A Forgotten Nightmare by LenniluvsBrian
A Horrible Nightmare by LenniluvsBrian
Author's Notes:
Heeey! I'm back! Figured y'all could use another update. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: Only own Catarina, Marietta, & story idea. Mirage Studios owns everything TMNT. Thank-you!

Raphael burst into the room immediately, his sai drawn and ready to strike anyone who dare be in the room threatening his kid sister.

"Who's there?" He demanded in a low, menacing growl.

"Raph....?" Marie whimpered feeling and sounding confused, her voice still hoarse and scratchy.

Raphael eyed the room momentarily, before flicking the light switch on, after having had breathed a sigh of relief. "Rina?!?!" He exclaimed. "What're you doin' in here?"

Catarina looked up, sighing in relief as she brushed her bangs out of her face. "Tryin' to make her feel better," she answered, dusting herself off as she slowly got up. "She was whimpering and I had to make sure she was okay."

"I'm sorry, Rina," Marie whispered softly, indicating the fact she'd kicked her sister and sent her flying.

Catarina shrugged somewhat. "I'm okay....are you okay?"

"I-I don't know....." Marie answered honestly, as her other brothers and father all came into the room - all had heard the girls' screams.

"What is going on?" Master Splinter asked, as confused as everyone else. "Catarina......"

"Don't be mad at her, Sensei, please," Marie pleaded, her eyes filling with tears. "She was just tryin' to help......I just didn’t know it was her......I-I thought she was - somebody else....."

"What happened, Runt?" Raphael asked, as he moved to sit next to her.

Marie immediately snuggled in and clung to him tightly. "I don't know......I was in this - this room, an' these humans were - were doin' stuff to us. To Rina an' I. They were hurtin' us, and we were just lil', an' they wouldn't stop and the scariest dude kept laughing. He thought everything was funny, but it hurt soooooooo bad! Then they took Rina from me! They stuck her with needles and everything an' I couldn't do nothin' to help her! They took Rina!" She cried, tears beginning to stream down her face.

"Mae-Mae, I'm right here," Catarina assured her sister, going and kneeling before her, a hand on her knee. "Nobody took me anywhere. It was just a bad dream."

"It was real, Rina!" Marie wailed softly, unaware of everyone but Raphael and Catarina at the moment. "They had you an' I couldn't save you! I couldn't do nothin'! And everything hurt soooo much! Raph's right - all I'm ever gonna do is get you into trouble! I'ma be the one who gets you killed!"

Raphael groaned, remembering the argument from the day before.

"He didn't mean it, Marie," Catarina assured her sister, looking into the other girl's glazed over hazel eyes. "He was upset, and you know better than anyone how he gets when he's upset - you mimic him all the time."

Marie shuddered then. "You didn't see what they were doin' to us!" She told her sister. "We were so small and so helpless! There were other turtles too, like us! But they seemed to wanna hurt us the most!"

"We'll be okay.....we're ninja, remember?" Rina smiled at her sister. "We know how to kick some shell!"

Marie gave her a small smile in return. "An' Raph an' Leo will hunt 'em down, an' Mikey an' Donnie will tackle 'em an' make 'em eat worms!"

"Y-Yeah.....Okay," Rina nodded, though she was confused by the childish bit of her sister's statement, though she knew the other girl despised worms with a passion. Catarina glanced at the others, shrugging slightly, not sure what else to do.

"Donnie, she's burnin' up....." Raphael stated then, as he could literally feel the heat radiating off her body. "Like a volcano full of lava."

Marie reached for her blanket then, as she snuggled into Raph a bit more, seeking warmth. "It's cold in here!" She whined pitifully. Everyone raised their eyebrows.

"Catarina, I suggest you go back to bed," Master Splinter spoke finally. "We do not want for you to fall ill as well."

Catarina was about to protest; if her brothers could stay, why couldn't she?

"Yeah, c'mon Rina," Michaelangelo smiled. "We can go have some hot chocolate to calm us down."

"Okay," Rina agreed after a moment's hesitation. She turned to her sister then. "If you need me, just call, okay?"

Marie nodded, shuddering again.

"Love you, Mae-Mae," Rina said softly, giving her sister a brief hug.

Marie returned it, mumbling her response, "Love you, Kitty."

Catarina left then, though still worried, and went to make some hot chocolate with Michaelangelo.

Master Splinter came to the bedside and sat down on the other side of his daughter. Raphael was right; the young mutant's skin felt as if she was on fire. "We need to bring down this fever," Splinter said, rubbing his hand against the young turtle's arm.

"In hospitals, they usually bring down fevers with ice packs," said Donatello, leaning against the doorway as he thought about a remedy.

"I'm already cold, Donnie…" complained Marie. She was under the impression that they were going to cover her with ice.

Donnie shook his head. "No, but what about a bath?" he said, holding up a hand and looking at Master Splinter, "Just a lukewarm one with some ice in it. I read online that you can bring fevers down that way."

"Anything's worth a try," Leonardo said, nodding his head in agreement with the idea.

"C'mon, Runt," Raphael said as he swung Marie's arm around his shoulders and picked her up into his arms.

"Where're we going?" she asked, glancing around with tired eyes.

"Bathtub," Raph said, giving her a grin, "Yeah, don't make much sense to me either but Donnie seems t'think it'll help."

"Okay…" replied Marie though she didn't sound so sure.

Donatello ran a tub full of warm-ish water while Raphael sat Marie on the side of the tub and untied her bandanna.

Master Splinter stood beside Marietta, whispering encouragement to her. When the bath was full, Raphael picked up Marie again and slipped her into the water.

"Shit!" she yelped as her feet touched the surface. She glared accusingly at Donatello, "It's freezing!"

"Actually, no, it's warmer than it should be," Donnie said, calm even as she scowled murderously at him, "It has to be somewhat cold to bring your fever down."

Marie continued to frown at him as she was set further down into the water. "It's still cold," she said, her teeth chattering.

Donnie smiled at her, "It's for your own good."

"Cold isn't good," she mumbled back, her arms crossed under the water.

Raphael volunteered to stay with her for the thirty minutes that Donatello had prescribed. He sat beside the tub, his shell to the side as he watched the door. After a moment, he gave a snort of laughter.

"What?" asked Marie, glancing at him from the corner of her eye.

"Nothing, just didn't think you this were this weak," Raphael mused. He was going to attempt to use her own stubbornness to make her fight this sickness.

"I'm not weak," Marie replied.

"Could've fooled me," said Raphael, putting his hands behind his head.

"I'm not!" she exclaimed hoarsely, splashing a bit of water at him.

"Then prove it by getting better, ya runt," he told her, ignoring the splashes of water.

"Fine, I will," Marie snapped angrily, glaring at the back of his head.

Master Splinter decided to make an herbal tea for everyone to drink but instead of making it in the kitchen, he opted to make it in his room.

Leonardo and Donatello retired to the kitchen to find Mikey and Rina sitting at the table, sipping on hot chocolate. Mikey had managed to get Rina laughing; it was obvious from the giggle that was lingering on her lips.

"So how's Marie?" asked Mikey, getting up to get two more cups from the cabinets.

Leo let out a sigh as he sat down at the table. "Her fever's bad. She's taking a bath now to bring it down," he replied, "Hopefully the bath and some medicine will help her fight it off."

"Yeah, Marie'll be fine!" said Mikey with a bright smile as he poured some hot water into the cups, "I'm not worried." He then added the pouches of hot chocolate and a couple of marshmallows.

After handing the mugs over to his brothers, he sat back down next to Rina. The turtle in the sky-colored bandanna was twirling her spoon around her cup of hot chocolate, not really drinking it. Donatello noticed that Rina's fingers were trembling.

"Are you alright, Rina?" Donnie asked, looking at his sister over his cup of hot chocolate.

"It's nothing, just something Marie said," mumbled Rina.

"Did it shake you up that bad?" Leo questioned.

She put her head down into her hands and shoved her hair back, "It's nothing. It's just…I hate needles. Marie mentioned them and now I can get them out of my head. It's stupid, isn't it, to be afraid of some little metal thing? But I am. I hate everything about them, I mean, everything. I hate how they feel when they slide under my skin and how they shine and people who hold them." She shivered involuntarily and attempted to smile before taking a sip of her hot chocolate. "Not that you guys didn't already know that," she mumbled into the cup.

"Aw, Kitty," Michelangelo said, slinging an arm around her shoulders comfortingly.

Donatello sighed into his hot chocolate. He knew that Rina was a blenophobic; it was her greatest fear. They avoided having needles around her whenever possible. Last time they had to sew up her arm, she had turned an awful shade of white and passed out.

"Change of subject...." Leonardo piped up finally. "How's that book April gave you, Rina?"

Catarina gave her brother a grateful look along with a small smile. "Fantastic! Best book ever, if you ask me!"

"Which he did," Donatello smiled, as he sipped his own hot chocolate.

Catarina tossed a marshmallow at him, giggling when it bounced off his beak.

Donatello quickly snatched the offending marshmallow up and popped it into his mouth. "I love these things!" He confirmed, as he dug a second out of his mug.

Michaelangelo laughed. "We can tell, Dude."

Donatello shrugged. "So I've a sweet tooth," Donatello said. "Not like I'm the only one around here who does."

Catarina smiled; it was times like now she was glad her brothers could carry on conversations on just about anything and everything - they were also good at getting her mind off things, even if only momentarily.

"And what are you smiling about?" Leonardo asked his sister, as their brothers went on to argue over who had the sweetest sweet tooth.

"Nothing," Catarina smirked. "Just how you guys can talk about anything, and easily distract me from scarier matters."

Leonardo smiled, as he downed the last of his hot chocolate. "It's our job to make you not so scared, Rina," he reminded her. "If we didn't, we wouldn't be very good big brothers, now would we?"

"No, I guess not," Catarina shrugged somewhat, a smile still upon her face. "But I'm glad you are good brothers - heck, better than good - Great!"

"Thanks for the compliment," Leonardo said, still smiling. "We do our best - even if some don't appreciate it all that often."

"Well, just don't track us anymore, and if you're going too, let us know first," Catarina told him. "Then we wouldn't be so mad about it. Well, I wouldn't be.....can't promise you about Marie though......."

Marie sat stubbornly in the tub still, doing her very best not to let on just how cold and sick she truly felt. She was desperate to prove to her brother in red that she was not a weakling! She may not be just as strong as he is, but she is still strong enough to defeat enemies - even enemies such as evil sicknesses. She sat there focusing all her energy on not shivering, when finally she could take it no longer. She moved and started to get out of the tub some, only to be stopped by her brother.

"Hey, hey....yer still pretty damn hot there.......An' you still got ‘bout 'nother ten minutes or so, Marie," Raphael stated, blocking her from getting out of the tub.

Marie signaled wildly to the toilet, communicating as best she could without throwing up all over him.

Raphael got the hint and quickly helped her over to the porcelain throne, holding her hair for her as she was sick once more. Soon as she had finished and had assured him she was fine, he stuck her back into the tub surprised she didn't protest - too much.

Once Marie was back in the tub, Raphael resumed his spot sitting next to the tub, in order to keep her company and to ensure she remained in there for the allotted time period.

Marie sat still as stone once back in the tub, as a wave of dizziness overcame her. She could hear her brother going on about something, but couldn't manage to focus on his words. She placed her hands to her head for a moment, in an attempt to steady her brain, but to no avail as she fell forward anyway. Seconds after her dizzy spell had hit, Raphael heard an unexpected and loud SPLASH! coming from behind him.

"Damn!" Raphael snapped as he whipped around to find Marie splashing around in the water, gasping for breath. He reached down and pulled her out of the bathtub, hauling her out onto the rug on the floor. She spat some water out of her mouth and clung to him. "You alright?" he asked, hugging her tightly. It had scared him that she had dropped under the water. "I think that's a good enough bath," he said, helping her to stand up.

"You think?" she growled groggily, leaning heavily against him.

He led her back to her room and tucked her into bed. "Yeah, so, you take these…" he handed her a couple of pills, "and no more hurlin'. Got it?"

Marie eyed the pills for a second before taking them. "Will you stay until I fall asleep?" she asked as he pulled the blanket up around her shoulders.

"Sure, I'll be right here," he said. He sat on the bed and waited until she fell asleep.



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