Chapter 1 Part 1: In the beginning

These were the nights Leonardo enjoyed the most. He sat on the edge of the roof of April's apartment building and looked up at the dark sky. The few stars that shined over the city lights twinkled brightly at him and, the longer he stared, slowly dimmed until he wasn't sure they were there at all. The city below was lit up like a large star itself. The squares of yellow light lit up the tall buildings, providing a small portal into the occupant's life. Vehicles motored their way through the maze of paved roads, clogging the air with their fumes.

It was easy for Leo to think on nights like these, to forget who he was and just watch the world pass by as if he didn't exist. His eyes wandered to one building in particular and one of the few dark windows on the street. He leaned forward slightly in anticipation, his arms supporting him from either side of his legs. After a couple of minutes Leo's mouth fell into a frown, the window and the darkness within seemed to taunt him, beckoning for him to jump to the fire escape and look inside.

A cold breeze blew past, cutting through him like a knife. The shiver danced up and down his spine as he realized how cold he was. He felt frozen to the concrete edge, refusing to move or look away from the window for even a second. A second breeze sliced through the air as if pushing for him to leave. Sighing in defeat Leo stood up and stretched his limbs, stiff from the cold. More tremors shook through him, signaling for him to go inside. He walked to the edge adjacent to the one he was previously perched on and found the ladder leading to the fire escape.

Turning back he cast one last glance at the window and tensed. Across the alley to the top floor of the old red bricked building the window had lit up. The artificial light filled the small square and spilled out onto the fire escape just underneath. Leo felt frozen in place, the falling temperature forgotten, and watched silently. A shadow stopped in front of the window, interrupting the flow of golden light, and pulled the window open. They stepped out onto the fire escape, their long hair hanging loosely around their shoulders. It bounced happily every time they moved and fell around their face. The figure moved towards the ladder leading to the roof and Leo noted a flash of dark blue. It was her; he knew it the moment the light had come on in the window.

She impatiently tucked her hair behind her ears and started to climb the metal ladder to the roof. The creaking of old metal carried across the gap to Leonardo and he found himself drifting closer. She climbed onto the roof and wrapped her arms around herself against the cold. Her hair was blown backwards by the wind and waved gently through the air like a flag. Leo imagined what it would feel like to touch it, to run his fingers through the soft, curly strands. He was shaken from his reverie when she produced a large, thick envelope from a pocket in her large hoodie. She bent down, against the edge, and removed a large, loose stone from its place and let the envelope fall into the hole that was left behind. She knelt in front of the hole with the letter and stared at it. Her hands were clenched tightly and her body shook lightly.

Leo walked forward until he was standing on the edge, never taking his eyes off of the girl. His chest ached painfully for her, he desperately wanted to leap across the gap to her, to wrap his arms around her and make her smile. He had dreamt about her smile, though he had never seen it, but he was sure it was the most beautiful smile he would ever see.

He had been so lost in thought he didn't notice that the girl had replaced the stone and stood up. Her eyes widened as she realized she wasn't alone and she quickly wiped the tears from her burning cheeks. The figure across the alley stood on the edge of the roof and was staring straight at her, had he seen where she had put the letter? She mentally kicked herself for not noticing him when she had first stepped onto the roof. Her eyes squinted behind her large glasses, trying to see him in better detail. He was quite oddly shaped, a round head and even rounder body. He could be obese, but she noticed the thick, slender muscles that lined his arms and legs. Two long sticks protruded from his back and she noticed pads covering his elbows and knees. Was he even a boy? She wasn't completely sure but she had a feeling he was.

The presence of this stranger had made her forget why she was up here in the first place. Another breeze blew harshly past her and she shivered violently, holding her arms tighter around herself. The action seemed to alert the stranger that she was staring at him. His eyes widened, reflecting in the moonlight, and she noticed what a beautiful dark blue they were. They reminded her of a stormy sea and her chest ached with homesickness.

The two stood perfectly still, eyes locked on each other as if facing a large predator. The girl placed her hand slowly into her pocket and opened the camera on her phone. She just wanted to know what he looked like in the light. She quickly pulled it out and pressed the button. A loud click echoed through the tense air as her phone captured the image. The stranger flinched at the flash and, without missing a beat, jumped across the gap. The girl brought up the image but before she could get a good look at it the stranger landed on the roof next to her. She gasped, her mouth hanging open in shock, no one could have made that jump.

Before the stranger could turn and come after her she scrambled down the ladder, back to her window. She stood on the fire escape, throwing her phone through the hole first, and felt the metal vibrate underneath her. The stranger stood not five feet from her and she still couldn't distinguish any features. He stepped carefully towards her, his hands held up to show he wasn't armed. She didn't care; she threw herself through her window, landing heavily on her chest. Standing back up she whipped around, trying desperately to get air back into her lungs, and slammed the window closed. The stranger crashed into the windowpane; face first, and slowly slid out of sight. The girl let out a small scream of surprise, her light reflected off of his face and she noticed it was green.

She quickly picked up her phone from the scratchy; paint stained, carpet and pulled up the picture. Her eyes widened and her mouth fell open. The flash had illuminated the dark all right, but she wished she hadn't been so curious. The stranger was green; everything about him was green except for the hard shell covering his chest and abdomen. A belt was wrapped tightly around his waist and straps connected to it and ran over one of his shoulders. Wrapped around his head was a sky blue mask. His hands and feet were wrapped in a white cloth but he had three fingers. He was a turtle, but he was, like, 6 feet tall!

Something echoed in her ears and she realized she was screaming. She flung her phone away from her as if it would come alive and attack her.

"Nora Hale if you don't close your mouth right now I'll make you!" a deep, screeching voice called through her door.

Nora slapped a hand over her open mouth to muffle the sound. Closing her eyes she willed herself to calm down and when she was sure she wouldn't scream she removed her hand. What she couldn't stop however was her breathing. She could feel her chest rising and falling rapidly under her sweater as she tried to get oxygen to her brain, which felt like it had stopped working. A giant turtle had stared at her from across the alley. This had to be a dream, a hallucination. She was either going crazy or had been drugged by her stepmother, she couldn't decide.

Unwillingly Nora turned to the window, hoping he wasn't there and she was just crazy. Wait, could he even be a boy? Or was he an 'it'? She shook her head and slowly approached the window. Placing her hands on the sill she leaned forward until her nose touched the glass, the only thing between her and that thing. Guilt swelled inside her chest, she shouldn't be talking about the turtle like that. He, it, probably had a hard enough time being accepted by society as it was without her judging it so harshly. If it is even a part of society, she thought bitterly. She felt sorry for the turtle; he probably had it much harder than she did.

Nora sighed and was about to turn away from the window when something fluttered in her vision. She turned back to the window and her eyes widened with fear. A piece of purple paper was somehow attached to the rail of the fire escape. It shook violently with the wind and enticed her forward. She bit her lip and scanned the area around her window. It seemed safe enough. Turning away from the window she crouched below her rickety bed, covered with more paint splatters, and pulled out a metal baseball bat. She avoided touching the cold metal and casually leaned it against her shoulder, one hand wrapped around the grip.

Approaching the window, hand tightening around the bat, Nora slowly pushed the frame up. The cool air rushed past her into the room, making her shiver again. She let out an exasperated breath, why was she doing this anyways? She wanted nothing to do with the turtle. Nora turned away from the window but paused. Heaving a sigh she whipped around and climbed out the window before she could convince herself not to. She gripped the bat tightly in both hands and spun around on the fire escape in case he was still there. She felt sorry for him; she didn't trust him.

Once she was sure he wasn't around she turned to the page fluttering against the railing. A metal star shaped thing stuck it there. The page itself was no bigger than notepaper and was covered in sloppy handwriting. Leaning the bat against the railing Nora reached for the page. Her fingers brushed against the paper and it was ripped free of the star by the wind. Nora gasped and jumped forward, leaning as far as she could over the railing she caught the page between two fingers. Bringing it back towards her she clutched the page tightly in one hand and started to turn back to her window. She turned back and stared at the metal star. Shrugging she grabbed it and, with much difficulty, managed to dislodge it from the rusty metal. With the note and star in one hand Nora grabbed her bat and returned inside, closing the window.

Throwing the bat aside she sat on her bed and pulled her hair back into a low ponytail. She laid the note on her bedside table and examined the star first. It was shaped more like a diamond with a hole through the middle of the shiny metal. Engraved on both sides was a symbol she had seen before. In fact she was sure she had seen a metal thing like this somewhere but she couldn't recall where. Her mouth fell into a frown and she set the diamond, star thing on the table beside the note. Picking up the page she reluctantly read through the messy scrawl.

Hi,

I just wanted to say I'm sorry if I scared you. I was just looking around and you were there and I know this may be too much to ask but could you not tell anybody about me? And delete that picture from your phone? I don't really have to explain why because you probably I would really appreciate it if you did. If you care My name is Leonardo and if you need to talk or anything? Here's my number in case you want to talk or scream or anything. 395-3845

Leo

Nora stared at the phone number. It looked like he had erased it multiple times. She held the page gingerly between her fingers, trying not to ruin it more than it already was. It reminded Nora of the turtle in a way, damaged and needed to be handled with care. Sighing she stood up and grabbed the metal star from her bedside table. She held the two items over the large trashcan in the corner by her easel. Her face screwed up in concentration and her hand started to shake but she just couldn't do it. Letting out a frustrated breath she re-crossed her room and threw them in her bedside drawer before slamming it closed in frustration. Why did this have to happen to her of all people?

She crawled into bed and curled up under the covers before she remembered she had left the light on. She glared at the bare bulb hanging from her ceiling and reached blindly behind her for something. Her hand closed around a spray can and without hesitating threw it at the light switch beside her small door. It missed and bounced off of the wall before rolling somewhere she couldn't see. Growling Nora threw the covers to the side and grabbed her baseball bat. Anger pulsed through her veins and she could hear her heart pumping in her ears. Raising the metal bat she swung with all of her fear and guilt and frustrations. The light went out, plunging her room into an unforgiving darkness. The glass of the light bulb tinkled as it hit the floor and Nora let her bat slip between her fingers to rest with them. She would clean it up in the morning. Crawling back into her bed she closed her eyes and willed herself to sleep.

Outside Leo was pacing back and forth across April's rooftop. How could he have been so stupid? He had let himself be seen by her! This wasn't supposed to happen. He was just supposed to be content with watching her from a distance but now. He stopped and sat down heavily on the rooftop, his face falling into his hands. Now she was afraid of him. He had heard her scream and when she came out to get the note she had a baseball bat with her. He glanced at her window through his fingers; it had gone dark. How was he going to explain this one to Master Splinter? Leo quickly stood up, a determined look on his face; he wasn't going to tell Master Splinter. He wasn't going to breathe a word about this to anyone. Turning around he slid smoothly down the fire escape and back into April's apartment. He could only hope that she would do the same.