Are You Sure I'm Not A Villain?

44

TW: blood, seizure, scars, death mentions

Hamato Yoshi had not come out of the dojo in days. Training was done elsewhere, led by Leonardo, as the rat occupied the dojo for his healing of Kai. It had been about six weeks since Kai had died, but his body had not yet started to decompose. Perhaps it was the snake DNA that was running through his veins, or perhaps it was the Healing Hands. But his body had not yet started to heal, either. Splinter worked fervently, missing meals and sleep as he tried everything in his power to heal Kai. He wanted to tell his sons that it couldn't be done, but he was so sure that it would.

The turtles were worried that their father was overtaxing himself, but Master Splinter would not rest. He cared too much. If only he had been there at the fight with Shredder... this would have never happened. There was nobody he could blame for this but himself and Shredder.

"Master Splinter?" Leo asked.

"Yes, my son?" Splinter asked. His eyes were still closed tight and he was sitting on the ground above Kai's head. Splinter had his hands pressed on Kai's forehead, his hair pushed out of his face. The shadows from the great tree that they were under played on Kai's face, making him look almost otherworldly.

It was unnerving seeing Kai. He was still dead. There was a dead boy in the lair for six weeks now. Nobody talked about how weird it was just to even think about it, but everyone understood what the others were thinking. The funny thing was, Kai didn't even look dead. If you discount the jagged cut going across his neck, but we don't talk about that. He just kind of laid there, unmoving. He looked like he was in a very deep sleep.

Maybe everything that Splinter was doing was actually helping him.

Leonardo walked into the dojo, his brothers and April following him quietly. Splinter must have sensed this because he opened his eyes and stopped chanting. "All of you?"

"Yes," Leonardo said. "We are worried about you, sensei."

"What have I done to cause you all this worry?" Splinter asked, genuinely confused.

"You are always here, in the dojo," Leo said.

"You never come out for meals and you barely get any sleep," April added.

"We just don't want you overtaxing yourself on... on a lost cause," Donnie finished.

"Lost cause?" Splinter asked. He gestured to Kai's body lying peacefully on the floor. "Do you believe that this boy is a lost cause? Helping your friend is a lost cause?"

"Sensei," Donnie tried again. "It's been one and a half months. He hasn't woken up. We don't believe he will wake up. Casey doesn't believe he will wake up. I'm not even sure you believe he is going to wake up."

"We know that this is important to you," April said. "But please, just take a break."

"We worry about you," Mikey said. Raphael nodded behind him agreeing.

Maybe it was just to appease his sons, but Splinter listened, leaving Kai to Donnie. The purple turtle lifted the small boy in his arms to carry him off to the lab. Splinter's ears fell back against his head as he looked on with a deep sadness. He sighed, turning back to his sons.

"Very well then," he said in resignation.

They walked out of the dojo, closing the door behind them. Donatello carried the boy in his arms to his lab. He tried not to think about the boy in his arms being dead, but the thought kept prickling the back of his mind. The turtle suppressed a shiver.

Donnie walked through the metal doors of his lab and walked over to a cot that was set up in the corner. He laid Kai's body on the cot. The others had thought that Kai would already be awake, or Splinter would have already given up, so they set up a cot for him to use knowing full well that he could never return to his home. He only wished that it wasn't in his lab.