Chapter 1
"Take that, you creepy bastard!" I cringed at the sound of flesh bumping into flesh. What the hell was going on? It took a minute for my eyes to adjust to the dark and even after that, I didn't seem to be seeing right. Only a moment ago, I had been cornered by some guys who to chat with me, and now, they were getting their ass handed to them by... lizards? Turtles? Four guys in a green costume? What the hell?
"Stay back!" one of the creatures called out.
"Yeah, thanks, I wasn't really planning on getting involved.." I mumbled to myself. "What the hell is go-" A hand was suddenly clasped over my mouth and my words were cut off. Now what? First I get mugged, then some weirdoes in green costumes show up and now this guy thinks he can take me on, huh? I opened my mouth wide and bit.
"Aargh!" He looked up at me in anger. "Oh, I'm gonna make you regret that, you little bitch!" "Not before we are gonna make you regret bothering her first!" a voice sounded, just before he was hit on the hit with a... staff? My night turned out to involve a lot of 'What the hells'. Startled, I fell back on the ground. Damnit, one of my eyes had been hit, I could already feel the swelling coming on. Great. Another injury to explain at school.
"You okay?"
I opened my not-black eye and looked up.
"What the..." I mumbled. "It's not Halloween, you know."
"We know", a rough, low voice sounded. "Though you could still thank us, ya know. We kinda saved your butt there."
"Well, geez, sorry I hadn't gotten over the fact that you're walking around looking all freaks!" "Well, these 'freaks' saved you. Might wanna be thankful!"
"Seriously, you're lecturing me?" I stood up angrily, ignoring the extended - and green, three-fingered - hand.
"You're saying I don't have the right?"
"No, you don't! Who the hell do you even think you are, you freak!"
The guy - thing - creature... whatever cracked his knuckles. Green-brown eyes, surrounded by a frown, were looking at me, rage barely hidden inside them.
"You wanna go, huh?" the creature rumbled. "HUH?"
"Raph!" The one with the blue mask grabbed his arm. "Leave her alone!"
"Didn't you hear what she said? She just insulted us!"
"She's just startled!"
"Well, I'll smack some-"
"Knock it off!" The guy with the purple mask. He seemed nice. Still weird, though. He stepped forward.
"Sorry about that, Raph's got a bit of a temper..." I looked over his shoulder. "Might be a bit of an understatement."
A snort, then, "We know." He extended his hand. "Donatello", he introduced himself. I took his hand and tried a smile. It didn't seem to fit on my face.
"Dana. Nice to meet you. And ehm..." Ugh, I would never get over this. "Thanks. You know, for saving me and all."
Donatello smiled. "No problem!"
"So, care to tell me what exactly..." ... you are? was how I planned to finish that sentence but the chance was taken away from me as a fourth green guy crashed into me.
"Do you like pizza?" he asked screaming.
"Mikey! Get off of her! She's scared enough as it is!" the blue one said.
"I'm not scared!" I said indignantly. "I'm just... surprised."
"Yeah, right", the red one snorted.
"So that's why you screamed."
I glared at him. "What's your problem, knucklehead?"
"Hey!" Mikey said. "I said: do you like pizza?" He was still hugging me. He reminded me a bit of my younger brother, and the thought made me smile.
"Yeah, I do."
"Awesome! Wanna have some at our place?"
"Mikey!" it sounded from three mouths.
"What?"
"Just let her go, OK?" Donatello said.
"Oh, right... Sorry!" Mikey grinned, got up and offered me his hand. I took it without hesitating. Maybe these guys weren't so bad after all.
"So, anyway - we're turtles", Donatello continued as if nothing had interrupted him. Guess he was used to Mikey's behaviour. Now that he mentioned it, I noticed the things on their backs. I had taken it for armour but apparently, I'd been wrong. Of sorts.
"Explains the shells", I answered. Donatello smiled.
"Leonardo", the one with the blue mask introduced himself. "Sorry about Raph, he's got-" "Quite a temper, yeah, Donatello mentioned it."
"Just Donnie, please."
"Sorry", I said, rubbing my neck. "Didn't know you guys had nicknames. Anyway..."
They were all looking at me now. Donatello - no, Donnie - clearly stood a little higher than the rest. It was easy to guess who their leader was, with the way Leonardo carried himself. Mikey's behaviour also spoke volumes, and the way the rest stood around him, protecting him from whatever danger might come, only confirmed my suspicions. I knew a youngest sibling when I saw one.
The first tear was already on its way down my cheek when I noticed the wet trail it left, and I quickly wiped it away. No need for them to know what they reminded me of, in spite of their unusual appearance.
I sighed. The ground was suddenly much more interesting. "Thanks. For... for saving me."
I gave the red one - he hadn't introduced himself but I was pretty sure I knew who he was - a long stare, to make sure he wasn't going to complain about me not thanking them. "I really would've been in some trouble if you hadn't shown up."
"No problem, Dana", Donnie said.
"Yeah, don't mention it!" Mikey responded. Suddenly, a thoughtful look crossed his face. "Unless... you're gonna reward us with pizza?!"
"Mikey!" Raph - short for Raphael, I assumed - punched him in the head. So he had some sort of idea about appropriate behaviour. I laughed.
"No, actually, that might be a good idea, I'm hungry anyway. Pizza is on me, OK?" Suddenly, my ribs got crushed in a terrifyingly strong embrace.
"I love you, Dana", Mikey said gleefully. I smiled, a little awkward at his serious tone. He was either quickly - too quickly - attached to people, or took his pizza very seriously. The rest just rolled their eyes. Guess this wasn't new to them, either. I managed to pull Mikey off of me.
"Let's go!"
As the turtles gobbled up their pizza, I enjoyed the view. Leo - one 'Leonardo' had had him coughing and looking at the sky, followed up by a softly-whispered request of calling him Leo - had insisted on eating pizza on the rooftops, as they were too exposed down on the streets. Guess that made sense. I'd never seen New York from such a high place.
It was amazing.
You could see for miles from here, admire the whole skyline, the silhouettes of the buildings outlined by a perfectly clear sky filled with stars and a full moon.
"It's beautiful, right?"
"Woah!" I said, catching onto a ledge. "Geez, you could've said something."
"I did, didn't I? I said the city is beautiful."
"Didn't know you had a poet hidden somewhere down there", I answered dryly. Raphael's cheeks turned a shade greener. My eyebrows crept up my forehead. Was he blushing? I grinned.Oh, I am so taking advantage of that.
"Being shy, are we?"
"Am not!" he huffed, quickly shooting a glance over his shoulders. To check if the rest hadn't heard or seen anything. He really was shy, in a weird way.
"Sorry", I offered. Silence. I looked sideways and saw Raphael looking down. Down at the streets, the people there, having dinner in fancy restaurants, dancing in clubs, having get-togethers in their houses... That look... I recognise it.
"What are you looking down at, man?" He turned away from the streets.
"Look up. Look at the sky, it's beautiful tonight! So many stars that are shining down on us, accompanied by the moon..." My voice trailed off.
"Quite the poet yourself, huh?" I could practically hear the grin in his voice.
"Guess I am", I answered softly. Again, silence. The others were still eating pizza, or well - from the sounds of it, it seemed like Donnie and Leo were trying to get their pizza back from Mikey.
"Sorry 'bout tonight."
A ause.
"I... I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. It's just.. I don't... I'm not..." It seemed he couldn't find the words. Or maybe he's having a struggle with himself. "I just don't like being called a freak, OK!" The end of the sentence came out angry, muffled. Pained.
Oops. I should have realised that one must have hurt.
What was I supposed to say to something like that? An apology isn't going cut it.
It's a start, though.
"I'm sorry", I said, keeping my voice soft. Pretty sure he doesn't want his brothers to know he has feelings and all. Although he's the only one who believes they're unaware of that. Siblings tend to know stuff you don't want them to know.
"I should've known. I just... I guess I wasn't thinking then. I was kinda startled by being saved by giant turtles." He snorted, then laughed.
"Yeah, I guess that doesn't happen every night, does it?"
I shook my head. "Nope. Neither does having pizza with the turtles who saved me on top of the one of the tallest buildings of the city. And having a conversation with one of those turtles named Raphael on that building also doesn't make it to the list of my regular activities at night."
A hum of agreement followed. "Just Raph is alright, you know. Only Master Splinter calls us by our full names."
"Master Splinter?"
"Our father. Well, not technically, or biologically, or whatever. I mean, he's a rat after all, and-"
"Wait, what? "There's more?"
"More what?"
"You know... Ehm... Mutants."
"For a minute there, I thought you were gonna say 'freaks'."
"I wouldn't dare!" I said, pretending to be offended. "You don't look like someone you wanna mess with."
I threw him a sideway glance, hopefully unseen, saw a smile tugged at his lips. That's better. "Only when you're trying to hurt my brothers, or my father."
"They're your brothers?"
"What else should they be?"
"I don't know." I paused. "I mean, I figured you were just some guys in costumes, so I didn't really give it much thought."
"Hmm. Fair enough."
"Okay, so, you were telling me about Master Splinter? Your father?"
"Master Splinter is awesome, dude!" Mikey sat down between us, unmindful of concepts such as privacy, or secrecy. Or decency.
"He taught us ninja-stuff, and-"
"Mikey, it's called ninjutsu!" Leo butted in. Maybe it's a family trait.
"Who cares? Anyway, look what I can do!" And the youngest turtle got up, and did a backflip across the gap that separated the building we had claimed as our place to have pizza and the one on the other side of the street. Nine feet, forty feet above street level.
"Watch out! Mikey!" Donnie put a hand on my shoulder.
"Relax, Dana. We're trained to do this."
To my surprise, Mikey was standing on the other building, grinning and waving.
"Mikey, get back here!" Leo whispered. "We gotta go home anyway."
Right, home. The encounter with the turtles had completely driven that thought from my mind. Home, as if. More like a hole, filled with bitches and jerks.
"Everything OK, Dana?" My mood swing had not gone unnoticed.
"Yeah, yeah, definitely!" I chirped. "It's been really nice meeting you!"
I got up from the floor. "If you just get me down to the streets safely, I'll be on my way home."
"We're not letting you go alone", Leo said. Damned chivalry. "We'll... walk you home."
"But you always go on about being too expo-"
"I mean we get her down there, she walks home, and we'll follow her across the rooftops." "Oh, right. Makes sense", Mikey said. He grinned.
Again, and was pulled along in his cheerfulness. For a moment, only for a moment.
"So, where do you live, Dana?" Donnie asked.
"I- uhm- you really don't have to-"
"Of course we do", Leo said. "It's not safe."
"No, really, it's okay, I can take care of myself and-"
"Yeah, we saw that", Raph snorted. "No way, girl. Just tell us, alright?" They had formed a wall of green in front of me. Now what do I do? How do you get rid of ninjas?
"I can't, OK?"
"Why not?" Leo asked.
"Yeah, Dana, we just wanna thank you for the pizza!" Mikey announced.
"Dana, are you OK?"
"Why can't you just tell us?"
"C'mon, it can't be that bad, you can tell-"
"BecauseI don't have a home, OK?"
Damn it, this again. That stupid humiliation. It's not my fault I'm alone, is it?
"I-I mean, I have a house. Well, sort of, but I got a roof over my head, that's all. It's just- I- It doesn't feel like a home."
The turtles blinked. Leo approached me and laid a hand on my shoulder.
"I'm sorry. I- we didn't know."
"I don't want to think of it as a home."
"How about we take you back to your house, then?"
"That'd... be tolerable."
A hand in my hair, ruffling it up. "It's sweet you still think you have a choice."
Oh, he's wearing a grin alright. Red-masked bastard.
"Ooh, ooh, I got an idea!"
"What, Mikey?" Leo said annoyed.
"Let's take her home to our place!"
My head shot up. "You guys have a home?"
"Sure we do!" Mikey said. "I mean, it's in the sewers but still-"
"Shut up, Mikey!" Raph hissed, every trace of tease and play gone.
"What? I was just-"
I turned away. Even they had a home. They were giant mutant turtles, mutant ninja turtles, for crying out loud, and even they had a home! The world was so freaking unfair! I wanted to be able to go home every day, to have people waiting for me when I got back, to have my own room, my own bed, a warm place to return to... My eyes widened. Seriously, you're saying you're being treated unfairly? What about them? They're freaking turtles! They can't even show themselves on the street... What am I whining about? Is this what being alone has done to me? And you, fucking tears, stop leaking from my eyes. There's no reason to come out, stupid idiots.
Strong arms embraced me and I was scooped up from the roof.
"You're coming home with us", Raph said. I could feel the humming of his voice in his chest. "Like I said, no choice."