And Then There Were Five

Chapter 7: Decisions, Decisions

The song for this chapter is Fragile Bird by City and Colour

(Silvana's POV)

"There, that should do it," Donatello said as he wrapped the last square of gauze around the base of my left wing.

"Thank you, Donnie," I gave him a weak smile. It turned out that a couple secondary flight feathers had been mangled and ripped, and the pink fleshy skin underneath the feathers was severely scraped. But I wasn't about to complain; I'd been through way worse.

"If you don't mind me asking, do you know what caused this?" he asked, his tone careful.

"Umm. . .it was nothing major, I just must have scraped it on something," I said, my voice wavering slightly. The truth was, I knew exactly how it happened. Raph had forced me into the ground so roughly that it had really torn up my wing. The skin was really sensitive under those feathers, but I never showed any pain while he was tearing the skin. 

Donnie saw right through my lame lie, and cut to the chase, "Silvana, you can tell me. Was it when Raph took you down?" he sighed.

"It's really not that bad, he didn't do any major damage!" I protested.

"You must be joking! He damaged multiple flight feathers, that are necessary for flight! It took me nearly an hour just to get the bleeding to stop!" he exclaimed. 

"Please, please don't tell him I told you. I don't want him any more mad at me than he already is! I'm just planning on leaving right after this any ways," I pleaded with intelligent turtle.

"Silvana, you don't understand. You won't be able to fly for the next week, at the least!" Donnie explained, while rubbing his temples. His patience was starting to slip, but I didn't care at the moment. All that was on my mind was I was stuck on the ground for a whole week! "And didn't you say you were still in hiding from Shredder? I think your best option - at least for the next little while - is to lay low and stay down here with us," Donnie added when I didn't respond.

"I. . .I don't want to intrude. . ." I stammered.

"Oh please, you're just worried about Raph coming for you in your sleep," he laughed.

"Actually Donnie, it's not funny. I am really worried about that," he stared blankly at me, shocked, "That's why I would really appreciate it if you didn't tell Raph that you're in here wasting your time on me because of him. He'll kill me," she swallowed nervously.

"Silvana, Raph can be a bit of a hot head and a jerk sometimes, but he's my brother, and I know he'd never do anything like that to you, trust me," he tried to reassure me, "And I will protect you from him no matter what, okay?" he added, looking me right in the eyes.

"So you won't tell him?" I asked.

"You have my word," Donatello said, placing his palm over his heart.

"Thank you, Donnie," I breathed. He just smiled at me reassuringly.

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(Leonardo's POV)

I leaned closer to the crack in the door to Donatello's lab. In full stealth mode, I pressed my back up against the wall and strained my ears. I could make out fairly clearly what the two were saying.

". . .If you don't mind me asking, do you know what caused this?" I heard my intelligent brother ask Silvana.

"Umm. . .it was nothing major, I just must have scraped it on something," she replied, but sounded unsure of herself. Of course, Donnie was too smart to buy it.