the curse - 1 - [rottmnt - COMPLETED]

#24

"Haafuck."

The second awakening was still infinitely better than usual, but the slumber of sheer exhaustion was over. The wound must have been quite deep, the pain was very present. And her thirst almost drove her insane.

But she had woken up normally again. She opened her eyes. The room was still completely intact, nothing to indicate any destruction.

She was totally amazed by this fact. It seemed like a miracle to her. And despite her blood loss and accompanying physical weakness, she felt mentally rested. Less rushed. Less hunted. More like herself.

She felt a glimmer of hope.

And her bladder. Oh, this will be a challenge.

She looked at the sleeping turtle next to her on the chair. His head was turned all the way to the side. He was snoring softly, and she couldn't help but smile. He must have been very spent, and she really wanted to let him sleep. She looked down at her hand in his, and it was obvious that what had happened last night had something to do with her altered sleep. Something had changed. She had to find out what, but first…

Slowly and concentrated, she pulled her hand out of his. He stirred a little, but didn't wake up.

She sat up and pushed the covers aside, ignoring the pain, and found herself in clothes that were far too large. Are these his? Did he change them…? Oh, no! No! Think of something else! The artifacts from the museum, for example. Don't they actually have more relevance than whether this is his clothing?

She checked to see if she still had any of her clothes underneath and looked at the neckline of the hoodie.

Her eyes widened, she looked up, blinked in disbelief, then looked down again. She was wearing some sort of hologram chest envelope. She looked over at Donnie again and narrowed her eyes, 'tech is his thing' so she put two and two together. So that's how he knew about her semi-conscious escape attempt.

Then she took a closer look at the envelope. Everything seemed to emanate from the transparent lens above her solar plexus. She carefully reached into the hoodie and tentatively touched it. She was lucky with her guess. The lens became an oval capsule and the hologram seemed to fold into it. It looked mesmerizing, and she felt absolutely nothing until the pod just plummeted down. A soft "beep" came from Donnie's gauntlet, but he slept deeply.

Then she reached into the hoodie from below, grabbed the capsule and looked at it. It seemed metallic and felt smooth in her hand. That was really impressive engineering. Did he make this himself?
Her parched throat called. She laid the capsule on the bed next to her. She must get something to drink!

The young woman carefully brought her legs over the edge of the bed. Her circulation was stable.

Then she looked up and was surprised to see one of his brothers standing in the doorway. She hadn't heard him! He was wearing a zip hoodie and sweat shorts - both sprinkled with colorful paint. And an orange bandana, so she knew the Nunchaku must have been his. She felt guilty and looked at him, unsure what to do. But his smile was wide, and he was pointing to his sleeping brother and holding his finger to his lips in a silent 'Pssst!'

She nodded and raised her hand to show a gesture of drinking, he understood and wanted to rush off to get something, but suddenly she gestured to take her with him.

Mikey came in and went to the bed. Donnie was sound asleep, he really must have been exhausted.

The girl sat there on his brother's bed looking at him with her green eyes and tousled wild hair in that oversized hoodie. He thought she was magical, all anger at her Nunchaku-throw was gone. She waved her hands if he could take her, and he nodded.

Very, very gently, he helped her up and when she had her arm around his shoulder and he his arm around her waist, she seemed incredibly fragile to him.

She hobbled barefooted and quietly beside him until they were out of Donnie's subway room, then Mikey broke the silence:

"I would have brought you water, that wouldn't have been a problem." he whispered 

"Thank you - but I really, really badly need to pee!" she whispered back.

Mikey and the young woman exchanged a look and smirked at each other. At that moment, Mikey felt that twisting sensation in his chest that Leo had spoken of. Suddenly he could understand Donnie. She was great!

“Okay, first pee, then water. What about hunger? Would you like something to eat?”

She looked at him, noting his mischievous face and his delight at their familiarity. She was so grateful to him! No complicated questions! No emotional roller coaster ride! No accusatory words. No frown. He just asked if she was hungry!

“That would be really great.” she said with a smile, and Mikey could literally feel her gratitude.