The little lizard picked herself up and took a look at her surroundings. Was Isabella in some office? It looked like it. There were tall massive shelves, each one filled with books, DVD sets, sketchbooks, binders, and more. A desk sat comfortably in a corner, the laptop facing away so she couldn't see the screen. There were notebooks, a box full of pens, pencils, a sharpener, and a stapler. Also, were those crayons she saw? The majority of the supplies looked bunched together by stretched-out hair ties. A few of them were just threatening to snap on whoever would wrap them so tightly.
The mutant gecko reached for the mouse and went to click on it to make the laptop get out of sleep mode. The door opened by then and she jumped, immediately going to hide. She ran and hid out of view beside the massive bookshelf, pressing her back against it.
A person walked right in after. It was a short, brunette woman in glasses. She was holding a rather large sketchbook with a mechanical pencil just clipped on its spirals from the inside. Her hand reached and she pulled a phone out of her pocket, bringing it up to her chest level and right before the screen lit up. She noticed a reflection of yellow and bisque with unnatural blue-gray eyes. "You're here.. You're here at last." A soft voice reached Isabella's hearing.
"You can come out. I'm no threat to you."
"Just because you say you aren't doesn't mean I'm suspicious." Isabella hissed. The woman nodded and softly sighed. "You're right, but you're the one with the weapon and skills. I don't." Isabella looked to her side where her kusarigama was resting. The chains looped around and the blade of it sheathed. Her eyes were brought back to the woman setting her sketchbook and phone down, popping out her earbuds, and wrapping them up. "I suppose you're wondering how you got here." She started. "Yeah, I am wondering that. Where am I?"
"The location does not matter and how you got here was by my doing." The brunette answered, "You may not know it, but I brought you here for, what you'd call closure." Isabella looked confused. "Closure? For what?" The woman was silent. Her face fell into a mix of emotions. She looked like she was contemplating her words carefully. She didn't want to come off as awful if she said it off the top of her head, yet she knew this lizard… this character needed to know and who better to tell her than the author of her story, herself. She may as well get it out now before Isabella goes back.
"You uh…" She hesitated before pressing on, "You know the multiverse theory?"
"Yeah."
"Well… the Turtles have their multiverse, their timelines. Some are similar, and some are different, but they build off each other's universe, taking bits and pieces and implementing them into their world. Your universe is one of them but.." She stopped, looking up at the mutant finally. "But..?" Isa raised an eye ridge. The brunette sighed, "You were supposed to be just a test... I made your universe because I wanted to see how much the world would've changed with your presence in it. As you might not have noticed, very little did change. I was going to leave you with the one story you were in and start a new one. You were going to appear but you'd eventually fade into the background."
Isabella stared at her, almost angry at that, at the idea that she was meant to fade away into the background and be forgotten about just like that. She was already afraid to be alone but this? "I was meant to be just a one-off character?" Her hands clenched into fists.
"Well, yeah. There's no sugarcoating that." The author replied. "You know that little family you met after your first fight with Shredder?" Isabella nodded, "Yeah?" The brunette continued, going across the room to a shelf, and pulling out a binder with the girl's name on it. "The next couple of stories would've been about them, the little girl especially. She's going to be a great one, I just know it... but.."
"But what?"
"I noticed that when I wanted to move on to her, there were inconsistencies. There was no placement for her to appear in the right way. It didn't make sense to suddenly jump from you to her so I stopped for a while… I stopped for a long time" The author couldn't help the shame she felt deep inside. She put the binder back on the shelf with the others. All of them had a color theme and Isabella couldn't tell if it was in chronological order or not.
She watched as she pulled a binder out. It was entirely white and large, no doubt the pages weren't even filled out yet. Then she noticed the name on it. It was hers. "I never abandoned you. Any of you, I just needed time to go back to my roots and figure out how to do this and why I was doing this in the first place."
"And did you figure it out?" Isabella felt there was no use being angry at her, even if there was a notion of her being replaced at first. "I did, but there was also something that changed everything entirely. I never thought it could happen."
"What?" The leopard gecko inquired.
The author looked at the laptop, still remembering all the comments, reviews, favorites, and follows. "Them. The readers, or rather watchers of the universe as we'd know it, but you get the idea. They saw you and from the start, they followed you through your story, and even with it finished, they wanted more. They went to you when some days got hard and they still go to you now. I think they realized something I hadn't realized until now."
She held her hands up to her face, gently running her thumb on her snout. "You were made to be more than just some one-off character."
Isabella felt her eyes water. She didn't know why she was crying, but she felt this overwhelming sense of pride from her and it swelled inside her chest. A tear fell and slid down her cheek but it was caught by a thumb. The author let go of her face and pulled out a pencil, opening the white binder and writing on some paper. She wondered what she was doing before some light appeared from behind the door. She felt cautious about it but went forward and grabbed the doorknob.
"You go through that door and your life as you know it will be different. You'll have a restart, a remaster if you will. Your life will change but you won't ever notice it." The brunette came up beside her, setting a hand on her shoulder. "Are you ready for this, Isabella?"
The mutant was hesitant. She had almost every right to be. Her life really would change in the hands of this writer. How much of it would be changed? And how much of it was going to stay the same? Would she have to relive those things from before she met the turtles? What about the mutant almost drowning her? That child robot screaming? The fight with Shredder? What would happen? She didn't know and it scared her a bit before she thought of something else entirely. "I won't remember this, will I?" She asked, keeping her gaze forward on the door.
"You'll never remember this meeting. If anything, you'll think of this as some far-off dream that'll fade away in your mind. I can't have all of your reality falling apart because of my interference after all." She smiled kindly and spoke in a genuinely warm tone. "You'll face many dangers ahead but you'll have others to rely on like you already do."
Isabella went ahead, opening the door, finally seeing the other side of it. It looked to be a portal, a dimensional portal back to her world. She could see her room, the curtain acting as her door being shut and her bed was empty with her blankets circling her body. She was about to head right in when she noticed something. Her mouth opened and the words flowed out. "You said you brought me here for closure… It wasn't for me, was it?"
The author smiled. "Ah, I see I've written you better already... No, it wasn't. It was closure for me. It sounds selfish out loud, I know, but I had been stuck for so long wondering how all the readers felt, how you and the others felt, and everything. I never meant to make it seem like I abandoned any of you. Not for one moment did I ever stop thinking about you."
"I got attached to you the most out of all my creations and I want to give you the best life I can ever think possible for you and believe me, the possibilities are endless for any writer."
Isabella looked back to the portal. "I know you're worried about reliving some awful things and believe me when I say it hurts me to put you through it all over again but you know as well as I that some of that life won't be great. That's how life is and how it'll always be. It never is all that pretty. However I can tell you that you are going to have amazing adventures ahead of you that'll span around Earth, space, and even dimensions themselves. Now go. Go have fun, live that amazing life, chase after your dreams, and never forget everything that matters to you."
She had an enthusiastic smile at Isabella, watching as she had a light shine in her eyes and she went ahead. "I've never been more proud of you, my little lizard lady… You are going to be one of the greatest people of them all." Isabella felt a sense of appreciation and pride swell in her chest and tears fell while she smiled. She walked completely through the portal and looked back at the woman who gave her a soft smile while the portal shrank away until it popped like a bubble. All that was left were some bricks on her wall.
A sense of tiredness washed over the gecko mutant and she welcomed it, heading to her bed and curling up in it, holding her plushies close and drifting off.
She awoke to a large finger pressing the spots on her head. "Beep boop boop beep boop boop." A familiar voice reached her ears and a hand grabbed hers up to a face like a phone. "Yes, hello, hi, I would like to have my favorite baby sister awake now. She's been in deep sleep mode to the point where we might need a funeral. Now, which one should we go with? A Norse pagan funeral like the Vikings or is burial an option? If so, where do we find a good mortician who'll keep their mouth shut about mutants?"
Isabella picked her head up finally, her eyes barely opening. "Mikey, are you seriously asking if I want to be cremated or buried? And why were you so specific?" The dark teal turtle in orange jumped and screamed effeminately, "Ahh! She's alive!" Isa opened her eyes and huffed softly, "Yeah, I'm alive and about to kick you out of here. You know how I feel about you guys walking in my room." Mikey chuckled for a moment and nodded, "I know but you were so asleep you looked like you were gone."
The lizard rolled and stretched on her bed, groaning, "I had a weird dream." He piqued some interest, "Oh yeah? What about?" He asked. The gecko lay there, trying to gain some recollection of the dream but very few details remained. "I can't remember. It's all muddled and blurred together. I remember books and a lady but I can't remember what we were talking about."
"Oh no. Isabella lost her dream mojo. It's a tragic day indeed." Mikey set a hand on his chest and the wrist on his other arm rested on his forehead while he sounded out so dramatic. "Save all that for the theater, Mike. They might accept you there." He smiled at her comment, "You think so? I think I'd look great on stage." Isabella shook her head. "Hah. In another life where mutants become a norm and you get some vocal lessons maybe."
"Well, I think my singing voice is great." He crossed his arms and stuck his tongue out. The mutant gecko sat up. Her tail curved around and hung part of it over the edge of the bed. "What're you doing here in the first place? It's either something important or something good." She dragged her hands over her face while a yawn left her. "It's both. Splinter gave us a day off and I was thinking we'd head out somewhere." Immediately Isabella slid herself down the bed dramatically. "I gotta make my way to the wardrobe and find casual clothes. Oh, how could you do that to me."
"Oh stop it. You never get out as much as you should. Now come on. Let's go. We've got the whole day and night ahead of us!" Mikey exclaimed. "You gonna get out or help me pick?" Isabella stood up and got to her wardrobe, opening it up. "Helping you pick obviously. You can never have too much help, especially with clothes." The dark teal turtle came up to her wardrobe. "Yeesh, you need more than just grays and blacks, sis. Where is the variety?" The gecko huffed, "If you're saying I should get pink, it's not happening. I don't look good in pink. We've tried."
"Maybe not that bright pink. Pretty sure you'll fit another shade though." Mikey smiled. Isabella gave a soft sigh and helped him shuffle through the wardrobe. She still had that dream on her mind. It was muddled and foggy all over. For some reason, it felt like there was something important in that dream yet somehow she couldn't remember what.
Mikey noticed her being lost in thought. He would let her stay in there for a bit, but the last thing anyone needed, especially in Isabella's case, was for her to spiral too deep. "Hey, Isa?" He spoke up, pulling her back to reality. "Yeah?" The gecko snapped out of it. "What's on your mind?" He asked. "I can't remember much of my dream, but I do remember one thing." She started, "You remember when we talked about the multiverse theory?"
"Yeah, of course. It's an idea of infinite worlds that was originally developed by the pre-Socratic Greek philosopher Anaximander. There's no clear evidence of the worlds coexisting or successive but Anaximander believed that they were all perishable and in a cycle of creation and destruction." Mikey rambled before asking, "Why?"
Isabella shook her head, "I don't know. Something from my dream, I guess. I don't think I can remember anything else if I could try." Mikey hummed in thought for a moment before looking back into her wardrobe. "Hmm… Maybe it's best if you don't remember some parts. What if some of it was bad, like a nightmare?" The leopard gecko nodded back. "Yeah, you're probably right."
"Hey don't let this get you down. We still have a day ahead of us." He smiled and managed to pull out a jacket. "This one and matching pants too. I'll go grab some color for you. I'm sure Donny won't mind it one bit if it's you." Isabella gave an amused huff, "you know he will." "Nuh-uh, you're the youngest and second cutest. Therefore you can get away with it." She raised her eye ridge. "Second?"
"I was the cute one first before you came in and I ain't giving that up. Enough of this for now. I'm getting you some purple 'cause you need a complimentary color to all that yellow." He chuckled and went away. The curtains swooshed behind him, waving a bit even after he dashed out before they stopped with the gecko holding them still. Her mind did drift back to whatever her dream was, but those thoughts dashed away when she heard Don yell after Mikey, who was quick to throw the large regalia purple shirt into her room. She stumbled a bit in surprise but chuckled when she saw a dark teal hand give a thumbs up before it disappeared, indicating that Mikey ran away from the light olive green turtle.
She smiled and switched out of her pajamas into the outfit Mikey pulled together. It looked nice on her. It didn't pop out entirely with it all being mostly darks, but the purple did compliment her yellow quite a bit. Heh, Mikey was always good with colors. He was more of an artist than the others give credit for. Isa walked out of the room finally, pulling a bandana over her head and tying it in the back.
"That's where it went? Really?" Don looked at her and then back to Mikey who just gave a cheeky smile and raised his hands. "What? She needed more color. Her entire wardrobe looked so gray and black." Isabella shook her head, "At least there's no pink. I don't look good in bright, light pink." Mikey added, "I don't blame you, some pink shades don't look good with my orange. Can't say brighter shades of pink work with your kind of yellow often." She chuckled along with him. "Now come on! We got the day ahead! Isa, don't think about stealing the front seat! It's my turn." The dark teal turtle ran to the elevator lift and went into it with the gecko following behind him.
Pieces of her dream did flash in her mind here and there, but no words. Isabella concluded that Mikey was right. Maybe it was best not to worry about it. Besides, there were dreams she couldn't remember before. What's the difference in not remembering this one?
Author's Note: Hey guys. I'm back. Didn't mean to leave y'all on hiatus for so long and this was more or less an apology for doing that.
If you guys are wondering why I've been gone, it's mostly trying to get myself to rewrite Sister's Story. You know, to brush up on the grammar, add details, remove some things (the one-sided romantic subtext between the turtles and Isa has got to go), and hopefully make it longer than I originally intended for. Also I got to update my profile in the meantime, I wanna add my OCs profile on there and get rid of some of the older texts.
Again, I didn't mean to keep you guys waiting. I hope this can suffice as an apology and explanation. Keep an eye out cause "Sister's Story" will stay up as the older version for a limited time but I plan on giving you guys a rewritten and longer version called "Teenage Mutant Ninja Gecko" It rolls off nicely, has the same syllables of TMNT and it won't be confused with the other one. TMNG will either be separated in fics by season or it's going to be one heck of a long fanfic.
Either way, will it take me a bit? Yeah. Is it going to be worth it? I freaking hope so.
I hope I can get a Prologue written out for you guys soon enough. Until then, be good and please leave a review on this one. I'd love the support of this amazing fandom.
Have a nice day/night. See ya!