The Turtle Charm

Blowing Off Some Steam

Leo had been out for over two weeks. I sat in a chair next to his bed, rubbing the back of one of his hands in my palm and watching over him that night as the lava lamp in the corner emitted a soft blue light. In the morning, Mikey would take over so I could help Donnie and April out on our next mission at Cuddle Cakes Puppy Rescue. 

"Come on Leo," I said as I brought his palm to my lips, "Wake up already. Everyone misses you..." For the umpteenth time that night, I felt my mind trying to shut down and I tried shaking it off. I hadn't gotten much sleep lately because of the things I saw when I did...

But soon enough, it overtook me and I found myself in a Krang hellscape, though not from my own perspective...Having spotted the nearly repaired key, I rushed into the open to get it. Although my older brother scolded me for giving us away, I scoffed, thinking it'd be fine. However, things took a turn for the worst as we engaged in battle with a small army of Krangified villains. I had led my team, and my family, into pain. The brother who scolded me, prompted the one I considered my twin to use the escape pod, and although I was fine with them getting to safety, I wanted to persist in getting the key, but I would have died...if my nagging brother hadn't stepped between us and used his own escape pod to save me. The last thing I saw was a tentacle piercing through his shell and into his chest...

Through this experience, my body felt tense and my heart ached. Then I felt someone shaking me as a familiar voice said, "Tina? Tina, wake up!" 

"Leo?" I said as I slowly blinked open my eyes and met his. He was holding me in his arms. "Leo! You're awake!" I threw my arms around him, locking the turtle into a relieved embrace as a stream of tears burst from my eyes

He wrapped an arm around my waist as the other hand landed on the back of my head. "Tina..." he said, "Your form...You look like..."

"You?" I said, breaking away a little, "Yeah. I've been this way for a while. I haven't even been able to morph to another form..."

"How did that happen?"

"I think the earring broke," I said bringing my hand to my ear and touching it. The emerald gem had cracked and blackened, "I think it overheated...Do you remember? Barry said your mystic powers warped because of your emotional state. Your...despair. It overtook you..."

"And I dragged you down with me," Leo's brow furrowed, "That's how it works right? Our emotions affect you that way...I'm sorry..."

After a moment, I said, "Leo...I'm okay. I can deal with this...I'm just glad your back. Everyone will be happy to see you up again. It's been rough enough after what happened to Raph, we couldn't lose you too..." I felt Leo's arms tense up around me. "You know, we're going to beat the Krang," I said hoping it'd be a comfort, "We'll do it for him, whatever it takes."

"I know," said Leo leaning in, his face becoming obscure as his lips touched my neck, "Whatever it takes, they're going down."

For a good while after that, Leo continued kissing me and I kissed him back. He kissed me in some ways I hadn't been kissed since before my last breakup. I kissed him in ways I was sure he'd never been kissed. As good as it felt though, it lacked something...That passion you feel when you're so in love with the person you do this kind of thing with. The more lustful side remained, but it was instead accompanied by pain and felt more like a comforting distraction from how things took a dark turn.

At some point, I had fallen asleep again. My body was just so drained. But I didn't dream that dream again. It was the kind of sleep where you didn't dream at all and so it felt like you were only out for a second by the time you woke up.

When I did, I was alone, sleeping on my front, arms wrapped around one of Leo's pillows that my head rested on. The small red marks I got from him last night tingled, a bit sore, as I stretched. I figured the turtle must have gotten up early to get a cup of coffee and wondered if he'd run into anyone else yet.