After saving Sapphire, Amber feels paranoia everywhere she goes, and it's justified when she gets a strange package from an unknown source. As everything begins to escalate, hidden animal instincts begin to arise, making her moody and temperamental. What will happen when love borderlines obssession, and Amber is stuck with a choice: Gain great power, but lose everything that makes her HER, or lose her body to something everyone experiences...death... LeoOC and RaphOC

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A few months after the incident with Riku, everything seemed to have calmed down, and Amber couldn't be happier. Crime activity had been low lately, and Amber loved just being able to relax. Raph was teaching Sapphire Ninjitsu, with help from Leo and Don of course, while Amber and Mikey watched TV or played video games together. Today, however, Amber wanted to go to a gym topside to work out. She had on a dark red sports bra and tight black Capri's, with comfortable white sneakers.

She grabbed a water bottle before heading out, and then immediately headed to the punching bag. The series of punches and kicks were simple for her, second nature, while it might have been extremely difficult for someone else her age to do. She worked up a sweat after a hard hour of exercise, when she headed to another workout machine, starting it up easily. She didn't usually go to the gym, since she was unable to practice any of her weapons there, but she came now and then for some social interaction, though a few guys would come up to her, asking her out, and she'd politely decline, saying she was taken, though sometimes it didn't dissuade them.

Being a ninja, she could feel someone watching her every move, and would glance around randomly every now and then to see if she could catch the person, though she never did. After her workout, she grabbed her water bottle, and couldn't help but feel eyes devouring her, and she couldn't tell herself that it was paranoia. After she left, walking 'aimlessly' around, she eventually felt she lost whoever it was when she went through some well-known alleys, before heading through a manhole to the lair. She never liked people staring at her for any other reasons besides battle, because she became self conscious and somewhat shy. When she walked into the lair, wiping some sweat off her forehead, she saw Sapphire perk before turning to face her, a worried expression on her face, though she was careful not to disturb Raph, who had fallen asleep with his arm around her shoulders.

Amber smiled uneasily before going into the kitchen. She saw Leo making some tea as Donnie tinkered with a small contraption. 'Where's Mikey?' her question was answered by a shuffling outside and Raph's angry curse, followed by innocent, childish laughter. 'There's Mikey…' she thought as she sat down, sighing heavily before she let her head fall on the table. "Something wrong, sis?" Donnie questioned, not even looking up from his little invention. "I feel horrible…" she had a headache, and her heart and lungs still ached, though she could breathe easily.

'It's probably nothing…just the aftermath of that workout…' Leo sat next to her, saying, "You're bodies probably just not used to the workouts at the gym yet…" "Yeah…that's probably it…"

She heard something break, and groaned before yelling, "MIKEY!!! RAPH!!! IF I GO OUTSIDE, NOTHING SHOULD BE BROKEN!!! I'M GOING OUT ON THE COUNT OF FIVE!!! ONE!!!" she heard shuffling and muffled curses.

"TWO!!!"

She heard Sapphire's quiet lecturing as the other two picked up whatever they broke.

"THREE!!! FOUR!!!"

The noises were rushed, and she heard someone trip as they went to get something.

She got up, walking to the door.

"FIVE!!!"

She stepped out to find Mikey on the floor, Raph hurriedly picking up the broken pieces of her favorite vase, and Sapphire giving her a sheepish, apologetic smile. "Raph…Mikey…" both looked up, and immediately wished the ground would swallow them whole. She looked pissed. "What did you two do?" she questioned, the bottled up fury scaring both brothers. "I hit Raph over the head with a squeaky hammer and woke him up, so he got mad at me, and threw his sai at me. He missed, and I taunted him, so he went over the couch to chase me. I tripped and hit the table, and the vase fell off and broke, and then you yelled and…" Mikey drifted off at the end, trying not to look at the rage on his elder sister's face.

"You two broke my favorite vase because Mikey hit you over the head with a SQUEAKY HAMMER!?!"

She hit them both upside the head, her vengeance yet to be satisfied, when her Shell Cell rang. She gave them both 'You're lucky you're alive right now' looks before picking it up. "Hello?" "Hey, Amber! It's April. You got a package here." "A package?" both her brothers, nursing the bumps on their heads, turned questioningly towards her. "I didn't order anything, April." "Are you sure? It's got your name on it…" "No one HAS my name, April. Don't touch it, whatever it is…I'll go to check it out…" both brothers gave her confused looks, and she sighed as she put the Shell Cell on a belt at her waist. "We need to check something at April's. Come on."

She walked into the kitchen, recruiting Leo and Don, and they all headed to April's apartment. Once there, Amber looked warily at the strange package on the table, before opening it. It was filled with her favorite weapons, only masterfully made, with artwork and gold inlay making them look beautiful. "Whoa…" she found a note, and picked it up carefully. It said: 'To my little angel', and it made her heart clench in fear, it alone remembering that horrible nightmare from months before, that sometimes haunted her bed at night. She opened the note, her hands shaking ever so slightly.

What she read made her stomach fall, and she nearly threw it away like it had bitten her.

'I've been watching you for so long, it feels like an eternity. You don't seem to realize how beautiful you are. How your body seemed to move like water as you walk or run, how your temper only seems to rival your dark red hair, or how your eyes look like shined emeralds when you smile. You're perfection, like an angel that fell from heaven to grace us with your presence. Why can't you see you don't belong with them? You should be above ground, with me, and we'll rule over the mere mortals together.'

She dropped the note, and nearly pushed everything into the trash with shaky hands, when Leo grabbed hold of her shoulders, worried about the look on her face. An instinct inside her made her want to bolt, to run as far away and as fast as she could. Leo cupped her face, trying to calm her. "Sweetheart, what's wrong? Amber?" her eyes weren't the usual emerald green, for they flashed an icy, animalistic blue, though her eyes stayed wide with panic. Sapphire moved towards her, understanding the older girls animalistic panic, and seemed to know something the others didn't about all of it. "Amber, calm down…no one's here to try and take you…just calm yourself…"

Sapphire's soothing, musical voice seemed to work, and once Amber fought down the animalistic fear, she buried her face into Leo's chest. Sapphire took the note, folding it up carefully, before putting it into her pocket and explaining what was written on it. Not many people know how protective four certain teenage turtles can be, but ALL of them are REALLY overprotective! If Amber had gone missing for an hour more than usual, they would've called the FBI, National Guard, and police if they could!

They headed back to the lair more carefully than usual, Leo keeping a hold on her hand the whole way. Once back, Donnie ended up explaining everything as Leo tried to comfort her, and Raph stayed close by, Sapphire at his side, feeling the urge to protect his older sister. Amber eventually fell into a fitful sleep, often whimpering in her sleep and tossing and turning, as Leo and her brothers watched sympathetically, even Mikey was being serious.

After all the times she'd helped the three with their own nightmares, they felt horrible that they couldn't help her with her own. Sapphire could see the older girl's nightmares, the bloodshed and tears, the fear Amber never expressed in real life, and the doubt, the worry that plagued the girl in her sleeping hours.

Sapphire hugged Raph's arm for reassurance, the images too vivid in her mind's eye, and Raph soothed her quietly, asking what she saw. She explained it shakily, and the guilt in the brother's eyes grew. Leo turned to Amber's pained face, and gently brushed his hand against her cheek. 'I never imagined she was suffering so much…all that fear and grief, the doubt and worry…how can she wake up in the morning and smile? Every single day?' he sighed, feeling her nuzzle closer to his chest. 'I may never know…but I wish I could just take all of that weight off her shoulders…we all wish we could…'