#ar!

Eliza’s trajectory landed her on the back of the massive rat and she instinctively dug her claws in. The effect was immediate though the outcome was mixed. The beast roared its displeasure, releasing it’s hold on Gwynevere in the process. It then immediately started bucking and Eliza bared down, attempting not to be thrown like a rookie at the rodeo, even though that was a fair estimation of her actual fight prowess. She lasted her eight seconds but not much farther beyond that before she was thrown into a nearby wall.

“Mom!” Gwyn was at her side and the ferret embraced her with a fierceness born of fear, ignoring the ache that was now present in her right hip.

“Are you ok?” She exclaimed as she patted the girl down in a frantic effort to see if anything was broken.. “How’s your le..” The mother daughter moment was short-lived as the massive rat was in front of them again, pinning them between itself and the wall at their backs. “Stay behind me.” She said as she stood and shielded Gwyn with her body.

Appare-ranman icons | Jing Xialian

Splinter felt the growl leaving his throat rather than heard it, The Rat King’s maniacal laugh filled his ears.  The specter, from the Rat King to Splinter’s mind’s eye, of the bandaged man, surrounded by his little rats, sitting on a throne filled his inner vision.  The Rat King was being served by rat people, and Splinter himself was standing, placidly by his side.  At the feet of the throne were two silver ferret mutants, more mustelid than human, on all fours, chained to the side, their mouths muzzled, harnesses about their chests.  Splinter felt the Rat’s King’s satisfaction at his prizes, surrounded by what he considered riches.  But alongside of it, the rat master felt the relief coming from the ghost of himself. Relief that Eliza, a burden, an inconvenience, a threat, was now eliminated.  Her two children were not his concern, the threat of two growing rat-killers in his midst were not his problem.  His concern was to protect his King.  And he was well rewarded for it.  He was satisfied.

“Don’t let him taunt you, Splinter!”  He swivelled his ears behind him, The Phoenix’s voice pierced the vision for a moment, bringing him back into his body, his heart quickening slightly before he managed to calm it.

The Rat King’s laugh died down, but his smile did not fade.  “Her?”  He waved his burned hand in the direction of Phoenix’s little isolated prison.  “You want her?”  He took a step toward the rat ninja.  “Why did you not tell me, brother?  She’s yours.”

The vision of Splinter’s rewards for his hard work, for his love and dedication to his King, swam before him.  Phoenix sat on a bench, how he knew it was her, he didn’t know, for she’d been changed into a lovely hooded rat-woman.  Her head and muzzle with a strawberry blond, while her arms and throat, showing through her sapphire robe, were white.  Her eyes were a striking contrast of dark green, which looked at him playfully.

In her arms, and at her feet, were three little rat pups.  A litter, he knew, of four year olds.  Each looked like a different combination of both he and she, and when they looked up and saw him, their faces lit up.  His heart filled with the delight at his children, his children.  But where were his other children?  The boys?  Safe, he was sure, somewhere.

“Is that not the life you want?”  The Rat King asked.  He was next to him, both in his mind, and physically, with his hand on his shoulder.  “Is she not beautiful?  Are they all not beautiful?”

They were.  All of them.  And they were his.  His boys...oh yes, they were safe somewhere.

“Yoshi!”

His birth name was like a clarion call, bringing the old sewer system back into his field of view.  He could still see the vision of his other life, but it was more like a memory now, than if he were actually there.   Phoenix, kneeling on the pillar that held her, was superimposed for a moment over the hooded rat in his dream.

The Rat King, still at his side, whispered,  “You will have belonging, comfort, power, love.  Everything you ever wanted.  Simply make the choice you know is true.  Join me, brother!”  He felt a push of the Rat King’s mind on his own, the image of The Phoenix, tinged in red as seen through the eyes of a mind-controlled rat, sitting alone in an alleyway, dark and dank, crying.  No one else was there with her, no one was coming.  “She waits for you,” the Rat King said.  The words opened a place in the Rat King’s mind, and Splinter knew,  Phoebe, her name was Phoebe.

Splinter blinked, and the image of the hooded rat was gone, leaving only the human woman with the strange healing powers on the pillar, in the middle of the old sewer system.  Splinter pushed with his mind, the pathway open between them a narrow passageway, but he burst through it and was pelted with a barrage of images, all of them containing  her.  He closed his inner eye, trying to ignore the visions, and turned to strike the Rat King at his side.

The bandaged man let out a frustrated cry, but dodged his strike, then dodged another, and another.  Still connected to his mind, Splinter could see himself through the eyes of the rat, Aristotle, on the Rat King’s shoulder.  In a quick move, before the thought could penetrate the link between them, Splinter knocked the little white rat from the Rat King’s shoulder and grabbed at the blindfold he wore.

“Aristotle!” the Rat King cried, and Splinter felt the hurt and surprise, then the rush of anger at the pain the little rat felt when it hit the floor.  “No matter,” said the Rat King.  “I can still see through your eyes.”

Splinter covered his own eyes, despair and confusion from the Rat King comingling with his own emotions of anger and shame.  But it was only a moment, before the Rat King fell from the edge of the platform, the link between them breaking.  “Farewell, my King,” he spat, ripping off the blindfold and throwing it behind him.

He stood at the edge of the platform, looking down once again at the woman who was still kneeling, trapped by the distance between pillars and her own bound hands.  He jumped down to her, “Are you alright?” he asked.

She nodded, but she had tears in her eyes and her breathing was heavy, as if she were the one who had done the fighting.  Splinter’s breath, on the other hand, was calm.  Too calm for her liking.  “Are you?”

“Yes,” he replied, producing his lockpick, seemingly from nowhere.  “I will have you free in a moment, Phoebe.”

She paused, holding her hands out as he released the lock.  “How do you know my name?” she asked.

When the chains fell from her wrists, she rubbed them, and their eyes met.  Splinter felt the rush of shame he’d felt only a moment before, along with the surprised confusion of the Rat’s King discovery.  You want her? The Rat King’s voice question resounded in his head again.  He hadn’t known the answer was yes, and now that he did, he was...afraid.  “The Rat King…” he let his voice drift away.

“You were amazing,” she breathed, blinking, tears overflowing from her eyes.  She wiped them away, quickly.  “You were so fast!”

“Training,” he replied simply.

“That’s some training,” she muttered.

He didn’t want to touch her, but he had to in order to get her off of the pillar.  “Come,” he said finally, putting his arms about her and standing up.  She was warm, and smelled of honey and lavender.  She clasped her arms around his neck and nodded.  “Hold on,” he told her.

She tightened her grip, and he bound across the gaps to the landing on the other side.  He stood for a long moment, not taking his arms from her.  He caught her gaze in his, and suddenly realized she had not taken her arms from him either.   Her breath was still in deep gasps, and his own wasn’t so calm as it had been only a moment ago.

The only sound his ears could catch was the dripping of the ancient water system, their breathing, and his heartbeat.  He listened to it for a very long moment, all of them together, his field of vision narrowing to only her dark green eyes.  

“The others,” he said quietly, and the spell was broken.  They took their arms from each other at the same time, eye contact broken, each taking a physical step from the other.