Dragon Girl (A TMNT 2012 fan-fiction)

Chapter 4

Raph stared at the girl in his arms. He hadn't realised how pretty she was. Her hair was dark brown and fell in waves to her shoulders. There were freckles dotted along the bridge of her nose and her wings sparkled in the light of the lab. He imagined how they'd look in the light of a full moon. 

"Put her down on the medical table, Raph", a voice came to break him out of his daydream. 

"Yeah", Raph replied, forcing himself to draw his gaze away from the sleeping form in his arms. He walked over to the table and laid her down, very gently. 

"Should we strap her down again", Donnie asked, looking over at Leo and Splinter. 

"No, my sons", Splinter answered. "I sense she is not a danger to us and we need to earn her trust. Strapping her down is not how we do that", he emphasized. 

"Hai, Sensai", Donnie replied. "I'll need to reset her ankle as Leo's sword did some serious damage. It's not broken but it's badly sprained, maybe fractured. I don't know what she did to fracture it, but it's been like this for a couple of months", Donnie diagnosed. 

"I wish I had some crutches to give her when she wakes up", he sighed. 

"I'm sure you will think of something, Donatello", Splinter reassured, walking out of the room, prompting the others to do the same. 

Donnie stayed to try and reset her ankle using some bandages. Raph eventually left, but only after Donnie told him, quite forcefully, to leave him to his work. 

Even after he left, all Raph could think about was how the girl had looked so vulnerable in his arms. And how pretty she'd looked. The weirdest thing, was that she made him want to protect her from the world.  

*****

When Emi woke up the second time, it was much less stressful than before. She opened her eyes, stretched slowly and sat up. She was still in the place with the turtles, but she wasn't strapped to the table. 

Now that she looked around, she realised it was a lab. There were vials of chemicals everywhere and a computer on a desk, where the purple masked turtle was typing. 

The red masked turtle was leaning against the wall. 

The red turtle saw she was awake and started walking over. The purple turtle also noticed she was awake. Emi swung her legs over the side of the table and moved to stand up. 

"I wouldn't do that", the purple turtle warned. Emi ignored him and stood up... for about a second, before she collapsed into the arms of the red turtle, pain shooting up her left leg, from her ankle. She looked up and saw his emerald eyes. He stared back. They would've kept staring had the purple turtle not interrupted, dragging Emi out of his arms and seating her back on the table. 

"I told you not to stand up", the purple turtle scolded. 

"Yeah, and I always listen to mutants who kidnapped me and who may or may not be my enemies", Emi replied, sarcastically. 

"Well, we didn't kidnap you and I can tell you we don't want to be your enemies", the purple turtle countered, seeming to search for something. He finally procured what appeared to be, a pair of crutches. 

"These will help you walk", the purple turtle explained, holding out the crutches for Emi to take. 

"Can't I just fly", Emi asked, eyeing the crutches skeptically. 

"No. For two reasons. One, they're sprained and need some rest time. Two, they'll get tired if you fly everywhere so you need to learn to use these", he explained. 

Satisfied with the reasoning, Emi grabbed the crutches and tried to position them correctly. When she had trouble, the purple turtle showed her how to use them. 

"Now, what's the quickest way out of this place", she asked, having gotten the crutches in the right position. Emi looked around and started hobbling towards the big doors on the other side of the room. 

"You can't go out on your own", the purple turtle protested, catching up with her. The red masked turtle walked alongside them as well but made no move to stop her. 

"Watch me", she retorted, hobbling out into a massive living area. 

There was a pinball machine and other arcade games. The other turtles and the humans were sitting on couches around a TV, eating pizza. They all looked up at her as she hobbled into the room. As she looked at the pizza, Emi realised how hungry she was. 

"I'll take some of that", she said and slid her tail down to pick up a pizza box. She leant on her crutches and picked up a slice. 

"Aww it's cold", she complained. She breathed a plume of fire on the slice and took a bite. "Perfect", she sighed. 

All the while, everyone was staring at her. Emi finished her slice of pizza and set the box down. 

"If you guys are staring at me because of the wings and tail, you should stop", she ordered. "I mean, have you seen some of the mutants out there. There are some way more messed up than me", she finished and picked up another slice of pizza with her tail. 

"I really must insist that you don't leave", the purple turtle said, breaking the silence. 

"And I really must insist that I have to", Emi replied and started hobbling towards some turnstiles that looked like an exit. 

"I wonder who Takeshi is", a voice behind her whispered... very loudly. Emi froze, turning around to see it was the orange masked turtle who had spoken. As she gazed at the group of friends and family before her, her emotions bubbled up and started to spill over. Seeing them all together reminded her of what she'd lost 3 years ago.

"What did you say", Emi asked, her voice menacing.

"Ah, you screamed Takeshi when you woke up and I was just wondering who that was", the orange turtle mumbled, looking at the floor, embarrassed.

Emi was angry, confused and sad all at the same time. She flew at the orange turtle, dropping her crutches in the process and pinned him to the ground.

"Takeshi is one of the only beings on this planet that kept me going for the past 3 years", she screamed, tearing up as she spoke. "No one cared, no one noticed, for 3 years. I had to leave my mum behind, my whole life behind all because of the stupid Kraang and Shredder. The only people who knew what I'd lost was an old, blind, Japanese man and a Japanese Pond turtle". Emi started to choke up but continued on. "So many times I considered suicide because my life was ruined all in one night", Emi admitted, still yelling. 

She glanced around at the others and jealousy filled her mind. 

"You have no idea what it's like", she growled accusingly and pushed the turtle harder on the ground. "You have family to defend you. Friends to protect and comfort you. And me, I've got no one", she screeched and pushed off him into the air. 

She flew through the first doorway she saw and emerged into what seemed to be a kitchen. But, Emi didn't notice any of that. 

She just crawled behind the table that was in the centre, wrapped her wings around herself and let her emotions out, sobs racking her body. She wailed and wailed until no more tears would come.