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You stare at your hands, hard. They are covered by dirty, mucky bandages that needed to have been changed yesterday, but your fingers are all still in-tact and functioning, thank God.
"Must have been a rough week, 'ay?" Your new ally comments, leaning her tall and slender frame against the doorway draped in colorful beads. Her winged arms are crossed and her slanted eyes have an amused twinkle to them. Despite not knowing her for more than thirty minutes, you feel like you're safe here. For now.
You let out a sigh, clenching your fists. You don't respond with words; instead, you allow your exhausted face to do all the talking. The bat chuckles. "Yeah, figured. Why don'tcha hold tight while I get you something to drink?"
She leaves before you can answer. You don't think you had the energy to reply even if you wanted to.
In the next room over, you hear Donatello speaking in hushed whispers with the human male that stumbled upon your bodies just outside of this run-down motel. You can't hear what is being spoken, which you are somewhat grateful for; you felt a migraine coming on, and trying to process anything more than a few sentences hurt. You allow your eyes to close for a moment, taking in the faint musky scent of the small and admittedly-cozy apartment. Your heart aches. You miss home.
"Here," A soft voice has your eyelids snapping open, meeting those of a mystic, purple hue. Why did they have to be purple?
"Thanks," Your voice comes out scratchy, and the bat chuckles as you clear your throat, taking the water glass into your hands.
"No problem, toots," She hums, taking the fuzzy seat adjacent to yours. "Y'know, when Jesse brought you all back here, I was not expecting to see you of all people show up at my door." You stiffen, barely having sipped the drink. The yokai seems to notice this, shaking her head quickly. "No, no, hun - believe me, if I wanted you out of here, you would be. I just wasn't expecting... you."
"And what do you mean by that?" You ask, a bit defensively. A snort is your response.
"Well, toots, you've become quite the public figure down here," She muses. "Not many humans make it in the mystic city. Jesse's a rare case, too." You frown.
"Why'd he even end up here?" You end up barking out, not meaning to sound so gruff. The bat only seems to laugh, finding you funny.
"Accident, I suppose," She shrugs. "But, I wouldn't have been able to meet him if not for it... so maybe fate?"
Your head tilts, puzzled. Before you can further ask what she means, both Donatello and the man - Jesse - step into the room. You make eye contact with Donatello but quickly avert your gaze, focusing instead on your water. The feeling of his stare lingers all but two seconds before you hear him sigh, muttering something about finding a piece of technology to "get the hell out of here" and the sound of his feet carrying him to the entrance. When you look back to Bri, your words die in your throat upon watching Jesse plant a kiss on her lips, feeling your cheeks flush heavily.
"So, what were you ladies discussing in here?" Asks the human, draping himself over the back of his lover's chair. Thankfully, Bri answers for you.
"Just about how you got here," She answers nonchalantly, leaning into him. "How many years ago now, babe? Five?"
Jesse shrugs. "I've lost count. You tend to do that when you live in a place with no natural sunlight," He chuckles.
You feel weirdly out of place. This whole situation feels weirdly out of place. Humans and yokais ending up in romantic relationships was not unheard of, but you had never actually seen one so explicitly displaying affection like this before. And with what happened between you and Donnie...
The grip on your glass tightens.
"Hey," Bri asks, sensing your discomfort. "Everything okay?"
"I need to use your bathroom," You abruptly blurt out, not meeting either of their gazes. Jesse is kind enough to motion towards his left, telling you exactly where it is. You mutter your thanks, setting your glass aside before fleeing from the two.
After closing the door and locking it, you steel yourself by gripping the counter, breathing hard. Your eyes meet your reflection in the mirror, finding a bruised complexion and disheveled hair monstrously staring back at you. Only, for a moment, you imagine dark, lucid eyes of a very familiar turtle leering into your own, holding you in a vice that was both exhilarating and petrifying. You shake your head, immediately shoving the thought out of your mind. Get a grip, Naels.
You spend the next few minutes collecting yourself, splashing water across your face and taking deep breaths to calm yourself down. You can't fall for a mutant, let alone one of the turtles. There were so many things wrong with the idea that you were certain you could write a book on it, the main reason being this: Donatello was the enemy - is the enemy. The next opportunity that he had to run back to Draxum and his brothers to either turn you and the rest of human-kind into mutants or create an entire species of failed experiments - or to simply kill you - Donatello would take it. That's just how he was made: to destroy. And that's what you had to prevent.
But wouldn't he have done it already? A voice reasons in the back of your mind, making you falter. Donatello could have killed you at any given moment... but what about his survival in the arena? Did it not depend on you living?
You grip your head in your hands, coming back to square one and feeling somehow more drained than before. You just needed to find a way to escape. That's all.
Without giving yourself more time to overthink anything else, you exit the bathroom, walking straight into Donatello's plastron. You are so caught off guard that you stumble, and Donatello's hands shoot out to catch you, but hover near your arms instead for fear of upsetting you.
"Are you okay?" He's quick to rush out, eyes studying you from head to toe frantically. You will yourself not to seize up under the heat of his stare, finding your heart twisting oddly and throat tightening painfully.
"Fine," You choke, cheeks burning. Why couldn't you focus? "Just... tired, from this whole situation." Donatello sighs, hands lowering.
"I understand," He murmurs, voice surprisingly soft and laced with compassion - a stark difference from the usual snark and venom that his words carried. No, no no, why can't he just go back to being evil? "How is your head? You suffered from some pretty substantial brain trauma during our escape." Subconsciously, you reach up to your bandaged temple, face twitching at the dull ache underneath your fingertips.
"Hurts," You answer honestly. Strangely, you feel the weight in your chest drop. "Nothing that will keep me down, though." Surprisingly, Donatello chuckles. Even more surprisingly, you find yourself smiling at the sound of it.
"I would expect nothing less from you," He says fondly, and you will yourself not to look past the meaning of those words.
"...Donnie?" You find yourself asking before you can stop yourself, gaze cast downwards. Donatello goes rigid at the use of his name, heart hammering and mind doing backflips. His fingers twitch at his sides. "Are you going... back to Draxum?" You whisper, finally looking into his eyes. The unspoken question is there: are you still going to try to turn me into a mutant?
Donatello stammers, unintelligible for once. "I... don't know," He finally settles on, gaze cast over with worry and doubt. You squeeze your hands by your sides. You knew it. "I don't want to," He quickly says, looking as if he regretted the words once they're out of him. "But, I... where would I go? My brothers need me. I'm not- I can't-"
"I understand," You mutter bitterly, drawing into yourself. Donatello looks like he wants to reach out for you, but stops himself again. "We'll just go back to being enemies. I try to kill you, you try to kill me. Right?" Tears prick your eyes. Get it together, Naels!
"Naels..."
"Don't say my name," You snarl, eyes electric with rage and betrayal. Donatello flinches, but he's quick to frown, standing straight.
"We can come up with a solution," He tries to reason. You bristle. "Draxum wants this war to end. We just need a viable panacea-"
"What if you're the problem?!" You snap, driving him back again. "Draxum wants to kill humans. Is that what you want? Do you want to kill humans? Kill more humans? Kill me?"
"NO!" Donatello booms, catching you by surprise. "God, no! I want anything but that!" He chokes up, on the verge of tears. The amount of emotion dumbfounds you, and somehow makes you angrier.
"Then what do you want?!" You're screaming at this point, but you don't care. You want answers.
And it comes in the form of a kiss. A Donatello's-hands-on-your-shoulders, pulling-you-in kiss. It's painful, unchoreographed, and yet full of passion, like a child riding a bike for the first time. You're far too caught up in your feelings to register what is happening before you finally pull away with a gasp, hand covering your mouth as if you've just said something you shouldn't have. Donatello looks no better - he's clearly shocked himself.
"Why...?" You ask, barely audible. Donatello stares back like he's seen a ghost.
"I...I don't know."
You take a few deep breaths to calm down just as Donnie flexes his fingers to rid of the charged up nerves this conversation has brought. Your lips tingle where his were just moments ago, and that's where your gaze ends up going. Donatello begins to apologize, but you mutter something that he can't quite make out.
"What?" He asks, puzzled. You lower your hand from your face.
"...Try again," Are the words that leave you feeling more vulnerable and exposed than if you were to go out into the desolated streets of New York without any weapons. These same words hit Donatello like an invisible tidal wave, causing his knees to weaken. With the way his eyes dart down to your mouth, he's clearly thought about doing this for a long time. He's wanted this. The thought makes you shiver. But, he pauses.
"Are you sure?" He whispers. Every fiber of his being is on fire just as yours are doing kickflips, and somewhere in your mind you just know kissing him is the only cure for stopping what's to come.
You nod, and that's all it takes for Donnie's lips to come crashing into yours once more.