Chapter One - 13 Years Later
Lightening streaked across the sky as a crack of thunder chased it. But the lone figure that stood atop the roofs paid it no mind nor did he heed to the rain that the night threatened him with. His eyes scanned the darkness that stretched out before him, covering the city that had been his home for nearly thirty years. It was his domain, his to protect and for the last twelve years he had done so alone.
He knew for a time that the evil he fought every night had been winning. The cold metal that was now his right hand was a reminder and proof of that, but the balance was starting to shift back.
Another flash and this time the thunder boomed causing him to finally look up at the night sky with an unimpressed glance. He had once long ago enjoyed being topside during a storm. The smell of rain on the air, wild winds and watching as Mother Nature reminded the city that she was still the dominant one and could wipe them away if she wanted. But now it was a reminder of things… of people… best forgotten. Because there was no changing the past, no rewriting history… no bringing people back…
Roughly shaking his head to rid himself of those particular thoughts and people. There was no point in them.
This time when the thunder cracked, he knew it was time to go. Moving like a shadow, he leapt across the rooftops, but as he moved those thoughts he had pushed away came back…
"Hey, guys … I'm not going back."
A light sweat broke out on his skin; panting slightly as he pushed himself to go faster. The mere memory still made him feel sick. He would later realized part the feelings racing through him in the moment Mike had said he was staying came from the realization of going back without one of his brothers. But another part … and, if he was honest with himself, the largest part … came from the fact that it wasn't just any brother. No, it was Michelangelo. Mikey, his little brother and best friend. The one who would hide out with him as they waited out the wars Leo and Raph raged against each other.
He had turned to his slightly older brother, knowing he would be the one to set Mikey straight.
"I been thinkin' the same thing, Leo. People appreciate us here. We don't have ta live like moles."
His discomfort kicked up a notch and he ran even faster has though he could out run these memories.
In desperation he turned to his eldest brother. His responsible brother. His last hope.
"Actually…"
But in the end even Leo had let him down.
Then, as Raphael would say, turtle luck was running true to form for the scepter began glowing and spinning.
Gasping for air, April's words… her last desperate attempt to convince them to go back… rang in his ears…
"You can not split up. You're brothers."
He broke out into a full out sprint to escape; running away from them. He didn't want to remember what happened next…
What he realized next…
He was the only one who wanted to go back to New York, and that meant … his brothers didn't care. They didn't care if he was there. They didn't care if they were separated. They didn't … they didn't—
He stumbled and fell to his knees. Tears leaking out of his tears, no matter the determination he had to hold them back; to not let them fall…
His heart pound as those it would explode his chest tightened with pain… anger… resentment… fear.
The decision on his brothers' faces was telling. It hadn't mattered what either he or April had said. It had not mattered what Mitsu had said to Mikey. They were staying…
And they hadn't cared that he wasn't.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
He threw his head back and let out an inarticulate roar of anger and grief. The anger took over his body as he lashed out whatever was closest. Vent shafts were dented an ripped from their settings to pay for his brothers' crime… The wooden rooftop shed had holes punched in its walls, its door splintered into pieces.
When the destructiveness had passed the grief took hold. He could still see in his mind, his father's face when only he and April returned. The look of devastation and grief had marred his master's until his death.
Because on the one year anniversary of his return (his brothers' abandonment of them), he father passed away.
He had not been enough to keep his father around. He alone was not enough reason for his father to keep wanting to live. And that hurt as much if not more than his brothers choosing to remain in feudal Japan without him.
With great difficultly he shoved those memories back into the darkest places of his mind.
He stood on shaking legs, bracing himself on the ledge of the roof. He felt alone in the world.
And in the truest sense of the word, he was alone; the last of his kind, the last of his species.
But in another way, he wasn't. He still had family. Just not the one he wanted; the one he had grown up with.
He closed his eyes, and focused on making his mind go blank. He knew with all the noise he had made, he needed to leave before he was discovered. Descending on a nearby fire escape, he was able to get his breathing and heart back under control.
When he reached the alleyway below, he cast on last look up at the night sky. He had wished, once long ago, that things could be different…
That he could freely visit his friends and honorary 'neices and nephews'…
That his father was still alive…
That his brothers had come back with him…
That his brothers would come now…
But those days passed just a few weeks after his father died. As had the days where he could dream and make wishes.
His brothers had seen to death of those things.
His anger would have to wait until tomorrow night, the anniversary of his family's abandonment of him. And tomorrow when he allowed the thoughts of his brothers and father to come to mind and fuel his anger, than he would unleash it on the thugs and criminals of New York and they would pay the heavy price for that anger.
Because tomorrow night, it would not be the Phantom the darkness needed to worry about…
It would the once gentle and peaceful turtle that would wear the gear of his youth and the purple bandana his father and master had given him nearly twenty-five years ago…
For one night those that plagued the night would fear the name…
Donatello.