The Last Turtle Yokai

Chapter 6

It had been a couple hours since Master Splinter banned them all from the med bay and the family was now on their third movie in an effort to keep busy.

Leo slipped away under the guise of taking a nap in his room. Which to be fair, was his overall plan. He just needed to make a stop on the way there.

The red-eared slider silently crept into the med bay. He tip-toed across the room to a cabinet, opened it, and pulled out a bottle of ibuprofen, moving slowly to remain silent.

"You don't keep meds in your room?" Maria's voice startled him.

"You're supposed to be resting." Leo straightened up and turned toward her.

"And you're supposed to be banned."

"Touché. I ran out." He gave the bottle a little shake.

"Leg still bothering you?"

"How-?"

"You favour it. It's subtle. You might not even know you're doing it. The way you walk... how you lean on things but it's always on the same side." She tilted her head.

"You haven't seen me lean on anything since you got here."

"I've watched Big Mama's city surveillance records. I know you were out of commission for a while after what happened last year. Then when you started showing up again, your brothers obviously coddled you in fights. They don't anymore. I'm guessing they don't know you're still in pain. You've adjusted to compensate. You don't land with that leg anymore."

"Either you have a scary good memory or you've watched us a lot. And I don't think I like the implications of either." Leo stepped closer, face becoming hard and stern.

Maria shrugged. "You try knowing you are and will be the last ever true turtle yokai. Once I learned y'all were out there, I lived vicariously through any footage I could scrounge together. You guys were lucky Big Mama doesn't care about New York beyond monetary gain. To be safe, I did scrub all knowledge of your family from the records for as long as I could. She didn't know about y'all until that day you destroyed her lobby."

"Wait, back up. Why will you be the last turtle yokai?"

"Well, Mama was never gonna give up an asset like me any time soon. Even if I was free from her, I'm ace. I'm not interested in having kids. And I'm not delusional about my dating prospects given a lack of interest in being sexually active."

Leo didn't say anything for a moment, obviously feeling a little awkward from the response. "So you've been looking out for us this whole time? Why?"

She looked away from him, then down at her lap. "I guess... when you see someone have what you've mourned and missed out on... you want to preserve it for them as long as you can. Like how parents are supposed to want better for their children than they got. You're turtles who still have your family. I don't. I didn't want you to loose what you have."

"Oh." Leo's voice was small and reflective in the wake of that answer.

"Anyway... you seem to be the medic of your group." She diverted.

"Yeah..?"

"I'm assuming you're curious about the Elixir of Recovery?"

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't think about taking a peak at it, assuming you were asleep." Leo rubbed the back of his head with a slightly embarrassed look.

"Bring it here." She patted a spot beside her on the bed with their uninjured left hand.

He did as he was told, pulling the bottle from her bag then going to sit on the edge of the bed. Passing it to her, he set his pill bottle on the side table.

"Dosage is finicky. The more you use, the faster you'll heal, sure. But it's gonna hurt more. Like packing months of varying levels of pain into just a number of hours. 'Part of why I can't sleep right now." She tipped the bottle in her hand, looking at the side. "Each drop cuts down the recovery time. I used three to heal within the week because it's the dose I usually use for injuries this severe. I've had time and opportunity to practice perfecting my dosing."

"Fascinating..."

"For lingering problems a year or more after injury, it only takes a drop to fix things and be pain free. Instantly. Learned that when I made my first batch. I was forced to heal naturally that time leading up to it. A plate in my shell stayed broken and the pieces would hit each other when I moved. Plus I think there were a couple shards floating around."

"Wow."

She uncapped the bottle and squeezed the dropper bulb to fill the tube. Setting the bottle part on the side table, she sat up as straight as she could, wincing against the pain and lifting off the pillows.

"Tilt your head back."

"What?"

"Trust me. Just do it."

Her broken free hand gently touched his jawline and she raised the dropper in front of his face.

"Open."

"But-"

"Let me help you." she encouraged in a softer tone.

He conceded, tilting his head back and opening his mouth. She let a single drop fall onto his tongue then pulled away, putting the lid back on the bottle and laying back down.

"It tastes sweet... and salty somehow? Did you trick me? Have I just been poisoned?"

Maria rolled her eyes. "No. Stand up."

Leo did as she said. There was no pain. The persistent sore he had worked so hard to ignore and secretly medicate had disappeared. He was putting full pressure on both feet again. He did a little boxing shuffle back and forth, testing.

"That's... amazing! Why? Why would you do this for me?"

"Call it thanks for not letting me bleed to death. Plus... I like you. I heard about what you did to defeat the Kraang. You deserve it."

"Thank you."

She shrugged, "No problem."

"I mean it."

"So do I."

"Soooo are you a touchy person? Can I hug you?" Leo spread his arms.

"Ask me again tomorrow. My ribs are way too fucked up for that right now."

"Right. Right." Leo nodded, instead patting her on the head. "Now you should legit try and sleep. My bros are boiling with questions to ask you."

"And you should get out of here before you're caught breaking the rules." She raised an eyebrow with a smirk.

"Ya got me." He shrugged and started heading out.

"Wait!"

"Yeah?"

"Put your pill bottle back. I don't wanna look like I went through the cabinets for meds."

"Fair."