Stranger in the Mirror

Progress

    As she pulled the first aid kits out of its spot in the kitchen cabinet, April thanked the heavens for her father's anxiety. It was the only reason the country house had not one, not two, but three separate fully supplied kits at all times. She hid the pang of sorrow in her chest at the thought of her father—mutated for a second time, suffering and all alone—and passed two of them out to the Raphs to patch up the Mikeys.

    Meanwhile, she took hers and walked out to the porch, where Cassandra was brooding and staring dramatically out into the distance. She didn't bother saying a word; she simply grabbed her by the wrist and tugged her back inside, toward the bathroom. Cassandra narrowed her brows at her, but otherwise didn't struggle. April was glad; she was exhausted. She couldn't deal with with another stubborn, wounded warrior right now.

    Her exhaustion wasn't limited solely to her legs either, despite how much they ached from trying to rapidly adjust to the strange gravity of a foreign dimension as they ran from Leonardo and the Kraang. It was deeper, darker mental anguish she felt. Using her powers in Dimension X had a strange effect on her body, sending sparks of familiarity up and down her spine and through her nerves. It felt different using them in Dimension X instead of here on Earth. It felt almost more natural, like the powers flooded easier through her veins and out her fingertips. It'd sent a ripple of excitement through her body to be powerful in that world... and that terrified April to the bones.

    (And that wasn't even considering the worsening visions she was still trying to deal with, when she stared at Casey and thought she saw a different, older version of his face instead of his own, with a red shirt and a baseball bat. Or when she stared at her Mikey and could've sworn that for just a second, she saw him holding a different weapon, a strange grappling hook of some type. Or even when she blinked and nearly stumbled as the entire world drained of color, or she thought she saw Donnie in a red mask. She wasn't ready to confront what any of that meant yet.)

    "April?"

    April blinked, looking down at Cassandra. She hadn't even realized she'd managed to shove the other girl down to sit on the closed toilet seat, or that she'd already begun to pull out some items from the first aid kit. She must have zoned out more than she realized.

    "Sorry," she said, chuckling at herself. She carefully opened an alcohol wipe from the kit and took Cassandra's left arm, gently beginning to wipe down the cuts littering her upper arms. Afterwards, she spritzed on some of the antiseptic spray from the kit, noting Cassandra's slight flinch. She bit her lip, hoping her nervousness wasn't too noticeable, and prayed she was doing this right. She'd never been much of a medic—it was just something you had to force yourself to learn how to do in a situation like this.

    She worked in silence for several minutes. She cleaned the wounds on both arms, cautiously avoiding aggravating any bruises anymore than she had to. Cassandra, to her credit, was a much better patient than April's Casey was, though something told April that her stillness may not have been a normal occurrence. April glanced up at her curiously. Cassandra was staring everywhere but April, eyes narrowed and jaw clenched, looking as uncomfortable as ever. April paused.

    "Hey," she said, "you okay?"

    Cassandra blinked, seemingly snapped out of her trance. "Yes." She nodded firmly, pressing her lips together firmly after. After a moment or two passed in silence, she looked down, off to the side, as far away from April as she could. "You don't have to do this, you know. I am perfectly capable of bandaging my own wounds."

    "I know." April returned to her work. "But that doesn't mean you have to, you know? We're a team. We look after one another."

    To April's surprise, Cassandra didn't immediately object to being referred to as a part of the team as she usually did. But the usual attack was replaced by a defensive tenseness that April didn't know how to respond to. While in the past, Cassandra had seemed to actively despise being referred to as a part of them, now she merely looked uncomfortable and out of place. April frowned; was this an improvement, or was it worse?