"May." Leo spoke. "Can I talk to you?"

It was the next morning. May and Raphael had agreed to start their hunt that evening.

"Sure?" May felt a bit wary of Leo. Out of all the turtles, she trusted him the least. He had made it clear that he felt the same about her.

"I want to apologize, for how I've been lately."

May was taken aback. These were the last words she had ever expected to hear from Leo's mouth. Actually... they were the last words she ever thought she'd hear from anybody.

May was so flabbergasted that all she could splutter was "W-what-?"

"I'm sorry." Leo repeated. "I haven't been the kindest to you, and these last few days have probably been really hard. Especially last night..." He scratched the back of his head, having a hard time making eye contact. "I just... I haven't been able to trust you, because I knew your background, and I... I didn't want anyone to hurt Raph. He's my little brother, y'know? I think... maybe you deserve a chance. Can you forgive me?"

May was still surprised. He was asking for her forgiveness? "I... nobody's ever... I-I m-mean... sure. Sure."

Leo half-smiled, and pat May on the shoulder as he left. Was that his thing? Patting people on the shoulder?

"Yo." Raphael's voice broke May from her trance. "What's up?"

"I think Leo just... apologized to me? And I... forgave him?"

"And that's shocking because...?"

"Nobody's ever said sorry to me. Nobody's ever admitted they were wrong to me." May admitted. "This last year must have been a fever dream of some kind, because there's a lot of stuff you guys do for me that nobody else ever has, not even my own parents."

Raphael went quiet for a moment, then nodded slowly. "It's not easy for Leo to admit he's wrong, but when he pulls his head out of his ass, you know he means it."

May half-smiled. "Yeah. I guess he's not really a bad guy."

"You're not thinking about telling Leo our plan, right?" Raphael asked.

"What? No! He may have apologized, but I still don't trust him."

That evening, Raphael and May were up on the rooftops, gazing at the charred and half-burnt building May had once called home. It was obvious the fire had been started in her apartment.

Raphael hopped a few buildings to the roof next to May's apartment building. He was about to jump onto that roof when May stopped him. "You're not going in there?! That's super dangerous!"

"Why? The fire's been out for hours."

"The building's not stable. The whole thing could collapse, and you could get killed!"

Raphael laughed. "You're not scared, are ya?"

May snarled. "If you go in there-"

"It'll be fine! Come on." Raphael leapt onto the roof. "See? Nothing's going to happen!"

Growling to herself, May reluctantly followed into the charred and unstable remains of the building. How were they even supposed to find clues like this? It wasn't as though the Purple Dragons would leave business cards.

Still, Raphael insisted. May followed carefully, checking each foothold. Raphael was at least three times her weight, and showing no care to the unstable and failing structure around them.

"Exactly what kind of a clue are we looking for?" May demanded.

"Anything." Raphael replied.

May rolled her eyes. Yeah, that made total sense!

Above her head, May heard a pipe creaking. She tensed. "We need to get out of here." She insisted.

Raphael rolled his eyes. "Don't be a wuss!"

"No, we need to go now." May growled. She'd never taken lip from anybody, and damned if she was going to start now.

Raphael didn't acknowledge her, so she started climbing slowly back the way they had come, carefully checking she stepped on as solid a landing as she could. She didn't know if Raphael had started following her, but she didn't care- until the seemingly solid piece of flooring she placed her weight on crumbled under her feet.

May caught herself hard on what probably used to be a bathtub. "Look out!" She yelled down. More creaking and groaning. The building was going to collapse. May glanced below her, to see Raphael start up behind her.

"Climb!"

She didn't have to be told twice. May started to climb as quickly as she could, trying to be careful but still pushing pieces of the building to fall and break apart. Every so often she glanced down to make sure Raphael hadn't been hit on the head.

May could see the roof. They were almost there, when her foot slipped. She tried to catch herself, but the pipe she grabbed gave way and she fell.

May closed her eyes, certain she would be crushed under the weight of the falling building, when she felt a large arm catch her and drag her up the building.

Raphael jumped to the next roof over, clutching May to his chest, landing hard on his side. Slowly, May opened her eyes and pulled herself to her feet, watching what was left of the burnt building collapse.

"Thank you." She breathed. "I really thought I was gone there for a minute."

Raphael grinned at her, panting. "No problem." He looked at the collapsed building. "Maybe I should've listened, huh?"

"Maybe."

"Good thing my stubbornness got us a clue." Raphael grinned knowingly.

"Wait, what?"