Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Raph let out a growl, kicking a stray can as he stomped through the sewer tunnels near the lair. It wasn’t like he had meant to aim at Leo, and yet he was the only one that was lectured. He kicked the can when it came back into range, his mood not improving as the dented tube of metal moved away before hitting the wall, before bouncing into the water. Raph glared at the can as it bobbed up and down, slowly floating away. Now he had nothing to keep his attention from training.

Letting out a huff of air, he slid down the wall, crossing his arms over his knees. It just wasn’t fair. He’d been working just as hard as Leo and the others, but with just one mistake, he found himself on the receiving end of Sensei’s anger. Gripping his arms tight, he began to mentally prepare for the return to the lair; better to get the second lecture that was coming his way over with sooner rather than later.

Pushing himself up, he froze. What was that? Not moving, he strained his ears, trying to pick up what he thought he heard. Nothing. Was he imagining it? He moved to turn back towards the lair when something else caught his attention. Turning, he was shocked and confused at the sight before him.

Light, almost like a kaleidoscope, of light gold and blueish green, moved at the end of the tunnel near one of the corners. Remembering Sensei’s warnings of remaining hidden, he began to slowly back away from the light, trying to be as silent as possible.

Help.

Raph felt his body stiffen. Did he just hear someone asking for help? This was becoming more freaky the longer he stayed here. He moved to begin running back home.

Help. Please.

Looking back at the now-fading light, his curiosity began to become stronger than his fear. Slowly shuffling along the wall, he moved towards the corner, focusing on keeping his movements as quiet as possible. By the time he had made it to the corner, the light had completely disappeared, but now something else had caught his attention. It sounded like… chirping?

Peaking around the corner, his suspicion quickly turned to shocked confusion. In front of him, lying on its front with a dark green cloth wrapped around it, was a small turtle. Based on the size, the turtle was most likely a mutant with red stripes curling over its closed eyes and two more on each arm in yellow. They constantly let out chirps and clicks, and as he moved closer, he noticed that they were covered in multiple wounds, thankfully nothing that looked life-threatening from what he could tell. He carefully kneeled in front of them, slowly reaching a hand forward.

“Where did you- OW!”

Shocked, Raph could only stare, not even pulling away, as the smaller turtle latched its beak down on his hand with a small hiss.

“Hey! I’m trying to help… you?”

The turtle, not removing their beak but loosening the strength of their bite, opened their eyes, showing their right eye was red and the left was blue; both seemed to be more vibrant than his own green eyes. They stared up at him, their eyes wide and full of terror as their body was visibly shaking. Raph let out a small sigh, coming to a decision.

“You were just scared, weren’t you.” He said, gently pulling his hand out of their beak.

Reaching down, he placed his hands underneath their arms to pull them up, only to stop and freeze as the turtle released a loud, pain-filled screech. Slowly, he put the turtle back down on the ground. Looking over the turtle, none of the wounds that he could see looked like they would have caused that kind of response. What was he missing?

A whine from the turtle quickly caught his attention, where they were attempting to pull themselves into their shell, only to stop partway through, their face scrunched up in pain as they let out another whine. Raph felt his body fill with fear, his eyes moving from the turtle to the cloth wrapped around its back. Please let him be wrong. Please let him be wrong. Carefully, not wanting to scare them more than they were already, he grabbed hold of the cloth, gently pulling it off the turtle’s shell. His eyes widened at the sight hidden beneath.

Cracks and blood covered the top of the shell, with some of the cracks thinner than Sensei’s whiskers while others were almost as thick as some of Donnie’s pencils. How was he supposed to move them with this kind of wound? What did Sensei say he had to do when he cracked his plastron as a baby? Would that work in this situation? His own crack was on his front and was much, much smaller. Should he leave them and get Sensei? He would most likely know what to do.

Placing the cloth back down, he stood up and turned to run back down the tunnels towards home when a cry came from the turtle, this one full of fear. Frozen mid-step, he slowly turned his head to look at the smaller turtle. Their eyes, blown wide and staring right at him, were full of tears as they reached a hand towards him, whimpers and soft chirps escaping their beak. Raph could feel his face pinching in worry. He needed to get Sensei if he was gonna help them, but they obviously didn’t want to be alone either. What was he supposed to do now?

“Raph!”

The call of his older brother quickly caught his attention, an idea quickly forming. Looking back at the turtle, he gave them a smile he hoped was reassuring.

“I’m not leaving.” He told them softly. “But I know how to get help.”

He moved to the corner of the tunnel, trying not to freeze when the other turtle let out a small whine, as he called out for his brother.

“Leo, over here!”

Peaking around the corner, he saw his brother running towards him, a look of concern on his face.

“Raph,” he started, stopping before the other, “about what happened during training, I-”

Raph cut him off. “Whatever you have to say can wait. I need your help.”

Without waiting for a response, he moved back to the new turtle, kneeling down in front of them as they reached for his hand. Leo’s gasp of shock soon came to his ears as the older moved over to them, kneeling down on Raph’s right.

“Where did they…” Leo trailed off.

“I don’t know, but they’re hurt.” Raph said, carefully lifting the cloth to show his blue-clad brother. Raph felt Leo tense up as the wounds came into view.

“I don’t know how to move them without hurting them further. I need you to run back and get Sensei.”

Leo looked back and forth at Raph and the turtle before nodding, determination taking over his face. He quickly stood up and began running down the tunnel. Raph let out a sigh of relief. Now all he could do was wait, trying to keep the turtle calm.

Chapter Text

Splinter rushed down the tunnel following his eldest, thoughts in a panic. Who and where did this strange turtle come from? Were there others? Was this new turtle somehow connected to that strange group that tried to capture him and his sons all those years ago? Leonardo quickly turned a corner where he could hear Raphael and what sounded like soft chirping. Turning the corner himself, he soon came upon the sight of his elder sons kneeling next to a turtle infant, but his senses remained heightened, like someone was watching them.

He moved towards the trio of turtles, the older two moving to give him space between them. The young turtle was small, smaller than he remembered his sons being when they were younger, which caused his heart to clench in pain at the sight of their shell. What had attacked an infant and with enough malice to warrant damaging the shell to this extent? Slowly, so as not to startle the little one more than they already were, he reached towards them, pausing as they gave a slight flinch at his paw.

“It is alright, little one.” He assured. “No one here wishes you harm.”

The turtle continued to watch him, their body trembling from pain or fear, Splinter didn’t know, most likely a mix of the two. Raphael moved his hand towards the small turtle, where they grabbed onto one of his fingers, holding it tight to their face. Seeing that the smaller one was currently calmed down, he once again moved to pick the little one up, the cloth sliding off and to the floor. This time, he was allowed to, carefully sliding one hand underneath their plastron, where he could feel even more cracks, though thankfully none felt as large as the ones on their back. He slowly moved them towards his chest, laying them as flat as possible along his opposite arm, their head laying in the crook of his elbow. The entire time the turtle had refused to let go of his son’s finger.

“Sensei?”

Splinter looked towards Leonardo, who had moved to pick up the cloth. His fingers held onto what looked like a pin. Holding out his free hand for the object, Leonardo placed it in his palm so he could observe it more closely. The pin was simple in style, a simple needle with a circular head, but the symbol on the pin quickly caught his attention. It was a simple circle divided into five equal parts, each with a small dot in the middle; it reminded him of the symbol for the Hamato Clan, if in a slightly more simpler style.

A whine brought his attention back to the turtle in his arm. The bleeding of their shell thankfully looked to have slowed down, but the grimace of pain on their face reminded him that they needed immediate medical attention. He could study the pin more later; right now, they needed to return to the lair. Standing up, he turned to his sons, Raphael still holding his hand out to the new turtle.

“Let us return home.”

“Hai, Sensei.” The two responded.

Motioning the two to move forward, he began to follow them when a chirp from the turtle caught his attention. Looking down at them, he was confused when they were looking at something behind them.

Thank you.

The sudden voice caused him to tense as he whipped around. His body remained tense when no one was in view, but he swore he saw what looked to be a young woman before he blinked and she was gone. His eyes quickly scanned the tunnel. His senses could tell that something was in the area, but he couldn’t see anything. Small hands took hold of his sleeve, his attention moving to the small turtle in his arms. The little one stared up at him, their beak quivering, from fear or pain he didn’t know, before they looked back in the direction that Splinter swore he saw the woman in. Could this small turtle see the woman or could they sense her presence like he could?

He could feel Leonardo and Raphael each grabbing a side of his kimono. He would meditate on the situation later; right now, they needed to get this little one back and taken care of.

Chapter Text

“Easy, little one. We’re almost done.”

Donnie handed Splinter the gauze to tighten around the patch on the turtle’s shell. He didn’t know that there were other mutant turtles out there, let alone ones that were different species. Based on the stripes, the turtle was most likely a red-eared slider, unlike him and his brothers, who were most likely diamondback terrapins from his research from trying to find out what kind of turtles they were.

“Does this mean we have a new brother?” Mikey grinned next to him as Splinter finished wrapping up the squirming baby turtle.

“More like a sister.” Donnie corrected, pointing at their tail. “They’re most likely a red-eared slider based off of their stripes. The females tend to have smaller tails than the males.”

Looking at the smaller turtle, Donnie swore she gave him a stink eye at the mention of being female. Was she able to understand what they were saying despite her age? Gulping down his nervousness, he looked to Splinter, who wore a look of consideration.

“Perhaps.” He finally said. “I am curious how she ended up in the sewers in her state. Her wounds and age would have kept her from moving, so someone would have had to have placed her where we would find her.”

“Do you think someone will come looking for her?” Leo asked, Raph next to him moving closer to where the younger turtle lay on the table.

“If they do, they're gonna have to get through me!” Raph growled out.

“I do not know if someone will be coming after her; most likely, someone attempted to get her to safety.” Splinter pondered, bringing up the cloth that was wrapped around her, unfolding it to show a long green scarf. “Whoever had left her there clearly took the time to wrap her with this in a way that wouldn’t aggravate her shell.”

“Do you think they might be related to the Hamato Clan Sensei?” Leo asked, pointing at the pin with the modified-looking Hamato symbol.

Splinter gently pulled on his beard in thought.

“I am unsure.” He finally said. “As far as I am aware, we are the last of the Hamato Clan, and any clans that would have been off branches would have still been considered a part of the clan itself.”

While Splinter was considering how the slider ended up where she did, Donnie turned his attention back to said turtle and nearly flinched back. The turtle, while holding tightly to Raph’s hand, was staring straight at him with a look that he couldn’t define. Were they still annoyed when he mentioned them being a girl, or was there something about him that caught her attention? Either way, the intense look that she was giving him was a bit too much for comfort. Quickly looking away, he moved closer to Mikey.

“Dude, she hasn’t stopped looking at you.” Mikey whispered with a grin. “Maybe she likes you?”

“We haven’t even properly interacted with each other.” Donnie countered. “I doubt that-”

“Chir-chirp!”

Donnie quickly turned to look at the turtle as they kept repeating the same double chirp, their free hand reaching out to the purple-clad turtle.

“Yah sure about that?” Leo grinned at the tallest of the siblings.

Donnie could only stare in frozen shock as the turtle continued to make that same call towards him.

“Well.” Raph gruffed out. “Get over here.”

Donnie, still in shock, slowly moved towards the table. The turtle’s beak began to open into a smile as she gripped a hold of his hand. With a final call, she looked up at him expectantly.

“Um… hi?” he cautiously said. How was he supposed to interact with a baby?

Her face quickly morphed into confusion before she once again repeated the double chirp. Confusion began to fill Donnie’s own mind. What did she want him to do? She eventually stopped chirping when Donnie didn’t respond, looking away with tears starting to form in her eyes.

“Hey, hey, hey.” He quickly said, curling her hand in his own where it still held his finger. “I-I’m sorry, I don’t understand what you want?”

“What does she want from you?” Raph muttered.

“Does it look like I know?” Donnie whispered back at the older.

“It kind of sounded like she was calling out to you, Dee.” Mikey said, kneeling down between his brothers, giving the slider a smile. “Maybe she thought you were someone else?”

“I doubt it.” Donnie muttered. “I read that babies don’t really remember much at this age.”

“Actually, Donatello.” Splinter interrupted, gently gathering the baby slider into his arms. “While yes, children at this age have little to no memories of events until they are older, that does not mean that they lack the ability to remember impressions and features of people that they are close to. When you four were this young, you easily recognized me as your guardian and protector. What Michelangelo spoke of does have merit.”

Mikey grinned at Donnie, most likely about being right about something Donnie wasn’t, before turning to Splinter.

“So what are we gonna name her?” He asked, chuckling when he moved closer and felt the turtle start patting the top of his head. “I mean, we can’t keep calling her ‘the turtle’ or ‘baby’.”

Splinter seemed to think it over before looking at the young turtle in his arms.

“How about…” He began. “Venus.”

The brothers all gave different sounds of agreement as they grouped around their father and new sibling. While his brothers and father seemed to listen to Mikey’s rambling on future adventures with their new sister, Donnie focused on said turtle and he swore she was pouting as the others kept calling her Venus.