The young eagle winged reptile sat by the stream in utter silence, watching the crystal water trickle by, the liquid caressing his feet. The stream always soothed the eldest child. He couldn't tell if it was the sight, the sound, the feeling, or merely because the water was the source of his favorite food, fish.
The young eleven year old lowered his body into the water and shivered violently as the cold touched his thick skin. Holding his dark brown wings above the surface, the turtle was afraid of getting his flight feathers drenched, especially when he wanted to fly soon. The last thing he'd want would be to have the current pull some of his newly fledged feathers away.
Ever since his younger brother, Raphael, had learned to fly about three months ago, the eldest was determined to follow in his sibling's quickened footsteps. Every morning, the blue-clad turtle would wake up at dawn, and climb the tallest beech by the stream. A thick branch would stretch out high over the water and the boy would leap off the edge, testing his ability of flight.
But every time, he failed, plunging into the fresh water and becoming soaked from head to toe. Leonardo refused to give up, repeating the exact same process every morning for the past three months, but today, he decided to not continue, considering his experimentation a lost cause.
"I'll never get the chance to fly," the eldest mumbled to himself, rubbing a smoothed river stone between his fingers. Silver fish swam around his half submerged body, weaving between his legs and around his torso, as if they were begging for him to catch them.
'I'm not even hungry.'
The winged reptile ignored the small fish and treaded through the water, continuing to hold his wings high above the surface to keep the light current from soaking them.
"INCOMING!"
Hearing the blasting voice, Leonardo had no time to react before a huge splash erupted next to him, engulfing him in a massive ripple and dousing his wings completely. The surface was broken by none other than the youngest brother.
"Hey bro! How's it going? Isn't the water perfect?!" big baby blues looked into the stern ocean blue ones, but did not seem to notice the eldest's irritation.
"The water was perfect until you got me all wet," Leo replied blankly.
With an amused laugh, the freckled turtle splashed at the water with his hand, "That's ridiculous! Why would you swim if you didn't want to get wet?!"
Leo felt his frustration fester and death glared the little turtle, "Because I want to fly Mikey! The current might harm my flight feathers!" he growled.
Michelangelo watched as two eagle feathers floated lightly on the current, like little boats sailing away from shore, "Are those yours?"
The sea green reptile grumbled something inaudible and nodded in annoyance.
Michelangelo spread out his own wings and looked at them hard, as if he was trying to find something hidden between the down and the occasional flight feather.
"Well, at least you'll probably fly before I do."
Leo gazed down into the stream below and frowned, feeling somewhat selfish and inconsiderate of his youngest brother.
"I'm sorry Mikey," Leo said quietly, rubbing his arms together to warm his mildly chilled skin.
The freckled turtle treaded through the water, standing in front of the elder turtle and giving him a gentle hug, "Hey, it's okay bro, really! I bet you'll fly soon and I'll catch up!"
YOU ARE READING
Turtles of a Feather
Fanfiction[THIS FIC HAS BEEN DISCONTINUED] Four infant freshwater turtles in the wilderness are accidentally mutated by a strange ooze. Being given wings of raptors (predatory birds), they learn the ways of surviving and getting along as a family with the he...
