Sequel: Angel's Child ›
Golden Angel
Chapter 32
Artemis and Mizu were training again, trying to find their centers on some yard-high bamboo poles.
The water followed their movements, keeping in time with the pace the two were setting.
Leo and Raph had headed out on a run, and the gold-banded turtle was troubled by the brooding behavior of her love.
When they’d come back, the blue-banded turtle had headed to the TVs, and started watching the news.
The strange behavior seemed to set Artemis off-balance emotionally, and Mizu thought it best to end the training before the turtle fell off.
Grateful, the kunoichi had immediately gone to snuggle up with her boyfriend on the couch.
She didn’t get to doze, the news was too sad to allow her mind to stay at ease, and she buried her face behind his arm to hide from it.
Leo seemed to be tensing more and more as he changed the channel, but he seemed to put it aside for a moment when he felt her almost shake under some of this new knowledge.
Her very nature was to take things personally, good or bad, and to mirror some other strong emotions around her.
If she stayed with Raph for too long, she was known to become more snappish and quick-tempered, with Donnie, more quiet and calm.
With Mikey…
Sugar-highs, video games, jokes, and laughs were normally involved…
Along with explosions…
Guilt, sadness, and such things always troubled her, though she normally tried to hide it around her youngest brothers.
They still had this sense that nothing could stop her, and that only seemed right when she was truly angry enough to destroy the enemy.
Soothing her a bit, and putting an arm around her shoulders as her slowly rubbed circles into her skin.
Slowly coming out of hiding, Artemis nuzzled his skin in order to try and comfort him.
Finally shutting off the TV, Leo sighed.
“Love?”
Crimson eyes looked up at him worriedly.
“Are you okay?”
He didn’t say anything for a moment, and stood up, heading for a target.
“Leo?”
He unsheathed his katana, and jumped in, skewering the wood.
He missed the bulls-eye, and she sat up straighter.
Pulling it out with a frustrated sound, he stopped when he saw Splinter standing there.
“You are troubled, my son?”
“I…I’m confused, Master Splinter…I guess I just hoped everything would change when we got rid of the Shredder…you know, for the better. But it seems like everything just got WORSE.”
Artemis couldn’t argue with that…
“Are ya outta yer green gourd? We did the city a favor!” Raph argued.
“Did we? Did we REALLY? Raph, don’t you see what’s going on up there?”
The gold-banded turtle noted that the others had come to listen in, and sighed, standing, as Mitsukai seemed to become restless.
“The city’s at WAR. Don’t you feel just a LITTLE bit responsible?”
“No. It’s not our deal!”
“It IS! Even if we didn’t mean to make things worse, we did! Don’t ask me to explain, but…It feels like it’s all our fault!”
“Leo, love…” Artemis soothed, stepping forward carefully.
“I kinda know what he means.” Mikey admitted.
“Nobody asked ya, Mikey.”
“Raph!” She reprimanded.
“Leonardo…if one shoulders the weight of the world, all one will accomplish is to be crushed under the world’s weight.” Splinter said wisely.
“I don’t understand, sensei. We set out to do something good, but it turned out bad. The truth is, we started it. How can we just walk away?”
“…I do not wish to discuss this, Leonardo…You must listen to me, and let this go. It is too dangerous for to get involved in this war up there. For now, you must do nothing.”
“…I’m sorry, master. But I can’t do nothing!”
The blue-banded turtle headed for the door, and Artemis took a step towards him.
“Leo…”
“…I’m sorry, love…”
“Leo-!”
“I’m sorry.”
The door closed behind him, and she closed her eyes.
‘He’s running away from me…Closing himself off…’
She felt that strange pain in her heart.
‘It hurts…’
“My daughter, he will not shut you out forever.” Splinter counseled.
‘But I wouldn’t be out in the cold if it wasn’t for this stupid idiocy going on up there…’
“Stupid war.” She spat in a hurt voice before running to her room.
Mizu looked worriedly after her ‘sister’, and sighed.
“…What’s got ‘er shell in a knot?”
“This war can’t be troubling her THAT bad…” Mikey agreed.
“It is not the war itself that troubles her, but what it is doing to Leonardo.” The elderly rat answered sagely before walking off to his room.
Mitsukai fidgeted, restless, and roared in sympathy.
Something broke against a wall, and the four teenagers shared a glance.
“As initiation, I say Mizu goes in to calm Artie down!”
SMACK!!!
“OW!!! DONNIE…”
“Are you crazy?!”
“No…I just don’t want to die…”
“Shell-for-brains…”
Mizu looked at the closed door, and heard the choked crying sounds, even if the turtle’s didn’t…
‘I wonder if Leo realizes how much he’s hurting her…’
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Her heart tightened when she spotted him, katana drawn, ready to attack what was left of the Foot clan…
She bolted towards him, wrapping her arms around his shell from behind.
“Leo…don’t…”
“JEEZE…Anybody would think you weren’t happy to see us…” Mikey joked when the blue-banded turtle jumped.
Mizu had hidden behind Don when there was a threat of katana swinging…
“What are you guys doing here?”
Artemis backed up, feeling as if he didn’t want her there.
“Making sure you don’t get yourself into something you CAN’T get out of on your own.” Don answered.
“We’re like the cavalry! …Without the horses.”
SMACK!!!
“OW!!! ARTIE…”
“We shouldn’t be ‘ere, Leo…This ain’t our war.”
Foot ninja came up onto the roof, and Mizu brought out some water as four of the turtle’s drew their weapons and the other slid into an Airbending stance.
They were soon surrounded, and Artemis sized up the competition.
“Uh…Looks like it’s our war now…” Mikey noted.
The black-clad ninja charged, and the crimson-eyed turtle sent a large gust of wind to knock some of them back.
Mizu brought the water into a river-like movement, and it struck them away in waves like a snake.
Everyone seemed to be holding their own rather well, knocking the Foot soldiers around.
When Mikey was kicked down through the hole in the roof, Artemis jumped down, catching his wrist and using Airbending to soften the fall.
“Mikey! Princess!”
Raph tackled some ninja down, and got up to make sure they were alright.
“Mikey? You okay?”
“I’m okay, Artie…But I think I’m airsick…”
“Ha-Ha-Ha…VERY funny…”
SMACK!!!
“OW!!! ARTIE…”
More ninja were down there, though…
“…Why do I follow you two? It always leads to trouble…”
“Come on, princess. Ya know ya love trouble.”
“Not the trouble YOU run into…”
“You love ME, right?”
“…So, Foot ninja, you say?”
“HEY…”
Water came down inside like a waterfall, softly depositing Mizu on the floor as Leo and Don jumped down to join their siblings.
Jumping into action again, they were at a stalemate thanks to the large numbers.
“Wait…A Bo staff, and a crowd of guys that all look the same? Time to try one of my favorite movie stunts!”
Mizu was in the middle of a circle of rushing water, tentacles flying out with the snap at the ninja that tried to cut their way through.
However, when Don’s move ended with him on his face, she used the liquid to knock the ninja away before crouching beside him.
Smiling in amusement, she giggled.
“Maybe you shouldn’t try that again…”
“I agree with that…”
Artemis hurricane-kicked at least five ninja onto their faces.
The others were tiring, getting ganged-up on by the many ninja…
Air turned to blades, whistling as they flew to cut open black-clad bodies and knock them away.
The ninja seemed to be avoiding the two bender’s altogether, though that didn’t always save them, but all six were soon surrounded by the many enemies.
“I don’t mean to complain, but there are an awful lot of these guys!”
“GEE, you just noticed?”
A wall was blasted open, and a red light swept the building as a strange frog-like machine hopped in.
“MIZU…”
Both bringing the large amount of water to their hands, they readied themselves for an attack.
The others jumped to relative safety, Mikey grinning.
“COOL…”
Yellow lasers were fired, and the two girls moved the water to deflect it away from where the other turtle’s were.
“Not cool-NOT COOL!”
The red light focused on Artemis’s momentarily exposed shoulder, and fired.
Crying out as her skin was burned, the gold-banded turtle fell back, the water disturbed as some control left it.
Mizu brought the water to her ‘sisters’ defense, finding it harder to move it enough to protect them all.
Leo jumped at the robot, stabbing his katana through the red ‘eye’.
It sparked as the blue-banded turtle jumped back, and the shots became wild, unfocused, and frenzied.
Mizu was being forced back, and pulled Artemis behind some concrete so she could heal the burn.
The blasts seemed to make the building structurally unstable, and it began to come down around the group of teenagers.
Artemis brought up her hands as the glow started over her skin, eyes closed.
‘I can’t let them die!’
The building fell in on itself with a crash…
The water followed their movements, keeping in time with the pace the two were setting.
Leo and Raph had headed out on a run, and the gold-banded turtle was troubled by the brooding behavior of her love.
When they’d come back, the blue-banded turtle had headed to the TVs, and started watching the news.
The strange behavior seemed to set Artemis off-balance emotionally, and Mizu thought it best to end the training before the turtle fell off.
Grateful, the kunoichi had immediately gone to snuggle up with her boyfriend on the couch.
She didn’t get to doze, the news was too sad to allow her mind to stay at ease, and she buried her face behind his arm to hide from it.
Leo seemed to be tensing more and more as he changed the channel, but he seemed to put it aside for a moment when he felt her almost shake under some of this new knowledge.
Her very nature was to take things personally, good or bad, and to mirror some other strong emotions around her.
If she stayed with Raph for too long, she was known to become more snappish and quick-tempered, with Donnie, more quiet and calm.
With Mikey…
Sugar-highs, video games, jokes, and laughs were normally involved…
Along with explosions…
Guilt, sadness, and such things always troubled her, though she normally tried to hide it around her youngest brothers.
They still had this sense that nothing could stop her, and that only seemed right when she was truly angry enough to destroy the enemy.
Soothing her a bit, and putting an arm around her shoulders as her slowly rubbed circles into her skin.
Slowly coming out of hiding, Artemis nuzzled his skin in order to try and comfort him.
Finally shutting off the TV, Leo sighed.
“Love?”
Crimson eyes looked up at him worriedly.
“Are you okay?”
He didn’t say anything for a moment, and stood up, heading for a target.
“Leo?”
He unsheathed his katana, and jumped in, skewering the wood.
He missed the bulls-eye, and she sat up straighter.
Pulling it out with a frustrated sound, he stopped when he saw Splinter standing there.
“You are troubled, my son?”
“I…I’m confused, Master Splinter…I guess I just hoped everything would change when we got rid of the Shredder…you know, for the better. But it seems like everything just got WORSE.”
Artemis couldn’t argue with that…
“Are ya outta yer green gourd? We did the city a favor!” Raph argued.
“Did we? Did we REALLY? Raph, don’t you see what’s going on up there?”
The gold-banded turtle noted that the others had come to listen in, and sighed, standing, as Mitsukai seemed to become restless.
“The city’s at WAR. Don’t you feel just a LITTLE bit responsible?”
“No. It’s not our deal!”
“It IS! Even if we didn’t mean to make things worse, we did! Don’t ask me to explain, but…It feels like it’s all our fault!”
“Leo, love…” Artemis soothed, stepping forward carefully.
“I kinda know what he means.” Mikey admitted.
“Nobody asked ya, Mikey.”
“Raph!” She reprimanded.
“Leonardo…if one shoulders the weight of the world, all one will accomplish is to be crushed under the world’s weight.” Splinter said wisely.
“I don’t understand, sensei. We set out to do something good, but it turned out bad. The truth is, we started it. How can we just walk away?”
“…I do not wish to discuss this, Leonardo…You must listen to me, and let this go. It is too dangerous for to get involved in this war up there. For now, you must do nothing.”
“…I’m sorry, master. But I can’t do nothing!”
The blue-banded turtle headed for the door, and Artemis took a step towards him.
“Leo…”
“…I’m sorry, love…”
“Leo-!”
“I’m sorry.”
The door closed behind him, and she closed her eyes.
‘He’s running away from me…Closing himself off…’
She felt that strange pain in her heart.
‘It hurts…’
“My daughter, he will not shut you out forever.” Splinter counseled.
‘But I wouldn’t be out in the cold if it wasn’t for this stupid idiocy going on up there…’
“Stupid war.” She spat in a hurt voice before running to her room.
Mizu looked worriedly after her ‘sister’, and sighed.
“…What’s got ‘er shell in a knot?”
“This war can’t be troubling her THAT bad…” Mikey agreed.
“It is not the war itself that troubles her, but what it is doing to Leonardo.” The elderly rat answered sagely before walking off to his room.
Mitsukai fidgeted, restless, and roared in sympathy.
Something broke against a wall, and the four teenagers shared a glance.
“As initiation, I say Mizu goes in to calm Artie down!”
SMACK!!!
“OW!!! DONNIE…”
“Are you crazy?!”
“No…I just don’t want to die…”
“Shell-for-brains…”
Mizu looked at the closed door, and heard the choked crying sounds, even if the turtle’s didn’t…
‘I wonder if Leo realizes how much he’s hurting her…’
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Her heart tightened when she spotted him, katana drawn, ready to attack what was left of the Foot clan…
She bolted towards him, wrapping her arms around his shell from behind.
“Leo…don’t…”
“JEEZE…Anybody would think you weren’t happy to see us…” Mikey joked when the blue-banded turtle jumped.
Mizu had hidden behind Don when there was a threat of katana swinging…
“What are you guys doing here?”
Artemis backed up, feeling as if he didn’t want her there.
“Making sure you don’t get yourself into something you CAN’T get out of on your own.” Don answered.
“We’re like the cavalry! …Without the horses.”
SMACK!!!
“OW!!! ARTIE…”
“We shouldn’t be ‘ere, Leo…This ain’t our war.”
Foot ninja came up onto the roof, and Mizu brought out some water as four of the turtle’s drew their weapons and the other slid into an Airbending stance.
They were soon surrounded, and Artemis sized up the competition.
“Uh…Looks like it’s our war now…” Mikey noted.
The black-clad ninja charged, and the crimson-eyed turtle sent a large gust of wind to knock some of them back.
Mizu brought the water into a river-like movement, and it struck them away in waves like a snake.
Everyone seemed to be holding their own rather well, knocking the Foot soldiers around.
When Mikey was kicked down through the hole in the roof, Artemis jumped down, catching his wrist and using Airbending to soften the fall.
“Mikey! Princess!”
Raph tackled some ninja down, and got up to make sure they were alright.
“Mikey? You okay?”
“I’m okay, Artie…But I think I’m airsick…”
“Ha-Ha-Ha…VERY funny…”
SMACK!!!
“OW!!! ARTIE…”
More ninja were down there, though…
“…Why do I follow you two? It always leads to trouble…”
“Come on, princess. Ya know ya love trouble.”
“Not the trouble YOU run into…”
“You love ME, right?”
“…So, Foot ninja, you say?”
“HEY…”
Water came down inside like a waterfall, softly depositing Mizu on the floor as Leo and Don jumped down to join their siblings.
Jumping into action again, they were at a stalemate thanks to the large numbers.
“Wait…A Bo staff, and a crowd of guys that all look the same? Time to try one of my favorite movie stunts!”
Mizu was in the middle of a circle of rushing water, tentacles flying out with the snap at the ninja that tried to cut their way through.
However, when Don’s move ended with him on his face, she used the liquid to knock the ninja away before crouching beside him.
Smiling in amusement, she giggled.
“Maybe you shouldn’t try that again…”
“I agree with that…”
Artemis hurricane-kicked at least five ninja onto their faces.
The others were tiring, getting ganged-up on by the many ninja…
Air turned to blades, whistling as they flew to cut open black-clad bodies and knock them away.
The ninja seemed to be avoiding the two bender’s altogether, though that didn’t always save them, but all six were soon surrounded by the many enemies.
“I don’t mean to complain, but there are an awful lot of these guys!”
“GEE, you just noticed?”
A wall was blasted open, and a red light swept the building as a strange frog-like machine hopped in.
“MIZU…”
Both bringing the large amount of water to their hands, they readied themselves for an attack.
The others jumped to relative safety, Mikey grinning.
“COOL…”
Yellow lasers were fired, and the two girls moved the water to deflect it away from where the other turtle’s were.
“Not cool-NOT COOL!”
The red light focused on Artemis’s momentarily exposed shoulder, and fired.
Crying out as her skin was burned, the gold-banded turtle fell back, the water disturbed as some control left it.
Mizu brought the water to her ‘sisters’ defense, finding it harder to move it enough to protect them all.
Leo jumped at the robot, stabbing his katana through the red ‘eye’.
It sparked as the blue-banded turtle jumped back, and the shots became wild, unfocused, and frenzied.
Mizu was being forced back, and pulled Artemis behind some concrete so she could heal the burn.
The blasts seemed to make the building structurally unstable, and it began to come down around the group of teenagers.
Artemis brought up her hands as the glow started over her skin, eyes closed.
‘I can’t let them die!’
The building fell in on itself with a crash…