Days went by after their failed mission and their lives started going back to their normal rhythm… as normal as life can be for a family of mutants. As much as she loved them all, it started getting harder to wake up in the mornings. Each step felt like she was dragged a small weight behind her, and she had to convince herself to perform her daily routine more than usual. She pushed her body to the limit during their morning training, but her heart wasn't in it. She was sure that Sensei could tell, he always picked up on things like that though he didn't say a word. If anything, it made her feel worse. She felt like a young spark who couldn't even activate a uniweapon.

Leo did notice and tried his best to cheer her up by spending time with her and even taking her to the Entertainment district one of those times. The others did their best too, with Mikey putting in the extra effort. But she still felt detached from the world, like her body was a puppet playing the part. She was sick of feeling this way, but she felt trapped and unable to find a way out of it.

Luckily for her, April showed up one day and noticed how little Hikari's somber mood had changed since they returned from T.C.R.I. a week ago. That was when April stepped in to talk to her, "You know we hadn't really hung out since the mission, I'm gonna talk to Splinter to see if you can stay with me and have a sleepover."

"A sleepover? We never did that before." Hikari blinked.

"But that doesn't mean we can't start now." April said, "My school's drama club putting on a musical this weekend, we should go check it out."

Hikari thought back to the nights she spent watching the productions from the rooftops. The audience would roar with laughter whenever something funny happened, and it wasn't quite the same when she had to control it so people didn't know she was up there. "It would be nice to see a show from the seats for a change." She nodded.

"I think a change of pace is just what you need. I want my dad back and I enjoy my training with Splinter, but I still need time to just be a normal kid. The guys each have their own thing, and I think you need to take a day away from the lair."

"Sure, I do miss hanging out with you." Hikari was convinced, "I'll talk to Splinter about it."

"Great! Let me know when I can get those tickets." April's excitement for it managed to get Hikari to smile with anticipation. She was actually excited for this, for something new and unknown. She was going to be a normal human girl for a day.

When Hikari mentioned her plans to stay with April for the night, everyone reacted mostly positively. Splinter was calm about it and allowed Hikari to go out for the night. Raph couldn't really care less about it. Donnie was a little annoyed, probably jealous that he didn't get a chance to hang out with April like the girls did.

Leo wasn't really sure how to react to it yet. She had never spent the night out of the lair, or away from them. Even when he and Hikari were fighting, they were never that far apart. He was worried about her, and he was a little frustrated that she thought leaving was the best decision. So what if it's only for one night?

But Mikey was on board with all of it. He was following her around and bursting with questions, "I can't believe you're spending the night at April's place. What do girls even do all night?"

"I don't know." She shrugged. She was busy double-checking everything she was bringing. She had a drawstring backpack she patched up a while ago, she had already packed some extra clothes, her toiletries, and a few extra weapons in case she needed them. "But she did think it would help for me to get out of the lair for a change."

"We go out every night." Raph spoke up, not taking his eyes off the pinball machine. Leo figured Raph was trying to beat his high score again, but he was too distracted by his thoughts to think about that.

"True, but we usually only go out for training, patrolling, and pizzas." She tightened the drawstrings and slung the backpack over her shoulder, "Besides, it'll be interesting to see what it would be like to play human for a day."

As she was about to leave, Leo couldn't help but voice his concerns, "If you need any help, call us, OK? And I don't just mean for fighting."

Her eyes widened with shock before softening with that smile he missed seeing on her face, "Of course, Leo. I know I've been acting differently since that night, but I want to stop feeling this way. A day out of the lair and hanging out with April may be just what I need."

Leo could hear what she was saying. He nodded and let her go because that's what she needed. But watching her leave the lair like that made him feel like he had failed her. The lair was silent as the echoes of her footsteps went away. Mikey squirmed at the tension, "…The lair feels weird now."

"She's been gone for 5 minutes." Donnie remarked.

"It's weird not having her around, bros."

Raph scoffed, "I thought Leo would be the one complaining."

"Hikari and I do still have our separate lives, Raph." Leo said defensively and crossed his arms, "It's called having a healthy relationship."

"And you're not bothered at all by this?" Donnie asked with a raised brow.

"Totally. I mean, why should I be bothered by the fact that she felt so awful that she had to leave the lair to try getting better?" Leo turned around to see his brothers looking at him weirdly, "What?"

"We should do something fun too, just us turtles!" Mikey exclaimed,

"Mikey, we've been doing that for 15 years." Leo said drily, "We've done all we can in the sewers anyways, what's there left to do?"

"Leo, I'm glad you asked." Mikey's Cheshire grin did not make Leo feel any better about that statement.

Hikari was busy stocking ingredients by where they need to go and check their freshness with her sense of smell. It wasn't something she expected to learn when she started working with Murakami-san but it was a useful skill nonetheless. She was lost in the silence of her thoughts when a voice cut through the fog. "Hikari-san. Are you OK?" Murakami-san asked.

"I'm fine, Murakami-san. Just a little tired." Hikari took the now emptied box and placed it by the back alley.

"Your footsteps are heavy than usual." His eyebrows scrunched up with concern, "I can finish up here if you wish to go rest."

"No, I'm good." Her voice spiked a little at that, trying to cover her tracks.

"Hikari-san, I may not understand what you do. But I do know that it is dangerous. You are allowed to rest when you need it."

Knowing now that she couldn't hide it from him, she sighed, "It's not that easy, Murakami-san. We failed, and we lost someone because of that. I know I'm just dragging them down with the way I've been, even if they didn't say anything. But that just makes it worse."

The weight she had felt had lightened but shame soon took its place, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said any of that."

Murakami-san simply raised his hand and gave her a smile, "The one thing I have learned to do very well is listening. You sound far too young to have this kind of burden on you; loss is not easy to live with. However, your friends sound like they are quite supportive of you. Don't doubt their love for you, Hikari-san."

At this point, April entered the store and announced her presence. "Hey, Mr. Murakami." She said aloud.

Hikari said nothing more as she quickly finished up what little work she had left, while Murakami-san went back out to the front of the shop, "Welcome, April. Please have a seat."

"We won't be long, we've got a show to catch." April explained.

"Hey." Hikari walked out of the back, now with her backpack in tow. She turned to him before she left, "Thank you, Murakami-san. I'll see you tomorrow morning."

"Good night, girls." With that, Hikari and April stopped by her place to drop off Hikari's bag before heading over to Roosevelt High School.

Leo thought of himself as a pretty good big brother, responsible and caring. He always tried to do what he could for his family, but there were times he would wonder if he overindulged in their antics. This was definitively one of those times. "Mikey, what the heck is this?"

Mikey had probably got his hands on everything and anything they had around the lair. He set them up all over the place. There was food he had thought they threw out weeks ago on the kitchen island. The Patrol Buggy was right by the tracks outside the turnstiles. Not to mention some of Hikari's scarves hanging on the wooden exit way above them.

"It's the first-ever Turtle games!" Mikey announced with his typical Mikey flair.

His brothers took in the sight before them, and Raph broke the silence with a facepalm, "Is this about your stupid obsession with the Olympics?"

"Nuh-uh, the Turtle games are totally different from the Olympics."

Leo stepped in between the two before a fight broke out, "Alright, how do we do this?"

"I've spent the last two hours coming up with the coolest games." Mikey said proudly, "We'll all play, and one will be victorious. I even came up with a brain puzzle for Donnie so he can't say we're cheating."

"Hey!" Donnie squawked defensively.

"A brain puzzle designed by Mikey?" Raph mused.

Leo looked to Raph and shared his look of amusement, "This oughta be good."

"And what does the winner get exactly?" Donnie asked.

"Bragging rights." Mikey said simply.

The three of them took at each other before nodding.

"Sure."

"I'm in."

"I've got nothing better to do."

"Then it's settled. Welcome, bros, to the first-ever Turtle games!" Mikey went back to his dramatics and gave them copies of the sewer lines with a track line drawn with green crayon, "For the first game, we will race with our karts through this track. The first one who makes it back to the lair wins!"

April was starting to think that Hikari could affect someone's mood just by being near her. She could feel the anxiety around Hikari like a persistent fog. They were almost late because she took 2 extra showers while they were in her aunt's place. To be fair though, she was living in the sewers. "Just relax. You've been to my school before." April said.

"To fight a robot lady that was trying to kidnap you." Hikari reminded her.

"This time, you won't even have to fight anything." She supplied cheerfully.

"I don't know. It's one thing being in a crowded store, but being in a room with people who are supposed to be our peers? I'm not sure if I can handle small talk with normal human teenagers. What do they even talk about?"

"Don't worry, it's high school. People won't talk to you, they'll just talk about you." With that, they dropped the subject as they walked through the doors of Roosevelt High School. April could tell that their conversation didn't quell her fears entirely, she could see Hikari's fingers twitching as if she was fighting against reaching for any of her weapons.

Most of the people in the main hall were parents and friends of actors and crew members, some were teachers and school personal. It was opening night, so it was a little more crowded than what she expected to be.

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed a head of purple hair heading her way. Making her way through the small crowd was Irma Langinstein. "April, you made it!" Irma greeted her with a hug. When Irma pulled back, she noticed April had another girl by her side, "Who's this?"

"Irma, this is Hikari." April introduced the two of them, "Hikari, Irma."

"Nice to meet you." Irma put her hand out for a handshake.

April was surprised when Hikari barely flinched, looking down at the hand before ignoring it as her silver eyes turned sharp. "Likewise." Hikari responded, remaining cordial and cold.

Irma blinked at that before letting it slide, "I don't recognize you, do you go to our school?"

"No."

"She's umm-homeschooled." April interjected, answering quickly on her behalf.

"And how do you know each other?" Irma asked, now eyeing Hikari with a suspicious glance.

"Mutual friends." Hikari answered, still straightforward and guarded.

"You don't talk a lot, huh?"

"You ask a lot of questions."

"OK! I'm sure you're real busy with being the stage manager and all. Hikari and I are gonna go to our seats. Break a leg!" April cut the conversation short before pulled Hikari away from Irma and the crowd, "Jeez, I know you don't know how to small talk with humans but what's with the third degree?"

"I don't know what that means, but if you're talking about my behavior just now…" Hikari bit her lip, "I don't trust her."

"You barely know her. Irma's my best friend. Sure, she can be pushy and a little self-righteous. But she's a good person."

"I don't know what to tell you, I just don't like her."

"Fine, you don't have to like her. Just try to be nice." April let the topic drop. Tonight was supposed to be for Hikari's sake and April didn't want to spend the night arguing with her about one of her friends.

"Only because she's your friend." Hikari nodded.

April took that as a win, and they got to their seats as the announcement let them know that the show was about to start.

Leo had to give him credit where credit was due, Mikey went all out for these Turtle games. As usual, things had gotten far more intense than it started. Leo's driving skills gave him the victory in the patrol buggy race. The next event was a challenge to make it up and get one of Hikari's scarves with their hands tied behind their shells. Raph won that one but it probably wouldn't be so sweet when she found out how badly torn they were.

Mikey, unsurprisingly, ate more spoiled food than they could stomach and won the eating contest. To be fair, they spoiled themselves with mostly non-moldy food that wasn't algae since they've been up on the surface. Leo doubted that he could ever look back at that and do the same now.

Donnie won the trick shot event. Leo knew that Donnie probably figured out the best route to do the most impressive tricks with a small bouncy ball, but everyone conceded when Donnie managed to hit almost surface in the pit and he still caught it by the end.

With the scores all tied up, it was up to the last event. Mikey's brain-teaser that he had been hyping up. The rules were quite simple, whoever guessed it right will win, if the three of them gave up then Mikey would win.

"Now for the moment you've all been waiting for." Mikey said ominously, trying a little too hard to set the mood, "A question so mind-boggling that even the greatest-"

"Just give us the question."

"All right, bros." Mikey cleared his throat, "I've got 5 colored balls. The blue one goes into the ocean, the white one goes into the clouds, the green ball goes into the grass, the yellow ball goes into the sun. Where does the red ball go?"

"Umm… On the nose of a clown?" Leo tried.

"Nope."

Raph asked, "Into the fire?"

"Uh-uh."

Donnie answered, "Into a volcano."

"Try again."

Each answer they gave him just got them the same smug grin on Mikey's face, which was really starting to tick them off. Leo could tell it irked Donnie that Mikey actually came up with a brain puzzle that stumped him. The three of them backed up and whispered to each other.

"I am not losing to this."

"Could you imagine how insufferable he's gonna be if we lose this?"

"We have to figure it out. It's Mikey after all, we just need to think Mikey."

"…And how do you plan on doing that?" Donnie asked with some snark in his tone.

"Without any brain damage." Raph added sarcastically.

"We can do this. We're ninjas, guys."

Hikari slipped out of the school during the intermission. Watching a show on the seats was fun… until she realized how out of place she felt. She could see friends and families whispering to each other during scenes, the way the mood drops when things don't go well in the story. There was a sense of unity in the audience for this, and she felt so isolated.

She still had her T-Phone with her and sent a text so April wouldn't worry about her. But she needed time away from the crowd, from the people. She was contemplating on which rooftop to sit on when she heard a scuffle.

"Get outta here, ya damn bum." The voice was definitely a man's, one trying far too hard to sound authoritative.

"Mind yur own buz'niss." A scruffier voice answered, his words were slightly slurred. "I'm tryin ta sleep here, and you're stirr'ng up trouble."

Hikari couldn't stop her curiosity. She moved quietly towards the voices and peeked over the walls. The cocky bossy voice was coming from a skinny man who probably pictured himself a proud lion. He and another muscular man were looking down a man with grey hair and messy stains over lying down next to some trash cans. "Ya know, there're a lot of ya in New York. Pretty sure folks won't notice one gone from the streets."

She heard everything she needed to step in, "Hey! Back off."

"Little missy playing hero?" The skinny man gave her a side-eye glance and scoffed, "Go home, supergirl. This ain't ya business."

She had to stop herself from smirking. So typical, thinking someone like her couldn't stand up to them. "I'll leave if you leave him alone." She said with conviction.

"Cute." The skinny man gave her a condescending smile. With a snap of his fingers, his muscle-headed lackey marched over, towering over her in an intimidating manner. If she wasn't trained the way she would, it might've worked. But when the lackey threw a punch at her face, she simply twisted her body to turn away from the attack while countering it. She spun around and used that momentum to send her heel into his side.

The lackey cried out in pain and staggered back with his hand covering the bruise forming just above his hip. His murderous gaze did nothing to waver her confidence. When he charged at her again, she dodged it and moved behind him. With a swift kick to the knee, the lackey collapsed after Hikari slammed her elbow into his temple.

"How are you worse than the Purple Dragons?" She rolled her eyes at the musclehead she knocked out and then to the skinny ringleader, "Unless you want to tell your boss you got your butts kicked by some 'little missy', I suggest you forgot about this man and leave him be."

The skinny loudmouth gritted his teeth in anger after watching one of his best men drop to the ground like a sack of rocks. This little brat was more effort than she was worth, and he didn't want any bruises to answer about if anyone asked. He scowled before waking up his subordinate, "We're done here."

Hikari had a smug grin on her face while watching the two man shuffle out of the alleyway. The messy-looking man saw how this child took down that juggernaut and dropped his jaw in disbelief, "How did-"

"Martial arts training. Are you alright?" She asked, though still keeping her distance from him. Her saving him didn't mean that she trusted him.

"Could be worse. Thanks kid, name's Vern." Vern introduced himself with a grateful smile. His lack of any prodding and the open gesture was enough for her to let her guard down just a little.

"Hikari." She sat down onto the ground, "I don't think they'll come back tonight, but I wouldn't stay here for too long."

"Got nowhere to go. Lost my job, my home, my best friend." Vern gestured around him, "This here's rock bottom."

"What happened?"

"My buddy Jack and I ran this investigation shindig go'ng. Things were great, till one day he just disappeared. He's the brains, I just worked behind the scenes. Without him, I couldn't keep the business running. I tried finding him, but life just kicks ya down again and again."

She understood. The pain of losing what you had and wanted to keep never left her mind. But she wasn't ready to share her grief with a stranger. "Are you still looking for him?"

"I know that son of a gun, he's probably in over his head if he had to pull a Houdini like this." Vern grumbled with fondness in his tone. It really reminded her of Raph's rough but genuine attitude towards his brothers.

Hikari wanted to ask more about Jack when her T-Phone started ringing. "Hey, April. I know what you're about to ask. I'm fine. Meet me by the alleyway next to your school." After chatting with April a little more, she hung up the call and got back on her feet, "I have to go. It was nice talking to you, Vern."

"Thanks again, kid. I'll see ya around."

Just as Hikari walked out of the alleyway, April showed up and caught a glance at the man. "Who's that?" She asked.

"Just a man." Hikari shrugged as the two started making their way back to April's.

"And here I thought you only tolerated humans."

"Humans have certainly lost some of their charms since I got here, but you're far more interesting to lump together with mundane humans." She jabbed back at April, "Is it weird that I really want some of the décor from the set?"

"I don't think it's a good idea to steal from the school." The two girls laughed. Hikari already feeling lighter than she had felt in a while.

Leo was absolutely done with it. He did his part in distracting Mikey and trying to get the answer out of him, but nothing was working. "Did you guys find anything?"

"I couldn't find anything about this puzzle." Donnie said without taking his eyes off his T-Phone.

"There wasn't anything in his room either, checked all his comic books and junk." Raph reported.

"Mikey's not spilling anything either." Leo sighed, "I even offered to give up TV for the next week for the answer."

"Nice try, bros. Trust me, this is a Mikey original." Mikey popped up behind them with the biggest grin, "Admit it, I beat you!"

"No way! I'm not going to be outsmarted by Mikey!" Raph's face started turning redder than green, "Fire hydrant! Stop sign! The center of the Earth!"

"Nope. Nope… and Nope!" Mikey shook his head smugly, his voice clearly showing how much he enjoyed his big brothers' frustrations.

"I'm gonna rip your head out of your shell!" Raph lunged at Mikey, only to be held back by Donnie and Leo.

"Raph, calm down! It's just a game." Leo scolded him.

"No!" Raph growled, "This stupid ball is getting on my nerves!"

"…Aww man." The three stopped and looked at Mikey, who just looked defeated. "Raph got it."

"Are you kid-" Leo sputtered in disbelief, "That's the answer?!"

"Yeah. I thought I would annoy you guys enough that you'd just give up." Mikey shrank into his shell when he was faced with the fiery daggers coming from his three older brothers, "Uh… Maybe it worked a little too well?"

Before they called it a night, April wanted some ice cream before bed. Hikari would be a fool to pass up on ice cream and asked for a bowl of cookie and cream. "Here you go." April handed Hikari her ice cream before joining her on the couch.

"Thanks, April. For everything. You were right, I did need a night out of the lair."

"It's too bad you didn't get to see the end of it."

"I appreciated the thought. The show was wonderful, but playing human like that… I never felt so alone." Hikari confessed, "Speaking to Vern reminded me of home, of my old life. I feel like I've only been losing everything I have ever cared about, my purpose as a Lightfury, my cluster, my best friend… Just when I feel like I could have a purpose on Earth, that night just reminded me of how easily I could lose everything again and I don't think I could go through that again."

"You mentioned him before. Tell me more about him."

"His name is Romnzlaxe, he was a newly-formed spark when our parents introduced me to him. His glow is so warm, so blue. Even as we grow older, he never lost that. I see a lot of him in Mikey." Hikari then giggled at a distant memory, "He once convinced me to try and ride my board out of the atmosphere, that was when I learnt that sparks couldn't breathe in space."

"Seriously?"

"I think that was 6 earth years ago, and I was too busy showing off to notice. Our parents were so heated I thought a star was going to be formed from that, but he stuck by me even when we were being punished." Hikari sighed, the spoon swirling the ice cream soup in her bowl, "Sometimes I wonder what he thinks happened to me. I wish there was some way to tell him that I'm fine."

"Maybe Donnie could come up with-"

"We talked about it before. But nothing we could come up with would be powerful enough to reach the Nebula without alerting anyone else that there was a lone Lightfury Spark stranded in the Milky Way. Anyone with a vendetta against the Lightfuries would come to Earth and we already have enough to worry about without anything more."

"It still surprises me, to know that there is so much out there that we don't understand."

"There was a reason Earth was spared from most intergalactic conflicts." She explained, "At least, before we knew about the Kraang."

April placed her now-empty bowl down, "Speaking of the Kraang, Donnie found out some stuff about the Kraang once you all got back to the lair. I asked them not to tell you because I wanted to be the one to talk to you about it, and I needed some time to think about it. Turns out they were after me, that's why they took me and my dad."

"You can't blame yourself after what the Kraang did." Hikari tried to console, only for it to land on deaf ears.

"I know it was the Kraang who took them, but I couldn't stop thinking that my dad wouldn't be in danger if it wasn't for me."

"We promised you that we're gonna get him out of there and I don't think he would be happy if anything happened to you. We're gonna keep an eye out for them, they're not going to get to you."

"Anyways, let's talk about something else."

"Did Donnie tell you about this weird kid we met called the Pulverizer?"

"Man, that guy's a creep." April had to suppress the shiver from the chill coming down her spine, "How did Leo take it?"

"He was great, stepping in so I didn't deck the guy… until I did later." She smirked, "It also gave me the perfect opportunity for me to give my braided cord to him."

"I noticed it on his wrist, but I didn't think Leo would appreciate me fawning over it while we were planning a high-stake mission."

"He's already annoyed whenever his brothers talk about us. To be fair, they're usually mocking him or our affection when they do that." She explained, "And it's mostly Raph."

"Of course, it's Raph."

"And I expected nothing less from him. He's like the big brother I didn't know I wanted." Hikari shot her a warning glare, "Don't tell him I said that, or he'll never let that go."

"Don't worry, nothing's leaving this room."

"Good, because I think Mikey would get upset at that."

"Aren't they all kind of like your big brothers?"

"Well yeah, but I don't see Leo as a brother. I think Mikey just likes not being the youngest in the group, even if he's still their little brother."

"You don't talk about Donnie a lot." April pointed out, "I always hear you talking about Mikey or Raph when it's not about Leo, but I rarely hear you talk about him if not for his lessons or inventions."

Hikari raised a brow at that, "Our friendship is built on curiosity and a working partnership. We both learn so much from each other that we grew close, not to mention all the time we spent working on the Shellraiser There isn't much to talk about because it is quite simple."

"Huh, I guess that makes sense."

"As brilliant as he is, he is quite a simple guy. He's just as loyal and protective as the others, and he puts his heart and mind on the line who those he cares about."

"I'm not blind, and he's not exactly subtle about it." April gave her a look, which to Hikari's amusement.

"No, not really." Hikari chuckled a little at that.

"You and Leo had it easier."

"You think us getting together was easy?" She gave April a look of slight disbelief.

"At least you both knew how you felt for each other." April said. After all, she knew Donnie liked her, but she had never even considered anything more than friendship. Nor was it a good time to evaluate her potential interest in him while they were searching for her father and trying to thwart an alien uprising.

"You don't need to explain your feelings to me, April. In the end, this is between you and Donnie." She leaned back on the couch with a loud yawn, "I didn't think I'd be talking so much tonight."

"That's what friends do when they have a sleepover."

Hikari got up and hugged April, "I do feel better now. Thanks again for tonight."

Hikari was drained after a night of excitement and vulnerability. After changing and doing her nightly routine, Hikari got into the sleeping bag that she bought for this occasion. With the braid now tied around her wrist for the night, she looked longingly at it. This was the first night she spent without any of the guys and it gave her some perspective. She now knew how badly she was dealing with her trauma. She thought the best way to help her cope with the pain of losing her cluster was to throw herself into her new life and purpose, but all of it was just a cover-up for her to bury it deep within her. Her attempts to fit into her new life had nearly made her let go of who she really was. She was a Lightfury, and she was done playing human.

After packing up her things and a quick breakfast at the O'Neil residence, she set off to Murakami's restaurant. Once she dropped off her bag in the backroom, she went to the front to greet him. "Good morning, Murakami-san."

"Good morning. The delivery has just arrived, and I need to prepare my ingredients for the day."

"I'm on it." Hikari went to the loading area to pick up all the boxes of fresh produce and placing them in their spot. Months of working with Murakami had helped her develop a routine in the store and the two now worked seamlessly with each other. Once the produce was taken care of, she started putting away the dried ingredients to their designated spots while humming a song from the show last night.

"Hikari-san, you sound well today." Hikari turned around, to see his warm smile at her.

"Yeah, I actually do feel better after yesterday." She smiled before asking, "Murakami-san, can I get 2 dozen pizza gyozas?"

Murakami merely shook his head fondly and went back to the front to serve another customer. Hikari got back to work, every step stable but light. At that moment, she wasn't carrying the death of her cluster or the weight of the world with her. That won't ever leave her, but she accepted that.

She entered the lair with a leap over the turnstiles with her bags in hand. "Hey guys, I got-" She stopped when she noticed the chaos in the pit and looked at Leo, who was watching Space Heroes, "What in the galaxy happened while I was gone?"

"Turtle Games." He simply answered, "Just a heads up, all three of us will probably kick Mikey's butt during training. He deserves this one."

She moved to sit next to him with a cheeky grin, "Now this is a story I have to know."

Leo rolled his eyes at that, "How was your night out?"

She leaned into him, her head resting him his shoulder. "It was a lot of fun." She said it almost like a whisper, a secret between the two of them. She smiled as she let herself take comfort from Leo's presence.

"You're glowing again." Leo whispered, a small grin on his face before it slowly dropped, "I'm glad April helped you feel better."

"It's not just April." She clarified, "You all have helped me so much to ground me, and I can tell how much you care, I just didn't feel like I deserved it. I know better now. I might need a reminder once and a while, but you guys are the best friends I could ask for."

"I just wish I could've done more for you." He said, his fingers brushed over her bangs.

She cupped his cheek with her hand, turning his face so he was looking right into her silver eyes. "As a leader and teammate, I trust you with my life. As my boyfriend, I cherish and adore you. I wasn't being completely metaphorical when I said you ground me. Lightfuries don't do well alone, we need groups and clusters to anchor ourselves and control our energies. When I lost my cluster and any chance of going back, I was happy to let go whenever the universe decided it was done toying with me. I almost did…Then I met you and your brothers, and you gave me a reason to fight again." Her thumb stroking his cheek lovingly, "This war isn't going to be easy, but I promised you that I will stay by your side."

"I'm sorry for what Donnie and I did that night."

"It was for the best. I still have a lot of work to do, but I'll get there."

"And you won't be alone."

"My guardian." She gave him a peck on the cheek before pulling herself back and grabbing a paper baggie out of her bags, "I say you'd have about 15 seconds before they notice."

Leo's eye widened and saliva pooled in his mouth as he recognized the smell. "Hey!" The two quickly turned around to see the other three standing by the kitchen, eyes locked onto the bag of pizza gyozas. Leo grabbed the bag and Hikari's hand as the two started running with the brothers in hot pursuit. Hikari laughed as she did her best to keep up. There was nowhere she would rather be right now than here.

A/N: I am so sorry for the long wait, I had to move recently and it took up a lot of time. I also took some time to figure out what I wanted to focus on so I decided to give more insight into Hikari's mind and how she had been dealing with everything that had been going on. For anyone curious, Romnzlaxe is pronounced as "rom-new-lex" and he is someone quite important to her.

I'm back and I'm going to try my best to stick around. Real-life can be hard but I will do my best. By the way, I also edited "I, Monster" to add more of Splinter's POV during the episode. It wasn't much but that should help with the pacing.

Special thanks to Tera and KDBloomfield for your comments, as well as everyone who is following my story. It means a lot to me c:

As for the ship name for Leo and Hikari, I have decided to go forward with Leokari. I hope you all wish to come along and stay to see how Leokari will unfold.

Please feel free to leave some comments to share some love. Feedback and reviews give me life and motivation.

Thank you all for your support c: