Times with the Turtles

Sickness on a Rampage

Ruby woke with a soft groan. Pain shot through her neck and down her spine. She grinded her teeth and squeezed her blanket. She had been feeling this pain for at least a week, ever since that ninja injected her. She slowly got to her knees and breathed, the pain slowly subduing.

Amy poked her head in, "Hey, you coming? Your favorite show is on."

"y-yeah.......I'm coming." She nodded.

Amy came back to the tv room where the turtles were watching.

"How is she?" Donny asked.

Amy shook her head, "She's still trying to hide it. It seems to be getting worse."

Raph shook his head, "Why won't she just let us help. She can be so stubborn!"

"Don't worry, she'll tell us when she is ready to" Leo said.

Ruby walked out of her room, a bit stiff. She walked in with a smile, "hey guys." She leaned on the couch, her finger playing with Donny's mask.

"uh, hey Ruby." Donny said, his cheeks going a bit red.

Mikey stood, "Take my seat." which was right next to Donny,

She gladly took it. Amy looked at Mikey with a small frown and he nodded encouragingly. Leo and Raph tried not look at the two, smiles on their faces.

Splinter rang the gong and they all went out to the training room. The rat was standing in the middle of the room, "I see you have been exercising your eyes, " he chuckled, "Well, now it is time to exercise your mind and body. We will begin by preparing with a small meditation to bond the mind and body."

The seven of them all formed a circle around the middle on their knees and closed their eyes.

Ruby's mind was in turmoil. She guessed that they all had already figured out about her pain, but she couldn't bring herself to tell them. She was worried that it would just make their worry worsen. Her thoughts seemed to bounce off the walls of her brain and make dents.

Splinter opened his eyes and frowned, "It seems that one of us is unable to focus." He looked at Ruby. She opened her own eyes, but didn't looked back at Splinter.

The others looked at each other and then at Ruby.

"Is there something wrong Ruby?" Amy asked, "Come on, you can tell us."

" I...........I can't." She shook her head, "I can't do that to you guys......."

"Please, you can't hide it from us." She pleaded, her wings stretching a bit.

Ruby shook her head one more time and stood, walking off into her room and closing the door softly.

"I pushed her too hard didn't I?" Amy frowned. Splinter smiled.

"You were trying to help, that is all. Now, we just need to give her some of the space she needs to work things out for herself." Splinter looked at Ruby's door, "We'll check on her tonight. That will give her plenty of time."

When the moon was just beginning to appear in the sky, Amy couldn't wait any longer.

"I have to go check on her now. She hasn't come out all day and I don't like it." Leo held up his hands and stood in front of her, "Just wait-"

"No!!!! No more waiting, I have waited long enough." She pushed past him and walked up to Ruby's door. She knocked and said, "Ruby? Ruby, are you okay? You haven't come out since this morning."

"Don't come in here!!!!" Her small voice could be heard from beyond the wooden door, "You can't come in!!!!"

"Too bad," Amy pushed open the door and look at her sister with surprise and horror. Ruby's blankets were red and stained. The mat she lay on was drenched with what appeared to be blood and sweat. Ruby herself was worse. He whole body was drenched and her hair was also stained red. Her tail matched and was curled up on the floor. Her face was twisted in pain and had tear trails through the red color. The big thing that stood out......was her back. Her shirt was torn. It was covered in boils the size of baseballs. It was red and bleeding from the boils that inhabited it.

"I told you......not to come in here......" she said through clenched teeth.

"What's going on?" Donny came into view and he gave a small gasp, "Ruby, are you......what happened?"

"A foot clan member........He injected me with something in the neck.......It didn't seem to matter..... until my back started to hurt and......I would wake up in the middle of the night to find it bleeding." She suppressed a small scream as pain traveled down her spine, "I thought it would pass, but It just got worse."

"Go and get master Splinter." Donny told Amy. She nodded and ran off to find the rat.

Ruby breathe shook as she began to speak, "Donatello.........are you......angry?" She said it in a whisper, but it seemed to fill the room. Donny looked at her with a hint of fire.

"Of course I am! Why didn't you tell me?!" He fixed his glasses, as he did whenever he was nervous.

"I.........I just didn't want t-to.........worry you." her bottom lip quivered, "I......I just........I just........" She began to cry softly, "I just wanted to protect you from all the pain you would have felt."

"This isn't any better!" Donny retorted. He sighed, calming down a bit, "We could've stopped this before in the early stages." Splinter came in with a look of alarm.

"Oh dear, this is not good." He knelt down next to her, facing her back.

"What exactly is this?" Raph asked, peering in with Leo and Mikey.

"This is an infection near the spine in the neck. It slows the blood flow and makes the back begin to swell. The boils are where all the extra fluids escape to. If we don't stop this, her brain will lose the connection it needs and she'll........" Splinter gently touched one and Ruby screamed, her tears running down her cheeks.

"We have to empty the fluids from the boils and put antibiotics in her bloodstream to kill the infection."

"How do you know all of this?" Amy asked, not taking her eyes off of her sister.

"I have seen this before and I have seen many people die from it. It is not a pretty one, or a peaceful one either."

Ruby groaned softly and breathed out the words, "Do it......Do it now. I.....I don't want to......to die."

A few minutes later, her room was a bit crowded. A few tools were laid out next to Splinter and antibiotics in a bottle of blood sat next to a syringe. Amy, Leo, Mikey, and Raph were sitting on the couch in the other room, waiting. Donny sat on the other side of Ruby while she lay on her back, squeezing her pillow.

"okay, Donny, if this is too much for you to bear, you can leave at any time." Splinter said. In his hand was a scalpel. Amy had gone and gotten anything they needed at the many nearby stores. Ruby nodded in agreement.

"Alright......." He swallowed and took Ruby's hand. She seemed to relax a bit.

"I'm ready." She said quietly. She bit her bottom lip and squeezed her eyes shut.

"I'm going to count to three. One.....Two......Three." On three, Splinter began to quickly, but gently, puncture the boils. There was no delay, she instantly began to scream. Her hands shook, but she didn't move. All her pain left her mouth through sound. Donny squeezed her hand. Splinter muttered things that could only be heard by him.

The last boil drained and Ruby was silent. She lay on the mat, motionless, but breathing. Her eyes were closed and she cried violently.

"It's all done.......The pain is gone." Splinter said softly as he took the bottle and syringe with his red hands and filled the syringe. He injected her in the vein in her neck. She didn't even notice. Donny took one of the small rags and began to dab her back gently, to clean it.

"That was pretty brave of you......." He said.

Ruby sniffed, "I don't think I'm going to be brave for a while......"

Donny laughed and Ruby joined in.