Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The lab explosion still haunted Splinter, even seven years later. It wasn't because of the damage, or the trauma, though those were a big problem. It wasn't even that he had been mutated as a result (he hated his new form with every fiber of his being, hated Draxum for what he had done, hated hated hated hated--).

No. What haunted him most was the loss of one of his sons. A little turtle with red and yellow stripes. Gone, in a flash of orange fire.

He had been distracted, trying to fight off the monster that wanted to harm those innocent creatures. He wasn't looking (he should have been watching, should have made sure they were safe when they exited those pods, should have, should have--), only focused on beating Draxum so he wouldn't hurt more innocents. He heard the earth-shattering explosion from above as the structural integrity of the building began to collapse. He had to move quickly, he had to take the children and run--

Just as he turned about to scoop up the turtles, a large beam fell between him and the children, and fire spread to the side he wasn’t. He remembered being afraid, so very afraid for those little turtles that had his DNA. 

He remembered that the turtles wailed, and bright orange exploded from where they were. Without any further hesitation, he had leapt over the beam to get to them. He was blinded by the orange glow, heat licking at his exposed skin. Unseeingly, he wildly reached for the babies scattered on the floor, eyes squinted at the barrage of light. He managed to gather two before searing pain rushed up his arms.

Splinter had grabbed the smallest of the turtles, an orange spotted little thing, that was wailing the loudest and . . . and was glowing? Splinter still wasn’t sure what was going on with the smallest in that moment, thinking that perhaps the child had lit on fire and, in his panic, he had accidentally lit himself as well.

The pain was intense, so intense that it felt like his arms were cracking apart at the seams, and Splinter had desperately smothered the turtle in his clothes, trying to stop the . . . fire? The turtle’s cries lessened, so he believed he was doing something right. He didn’t have time for anything further. He scrambled to position the turtles so he could grab one more. But when he looked up for the last turtle . . .

He watched as a ring of orange flames(?) swallowed the babe, its cries disappearing in an instant. Gone, just like that. He . . . he didn’t even have time to process it as another beam came crashing down and he had to save the remaining children. He didn’t have time to be in shock.

It was at that moment that Splinter unknowingly made a promise. A promise to protect and safeguard these children, save them from the horrid world around them that would steal them away so easily, just like the little striped turtle.

Pondering back on it, he mused that that was probably the moment he sealed his fate in becoming a father.

A knock at his door drew him out of his thoughts, pulling him back into the present. With a heavy sigh, he rose to his feet and padded to the entrance to his room. Outside was a familiar round face, little Michelangelo peeking up at him from under his orange bandana. The seven-year-old smiled up with a big gap-toothed grin and held up his scarred arms for a hug.

Smiling softly, Splinter reached down to pick up the youngest with arms that mirrored those tiny scars and left him without fur around the area. “Orange,” he greeted. “What are you doing here? Where are your brothers?”

“Raphie and Donnie are fightin’ about JJ again,” the child said, making a face.

Splinter chuckled, propping the tot on his hip. “Your brothers are very . . . passionate about the things they love.”

“Yeah, but do they have to fight over it?”

Splinter shrugged. “Maybe they’re bored. Perhaps we can all sit to watch a Lou Jitsu movie, instead.”

Mikey bounced in his arms excitedly. “Lou Jitsu??”

“Of course,” he nodded. “Only the greatest action hero in history is allowed to grace our halls.”

The orange banded turtle giggled.

Ever since he lost his fourth child . . . he had decided to let “Lou Jitsu” die and took on a new moniker. Splinter, the rat mutant that lived in the sewers with his three turtle sons. He was reborn, once again, as someone that could comprehend what happened to him.

(He ignored the voice in his head that said he was running. Always running. It sounded suspiciously like his grandfather.)

As they neared the kitchen he could hear his older boys speaking heatedly. If he didn’t intervene soon, it would turn into a screaming match that would end with Donnie cowering for the remainder of the day. Swiftly, Splinter made his way inside the room.

“Boys,” he interrupted, causing both to jump and spin towards him. “What is this about? Orange tells me you are fighting?”

“Donnie said Jupiter Jim’s Last Trip to the Moon 3 is better than 45!”

“That’s because the plot actually has merit, unlike the 45th,” the eight-year-old stated. He’d been using big words more and more frequently, ever since he found that dictionary that washed in from the sewer. He liked that it gave him a broader vocabulary and something he could hold over his brothers.

Splinter could tell them to quiet and let them hash it out later. He could tell them that JJ was a ridiculous franchise compared to his anyways, so why should they fight over it. He could tell them a lot of things.

. . . He didn’t.

Shaking his head, tail lashing around to drag the two eldest closer, he knelt down and said, “Boys, why fight when we can watch something we all like? Lou Jitsu is calling for us!”

“Movie ma-ra-thon!” Mikey cheered, throwing his arms in the air. Donnie looked contemplative while Raph’s eyes widened in excitement. 

“I suppose,” Donnie shrugged. “Teriyaki Shakedown has some cool scenes in it.”

“It sure does!” Raph’s tail wagged, slapping Splinter’s ankles. He’d have to remind the ten-year-old that he was stronger and bigger than he thought. “Let’s go!”

Splinter let out a relieved sigh and herded the boys into the TV room, letting Mikey cuddle with him on his recliner. The projector whirred to life as he pressed play on whatever was already in the player. The exclamation of “HOT SOUP!” from all three of his children fully relaxed him as they all focused on the movie. Perhaps he could get that nap in that he was gearing up for . . .

Just as he was about to fall asleep, a tug on his sleeve pulled him from his doze. Michelangelo’s shy gaze met his, the child leaning in once he had his father’s attention, and he whispered, “Can you tell me about Blue again?”

Instantly, his heart ached. He had told them about their brother--of course he did--but he had been direct in informing them that the little turtle was gone. His failure had led to one of them missing, a piece that was longed for daily and easily noticed in the others’ interactions. Instinctively, they knew someone was gone. When he finally explained to them of their missing brother, it was like something clicked. Questions immediately sprung from his children--”where is he?”, “why isn’t he with us?”, “is he younger or older than me?”. He hushed them all with the truth: their brother was gone, and he wasn’t coming back.

Donnie had been the one to figure out what that truly meant, and he had stopped asking questions long, long ago.

However, his youngest had hope that maybe what Splinter saw was wrong. That the fourth turtle still lived, somehow. He kept asking about the little turtle, trying to get any information he could from his father. He said, once, that he just had a feeling.

Briefly, Splinter caught his two eldest leaning slightly towards them, curious about what he’ll say. He’s said it all before, but the longing they share, the pain they feel of being incomplete, makes them want to listen in regardless. With a sigh and a heavy feeling draped over his shoulders, he gave in.

“Blue was a tiny turtle,” he started. “No bigger than the palm of my hand. But he wasn’t the smallest. That was reserved for you,” he bopped Mikey’s snout, earning a childish giggle. He let a small smile grace his lips at the sound.

“He had stripes, much like Purple, but they looked like crescent moons. Red and yellow.”

“A red-eared slider,” came Donnie’s whispered response. It was the first time he had heard the term, but Donnie had been interested in their turtle biology lately, so it made sense if he had researched it.

“His shell was like yours,” he said, focus back on his youngest. “Hard but smooth, with pretty designs in blue.”

Mikey seemed to be imagining the designs of his own shell, trying to picture it on another turtle. Perhaps Splinter would be receiving another painting soon. He’d have to find space for it on the fridge.

“He looked like he’d one day be a great warrior, sleek and powerful. But he had the kindest eyes, and attached himself to anyone within range.”

“Red-eared sliders are known to be incredibly friendly, and make for excellent pets because they love socializing,” Donnie mumbled, and Raph’s eyes sparkled.

“He was a very happy turtle,” he said, more subdued. “I’m sure he would have made a great brother.”

The children became silent at that, until Donnie quietly asked, “How did he die?”

The mood dropped significantly. Mikey tucked under Splinter’s chin and Raph’s nails dug into the arm rest.

Had he ever told them how the child had died? He wasn’t sure. For Donnie to be asking, he most likely didn’t know and wanted the information. Even if Donnie didn’t understand all social cues, even if he wasn’t aware of unspoken boundaries, Splinter knew the boy hurt just as much as his brothers with this subject and wouldn’t outright do something so painful for them unless he had a reason.

So, gently, carefully, Splinter explained as best he could about the fire, about the pain and the subsequent scars he and Mikey shared, of the crumbling building.

But he never mentioned Draxum. He never mentioned what really happened that night. He left it up to their imaginations to fill in the blanks. He didn’t want his children to know such a monster existed.

Baron Draxum was long gone. He’d never hurt his babies again.

~o0o~

It was several hours later, long after the credits rolled and the sewers were once more filled with only the sounds of dripping water, that Splinter began to tuck his boys into bed. Raph helped, carrying Mikey on his back and trudging behind the rat mutant with a jaw-popping yawn, snaggle-tooth on full display. Donnie rubbed his tired eyes as he clung to Splinter’s hand, crawling into bed as soon as he saw the purple sheets. Splinter just gave a soft chuckle at that, tucking his son in and wishing him a goodnight.

Mikey was next, earning a little kiss as he was tucked in, the youngest letting out a tired giggle at the ticklish feeling of whiskers on his cheeks.

His oldest was big enough now he didn’t need to be tucked in, but Splinter still wished him a goodnight at his door and gave him a quick hug. Raph clutched a teddy close to his chest as he drifted into dreamland, while Splinter watched on fondly.

As soon as he made it back to his room, however, Splinter’s body sagged. The weight of the world rested on his thin, furry frame, a world he loved but one he sacrificed too much for.

Slowly, the man-turned-rat let things drift away from him again. He could deal with the world come morning, when his boys barged into his room to demand breakfast.

Until then, he floated in limbo, where his mistakes and regrets and the circumstances of his . . . change could marinate. Even seven years later, he hadn’t fully processed everything.

Maybe he never would.

~o0o~

Mikey was four when he figured out the scars on his and Dad’s arms weren't natural. It was also the day he learned the word “mystic”.

“I pulled you from a mystic fire,” Dad had said back then. “Who knows what kind of scars it would leave.”

Mikey didn’t know what “mystic” was, and asked. Magic was basically real, but it wasn’t like in the movies. It could be scary, and it could hurt them. It had taken away their brother.

A brother they didn’t know, but knew deep inside he belonged with them. A brother Mikey was sure was still out there somewhere. He could feel it.

So, when Mikey watched movies with magic in it now, he hid his face from it. He didn’t want to be reminded of the thing that took his brother. He didn’t like magic anymore, not if it hurt his family, hurt him.

Mikey was five when he learned that they weren’t normal. The rest of the world would hate them because of the fact they were turtles and their dad was a rat. They would be hurt if they were discovered. They lived in the sewers so they would be safe from those that would harm them. Their dad was the only adult they could trust. They only had each other.

Mikey was six when he discovered his brothers had given up on their last brother. Donnie wasn’t one for sugar-coating, after all, and one of their fights had resulted in Donnie screeching, “He’s not coming back! He’s not! He’s dead! He’s dead, he’s dead, stop talking about him like he’ll be back!”

The personality of Dr. Delicate Touch was created that day. Raph had to physically separate the two before they killed each other.

After that fight, Mikey decided to play along whenever Donnie was around, just so they wouldn’t fight again. But he knew. He knew in his soul that their brother lived.

He could feel it.

~o0o~

Donnie felt like a piece of himself was gone for as long as he could remember. Like a missing limb, even though he knew he had all of them. Some days, the feeling would be intense. Other days, it was on the backburner, a lingering presence but something he could still work around.

He long ago accepted his missing piece wouldn’t come back. And then he learned about his fourth brother.

He knew, somehow, that the missing piece was his brother. And for a while, he had hope again that his piece would return to them.

But that hope fizzled and died, and bitter thoughts replaced it. If their brother was still out there somewhere, why wasn’t he looking for them? Didn’t he feel the same longing? Why wasn’t he returned to them already? If it was Donnie, he knew he wouldn’t stop looking until he found his family again.

Did his brother not want them? Want him?

It was better--easier--to think that their brother had died, instead of thinking like this. Donnie wanted to believe his brother was gone instead of never wanting them. And over time, that notion just became fact in his mind.

Donnie’s brother, his missing piece, was dead. Mikey was delusional to think otherwise, only bringing up old hurt. Donnie wouldn’t continue searching for someone dead. 

It was illogical to even try.

~o0o~

Raph missed his missing brother. Of course he did. But he had to take care of the little brothers he still had. And until he was proven wrong, he had to face the facts and be strong for the rest of his family.

Raph was a very simple kid. He believed something and until proven wrong, he would believe it with all his might. JJ was the coolest person in the universe. Lou Jitsu was an awesome martial artist. Donnie was the smartest brother in the world. Mikey was the cutest being on Earth. Pops was sad a lot, but loved them more than himself.

His brother Blue was gone.

This was how Raph lived his life as the eldest. All ten of those years spent believing with his whole heart. All ten of those years helping take care of his little brothers.

All ten of those years grieving for a brother he could never meet.

But Raph was strong. He was bigger than his brothers! He was bigger than Pops, now! He could do anything!

And the biggest thing his family needed was someone they could rely on. And that’s what Raph did.

~o0o~

April O’Neil, eleven, daughter of Kirby and Carol O’Neil, and the weirdest girl in school, sat alone on the swings as the sun was setting and the other kids were playing tag. She didn’t mind (much), since she didn’t like those mean kids anyways. Once she went home, she was going to look at the stars with her dad. Maybe her mom would join in, if she wasn’t too tired from work. She didn’t need stupid friends.

Kicking at the wood chips under her, April pouted when a particularly loud, happy squeal from the kids on the playground broke through her mental listing of future activities.

Okay, maybe she wanted a friend a little bit. Maybe just one. Yeah.

Except any time she tried, the other kids would look at her funny, or get scared. She wasn’t sure what she did wrong, but other kids were intimidated by her. Or just thought she was really weird.

“But that’s okay,” April said to herself. “Cuz I’m April O’Neil!” The little fist bump she gave cheered her slightly.

Right, because she was April O’Neil, and she could take on anything!

The sudden, bright orange light startled her so badly that she fell off the swing. Then the wailing started.

April, stunned, laid on the ground for a moment, just trying to figure out what happened. The kids on the playground were still playing, their shrieks drowning out the cries of . . . a baby? Maybe? The rest of New York seemed unaffected.

Maybe she imagined it?

Shooting upright, April glanced in the direction of the orange flash. All she could see was a bush, but she could still hear a baby crying. Slowly, she made her way to the bush, searching for whatever was making the sound.

Maybe someone had accidentally lost their phone, and the bright flash was it turning on from a call? And their child was on the other side of the line?

When she made it to the bush, the wailing of the child was much louder, and April still couldn’t see anything. Just green bush, and a yellow stripe of branch, and red--

Wait.

Leaning closer, April pushed aside some bush and was greeted with the weirdest thing she had ever seen.

A wailing turtle. In the shape of a baby. But was definitely a turtle, if the green and yellow and red scales were anything to go by. At first, she thought the red marks on the turtle’s face was blood, but she relaxed when she realized it wasn’t.

“Hey, little guy,” she whispered soothingly, reaching out to wipe away tears. “It’s okay, buddy. Where’s your family?”

Mismatched blue and red eyes blinked up at her with glistening tears. The turtle made a small chirping sound and made grabby hands for her. Hands with three fingers that were chubby and the cutest thing ever--

“Awe,” she gently lifted the turtle baby thing into her arms and cooed. The crying slowed to a stop and the turtle started making a weird vibrating sound-- “Are you purring??”

A few more chirps and purrs and the turtle baby snuggled into April’s chest and fell asleep. And April melted.

When her phone rang and her mom asked where she was, she made the split second decision to take the turtle baby home with her.

Who needed friends when you could have a turtle sibling?

Chapter Text

Carol O’Neil was a hard-working momma to a mischievous little girl named April, that she adored, but couldn’t understand just why she got into so much trouble all the time. From mishaps at school to breaking an arm trying to do a bike trick, Carol had thought she'd seen it all. But nothing compared to seeing her baby come inside with . . . a baby.

And not just any baby. A turtle baby. Not a baby turtle! No no, a turtle that was human baby shaped and nearly gave Carol a heart attack.

“What the hell is that thing??” She shouted.

“Shh!” April put a finger to her lips. “He’s sleeping.”

“Who is he ?” Carol bent down to get a closer look and yep, those were real scales. “April, where did you find him ?”

“In a bush at the park!” her little girl said with a big grin. “There was this big flash of orange light like whoosh and then this little guy popped out. I couldn’t find his momma, and he looked so sad . . .”

As she explained, she accidentally jostled the baby thing and it woke up. With a wail that sounded much more human than Carol was expecting, the turtle starts waving its hands around.

“Oh no,” April hushed. “It’s okay, baby. I didn’t mean to wake you.”

Carol opened her arms for the turtle, just as surprised when she said, “Here, I’ll calm him down . . .”

Shifting the baby into her arms, Carol carefully maneuvered him until he was in a much more comfortable position.

Weepy mismatched eyes stared up at her, face scrunched in distress. And something inside of Carol shifted. It wasn’t subtle, it wasn’t slow, it was so sudden that it left her breathless. It felt something like fate.

The turtle baby wasn’t much bigger than the palm of her hand. So small and fragile, but he gave her a little coo and reached for her face much like April did as a baby, and Carol . . .

“Hey,” she whispered, bundling him close and grabbing the throw blanket from the back of the couch. “Hey, little guy. I’ve got you, baby.”

The baby curled into the warmth with a pleased churr, and Carol’s insides felt all fuzzy. April bounced closer to get a look, too, and said quietly, “What do we do now?”

Carol had to make a decision. “You said you couldn’t find his family?”

April nodded. “He was all alone.”

Determination sparked in her as she brushed her fingers gently over the crescent shapes on soft scales. “Then we’ll be his family.”

~o0o~

Okay, that may have been a reckless decision made in-the-moment, but Carol couldn’t help it. Something in her needed to take in the cute little baby. Call it parental instinct or destiny, there was something that she knew deep down claimed the child as hers as soon as she saw him.

However, the recklessness peeked in when she had no idea what she was doing. Like when she almost had a heart attack giving the baby a bath and he immediately stuck his face under the water.

"Baby, wait!" She scrambled to flip him over, but he lifted his head out with a soft chirp. Like he was telling her it was okay.

Still, the anxiety didn't leave until bath time was over and the turtle baby was wrapped up tightly in the blanket from the couch.

Then came the next challenge: clothes.

"We can't leave you without clothes, but none of April's old things would fit you. You're too little . . ."

Just the blanket would be fine for the night until Carol could run to the store, but she was worried that the poor thing would freeze if he wiggled too much.

"I can keep him warm!" April volunteered.

"That's very sweet of you, baby, but what if you roll over and squish him?"

April slept like a starfish and always somehow ended up at the bottom of her bed by morning. Carol was pretty sure she had seen the girl hanging off her bed with her leg hooked in the headboard just last night. There was no way the baby would be safe. And Carol didn't want to risk her own bed; it was way too big, the turtle could get lost.

"Turtle owners use those lamps, right?" Carol said, looking at her desk light. "We could use that, I think. Just make sure he has lots of bedding and plenty of light from the lamp."

So Carol made a DIY crib out of a cardboard box and enough blankets to smother the turtle, then set up the desk light over the whole thing. Satisfied, Carol placed the turtle inside and shifted things around until it looked cozy and the turtle went from happy chirps to purrs (dear heaven that was adorable --).

It was nearing one in the morning by that point and Carol was bone tired, having worked over 24 hours at the hospital already. April still had her beads in and the dirty clothes from school, but the girl was asleep on the couch nearby, glasses slipping from her nose, and Carol didn't have the heart to wake her.

Meanwhile, the turtle looked right at home, snuggled deep in the blankets and purring in his sleep. He'd probably be up in a few hours demanding food, but for now, Carol's job was done.

Glancing at the picture of her husband hung up on the wall, she let out a long sigh.

"Kirby, I really wish you were here."

~o0o~

Kirby O'Neil worked on the police force when he met Carol. At that point in time, she had been in training to become a doctor when his partner had been wheeled in with a gunshot wound. Carol had been tasked with keeping him informed on the situation while he had to wait.

He thought she was gorgeous.

Once his partner was out of surgery and given the clear, Kirby had shyly given his number to the headstrong woman. They went on their first date a week later.

Due to their work-heavy schedules, they couldn't meet up as much as they liked, but they made it work. Within a year, they were married.

When April was born, Kirby knew he needed to step away from the chaotic and dangerous life of policing. He became a newsman to help support his wife but still be there for his daughter.

However, the dangerous life caught up with him.

Fresh out of prison on good behavior, one Marcus Goodman began his revenge plot. Having been nailed for being part of a drug ring, his life was upended because of Kirby and his partner. 

Carol was just grateful April had been at school when she found her husband on the floor.

~o0o~

The morning brought with it the sound of a crying child. Carol would like to say she got used to it, but she really hadn't. Not even eleven years after the birth of her daughter.

The pipes on that girl . . .

This, though, was not April's sobs, but that of someone else. And it took a while for her to connect the dots.

"Ah, turtle baby."

Heaving herself from bed (she didn't even bother changing clothes or undoing hair, goodness), Carol made her way to the living room where she found April holding the crying baby and trying to keep him happy.

"It's okay, little guy. See? Momma's here!" The eleven-year-old said. "She'll make it all better."

And make it better she would. She had a feeling she knew exactly what the baby needed. Food, specifically milk.

Well, maybe. Turtle human hybrid babies might need something else?

Pulling out her phone (and noting that it was almost dead), Carol googled what turtle babies ate while she scrounged through her scant things. She'd need to make a grocery run after she dropped April off at school--

"School!" Carol looked at the time: nine o'clock. April was late. "April, get your bag, you're already late!"

"What?? No, I wanna stay with Leo!"

"You can't just skip school because--wait, who?"

"Leo!" April grinned wide. "That's his name. I thought of it all on my own. Doesn't it fit?"

Looking at the baby turtle, with his stripes and his big eyes, and having been all alone when he was found . . .

Leo: The Brave Lion.

Yeah, okay, it fit. Besides the point! Carol scrolled through a blog post on healthy foods for baby turtles as she said, "You've already missed two weeks back in October, you really should go."

"Yeah, but those were excused," April pouted.

"Were they?" Carol raised a brow. Apparently, red eared sliders were carnivorous for the first few years, which meant meat. Maybe she could mix some milk, meat, and fruits together to make a healthy hybrid shake?

"Yes, so I can take a sick day."

Well, that was true. If it was just one day and Carol gave a good reason why.

Also . . . Did Leo look bigger than he was last night?

"Honey, does Leo look . . . different?"

"Yeah!" April bounced in her spot as Carol took some things to the blender. All she had was some bacon slices, some watermelon, a strawberry, and a half-gallon of milk. "He's bigger than my hand now!"

Concerning. Carol had the terrifying thought of a turtle baby that continued to grow every night until it was the size of Godzilla.

She shook the thought away as the shake was blended together. “I’ll have to call in . . . here,” she handed April stuff to make a sandwich while she took Leo into her arms to feed him. “Hopefully this tastes good to you, baby.” She poured the mix into an old baby bottle and snapped the nipple into place.

Leo took to the nipple quickly, much to Carol’s relief. However, she wasn’t expecting to see . . .

“Are those teeth ?” Carol gaped, lifting the turtle's lip (beak??) to get a better look, much to Leo’s discomfort and annoyance.

There, there were four little teeth and more peeking out of little pink gums. Like a human baby that was teething somewhere between nine months to a year old. Except that the night before, Carol could have sworn that the turtle didn’t have those last night.

“Yeah, he chewed through the red blanket.”

“He what ??”

Carol’s life was about to get so much more hectic.

~o0o~

“Do I take you to a vet, or a pediatrician?” she mumbled once the chaos of the morning settled. April was watching a movie and helping fold the laundry, and Leo was contently curled in Carol’s arms as he slept off the food coma.

It was just one of many questions she had. How does one take care of a turtle baby? Googling it wasn't going to give the exact results, so maybe she just had to wing it and pray??

She made a mental note to look for those old parenting books she had. Those might come in handy.

However, her biggest concern was whether the baby would continue to grow overnight. Plus, she needed to check for any illness or diseases so she could prepare for that .

". . . I'll call Amy."

~o0o~

Amy, Carol's best friend and confidant, and fellow doctor at the hospital Carol worked at, was just sitting down for her salad break when she got a call from said best friend.

"You're supposed to be resting~" Amy sang, popping open the lid with one hand and pressing her phone to her ear with the other. "What would April think if you collapsed from exhaustion? Just take your day off in peace."

"Kinda hard to do when you have a newborn."

Amy paused with the fork near her lips, mouth dropped open. "I'm sorry, did I just hear you say newborn ?"

". . . Yes."

"Since when ?!?!"

"Since yesterday? Although maybe he isn't a newborn, he did grow rapidly overnight--"

"What the hell are you talking about??"

"I have a baby turtle and I need your help checking him for diseases."

Amy relaxed again, shoulders slumping and fork shoving limp leaves into her mouth. "Geez, Carol, way to scare a girl! I thought you meant a human baby!" she said between mouthfuls.

"I mean, he's a turtle, but also a baby ."

"Yeah, that's what a baby turtle is."

"No, no, you don't understand," Carol grunted in frustration on the other end of the line. "He's a turtle, but he's baby shaped. Like human baby shaped."

". . . So you found a weird mutated turtle. Still not sure why you're calling me and not a vet?"

"Oh, mutation, that's a good word for it," Carol laughed, sounding hysterical. "He has teeth behind his beak that grew in overnight, he's a little bigger than the size of my palm, and he looks like a chubby human baby but green and bald and with a shell."

"Okay . . . Is this a prank?"

"No, I'm freaking out a little bit! I didn't have time to process last night but I think it's catching up to me now!"

"Calm down," Amy sighed and rubbed her eyes. "I'll come over and take a look. Just know that my cut is your fault."

"Thank you thank you thank--"

"Yeah, I know, I'm the best."

Amy threw out the rest of the wilted salad. She could probably just stop at the corner store before she made it to Carol's.

~o0o~

"What the hell is that," Amy breathed.

Carol lifted the baby's head up from the blankets to show him off more, red and green scales glinting in the light. "This is Leo and he's my new son."

The O'Neil's had always been odd. Amy had known that since she first met Carol. The strangeness died down when she had April, but it was like it was passed on to the little girl. 

This was the highest level of weird. Beyond even the time that Carol had found a glowing gem thing that brought her the best luck in the world (where did that gem go, by the way?).

"Why do you have a turtle son??" Amy squeaked.

"April found him on the playground, supposedly abandoned by his family."

Of course, because that made sense.

"And you didn't take it to the government or something??"

"I ain't gonna take my baby to some quack scientist that would hurt him!" Carol looked offended by the mere thought. "He's gonna grow up like any other baby and have a happy life."

"How? Carol, he's a turtle ."

"And we're doctors. We can say he has a skin disease and some form of scoliosis. And the hair loss thing that some people have. Amy, c'mon, you gotta help me out here ."

Amy bit her lip, glancing back down at the baby in her friend's arms. April peeked out from behind her mama's legs, looking up curiously.

Two eyes, one blue and one red, blinked up at her. A small churrup sound escaped the baby and he lifted his arms and made grabby hands at Amy (with three fingers).

". . . Fine. But you owe me so much ."

Chapter Text

Three years later

“Mommy!” little footsteps pattered across the hardwood of the apartment toward Carol, and she looked up just in time to spot her toddler come to a screeching halt before the kitchen table. Leo, maybe an inch smaller than her knee, smiled up at her with human teeth behind his scaly beak. His red and blue eyes sparkled with glee, framed by red scales as he squinted up at her. He lifted up a piece of paper, his little three fingered hands looking so small in comparison. Carol had yet to put her contacts in, so all she could see of the paper was colorful smears.

The boy was barely four, but still so small. Compared to how quickly he grew that first night he had become her son, he really hadn’t gotten very big in the three years he had lived with them. However, he was healthy, the healthiest turtle mutant in New York (though she didn’t know any other mutants . . .), so she knew he was just . . . like that.

“What is it, baby?” she asked, setting aside her coffee and helping him up into her lap. He giddily shoved his paper in her face, and she crossed her eyes as it touched her nose. “I can’t see it if you put it that close.”

He giggled and instead pressed it onto the table, allowing her to see the crayon drawing scribbled on the surface. “It’s my family!” he chirped, snuggling into her chest.

On the paper was a crude drawing of stick-figure people and a giant green blob with red and yellow marks. One stick-figure was holding the blob’s hand and had a necklace of some sort (or was that supposed to be a stethoscope?), and the other was holding something yellow that had spikes coming from it. Around the figures were random shapes in red, orange, and purple.

“It’s lovely, baby!” Carol crooned, nuzzling the top of his head, and the happy churrs he gave in response was worth the absolute confusion she had upon looking at the picture. “So, this is you,” she said, pointing at the green blob. That one was obvious enough. “And this is . . . me?” she pointed to the stick-figure holding the blob’s hand.

Leo nodded, pointing to the last figure. “That’s Apples!”

“And she’s holding a . . . starfish?” Carol guessed.

“No!” Leo laughed, limbs wiggling. “She’s taking a picture,” he explained. “Cuz she wants to be a reprocher.”

“Reporter,” Carol corrected without thought. Leo nodded and repeated the word back. “Well, I think this deserves a place on the fridge, right next to April’s math homework.”

Leo’s wiggles turned into him trying to keep her in place. “Wait! You didn’t ask about the others!”

“Others?” Carol didn’t see anyone else in the picture. “Uh . . .”

“These!” Leo tapped the random shapes, and now that she got a better look, she could tell each color had a theme to them.

The red shapes were sharp triangles and squares, and were colored in. The orange shapes were swirly and didn’t really seem to have a destination in mind. The purple shapes were jagged and purposeful, like Leo was trying to replicate lightning.

“They’re my colors,” Leo said, like that made sense. To a four-year-old, it most likely did.

“I thought your favorite color was blue?”

“It is,” he rolled his eyes like she was silly. “These are my colors , not my favorite color.”

“Ooooookay,” Carol had no idea what he meant, so she just nodded along. “Of course. Silly me.”

“Red is super strong and bigger than even mommy!” Leo went on, gesticulating with his hands. “Orange is goofy and bursts like fireworks. And Purple . . .” Leo paused, thinking on how best to describe the lightning shapes. “Purple is like me, and knows everything in the world.”

So, they were like imaginary friends? Carol could understand that. “They sound like good colors.”

Leo nodded rapidly, head like a bobblehead. “I love them thiiiiis much!” he stretched his arms as far as they would go, fingers wiggling.

“Well, I’d love to meet them,” Carol smiled, giving her son one last squeeze before setting him back on the floor. “But, you haven’t gotten dressed yet! What will Miss Maggie think?”

Leo scrambled back the way he came, blue nightdress (one of Kirby’s old shirts) nearly tripping him on his way out. She chuckled as she heard April squawk in alarm as a four-year-old shaped missile blew past into their shared room.

The teenager came into the kitchen a minute later, giving Carol’s cheek a kiss before sitting down for cereal. “Morning momma.”

“Good morning, babycakes,” Carol took hold of Leo’s picture and went to put it in its appropriate place on the fridge. “Ready for high school?”

April groaned and forcefully shoved a spoonful of Cocoa Pebbles and milk into her mouth. “ No . I’d much rather stay with Leo for his first day of preschool. I just know Kendra will spread something.”

Carol hummed. “Is she still saying she has no idea who you are?”

“Yeah, but she probably thinks she can start over now that we’re at a new school. If only she weren’t so . . . Kendra , maybe she’d have a chance.”

Carol snickered and went back to her seat. “I wish you luck, then.”

“ Thanks . I’ll need it.”

They fell into a content silence, Carol finishing her coffee and April scooping out the last of her cereal, when Leo came back in.

And wow, what a choice in clothes.

The boy had decided on a blue sweater with Jupiter Jim printed across the front, and Red Fox displayed on the back. He had two different socks on, one up to his knee and the other barely over his ankle. He wore April’s old tutu, pink and frilly and probably ripped in some places. Over the whole ensemble, he wore a yellow raincoat, even though it was supposed to be sunny all day.

April almost spit out her cereal, quickly covering it by coughing into a napkin. “W-Wow, Leo. That’s . . .”

“I know, right!” Leo beamed and spun around. “Isn’t it pretty?”

“It sure is, baby,” Carol tried her best not to laugh. “You should see what April looked like on her first day of preschool.”

“ Don’t you dare ,” April glared.

April, four-years-old and told she could wear whatever she wanted, had gone on a frenzy in the closet. Carol remembers fondly the way Kirby’s face had twisted into complete horror when the little girl had finally emerged with an amalgamation of clashing colors and random bits and bobs, plus some glitter somehow?

Ah, good times.

“When can we go?” Leo asked, running up to pull on Carol’s cardigan sleeve. “Let’s go, let’s go!”

“In a minute,” Carol laughed. “Eat something first, then we’ll go to Miss Maggie’s.”

Leo ran to do as told, April having to help an impatient toddler pour the cereal and milk so he didn’t spill it everywhere.

Carol felt like she really lucked out with Maggie Marsen. The preschool teacher taught at home and wasn’t phased when she first saw Leo, unlike some other unnamed teachers (Ginger Fairman, Carol had your number . . .). She took the explanation in stride, nodding along like it made sense.

“My cousin has a weird disease like that,” Maggie had said. “His skin is all yellow and I’m pretty sure he glows in the dark.”

And thanks to Amy (a true saint, really), the documents were easy to provide for Maggie to set things up for the next school year. While preschool wasn’t real school, it was the first step in seeing how things would go for Carol’s baby.

And boy, was she nervous.

Everything was in place, she had no real reason to be apprehensive, but she couldn’t help it . Her baby was about to go into the world and be seen by people, and what if they were mean to him? What if they tried to do something to him? Or, worse, someone called the authorities and tried to take her baby away?

But this was exactly why she was letting him go to preschool, to see how it went so she would know if he needed to be homeschooled or if he could have a life like any other little boy.

She wanted him to have a normal life. So badly .

“Hey,” April said softly, drawing Carol away from her nervous handwringing. “Momma, it’s gonna be fine . Miss Maggie is a good person. She wouldn’t let anything bad happen to Leo.”

“Right,” which was why she had chosen the woman to begin with. “I just can’t help but worry . . .”

April smiled. “I know. Me too. He’s just a baby, still.”

Carol huffed. “Not so much. He even dressed himself.”
Her daughter’s nose curled. “And he did . . . alright. And least he isn’t naked anywhere.”

Carol shared a laugh with her teen just as Leo finished up.

“Can we go now ??”

“Yes, alright, you little imp,” Carol bopped his snoot, making him laugh. “April, you have your phone?”

“Never leave without it!” April held up her yellow encased phone, the little purple fuzzy charm dangling from the bottom. One of her online friends had shipped it to her. Apparently, he had made it himself? Carol let it slide since nothing bad had happened and April seemed happy with it.

“Good. Leo and I will see you after school.” She gave her teen a kiss on the forehead, and April gave Leo a noogie.

“Bye April!” Leo chirped.

“See you soon, lil imp.”

The family split at the door, April heading for the subway and Carol leading Leo by the hand on their way for Miss Maggie’s.

Little did the woman know, but her day would be much more stressful than just a day of preschool with a mutant turtle.

~o0o~

Donnie didn't like change. He had a set routine, a daily schedule that he had kept to a 'T' since he was little, and he never deviated from it. Not even when he got sad or upset. If anything, the routine helped him feel better.

So when Papa got too sick to leave bed and Raph had gone to the surface to get food, Donnie started to panic.

This hadn't happened before. Sure, Papa would get bad days, and really really bad days, but not being able to get them food? That was inconceivable. It didn’t happen . But now it had and Donnie and Mikey were left alone while Raph went to get them food and Papa was sick and everything was wrong it didn’t fit the routine it wasn’t--

And worse, Mikey was crying , and a crying Mikey meant weird things would happen soon and Donnie didn’t know how to fix it --

“It’s okay,” Donnie said, voice flat. “Raph’ll be back soon.”

That didn’t seem to comfort Mikey like it should have. “What if he gets hurt or lost , you know he panics when he’s alone--”

“Mikey,” Donnie warned, the bowls shaking in the sink. “It’s fine. Raph is thirteen. Not only can he take care of himself, but he’s also almost as big as the skate ramp. Any fool willing to hurt him would have to think twice.”

That earned him a startled giggle from his little brother. “Raph isn’t that big.”

“According to my calculations, if he keeps growing at the rate he has been, he’ll become that large by the time he reaches sixteen.”

“What about me?” Mikey asked, the eleven-year-old hopping in place like he physically couldn’t remain still. This was more like the Mikey Donnie knew. The dishes stopped shaking.

“You’ll forever remain the littlest brother. I don’t make the rules.”

“Wha-! No way! I’ll totally grow to be bigger than Raph, just you wait!”

“Sure, sure,” Donnie patted Mikey’s head twice, trying not to smile at the adorable pout Mikey gave. “Even though you’re barely to my shoulder.”

Mikey spluttered and batted at his hand. Crisis averted.

For the next while, it seemed like Donnie had managed to fix things, and he could worry in peace as he tinkered with some random piece of equipment. But then Mikey began to get worried again, the longer the silence went on. He started biting his nails. “What if he gets captured by the bad guys and he needs our help? We’d have no way of knowing!”

And this is exactly why Donnie has been meaning to make those trackers. They seem like the most logical conclusion, especially for situations like this. At least then he’d know how Raph was doing, where he was, and if he needed their help. He’d been meaning to look into it for a while, actually . . .

“We need to find him!” Mikey exclaimed, grabbing his nunchaku and already heading for the door.

“Wait, we can’t just go to the surface --”

“Raph needs us!” Mikey argued.

“You cannot factually know that--”

“Oh who cares about your science talk, I got a feeling! In my gut!”

“That could just be because you’re hungry,” Donnie said.

“I’m going after Raph, even if you don’t!” Mikey was working himself up, and Donnie was worried he was actually going to go --

Donnie drew his bo staff and slammed it in front of Mikey just as a lumbering sound permeated the air. And then Raph came barreling into the room, all bright smiles and arms loaded with food. 

The two younger turtles stared wide-eyed at their older brother, whose snaggletooth was on full display with how hard he was smiling. Pandemonium erupted just as the eldest placed his spoils down.

“Where were you! You were gone for so long!” Mikey screeched, eyes watering. He clung to Raph’s arm and looked seconds away from climbing his spikes to shake his face.

“I wasn’t worried, no way,” Donnie said, totally convincingly as he put away his staff. “I totally wasn’t planning on how to track you down using a triangulation program with militaristic software, nervous laughter.”

“We thought you were dead!” Mikey wailed, doing as Donnie predicted and shaking Raph by the face. “What happened??”

Raph gently removed Mikey from his face and plopped him into a seat. “You guys would not believe what happened today . . .”

~o0o~

It was lunch, and April was alone, much like she had suspected she would be. Other than a bald kid with bad acne, everyone had seemed to make it their mission to avoid April like she was a plague. So, she decided to take her lunch outside by the dumpsters and at least enjoy the sunshine. Maybe she’d text her momma and ask how things were going with Leo. He should be home right about now . . .

Just as she opened her phone, she heard something shuffle behind the dumpsters. It was probably just a stray cat, but something in her bloomed in curiosity at the chance it maybe wasn’t.

After all, she found her little brother by snooping. Maybe she’d find something just as cool!

Sneaking as best she could towards the dumpsters, April peeked her head around the side to catch a glimpse of what it was.

It was too dark to see clearly, but there was something big rifling through the garbage. Way bigger than a cat, to be sure. The creature had to be bigger than April, maybe even as tall as her momma. And it had . . . something trailing behind it, like a long tail.

Maybe it was a sewer alligator. 

Slowly, so she didn’t accidentally scare it off, April brought up her phone so she could turn on the flashlight. One minute, the space between the dumpster and the brick wall of the school was nearly pitch black, and the next, the whole area was illuminated with the bright light.

The creature began shrieking, April screaming right back.

~o0o~

“Wait, wait,” Donnie held up his hands. “You were seen by a human?!”

“Yeah,” Raph rubbed his neck. “Raph was really startled when she came out of nowhere.”

“She could have called someone!” Donnie flailed his arms. “You could have gotten in a lot of trouble! You could have gotten all of us in trouble!”

“Raph didn’t mean to,” Raph grumbled. “I was just mindin’ my own business and she just popped up.”

Donnie started to whine, biting at his bottom lip. Raph waved his hands around. “No no, it’s okay! She’s the one who helped Raph get so much food.”

~o0o~

April hid by some giant black bags as the creature bumbled around, making way more noise than necessary. “Shh!” April hissed. “Be quieter, otherwise the janitor will come out.”

The creature came to a sudden, silent stop. The change gave April whiplash. “Y-Yeah. That’s good. See? All good.”

The creature, now that April could get a better look, definitely looked like an alligator, with a long, spiked tail and sharp teeth that poked out of a large beak. It wore an open faced, loose red jacket with a broken zipper and some sort of faded words. Although, it also had a weird plated thing on its chest, almost like Bowser from Mario. But with more spikes.

“I’m April,” April said, coming closer. The creature--alligator mutant, she was sure--took a wary step back. “It’s okay. I’m not gonna hurt you.”

Hesitantly, when April made no further moves, the alligator slowly lowered itself from its tense position and watched her with big eyes that sparkled golden. There was a red mask tied around its face, the tails looking like it was chewed on recently.

“Can you understand me?”

The alligator nodded, making April smile.

“Wow, I’ve never met anything like you before.” She amended that statement with, “Well, actually, no, that’s not totally true. My little brother is a mutant, so I guess I have seen something like you. Besides the point. Do you have a name?”

The alligator twiddled its fingers, looking nervous. April thought it was cute. “‘M not really s’posed t’ talk to strangers . . .”

“Awe, buddy, that’s okay,” she said, sitting on a garbage bag. “I’m not really supposed to either. But if we share our names and talk about ourselves, wouldn’t that make us friends?”

The alligator paused to think about that for a minute, tail swishing from side to side. “I . . . guess that makes sense.” Biting its lip, it said, “My name is Raph.”

“Nice to meet you, Raph.” April already knew they were gonna be best friends.

~o0o~

“You told the human your name ?!”

Raph thought that maybe Donnie was freaking out a bit too much. “She was really nice! And she did have a good point.”

If Donnie had hair, Raph was sure he’d be pulling it out. “That isn’t the point! We’re hidden for a reason , Raph, what’s gonna happen when she tells about us--”

“But she said she has a mutant little brother, right?” Mikey piped in. Raph officially believed him to be the favorite brother. “So, she would be risking him, too, if she told.”

“Exactly,” Raph grinned. “Besides, someone who brings you food isn’t a bad person!”

Donnie’s brain seemed to fry. “You know what. Sure. Okay.”

Raph laughed.

~o0o~

“So, you and your brothers live in the sewers? I knew it!” April giggled as she led Raph towards the nearest corner store. Apparently, Raph had been looking for food for his family when April found him. She wasn’t about to just stand by and let him and his alligator family eat garbage . She had some money left from her recent job; she could spend some money on some groceries.

“Yeah. Dad was too sick to get food today, so as the eldest, Raph thought he should do it.”

That was an interesting quirk she learned pretty quickly about Raph: he sometimes talked in third person. She wasn’t sure if it was a nervous tick or a personality thing (she couldn’t think of the word off the top of her head), but she thought it was a silly detail that made her new friend adoring.

“Makes sense,” April agreed, nodding her head. “If momma got sick and there was no food, I would do the same. My brother is too little to go out. You don’t have that problem, big guy!”

Raph seemed to blush, tail wagging behind him. April really liked it when he smiled shyly like that, it reminded her of Leo when he was praised for things.

“Stay here,” she said when they finally made it to the corner store, placing him into the alleyway just outside. “I’ll be back soon.”

The nervous look came back, so April quickly held out her pinky. “Promise.”

She had to do pinky promises with Leo a lot, usually when he thought she would back out of her word. The pinky promise was sacred , and if you broke it you’d have to cut off your pinky. It was very serious business, and it seemed that Raph knew it too, since his eyes widened before they glinted with determination.

And, huh, would you look at that? Raph had only three fingers, like Leo. Maybe it was a mutant thing!

They shook on the promise, pinkies linked, and April made her way inside the store.

~o0o~

“So she just gave you all of this, free of charge?” Donnie asked once Raph finished retelling his story. “That doesn’t sound like something someone would just do .”

Raph shrugged. “She pinky promised.”

“That’s not really a good way of determining the nature of a person--”

“Relax, Donnie!” Mikey did a little dance. “Look at all this! We’ll be set for weeks!”

“More like one week, but I digress.”

“I’ll start making waffles!” Mikey didn’t wait, going through the supplies and quickly gathering what he needed.

Donnie sighed heavily, a migraine already steadily making its way to the forefront of his brain. He’d have to keep a closer eye on his dum-dums if he wanted them to live through to their adulthood.

~o0o~

“Momma!” April said, bursting into the house. “You’ll never guess who I met today!”

Chapter Text

Leo’s big sister was awesome . She could do anything she set her mind to, which seemed to be anything and everything . April could sing, dance, make Leo food, write, read his favorite book, and play chess! She wasn’t very good at chess, but she came up with cool ideas all the time when they played, so Leo was never bored. 

April was the coolest big sister ever , and Leo tried hard to let her know. He would, of course, outright tell her, but he also liked making her little things too. Like the paper guy on a motorcycle with a removable helmet he made for her birthday, or the Jupiter Jim and April O’Neil drawing he made that one day when she was sad.

Leo knew April worried about him, since he was Different. He lived with humans, but he was a turtle, and to most people that was weird. Since April was the coolest person, Leo didn’t want her to worry. So the other thing he did for her was pretend.

Leo liked to play pretend. He was really good at it, at least according to Mommy and Apples. He pretended he was Jupiter Jim, saving the galaxy with Red Fox (April) at his side, against the scary aliens (Mommy) with glitter bombs. He pretended he liked apples because that was April’s favorite fruit (he even gave her the nickname) even though he liked blueberries best. He pretended he didn’t know a lot of things that Mommy talked about with Miss Amy.

He pretended to be happy a lot of the time.

However, when April came bursting into the apartment talking about a mutant alligator she met at school, Leo didn’t bother pretending how excited he was. His tail wiggled and his hands flapped, and he smiled so big it hurt!

There was another mutant out there, a family of them apparently! Leo wasn’t the only one! Maybe he could meet them, maybe he could make friends!

Except . . . Mommy was making That Face again. The one she wore when she talked about Leo with Miss Amy, or when April said she made friends with someone online, or when she got calls sometimes.

Leo’s hopes diminished. He didn’t allow it to show, keeping up his excited/happy face. “Mommy, can I meet the alligator family?” he asked, pulling on her sleeve in a way he knew annoyed her.

Sure enough, she gently pried his fingers from her cardigan, the knit stretched where he had tugged. She wasn’t wearing That Face anymore, though, so that was good. “Leo, I’ve told you, don’t pull on my knit sweaters.”

“Can I pleeeeease meet the alligator family?” Leo repeated. “Please? Please? Pleeeeeease?”

“Well, actually, I don’t know where his family lives exactly,” April said, sheepish. “Just that they’re in the sewers. They could be in Staten Island for all I know.”

“Ewwww,” both Leo and April made yucky faces. 

“If April can find him again, then maybe,” Mommy eventually settled on, trying to fix the sweater.

That was way better than Leo thought he would get! The excitement doubled back. “Yes! April, I wanna go to high school with you tomorrow!”

“Easy there, lil imp,” April chuckled, hand held on top of Leo’s head to keep him from jumping at her (known from experience, Leo was just a really hyper kid). “You gotta tell me how preschool went first, then we can talk teenagers.”

Leo fidgeted. Preschool was . . . well, it was fun to learn new things! He liked learning about words and reading and writing, and he really liked the color games! He liked learning everyone’s names, and Miss Maggie was a great teacher and didn’t blink twice at his green skin! As for the rest of it, though . . .

Leo was a very social boy. He liked to talk a lot, it was like a second skin. Mommy liked to say he was a chatterbox before he even knew what words were. And making friends? He knew he would be a pro!

Except. Except he wasn’t. The other kids didn’t want to play with him, and one burst into tears when he sat next to them. He didn’t understand why they acted that way, and it was hurtful. It made his heart feel like it was falling. He hated that feeling.

Miss Maggie had explained the stuff Mommy said to tell others when asked why he was green with three fingers and no nose (he had a nose, thank you, it was just part of his beak). He had sco-li-loscus and a skin disease and that hair loss thing some people had. All his fingers were there, they were just melded together like a pterodactyl or whatever the word was. He was just like anyone else, just a bit different.

Still, the other kids thought he was scary, or weird, or freaky. It wasn’t his fault he looked like he did. He was clean, too! The “skin disease” wouldn’t spread to the others like some believed, and it was rude to stare.

Friends? Nope, didn’t make a one. But who needed rude people as friends?

So, Leo pretended. He told his family that he loved preschool, and it was so fun! He wasn’t totally lying, either, which Mommy could usually catch him on, so it was believable. When it came to friends, he just said, “I’m too cool for friends.”

April narrowed her eyes at him, and Mommy pursed her lips. “Leo, you need to make friends.”

“Why?” Leo didn’t pout. He did not .

“Because it’s good for your health!”

Not so sure about that, considering it would be one sided. Clinging to someone who didn’t like you seemed like a Bad Idea. At least that’s what Mommy said whenever she watched her “soaps”. Tina shouldn’t cling to Antonio, it wasn’t healthy.

“Fiiiine,” he said, to make his family happy. “I’ll try. But maybe my first friend can be the alligator you found!”

“Hmmm, maybe,” April snickered. “Glad you had a good day, lil imp.”

Leo was good at pretending. And hopefully he would come to like this version of it, too.

~o0o~

Carol was, reasonably, stressed out as soon as April came bursting in with her tale. It seemed there were more mutants in New York, and not all of them could be friendly like her little imp. 

This alligator mutant--Raph--though, seemed like a sweet kid. But that was just it. He was a child . With little brothers and a sick dad , who lived in the sewers . 

The whole family was in a literal cesspool! The amount of diseases those poor kids were surrounded by daily were abhorrent! The fact that the dad was sick only further distressed her. They needed a relocation, and fast , but just what could she do?

Bringing up her contacts on her phone, Carol called two numbers she was sure could help. Amy and Maggie Marsen connected with the conference call much more quickly than she thought.

“Is something wrong?” Amy asked, voice barely concealing her worry. “Leo didn’t get in trouble, right?”

“Leo had a good day today,” Maggie began as well. “Though one child did go into hysterics when he sat near them. Apparently, he looked like a monster the child had a nightmare over. I soothed both Leo and the screaming kid, but did he hide how upset he was?”

Carol didn’t know about that, but she put a pin in it for further investigation. “I’d like to talk more about that instance later. But for now, I’ve got a serious problem on my hands.”

Both women nervously spoke over one another. Carol interrupted before the spiraling ideas got any worse. “Ladies, there’s a family of mutants in the sewers that I need help relocating.”

~o0o~

Mikey had his first “episode” when he was barely older than seven months. He started to teethe, so obviously there was some discomfort. Before then, he had been a saint of a child, and though Splinter claimed otherwise, was clearly the favorite of the three. But once he started to teethe . . .

Splinter recalled the terror he felt when his little orange began floating out of his crib and around the lair. He recalled the horror when his baby started to fall as soon as he was within reach of him, making Splinter scramble to catch him. Mikey had wailed in discomfort, gnawing on his sleep shirt and looking up at his father with the most pitiful, wet, brown eyes imaginable. Once his heart calmed, Splinter had easily given the boy a chewy toy, one that he could place in the mini fridge to cool and soothe the gums. 

That wasn’t the last incident, though. Through the years, any time Mikey got upset or threw a tantrum or his anxiety spiked, weird things would happen.

Floating objects. Shaking furniture. Gold and orange sparks flitting around the child. Winds randomly appearing underground in a sewer . Lights flickering and appliances turning on at random.

If Splinter didn’t know better, he’d think the lair was haunted.

But he did know better. 

He instructed his older boys on the dangers of Mikey’s freak outs. He helped his little Orange with emotion control and meditation (though the boy was bored to tears with the methods). He was able to adapt to the sudden weirdness that would happen with each outburst. And every year, when Rat Flu season came around, the lair was decked out in soft padding and all sharp objects were removed from the area.

So far, it was working, and Splinter felt confident that he could handle it.

Up until Michelangelo got stuck up in the rafters after a nightmare and couldn’t get back down, his little body trembling from where he clutched at the wooden board at his side and his toes wiggling over the edge of the thin rafter that held him up. Splinter had seven heart attacks while climbing up to get him, thinking, “this is it, my baby boy is going to fall and break his head open and I won’t be fast enough.”

Mikey had looked up at his father as he approached carefully with big, sobbing eyes and reached out a shaky hand.

And then he slipped.

And Splinter dove.

Heart thundering, claws scrabbling, Splinter wrapped himself tightly around his little one, sure that one of them would end up seriously hurt and preferring it be himself. He shut his eyes tight and sent a prayer to his ancestors.

Behind his eyelids, Splinter could make out a bright, red light. At first, he thought it was maybe blood, but his eyes were still closed. Opening them, he was amazed at the red arms that reached for him and his little baby. He wondered, briefly, if it was indeed his ancestors, answering his call. But no, when he looked closer . . .

His little Red, on the ground, held out his spiky arms as though he could somehow reach them if only he could extend further , and somehow, someway, he did . Those giant red arms that engulfed Splinter and his baby Orange, safely lowering them to the ground, were red arms that looked and felt just like his little Red. The comfort and peace he was wrapped in reminded him of his mother’s embrace.

The final embrace she ever gave, before she sacrificed herself for a legacy that Splinter wanted no part of.

Once carefully placed back on the ground, Purple immediately ran forward to inspect anyone for damages. Orange had looked up at Red with wide eyes and quivering lips that turned up in a grin.

“Raphie! How did you do that?” Orange bounced in Splinter’s arms.

“I don’t know,” Red said, looking at his hands in amazement. “I just wanted to save you, so I did.”

Haunted visions of his past, of the lives taken and his Grandpa Sho begging him to listen, made Splinter’s hair stand on end. Stories of a power greater than themselves. A connection that linked beyond death.

No. Splinter would not allow for his babies to follow the same path. He would not let his curse harm anymore of his sons. He could not allow it.

That was the day that Splinter began to distance himself from his sons.

~o0o~

Donnie could say, with absolute sincerity, that his brothers were complete dum dums . Just because they had magic powers (which he knew he’d be able to dissect with science--Science was clearly the superior of the two, and no, he wasn’t upset they had magic, because his work was better than parlor tricks) didn’t mean that they were invulnerable or immortal. That first day Raph came back explaining a story of how he met a human, talked with said human, and revealed that their entire family existed, Donnie just about burst a blood vessel as he lectured him.

(Ignoring the fact that Donnie had several online friends--even an online best friend --but he didn’t show his face! Well, unless he specifically said it was a version of V-tubing he was working out. Because he was definitely going to be a YouTuber.)

Anyway! Just because they had these unsophisticated powers didn’t mean they could overcome annihilation . And so, Donnie did what he does best.

He snuck out after Raph to follow him as Raph went to meet with his new, so-called “friend”. 

(Sherlock_Corn was going to love this story! Of course, he would have to change a few details, maybe embellish a few things, but still .)

“April” was too well-used of a name to really find exactly who was in contact with his brother, but not all were at this specific high school, and only one had a “mutant brother”. 

(He thought it was rather rude to call her brother as such. It seemed like the little boy had a lot of struggles so early in life (only four years old with scoliosis, a rare skin disease, tridactylism, and no nose? That poor kid must’ve had a terrible mother to result in so many deformities.), so calling him a “mutant” was surely an indication of this “April” being a nefarious villain in disguise.)

April O’Neil, age fourteen, turning fifteen in a few months, and the only member of the Investigation Club (her own club that the school didn’t actually recognize as a real club, but let her have access to the janitor closet as long as she cleaned up every now and again). She didn’t have many friends, just one boy named Dale who was bald and a bit creepy, but she did have an enemy. One Kendra Ramos, a bright mind and quite stylish to boot, someone Donnie would have definitely been friends with if he was, you know, normal .

April was definitely no good, had to be if she was making enemies with people who were so amazing, like Donnie.

Donnie was determined to be there for his big brother once April showed her true colors. He was meaning to try out that new canon he made.

Raph was hidden behind the school dumpsters out back, nervously fiddling with his tail and looking around for his “friend”. Donnie was hidden further up on a fire escape . . . across the street. He kept a close eye on his brother via his cool, high-tech goggles he made. The red and blue lenses, matching his own eye color, gave the necessary zoomed vision he needed to watch over Raph.

He just wished he added a sound feature, or maybe planted a bug on his brother so he could hear the conversation, too. He would just have to rely on body language.

(He could totally read body language, no matter what Mikey tried to tease him for.)

The day moved slowly, the sun steadily making its way across the sky and cars whizzing past in typical New York traffic. Donnie was just about to shift to another position (the metal grating was beginning to hurt his knees--he needed better knee pads) when a poofy, brown head peeked around the dumpster corner. Raph zeroed in on the brown fluff and Donnie caught a brief glint of his brother’s teeth before the other turned away.

Donnie narrowed his goggles. 

She looked similar to her school picture, just a different outfit and a brighter smile. She had a yellow-green theme going on, all except for her glaringly red cat eye glasses perched on her nose. She put her hands in her jacket pockets, but her sleeves were cut too short, so her bare forearms were showing. Scuffed, worn out sneakers adorned her feet, and one had the laces undone.

Simply put: April O’Neil was a fashion disaster . Surely, a true evil mastermind!

Raph made a comment and pointed at her shoes, and she swiftly knelt to tie the one undone. Curses! So it wasn’t an evil fashion statement! Donnie needed to investigate further.

Together, Raph and April made their way behind the school and into the shadows of New York’s streets, making their way towards the corner store. Donnie followed from a distance, eyes peeled for any tomfoolery. But for the most part, things were suspiciously “chill”, as the hip kids said.

Raph’s tail swayed as they walked, and April’s arms flailed as she told some sort of story. He could hear them both laughing as they rounded the corner of the street and into the nearby alley. April said something, patted Raph’s arm, then went into the store alone. Donnie pursed his lips.

Taking a moment to lift his goggles, Donnie stood from his crouched position on the roof above the alley to start making his way down to his brother. He wanted to talk to Raph about this whole situation before she came back, preferably to explain just why Raph was an absolute dumdum and why befriending humans was only going to bite him back. 

Just as he grabbed the concrete edge to begin his climb down, a flying thing whizzed past his face.

Donnie nearly screeched, letting out a surprised hiss instead. Laughter floated up from the sidewalk outside the corner store as the flying thing--a drone, by the looks of it?--settled down beside two teenagers in purple.

“Careful, Jace!” the annoyed voice of Kendra Ramos ( squee! ) spoke, her lilac colored hair pulled back from her face. She smacked the head of a shorter teen, his glasses being jostled almost off his nose. His short hair was decidedly not stylish, and his jacket was practically swallowing him. Donnie figured he was ‘Jace’. “Land it lighter!”

“It’s not exactly built with landing gear,” Jace mumbled. “Had to scrap it for the hollow center to avoid overbalancing.”

The drone, while small, seemed fairly well made. Donnie could definitely improve upon it (and maybe impress Kendra with his stellar work), but he was curious to know why it needed to be hollow.

“Idiot,” Kendra hissed, rubbing the space between her eyes. “Whatever. Let’s just get the candy and scram.”

“Right.”

Jace pressed a button on his ridiculously large remote and the drone started to change. It folded itself inwards, then popped out one, two--four appendages and a tail with claws at the end. The back stayed open, making a hollow dip in its center, as metal shifted to the front to make--

“A robotic mouse?” Donnie hummed. “So that’s why it’s tiny.”

The metal mouse scampered into the corner store while Kendra and Jace waited outside. Donnie’s stomach felt funny as he watched, like his heart dropped into it.

A few moments later, the mouse returned, a bag of candy placed neatly in the hollow back. With a squeal, Kendra high-fived Jace and leaned down to pick up the candy.

“Nice!” she said, tearing open the treat and popping a piece into her mouth. “Next time, let’s go for the register! Bet we could snag a few hundred.”

Oooookay, that sounded Not Good. Using beautiful tech to steal from corner stores? Not cool, Kendra Ramos. Perhaps he was mistaken about her?

(Ignoring the fact he stole hundreds of American money daily. But he was only stealing from those who wouldn’t hurt if a few bills went missing. This was completely different.)

No, Donnie was never wrong! Maybe she knew something about the corner store that made it okay. Maybe she was just seeing if she could do it. Maybe . . .

April O’Neil returned from the store just as his hope in Kendra flailed. The dark skinned girl dropped off her bags and marched right up into Kendra’s face, eyes narrowed and Justice oozing from her pores. 

“Kendra, I did not just see your little gadget steal from this store,” April folded her arms, looking every bit like a jungle cat ready to pounce. “Because if you did, you’re gonna--you’ll be--you’re not gonna like what I do.”

The snicker Kendra let out was menacing. Ah, so perhaps she was indeed different than he thought. “Oh, really?” she flicked the candy wrapper in April’s face. “What’re you gonna do about it?”

Menacing chuckles and littering? A-list villain right there. 

April sputtered in offense and got into an absolutely terrible fighting stance. Behind her, still hidden in shadow, Raph got to his full height and started to make low, almost imperceptible growls.

Kendra snapped her fingers and Jace pressed a button on the remote again. The mouse morphed back into the drone, but now with a laser pointer on the bottom. April snorted, “What’s that gonna do, blind me?”

“If I’m lucky,” Kendra grinned and the laser pointer fired. The beam of light burned a hole right through the concrete, and both Jace and Kendra laughed maniacally. 

“Eugh boy,” a line of sweat beaded across April’s forehead.

Welp. Time for Donnie to intervene.

He pulled his hoodie down over his head, hand already reaching for the cylindrical piece of metal in its pocket. Jumping from the roof and landing in front of April, Donnie let his new cannon charge, the metal expanding out into a long tube. “Feel the wrath of science!”

Due to the surprise of his sudden appearance, he wasn’t attacked when the cannon sputtered as he hit the trigger. A small puff of smoke escaped the end. “Oh no, that’s not supposed to happen,” he said, monotone. Come on! He was sure he calibrated it before he left!

“What--?” Kendra didn’t get to finish her sentence before Raph was there, smashing a bright red fist through the drone and shattering it to pieces. His long tail swooped out and knocked the other teens over, and they gasped for breath as the wind was knocked from them. He grabbed both Donnie and April, then snagged the bags of food before lumbering back into the shadows and far away from the corner store.

Donnie was still trying to figure out what went wrong when he was placed down and the Big Brother Stare was in full effect. Hunkering down, his shoulders near his tympana, Donnie said, “It was supposed to launch a missile at the drone. Not sure why that didn’t happen--”

“Donnie,” Raph said, a dangerous note in his tone. Donnie’s long tail curled around his left leg.

“WHAT JUST HAPPENED!” April screeched, interrupting the boys. Donnie jumped at her shrill voice, scrambling with the cannon to avoid letting it fall to the ground.

He was unsuccessful.

There was a beep from the device and a missile shot from the cannon and straight into a dumpster, sending it sky high and throwing trash everywhere in a massive explosion. Fiery remains of garbage rained down on them, soot coating their skin, hair, everything--

April blinked behind her soot-covered glasses, eyes wide and mouth agape. Donnie let out a completely, totally, absolutely convincingly normal laugh.

“Hi?”

Chapter Text

Mikey was many things: a dreamer, an artist, a cook, a skateboarding champ (a being of magic). An idiot he was not. Sure, he could get lost in daydreams now and then, but he was far from stupid.

Sometimes he wondered if his brothers knew he wasn’t a baby anymore and that their usual tricks stopped working the first time. Considering what happened that morning, most likely not.

Raph was just “going out for a second” to “get some snacks”, which actually meant he was going out to meet this mysterious new friend April. And Donnie was “testing a new invention up top”, which most likely meant he was planning on blowing something up, whether accidentally or intentionally. Leaving Mikey behind to take care of Dad.

But not today. Mikey refused to let this continue. He wasn’t going to just sit around while life moved on around him!

Mikey had it all planned out: he’d sneak out to the surface while under disguise and track down his bros and give them a piece of his mind.

Only one problem . . .

All of their valid disguises were either in the wash or were being used.

“Time for a little hustle baby!”

Mikey stole from Dad only a few times, mainly because Dad always caught him, even in his sleep! This time, though, it would be a piece of cake. Literally.

“Hey, Pops?” Mikey peeked his head into the living room, a slice of cake and glass of milk on a tray. “I brought you a midday snack!”

Splinter looked up from his show, eyes narrowed on the tray. “Suspicious. As though you want something from me!”

Mikey felt a drop of sweat roll down his neck and under the lip of his shell. He held up the tray to his father and said, “Just wanting to show my love?”

Another moment of an intense stare down, then Splinter brightened like the sun. “Of course! My favorite son has treated me well once again. It’s not like he plans to steal something of mine and sneak out, unlike the other two!”

Mikey chuckled nervously, guilt churning in his gut, even as warmth bloomed at being called the favorite. “Right, yes.”

Splinter gave another side eye, but snatched the cake with his tail and went back to watching his shows. Apparently, Barbara and Susan were having a fight over lawn chairs (or maybe the gnomes? Mikey wasn’t too sure).

Mikey breathed out a sigh of relief, ignoring the guilt for now. Splinter would never know anything went wrong and Mikey could get in and out safe and replace the disguise/Lou Jitsu relic long before anyone missed it!

Mikey passed Piebald on his way to the closet, the fish blinking at him as he went. He gave her a nervous grin. “Don’t tell Dad, okay?”

She gave another blink.

“K,” Mikey threw open the closet and had to hold back a gag at the horrible smell of dirty, old robes that Dad hardly ever cleaned. Piebald ducked into her little house in her bowl. “You got this . . .” He mumbled as he took hold of the Lou Jitsu costume. “Hot Soup!”

He yanked it off the hanger. Nothing happened; no alarms, no traps, nothing . . .

“I’m in the clear, baby!” Mikey whooped and ran with his prize for the surface.

~o0o~

All things considered, April was having a pretty good day. Momma had given her a few extra dollars in cash so she could buy enough groceries for a small family living in the sewers. Leo had called saying he made it home safely and that he was playing some online chess. Raph was waiting for her in the same spot as before with a shy grin and a nervous wave. She got peaches at a discount.

And then Kendra appeared and things went so upside down that April was left blinking soot from her eyes while her heart hammered painfully in her chest.

But let it be known that April O’Neil was never one to back down from a challenge.

“Hi?” the new mutant--she thought Raph said his name was Donnie or Dannie or something--gave her a “I totally messed up and I know it but I don’t want you to know I know it because I’m completely innocent” look. Leo made those looks often. 

Taking a moment, April just breathed while she took in the appearance of this new person. He was shorter than Raph and with no spikes, but he still had a long tail and his snout and forehead were longer. There was an oversized, comfy looking hoodie over his body that hid most of it from view, but his legs and very sharp teeth were visible. The legs sported some interesting purple marks, like overlapping rectangles from an 8-bit videogame. The teeth were as sharp as Raph’s but were more human looking . . .? Almost?

The tail, though, made her think that maybe this new mutant wasn’t related to Raph even a bit. It was too thin, and shorter than Raph’s. And there was the obvious: no spikes, sleek and small . . .

If anything, this mutant looked like a lizard.

“Donnie!” Raph yelled, and the probably-lizard mutant flinched. “What--You--I swear I’m gonna--!”

April took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Hi,” she said back, making Raph’s head snap to her. “Donnie, was it?”

The maybe-lizard mutant perked just the slightest bit at his name being called, head peeking out from his hoodie. “Why yes, ‘tis I, your savior from evil and child genius extraordinaire.”

“Uh-huh,” April calmly removed her jacket and tossed it to Raph, who easily caught it with a surprised face. “Donnie. I’ll give you five seconds to run.”

“What?”

“Four.”

“I don’t under--”

“Three.”

He began to back up with his hands raised. “Now wait--”

“Two.”

Donnie turned to run just as April hit one, and she pounced . Grabbing his hoodie, April managed to completely wrap herself around the mutant. She shook him in place and snarled, “BOY WHAT YOU THINK YOU’RE DOIN’?!”

“I SWEAR I DIDN’T MEAN IT!”

“YOU ARE SO LUCKY I DON’T STRANGLE YOU!!”

The screaming continued, April not even sure what she was saying at that point, giving Donnie an absolute throttling, until Raph finally stepped in and separated them--literally. He had to remove April’s teeth from Donnie’s head.

“Enough!” He didn’t have to raise his voice to be loud, the ground rumbling with the noise. April held her ears, Donnie slapping his hands to the sides of his head.

Raph looked near murderous, and April cowered under his glare, even if it wasn’t directed at her. His tail flicked back and forth in irritation. “Donnie, you are SO grounded.”

He shifted to face her. “And April . . . No biting my little brother, please, even if he completely deserved it .”

Little brother? April looked the other mutant up and down in consideration. They were nothing alike!

Then again, who was she to judge? Her little brother was a turtle.

“Are you different species?” She blurted out, then immediately slapped a hand to her mouth. Momma hadn’t taught her such bad manners.

Before she could worry too much about it, Donnie raised a finger and said, “Yes, and I am very impressed that you could point it out.”

. . . She wasn’t sure if that was sarcasm or not. From the way he said it, she assumed it was?

“. . . That was not sarcasm, that’s just how I talk.”

“Ah.”

“But just because we’re different don’t mean we ain’t family.” Raph stated.

“So then,” April raised her hand, “is your other brother also different?”

“Mike is waaaay smaller than Raph,” Raph said. “And more squishy.”

“He’s a terrapene ornata,” Donnie put in, as though April would know exactly what that meant. ‘Terra’ sounded familiar; wasn’t that the Latin prefix for earth? So he was a land creature of some sort?

“Donnie, stop using your sciency words,” Raph chided.

“They aren’t my words,” Donnie huffed. “It is the correct term for the species that Mikey is.”

Not knowing what that was but feeling silly towards asking since she already got an answer, she cut in, “So, he’s a land guy but he lives in the sewers?”

Raph shrugged. “I mean, Mike hates water? But he can handle it being around him.”

“Don’t let that fool you,” Donnie said. “Angelo is still very much a turtle!”

April nodded along. Okay, that made sense-- “Wait, what ?? HE’S A TURTLE?!”

~o0o~

Leo was booored . He got home from preschool (another day of being left out) and started playing online chess, but he could only do so much of that before it got boring . No one was good at the game, or they said he was cheating. Leo didn’t cheat! Unless it was to get out of chores . . .

Mommy wouldn’t be back for a while yet, and April was with her new alligator friend that Leo still wasn’t allowed to meet. He wished he could go with Apples, but she said it was still dangerous. Which, in Leo’s opinion, was all the more reason for him to come along!

“Ugh!” Leo flopped back in his chair, the stool he used to get up into the chair scooting away at his harsh landing. “I wanna DO something!”

The four-year-old glanced to the window, the bright, mid-afternoon light streaming through the curtains. An idea struck him.

There was a park just down the street from their apartment. It wasn’t very crowded at this time, and Leo knew how to dress in-corgi-neeto.

Of course, Leo wasn’t allowed outside without April or Mommy (or sometimes Miss Amy), but neither were here right now and if he was only out for a little while then no one would know but him. And if he could play outside for a while then he wouldn’t feel so bored! The playground was the perfect place to let loose some pent up energy.

Leo quickly changed into his in-corgi-neeto clothes, the hoodie pushed up over his bald head and the rainboots firmly placed on his weird feet (ignoring the fact they were on the wrong foot . . .), and didn’t waste another second in the apartment. He clambered down the stairs to the ground floor, then burst out of the front doors (much to the surprise of some passersby).

“Watch where you're goin’, kid!” 

Leo giggled and made his way to the playground. Nobody su-pecced anything! This was easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Just as he was rounding a corner, he tripped on his boots and his hood fell down as he scraped his hands. With a little squeak, he hurriedly pushed it back up, heart thundering. When nothing happened after several moments, he let out a sigh and got back up.

Easy peasy lemon squeezy!

~o0o~

Baron Draxum had not visited the human realm in centuries, not counting the time he had stolen four baby turtles from a pet store and pond in Florida. He used to have everything he needed in his lab. He used to have a lab . Lou Jitsu was lucky to have passed during the fire, otherwise he would have hunted the human down for what he had done.

Since then, Draxum had been rebuilding everything from the bottom, including all of his many samples, and looking for replacements to what Lou Jitsu destroyed. His magnum opus, which he had painstakingly crafted over a decade, had been reduced to rubble. Just now he was reaching the point he had started, about to the testing phase.

Currently, he had disguised himself as one of those despicable humans, trading his elaborate warrior garb for a drab piece of cloth called a “hoodie”. His faceplate was traded in for a “mustache”, the fake hair causing his nose to itch. Typically, it was easier to acquire test subjects when one did not resemble something foreign. Of course, once his plan was again started, he would no longer have to worry about such drivel. He could proudly face the human threat head on and show them what fear truly meant.

As he paraded as filth, a disturbance caught his eye. A small child rounded the corner ahead of him, and as they were turning, they tripped on their comically large boots. A flash of green is what really snared his attention.

A turtle. A red-eared slider turtle, to be specific. Draxum’s breath spasmed in his throat.

He recognised that turtle .

He rushed to catch up to the child. Winding down the street, past sniveling worms and nearly losing sight of his prize, he found himself outside of an open, metal structure surrounded by chips of wood and what seemed like hundreds of little demon spawn.

There were children hanging off of the metal beams, children running on the thin walkways between twisting tubes, children screaming in the chips of wood, children flying back and forth on twin metal chains. There was even a child trapped in a swirling, metal cage with the top open, another attempting to join them.

And there, running into the hordes of tiny bodies, was the turtle with the big yellow boots. Those boots were the only reason Draxum hadn’t lost sight of the little turtle.

He needed to catch that turtle .

~o0o~

Suck-sess!! Leo was so proud of himself right now. If Apples was here, he would be bragging. Of course, he wouldn’t tell her later, because that would be dumb, since he’s gonna keep it a secret-hush-hush.

But here he was! At the park! And no one had stopped him or looked at him funny or even su-pecced he was a turtle. Now he could play!

Should he do the swings first? The slides?? No no, the spinny one!

A steel band wrapped around his wrist, tugging him back from the park just as he began to run forward.

Wait, no. It was a hand.

Leo’s heart jumped into his throat, making it hard to breathe and too loud to hear. His head whipped up, coming face to face with a scary looking man with a mustache and sketchy hoodie. The mustache moved funny as the man talked, like it was about to fall off.

Leo’s beak quivered.

What--? Who--? Why--? But Leo had been so careful! Now he was gonna get kid-nap and Mommy and Apples wouldn’t know and he was gonna get hurted by scary guys in lab coats--

A wail bubbled up out of his chest without his permission. “ Mommy! ”

Immediately, the nearby women jumped to full attention, narrowing in on the distressed child. At the clear and honest reaction from Leo at the man, hackles raised. Someone snapped a photo of the man holding Leo, while another started to march her way over. All had bloodthirsty eyes.

“Oh, no, there’s been a misunderstanding,” the man tried to placate. “I am the child’s . . . Creator.”

Leo just cried harder. “I don’t wanna be die-spect-ted!”

Someone gasped. Leo tugged harshly at his captured wrist but it was no use.

“No one is being dissected!” the man hissed. “Though I am curious as to how you are still so young . . . Perhaps a flaw in my mutagen?”

The man leaned down and reached around Leo as though to pick him up. Leo, at the same time, kicked out at the man’s knees. Or what he thought were the knees? The man grunted in discomfort.

“You little--” the man was cut off by a screech of tires. A go-cart came to a halt at their side and a weirdly dressed dude hopped out. They wore a really cool jumpsuit and had the tallest hair Leo had ever seen. A pair of orange shades was perched precariously on the person’s . . . nose? They puffed up their chest to look bigger. The man holding Leo spluttered, “Lou Jitsu??”

“Let go of that kid, yo!” The person--Loo Jisoo?--said, pointing at them. “Ain’t gonna be any villainy in my town!”

The man frowned. “I have no time to be entertaining an imposter. This child is mine, and we will be leaving now.”

No , Leo tugged even harder, reaching out for Loo Jisoo and letting out a cry. “Help me!”

Loo Jisoo sprung into action, karate chopping the man’s hand so he would let go of Leo. Instantly, Leo was transferred from one person to the other, his heart hammering in his little chest. 

He was bundled up in Loo Jisoo’s arms, and something in Leo felt so much unbridled joy that he couldn’t help letting out a small chirp . Loo Jisoo startled, blinking down at Leo. “Wha--?”

The scary man let out an annoyed sound. “I’m only trying to reclaim what is mine!” he said.

“He’s gonna kid-nap me!” Leo said. 

“Time to go!” Loo Jisoo said and hopped back in the go-cart, Leo still in his arms. It was weird maneuvering, but they managed to start the cart and steer away from the park. An upset growl erupted from the scary man, and then vines exploded from the ground and the scary man was chasing them--

Leo hid his face in Loo Jisoo’s chest and tried not to shake out of his shell. In fact, he wanted to hide in his shell, even if his Mommy didn’t like it when he did that because it made her scared--

He wanted his Mommy. 

There were loud noises and they bumped around and Leo just . . . hated it.

He didn’t notice he was making terrified chirps until the noise died down and the movement stopped. Someone was rubbing his shell, soft humming coming from under a flashy jumpsuit.

“Hey, little baby,” Loo Jisoo cooed once Leo shifted his face from being hidden. The man(?) gave him a smile, a gap in his teeth that somehow made Leo feel safe. “I’ve got you.”

Leo let out another little chirp and tears gathered in his eyes. Safesafesafe . Something inside of Leo screamed it, knowing that being with this person made him whole .

Loo Jisoo’s eyes raked over Leo, as though he were seeing the world for the first time. Leo didn’t even think to hide again, tears falling freely and three-fingered hands clutching at this kind, warm stranger. A stranger that didn’t really feel like a stranger.

“I knew it. I found you,” Loo Jisoo whispered. He hugged Leo close, breath hitching. “ I found you .”

Chapter Text

The lair was quiet. Too quiet, in Splinter’s opinion. Raising three rowdy boys told him that quiet meant one of two things: either they weren’t here, or something was very wrong. It was all kinds of suspicious.

Splinter took to the shadows, wandering the lair with feather-light steps. He checked each room carefully, searching for his not-so-little turtles and any disasters that may have happened. Everything looked fine, though, even Purple’s lab. 

Splinter frowned deeply. He stepped out of the shadows and scratched his head in confusion. “Where is everybody?” he asked the empty lair. 

After several moments of nothing, Splinter shrugged and moved for the TV room. He’d give them a few hours before he started to panic. Besides, Rebecca was about to tell Julio about her pregnancy; he had to know what happened next!

~o0o~

So. Turns out April’s friend was also a turtle, as was the new mutant she met. They were just all different types of turtle, which April didn’t know was a thing. She probably should have, considering her brother was a turtle, but she never thought about it. She thought she knew everything to know about turtles. She realized that perhaps she was naive.

“Are there more of you?” she asked, once she gathered the fallen groceries and was helping Raph to a sewer entrance. Donnie was perched on the elder’s shoulders, tapping wildly at his phone and seeming as though he weren’t paying attention. Considering he was the most active in the conversation, she knew that to be false.

“Just us three are turtles,” Donnie said, making a face. “Our dear Papa is a rat.”

“A what now.”

“Pops may be a rat, but he’ll always be our Pops,” Raph piped in.

“Uh huh,” April nodded. “Makes sense. So you got any friends that are turtles?”

“Nope!” Raph said, snaggletooth on full display as he grinned. “Just us! Far as we know, we’re the only mutants in the world!”

April almost tripped going around a corner and up to where Raph hopped into the sewers. She adjusted her glasses on her nose and said, “Well, not the only ones…”

“Nah, if there were more we’d know by now.”

“However, your odd way of saying that incomplete sentence makes me think you know something,” Donnie sat up and looked away from his phone. “Do you know something, dear April?”

“So, uh. I also have a mutant brother.” She began, poking her fingers together. Donnie narrowed his eyes at her. “He’s also a turtle?”

“Wait, what?”

~o0o~

Loo Jisoo had taken Leo underground and into the sewers at some point during their mad dash away from the scary moustache man. Which was…not what Leo had been expecting, to be honest. He was expecting a super rad hidden lair with cool gadgets and tons of cars that all did different things. And a submarine! 

But maybe he shouldn’t have judged, since they did enter some sort of lair, just hidden deep in the sewers. He perked up when he saw the change from the dirty, wet walls into a clean, dry, open area with skate ramps and a few bean bag chairs scattered around. There were holes in the walls leading into other rooms on the first, second, and third floors, with a huge skylight above. Leo trilled happily, bouncing in place in Loo Jisoo’s arms.

“This is so cool!” he shouted. “Is there a comp-you-ter and a giant dog and a buncha gad-jets that you use on mish-ons?? I wanna see the giant dog!”

“Whoa, I don’t got any of that,” Loo Jisoo said. “Well, Donnie has a computer or two lying around. Or fifteen. I don’t actually know.” The stranger-but-not hefted Leo higher on his hip. “But first, I gotta get outta this costume.”

Leo vibrated in place. He’d get to see his hero without his costume?? Was he worthy of that?? “Am I worth it?!”

“Wha--” Loo Jisoo’s brows furrowed. “Uh, yeah? You’re worth everything .”

“Whoa…” Leo giggled and wiggled and chirped madly. Loo Jisoo smiled softly, a faint orange light shining behind his eyes. It reminded Leo of something…

They walked past the first ramp and into one of the holes on the first floor, entering a room that was full of spray paint cans and artwork, a hammock strung from one wall to the other. Graffiti painted the walls, but Leo couldn’t read what they said. A piggy bank sat on the floor next to the hammock, a lightning bolt sticker on its side.

“I like the pig,” Leo stated.

“Thanks! Mrs. Porky Coin is in charge when I’m out.”

Leo gave the piggy bank a more respectful glance. “I think her sticker is neat.”

Loo Jisoo grinned. “She’s very fashionable.”

Leo nodded seriously.

Loo Jisoo placed Leo in the hammock, the tot giggling as he rocked back and forth. The older took the moment to remove the costume, starting with the wig. Leo gasped at the green, bald head that came into view.

As more of the costume was removed, Leo sat up and stared with wide eyes. Under the jacket was a shell with bright orange circles patterning it. The gloves hid three fingers on each hand. A tail peeked out of the pants.

Loo Jisoo was a turtle .

A turtle like Leo .

There were spots on his arms and legs and cheeks. Yellow and orange. A bright, orange mask was wrapped around his head. This stranger-but-not turned to Leo once the costume was fully gone, smile warm as he looked at the toddler. An orange spark played on his cheek, lighting up his golden brown eyes. With that spark was a familiar feeling of playfulness and mischief, not his own.

“Orange?” Leo asked, eyes fogging up. “Are you my Orange?”

Loo Jisoo--Orange-- Leo’s Color blinked in surprise. “That’s my nickname,” he said, stepping closer. “But I go by Mikey. How did you…?”

Leo shot forward once the turtle was close enough, breath hitching on a sob. Mikey scrambled to hold him close, Leo’s hoodie lifting in the scuffle and their matching plastrons clicking when they met together.

Mikey, startled, hunched over and pressed his chin against the top of Leo’s head. “Hey, shh, it’s okay baby.”

Leo buried his face in Mikey’s chest, smearing snot and tears everywhere. “Orange! My Orange! I-I wanted to meet you ever since my dreams. I missed you when I woke up. Don’t leave me again!”

Mikey pet the top of Leo’s head in soothing brushes, but Leo could feel him shaking. When he looked up, he saw unshed tears pooling in Mikey’s warm, brown eyes. “You’re really breaking my heart right now, Blue,” he whispered.

The tot gave a mighty sniff. Mikey curled around him protectively. Leo had never felt so safe.

“Please, please don’t leave me,” Leo said into Mikey’s chest, gripping tightly to the band around Mikey’s plastron.

The sob Mikey let out came with a flash of sparks. They were warm like Mikey was. It was like being cradled by big strong arms in the middle of a storm.

“I heard crying, what is the ma--” a new voice came barging into the room, the owner a large rat man who looked frazzled. He froze when his grey eyes landed on Leo, safe in Mikey’s arms.

Leo hadn’t noticed until now that they were floating.

“Mikey, you gots magic?!” Leo screeched.

“Dad,” Mikey shuddered, face wet and blotchy, eyes shining.

“Baby Blue…?” the rat reached forward for Leo, eyes just as bright as Mikey’s. Leo leaned further into Mikey, nervous.

He didn’t know this person.

The rat flinched at his withdrawal, face pained. His ears pinned to his head. “Ah… I am sorry, my son. I did not mean to--” He bit his lip, hands lowering to his sides as he fisted his robe. “You… probably don’t want to see me, do you. I understand. After all, I lost you…”

Leo wasn’t sure what the rat was talking about, but one part stuck out to him: “Wait, I have a dad?!”

The rat’s ears shot back up, eyebrows raising. “Oh. Well, yes.”

Leo boggled at that. “Apples’ gots a dad, but I didn’t know I had a dad!”

The rat’s face went through several complicated expressions until finally settling on a warm smile. “Well, I can tell you more about dads once we get Orange calmed down and you both safely on the floor, hm?”

“Yeah!” Leo cheered. “I wanna know more about dads!”

~o0o~

April could not believe she was doing this. All those talks of stranger danger were running through her head. Like, yeah, she knew Raph well enough she could see him coming over, but she knew nothing about his brother. And Donnie was willing to blow things up.

But.

But if there was a chance that they knew Leo from Before.

Well.

She had to try. For both Leo and this little sewer family. Leo deserved as many people on his side as he could get.

Still. This was incredibly stupid.

She couldn’t even warn her mom of their arrival since her phone was dead. She knew she forgot something last night.

They made their way to April’s apartment in anxious bouts of silence and insistent questioning from Donnie. The lizard-looking turtle was a little more thorough than April would have liked. To the point of invasive.

“You know what? Just ask him when you meet him,” April said, cutting off a question about what Leo’s blood type was.

“He knows his blood type?”

“Probably,” April shrugged. “He likes to pretend to be a nurse like Momma, sometimes.”

Donnie furiously took notes.

“Aaaaand here we are!” April gestured to her apartment complex. Raph looked up in amazement.

“You own the whole building??”

“Of course she doesn’t,” Donnie scoffed. “She rents a portion of the building that someone else owns so she can live here.”

“Some people own their apartment,” April defended. “...But yeah, we rent our apartment. It’s cheaper, especially since Momma’s supporting two kids on her own.”

“I thought your mom was a nurse?” Donnie raised a painted brow.

“...Yeah.”

No more was said on the topic.

April led them into the building, passing Marv the “doorman” as he watched them with a critical eye. The guy was super paranoid, the kind who would wear tin foil hats and shoot first, ask questions later. Raph and Donnie hid under their hoodies as they skated past.

“Wait,” Marv called to them.

Raph and Donnie froze, eyes wide like deer in the headlights. April turned slowly, nervously smiling. “Yeah, Marv?”

Marv narrowed his eyes. April started to sweat. He lifted something towards her and Raph screamed.

“Oh,” Raph calmed when the item was shown to be a plate of cookies. Marv smiled and April took it with a tight laugh.

“The missus made too many snickerdoodles,” Marv said. “Thought your brother might like some.”

“Thanks, Marv,” April said. “I’m sure Leo will love it.”

He smiled and waved as they escaped up the stairs.

April sighed when they finally made it to her apartment on the third floor. Once this was all done, she was taking a huge nap.

Opening the door, April said, “Momma, I’m home, and I brought--”

“April!” Momma exclaimed, reaching through the doorway and grabbing her shoulders. “There you are, I’ve been trying to call you. Where were you?”

April blinked up at her mom, surprised at her frazzled state. “Sorry, my phone died. I was with Raph.” She pointed behind her, where Donnie and Raph stood awkwardly. Carol stood up straighter when she noticed the guests. 

“Oh!” Carol brushed her curls behind her ears, cheeks going dark. “I didn’t notice--” she glanced around the floor, jaw going slack. “Leo isn’t with you?”

“No, he was supposed to be here,” April’s hands gripped tight to her bag. “Is he not?”

Carol’s face grew grim. “No. No, he isn’t.”

“Oh, great, our long lost maybe-brother is missing again,” Donnie said, sounding sarcastic. There was a thump and Donnie hissed.

“Donnie,” Raph warned. To April and Carol, he said, “How can we help?”

“We’ll search the playground,” Carol started. “He likes to spend time there if he isn’t playing chess.”

“He plays chess?” Donnie said, “At four?”

“Hey, he’ll be five in October,” April defended.

There was no need to panic. Everything was fine. Leo was just on the playground and he’d get a scolding for going out when they didn’t know he was out, but there was nothing so dire as to make her chest hurt with how hard her heart was pounding.

Just as they made it to the bottom of the stairs, Raph’s phone rang. He excused himself and quietly answered. There was a screech on the other end that even April could hear.

“RAPH!” a young voice said. They sounded nasally, like they were sick or had cried a bunch. “You’ll never guess who I found!”

“Not now, Mikes,” Raph said. “We’re kinda busy at the moment--”

“NO, IT’S REALLY IMPORTANT!!” Mikey, the third turtle brother that April had yet to meet, shouted before Raph could hang up. “I found Blue!”

The brothers paused, full attention cut to the phone. “Are ya sure?” Raph wheezed, like all the air had left him at once.

“I’m sure! I can feel it, I know it’s him!”

“Blue?” April asked. She had no idea who that was.

“Apples?!” Leo’s voice screeched from the phone. “Apples, guess what?! I found my Orange!”

“Leo?!” April and Carol chorused. 

“I guess that answers that question,” Donnie mumbled. “C’mon,” he waved for the group to follow him. “I’ll show you guys how to get to our home.”

“I told you guys!” Mikey said shakily. “ I told you! ”

April and Carol ran close behind Raph and Donnie as they made their way into the sewers.

~o0o~

Having a dad was great! And finding his Orange was even better! He got a bunch of snacks and lots of cuddles while they waited for Apples and Mommy to arrive with his other colors. Leo was super happy!

“What do you like to do, Baby Blue?” the rat--Splinter, he called himself, but you can call me dad --asked.

“I like the slide. And the swings. And Jupiter Jim!” Leo pretended to shoot laser guns with his fingers. “Pew, pew!”

“Pah!” Splinter-Dad waved a paw in dismissal. “That hack?? No no, we will show you much more refined movies, like Lou Jitsu!”

Leo gasped. “Loo Jisoo!” he pointed at Mikey. “Mikey’s Loo Jisoo! He saved me from the scary guy with the falling-off mus-tash.”

Mikey glanced away nervously when Splinter-Dad raised a high-judgy brow at him, spots and finger-cracks glowing orange. Actually, now that he looked, Leo noticed that Mikey and Splinter-Dad both had finger-cracks. He pointed at them.

“Hey, do I gotta get finger-cracks to have a Splinter-Dad and an Orange?”

“What?” Mikey looked down at his fingers. “Oh… no. Dad and I got them when we were escaping a scary fire.” He swallowed heavily, his face doing something weird when his eyes settled on Leo. “They’re scars.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Leo was picked up from the kitchen counter where all the snacks were and brought into the “projector room”. He was promptly placed on Splinter-Dad’s lap on a comfy chair, Mikey curling up beside them. It was squished.

“Let’s show you real action!” Splinter-Dad clicked a remote and a light turned on, showing a screen on the wall.

“Oooo,” Leo awed. The screen changed from white to a movie, and from somewhere above speakers played action music. A familiar looking man punched some guys and flashed Leo a winning smile. “Loo Jisoo!” Leo recognized.

“Yeah, baby!” Mikey grinned and pumped a fist. Leo was excited because Mikey was excited. And also because more of that magic stuff was happening.

“Orange, careful,” Splinter-Dad chuckled.

“Sorry,” the orange light dimmed, along with it Mikey’s smile. Leo frowned.

Before he could say anything about it, a bunch of people burst into the lair, panting and sweaty. He recognized his Mommy and Apples. Leaping from the chair, he ran for their knees. “Mommy! Apples!”

“Leo!” they scooped him up in their arms and twirled him around. “We were worried sick!” Mommy scolded, taking him fully from April and onto her hip.

Leo giggled. “I found my Orange!” he beamed.

“You said that before, what does that mean…?” Mommy glanced up at the room, seeing the band of turtle mutants and a squat rat mutant circling the trio.

“Like my picture!” Leo said. “Orange, Purple, and Red! They’re my colors.”

And there were indeed Orange, Purple, and Red colored turtles. The orange themed one waved when they made eye contact. Mommy waved back.

“You found my Purple and Red,” Leo squealed happily. “Thank you, Mommy!”

“Well, actually, April found them,” Mommy said. “Red is Raph.”

Leo gasped, turning on April with wide eyes. “Apples! You didn’t tell me Raph was my Red! Why’d you not let me meet him?”

“I didn’t know about any colors,” April held up her hands in surrender.

Leo just pouted.

“By Darwin’s beard,” Purple stepped closer, ogling Leo. “It’s really him. A bit younger than I pictured… Mikey, how’d you find him?”

Mikey sheepishly scrubbed the back of his neck. “Oh, you know. Just by rescuing him from a scary kidnapper dude with a crazy villain mustache.”

Mommy held Leo tighter. “You were almost kidnapped??”

Leo didn’t really wanna think about the scary guy, so instead he beamed and said, “Loo Jisoo saved me!”

“I was wearing a Lou Jitsu costume,” Mikey said as way of explanation. Splinter-Dad just gave that high-judgy brow again and Mikey glanced away, poking his fingers together and head slightly sinking into his shell.

“Well, thank you for keeping Leo out of trouble,” Mommy said, “but it’s time for us to go home.”

“What?!” all the turtles--including Leo--and, surprisingly, Splinter-Dad shouted. “No, no! I don’t wanna go home yet, I just found them!”

“You can’t take my son,” Splinter-Dad said, tail whipping back and forth in irritation.

“ Your son,” Mommy scoffed. “Excuse me, did you take care of him from infancy until now?” At Splinter-Dad’s ear droop, Mommy said, “Thought so. C’mon, kids.”

“Wait,” Purple held up a hand, eyebrows nearly touching with how hard he was scowling. “How about taking our brother . Sure, you may have taken care of him until now, but Leo belongs with us .”

Purple was right. Leo could feel it in his soul. But also…

“So you expect me to just dump my son here and leave?”

Leo gripped tightly to Mommy’s shirt. “No! Don’t--I don’t want that!”

Purple’s jaw worked, clenching and unclenching his hands, as Mommy shushed Leo with a gentle hand to his shell, giving him soft pets. Red’s--Raph’s--tail flicked back and forth in agitation. A dangerous, territorial sound emanated from him. 

“But, he’s ours ,” Mikey said, pleading. “He’s been missing for…” he swallowed. “We just got him back. You can’t just--just take him away.”

“Then maybe you shouldn’t have abandoned him,” Mommy spat. Splinter-Dad flinched as though he’d been hit. “Left him for my daughter to find in a bush.”

“Mom,” April placed a hand on Mommy’s shoulder.

“I didn’t mean to--I didn’t want to leave him,” Splinter-Dad said, lip trembling. The lair felt colder.

“Well, it still happened,” Mommy said, icy. “If you think I’m letting you take my son away from me, you’ve got another thing coming.”

“Now hang on--”

“That’s not fair--!”

“Ridiculous--”

The whole group fell apart, shouting at each other and gesturing harshly. Leo was held far away from the group of turtles. April got up in Purple’s face and poked his plastron, her face mean. Purple shot back words that Leo didn’t like. Raph growled angrily, stepping up in front of Mommy threateningly. Mommy held her ground, not budging an inch. Splinter-Dad and Mikey were in the back, the rat holding tightly onto Mikey’s hand as orange sparks danced up and down the turtle’s arms.

He didn’t want this. He didn’t want any of this! He just wanted to see his colors, why did that have to mean that he couldn’t be with Mommy anymore?

“Stop fighting!” Leo’s shout had them all faltering. “Stop, please, stop fighting.”

And then he burst into tears.

The sight of crying toddler had all of them scrambling to fix it, Mommy holding tight to Leo and rocking him back and forth. Tensions died down, hackles lowered, and a temporary truce was put in place. It took a long while--once Leo got going, he usually couldn’t stop--but eventually he tired himself out and leaned heavily against Mommy.

“No--No more fighting,” he hiccupped and rubbed his eyes. “I jus’ want everyone to get along. I wanna be with Mommy and Apples, but I also wanna see my colors and get to know Splinter-Dad.”

The others looked at one another, distrust and previous misgivings still sharp between them. With a sigh, Mommy brushed her curls back behind her ear and said, “I apologize. I may have had a few… assumptions about what happened to my baby. I’m Carol O’Neil.” She held out her hand to shake with Splinter-Dad. He hesitantly shook back with a soft Splinter in return.

“You mentioned earlier: a bush?” Splinter-Dad asked, coming closer. “When I…” he choked, “ lost him, Baby Blue was with the rest in a lab fire. I thought he had been claimed by the flames.”

Mommy said, “April found him in a bush by a swing set, three years ago.”

“To be fair,” April cut in. “I saw a bright orange light, and then I found Leo in a bush.”

“Huh,” Purple started scribbling something in a notebook. Leo wondered if he was drawing something. Leo kinda wanted to draw something right now. Anything to get away from this upsetting conversation.

“Why’s he so little?” Mikey asked, coming back into the conversation now that things had settled and he wasn’t so glow-y. “Blue--Leo, he should be our age, right?”

“Indeed,” Splinter-Dad’s hands folded into his robes. “He would have been about Donatello’s age.”

Purple perked up at his name. Leo was gonna call him Tello for now, that other name was way too long. “I guess that would explain the eyes.”

“Oh, hey, yeah,” Raph chimed in. “He’s got opposite eyes to you, Dee.”

Tello hummed.

“I don’t know,” Mommy finally answered Splinter-Dad’s question. “When we found him, he was about a year old.”

“Three years ago?” Splinter-Dad confirmed.

Mommy nodded.

“Strange,” Splinter-Dad said, looking puzzled. “Perhaps there was something in a lab that sent him forwards in time, right to April.”

They pondered that. Leo yawned and snuggled into Mommy’s side.

“Well, in any case, he clearly doesn’t want to give anyone up,” Mommy huffed. “We’ll have to work out visitation, I guess.”

Splinter-Dad’s ears went up. “Visitation? You’ll allow us to see him again?”

Mommy sighed. “To be honest, I was thinking about helping you guys out anyways, before all of this happened. Now, I just have more context to who you all are. My feelings on the matter shouldn’t change the fact that April is friends with Raph, or that Leo’s brothers have a right to see their missing family member.”

“Family sticks together,” April folded her arms, then stepped forward and thrust her hand out for a shake. “Sorry for what I said. I’m just a little… protective of my brother.”

Tello shook her hand quickly, then pulled his hand away just as fast. “Apology accepted.”

She waited. When he gave nothing back, April scowled. “This is the part where you apologize back, boy.”

“I meant what I said, though. If you don’t let me see my brother, I will result to violence.”

April leapt on him, gnawing on his head. Tello squawked and flailed. Leo giggled.

The crying jag finally caught up with him. Feeling safe and warm in the knowledge that things would work out, he drifted into a calm sleep, surrounded by all of his family.