Mei walked into Donatello's lab. Her stomach was twisted in knots of worry; April should have been home by now. "Donatello, is April in here with you?"
Donatello looked up from his work, then glanced at the clock. He frowned. "She's not home yet? Usually she gets home an hour ago." He pulled out his t-phone and hit April's speed dial.
Mei watched nervously as Donatello held the phone to his ear. He drummed his fingers on the desk impatiently. When he frowned and hung up the phone, Mei's stomach turned to ice. "She didn't answer, did she?"
Donatello grimaced. "No."
"Run a trace."
"On it." Donatello held his hand over his mouth while the program ran.
Mei held her breath.
Donatello let out a long sigh of relief. "Oh. She's just at her apartment."
"Or her phone is." Mei did not share Donatello's relief. "I didn't think she went by the apartment anymore."
"You're right." Donatello frowned. "Let's gear up." With a sigh of annoyance, he muttered, "I knew letting her out of the sewers was a bad idea."
"You know that keeping her all the time would only make it worse," Mei replied, as they hurried out.
"We should get the others," Donatello added, as he and Mei retrieved their gear from the dojo. "It could be an ambush set by the Foot or the Kraang."
"If it's not, though, she'll just be really embarrassed," Mei added. She hated the thought of it turning out to be nothing—say, April wanting to take a shower in her own bathroom—and having everyone burst in. She strapped her sai into her belt. "I think it should be just us."
"What should just be the two of you?" Splinter had emerged into the dojo.
"It's April," Donatello said, a note of panic in his voice. "She's late."
Splinter nodded. "Go. I will warn your brothers to be prepared if necessary."
With that, Mei and Donatello hastened out of the lair. They were both quiet on the way. Mei had her own private fears for April's safety, and she could see from Donatello's face that he was calculating strategies for the various things that might await them at the apartment building.
When they stealthily emerged from the sewer, Mei took a deep breath. "Donatello, this could be bad. I want you to be prepared for it."
Donatello looked at her impatiently. "That's why I suggested we bring the other guys, Obasan."
Mei put her hand on her nephew's shoulder. Scientific, calculating, and a brilliant strategist, Donatello nevertheless seemed to overlook the obvious. "I'm not worried that she's under attack or kidnapped."
Donatello raised his eyebrows. "Why else would she not answer?"
Drawing a deep breath, Mei closed her eyes. She remembered the first year after she had escaped from Shredder's clutches. Though she had survived that year, she had to fight off the suicidal ideations that haunted her every night. But she was older then than April. Wiser. More practiced in meditation. "Just—be prepared for the worst. We need to hurry."
They stealthily climbed the fire escape and knocked on the window to April's apartment. There was no response.
Donatello knocked again. "Come on, April."
"We have to go in," Mei said, dreading what might wait for them on the other side of the window.
With a nod, Donatello picked the lock on the window. The two of them swooped in, weapons at the ready. Cautiously, they advanced into the main room of the apartment. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
"April?" Donatello called. He walked over to her bedroom, where the door stood wide open.
Mei glanced around the kitchen. One of the drawers was open.
The knife drawer.
Her stomach twisted in knots, but she managed to keep her voice calm. "Donatello, why don't you go check the roof?" She didn't want him to find April first, if her fears proved to be correct. She might have been on the roof, but Mei's suspicions suggested somewhere else. "I'll finish checking in here."
"Got it," Donatello said. He swiftly left.
Mei waited until the sounds of his climbing faded. Then, filled with dread, she walked over to the bathroom. The door was shut, but light peeked from beneath the frame.
Please, April, Mei thought. Don't do this to me. She extended a shaky hand toward the doorknob. It was locked. With a forceful blow, Mei kicked the door in.
What she saw was nothing less than she had feared, but she still almost vomited at the sight. April lay naked in the partially filled bathtub, bloodied and pale. Long, deep lacerations trailed up her arms. Her stomach and legs were scored with shallow cuts, as though she had kept digging at her flesh to distract her from the pain in her arms. The shallow water was scarlet.
April! Mei screamed internally. She ran to the bathtub and pressed two trembling fingers up against April's carotid artery, praying that she would feel something, anything.
Nothing. Then, a single throb. Seconds passed. Another.
She was alive, barely.
"Donatello!" Mei screamed, momentarily forgetting that she had sent him to the roof. Cursing silently to herself, she pulled out her phone and put it on speaker, then dialed her nephew. While the line rang, Mei retrieved a towel from the rod and laid it on the floor.
"She's not up here," Donatello said as soon as he picked up.
"I found her," Mei said, her voice hoarse with fear. "It's bad. Get down here. Now."
"What's—"
"Just get down here!" With a grunt, Mei lifted April out of the tub and onto the towel. Quickly, she ran to the hall closet to retrieve a blanket.
Donatello burst in, radiating panic. "Where is she?"
"She's barely alive. We've got to get her back to the lab, unless you want to take her to a hospital. Call Leonardo and tell him to bring the Shellraiser."
"What happened?"
"She's not dressed. Let me cover her up before you come in."
"Aunt Mei, what happened?"
Mei drew a deep breath. "She tried to kill herself. We need to hurry." With that, she spun and hurried to the bathroom and covered April with the blanket. "Okay. You can come in. Did you call Leonardo?"
She looked over her shoulder. Donatello was frozen to the spot, his expression pure horror.
"Call him, Donatello! We don't have much time! Her pulse is too low!"
Shakily, Donatello called Leo and explained the situation. "We'll meet you in the back alley, Leo."
Mei nodded. "Let's get her out of here."
Together, they scooped her up into a fireman carry and bore her down the fire escape into the alley.
Donatello was silent and ashen.