Chapter 9
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I stared down at my now unconscious friend.
The look in her eyes. They had been wild...crazy eyes. She was-
"Jade?" I finally took in that Donnie was there too. He had been the one to catch her.
"What should we do?" He asked when I hadn't spoken for a long time.
I looked down at her, then up into his worried eyes, biting my lip.
"I... I don't know" I told him honestly, as he then picked her up. I couldn't pretend she hadn't seen us again... I couldn't put her through that pain... watching as she lost herself in wondering what was real or not.
"Donnie?" I looked up at him, and he hummed in response.
"Take her back to the lair with you. I'll get Rachel and meet you back there. I can't..." I sucked in a deep breath "I can't just let her think she's crazy anymore"
"Okay" He turned to leave, then turned back.
"Jade? Be careful, okay?"
I nodded, and then he was gone.
I managed to find my phone in the little bag that I had borrowed from Rachel, seeing the screen had been broken, probably from my fall.
"Dammit!" I really didn't want to go hunting through those bodies again. Those people... they were just not my scene. They were uncaring, and rude...
So I did the only thing I could think to do in a situation like this.
I shifted.
When I opened my eyes, I could see everything as bright as day, opening my wings and taking flight.
I glided silently over the houses, until I found the one which was loud and bright, landing on its slanted roof. I slipped a little, regaining my balance quickly and tucking my wings back.
(Rachel, it's Jade. I know you can't answer, but I need you to come outside. We uh...something happened) I finally said, hoping she got the message.
I waited around ten minutes, then saw a familiar head of hair, and a red dress come out the front door, going to glide over her. She saw me, looking around and following me behind another house.
I shifted back, and she frowned at me.
"What happened to you?" She asked when I moved to hold my side a little, the pain quickly easing as I finished my shift.
The one problem with shifting; if you get hurt in your own body, you stay hurt.
"Well..." I looked a her sheepishly, giving her a quick rundown of the events after I left her side.
"Well... now what?" She looked angry, but not at me.
"I asked Donnie to take her back to the lair"
"Okay, let's go. But we walk"
"Okay?"
She looked at me funny "I don't want to have to turn up at the lair naked again"
"Oh" She didn't have her morphing outfit on.
I was about to ask her when she had done it before, when she grabbed my arm and we started to fast walk. I struggled to keep up.
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"We need them to leave out crowbars or something?" Rachel muttered as we both grabbed at the sides of the sewer cover, grunting with the effort of moving it.
"Or leave it open at least a little" I finally got out, letting go when we finally had the whole thing off. Rachel went first, climbing down slowly so she wouldn't fall, and then I followed her.
We made our way to the lair, opening the door-
"No!" Something was thrown, and I barely managed to avoid it as it hit the wall outside, shattering.
"What the hell!?" Rachel snapped, storming into the lair, and I followed her, taking in the situation.
On one side of the room, the turtles and Splinter, all braced for an attack. Leo had April behind him, who was looking both worried and maybe a little annoyed.
On the other side...
Serah.
"Jade?" She looked confused when she saw me, coming over to me, and then dragging me beside her.
"Serah, what are you-"
"M-monsters!" She pushed me in front of her, Rachel now standing in front of me.
Well, this was awkward.
"Hey, don't you attack them!" She snapped at Serah.
"Serah, they're friends" I tried to say, but she moved me in front of her every time Rachel tried to get around me.
"They attacked me!"
"Did not!" Mikey responded, and one look from his brothers shut him up.
"I highly doubt any of these guys would lay a hand on you!" Rachel was mad now.
"Rach, not helping the situation!" I tried to get her to move off, or to get Serah to stop hiding behind me, but that wasn't going to happen.
"She attacked them!" She kept on, and I just stared at her.
"You really think going off at her is a good idea, when she doesn't even know what's going on?"
She glared at me, finally turning and looking over at the turtles.
"Is anyone hurt?"
They all shook their heads. April decided to come out of hiding, joining Rachel.
"They won't hurt you" She spoke to Serah now, her soothing voice seeming to help Serah, as her grip on my shoulders loosened a little.
"But they... but they... they talk! And they have weapons!"
"Serah" I managed to loosen her grip enough to turn around to look at her "Do you trust me?"
"Well..." She frowned "Until-"
"Serah, you saw-" I pointed to Donnie, who looked a little uncomfortable being singled out "Him before, right?"
She nodded slowly, now staring at him.
"Did he hurt me when you saw him?"
She seemed to need to think about it, and I think she was taking it all in. Also probably starting to understand why Donnie never came to-
"No" She finally said "But he could have been sed-"
I slapped my forehead then, angry.
"Serah, look at me! Do I look hurt?"
"You are hurt" Came Rachel's voice, and I turned to her "Not helping!"
"You're hurt?" Serah now looked worried.
"Devin pushed me... I hit a table or something" I grunted, then put hands gently on her arms "But my point is-"
"He hurt you?" She looked angry and upset all at once "Jade, I'm so-"
"Serah, listen to me. You are safer with these guys than your own friends. Trust me on this at least, please" I made her look up at me, tears now brimming her eyes.
Finally, she nodded.
"I'm sorry" Her lip was trembling as she looked at the Turtles and Splinter.
"Ser, it's okay" I pulled her close in a hug.
"I think we should tell her their story" April suggested from behind me, and I let go of Serah, looking at her. I nodded, then turned back to Serah.
"Wait here for just one second, okay?"
With that I tapped April's arm so she would follow me over to the turtles and Splinter.
"So, what's the plan?" Leo came in close, as well as the others.
"Tell her about you guys. Don't say anything about the Yeerks, at least not just yet. I don't..."I looked over at her, and Rachel was there, from what I could hear giving her a talking to about leaving me alone "I don't think she could handle it just yet"
"She already seems to be unsure about us" Donnie said.
"I know, but I think, at least we can explain where you came from"
"I will explain to her, as I explained to April" Splinter finally spoke up, and April nodded to him.
"And I'll help"
I smiled at her "Thank you"
With that, I went to go save Serah from Rachel.
"Hey, what-" Rachel tried to protest, but April was suddenly there, taking Serah's hands in her own, smiling at her.
"Come on, let's go talk" She said, and her soothing voice seemed to calm Serah enough so that she followed her without much resistance.
"O-Okay" Was all she said, and there was a poke in my sore side.
"Hey!" I looked at Rachel, finding she was almost smiling at me.
"Let's get you sorted. I think we still have some of Rtaia's medicines and that down here"
"But-"
"I think April's got this"
I looked over, seeing she had gotten Serah to sit in front of her, with Splinter and the turtles not far away. She still seemed scared, but not as much as when we came in here.
"All right then, but-" I pointed at her as she tried to lead me away "No poking!"
"Can't promise anything" She grinned at me.
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We ended up in Raphael's room, and I had to completely take my dress off, sitting there awkwardly on his bed in nothing but my bra and underwear, picking up some strange smells in this room.
"I really hope that's not old pizza or anything" I mumbled as Rachel took some of the pasty salve that Rtaia had made not long ago, applying it gently on my side.
"I... I really don't know" Rachel seemed flushed, the smell of the salve overpowering what I guessed was anchovies and cheese or something. I felt the sting as the salve started to soak into my skin, letting out a strangled sound.
"It's already starting to bruise" She said, looking down at my side. I tried to turn myself to look as well, seeing a dark purple mark there.
"That's me" I grunted "Bruise easily"
Rachel snorted "You can take on an army...sorry, two armies... of aliens and kick butt, and yet.. you still bruise this easily?"
"Yeah I know, weird huh" I smiled a little, watching as she put the salve away, wiping her hands. I noticed she went into another grey box, pulling out a few other bits and pieces.
"Rtaia left alot of stuff here, didn't she?" I wondered "I didn't even know she left anything"
"Well, Raph held onto most of it" She smiled suddenly "For emergencies"
"After training ouchies?" I supplied, smiling at her. Raph was always pushing himself too hard, it was understandable he needed something to help ease the bruises and that he sustained while training.
"Something like that" She sighed, finally pulling out what looked like one of those large white squares used to cover wounds. She turned to me, looking me up and down.
"What?"
She stood up, now grinning. I felt a little exposed suddenly.
"Look at you! I would kill for a body like yours!"
I blinked at her.
"Uh, Rach?"
"What?"
"Have you looked in the mirror?"
"No, stand up"
I stared at her, and when she insisted I reluctantly stood up, eyeing my dress near me and-
"Turn around"
I didn't budge.
"Oh come on, you should trust me by now!" She rolled her eyes, and I raised an eyebrow at her.
"Trust you with what exactly?"
She finally moved me away from the bed, grabbing an arm and wobbling it around.
"These arms are well defined, you have a great set of-"
"Do not!" I protested, but she ignored me, continuing to turn me this way and that.
"Nice waist, good hips, fantastic legs... what I wouldn't give to have such a great body!"
"Uh, Rach?" I said again, and she looked up at me, humming as she did so.
"Have you looked in the mirror? You're tall and beautiful! Why are you suddenly wanting my... weird...body?"
I folded my arms in front of me, watching as she smirked.
"Oh my dear Jade, you know how much I hate-"
She stopped when the door opened a crack, and Donnie's face popped in.
"Hey, I just-" He stopped when I saw me, and I tried to feebly cover myself up a little, reminding myself that he had seen me like this once before...when I'd been captured...
He slowly came in, shutting the door behind him, his gaze now fixated on my side.
"How's it going out there?" Rachel asked obviously ignoring my discomfort. I wasn't sure if he hadn't heard her, or just decided to ignore her. I felt like a deer in headlights as he crept further into the room.
"I...I...It's fine" I tried to tell him as he came up to me, pulling his binoculars down to examine the wound.
I was feeling very body shy by this point, and just wanted to go hide under a blanket or something.
"Rtaia's salve does seem to be helping, but still..." He frowned at me, and I slowly slunk back behind Rachel.
"Why are you hiding?" Rachel asked, trying to pull me in front of her but I refused.
"Donnie is in here, staring?" I supplied under my breath as she finally pushed me hard, shoving me at him. I almost fell face first, but he caught me before I did.
I looked up at him, face starting to burn. He smiled at me a little.
"Come on, not like he hasn't seen you like this before. We all kinda..." She stopped, like she was reliving a bad moment. I flushed more.
"Not the point" I glared at her, slipping out of his grasp and going to grab-
"What are you doing?"
"Putting clothes on?"
"Uh, no, we need to put this on" She grabbed the large white square thing, a medical pad or whatever it was called.
"I uh...I just wanted to..." Donnie finally spoke up, and we turned to him. He looked very shy all of a sudden.
"Serah asked for you" He finally said, looking at the ground.
"Oh, tell her I'll be out in a minute" I said, forcing a smile as I held my dress in front of me. I saw him look at my thigh, then back at my face, nodding and moving to leave.
I knew he was looking at the scar on my leg. The one left by the dagger. It was an ugly scar, one that would never go away. That dagger had been left in my leg for days, so the wound had been infected. Even though it had healed now, the scar itself would always be a reminder of the time in that lab.
I knew he still felt horrible about not being there, and not saving me sooner from that lab, and I don't think he'd ever not blame himself in some way. But no one could have-
"Jade?" Rachel brought me back to reality, and I looked at her.
"Uh, yeah"
She frowned, knowing what I was thinking, slowly moving me back over to the bed and sitting me down, my dress still in my hands.
"Let's dress this wound yeah?"
I sighed "Yeah"
She dressed the wound, and I was finally able put my clothes on again, the two of us heading out to the main room.
From the sounds of it, Splinter and April had almost finished telling their story. Serah turned to me as Rachel and I sat down near her.
"So... how did you two find out about these... about the turtles?" She asked, her eyes now full of amazement and wonder.
I smiled at her, then looked over at Donnie "They saved me. In more ways than one"
Donnie smiled back a little, and I could see something flash in his eyes. Pain? Regret? I wasn't sure.
"Well that doesn't tell me anything" She was suddenly in front of me, staring me down. I moved back a little.
"Not much more to tell. Gangs and thugs attacked, big ninja turtles saved" Rachel piped up.
"And she just told you?" Serah glared at her. Those two were not getting along well.
"No, I just happened to find out"
"Now why don't I believe you?"
"Girls! Seriously?" I pushed them apart.
"Why do I get the feeling there's something I'm missing?"
"Don't push it!" Rachel growled, and thankfully Raph was there to help, pulling Rachel away and next to him. She let him move her, a little reluctantly.
Serah sighed, sitting back down on the floor beside me.
"So... now what? Am I a prisoner here?"
Rachel huffed, and April shook her head.
"No, but it's important that you keep this to yourself. If anyone else knew..." She trailed off, and Serah laughed.
"I don' t think anyone would really believe me anyway" She turned to me "Now I know why your boyfriend never wanted to come anywhere"
She pointed to Donnie "He's not your typical guy"
"No, hes better than a typical guy" I replied a little sharply.
"I didn't mean it in a bad way" She defended, smiling apologetically at me. I raised an eyebrow.
Suddenly she did something I don't think any of us expected.
She stood up, went over to Donnie, and held her hand, making Donnie jump a little.
"Hi, I'm Serah" She said cheerfully "Nice to meet you Jade's boyfriend!"
"Uh, hi..." He took her hand cautiously, and she shook his hand.
"Nice to know Jade isn't making you up and you're actually real, and I wasn't crazy"
I just stared at her, shocked.
"Uh, thanks?" He said, and she let go of his hand, then turning to me.
"Uh oh"
I yelped as she crash tackled me then, everyone letting out sounds of shock around me.
"So he is a hottie nerd!I love it!"
I didn't know what was more mind boggling to me. The fact she was suddenly taking this so well, or the fact she had just called Donnie a "hottie nerd" again, after hearing the truth and seeing what he really was.
Yep, my life was just too strange sometimes...
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Sorry this chapter is so long, another one where I wanted to pack it full of fun times!
And its not over yet! There will be some interesting twists to come, count on it!
Please read and review! Yummy reviews! :D