A Season In The Blue, a ninja turtles fanfic

TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES:

A SEASON IN THE BLUE

WRITTEN BY ZARIUS

NOTE: This takes place after the episode "Target: April O'Neil" and is a follow-up to my previous Nick TMNT fic "A Dry Spot in the Ocean", please watch the former and read the latter if you don't want to get too lost. Thanks.

April O'Neil had been through the ringer these last few weeks.

Beloved father. Lost

Best friends. Blamed and disowned

Targeted by her former friends' sworn enemies yet again

And she met a boy.

And, for a breif interval as she dozed off following the harrowing events of the day, the boy was all she could think about

"Back again huh?" came a voice in the steady blankness of April's slumber. April's eyes snapped open, she found herself sitting in a dimly lit circle, a sense of familiarity dawned on her. This was a situation familiar to her.

She instinctively looked up, a large column lit up above her, revealing a honeycomb teeming with nattering humanoid forms, each with a distinctly familiar face.

Her own.

She heard a patter of feet, she turned around, posed in a fighting stance, as a red-haired woman in a purple t-shirt and slack jeans walked into view

"Welcome back" said the woman in a kindly tone

"You're...looking a bit different" April replied

"That I am, I've actually had a few different looks over the last couple of times I've been about, I guess consistency isn't our little journey's strong suit, as proven by you recently" the woman responded

"What happened to your banana raincoat?" April continued

"That was the other one sweetheart" said the woman, correcting April on her identity, "The other one's working on the story going to print any second now about you, really ought to swing public opinion on you in the right way"

Sure enough, several televisions materialized around the honeycomb, and a news reporter, the one that had talked to April the last time she had been summoned to this place, came into view, recounting the recent events of April's busy day to the legions of people with April's gentle expression.

They began to whisper to one another, the last time April had heard them talk this way, they hadn't many kind words to share.

This time there was a different outcome

"That's more like it" said one

"It took some convincing on other people's behalf, but she'll start showing her age now" said another

"Maybe we were too quick to judge her, we've never been as young as her before, who knows what we'd have done at that age" said a much more elderly variation.

April beamed

"That's more like it" said the woman, "Didn't even take a year like we all dreaded"

"So what's your story? To show you how mine came to a rosier conclusion?" April asked

The woman giggled, "No, I'm here because you met someone special to the pair of us, I figure I'd give you some tips"

"Tips on what?" April said

The woman placed a finger to her lips and pondered to herself, and then came up with a suggestion, "Always be mindful that there's a limit to how much violence solves things, always laugh off a mistake, always keep your heart and head in front of you, and for goodness sake, don't tolerate a slouch"

"Are you talking about Casey?" April asked, trying to pinpoint a concrete answer amidst the vagueness of the advice given to her.

"Oh I figure you'll be talking about him for a long time, possibly a lifetime, that's how the story always goes, well, MOST of the time anyway, in all the official parts of our story, others of us, the ones that aren't in the public arena, they tend to break out of the blue a bit..who knows, by season's end, instead of holding out on your friends, you could learn to heal your heart through different means"

"What sort of means?" April continued to inquire.

The woman leaned over and whispered the answer in April's ear. The remaining women in the honeycomb gave divisive looks

"She doesn't have to whisper this bit does she? We all know she's one of the official types, we all know their stories" complained one of the elderly women amongst the masses.

"Don't be too sure" said another elderly woman, who looked about fifty-two years of age, "I've read some of her thoughts, there's stories in there, tucked away in the fleeting map of her mind, if you think it was a hard choice forgiving her friends for what happened to her father, think again, she came to that conclusion before she ever heard those words of caution from that boy"

"How?" asked the older woman

"Tune in further to her season in the blue" replied the younger of the two

As April finished hearing what the red-headed lady had whispered, she briefly paused, and, looking above her, closed her eyes, she imagined tears, and down tears came

"I'm not old enough for that yet" she said

The woman smiled, "I know, I know, you're just at the stage where head and heart are in between everything else, you've got hard choices to make, and it's better to have gotten your current problem out of the way before making harsher decisions. Both head and heart are fragile things, make sure when you make your choice, you don't break either"

"Will I forget what you told me then?" April asked

"I'm afraid so" the woman said, "But a part of me will always be there guiding you, and if you ever do remember, be it the day of your first kiss, or on your wedding day, you'll be brought back here, to this place, and you'll be amongst friends. You're part of the ocean now, and we won't let you drown"

April gently hugged the woman, "Thank you" she said

"Run along now kid, go play with your friends, your best of companions, and save your father"

April nodded and clapped her hands. Seconds later, she awoke in her bedroom, snuggled up under her duvet, looking at a photo of herself with her father.

So many men in her life

Her father, Donatello, and Casey

Family, head, heart.

The question facing her was "In which order was that?"

The part of her that had forgotten her encounter permitted her a moment to ponder, before she fell back into the embrace of sleep and the promise of a brighter day. As she gently fell into slumber, a poem of her very own embedded itself in her mind

In days to come, in oceans full

In hours spent with friends old and new

Head and Heart will comprise your crew

And all will share a season in the blue