bed with a small "plop" and fell completely silent.
"Mikey!" Leo yelled at him while holding a fist up. "What did yo-"
"Hey! My hiccups are gone! Thanks, Mikey!" Jasmine squealed.
"No problemo…that's what I here for…" Mikey said while smiling big.
Leo put his hand back down now understanding why his brother did that; he was only trying to help Jasmine get rid of her hiccups.
"THERE YOU ARE!" Raph yelled while slamming Leo's door open.
"AHHH!" Mikey screamed while he ran and hid behind Jasmine's back. "Hide me, Jasmine!"
Jasmine just laughed at Mikey as he hid behind her back, trying to get as far away as he can from Raph's grasp. Raph ran up to the side of the bed with his Sais in his hands.
"Jasmine, move out of the way!" Raph said impatiently.
"Why?" Jasmine asked with curiosity. "What did he do to you?"
"Umm…that's none of your business…" Raph said while blushing a little.
"Okay, then I don't think I have to move then," Jasmine said while crossing her arms.
"Hmph…fine, just don't do that again, Mikey…" Raph said while turning around to exit the room. Raph left them room leaving Mikey, Jasmine, and Leo sitting there in silence.
"Phew…that was a close call…." Mikey said while wiping sweat from his forehead. He got down from behind Jasmine and stood in front of the door. "Well…you two hungry cause' I'm going to go get some pizza again."
"Uhh…aren't you gonna tell us what you did to Raph to make him so angry?" Leo asked his younger brother.
"Yeah but can it wait cause' I'm so hungry right now…" Mikey whined.
"I guess but don't anger Raph anymore cause' next time you might not get pass with just a warning," Leo warned Mikey.
"Yeah, I know…" Mikey said. "Okay, so who's hungry?"
"I am!" Jasmine said while raising her hand. "But can it be something else besides pizza? I mean, we had that for lunch and dinner yesterday and it's kinda getting unappetizing…."
"WHAT! How can you say that?" Mikey yelled while lifting his hands up in the air.
"I don't know…." Jasmine said while a drip of sweat went down the side of her face. "Its…just…getting old…I guess…." Mikey rushed at Jasmine and put both of his hands onto her shoulders, shaking her vigorously.
"Mikey! Knock it off," Leo told Mikey. "She doesn't have to have pizza if she doesn't want to you know…"
Mikey stopped shaking Jasmine leaving her very dizzy from his shaking. "Ohh…sorry, Jasmine," Mikey said with resentment.
Jasmine chuckled, "It's okay, I guess I'll have pizza for dinner tonight…."
"YAY! Get ready pizza cause here comes Mikey ready for action!" Mikey said as he ran out of Leo's room.
Jasmine laughed at Mikey's comment as he went to go get the pizza for supper tonight. Leo stood up and turned around, giving Jasmine a hand to help her up. She took it with a small smile and limped out of the room with Leo right beside her. They walked to the kitchen were everybody else was and waited with them till the food got to the table. As they waited they talked about the events that went on in the city that they were missing and laughed at the funny jokes coming from Mikey. Jasmine turned to look at Leo, she leaned forward and whispered something into his ear. He smiled at the comment and nodded in agreement. He couldn't wait for the next day to come cause' Jasmine just ask him if he could help her get something from her house since its most likely that she was going to stay down here for a while. Not only that she wants to tell him about the vision she had when she was in that trance earlier that day. The food was delivered and was set onto the counter; everybody dug into the pizza without waiting for plates or drinks. They all laughed and had a good time as the evening began to fade into nighttime.
WHOOHOO! Chapter seven done: check! Chapter eight here I come! :la: I hope you guys like this chapter cause' it took me a little bit to figure some stuff out but it turned out great in the end :happybouce: so if you would please comment/favorite cause' I would really appreciate it! :3