Casey leans against the doors to Donatello and Sarina's laboratory, watching the two intelligent mutants examine the last vial of inanimation mutagen. Leonardo and Destiny lay on the couch in the living room, sleeping quite soundly in each other's arms. Michelangelo and Raphael are also rejuvenating themselves with naps, leaving Annalise to do her Chemistry homework in complete silence with Master Splinter in the dojo.
"Yo Nerdatello, Flash," he calls, sauntering in. "Still trying to decide what to do with that mutagen?"
Both mutants sigh heavily, Donnie's russet eyes falling on Casey first.
"Yes, in fact, we are," he says in a rather haughty tone.
"It's difficult to decide. We could create a sort of weapon against the shadow beasts or some sort of power source-" Sarina lists.
"I've got an idea," Casey suggests, smacking his hand on the table as his eyes narrow. "Make a retro-mutagen for Zilla!"
Donnie arches an eye-ridge. "A retro-mutagen? That would-"
"She has a family that misses her. If she can go back to being human, it'll solve everything!" the teen continues. "I don't want her to have to live like this anymore!"
"It's impossible, Casey," Sarina murmurs.
"Especially considering how long it took for me to find a retro-mutagen for normal mutagen," Donnie adds. "It would take months at best, and we only have this one batch! We ruin it and-"
"You guys are geniuses!" Casey shouts, wincing a bit as he rolls his shoulder. "Shadow's done so much for us, can't we do this one thing for her?"
Sarina gets to her feet, moving towards her taller friend with a sad look in her electronic eyes. "We can't. There's too many factors that make your idea more and more impossible. There's the amount of inanimation mutagen we have, the fact that this kind is simply the Necromancer's recreation of the mutagen that actually mutated Zilla-"
Casey doesn't want to hear anymore. He shakes his head and brushes past his pale friend roughly, shoving his hands in his pockets.
"Fine! Do what you do!" he snaps.
He slams the laboratory doors shut, stalking away from the lair and feeling as though steam is about to come out of his ears.
----------
It's colder outside when he gets back to the surface, a few stray snowflakes tumbling down onto the sleeping streets. Casey's sneakers slap against the pavement as he stomps down the sidewalks, annoyed with Donatello and Sarina's rejection of his idea.
She's part computer, he's a genius, why can't they just try? he demands.
He slows down, looking around in the nearby alleyways for his shadow friend. He doesn't want to go shouting her name, seeing as that's rather weird and suspicious, but he really has no other way of contacting her.
"Hey Zilla? You around?" he calls.
He waits a moment or two. A cold breeze brushes across his back, making the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. He turns around slowly, coming face to face with Zilla. They both smile involuntarily, albeit their smiles are small and not as enthusiastic as they could be.
"You're getting better at finding me, Hockey Puck," she teases, winking.
"I'll have you know, Casey Jones has special abilities for this kind of thing," he retorts.
She arches an eyebrow. "Oh really now?"
"Uh...no."
She laughs shortly, noticing his smile swiftly fall. Hers does the same as she moves closer to him.
"Hey...what's up with you?" she wonders.
He lets out a sigh. "I tried to convince Don and Sarina to make you retro-mutagen...you know, so you could go home. They shot me down so fast, it's not even funny."
She watches for a moment, a long breath leaving her as she shrugs her shoulders. "Just give it up, Casey."
His lips part in surprise as his hands retreat from his pockets. "What?"
"I'm stuck like this...even if he made the retro-mutagen, it wouldn't be able to touch me," she continues. "I'm going to be a shadow forever. There's nothing you can do."
He shakes his head rapidly, his hair becoming slightly messier with the movement. "No, you're not doing this again. Don't go only seeing the negative things all over again." He steps closer to her, wanting to grasp her wrists and hold her in place but forcing his hands to stay separate from her cold skin. "Donnie and Sarina can do it, they just need more mutagen and more time. They found a retro-mutagen for this kid named Timothy and made him human, they made this awesome antidote for brain worms and freed their big sister, Karai...I just know they can make a cure for you."
The shadow girl's face doesn't change, her eyes still holding a deep sense of longing. "If they succeed, I'll do it...but that doesn't mean that I don't doubt the chances of it happening."
He goes to retort, but a yawn interrupts him before he can speak. Zilla frowns, reaching out to him hesitantly.
"Are you alright?" she asks, visible concern etched across her face.
He nods, his movements slow. "Yeah, I just-" He yawns again. "I just haven't slept yet since the battle. I'm sorta wiped."
"Alright, come on. You need to go home and sleep," she orders. "And I mean it. Go home."
He flashes a tired grin and salutes. "Fine. Want to walk back with me?"
She laughs incredulously as she floats to his side. "And you call me weird, Hockey Puck."
As they head back towards Casey's house, more questions beg to be answered in the back of his mind. The battle today ended so abruptly, just like the Necromancer's death. Zilla was the only one with him when he shot himself, and he can't help but wonder whether she was the one who convinced him to do it.
They remain silent the whole way back to his apartment. She hides in his shadow when he goes inside, only reappearing once he gets inside. She looks around the place, noting the pictures.
"Bed, Casey," she orders.
He shakes his hands towards her, yawning again. "Yeah yeah, I got it, Shadow."
He stumbles to his room, nearly ramming into the walls a few times as Zilla floats along behind him. He collapses face down on his mattress, her still standing there watching him.
"Hey Zilla?" he mumbles, turning his head as he blinks sleepily.
She glides to his bedside and drops to his eye level, watching him. "Yes?"
"Why do you think the Necromancer shot himself?" he asks.
She doesn't answer right away, his eyes fluttering shut as he exhales heavily. She sighs, shrugging her shoulders as she looks around his room.
"He was too broken to be fixed," she whispers. "He simply needed an escape...and in his mind, death was the only way. I tried to talk him down, but he saw the terrible truth in my logic. He may have been sick with grief, but he was still a genius. I guess he didn't see any good in the future."
There's silence as Casey's eyes open up a crack, his face pressed against his mattress.
"Zilla?"
"Yes?"
"Do you see good in your future...or are you like Wallace?" He coughs a little as he grunts. "Cause...I don't want to see you become him."
A sad smile flickers across her shadowy face as she brushes the tips of her fingertips along his forehead, giving him a pleasant cooling feeling along his skin.
"I think you know the answer to that already," she murmurs.
He nods, his eyes drifting shut again. She pulls her hand back, wanting nothing more than to brush his dark bangs from his eyes and kiss his forehead, but her mutation holds her back once again.
"Goodnight, Hockey Puck."
I love you.