Alrighty! This is my first Fanfic ever! And for those of you who read this fic before, this entire fic has entirely been edited! So... it's completely different then what I had before. XD I am really excited right now. ^_^ Just to let you guys know before you read this that this story is not about shopping and sorts. I know this story is called "Black Friday", but I called this Fic "Black Friday" cause to me I believe that it's the first day for Christmas Season. Obviously it is but many people start their Christmas early, which there is nothing wrong with that. ^_^ Christmas is my FAVORITE holiday! XD

So... enjoy my Fanfic and please review, for we authors don't get payed for this, we do it for the fun of it! XD Also it's very grateful to get a review for all the hard work we do. ^_^ It's NOT easy, so... please review. And I do not accept flames.

Also before you ask, no, I do not own TMNT. *sniff*

Chapter 1: Walking with the Past

The subway train came to a screeching halt as the sound stretched across the station. Martha stood a foot away from the train, waiting patiently for it to come to a complete stop. Her short, dark brown hair was taken away by the wind; as it swayed in her sight, the tips of it tickled lightly on her nose. Martha hesitated as a crowed formed behind her, waiting impatiently for the people inside of the train to leave. She was now trapped in between as the crowd grew closer. The teenaged girl paid no mind to them, but she was well aware that the mob was now only a few inches away from her. Shivering from the sudden cold breeze from the surface, Martha felt her body becoming numb. With so little space between her and the train she wanted to scream, but she didn't. She kept her ground and stayed silent. While she continued to give a blank stare at something that no one else could see.

Her past.

TMNT ^_^

"Mommy! Mommy! Where are we going? Where is the train taking us?" Little Martha jumped up and down while tugging on her mother's hand.

Mrs. Koch laughed at her daughter. Living hundred miles away from the city grounds in a very small town all her life made this all new to her. "Martha, haven't I already told you? We're going to Times Square." Mrs. Koch smiled at her. With so much energy and excitement in the young one, she squealed with joy. The mother couldn't help herself but to laugh.

Then, a sudden loud roaring sound erupted through one of the tunnels near them. Martha jumped from the sound and turned around to find a bright light was shining before her eyes. Before she had the chance to ask her mother, another sound came ringing through the train station. However, this sound was different then the first. It sounded as though someone were scraping their sharp, long nails against the chalk board. Martha quickly covered her ears until it stopped.

"Mommy, my ears hurt," said Martha after the train before them came to a halt. However, the young one's attention was drawn towards the people that came so sudden and crowded around them. Mrs. Koch was already aware of the crowd. She quickly glanced around them, keeping an eye out for any sign of danger. But her concentration was distracted by a sudden pressure around her right leg. She looked down and smiled at her young one. Her daughter was clutching her leg, taking away the feeling inside of it. Martha wasn't used to being around so many people, and it scared her a little; yet at the same time it was exciting. The mother sighed and bent down until her eyes met Martha's. She smiled again and gently pulled her daughter into a hug.

"It's all right Martha. There's nothing to be afraid of. I'm right here to protect you. That's what mothers do; they protect their little angels. Understand?"

"Yes, mommy."

Mrs. Koch pulled away from her and started to wiggle her nose against her daughter's. Her child laughed from the ticklish feeling upon her nose. After Martha settled down her mother stood straight up and realized that the crowd had already disappeared into the train. The tall woman, wearing a long brown coat, gently grabbed her daughter's hand and pulled her into the subway train.

TMNT ^_^

Bing… Bong... The doors to the train slid opened. The sound from the intercom broke Martha from her thoughts. She shook her head slightly before walking inside. Avoiding the people that were already seated and the rest following behind, she quickly took a glance around the train. Finally she spotted a seat far away from everyone else. Martha took a deep breath while wrapping her black jacket around her as she made her way through. On her way a few people, already seated, stared at her. She hesitated, but fought the stares by ignoring them.

"Next stop. Times Square. Please stand back away from the doors. Thank you," announced the intercom. Bing… Bong… Soon the subway doors slid closed. Martha sighed in relief as she took her seat and leaned back against it, slowly closing her eyes.

TMNT ^_^

"What does Times Square look like, mommy?" Martha leaned closer to her mother as they sat together. She felt so eager, wanting to know, as her eyes grew wide with glee. Mrs. Koch smiled, seeing those eyes always reminded her of her husband. But her smile soon faded into a sad frown. She almost broke into tears of the memories of her husband, but Martha stopped it from happening when she began to poke her mother in the stomach.

"Mommyyyyy, you didn't answer my question." After grabbing her mother's attention, Martha folded her arms and stuck her bottom lip out, she was pouting. Forgetting the depression, her mother giggled at this.

"You have to wait and see." Mrs. Koch gave her a smile. Soon her attention was drawn towards the sound of giggling. The mother then looked around for the source and found that some people seated near them were staring as well as giggling at them. She ignored them and continued on with her little conversation with her only daughter.

"What is Times Square like, mommy?" Martha, on the other hand, was completely oblivious to the stares, as though the fear of so many people around her had just disappeared. Mrs. Koch sighed and shook her head. She hadn't forgotten that Martha was always a curious little one, who wants to know everything beforehand.

"I can't tell you. It's a surprise." Mrs. Koch put her finger against her lips. Martha copied her with a little childish smile. "If I tell you, it won't be a surprise anymore."

"Ok…" Martha said in a low voice as she peered down at her feet, disappointed. Mrs. Koch leaned back against her seat and sighed, smiling at her daughter.

TMNT ^_^

As Martha stared at the floor of the train, a little smile crept onto her face. The memory of her mother and herself brought a warm feeling to her. After all day shivering from the cold she needed the warmth and welcomed it. As Martha sighed, she started coughing so sudden that she drew all the attention to herself. She ignored it, lifting her head up and letting her eyes look at her reflection from the window. Seeing her beautiful green eyes sparkle by reflecting the light from the ceiling it made her smile grow. Then she noticed, in her refection her necklace was swaying lightly around her neck. Slowly she reached for it and touched the familiar texture. She then took her necklace on the palm of her hand and stared at it for a short time before closing her hand over it.

That's when she froze in her place; a cold, chill feeling went through her. Martha instantly let go of her necklace and started coughing again, only this time it was worse. Once she stopped, her body began to shiver and it felt numb all over again. Gently she covered herself with her black jacket. No longer could she see the color purple of her shirt and her necklace in the reflection.

"Excuse me dear, but are you all right?"

Martha looked up and found an old woman standing before her. The woman appeared to be the same height as Martha. Her gray hair was up and behind her head in a little ball. She wore a long gray coat which appeared to be very old. Underneath the coat the woman was wearing a yellow dress covered with the design of flowers. On her feet she wore these huge black boots, while wrapped around her neck was a black scarf. Also, on the top of her head she wore a little black hat with a few flowers upon it. To Martha the woman appeared to be like the older version of Mary Poppins. The only things that were missing were her magical bag and her flying umbrella. The old woman sighed, becoming tired of standing; she sat down right next to Martha. "Oh dear me, that cough of yours doesn't sound so very good. It's this dreadful weather. It's always the same every year. I should know this since I've been living here all my life. It would be very wise for you to go and find something more suitable. That jacket of yours will do no good in this upcoming weather."

Martha felt very uncomfortable around this woman. She was being so nice to her, and yet Martha couldn't do anything, or say anything for that matter. She knew what she wanted to say, but her lips stayed shut. No matter how much she tried, she just couldn't do it. It's so simple to do, to say two simple words; but yet her lips wouldn't obey to say, "Thank you." After few minutes, the old woman was fast asleep. Martha sighed in defeat, while shifting herself in a comfortable position; she adjusted her jacket when her body continued to shiver.

TMNT ^_^

"Are we almost there, mommy?" Martha cuddled herself against her mother as she shivered from the cold air. New York City was farther up north from where they lived. With the weather being completely different then what they were use to, Mrs. Koch was worried that Martha might catch a cold. She held her daughter close while looking down at her.

"Almost." She said in a soft voice. Martha shifted under her mother's arms.

"Mommy? Why the beginning of winter? Couldn't we just go to New York City during summer when it's warm?" Her mother sighed while looking away.

"Martha, with your father… gone. I have to work to provide for us. I just don't have the time to plan our trip over the summer. Ever since your father passed, I have been working very hard to plan this trip for us with the time that we have. I understand that you're cold but the only thing that matters right now is that we are here, together." Martha looked up and smiled at her mother.

"Ok."

TMNT ^_^

No matter how hard she tried to hold them in, the tears easily escaped her eyes. Slowly they trickled down her face and then dropped making contact on the ground. She remembered it all too well. Unknown to her on that day, it was the last time she would see her father alive again.

Three years before she first came to the city, she remembered watching her father smiling happily while waving good-bye to his family. The next thing she knew, later on that day, there was a knock on the door and her mother answered it. A police man was standing at the entrance of their home. She watched, from a different room, the police man taking off his hat and saying something calmly to her mother. At the time she didn't know what the police man had said but whatever it was, she knew it wasn't good. For her mother fell down to her knees and began cry out so loud that Martha had to cover her ears. What happened was a nightmare. The rest of day Martha watched helplessly as her mother cried while the police man tried his best to comfort her. But his comfort did nothing to help.

She remembered her mother shouting at the man to leave, and so he did. Before he exited, he looked at Martha with a depressing look on his face. He sighed, shaking his head slowly, and left without saying another word. Later that night, Martha was still awake in her bed. At the time her mind was set on her mother, so she climbed out of bed and walked into her parents' room. She found her mother sitting on her bed with blood-shot eyes, holding onto a framed picture of her wedding. Martha silently climbed into her mother's lap and stared at her, waiting. After some time had passed, her mother put down the framed picture right next to them and leisurely put her arms around Martha. She held her daughter close in a tight grip, but not enough for it to hurt. She began rocking them both side to side while humming a familiar little lullaby. Once the lullaby ended she pulled her child away and looked into her worried eyes. She knows that she has to tell her, but she could not bear to see Martha after telling the truth.

On that day, for what happened, changed her life forever. Her father was dead. Those words put together in one sentence stunned her. Martha had tried her best to listen to her mother's explanation of what had happened. Earlier that day as her father was driving home from work, someone had rammed into him on the driver's side. The other driver hadn't been paying any attention until it was too late. It had been an instant death. Her mother had stopped talking as the two of them continued to cry, holding each other close. They had never let go of each other as they cried throughout the night. Not long after, they had falling asleep with tears still trapped in their eyes.

Martha's hands were now drowned into her own tears. That horrible memory never left her. It haunted her. Her hands began to shake; she had no control over them. Soon her body shook in fear as her mind shifted to another memory, a moment in life that she wished that it never had happened.

A few days after her father's death, her mother has been watching the news when suddenly the news came to a sudden alert. Martha had been eating her breakfast at the table when it came on. Both of their attentions had been drawn towards the television as the news lady started to recap the story of the crash a few days before. She began explaining about the man who survived from the crash. Once he was restored in the hospital, he'd be sent to trial for the death of Martha's father. Martha had been angry that he lived. She had wondered why it was her father that died and not him. The news lady continued on with the story until she was given the disturbing news which angered Martha even more. The man who had killed her father, who had taken him away from her forever, had escaped.

Martha trembled from those memories. Because of her father's death, her mother worked twice as much as she had before. She was tired every day when she came home from work at a very late hour. Martha missed spending time with her. She wished that there were something that she could do to help her as well as get to spend more time with her. But because of her young age at the time, she never got the chance. So after two years of working, her mother decided that she needed a vacation. She began saving her money. Finally after a year of saving, she had enough to have one. There was this one particular place that she always had wanted to go - New York City. Martha knew that her mother wanted to go there with her father way before she was born, but that dream had been taken away from her, by a careless man who should have been dead or locked up in jail to rot for the rest of his life. Martha clutched her hands into fists on how much she loathed that man for destroying her life forever.

Bing… Bong... "We are now arriving at Times Square. Please make sure that you have all of your belongings. We are not responsible if they are lost or stolen. Thank you." Bing… Bong… Martha sighed while she wiped away her tears with the sleeve of her jacket. Soon the station quickly came into sight after the train began to slow down.

TMNT ^_^

"Looks like we're here." Mrs. Koch said after hearing the intercom. She could feel the train began slowing down beneath her feet. Outside of her window the lights from the station were approaching in the distance. Stopping herself from slipping off of her seat, Martha held tightly onto to her mother. When the subway train arrived at the station, mobs of people were already waiting outside. Martha jumped down off of her seat, squeezing herself through the crowd inside of the train to get a better look of the new surroundings. Like looking through a glass window of a toy store, Martha gasped with excitement at seeing so much happening all at once.

"Look Mommy! Mommy! Look!" Martha shouted, not even noticing everyone else was annoyed by her tone.

"What is it that I'm looking at?" After saying "excuse me" or "pardon me" for the hundredth time, Mrs. Koch made her way through and stood right next to her daughter.

"Look how many people there are! There so many! Mommy? How many people live here?" She looked up at her mother watching her gazing out the window. "Mommy?"

"Hmm? Oh yes, there are lots of people here. But there so many that we don't even know many there are, understand?" Martha nodded wildly as she smiled. But her smile soon faded when she noticed her mother's face changed from happiness to worry.

"Mommy? Are you ok?" Martha tugged on her mother's coat, grabbing her attention. Mrs. Koch sighed and bent down to her knees.

"Martha listen to me. You see how many people are out there, yes?" Her daughter nodded. "Well today is a very busy day around here. You see this many here in the station? Well up on the surface there are lots more." Martha eyes became wide as she put her hands to her mouth.

"Really?" Mrs. Koch nodded.

"I want you to do something for me, ok?"

Martha nodded again.

"I want you to stay close to me at all times. Never let go of my hand. I don't want to lose you here in this city. This city is massive compared to are little town back at home, ok?"

"Yes, mommy."

Mrs. Koch smiled and hugged her. She then stood straight up again, grabbing hold of her daughter's hand as they stood waiting for the doors to open. At the same time, Martha tightened her grip on her mother's hand and swallowed.

TMNT ^_^

Bing... Bong... "Thank you for riding our express. Please stand back from the doors until there fully opened, and please come again. Thank you." Bing… Bong... Once the doors were opened, Martha forced her way through. She fought against the crowd as they pushed themselves through. After she was free from the mob, she stood in the middle of the chaos as people hurried from left to right heading towards their designations. None paid any mind to her, only just a few stares and that was it, as they rushed on by. Ignoring them, Martha grasped her arms around her and looks around for the exit.

A slight breeze came from her right. Martha looked over to find the exit was far away from where she stood. She saw the light from the sun was shining itself down into the underground from the surface where Times Square stood. The only thing that was in her way was a rushing river of people hurrying in all sorts of different directions. There was no other way out, so she held her breath in as she pushed and shoved her way through. A few people yelled at her for getting in their way, but shouting was a waste of time; for her main focus was on getting out of there.

The cold breeze grew stronger the closer she came to the stairs. It lightly brushed against her face as her hair swayed back gently from the wind. She walked up the stairs in her own pace while remembering the sounds of the traffic, billions of voices talking all at once and the familiar pollution smell of New York City.

TMNT ^_^

Martha breathed in heavily. Who knew that getting to the stairs was a hard thing? Well in New York City it was almost impossible. She smiled after catching her breath and stood straight up.

"Let's do that again!" Martha shouted with glee. Mrs. Koch chuckled and shook her head; there were times when she didn't even understand her own daughter.

"Now now, that will be enough of that." Mrs. Koch gave her the eye.

"Okkkkey." Martha leaned back and forward again with her hands behind her back. Mrs. Koch chuckled again.

"Come here you." The mother quickly bent down and grabbed hold of Martha, she pulled her daughter closer. She had trapped her daughter in between her arms.

"Let go of me mommy!" Martha shouted happily. Her mother smirked at her.

"Oh! But I can't, not until you are tickled!" Martha laughed as her mother starts tickling her stomach. She squirmed under her mother's arms, trying to free herself from the tickling sensation. Mrs. Koch laughs along with her; then she picks her daughter up and kisses her on the forehead. Both of their laughter soon died down as Mrs. Koch sets her daughter down. "Alright that's enough of that. Now what did we come here for?" Mrs. Koch joked, looking around and pretending that she had forgotten. Martha giggled; knowing that her mother was just playing with her.

"Let's go mommy! Let's go!" Martha eagerly began pulling her mother's arm. She forced her mother to follow her up the stairs.

Mrs. Koch continued to laugh. "Alright alright, I'm coming."

Martha began running while pulling her mother up from behind. As they reached the top they were already panting for breath. Once their breathing began to slow down, Martha stood straight up and gasped at all the bright lights shining randomly before her eyes. Martha twirled around, taking everything in. Her mother was right about the surface. People were everywhere. Hearing so many voices talking all at once as well as the traffic was loud compared to back home. She even gazed up at the tall buildings covered with largest monitors that she had ever seen. All of them were so colorful before her eyes. She then turned her attention back to her mother as she, too, gazed around, seeing so much happening all at once. Jumping with joy she ran up and hugged her mother's legs.

"It's so beautiful mommy!"

Mrs. Koch smiled and hugged her daughter back.

"Yes, it surely is."

Martha pulled away from her and turned back around gazing at everything all over again. Mrs. Koch gently grabbed her hand and pulled right in front of her. "Come along, Martha. There's more to see."

"Really?" She was full of excitement, ready to see more that waited out there for her. Her mother gave her a smile and nods as they started walking down the sidewalk following the crowd together.

TMNT ^_^

The teenaged girl silently walked, facing down, following her past. At times she would gaze up, making sure that she was heading the right direction. But each time, for a split second, she would see her mother and her younger self walking ahead holding hands. They were invisible to everyone else; but only through her eyes they were ghosts from her past. She followed them, as they led her to the place that she came here for. That was when they halted in front of her with the crowed; she too stopped as well, standing only just a foot behind them.

TMNT ^_^

Mrs. Koch and her daughter halted with the rest of the crowd around them. "Stay close to me, Martha. We're about to cross a very busy street. People are going to be crossing the same time as we are. You must stay with me, for crossing a street can be very dangerous with so many of them crossing all at once." Martha tightened her grip again and swallowed.

"Yes, mommy."

TMNT ^_^

Martha hesitated before crossing the street. She knew on the other side it was there. The exact spot where the memory took place. She paced slowly as she crossed the street. Once she arrived on the other side, she walked right out of the traffic towards the closest building. She then leaned against the wall of a building, taking a deep breath while closing her eyes. Gently, she reached and squeezed her necklace under her hand. As one little tear fell from her eye, she slid herself down into a sitting position.

She remembered all too well that this was the place where it all began long ago.

Please review! ^_^