Note: References to my fanfic 'A Warrior's Journey' appear in this chapter
Chapter Fourteen
Sensitive Times
Four days past, and Raphael was soon discharged from the sickbay.
He had to keep having treatments to heal his throat and attempt to get his voice back, but again, he could only hiss as he tried to speak, but he kept up the American Sign Language thanks to Alice seeing him every day to help him.
On the day he was discharged, Raphael was reluctant to leave, as he wanted to be close to Monalisa and Donatello.
Leonardo, Michelangelo, Splinter and Pandora had arrived to see him, and Pandora was relieved to see him out of bed.
No sooner did she arrive than she embraced her father.
"Oh Dad!" she wept as she wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders.
"Gently!" James reminded the young hybrid holding out his arms "Gently!"
Pandora hugged her father then let go so he could greet his brothers and father.
Splinter walked up to Raphael and gave a tearful smile before stroking his cheek.
"My son!" he said, "It relieves me to see you up and walking again."
Raphael forced a smile back and nodded to him before giving the sign language for thank you.
Leonardo walked over and embraced his younger brother.
"Oh Raph." He said "We thought you were going to die! I was so scared!"
He remembered Raphael being in the same position those years ago when he was stabbed by Arashi and only through Monalisa's quick thinking with the healing serum she had taken from Dr Arden's lab.
Just thinking of that incident made him look over at Monalisa and his heart broke.
Raphael hugged him back then pulled back from the hug before signing to him.
'I Love you bro.'
Even though Leonardo couldn't understand the sign language at first, he read Raphael's lips and he smiled.
Michelangelo walked over to Raphael, and he looked at the scars on his brother's neck from where Hanako had stabbed him.
Raphael looked at his younger brother and wondered whether he would make a joke or quip about the fact he couldn't talk and he narrowed his eyes.
Seeing Raphael's facial expression, Michelangelo lifted his right hand and waved it in defence.
"I'm not gonna say anything bro!" he said, then his eyes filled up "If anything, I wish I could give you, my voice! I wish Hanako had stabbed me in the throat!"
"Mikey!?" Leonardo and Pandora said together.
"Michelangelo!?"" Splinter, James, and Dahlia gasped.
"It's true!" Michelangelo said "I'd happily give Raph my vocal cords so he could talk again, speak to Pandora! Maybe even Mona!" he pointed to Monalisa's still form "Talk to her to bring her back! Her and Donnie!"
Pandora blinked as she looked at her beloved uncle.
Splinter gave Michelangelo a proud smile.
"It makes me so proud of you that you would be willing to do such a thing my son." He said placing a hand on Michelangelo's arm.
"But think about it, if you had been the one to lose your voice, how would it be for Kate? Or for Pandora? Or for the rest of us?"
Michelangelo looked at his family, then he chewed his lip.
"I'm sorry Master, but I…"
"There is no need to be sorry my son." Splinter said, "You thought a very noble thought, and a very generous one too, like a true ninja!"
Michelangelo then felt Raphael's hand on his shoulder then saw him give the sign language for thank you.
Michelangelo smiled through his tears.
"You're welcome, bro!" he said, "And I promise you, I'll learn sign language too!"
"We all shall learn it!" Leonardo agreed "And if we all learn it, it will prove useful in battle and on missions when we are all fit to do so!"
He glanced at Monalisa and Donatello again then looked to James and Dahlia.
"What is their progress?" he asked.
"Slow but getting there." James reported as he stepped over to the beds and checked the machines.
"They still need to purge the poison." Dahlia added "But from what we have observed, Donatello may be close to being woken up."
"Really!?" everyone cried in unison.
"Again, we need to observe for another twenty-four hours just to be sure," James reminded them "But we are doing all we can for them."
"And that's more than we can ask." Splinter said as he walked over between the two beds and placed his paws on the foreheads of Donatello and Monalisa as they lay there in their deep sleeps.
Leonardo walked up behind Splinter and placed his hands on his shoulders.
Michelangelo walked over to Donatello's side and held his paw and Raphael and Pandora went to sit next to Monalisa, and Raphael leaned down and kissed his mate's cheek.
Splinter closed his eyes as he stroked his son and adopted daughter's foreheads.
"My son, my daughter." He prayed softly "Please, hear me, feel my presence and those of your loved ones, we are all praying for you to wake up and return to us."
Michelangelo held Donatello's hand close to his chest, Raphael leaned on his mate's forehead and nuzzled her whilst Pandora held her mother's hand.
As the hybrid sat there, she looked at her comatose mother, and at her mute father and the anger she felt in her heart started to return.
She could see the evil creatures who had done this to her family, all the faces of the evil monsters from the Foot, Shredder, Arashi, Dr Arden, Hanako, the Venomous Five, even though she was aware that Tyroth had made short work of the Shredder whether he killed him or not she wasn't sure, but she did know that Arashi, Dr Arden, Hanako and the Venomous Five still lived because Tyroth had seen them flee as he was attacking the Shredder.
"Those bastards will pay!" she thought as she looked at her mother, father, and her uncle Donatello "All of them will! Hate them! Hate them all! They will pay for what they did you you…to all of us….to Kemeko!"
She clawed her free hand and gritted her teeth.
"I will hunt you; I will make you suffer for what you did! All of you!"
As she was lost in her thoughts, Pandora was soon brought back to earth as James opened the door and Jake appeared along with Amber and Tyroth.
Splinter, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael also looked up to see their friends.
Jake looked pale and they could see dark rings under his eyes.
"How are they?" he asked, "April said I had to come!"
"And we came as company." Amber added.
James sighed.
"Monalisa still needs to recover more, the poison is still not purged, but Raphael has been given all clear to leave the sick bay, but he will need to come in each day for treatments."
"And of Donatello?" Tyroth asked.
"We believe that after twenty-four hours we may start to wake him." Dahlia said looking over at the purple masked turtle, "But we still need to observe him carefully."
"We understand." Tyroth said solemnly.
James nodded at the Dragon then turned to the Hamato Clan who realised what he wanted to ask them, and they stood up reluctantly.
"Don't worry." Dahlia reassured them "You may come and visit again, but we need space and time to work on them and we promise we will update you if anything changes, alright?"
"Thank you." Splinter said giving both the Chimpanzee and wolf a bow "We appreciate everything."
James and Dahlia smiled at Splinter and at Leonardo, Michelangelo, Raphael, and Pandora.
"Keep positive, alright?" James said, "We will keep you informed."
The Turtles, Splinter and Pandora thanked James and Dahlia then left the sickbay, letting Jake and Amber go into to see Donatello and Monalisa.
As they left, Leonardo went over to Kemeko who was still resting in her bed, and Michelangelo, Splinter, Raphael, and Pandora left the sickbay to go into the sanctuary, yet as they did, they were greeted by some of the residents.
Kate was amongst them which pleased Michelangelo, along with the other Knights who were curious to see how Raphael was after he had been discharged.
"Everyone please!" Tyroth spoke up waving his paws, "We must be gentle and patient! Give Raphael some space!"
At once the Knights stepped back as did some of the other residents as Raphael started to make gestures with his hands.
Alice, who was amongst the residents smiled as she watched him.
"Well done, Raphael." She whispered softly as she watched him.
As Raphael used his hands to communicate, everyone watched him intently as well as tried to read his lips.
"Wow!" Jack said as he watched Raphael move his hands, "He seems to have picked it up quick!"
"Yeah!" Sarah agreed "Maybe we should learn it too? Might come in use for us on missions?"
"That's not a bad idea!" Heather said.
"Yeah!" Sharky quipped.
"Shouldn't be too hard!" Percy added.
Cam and Barry watched, and they too looked at each other and nodded.
"Might be useful to us too!" Barry suggested.
Cam agreed with a wink.
As the Knights and other residents watched Raphael sign, Rattletrap had joined them, and he soon saw Raphael making gestures with his hands.
"Hey! The red masked turtle's up!" he quipped, and all turned to look at him, others looked appalled and other awkward.
Raphael turned to Rattletrap and narrowed his eyes.
"Glad to see you up Raph!" the rat said brightly "How you doing?"
Raphael then started to make gestures with his hands and Rattletrap watched him with a confused look.
"Ooo…kay…what you are saying man?" he asked.
"Shut up Rattletrap!" a few residents growled.
"Be quiet! You stupid rat!" others muttered.
Rattletrap watched Raphael a few times then cocked his eyebrows.
"You come with subtitles?" he asked.
Yet no sooner did those words leave the rats mouth than a fist punched him backwards at the rat was sent flying into the stone wall!
Everyone gasped in shock as they saw who had thrown the punch!
"Mikey?" Percy cried as he saw the orange masked turtle, his eyes narrowed and the look of fury on his face.
"Shut up!" Michelangelo snarled "Just shut the fuck up Rattletrap!"
He then took out one of his nun-chucks with his right arm and swung it about.
"You fucking dare make fun of my brother when he can't speak? Do you even care about what's happened!?"
He strode towards the rat and whacked him hard across the face with his weapon then kicked him in the side.
"No!" Rattletrap cried as he fell back "I didn't…I…I just…" but he yelped as he was kicked.
"Get up!" Michelangelo barked furiously "Get the fuck up!"
"Michelangelo!" Splinter cried in horror and Tyroth ran over to assist.
"Mikey!" he roared "Stop!"
But the orange masked turtle was beyond reasoning as he glared down at the rat.
"Get up!" he screamed "Get up and face what's happened, you stupid selfish rat!"
"Michelangelo! Stop!" Tyroth shouted as he grabbed the orange masked turtle by his shell and pulled him away from Rattletrap who held his swollen jaw and shakily stood up.
"Michelangelo, this isn't helping!" Tyroth said as he placed the turtle back on the ground but didn't let go of his shell.
"You need to think about what's important right now! Like your brother and sister! And your nieces!"
The other residents watched in silence yet Sharky walked over to Rattletrap and pulled him to his feet.
"Next time, I'd keep your mouth shut!" he growled before leading the injured Rat to the sickbay, "And if you play nice, Dahlia won't be too rough with you!"
Rattletrap looked worried as he was led to the sickbay, and at the same time, he caught sight of Pandora who glared at him and flexed her fingers.
"Another wrong word, I'll gut you!" the hybrid mouthed at him, her eyes blazing.
Rattletrap gulped again, yet he couldn't reason with the hybrid about his actions as he was led away into the medical wing.
Tyroth sighed then let go of Michelangelo and Kate walked over to her boyfriend and held his hand.
"I'm so sorry about Rattletrap." The dragon said sadly, "I will have a few words with him, about how he should behave here for the time being, in the meantime, I suggest you take some time to relax."
Michelangelo sighed and looked to Kate feeling rather worried and guilty over his behaviour towards Rattletrap, yet Kate reassured him as she gave him a kiss and a nuzzle before leading him away, yet Pandora winked at her uncle.
The hybrid had felt a sense of pleasure seeing Michelangelo beat up Rattletrap, given how the rat ran his mouth without thinking, and if her uncle hadn't beat him up, she would have done, and maybe if she was wearing her claws, she would have done worse.
"If he even dares speak something stupid or ask anything foolish." She thought as she flexed her fingers and clawed them "My claws will answer!"
As Michelangelo and Kate left the area, the Knights watched them.
"Jeez!" Percy breathed "I don't think I've seen Mikey flip like that before!"
"Ditto!" Sarah said.
"Rattletrap better watch his mouth, that's for sure!" Heather said.
"Fat chance of that happening anytime soon Fairy-Girl." Jack sighed "But we better keep an eye on him."
So Raphael has been discharged, and his family and the Knights are keen to learn American Sign Language, yet Rattletrap has to open his big mouth to make things worse!
And out of all the turtles, Michelangelo is quick to put the rat in his place and Pandora has made threats as well.