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Vows / restraints / “don’t move.”
Don squinted at the ceiling for a moment, his brain waking up slowly, processing what he was seeing.
This wasn’t where he was supposed to be.
He sat up, startled by the loss of the comfortable mattress and sheets around him. Whose bed was this? He looked around the massive, elaborately decorated room in growing confusion, eyes settling on the vanity across the room, and the woman sitting there.
Don flinched at the implications of waking up in some stranger’s bed, but then his head cleared more and he realized that she wasn’t a stranger.
The blue-skinned, red-haired alien smirked at him through the mirror, turning to look back at him. “You best hurry and get up. We’ve got places to be.”
Moriah.
Don squinted at her, remembering helping Jhanna fight her when they were camping in the woods. “What the hell do you mean?”
“You need to get ready.” she stood up, wandering over. “Today’s a big day after all.”
“That clarifies nothing.” He backed up off the bed to keep the furniture between them. It seemed to be the best option once he realized he’d been stripped of his gear and weapon. “What do you want?”
She watched him carefully, a malicious glint in her eyes. “Simple, really. I want to show Omatron that Jhanna is not worthy to protect her own, much less lead the planet.”
His confusion was growing from her vague answers. “What’s that got to do with me?”
She pointed at him. “She left you her offering.”
He thought back to the single day of interacting with the two aliens. Jhanna hadn’t left anything but… “her hair?”
Moriah nodded. “She claimed you.”
The phrasing irked Don. “what?”
“You heard me.” she shrugged. “Jhanna made a claim to you by leaving you an offering, the strongest of offerings as her DNA in irrefutable evidence.” she grinned. “But, you were far too easy to grab myself. After choosing you, and leaving you so vulnerable, I have the opportunity to destroy her reputation and reclaim my place on the throne.” she raised her brows. “And you are the key.”
Don gaped at her. “God, you’re so petty.”
Moriah frowned and huffed. “ Anyway , today, her claim on you will be relinquished.”
“You’re all like a pack of wolves. What’re you going to do, pee on me?”
“No!” Moriah snapped. “I’m going to marry you!”
Don blanched for a second, just staring at her in disbelief.
Then he laughed. “What makes you think I’d do that?! I met you one time while camping and helped another woman beat your ass. Besides, you look like you’re a senior citizen.”
Her face grew red in anger. “You’re going to do it because you don’t have a choice.”
“Gonna tie me up with these cheap-ass gold chains you got lying around?” He picked up some of the jewelry scattered around in a desperate attempt to display wealth and snapped the chain apart. “I don’t think that would be very effective.”
She growled, moving around the bed toward him which set off alarms in his head. He took a few steps back from her as she tilted her head. “I won’t need to restrain you unless you decide to misbehave, but you wouldn’t want to do that, would you?”
“You have no idea.” he deadpanned.
She grinned, and it was unsettling. “Would you really risk your brother's safety for that?”
Don paused, watching her cautiously, the threat putting him on high alert. He glared at her. “What did you do?”
She grinned. “Politics can get… messy.”
“So I’ve heard.” he snapped back.
“Your brothers are safe, for now.” she mused. “As long as you behave.”
He narrowed his eyes on her. “Prove it.”
She tilted her head. “Whatever do you mean?”
“Prove it.” he repeated. “For all I know, my brothers are at home, in bed. You’ve got no power over me without proper evidence.”
She hummed. “I guess that is true, very well then, follow me.”
Don’s heart sank when she stepped past him through the door. He very genuinely thought she’d been bluffing, but her retained confidence made him doubtful.
Just what had he gotten himself into this time?
~~~
Don stiffly allowed the attendants to clasp fancy jewelry over him as he stared at the mirror.
Moriah had, in fact, not been bluffing, and his brothers were being held captive by her soldiers.
And now, apparently, he was getting ready for his wedding.
Great .
He looked over as the attendants clipped thin bracelets to his wrists, then moved to attach jewels and beads to his mask tails, never deciding that he had enough sparkles on to light up the moon.
Finally, they backed off, and he crossed his arms, slumping into the chair, watching his reflection in the vanity in front of him. He looked about as miserable as he felt, plus some overly excessive decorative choices.
“The final piece.” one of the attendants got his attention and he suppressed a groan, looking at her and what she was holding.
He paused, blinking, then looked up at her in shock.
“I am not wearing that.”
The attendant shuffled closer with it. “Lady Moriah said you must.”
The unspoken threat was clear, and Don glared at the blindingly white fabric with a sigh. “Fine.”
They helped him get it on, and it fit perfectly… which was unsettling, to say the least. It didn’t have any kind of hoop skirts but was still layered and poofy, trailing down to his shins in delicate folds. The bodice was altered to his plastron rather than a bust and the top of it faded to a thin, transparent lace with an intricate, swirly floral design that trailed down his arms. Despite liking the feel of the skirt, he hated how the sleeves made him look more meager, like prey.
When they were done, they quickly ushered him out of the room and to a large set of double doors.
“Moriah certainly knows how to get to the point.” he mumbled.
The attendant motioned to the doors, then to her face, showing a smile.
Don gave her a scowl.
She motioned again and he suppressed a remark, and put on a strained smile.
“Good.” She stepped past him to open the door.
He walked in, looking around at the large room and gathering of people, likely dethroned nobles that fell out of power along with Moriah. They wanted their status back, so they followed her in hopes of throwing Jhanna down.
All by using him.
It seemed so trivial, but traditional in a way he didn’t know. This was their way, as Jhanna once told him about the combat, and that disputes were settled in fair combat.
Combat which Moriah lost.
And Jhanna said Moriah wasn’t fighting fair.
He was surprised how much of his own wedding traditions seemed to correlate with this alien race’s. The altar, the aisle, the crowd, the officiant, all of the little details that seemed familiar to April's wedding.
Moriah was already at the altar.
Did that make him the bride?
Donny tried not to let his smile drop at the cringeworthy thought. Despite the situation, the ceremony was quite extravagant, and Mikey would likely be disappointed he wasn’t Don’s maid of honor.
Or he would be, had Don told his brothers anything about the situation past the fact that he had it handled.
One of the attendants nudged him forward and he swallowed down the growing feeling of dread (and disgust) and walked down the aisle. He was doing this to keep his brothers safe, he had to remember that.
Maybe she just wants the marriage to happen for show, then we can get an annulment or divorce as soon as possible and she’ll let us go.
Don reached the altar and stepped up to it, locking his eyes onto Moriah, who was smiling smugly back at him. He hoped his eyes showed half the amount of contempt he was feeling at that moment.
The officiant began talking, but much to Donny’s dismay, he spoke in their native language, and Don was unable to understand a single word he was saying. He had no idea how weddings worked on Omatron, and it suddenly struck him that perhaps they did not have the option to annul or divorce.
He stood stiffly through the ceremony, until it came time for vows. Moriah reached out toward his collar and it took everything in him not to bite her. She pressed a finger to one of the jeweled necklaces on him, and then turned and nodded at the officiant.
“Very well.” the man nodded, and Don felt heat rising up his chest. She had placed a translator on him and waited until now to turn it on?
That shifty little fuck .
“Please take each other by the hand.” Moriah reached out, taking Don’s opposite hand. “Moriah, if you would recite your vows.” the officiant said. “And any that you may have to add.”
She gave Don an impish look. “I see you now, Donatello, and hold you, as who you are, to me.” the officiant gave a nod, and Don figured those were the official vows. Then Moriah continued. “I hope our bond will reap exactly what we have sown.”
Donny hated that he was the only one to actually taste the venom in her words.
“Donatello, if you would recite your vows.” the Officiant turned to him.
A lump formed in Don’s throat. He didn’t want to do this. He’d rather walk on hot coals and nails barefooted than marry this crouton.
But Moriah was waiting expectantly, and the tightening of her hand over his pushed further the same threat that had landed him here in the first place.
He took a deep breath, trying to contain his anxiety and looked up at her. In as confident of a voice as he could muster, he said “I see you now, Moriah, and hold you, as who you are, to me. I hope we both receive the life we deserve.”
Her eye twitched, and hand shifted a little tighter, to where the tips of her sharply manicured nails dug into his skin.
“Before we exchange the rings, does anyone attending or residing object to this bonding?” the officiant asked the crowd. Moriah turned to scan them cheekily, knowing that none of them would argue with her. After a moment, the officiant set the book he’d been reading aloud from aside. “Alright then. The bands-”
There was a loud bang against the door in the back of the room, and Don looked over as the whole room was startled.
Then there was another bang, and another, until finally the door was flung open with a crash. “Moriah!”
Don couldn’t help but gasp at a fuming Jhanna that had just kicked down the (apparently locked) metal double doors.
“Jhanna, so glad you could join!” Moriah smiled. “You’re just in time for the bands!”
Jhanna stormed halfway down the aisle, pointing up at the altar. “I object!”
“Under what grounds?” the Officiant asked.
“That an involved party is unwilling and being coerced.” Jhanna stopped where she was, holding her head high in a way that radiated authority despite the room being filled with people desiring to overthrow her.
“And what legal proof do you have of this coercion?”
Jhanna put her hands behind her back, locking her eyes onto Don and giving him a nod. “Why not ask him yourself?”
The Officiant diverted his attention to Donny, raising his brows. “Are you a willing party to this ceremony?”
Don was about to answer when he felt another shift in Moriah’s hand, not digging more but acting as a silent threat.
His brothers.
Don took a deep breath. “I am.”
Jhanna seemed a little offset at his insistence, but pursued further (just as he hoped she would) “well, willing or not, he is not eligible to be wed by Moriah.”
“Explain.” the Officiant implored again.
“He is not eligible to be wed by anyone on this planet,” Jhanna reached up to tug at her cropped hair, “but me. I gave him my token, and he has yet to return it, meaning my claim still stands as long as he has yet to deny my hand.”
Oh, so he just kept an engagement memento all these years, great to know.
“You left that token years ago, dear.” Moriah’s voice was taunting the prime magistrate. “If he hasn’t talked to you since then, then I doubt your token was accepted. I’m sure he already threw it away, right?”
She looked at Don when she said that, and he stiffened more. He had, in fact, kept it. He made sure to preserve it too, for some reason. “Um…”
Moriah growled at that, and the Officiant shushed the raising voices of the crowd. “If Donatello is still in possession of Prime Magistrate Jhanna’s token, then he is unable to complete this ceremony.”
Jhanna smiled confidently and Don breathed a sigh of relief.
But, of course, it wasn’t that easy. Moriah pulled Don’s hand, bringing him closer and in one quick motion, had her arm around his throat and activated the thin bracelets on his wrists (they were apparently restraints???) to keep him still, drawing a glowing red blade to the exposed skin of his chin. “Don’t move!” she shouted.
Don, on instinct, moved to free himself, but she lowered her voice and hissed in his ear. “ Move one muscle and I will activate the button that sends the orders to my men .”
Donny stilled at that with disdain. He had nearly forgotten through the brief victory the limitless power she held over him.
He was essentially at her mercy. He refused to put his brothers in danger. So he locked eyes with Jhanna again where she stood still in the middle of the room, glaring furiously at her enemy. “You never fight fair, Moriah!”
“Oh Jhanna, we’ve been over this!” Moriah took a few steps back, pulling Don with her. “Now, be a good girl and revoke your rights to either him or your throne.”
With Moriah’s plan in mind, Don knew they both ended up with Moriah back on the throne. And either way, she had no rights to him! Neither of them did!
“I will not bend to you!” Jhanna hissed. “Release him! He has nothing to do with our quarrel.”
“Does it not?” Jhanna pressed the knife closer, forcing Don to look up more. “You have to maintain the safety of your own. If I take him, you are proven to be unreliable to your people. If I kill him it bodes the same. You have no power here, and either way I win.”
Jhanna glowered for a moment, contemplating her options, before blinking and putting her hand up to her ear, like she had a comm in the whole time. After a second, she smiled, looking up at Moriah. “Do it.”
Moriah huffed. “What are you doing, girl?!”
Jhanna straightened up. “The jig is up. Donatello’s brothers are being released by my men as we speak.”
Don blinked at that. They were being freed?
That meant that the guards had been taken out, and no harm could be done to them because of him.
Don moved swiftly, reaching up to yank the blade away from his throat and throw Moriah over his shell, much to her surprise. Once out of her grip, he took a few steps back to look at the bracelets. Simple gold chains with a single connector linked to each. “Here’s the thing about Gold, Moriah.”
He twisted his arms, snapping both bracelets off and letting them fall to the ground at his feet.
“It’s never reliable.”
Moriah growled in frustration, leaping for him with the blade drawn. He grabbed her wrist in one hand and the shoulder holding it in the other, spinning her around and tossing her into the closest wall.
Jhanna ran up to him, brandishing her own weapon. “Don’t you dare touch him again, Moriah, or I will-”
Don put a hand on her shoulder and she turned to look at him, confused as he put a hand up to placate her. “I’ve got this.”
Jhanna blinked, then nodded, straightening her posture as she allowed him to walk over to Moriah, who was pulling herself up using the wall. She looked at him with a heated glare, and he nodded. “You were right about one thing. Politics is messy.”
Then he reeled back and punched her straight in the nose.
Her eyes rolled back and she fell to the ground unconscious.
Donnie huffed. “That’s for my brothers.” he reeled back and spat on her. “And that’s for me.”
Then he turned and walked back over to Jhanna, who was gaping at the scene. She blinked at him in surprise, then turned to look at the crowd of Moriah’s followers that had fallen silent to watch the entire scene.
“Anyone else?” Jhanna asked.
No one said a word, so she huffed, raising her head again and turning to Don with a smile.
There seemed to be a few of Moriah’s guards around the room that finally seemed to move after they thought the fight was done, shouting to grab Jhanna and Don.
Jhanna let out a growl, and swiftly scooped Don up. “Not happening!” She took him and ran out of the room and down the halls of the building.
“I can walk you know.” Donny stated, wrapping his arms around her neck instead.
“Yes, but this seemed more suited to the occasion.” Jhanna grinned.
“Yeah, we’re going to have to have a conversation about your traditions and letting people know about them before you enter long-term engagements.” Don huffed, allowing her to find enough fulfillment in carrying him out to her ship. “My brothers?”
“Are already on board.” she said. “Although I hear they put up quite the fuss trying to head directly to you instead.”
“Sounds like them.” he commented as she made her way up the ramp, the bay door closing behind her.
“They are admirable for their loyalty, as are you.” she smiled at him again. “You didn’t give Moria any reason to harm them until you knew they were safe, despite your own life being at stake. That takes immense courage.”
“Or incredible stupidity.” he added.
“Here we are.” she nudged open a door with her foot and brought him into a room.
A room containing all three of his unharmed brothers.
All three of them stared at him, still in Jhanna’s arms, and in a full wedding dress.
After being told only that he had the situation handled.
Raph looked baffled, Mikey looked utterly confused, and Leo was merely shocked.
“Hey Jhanna?” he lowered his voice.
“Yes?” She copied his tone.
“You couldn’t have at least let me change or put me down?”
“I can, now that you’ve seen your brothers, if you wish it.”
She turned and began walking out the door with him and his brothers all stood up quickly. “Hey!”
Don patted her shoulders. “Yeah, it’s too late for that now. Just set me down, please?”
She obliged and he had to pat the dress to make sure it was comfortable as his brothers barreled out of the room and wrapped around him in a big group hug. They all started ranting and fussing, and Raph pulled back, looking Donnie over up and down. “Ya have it handled still?”
“Yes,” Don narrowed his eyes at him. “Have fun being rescued?”
Raph frowned. “Smartass.”
Donny smirked, patting his shoulder. “Happens to the best of us.”
“Why are you in a wedding dress?” Leo asked.
“Yeah, and why weren’t we invited?!” Mikey complained.
“It was RSVP only.” Don patted Mikey’s head. “But don’t worry, I’m not tied down by anyone.” he paused, looking over to Jhanna. “Or at least not by marriage.”
“I had thought our traditions were similar.” she stated.
“We usually use rings, not a bundle of hair locs.”
“Forgive me for trying to make sure my claim was irrefutable.”
Don sighed. “Can you use any word other than claim?”
“Like what? Pact? Contract? Betrothal?”
Leo’s eyes went wide. “You’re engaged?”
“I thought that came before marriage.” Mikey said.
Don put his hands over his face. “Okay, for the last time, I’m not married. I’ve got it handled.”
“And yes, technically we are engaged.” Jhanna replied.
“Again, we are going to have to talk about that.” Donny pointed at her. “At least take a turtle out to dinner first!”
“Would that have been better before or after carrying you out of there?” she teased.
“That’s it, we’re getting a divorce.” he stated, crossing his arms.
“I thought you weren’t married.” Raph smirked.
“I-” Don huffed in lighthearted annoyance. “Can I please just go change now? I’d rather be naked than in this.”
“That can be arranged.” Jhanna gave him a coy look.
All the brothers burst out laughing and Don just held his face in his hands. “That is not what I meant.”
Mikey elbowed him. “Awe, come on Don! It’s your wedding night after all!” they all laughed more, and even Jhanna chuckled some.
She pointed toward an adjacent room. “That’s the bathroom, I’ll send you some robes.”
He sighed, heading toward the door and away from his rambunctious brothers. “Thank you.”
“Oh, and Don?”
He turned to her.
“I’d take you up on that dinner invitation if it’s still on the table.” she turned to walk away, waving. “Setting a course for Earth!”
Don was left there to watch her go for a moment before smiling softly and slipping into the bathroom to wash off the remnants of the day's events.