Wandering Sickness
Chapter 2: Lost World

A/N: Here's chapter 2. Hope you like it.

Disclaimer: Only own my characters.

She took a step back to admire her handy work. It was a week before Halloween and Angel had finally finished stringing the front porch with Halloween decorations. Her breath puffed up into her view and she rubbed her ice cold hands together.

A heavy jacket was draped over her shoulders, reeking of alcohol and cigarette smoke. “Why don’t ya have somethin’ heavier on?”

“Sorry, Casey,” Angel said, slipping her arms through the too long sleeves she loved and holding the jacket closed. She turned and faced the man as she stated, “It wasn’t that cold when I had started.”

“We had heard that you were in Stage Two,” a woman said, walking up behind the man.

“No Stage Two will stop me,” Angel smiled proudly.

The man laughed and the woman chuckled. The woman brushed a lock of red hair out of her face as she walked over to Angel.

She pulled Angel into a hug and kissed her forehead. “Good to see you again, Annie.”

“You too, April,” Angel said, nuzzling April’s arm. She pulled back and opened the door. “Zen and Jenna are making dinner tonight. I think it’s pork chops.”

“Glad it ain’t mac and cheese,” Casey chuckled.

“Casey.”

“What?”

Angel looked at the roof of the opposite building. Frowning, she closed the door.

“Hey April, can you tell Antonio I’ll be there in a bit? I have to do something real quick.”

“Sure thing, Annie.”

Angel walked past the two adults to her room. She clicked her door closed behind her and looked around her room. The black out curtains fluttered in front of her only window. She threw back the curtains and instantly looked to the sky. Sighing, she closed her window and pulled the curtains tot. Turning, she glanced at her bed. She stopped and took a second look. A piece of paper lied on her pillow and Angel knew she hadn’t placed it there. Walking over and picking it up, she opened the single fold paper.

Meet me on the roof at nine. Bundle up.

Angel frowned again, not finding any name. She bit her bottom lip and looked at her clock: 4:59 PM. Angel opened her pocket watch and watched the second hand. 3...2...1...DONG!

He knew that Master Splinter would kill him but he needed to see her. April had told him that the girl on the second floor, 3rd room in from the front was just like Leo. Maybe she knew more about this illness. Info that could help Leo and Don.

The wind wrapped its icy grip around her. She shivered and pulled her had down farther over her ears. Stifling the need to yawn, the wind seeped through her scarf.

“Sorry, thought it wouldn’t be this cold.”

Angel whipped around just as someone wrapped something around her. She found her face in a coated chest, warm and gentle. She realized that the figure’s arms were wrapped around her and she relaxed as the warmth from the figure’s body calmed her shivers.

“You’re so warm.”

“So you were cold.”

Angel chuckled with the figure. From the figure’s voice, Angel guessed the figure was a guy, and from the flat chest. She shifted and looked up, meeting eyes hidden in the shadow made from the hood, beanie, and scarf. Suddenly, the guy’s arms shifted and she found herself spinning to the roof and heard metal meet metal.

“Get to your room!” the guy hollered as the sound of wood and skull meeting echoed in Angel’s head.

Angel scrambled to meet the order but hands gripped her coat and pulled her back. Angel screamed and instantly the hands released her. Angel took the chance and ran, the sound of footfall behind her making her run harder. She was near the fire escape when an arm was wrapped around her waist and she was yanked to a halt. Angel screamed but the scream didn’t get far as a gloved hand covered her mouth.

“Calm down,” a voice hissed. “Your safe. I’ve got you.”

Tears streamed down Angel’s face as she clung to the guy from before. A gently hand ran down her back and she found herself dowsing off from the heat and the soothing movement. The movement suddenly stopped and Angel felt a hand press her head gently against the guy’s chest.

“I’ll carry you to your room if you don’t mind,” his sweet voice whispered in her ear.

Angel shook her head against the guy’s chest and the gentle pressure moved from her head to the back of her thigh. She gripped the guy’s coat as her feet left the pavement. Butterflies entered her gut as the sensation of flying/falling filler her body, though all she could see, and wanted to see, is the cloth covering his chest. She wobbled slightly when he stood her and she tried to calm her raving heart, knowing she would be fighting to breathe if she didn’t.

The guy grabbed her wrist as she nearly lost it. “Are you OK?”

She looked at his now ungloved hand around her wrist. Crimson glistened against blue green skin of the guy’s hand and some, warm and sticky, slid onto her hand and wrist. “What happened to your hand? Are you OK?”

Instantly, the guy released her and hid his hand. Angel grabbed the still bundled guy and forced him into her desk chair. She pulled his hand from hiding in his sleeve and she looked it over. The wound the blood was coming from wasn’t on his hand and her eyes skimmed the arm the hand was attached to. She saw the wound on his upper arm and realized that the wound there was only part of a larger one.

“Take your clothes off.” Angel hurried to her bathroom as her heart began to pound in her ears. “Come in here when you’re done.”

Water gushed out of the tub faucet and Angel checked the water temperature as she gasped for breath. Knowing she couldn’t keep up this pace, she removed the first aid kit from its shelf and opened it on the toilet seat cover.

She turned off the water and faced the person standing in her bathroom doorway. She walked over to him and met his eyes. Blue eyes framed in orange were slightly glazed over with pain. Angel reached up and began undoing the knot that held the orange bandanna in place, her gaze locked with his. The orange cloth fluttered to the floor and dark circles showed themselves. Angel ran her hand gently down his bloody plastron to the cloth belt tied around his waist. She began undoing the knot and he moved his hands to his side. Chains rattled against wood as he pulled something out of his belt but Angel didn’t see what. The metal and wood landed on the carpet as the cloth belt floated to the floor. She gently gripped his wrists and led him to the tub. She smiled and stepped aside.

“I’ll be right back,” Angel said as water began lapping at the guy’s ankles and the wall of the tub. “I need to get a rag and some more bandage.”

“OK.”

Angel slipped out of the bathroom and her room. Not even a foot from her door, her body went ridged and she slammed into the wall before she hit the floor. Shaking, pain shot through her body and her world went black.

Mike hadn’t even been all the way in when the scream rang out. Instantly, he was out of the water, running to the door of the bedroom. He could hear footfall from the stairs and the bedrooms when he wrenched the bedroom door open. Not caring if anyone saw him, he had to do something before ––––

Raph’s eyes snapped open, the sensation of someone rubbing his head gone. He raised his head and looked at the one in the bed.

“Sorry. Did I wake you?”

Gentle brown eyes watched him as a simple smile cracked a few flakes of dried blood. “You had stopped.”

“Oh. Sorry. This book was on the night stand and I wanted to read it.”

Raph read the cover. Shakespeare’s Completed Works and he met his brother’s gaze.

“Do you like it?”

The smile widened and the gentle brown eyes grew with glee. A simple nod made Raph want to laugh out loud but he held it back.

“I can continue rubbing your head, if you want.”

“You don’t have to.”

“OK.”

Raph placed his head on his crossed arms and a few minutes later, he was being soothed asleep by the gentle, repetitive rubbing Leo did to his head.

Dom smiled as he watched Leo continuously run his hand over Raph’s head. Leo didn’t even look up when Don had entered, concentrating solely on his hand movement over Raph’s head. He didn’t even respond when Don began changing his bandages but when he reached over to change the hand that was stroking Raph’s head, a fierce grip that made Don wince held his wrist but instantly loosened.

“No,” Leo said. “I keep doing this so he can sleep. If I stop, he wakes up.”

“Sorry.”

Don looked away from his lover, fear holding him tight in its grip. Within the second he looked away, his wrist was released and his cheek was cupped. The hand cupping his cheek made him look at Leo. He was a bit surprised when Leo pressed his beak against his but he relaxed.

Leo pulled away, reluctantly, and Don met his gaze. “Sorry, did I do something bad?”

“No. You did a good thing.”

Leo broke the gaze he held with Don. “But I grabbed your wrist and–”

Don placed a single finger over Leo’s lips, silencing him. “It’s fine. You did nothing wrong.”

Leo smiled and Don kissed his cheek. He whispered, “Love you, Leo.”

“Love you, Donnie.”

Pain. Nothing but pain. Why? Is there something we missed in the analysis? What did we miss? Is this…I think it is.

Angel didn’t dare move. Her limbs felt like blocks of cements and her head was pounding. She opened her eyes and tried to focus her gaze. She tried not to gag.

The room was crimson and brown with black here and there. The only color other than the red, black, and brown was her torn blue jeans and her shredded green shirt. Dull silver crusted with blood clung to her forearms and shins, keeping her bound to the bed she was on. Angel shifted ever so slightly and her spine burst into flames. Angel let out a scream of pain and the door burst open, covering her in a flood of light.

“Zen, she’s awake!”

Angel blinked back the tears that came from the bright light. The sound of metal against metal drew her attention to her left arm, her eyes quickly adjusting. Orange, blue green, yellow, and brown began to separate into separate items and by the time Angel could see, she was free of the chains and a large, three fingered hand rubbed her cheek.

“Are you OK?”

Angel met familiar blue eyes framed in orange. She tried to cup his face but his free hand gently gripped his wrist.

“Until we get you cleaned up, don’t move. We don’t need you bleeding like crazy when we move you.”

Angel smiled and her gaze ventured over his body. His upper arm was wrapped and his shoulder and chest was as well. Angel met his eyes again and asked, “How bad was it?”

“What, these? I’ve had worse.” His eyes glistened with mischief. “You have a very patient little brother.”

Angel’s eyes widened slightly. “You know who I am, then?”

“Yep. You’re Angel and you have a little brother named Antonio. I’m Michelangelo.”

“Michelangelo.”

“You can call me Mike if you want.”

“I–”

“How ya doing Angel?”

Both Angel and Mike looked at the door. Zen was standing in the doorway with Jenna, Casey, and a very pale April.

“OK, I guess. What happened?” Jenna went pale and Zen lost most of his color. Casey gripped April’s arms as she swayed. Angel glanced at Mike who was avoiding her gaze. “What… what did I do?”

A/N: I liked it better when we could use those hack mark thingies (-). I used them to separate and to distinguishes between days, dreams, and places. Now I can't.