The Girl From Another World ( TMNT 2007 Universe )

Chapter 44 - Gone Girl

Raphael

I was uneasy. The whole ride to Tesh's lair, I sat next to Jazmin, holding her hand in mine. I kept sneaking glances at her and couldn't help but notice the look of determination on her face. It was so intense that it scared me.

I didn't have any doubts about our team, that wasn't what made my stomach turn. Save for the rebels, I completely trusted my brothers and our friends. But Jazmin wasn't acting like herself. She seemed extremely driven towards a goal but it wasn't the goal that I thought we shared. I was almost certain she had an alternative to my counter argument to her plan.

I really hoped it wasn't that she would go off alone but I had a feeling it was.

She reminded me of myself after I got into a fight with my brothers. I often went off by myself, most likely to beat up some no good street thugs, until I came to my senses and realized I'd overreacted. Although I'd never admit it to anybody, I was highly emotional and very sensitive.

And so was Jazmin.

I got that she'd been through a lot. Shell, she'd been through more than I had. Losing everything and then finding out that you hadn't really lost everything but the fate of worlds was on your shoulders couldn't be easy, in fact I knew it wasn't. But I was afraid that all this pressure would make her do reckless things. Actually, I was terrified.

I was well aware that this could all end badly. There was a good chance that we could all die and Tesh would win. But that wasn't my biggest fear. Selfish as it sounded, my biggest fear wasn't even close to that.

I was terrified of losing her, the love of my life.

It was all I could think about as the rebel SUV drove over the dry ground towards what felt like our death. She wouldn't look at me no matter how many times I squeezed her hand. She just stared straight ahead as if focused on something. I knew she was but I wanted it to be me. I wanted her to look into my eyes and tell me that she trusted us and wouldn't make any moves by herself. But she didn't do that.

So I tried something different. "Jaz?" I raised her hand to my lips and placed a gentle kiss on the top of her hand, still keeping it tightly secured in mine. "Are you okay?"

She didn't look at me when she replied. "Yes. I'm fine."

"You don't like fine." I leaned over and kissed her cheek.

Her face changed so slightly I thought I imagined it. And she met my gaze. "I'm fine, Red. Really."

Her nose brushed mine from how close we were. "You just look like you're about ready to kill somebody."

"I am." She looked down to the contact we had and kissed me, the gesture being more demanding than I'd expected. I quickly reacted and kissed her back, whimpering slightly when she pulled back. "Tesh is going to die tonight."

I reached a hand up and cupped her cheek, giving her the most intense look I could manage. Even her kiss felt like she was planning something. "We're doing this together right?"

She didn't waste any time in answering me. "Right."

But I didn't fully believe her.

"Alright everybody. Keep your eyes open for anything out of the ordinary." Leo ordered as he sped up and we began to circle the lit up structure that was Tesh's lair. The plan was to circle it a few times before making any moves.

Jazmin pulled away from me and turned her gaze to the window, her brilliant green eyes looking for any threats. This part was ironic to me since everything about what we were about to do was dangerous. But it was the plan so we would follow it.