Memoirs of a Turtle in Alphabetical Order
2012, TMNT Drabble-y fanfiction done to all the letters in the alphabet.
A/N: Hey guys! So I decided to do this thing... the drabbles are all based on whatever word comes first to my mind when thinking of a letter of the alphabet. Some will be short, others will be longer, but all of them will be oneshots ^.^ Enjoy, my fellow fans, enjoy.
Prologue: A picture is worth a thousand words...
It had been a normal day.
And that's exactly what killed April; because this was her new normal.
It was a Saturday, and usually that would have made her happy, because to any other normal teenager this would have been a brief relief from school and all the work that went with it. A day of relaxation and celebration.
How she wished she could go to school now. To get up early, to talk with her friends, heck she wouldn't even care if she got homework! Just...just something to remind her of the normalcy she once had. To remind her of a time that her father wasn't kidnapped and she wasn't at the center of some bizarre alien invasion. That she wasn't currently residing far beneath the streets of New York City, instead of being free at its surface. That, despite how much she loved Leonardo, Raphael, Michelangelo, Donatello, and Master Splinter, she didn't feel as...as...
Alone.
With a groan, April pushed away her laptop and laid down full length across the couch. Lately she had been feeling out of sorts; quiet, distant, unsure...
She was certain it was because she was homesick. That she missed her dad. There was this niggling feeling that it was something more though, and had to do with her nearest and dearest of friends.
They always said she was family, always made her feel welcome. They did their best to make her feel involved and safe and she loved them for it. She had given them all the gratitude her heart had to offer, yet even still she felt like she was intruding on their lives.
Throwing a arm up to cover her eyes, April just wished she could just sink into the ground.
"HEY APRIL!"
The startled red head let out a yelp as a blur or orange and green leapt onto the couch. Twisting oddly, she flopped off of the couch and banged into the nearby coffee table with a audible thump.
"Ow." she moaned, rubbing her head where it had collided with the table. Michelangelo looked down at her from the couch, brows furrowed in worry.
"Hey, you okay? I'm sorry- I didn't mean to scare you like that."
April managed a half-hearted smile, pointedly ignoring the head ache that was starting to gather behind her eyes.
"No biggie, "she responded. "I'm all good. As a kunoichi I should be able to handle the attack of a wild coffee table right?"
A smile lit up Mikey's face and her extended a hand to help her back on to the couch. She accepted it, but paused when she felt something that wasn't carpet shift under the hand that was braced against the ground.
"Huh?" she wondered aloud. Abandoning the proffered hand, she lifted her own to examine the mystery item.
It was a book. It had a simple maroon leather cover with an odd symbol imprinted in the center. It wasn't in very good condition; the leather was worn, the page edges tattered, some on the verge of falling out, but it didn't seem old. Gingerly, April ran her hand across the cover. It was cool to the touch, the texture slightly bumpy under the pads of her fingers.
"What's that?" questioned Mikey, who was now leaning down to inspect the book also.
"I was kinda hoping you knew. I think it was stored under your coffee table, after all..." she must have dislodged it when she fell into the table.
"Sup guys." Greeted Raphael as he entered the room from the dojo. A grumbling Leonardo followed him, muttering a barely audible "Hi."
"Hey Raphie, is this one of your books?" Mikey snatched the book from April's grasp, electing a short "Hey!" form the red head, and waved the book in Raph general direction. "I always knew you were the type of guy who secretly liked romance. I wonder if this is your super secret stash!"
April had just enough time to pluck the book from Mikey's hand as Raph launched himself at the younger turtle. They tumbled from the couch and onto the ground, completely knocking over the coffee table in their all our brawl.
"Little punk!" growled Raphael as he wrapped Mikey in a killer headlock. "You'll see whose gotta stash when Donnie is gonna hafta surgically remove that book form ya after I cram it down your throat!"
"Hey, guys, come on! No fighting in the living room..." Leo leapt into the fray in attempt to pull the two brothers away from each other. April was watching the event when she heard footsteps from behind her. Turning, she smiled as she saw the last missing turtle.
"Hey April." Greeted Donnie with a small wave. "Did someone call me? I swore I heard my name."
The kunoichi in training jabbed a thumb at the all-out brawl behind her.
"Just, uh, them."
Donnie deadpanned, but did not attempt to join in the fighting, instead opting to watch it with her. His attention was eventually brought to the book she now held loosely in her arms. April noticed him staring and, swallowing the blush that might have otherwise made its way onto her cheeks, offered it to him.
"Oh, is this yours? I kinda found it on accident under the coffee table..." Donatello shook his head.
"No, it's not mine. I've never seen it before now."
"Well, it's not Raph or Mikey's either."
"Did you check with Leo?"
Glancing back at the three other turtle siblings, Leo had Raph laid out on the couch, while Mikey stayed behind the blue masked turtle making faces at his hot-tempered brother.
"Hey Leo," called out April, book in hand. " is this yours?"
Leo glanced over at it briefly, only to take a quick double take.
"No," he said slowly. "why?"
"April found it under the coffee table." answered Mikey.
The turtles, anger now replaced with a incurable curiosity, gathered around the red head.
"Well," demanded Raph. "Aren't you gonna open it?"
Tentatively, April peeled back the cover and the crisp blank page that was behind it. After that there was a page that had been written on in beautifully scripted ink.
'A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words'
A few seconds went by and April deemed that everyone had read the small sentiment, so she turned the page.
Pictures.
Of them. Of the turtles. Of her. Just doing everyday things, like reading or cooking.
She hurriedly flipped to the next page, where there were more pictures. Some had borders on them, some were plain, some were in color, some were just in black and white. Each picture was glue to the page carefully; someone had obviously taken great time and effort to create this...this...
"Scrapbook?" Donatello completed her thought without realizing it. "I don't even remember anyone taking these pictures..."
"They probably did it without us knowing." Leo crinkled in nose. "But why?"
April smiled softly; she had an idea of who and why.
"Scrapbooks are used to hold memories, Leo. They tell stories. Your stories. Even if you didn't know you had one to begin with. They're used for reflection."
"Oh." Leo's attention was back again to the book, where his brothers had already started reminiscing over the pictures.
"Hey! That was that one time where me and Don-"
"I totally thought we got away with that-"
"Yo! That was totally-"
"Hey April, remember this-"
Slowly, the red head's smile grew bigger.
She was in a horrible situation. Things were going downhill and it didn't seem like they would see the light at the end of the tunnel any time soon.
Right now thought, she didn't feel quite as alone. As a matter of fact, she felt all the doubt melt away as she looked over the pictures contained within Splinter's scrapbook.
It was good to be wanted.