Chapter 6: Forever We Are Friends

The snow was becoming thicker in the air as it fell down calmly in between the two groups, they continued staring at each other in complete silence. The gang was still wearing their hockey gear as they held their hockey sticks out, ready for anything. Jack, the leader of the gang, glared at the two nine-year-olds with hatred and revenge in his eyes. The two young ones began to back away as the gang drew closer towards them.

"That's them! Those are the boys who want my necklace." Martha whispered to Don. He nodded as he continued to watch carefully every movement the gang made. This was not good, not good at all. He hadn't expected to actually meet the boys, who caused Martha so much trouble. Seeing them now, he wished he had brought his bokken.

"Martha," he whispered back, "run."

"What!"

"Run. I cannot let them harm you."

"No. I'm not leaving you. I don't want you to get hurt."

"But you must. It's your necklace that they want. I'll take care of them. Don't worry about me, I'll be alright. Please Martha."

"Aww! Well isn't that just cute. Blah! It makes me sick! Get him guys!" Jack commanded as two boys from the gang appeared in front of Don. Both of the boys at once approached Don with full speed while screaming out a battle cry, then swinging their hockey sticks at him. Don pushed Martha out of the way just in time; then jumped up and landed on both of the weapons. Martha landed on her back not too far away from the fight. Ignoring the pain, she sat up and watched as Donnie grabbed both of the boy's heads and smashed them together. The two hockey players dropped their equipment as they backed away while rubbing their aching heads. They soon exchanged a glance before running away, crying like babies.

"COWARDS!" Jack shouted back at them. Don then picked up one of the hockey sticks and turned his attention away from the gang, to Martha.

"Martha! Run!" He shouted. Martha hesitated at first; then got up to her feet and ran the other way from the scene.

"Ya morons! She's gettin' away! After her!"

Doing as they were told, five hockey players ran after her. Don did all he could to stop them. He then used his hockey stick to block their way, but there were too many of them at once. As he stopped one of the players, another player aided his companion by knocking Donnie out of the way. Don was hit directly on his plastron, hard enough that he flew and landed against the apartment wall. He groaned as he clutched his hand on his plastron, trying to stop the pain. He then stood to witness the five boys running away from his sight chasing after Martha.

"No… Martha…" Don whispered as the pain grew worse while he spoke. He then shot back his attention at the rest of the gang, readying himself into his defensive position, staring directly into the leaders' eyes that where hidden behind the red shades. He kept his stance ready the way his father taught him, keeping the hockey stick in a comfortable position to protect him from anything that the gang would throw at him. But the pain was still there, screaming inside of him. He touched his plastron again, only to make the pain worse; he could tell that a bruise was forming on it. The pain was so unbearable that his eyes were about break into tears, but he fought it. He knew well that crying was a sign of weakness. A sign that should never be seen in the eyes of an enemy, a sign that Don didn't want. But to his dismay, none other than Jack himself noticed the look on his face.

"Aww. Are ya gonna cry?" Jack mocked him, speaking if he were talking to a two-year-old. He then pretended that he were crying, making the motions of wiping away tears that were never really there. Jack and the rest of the gang began to laugh at Donnie. Don looked back up again and gritted his teeth. He felt his heart pounding inside of him, energy was rushing through his veins, he had never felt this way until now. Sure his brothers made fun of him sometimes and called him names here and there for being so smart. Yet he didn't mind, but this, however, he would not accept. After what they did to Martha and to him, he would make sure that they wouldn't do it again. While the gang continued to laugh at him, Don made his move. He approached Jack holding the hockey stick steady in his hands; for what Don was about to do, Jack wouldn't be laughing for long. He then used the energy that was built up inside of him by striking the leader in the face. He then smirked, feeling a lot better to see the leader stumble backwards from the impact that was brought upon him. Jack's red shades fell from his face after he was hit, the shades then made contact of the cement ground, breaking into pieces.

"NO! Those were my dad's!" Jack shouted in rage, revealing the black eye that Don gave him. He then growled at him. "Yer goin' to pay, ya little brat!" Jack then charged at Donnie with his hockey stick over his head. Once he was two feet away from Don, he brought it down with a loud clang! The two weapons made contact with each other after Don defended himself with his.

From a distance Martha could hear Jack shouting behind her, but she couldn't quite understand what he was saying. She worried about Don. It was all because of her for bringing him into this mess. She wanted to stay with him, but he worried for her safety and told her to run. But even though she ran away, she was still in danger, as five members of the gang persisted after her.

"You can't run forever girly!" One of the members shouted behind her. True to his words, Martha slipped and fell, making the landing brutal upon her skin. She kept herself from screaming as she quickly stood and tried to continue to run. But the pain was worse than she thought. Not only her skin stung but also her waist started cramping up again. No… not yet. Not now… She thought. She felt the déjà vu, but this time the white fluffy kitten named Angel wasn't with her. But even so, she couldn't continue on with the pain inside of her slowing her down. Trying to catch her breath, she leaned her weight upon the wall next to her.

"We gotchu now!" Other gang member shouted. Frightened beyond belief, she took off running again. But she couldn't get that far as she fell again on the cement ground. Ignoring the pain, she rose to her knees and crawled into a nearby alley and hid herself behind a few garbage cans. Her lungs demanded air as she breathed some in deeply while trying her best to calm it down again, long enough so that the gang wouldn't know where she was hiding. But to her dismay, fate was against her.

"Ha! You're making this too easy! Search the area!"

She swallowed in fear, knowing that there was no way out for her this time. The gang began rummaging around the area, causing a loud ruckus while they searched for her. Martha closed her eyes, as she clasps her hands together.

I'm so sorry Donnie for bringing you into this. Where ever you are please be alright. Suddenly her hiding place was found when the garbage cans that once stood in front of her were thrown across the alley. Martha screamed in terror.

"Found you! You little brat!"

Martha continued to scream as the gang closed in on her.

"Shut up!" Yelled the boy directly in front of her. The gang member brought back his foot getting ready to silence her.

Martha covered her face, knowing the impact was coming. She waited and waited and waited, but nothing came. No pain. She felt nothing. Slowly she peeked through her fingers to find-to her surprise-Angel was sitting there right before her.

"Angel?" The little kitten meowed as it licked its paw.

She smiled, feeling relieved to see her little friend again. She then petted it on top of its head, letting it to know that she was happy to see her. But the sounds of groaning caught her attention. She found all the gang members were no longer standing before her, but now lying on the ground groaning in pain. "What happened?" Martha pulled herself to her feet to find that whoever did this was no were in sight. "Angel? Did you see who did this?" The kitten's only answer was by grooming its self. Martha then looked back around again to then find the boy, who was going to hit her, unconscious before her. "How would you like to get kicked!" She shouted, quickly kicking him in the leg before making a face at him with her tongue sticking out. After she was satisfied, Don's face then appeared in her mind. "Oh! No! Donnie! I hope he's ok!" Martha rushed out of the alley only to find herself crashing into someone else. She fell onto her backside. After recovering quickly she realized that it was Don who she ran into. He too fell on his backside, but he struggled trying to pull himself up.

"Donnie! Are you ok?" Martha rushed to his side.

"I'm ok." He lied, ignoring the bruise.

"Are you sure?"

He sighed. "Don't worry, I'm fine, and yes, I'm sure." He lied again, knowing he'd regret it later. Don didn't want to lie to her, but he also didn't want her to worry.

"I'm sorry."

Don looked at her confused. "For what?"

"It's all my fault. If I didn't lose my mommy, none of this would ever happen." Martha looked away, feeling like she was going to cry.

"Now don't say that," said Don, putting his hand on her shoulder.

"But it's true." She looked back at him. "You wouldn't got hurt by those big fat meanies."

"But Martha I'm…"

"I saw one of those meanies hitting you with the stick." Martha interrupted looking down.

"Yeah, but I'm alive right."

"Yeah, but still…"

"Martha if none of this ever happened then we would never have met. And I'm glad that I got to meet you."

Martha looked at him surprised. "Really?"

He smiled. "Of course. If we have never had met, then we wouldn't have become friends."

Martha's eyes widen. "I… I never thought of that."

Don nodded. "I lived in the sewers all my life. The only friends I had were my brothers. My daddy always told us that humans won't accept us for whom and what we are. Because of my own appearance, I would never have the chance to make any friends." He paused for a moment. "But now that's changed because you gave me the chance that I thought I would never have. And I'm very glad that I got to meet a person like you to give me this chance."

"I… don't know what to say. No one has ever said anything like that to me before."

"You don't need to say anything." Slowly, ignoring the pain, Don gently wrapped his arms around her, pulling her into a hug. She smiled and did the same. After some time, they broke apart and then gently they helped each other up to their feet. Soon the two of them helped each other out as they brushed the snow off of them. Suddenly, Martha then realized that Angel was nowhere in sight. After running out of the alley and running into Don she hadn't seen Angel.

"Now let's go find your mommy," said Don as he started to walk down the path, pulling Martha behind him. She looked back at the alley, but Angel was still nowhere to be seen. She sighed, knowing that she wouldn't ever see Angel ever again. But when she turned back to look where she was going, she started giggling.

"Um… Donnie? Do you even know where you're going?"

Don stopped in his tracks when he realized that she was right. "I actually really don't." He turned to her, feeling a little embarrassed. Martha giggled at him.

"Let me help." She said as she walked up to a young woman, who was waiting at the bus stop nearby. The woman was dressed in a long red coat and a red hat. She had long golden curly hair covering her shoulders and most of the top of her back.

"Umm… Hello."

The woman looked around before she peered down at Martha. "Why hello there. Aren't you a cute little one." She said with a smile.

"Umm… Can you please tell me where the Police station is?"

"Of course; it's three blocks down that way." The woman pointed behind Martha. Martha turned to see then looked back at the woman and smiled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, but isn't a little bit too dark out for you to be walking by yourself?"

"Don't worry; I have a friend." Martha pointed at Donnie. He shyly waved at her.

"Well alright then but be careful."

Martha smiled. "We will." She said while turning her back towards the woman and walked over where Don stood; then grabbed his hand. "She said it's this way." Martha pointed the way out.

"Well what are we waiting for?" asked Don as they began to run down the path together. Snowflakes continued to fall above them while trying its best to make sure everything was covered by snow. It even tried to cover the two children's faces as they ran through the fog of snowflakes. The sky was still pitch black on this dark night, making the apartment complex area look unwelcoming. But that did not stop the two young ones as the street lamps lit their way towards the Police Station. Once they arrived at the building, Martha realized that she must have passed it without knowing that it was there. She felt slightly stupid, but the thought if it vanished when she saw through one of the windows someone that she had thought that she would never see again.

Her mother.

"MOMMY!" Martha shouted, running up the steps. But then she instantly stopped at the door. Don followed until he caught up to her.

"What's wrong?" He asked.

"I just thought of something."

"What?"

She turned around and looked at him. "Will I ever see you again?" They both fell into complete silence.

"I… I don't know. Maybe. Do you leave anywhere near?"

She shook her head. "No, my mommy and I live in a very small town very far away from here. I do really want to see you again."

"Yeah, me too. Maybe the next time you come to visit New York City we should see each other." He smiled.

"That's a great idea!"

"But the problem is how would I know that you're here?"

"Oh… right. Maybe I'll just come here on the same day like today only umm…"

"Yeah! Like in the future and we should meet somewhere like where we first met. Yeah! And we should meet at around six O'clock! What do you think?"

"That's a great idea! But what if my mommy is too busy and I can't come next year? What if…"

Don put his hands on her shoulders. "Martha, just promise me that someday, maybe not next year or the year after that, you will come and visit alright?"

She nodded in agreement.

"And I promise you that I will visit the spot where we first met every year on this day until the year you come, ok?"

She nodded once more.

"No matter how many years it will take we are still friends." She smiled at him, but then she remembered something and looked down.

"Donnie?"

"Yeah?"

"This necklace means a lot to me. My daddy gave it to me on my sixth birthday before… he died." She paused after whispering the last few words. "He told me to give one of the halves of my necklace to my most bestest friend. And he said to choose wisely so…" Don watched as Martha broke the necklace in two. Having one still around her neck while the other in her hand. "I… choose you Donnie." Martha gently then wrapped the necklace around his neck, but before Don had the chance to look at it Martha pulled him into a hug. He accepted it and did the same.

"Friends forever?" She asked whispering to him.

"Friends forever." Don replied with a smile.

Martha then squeezed him at little tighter. "Thank you, Donnie. For everything." She whispered. After a few more seconds Martha let go, but she still had both of her hands on his shoulders. Without warning, Martha gently placed a kiss on his cheek. Blushing, Don stared at her for a moment while Martha smiled and then turned and walked away.

Don was frozen in his place, watching as Martha opened the door and then paused in the door way to look back at him. Seeing her like this made him to think that he'd never see her again. No. He instantly shook the thought away from his mind as Martha smiled at him one last time before entering the building.

Slowly he placed his hand on his cheek on the exacted spot where Martha kissed him. He smiled to himself; for what he did was the right thing to do. His father would have been proud of him, but he then realized that his own father would be unpleased with him for showing himself to a human. Everything that happened on that day must be kept as a secret from everyone even his own brothers. He sighed, peering down at his own feet as guilt then overwhelmed him, because he now realized that he disobeyed his own father's words.

But then happiness replaced the guilt when Don then gazed through the window of the building. Witnessing Martha's mother standing up with her hands against her mouth as tears run down the sides of her face. She then knelt down, stretching her arms out as Martha ran into them, embracing her mother. Don smiled while turning away to head home, but before he disappeared into the snowy night, he remembered the object that Martha gave to him.

He then picked the necklace up in his hand to see lying on his palm a halved shell with one word carved into it, the word Friend.

TMNT ^_^

Martha gazed upon her hand. She held out her share of the necklace staring at her half of the shell with the word Best carved into it. She sighed deeply as silence accompanied her. But not for long when then the sound of church bells began to ring throughout the entire city, telling the people all around the hour of the day. While leaning against the sewer wall near its entrance, Martha listened very carefully to the bells as they rang.

Dong… Dong… Dong… Dong… Dong… Dong…

Six O'clock pm.

Martha sighed again while holding her necklace close to herself in a tight grip with both of her hands together. As tears ran down her face she said in a low voice.

"It's been eight years Donatello… and… you're my only hope…"

Just to give you guys a heads up that the next chapters are going to have Hurt/Comfort in them. ;) Also... please review! ^_^