April kneels over Master Splinter's unconscious body, shaking his shoulder. "Come on, Master Splinter. Come on!" she pleads.
Splinter's eyes snap open and he hisses as he bats the redhead aside. He gets to his feet and bares his teeth.
"I got this, Red," Casey says, moving April behind him.
He whips out his baseball bat. Splinter lunges, knocking Casey aside far too easily, and pins April to the wall, snapping at her savagely as she flails and evades his sharp teeth.
"Aah! Master Splinter!" she screams. She steels her nerve and wrenches her arms forward, grabbing his face in her hands and focusing on him. "Look."
He goes still as his mind is overrun with memories. He sees the turtles, Destiny, April, and Casey. He feels hugs, hears laughter, sees tears, smiles, shared sorrows, hard times, good times, Karai. A final image of Tang Shen's soft smile and baby Miwa fills his head and he softens. Splinter slowly touches April's hand, his furry face peaceful, and she trembles. She opens her eyes as he pulls away from her.
She hesitates. "Master Splinter?"
He stands up to his full height, his russet eyes full of warmth again. She smiles as Casey rejoins her and the rat nods to both of them. Nearby, the crab roars. Splinter's ear flicks and he turns around, observing the battle for hardly a second before he attacks the crustacean mutants. First, he takes out the shrimp with a few quick kicks, sending it flying to its doom in a rotating fan. Donatello breathes a sigh of relief.
Leonardo lets out a sharp gasp as his last katana goes sailing into a vat of mutagen. He spins around, eyes wide as he faces the lobster mutant, weaponless. As the lobster closes in, Master Splinter appears and kicks it aside. He spins, kicks, punches, and leaps with such agility and grace that the lobster doesn't stand a chance. It too is thrown into the fan.
The last, the crab mutant, uses its four arms to try and yank Raphael apart limb from limb. Splinter's foot hits it square in the chest, making it drop Raphael with a roar. It turns on the new opponent without a second thought, throwing punches, all four fists flying, but Splinter dodges each one. The crab throws a final punch and Splinter grabs its fist, kicking its knee in and disabling it. He swings it over by the neck and smashes it into the ground, then grips its shell and sends it flying into the same fan that its companions fell into.
Splinter stares down at the fan, chest heaving, and the turtles gather in a scattered group behind him.
"Father?" Raphael whispers.
"Sensei," Leonardo confirms.
Splinter turns to them with a smile and extends his arms. "My sons."
They waste no time in racing forwards and embracing him tightly.
"You're back," Michelangelo says.
"I...I can't believe it," Donatello whispers.
"How I have missed you, my sons," Splinter says, love burning in every part of his being. "And the rest of my family," he adds as he looks up at Casey and April.
"Just please don't try and eat my face anymore," Casey comments.
"Sensei, we've got so much to tell you," Leonardo says, unable to stop smiling. "Destiny came back and—" He trails off, his face falling. "Destiny," he repeats.
YOU ARE READING
Forest Mutation (Book Two)
Fanfiction"In Saskatchewan, when I couldn't fall asleep, I'd watch the moon and think about how across the country and over the border, you were probably out on a rooftop beneath the same moon. You were the first person I enjoyed the moon with. Every other ti...
