Epilogue:
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Hun had his eyes half closed as he spread out his limbs. The bath of sunlight pouring through the windows felt so good. He hadn’t basked in a few days, not since the fight with the demons and he needed it. His left arm was still sore from the attack and it looked like some of the spikes on his shoulders and elbows were permanently cracked, chipped and broken.
“This almost like being at the beach,” Gabby said as she stretched out next to him. She was a little cautious about being completely naked but Hun told her that he couldn’t see anything now that she was a mutant turtle. It was like looking at a naked Barbie doll. She still had her breasts and while he hadn’t investigated she told him that part of her plastron was softer than the rest.
“Better,” Hun said. “No sand to crawl up your shorts. No crabs to pinch your toes. No jellyfish to sting you.”
“No sand to make into castles or other sculptures. No seashells to collect. No little fishies swimming around you.”
“Cheaper this way. We got drinks. I can set up music if we want.”
“No hot dogs or ice cream.”
“I’ll have some one send them up,” Hun said and realized he was hungry and would like to have a hot dog. “Plenty of vendors out there on the streets.”
“And we can’t go out there ourselves,” she said. Her voice was soft, almost a sigh. “Not anymore.”
“I’m still adjusting to that,” Hun said as he grabbed her hand. It was so small compared to his and softer. Those fancy lotions she and other women like must work.
“We had to be like this. We had to mutate to save the world.”
“Doesn’t mean we don’t want to turn back.” Hun wasn’t a hundred percent certain he wanted to be human again. He would lose his shell and the ability to pull his head back inside. That was what saved him and Gabby from being crushed.
“I still need to learn how to use these.” She held up her hands. “I need to bake something.”
“That’s the easy part,” Hun said. “All the grabbing and hitting and picking things up. It’s when you need to hold a pencil or a pen, to try and use a keyboard, or chopsticks where it gets tricky.”
“Not as tricky as trying to explain this to my parents.” She stared at her hands for a few minutes while her eyes misted over.
“Oh Madeline,” He pulled her into a hug. What has happened to him? There was a time he could have his way with any women of choice whether they were willing or not and he didn’t care if they enjoyed it and had no intention of starting a relationship. Now he was comforting the woman he loves. Shit. He was in love and he thought he could never feel anything like that.
“I shouldn’t be crying for that. I’m still alive. We lost Barachiel and Israfael. You lost people you cared about. We lost Charlotte.”
“Some of them were some of my best, but they knew the risks.”
“Still hurts,” Gabby said softly. “Charlotte knew the risks but I don’t think she knew she was going to sacrifice herself to save everyone.”
“I think she knew at the end.” Hun brushed his finger against her cheek. The pointed edge of his claw caught one of the crystal clear tear drops.
“Uh boss?” Raz’s voice came in through the intercom.
“I’ll take care of this,” Hun said as he stood up. How many times has he ordered his Dragons that there were a few times he did not want to be disturbed. Those were when he was making love, and when he was basking. He pressed the button. “I thought I had made myself clear on the matter.”
“I know but this is a miracle,” Raz said. Her voice sounded very excited and she was almost gushing. “Urielle is here with some guy I never met, and she’s human again.”
“What?” Hun wasn’t sure if he heard right. Gabby’s friend was human? The last he saw of her she was still a salamander and was moving in with the turtles in the same fashion that Gabby moved in with the Purple Dragons and that their feline friend moved into the Foot Tower.
“I am serious she is human.”
“Amazing,” Gabby said as she stood up. “You have to send her in.”
“I will,” Hun said and realized he was nearly gushing. That one turtle, Donny did it. He found the cure to the mutagen. “Send them in.”
Urielle walked in a few minutes later with some guy that Hun had never seen before. He had dark red hair in a messy style and a bit of chin scruff going on. He was wearing a t-shirt with a monster truck on it, jeans, and a leather jacket.
“Oh my god,” Gabby gasped. “How is this possible?”
“Science,” Urielle said and pointed to the large and clunky looking watch she was wearing. “A three way combined effort between two Donatellos and Doctor Chaplin.” Her smile faded. “We didn’t walk in on anything did we?”
“No,” Hun said and noticed she was blushing. She probably thought they were in the middle of office style sex since they were naked. “No. We were basking.”
“You know you are doing it wrong, Lardbutt?” The guy asked with Raphael’s voice.
“Raph?” Gabby stared at him in disbelief.
“I helped him pick it out,” Urielle said proudly and smacked him on the back. There was a hard knock. The same sound when someone taps onto a turtle shell. “The holographic illusion that is.”
“Illusion?” Hun asked. Did that mean there wasn’t a cure and that Urielle hadn’t been turned back into a human?
“You think I wanna be human?” Raph asked as he adjusted his watch. The image of the man flickered a few times exchanging itself with that of a mutant turtle. The flickering stopped and Raph stood there for a few seconds before he donned the hologram once more.
“So it’s not real,” Gabby said in a crestfallen tone for a few seconds before she perked up again. “But it’s real enough for everyone to think it is.”
“Exactly.” Urielle had regained her smile. “You can see your parents.”
“And my old friends,” Gabby said. “I can see everyone, but won’t they notice anything when they try to hug me?”
“We’ll think of something,” Hun said. Rather he will have his Dragons think of something. Needles might be able to sew something up for them.
“Here are yours.” Urielle handed two more watches over to them. “Pretty easy to use. Green turns it on and red turns it off.” It did sound simple enough.
“Thanks.” Hun grabbed his. It had a larger band than Gabby’s and fit nicely around his wrist.
“You might want to wait.” Gabby held up her hands.
“For what?” Hun asked and pressed the button. There was more flickering before the illusion washed over his body. Hun stared at his hands. They were pinkish peach again and had five fingers. He was wearing his old gold gauntlet on his right hand along with his ring. Looking down he could see that he was also wearing his old purple shirt and pants before they got torn up, along with his silvery white armored top, his Dragon belt and his shoes.
“Sorry. I thought you would still look naked,” Gabby said and chuckled.
“Don’t worry,” Raph said. “We thought well ahead of that. No one wants to see his human naked form.”
“Speak for yourself,” Gabby smirked, prompting a giggle from Urielle and a satisfied smile from Hun.
“Also have more good news,” Urielle beamed. “We are back in business.”
“How?” Gabby asked as she strapped on her device.
“New boss. He’s a former priest who gets visions. He knows about all that happened and he has no problem with the three of us being mutants. He did mention a few things.”
“What are those?”
“Well you, Remmy and I are finished with our current clients,” Urielle said. “And he said we can still live were we’ve been living.”
“Everything is back to normal,” Hun said as he stretched.
“Or in your case, abnormal,” Raph said earning a small smack from Urielle.
“If you two don’t mind we would like to get back to sunning,” Gabby said. “Meet with you an hour later, Uri.”
“Catch you later, Gabster,” Urielle said as she and Raph left the office.
“Now where were we?” Hun asked as he turned off the illusion.
“Right here,” Gabby said as she stretched out on the towel.
“Ah yes,” He lied down next to her and put his arm around her.
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