Moonlight Mutation (A TMNT Fanfic)

Chapter 38: Make It Stop

It's only getting worse. Destiny can feel it. The more she tries to ignore it, the more it inches its way into her mind. A darkness is spreading and she can't stop it.

The lair is having a movie night with April and Casey, watching a fantasy movie with lots of epic battles and heroes. Destiny is the only one who's not entirely enraptured by the film, opting for keeping her head in Leonardo's lap, eyes closed in an attempt to focus her energy on dealing with her growing headache. His fingers comb through her curls in slow, soothing motions, distracting her in a mild sense of the word.

"How'd this one piece become black?" he asks in a low whisper as the TV displays a dragon blasting a cluster of village houses to smithereens.

Destiny looks up at him as she puckers her lips, glancing at the hair in question as he twists and fiddles with it. "I've had it for as long as I can remember," she says. "I guess it happened when I was mutated."

He smiles, nodding thoughtfully as he continues twisting the strands around one another as if he's trying to braid it. Destiny's eyelids slide shut and she begins to fiddle with her bandaged fingers as the boys in the room cheer for an event going on in the movie. She smiles a little as April's laughter reaches her ears.

Everything is so peaceful. Destiny wishes that this moment would freeze so that she could enjoy it for a little while longer.

"It can't stay like this. Y'know that."

She nearly bolts upright at the sound of his voice, but instead goes completely rigid as her eyes snap open. Leonardo's hands freeze against her hair.

"What's wrong?" he asks.

She blinks a few times before exhaling. "N-Nothing, nothing," she stammers. "I just, uh...thought I heard something."

He arches an eye-ridge but doesn't push it further. She tilts her head towards the TV, unable to return to her previous relaxation. The dragon in the movie is gone, Destiny assumes that it's dead, and now the villagers are celebrating the victory.

Michelangelo is joining in on their excitement, cramming pizza into his mouth at an astonishing rate while pumping his fists. Raphael, less amused, tells his enigmatic brother to shut up so that he can hear the dialogue. Casey and Donatello discuss the special effects: Donatello with the more technical side, Casey with a more "dude, that was sick" viewpoint that serves to amuse April and Splinter, both of whom are sitting nearby and occasionally listening in on the conversation.

Destiny makes a groaning sound in the back of her throat and rolls onto her side, letting out a yawn as she cuddles closer to Leonardo's arm.

"Tired?" he murmurs, the edge of a laugh in his tone.

"A little," she mumbles, wiggling her nose as she inhales deeply. "My head still hurts."

"Sleep should help. I'll take you to bed."

He shifts in place, but instead of standing and leaving Destiny to get up on her own, he scoops her into his arms. She makes no noise of protest out of sheer exhaustion, wrapping her arms around his neck and leaning her head against his shoulder as he starts to walk away.

"Am I a princess now?" she asks.

He laughs, kissing one of her ears as the vibrations of the sound purr through his skin. "Only if you want," he says, shifting her in his grip.

Her tail gives a sleepy wag. "Mm...maybe an Amazonian princess, like the warrior kind."

"Oo, I can see that happening."

He nudges open the door to her room, taking only a few strides to reach her unmade bed. He sets her down on the mattress, where she swiftly tugs the blanket over her and nestles into the pillow.

"You get really weird when you're tired, you know that?" he asks as he reaches down to brush her hair from her face.

She shrugs, opening her eyes so that she can look up at him. "The headache doesn't help me think straight either, you know that?" she retorts, a small smirk lifting her lips.

He rolls his eyes. "Get some sleep, Des, you need it," he says, leaning down to kiss her forehead. "I love—"

If his words were a speeding vehicle, he'd have just slammed on the brakes so hard the tires squeal. Destiny blinks a few times, squinting up at him.

"Huh?"

"I love sleep. Sleep is good," he says, clearing his throat as he scoots towards the door. "Goodnight!"

He leaves, shutting the door behind him and blanketing the room in a sudden silence. Destiny frowns, hugging the pillow to her head as her wolf ears flatten against her hair. She exhales heavily, shutting her eyes as she pushes back any sense of disappointment and tries to sleep.

A scream pierces the air and Destiny jolts awake. She clambers from her bed, searching blindly for the door in the pitch blackness of the room. She locates the handle and shoves it open, stumbling out into the hallway just as another scream comes from the direction of the living room.

Destiny's heart starts to pound as she runs—to the best of her ability—towards it, but a hand grasps her shoulder and stops her in her tracks. She turns to see Diaval looking back at her, his face grave as ever.

"Too late. You can't save 'em," he says.

Her eyes narrow and she shoves his hand away before she keeps going. It doesn't take long to reach the living room, but the second she's entered, she wishes she could turn around.

Shredder stands in the middle of the TV pit, back turned to her and armour slightly illuminated by the static buzzing of the television set. His tekkō-kagi are wet, a steady dripping sound coming from them as the liquid collects in a puddle on the floor. Scattered around his feet are the turtles and Splinter. Not one of them moves, even to breathe, and April and Casey are nowhere to be seen.

Destiny's knees go weak and she collapses, starting to shake as a hand flies to her mouth. "No...n-no...how? The lair...you c-couldn't..."

"They're gone," Diaval murmurs, kneeling by her side. She forces herself not to look at him. "You're alone again." Destiny hunches her shoulders, tears starting to roll down her cheeks, yet Diaval doesn't lower his stare. "Come, you won't be alone for long."

"I...I..."

Shredder turns, his cold eyes latching on the wolf mutant. He nods to Diaval before leaving the lair, sheathing his blades as he goes. Only then does Destiny stand and stumble over to the corpses, searching their blank, horrorstruck faces—for what, she doesn't know.

She stops and sinks to her knees before Leonardo, the light in his eyes snuffed out and his shell cracked. She buries her face in her hands, trying to breathe properly again.

"Destiny?" Diaval asks, his cloak sweeping over Michelangelo and Raphael's bodies as he passes them. "Please, you can't stay."

She shakes her head, inaudible mumbles leaving her mouth in trickling streams. Diaval skirts around her, his cloak covering Leonardo's blank face as he holds his hand out to her.

She lifts her face to him, her head starting to pound even more as the seconds pass, and through her tears she grabs his hand. There's one more splitting pain that rockets through her cranium before everything dissolves into blackness.