The door to his room opened. Leonardo turned his head in the direction of his visitor and smiled. “Hi, Rachael.”
“Your eyes are bandaged,” Rachael said. “How did you know it was me? Have you been saying ‘Hi, Rachael’ to everyone who walked into the room?”
Leonardo laughed. “It’s your chi. Even though my eyes are bandaged, I can still see. It’s just… different. Everything is glowing.”
“Glowing?” Rachael sat on the bed next to Leo and held his hand in both of hers. “Is it just a white light or are there different colors?”
“You’re pink,” Leonardo said, doing his best not to laugh at Rachael’s reaction.
“You’re lying,” she scoffed. “I hate pink.”
Leo squeezed her hand and sighed. “It’s all mostly shades of gray.”
“Dr. Chaplin will be in soon to take these off.” She ran her fingers lightly over the gauze wrapping, covering Leo’s eyes. “Then maybe you will be ready to come back to our room. I miss having you next to me.”
“You doing alright,” Leo asked, watching for any fluctuation in her aura.
“Not entirely,” Rachael admitted. “I need you there to remind me that you made it out of that horrid place. I keep having nightmares of everyone dying.” So many emotions coursed through her that her aura lit up into an almost blinding blaze.
“It will get better,” Leo promised her as he gently pulled her down into a soft kiss.
The tender moment was broken by the echoes of a mournful cry carried down the hall.
“Mikey,” Leo said as he moved to get up. He needed to make sure his brother was alright.
They had stopped the medication that had been keeping Mikey in a sedated state. He must have just woken up and realized what had happened. He had come out of it sooner than expected.
“You need to stay in bed,” Rachael said, trying to restrain him.
Carefully pushing past her, Leonardo go to his feet. “My injury is to my face not my legs. I can walk.”
“At least let me walk with you,” Rachael said and grabbed hold of Leo’s arm to help guide him. He didn’t need her help, he could ‘see’ just fine, but he wasn’t about to push her away.
They could hear Michelangelo crying as they made their way down the hall. There were doctors in the room along with Splinter, Raphael and Michelle.
“My arm,” Mickey cried, followed by a series of sobs.
“You’re alive,” Michelle soothed. Her aura was a mixture of warmth and empathy. She was sitting in a chair next to the bed.
Splinter, his aura calm, sat on the other side of the bed, close to Mikey’s head. He placed his head on Mikey’s brow.
“I’m so sorry,” Raph said, his voice choked with emotion. His aura was troubled and erratic, seething with guilt. He was standing behind Splinter, unable to bring himself to touch Mikey out of fear that Mikey will pull away.
“Everything’s going to be alright, Mikey,” Leo said with a firm voice as he entered the room. He knew he needed to be strong for his brother. “I know this is a shock to you but you need to stay calm.”
“What happened,” Mikey whimpered. “Why is there a bandage over your face?”
“Do you remember our fight with Hun?” Leo asked, sitting on the bed.
With Leo there, Mikey started to calm. Since they were kids, Leonardo has been the one Mikey turned to for comfort and reassurance. It was the reason Leo knew he had to be there for him now. After taking a steading breath, Mikey nodded.
“What’s the last thing you remember,” Splinter asked.
Mikey sniffled and instinctively tried to reach up and wipe his face, only to be reminded that his arm was missing. As he choked back another sob, Michelle grabbed a tissue and wiped his face for him.
Swallowing hard, Mikey took a moment to find his voice. “I remember Hun laughing. Raph was running up some stairs to fight him. I was getting ready to fight the guy running at me…. Then he stopped…. His eyes went wide and he fell to the floor…. He died.” Then Mikey mumbled almost to himself. “How did he die? I didn’t hit him.”
“Do you remember anything after that?” Leo asked.
Mikey shook his head. “No.” He sat quietly, looking at Leo for a moment. “What happened to you?”
“That machine was meant to kill us all,” Leo stated. “Hun was willing to sacrifice his own men to do it. Each time he pushed the button, something shot out from the machine. We were all hurt one way or another. Splinter managed to stop him before he managed to kill us.”
“So, everyone’s alive?” Mikey sounded as if he was afraid to ask.
“Some Purple Dragons are dead,” Splinter said. “As is Hun. But, everyone in our family is alive.”
“Good.” Mikey leaned back in his bed, able to relax a little. However, there were still tears in his eyes and he brought his hand up to rub his arm above the bandages.
The wound radiated and Leo could see the shadow of the lost arm. Mikey’s hand was clenched in a fist. The muscles of what remained of his arm were tense. Michelangelo visibly tried to relax those muscles, but the tension remained, traveling all the way down the shadow to the clenched fist.
Dr. Chaplin stood in the doorway. No one else seemed to notice that he was there yet, so Leo remained quiet about it. He was most likely giving them the time they needed to get Mikey calm.
“I’m so sorry, Mikey,” Raph said, still unable to bring himself to touch his brother.
“Why do you keep apologizing,” Mikey asked, looking up at Raph. “You didn’t cut off my arm.”
“If I had listened to Leo and not run up the stairs,” Raph rasped out, “then Hun wouldn’t have pushed the button. I let him get to me and I played into his trap.”
“Raphie,” Mikey said softly, smiling up at Raph. “It’s not your fault. Hun was insane. You had no way of knowing what he was capable of doing. Besides, I’m sure Donny feels just as responsible as you do, thinking that he should have shut down the machine faster.”
“You’re not wrong,” Rachael stated. “You can add Donna and Tello to that as well.”
“But, if I…,” Raph tried to argue but Mikey cut him off.
“Stop. I don’t blame you for this at all and you should stop blaming yourself.” There was no indication that Mikey was just saying that to make Raphael feel better. He truly meant it. “The only person who is at fault is dead.” Reaching out to Raph, Mikey gestured for him to come closer. “Come here.”
Taking care not to put any pressure on what remained of Mikey’s arm, Raphael openly cried as he bent down to hug his brother. Leonardo could see the wave of relief that wash over Raph and calmed his aura.
“I love you,” Mikey whispered, giving Raph a gentle squeeze. “Don’t beat yourself up over this. Okay?”
“I love you too.” Raph sobbed, nodding then kissing Mikey’s cheek before pulling away.
“You seem to be doing well,” Dr. Chaplin said, finally making his presence known.
“As well as I can be,” Mikey replied, “given the situation.”
“You’re not supposed to be out of bed,” Chaplin stated, placing his hand on Leo’s shoulder.
“I tried to stop him,” Rachael said.
“Like I said,” Leo smirked, “there is nothing wrong with my legs.”
“I’m going to check on Mikey and then we’ll take those bandages off,” Chaplin said to Leo. “It would be best if we did it in a dimly lit room.”
Chaplin pulled the sheets up and then put his hand about a foot above Mikey’s feet. “Can you lift your leg and touch my hand?”
“Is there a reason I shouldn’t be able to,” Mikey asked, a pinch of fear in his voice.
Chaplin shook his head. “You’ve come out of some heavy sedation. I’m just checking to see how much of your strength has returned. You’ve been bed ridden for a few days. We want you up and moving as soon as possible.”
Mikey nodded his understanding. It took a bit of effort but he was able to lift each leg high enough to touch Chaplin’s outstretched hand.
“Good,” Chaplin said. “Once the room is cleared, we’ll remove the catheter.”
“Catheter?” Mikey lifted the sheet to look down at himself. “I have a catheter?”
Chaplin stifled a chuckle. “It won’t hurt.”
“I’ll stay with you and hold your hand,” Michelle offered then added to Chaplin, “if you’ll let me.”
“As long as Michelangelo doesn’t mind,” Chaplin nodded.
“I’ll take him back to his room,” Rachael said, tugging on Leo. “We’ll wait for you there.”
“We’ll join you,” Splinter said, grabbing hold of Raphael’s hand as they made their way out of the room.
Back in his room, Leonardo climbed back into the bed and got himself comfortable. They waited for Chaplin, occasionally breaking the silence with trivial conversation. Both Raphael and Rachael paced the room, anxious to know the extent of the damage to Leonardo’s eyes. Splinter sat calmly in a nearby chair. Although Leonardo could sense his father’s worry, his aura remained calm.
It wasn’t long before Chaplin entered the room. “I’m going to dim the lights.” He then cut the gauze and removed the cotton pads covering Leo’s eyes. “Take your time. Open your eyes and give them time to adjust. We’ll start running tests as soon as you are comfortable.”
“Alright.” Letting out a slow, steading breath, Leo opened his eyes.
Nothing changed. All he could see was the world of gray offered to him by his chi.
“Well?” Raph prompted.
Leo shook his head. “I think I’m blind.”
