Work Text:
Title: Tears are Normal
Day: Whumpuary 2023 Day 7: Manhandling/Tied-up/Tears
Word Count: 1591
Author: aquietwritingcorner/realitybreakgirl
Rating: T
Characters: April O’Neil, Raphael, Leonardo, Donatello, Michelangelo
Warning: NA
Summary: April is rescued by the guys after being kidnapped. But this is a new experience for her, and a somewhat terrifying one. Fortunately, her strange family understands tears of relief.
Notes: I know that April was not shown to be a crier. However, we usually saw her in the midst of a situation or in a short-term situation where it was either over quickly or there was no time to deal with emotions then. You can’t tell me that in a longer-term situation or after a situation was over there weren’t some tears shed.
Tears are Normal
April was thrown from side to side and jostled as she was manhandled away from the situation. She couldn’t see what was going on, on account of the blindfold. She couldn’t say anything because of the gag. And she couldn’t help in anyway because of her bound arms and legs. The only thing she could do was cry, and that wasn’t helpful at all.
She cried anyway.
It was hard to tell what was going on. She knew that they were running, and that there was obviously no time to spare. If there was, she wouldn’t have been treated so roughly. She could feel new bruises being formed, old bruises being worsened, and injuries being outright ignored. She got some “Sorry, April!”s tossed her way from time to time, but on the whole, she could tell that the manhandling she was receiving was entirely justified, even if it was uncomfortable.
Suddenly the sound of the footsteps changed, and she understood that whoever was carrying her had entered into a vehicle—hopefully the Battleshell. She felt it dip as more weight was in it, and then someone yelling at Mikey to drive. The Battleshell jolted forward, but the person, the turtle, carrying her kept his footing.
“Are they following us?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Keep driving! We need to get as far away as possible.”
“Here—sit her here.”
“Oh shell—she’s cryin’!”
“What?”
“Hang on a second, April, we’ll have ya free from all of this.”
She could already feel someone working on cutting through the bonds on her feet, and someone else was untying the blindfold from her eyes. She blinked as it was taken away, looking into the concerned eyes of Raphael.
“Ape? Ya good?” Raph asked her.
He was already working on removing the gag from her mouth, and the other person—Leo—was cutting through the ties on her hands. As soon as they were free, she threw her arms around Raph, clinging to him and just crying.
She felt him hesitate a moment, and then his arms came up, one across her back, the other gently cupping her head to his shoulder. “Hey—it’s okay. Yer safe now. We’ve got ya,” he said gently.
The words—the safety in them—undid her, and she stayed like that against him, shaking and shuddering as she tried to calm down. He didn’t rush her, just let her cry out what she needed too. She could have stayed like that for a while, but with a few minutes she felt a hand on her shoulder, and Leo’s calm, even voice sounded near her.
“April? I’ve got you some water. Can you drink a little of this and let us look you over? It’s important that we see how injured you are.”
April pulled back, shakily letting go of Raph and nodding. “S-Sorry,” she said. “I…” She trailed off, not sure what she was trying to say.
It was okay, though, because Leo’s eyes softened with sympathy while Raph gave her a very gentle squeeze.
“It’s okay, April,” Raph said. “We get it.”
April nodded, and took the water from Leo, letting the pair of brothers guide her to a better place to sit than the floor they had ended up in.
“Do any places hurt more than others?” Leo asked her.
“Um…” she had to take a moment to think. “My side. And my leg. My shoulder.” She gestured to each one as she spoke, and immediately the brothers took to checking them out. She hesitated a moment. “I… Casey. Is Casey alright?”
Raph nodded. “Yeah, he’ll be alright. Took a real beatin’ and had to go to the hospital, but he’s gonna be fine. Just gotta take a little time to heal up.”
April nearly slid out of her seat in relief. “I’m so glad,” she said. “They—when they—I thought he was dead and they—” she teared up again.
“It’s okay, April,” Leo said. “This had to be terrifying.” He finished tending a rather large gash on her leg, and then turned his attention to her ribs. “Go ahead and cry if you need to. Believe me, we get it.”
There was a trace of dark humor in his voice, and April let out a watery laugh. It didn’t last long, though, before it was turning to tears again, and she was curling up, drawing her knees up to herself, crying.
“They said—they wanted revenge,” she said. “They—they were gonna—they said they killed Casey! And—and they—they were—I was bait and—and they were gonna get you too, and—they tried to get me to tell them where you were. But I—I wouldn’t and then they—”
She let out a sob, and almost immediately she felt herself being enveloped by a set of arms that was quickly followed by another.
“…Did they give you these bruises?” Leo asked quietly.
April nodded. “A couple of them… they tried to beat answers out of me. But I didn’t—I would never—oh I was so scared! I thought they would kill me and you too! I—”
She buried herself in their embrace, letting them just hold her. This had been the most terrifying experience of her life. Days on end of not knowing what was going to happen to her next, of not knowing if Casey was alive or dead, not knowing if her family was alive or dead or injured, not knowing if she was about to die or be beaten or what.
She shook in their embrace, and curled in tighter, even if it made her ribs hurt more. “Can I stay with you guys tonight?” she asked in a small voice.
“As long as you don’t need the hospital, yes,” Leonardo said. “But we need to finish looking you over first before we can tell that.”
There was a soft padding of feet, and April looked up from her arms and her little cocoon of family to see Don. “I’ve already called Angel,” Don said. “She’ll meet us just before the hospital and take you in, April. She’ll also keep us informed.” He knelt in front of her, and the other brothers loosened up on her a little bit. “We’ve got a cover story ready for you. Are you ready to hear it?”
He was being so patient with her. They all were. April sniffed, but she nodded, and Don smiled at her.
“Your cover story will be that you were kidnapped, Casey tried to defend you, and you never knew why. A group of vigilantes rescued you, but you never saw their faces. You gave them a friend’s number, Angel’s, and she met you to take you on to the hospital. You can make some guesses that this had to do with the Purple Dragons and some conflicts Casey’s gotten into with them before, but you don’t know for sure.” He smiled at her. “Got that?”
April nodded. “I-I was kidnapped and thought they killed Casey. I never knew why they targeted me. Some vigilantes rescued me and called Angel. I never saw their faces.”
Don nodded at her, with that soft smile again. “Right. You’ve got it.”
April nodded, and just closed her eyes, leaning on whoever was the closest. The adrenalin was starting fade, and exhaustion was setting in. She repeated the cover story to herself, honestly not sure how long she stayed like that, but safe in the knowledge that there was always someone who was holding her, giving her comfort, even when someone else was doing their best to look her over. She phased out of the conversation, not sure she was in a place to handle thinking right now, and let herself drift.
Eventually the Battleshell pulled to a stop, and she opened her eyes.
“Alrighty, we’re here. Angel should be here in a moment,” Mikey said. He left the driver’s seat and came back towards April. “How’re we doing, Big Sis?”
He opened his arms to hug her, and April reached out to return in, leaning into his kind grip. “I’m okay,” she said, her voice a little hoarse.
“Nah,” he said, but there was his ever-present optimism in his voice. “You’re upset, and that’s okay. But you’ll be fine. Tears are normal, ya know.”
April squeezed him harder and cried a little more.
In short order, Angel was knocking on the door of the Battleshell, and being let in. She looked more than a little concerned for April, and April began to wonder just how bad she looked. But Angel didn’t say anything, just pursed her lips and reassured the guys that she’d take care of April and bring her to the lair the moment she was released.
April really didn’t want to leave the safety of the Battleshell, but a glance back showed her Leo and Raph exiting too, and heading for the rooftops. Don was in the driver’s seat of the Battleshell this time, and he and Mikey were letting it idle, but she had no doubt that they would be patrolling the streets until Angel got her inside.
Leaning heavily on Angel and limping along, April made her way towards the hospital. She had been tied up, manhandled, and cried more in a few hours than she had in years. Logically she knew it was the relief and the stress that made her cry so much. She’d probably be embarrassed about it later. But for now she was grateful for friends—no, family—that understood.