"We make a great team, Leo." Melody signed happily, before taking a bit of her Egg McMuffin.

"I still can't understand a word you sign." Leo shrugged back. "But we're a good team."

"We could make an act, you saw how everyone loved us!" Melody signed with a grin, but then shrugged at Leo's confused look. The two were back in the sewer tunnels, eating a nice McDonald's breakfast. Melody had gone topside, wrote her order on a piece of paper, explaining her disability, waited patiently, and returned to a worried Leo carrying their orders.

"Good plan, I'll give you that." Leo nodded at her, actually trying to understand and analyze the girl before him. She was usually so quiet and reserved, but he was coming to realize she was simply hidden behind her sisters' shadows'. She was smart and insightful, even if he couldn't understand the mute girl 90% of the time. She grinned again and gave a bow from her spot on the floor. "So what now?" He asked after they had finished their breakfasts. To simplify her answer, Melody just shrugged. "We have to meet up with my brothers, your sisters...but where are they?" Again, Melody shrugged. "We should've brought our shell phones, that could've come in handy."

"But you didn't, so what now?" Melody signed.

"Yeah, I should probably start thinking what else I can do." Leo sighed, standing up. Melody rolled her eyes, but got up as well. "Let's move out." He told her, and the two headed out into the sewers. It was silent as they walked, the occasional drip, drip of leaking pipes the only noise. Melody was silent beside him, her footsteps not even making a sound as she moved. She'd be a pretty good ninja. He thought surprised. She certainly has the acrobatics for it.

Melody was lost in thought, trying to figure out what to do. They couldn't just search every tunnel New York City had, that would take their whole lives to do! And she was worried about Do- her sisters, she was worried about her sisters. She could tell she had a crush on the purple masked brother, but she was trying to squish it. She couldn't fall in love, not yet...but she kinda knew she was. Tapping Leo's arm, she pointed up towards a manhole cover.

"I can't go topside, not in daylight." Leo protested, and Melody just smiled and shook her head before pointing at herself and then towards the manhole cover. "What if there's Purple Dragons up there?" He asked worriedly, and Melody just looked at him, an eyebrow raised and looking at him like that was the understatement of the century. "You'll be careful, right?" He asked her carefully. "I can't go up there, and if you get captured...I'll-I'll-" He finally just cut his words off and looked away from her.

That's sweet. Melody thought touched. He'd go topside for her, in daylight. She touched his arm gently, making him look at her.

"I'll be fine, Leo." She signed softly, nodding her head with a light smile. "Thank you though."

"Would you take my katanna at least? Just in case?" Melody let out a soundless laugh.

"Yeah, like that's a smart idea." She giggled silently. She could just imagine it, a girl popping up out of the sewers, all dirty and muddy, waving a katanna around. That just made her laugh.

"Maybe you're right." He admitted, and reshealthed his weapon. She rolled her eyes again, and let her hand fall from his arm.

"Of course I am." She said smoothly, and headed towards the ladder. She waved back to him, before pushing the cover out of place and finding herself in a park. She let out a soundless scream as she saw the battlefield before her. It was Andrew Park alright, but the turf war going on wasn't the usual settings of the idyllic scenery. Purple Dragons were raining in from every, a very familiar voice let out a scream, and two turtles were fighting for all they had, while two humans were running away as fast as they could. She let the cover crash over her head as she dropped down and grabbed Leo's arm before speeding up the ladder again.

"I can't go up there, Melody! Not in daylight!" He persisted, shaking his head vigorously. "Master Splinter wouldn't like- Oh no." He hissed, seeing what was going on. "Let's go." He said gruffly, grabbing Melody's arm and dragging her into the fray. "Fight, Melody, fight for all you got! I gotta get to Clarissa!" He cried out, and Melody nodded back in horror before hook kicking a 'Dragon. He let out a grunt, but kept coming and Melody punched him in the jaw. "Clarissa!" Leo called out fearfully, watching in horror as some 'Dragons ganged up on the girl. "Get away from her!"

"Leonardo?" Clarissa called out hopefully, before letting out a cry as she was hit on her back with a bat. "Ah!"

"Get away from her!" Leo growled out, before taking the 'Dragons out without mercy. He picked up the trembling brunette carefully, drawing her close to him before he sprinted from the battlefield.

"Leo! Get back here, we need ya!" Raph snapped as Leo passed him.

"I'm getting her out of here." Leo replied without stopping.

"Mikey, get Melody and let's split." Raph spoke to his younger sibling while breaking a guy's arm. It was an accident. Raph mused to himself. Or was it? He grinned to himself as he turned his fury on the next guy to step up only to fall down. He was glad Valentine wasn't here, he didn't want her to get hurt...but knowing her, she would be a force to be reckoned with in battle. If it wasn't a bro out fighting with him, Raph would pick the redhead in a heartbeat.

"I got 'er, Raph!" Mikey called out, and Raph snapped his eyes toward his brother with Melody slung over his shoulder. He nodded curtly and the two split from battle, watching Zee glare at them resentfully.

"I will find you, don't worry sisters." Zee called out, a smirk in her voice.

"Not while I'm alive." Raph grunted, throwing a 'Dragon out of his path. "Come on, Mikey! We gotta high tail it out of here." The two sped after the retreating turtle ahead of them. They barely got into the sewers before the Dragons were after them, for now avoiding the inevitable. The sound of footsteps crashed over their heads, and Mikey set Melody back on her feet.

"Thank you." She signed in relief.

"Anytime, Mel." Mikey smiled back.

A little ways up in the tunnel, Leo was setting Clarissa back on her feet. She quivered slightly, her glossy blue eyes showing fear. Leo wanted to comfort her, to tell her it would be okay, but the words just wouldn't come to him. Hesitantly, he smoothed Clarissa's brown locks from her face, brushing it back behind her ear silently. He cupped her cheek quietly, and Clarissa leaned into his palm, all the tension leaving her face. She closed her eyes and smiled, and Leo had to smile back, even if she couldn't see him. Tentatively, almost afraid, he leaned towards her...and then pulled back.

"Oh Leonardo." Clarissa sighed, shaking her head and then reached her arms up around his neck, lifted herself up and kissed him right on the beak. Leo was surprised at first, and then returned her kiss, deepening it and encouraging it. Clarissa let out a sigh of bliss, and Leo smiled as he came up for air. The two came together again, and then a throat clearing broke them apart. Down to their left, Raph, Mikey, and Melody were looking at them in shock, mouths agape and eyes wide. Clarissa blushed and stepped back, Leo doing the same.

"Um..." Mikey began.

"Yeah." Raph finished.

"Okay then." Melody signed.

"We're just gonna-" Raph began awkwardly.

"We weren't here!" Mikey supplied, and the three sped off into an adjacent tunnel.

"Oh my gosh..." Melody began. "That was so sweet!"

"I knew this would happen." Mikey nodded, a slight arrogance in his voice.

"I saw it coming a mile away." Melody agreed, nodding her head enthusiastically. "It's so sweet, don't ya think so?"

"I'm so happy for my big bro." Mikey grinned. Melody didn't know how, but it was like the youngest turtle knew sign language, he could always understand her! It was so great, she was glad she could share this moment with someone. "What do you think's going to happen next?" He grinned, and Melody just put a finger over her lips secretively.

"Let's not spoil anything for them, okay?" She signed, and Mikey nodded back. Raph was strangely quiet, but Mikey brushed it off as the extreme awkwardness from having seen his older brother making out in the middle of the sewer system.

He couldn't believe it. He couldn't believe it. Leo and Clarissa had kissed. It was officially over. The two seemed perfectly happy together, and it had been a sweet moment between the two, but it seemed just so simple! If he tried to kiss Valentine, not that he'd ever imagined it, she would slug him into next week. Some people (and turtles) had it so easy, but he knew Valentine wouldn't make his life easy. She probably didn't even have any feelings for him! At the best, she knew him as her sparring partner, at the worst, that guy who tried to infiltrate her life. No, she probably wouldn't ever know he liked her. A lot. He watched Melody and Mikey talking together excitedly, how his orange masked brother could understand a word of all that crazy signage stuff was beyond him, but he watched from the corner of his eye as he watched Mikey pick Melody up and twirl her around. Yeah, some people had it easy. And they weren't even dating! He grumbled.

~(0)~

"I can't believe you guys got sent to another planet! And you had to fight in an arena? It sounds like fun!" Valentine was grinning, and watched Don shake his head.

"It's not fun to fight, Val." He said grimly. "You don't fight for entertainment. It should only be for self defense."

"You wanna tell me why the WWE's making so much money then? For entertainment fighting?" She shot back, arching an eyebrow.

"That doesn't count as real fighting, it's all choreographed anyway." Donny replied, dismissing it.

"Alright, what about the UFC? They make even more money off pay-per-views."

"I'll let Master Splinter explain this to you." Don groaned, leaning his head back and closing his eyes.

"You have to explain this to someone else?" Valentine asked curiously.

"Whodaya think I have to explain this too?" Don replied, opening one eye a crack. "Raph of course."

"Raph?"

"Yeah, I doubt it's ever gotten through his thick skull you shouldn't fight just to fight. He's a hot head."

"Yeah." Valentine smiled softly, looking down at the concrete floor they were on. They had been having a good time, even though they were on the run from her psychotic sister and her maniac uncle. She felt her heart beat faster when she thought about Raph, wondering where he was, what was happening to him...what Clarissa was telling him. She was apprehensive to see them again, she knew her blind sister was meddling.

"Why do ya do that?" Don asked suddenly, and Valentine snapped her eyes to look at him.

"Huh?" She blinked confused.

"That." He repeated, pointing to where her hand was on her side. She dropped her arm immediately. "Whenever you're nervous or afraid your hand always goes back to that exact spot on your side. Why's that?" He asked, his natural curiosity for unexplained occurrences taking over. It was like a complicated math problem, he just had to solve it, or he would go crazy. He had seen her do that multiple times during her stay at casa de la turtle, and it was bugging him.

"Oh it's nothing." She shrugged, trying to blow it off.

"It's more than nothing, tell me." Donny demanded quietly, and Valentine sighed, her shoulders slumping forward.

"W-When I was little, I was attacked. Well, murdered actually. Me and my uncle, we got...well, we were ambushed. I hadn't learned how to fight that well, I was a natural though, even then, but the Purple Dragons...they were just better. They slashed my side, they were going to let me bleed to death...My uncle, he lasted longer, I remember watching him fight them off, try to get to me..." She had to choke back a sob and bit her lip before continuing. "They got 'im though. A cut to the jugular vein they said...I watched him fall, there was nothing I could do..." Donny remained silent, waiting for her to continue at her on pace. He didn't think he would be dredging up memories this bad. "Uncle Jack died that day, there was nothing I could do..." Tears were falling down her face, but still Don waited. "But, I died too. There had been to much blood loss, they said I way lucky to be alive." She said bitterly, and Don didn't move or speak, knowing the loss of this Uncle Jack had made her life feel worthless, that she had lost the only person who actually understood and knew her. "They said I hadn't been on the other side to long, that they had been able to revive me in time. But...it was weird, it felt like I had been gone longer than the time they said..." Her voice became tinged with puzzlement, like she had been harboring something for a long time. "It felt...good over there. I felt...safe. But-" She bit her lip and cut her words off.

"But what?" Donny prompted quietly.

"B-But Uncle Jack...he said I had to go back, that people were waiting for me. That I should watch out for-" She cut herself off again and let out a chuckle.

"What?" Donny asked curiously, knowing something science couldn't explain was going to come out of her mouth.

"He said watch out for the red masked guy, that I'd-well,..." She chuckled again. "That's I'd fall for him." She mumbled to the floor. "Anyway, I always touch my scar when I'm nervous. That one, or any of my others, but I always seem to brush against that one most of the time." She sighed, getting back to the original question. She brushed a stray tear off her face angrily. "It's just a habit." She muttered, standing up. Don let her walk aways down the tunnel before deciding to go after her. Her life had been traumatic as theirs had, but she was still fighting. A girl who died, well anyone who died would keep on fighting at all costs. It explained why she was so distant and cold, removed and had some trust issues... It made Valentine who she was, but that scar was a major part of her, and Don knew she had let him see a major part of her, and he knew to be thankful. It gets better. He wanted to tell her. It always does.