A Million Miles Apart

A/N: Hi! Back with a new chapter! Sorry that it's taken so long, but I really needed to take some time for myself. And I'm glad to say that I'm feeling better, my medication has helped me with my mood and I've become more positive and driven with life. I still struggle a bit at times with anxiety, but I'm doing better. Also, writing had become more and more a chore than something I did for fun, which is not how I want things to be, so I needed some time off to reflect.

I hope you'll like this chapter and please review, favorite and follow!

Chapter 67, The Scorpion and The Frog

After we had left Moriah in her cell, Donnie and Starlee had walked into the holo-dojo- as Donnie had dubbed it for whatever reason- to start her training. The sooner the better, Donnie had said as they went, and they had been in there for about an hour now.

From the looks of it, Donnie was a pretty relentless teacher; Starlee was dripping with sweat, her seemingly endless energy starting to give out and her enthusiasm waning ever so slightly, and Donnie barely looked winded, with only a single droplet of sweat on his forehead. Still, she kept at it and gave it her all in every kick, punch and movement- and for someone who had never been trained in these skills or to be a fighter at all, she kept up at a scarily quick pace. Sure, it was just a bit above basic, but considering how little time we had before the next fight might rear its ugly face, basic probably wasn't enough at this point. And I had to admit that I was impressed with how well she was handling it all, considering it was her first lesson.

"She's pretty good," Mona's voice suddenly piped up from beside me. She'd just come in and sat on the couch, but I'd been too distracted to notice. I looked over at her, noticing that her soft smile was friendly, but her eyes were distant. I had to stop myself from commenting, figuring she didn't want to talk about it yet, so I just smiled back and tried to play off my usual cockiness in a bit more jokey way than I usually had with her.

"Yeah? Well, it's to be expected- fighting's in her blood. We're from a long line of military men, so I guess it's not too big a stretch that she'd be good at it." I tried to sound nonchalant, but even I could hear the pride in my voice. Mona's smile widened.

"Still. It's quite impressive that she's able to pick it up so quickly."

I turned back to the window just in time to watch my sister block two of Donnie's light punches and then kick her leg up to block a third one in rapid pace.

"Yeah, it is." I whispered, and felt pride blossom in my chest, a strong sense of warmth spreading throughout my body. This was new; feeling proud of someone else and wanting them to succeed. And considering how much Starlee and I had been at odds with each other lately, and with us only just starting to mend our bond, it was kinda nice to have more positive feelings towards her. It felt really good to be able to think that I was proud of my little sister and how well she was doing.

I looked to Mona and saw that she seemed concerned as she watched Starlee and Donnie train. She was biting her lip, her tail was twitching and she was playing with her fingers.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

She looked up at me, biting her lip a little harder before sighing and looking back at the holo-dojo's window. "He kinda worries me sometimes, you know. Donnie, I mean."

I tilted my head to the side, feeling utterly confused. Worried about Donnie? I could think of many ways to describe Donnie, but I had never picked up anything noteworthy enough to be concerned about him. But Mona was clearly unnerved about something, so I figured that for once I should just listen to what she had to say before I started to voice my own thoughts. Maybe she needed it.

So I just asked, "What do you mean?" and she sighed again and looked down at her lap.

"Well, I don't really know, but there's something that just makes me worry for his mental health. I mean, you saw how he was yesterday after he saw his family on Pluto Khan's tablet. And the way he talked about them, the way he describes them…"

I was a bit taken back by how serious she was, as well as the mention of Ypsagon, but I felt like she was going somewhere very specific with this, so I nodded and said, "Yeah, and?"

Mona sighed and looked up from her knees. "I mean, there's just something off about it all. How he can just... go from criticizing them and acting like they hate his guts to singing their praises or defending their actions just seconds later?"

I pressed my lips together and tried to come to whatever conclusion she'd obviously gotten from this, but came up blank. "I'm… not sure I'm following you, Mona."

She took a deep shaky breath, seemingly gathering the courage to say something, and finally met my eyes. "I think his family abuses him."

Everything screeched to a halt and I suddenly found it hard to breathe. Donnie, abused? And by his family? There was no way! He said so many good things about them and how much he cared about them! How could they be abusing him when he claimed they were the greatest?

But, then again, he had also said quite a few bad things about them, and sometimes it didn't sound like he missed them as much as he claimed to. Like he was contradicting himself from time to time, going from saying good things to horrible things and back to good so quickly that it almost gave you whiplash. Understanding finally dawned on me, but it came with a crawling sensation in my gut and a chill up my spine.

"Well... now that you mention it... when Starlee had said we could swing by Earth to pick them up so they could join us and he'd said no, he sounded terrified of what their reactions would be when they found out what had happened and how it was kinda his fault. Like, he hadn't said they needed to stay on Earth to save it from the Kraang… he was only worried about their reactions." I was muttering to myself, but Mona had scooched closer and was nodding along slightly frantically.

"Right? And that combined with the mixed signals he's been sending about his family- how he goes from being terrified of them and saying how they'd react if they found out about all of this, to immediately defending them when you ask why he stays with them if they treat him like that... I mean, it can't all be a coincidence."

I nodded as I digested the implications. "I guess not, but it's not like we have any concrete evidence of it. Just because he phrased things badly yesterday, when he was emotional and affected by a little alcohol, it doesn't make it true. I was abused by my father and Moriah for years, but I don't act like Donnie does, do I?"

Mona bit her lip, this time a bit more frustrated- I wasn't sure if it was because I'd made a good point or if she thought I was dumb- then took another deep breath. She took a few moments to think before saying carefully, "No, of course not. I'm not saying that I'm an expert on the subject... or that I'm even right about this... but I still don't think his family treated him that well." She sighed again and looked away.

"Besides, you didn't see him last night."

I stiffened, suddenly dreading what she was about to say.

Another shaky breath, and then words came flowing out of her like a river.

"I got up in the middle of the night to get some water, and when I got out here, I saw him in the holographic chamber. At first I thought he was doing some late-night training to tire himself out or something, but when I got closer, it looked like he was having some kind of breakdown. He'd conjured up his family in there- and he yelled at them so loudly I didn't even need to turn on the speakers out here to hear him. He screamed about how they had never been there for him, how badly they had treated him and that they didn't love him, how he didn't need them anymore and eventually he just... burned all his stuff. And when I asked him about it, he just brushed it off and went off to bed."

She ran a hand over her throat anxiously as her eyes tracked the sparring match. "I just don't think he's as emotionally stable as he likes to pretend he is. Or maybe he thinks he's more stable than he actually is. Even if you remove the potential of his family abusing him, he's placed the survival on an entire planet on his own shoulders, he works super hard to be able to stand a chance against the Triceratons, and now he's taken it upon himself to lead us to victory. And despite how hard things may be, he always puts on a smile and tries to show he's okay and act like he's fine and I- I don't think he is. That plus his feelings towards his family at the moment... you can't tell me the stress and pressure aren't getting to him."

I mulled over her words, but before I could say anything, Traximus and the Professor came into the room, their serious aura almost visible. The Professor studied me gravely and the unease from earlier came creeping back.

"Hello girls. Are you busy at the moment?"

Mona and I shared a glance, and I could see she felt just as unnerved as I did.

"…No, why?" The words sounded very hesitant, like Mona had had to literally force them out of her mouth. Judging by the look on her face, she was worried that they'd overheard what we'd been talking about.

Traximus cleared his throat to get our attention, and there was something in his expression that set off alarms in my head.

"Professor Honeycutt and I have discussed the known details and the little you and Starlee told us about what happened yesterday, and now we would like the full story. We only got bits and pieces, and we want to know what happened in as many details as you can tell us."

The Professor nodded and his robotic face - which didn't show much emotion as it was - was way too blank.

"Especially since, when we looked up if there was any news about yesterday, we found most of the surviving victims claiming that a lot of the over a hundred patrons and workers that lost their lives that night died before the fire had started."

Mona and I looked at each other again. I felt like I had been caught with my hand in the cookie jar, despite the fact that I hadn't been there to give any details at the time. And it wasn't like it was a pleasant night to retell, even if it was for the best.

Traximus narrowed his eyes at us, looking like a very stern parent, crossing his arms over his chest and staring us down, making me feel really small, like I was under interrogation.

"There is something you haven't told us about last night. I understand that there was no time to talk thoroughly about it then, but considering what we found, what you did say and the state Donatello was in when we got back here, we want you to tell us." I opened my mouth to get a word in, but he cut me off before I could even start and stared me down. "Right now, young lady."

Today was just full of new experiences. I had plenty of experience being yelled at by my father, but being talked to like this, with a tone of voice and words that left no room for argument, and with the ability to make you feel like you had no other choice than to tell them exactly what they wanted to know? I had been rendered speechless, so I looked over at Mona to see if she was better off.

She was visibly nervous, but she swallowed and licked her lips as if prepping herself to answer.

"Um…"

That was, however, all she got out before the doors to the holo-dojo opened and Donnie and Starlee strolled out, in mid-conversation it seemed.

"-if you keep it up like that you'll be training with us-"

Donnie- who was looking at Starlee, smile wide and encouragement in his eyes- seemed to notice us and trailed off as he saw how tense we all were. "… in no-time." He eyed us warily and Starlee stopped smiling too, confused.

"Um, what's going on? What happened?"

We were all sort of frozen, caught off guard by the sudden interruption, no one able to say anything at first. Then Traximus, who seemed unwilling with come up with any BS to throw them off, turned to them, his serious countenance never wavering.

"Starlee, we would like you to join us in the other room. We need you girls to debrief us on what happened last night." Starlee went from confused to nervous in a split-second and swallowed audibly. Still she nodded and skated over to us, only looking a little stiff and tired from the recent training session.

Donnie looked from Traximus, to Starlee, to us, then back to Traximus and furrowed his eyebrows. "'You girls?' What about me? Why don't I get to debrief with you?"

He sounded and looked more confused than anything else, but there was an underlying hint of hurt in his voice and I felt a bit bad for him, if only out of instinct. But Traximus was unyielding.

"Donatello, you said that you don't remember what happened last night, did you not?"

Donnie shook his head and opened his mouth, but Traximus cut him off before he could start saying anything, just as he had done with me. "Then you don't have any details to give us, have you? We only need the girls to tell us."

Donnie's expression morphed into a more hurt look, annoyance also beginning to seep in. He placed his hands on his hips, glaring up at Traximus. "What, so I don't get to know what happened last night at all? What if I want to know too? Only you guys get to know, but I don't?" He still sounded more hurt than angry, but if I knew anything about anger, it was that it easily used hurt as a springboard. And if nothing else, Donnie's big puppy eyes looking like that would probably make anyone cave.

Traximus, however, went against all odds and didn't give in, his voice growing sterner as he tried to stare Donnie down. "I don't think you are quite ready to handle that information at the moment, or any wild theories that might come out of it all. It's still a raw wound for you; I don't think you're ready to handle it. We will tell you, I give you my word. We will tell you when we have one theory that seems the most logical. Not a moment before."

Donnie was completely flabbergasted for just a second- and then the anger blossomed up just like I'd predicted it would. He clenched his fists, his jaw set stubbornly and he glared up at Traximus, taking a few steps forward, looking ready to fight.

"Oh, so I don't get to know what happened, even though, if my memory serves, I'm the victim here?! I was the one that got soaked in blood and pushed around and ridiculed until I couldn't' stand! I was the one to get treated like a freak and publically humiliated, but I don't get to know what happened next? What kind of logic is that? If anyone deserves to know what happened, it's me!"

Traximus' eyes narrowed dangerously, and I almost admired Donnie for standing up to him in that moment- the Triceraton could be fiercely intimidating when he wanted to be. His voice had lowered threateningly as well. "You are not ready yet, Donatello; it is as simple as that. I don't want to make you feel worse about what happened by planting seeds of 'what if' in your head right now."

At this point Starlee had sat down beside Mona, looking very unnerved with her arms folded over her chest defensively, her leg bouncing and her fingers tightly clenching her arms until they almost bled. Mona's tail was tapping nervously against the floor and she was biting her lip while fingering the bow around her neck. My arms were crossed over my chest, one leg over my knee and swinging back and forth, my eyes glued to the two reptiles in front of me. Donnie was tall and relatively well built (especially after the last month of intensive training), but he looked very small in front of Traximus, who was like a boulder- compact, strong and immovable- and much taller than him.

Even the Professor looked a bit worried at this point, playing with his fingers and eyeing Donnie anxiously, as if he thought Donnie would fly off the handle and try to attack Traximus. Which was ridiculous, because that was more my thing than Donnie's no matter how angry he got.

Still, Donnie didn't back down. He almost stood on this toes to reach Traximus' eye-level and glared, fire in his eyes. "You have all said that you look to me as your leader and captain of this ship. And I think that as leader, I have the right to-"

Traximus finally seemed to have had enough and raised his voice, making all of us flinch and all motion in the room cease.

"Enough!"

Donnie's angry growl quickly became an exhale of fear and he flinched, taking a step back, eyes wide and mouth hanging open slightly. Traximus sighed, lowering his voice but remaining steadfast in his conviction.

"I am not going to listen to any of this anymore. You may be our leader, but you are still a boy- a child. I, however, am an adult, and if I tell you to stay out of a serious discussion for your own good, then I expect you to listen." He turned away from Donnie and started to walk out of the room, motioning his head towards the door. "Come on, girls. Professor." His voice left no room for argument. We got up from the couch, if a bit reluctantly, and followed Traximus into the control room.

But before I left, I turned to look over my shoulder at Donnie. He stood frozen, almost seeming lost. His gaze was fixed on something distant.

I managed to catch his eye and mouthed 'sorry' to him. His face immediately turned angry, he crossed his arms over his chest and one hand clenched the amulet around his neck.

That was all I saw before the doors closed behind me.

I couldn't really help shrinking away when Traximus raised his voice at me. I guess it was instinct, since I had learned since a very young age that loud voices were scary (thanks a lot, Raph).

But as they all left the room, leaving me out of their conversation and theories about what had happened last night, all I could feel was anger and resentment. I had opened up to the girls last night, I had told them things I hadn't told anyone, I had let them see me cry- twice!- and now that they wanted to figure out what could have happened after I blacked out, they totally left me out of it, even though I of all people should have the right to know.

I did catch Jhanna mouthing something to me, but my brain didn't register it. I was pissed at Traximus for leaving me out of it and at the others for not saying anything, but mostly at Traximus, at the things he said to me. Like, how disrespectful and rude can you be? And really, who was he to decide what I could and couldn't handle? He hadn't known me for very long, how would he know what I was or wasn't able to take? And what gave him the right to act like he was my boss? It was like he was disregarding everything I'd done and been through, writing me off as just a kid.

'He thinks you're weak.'

There was that feeling again. That strange feeling I'd had for weeks now. A strange warmth that brought out the anger and frustrations I had been experiencing- and tucking away- all my life. All those years of having others telling me I wasn't smart enough. That I wasn't strong enough. That my inventions weren't good enough. That I wasn't good enough. And all those years of putting a hundred and ten percent into everything I did, whether it be training or my studies or really anything else, and still being told that my best simply wasn't enough.

'He saw your breakdown last night and he thinks you're unstable.'

'He doesn't think you can lead them.'

My hand found the amulet again and I clutched it so tightly that I could feel my nails ready to pierce through my skin and draw blood. The amulet was warm against my palm and I could feel small vibrations pulse through the machinery. That was something that I suppose I should have found alarming, but who cared at this point?

'Traximus doesn't believe in you. No one does. Your friends, your enemies- they think you're a joke.'

'You have to prove them wrong. Prove you're a warrior, a hero and a leader.'

'Prove them all wrong.'

I rubbed my thumb over the smooth metal, focusing on the lub-dub lub-dub of its vibrations as they seemed to speed up to match my heart's angry beats. It calmed me a little, but I was still really vexed and didn't really know what to do with that. Usually when I was angry back home, I went to work on a project in my lab, whether it be creating retro-mutagen or designing new weapons.

… Not exactly a problem that needed solving these days, what with us having high-tech weapons at the ready and no unwanted mutations to reverse.

Anyway, in all honesty I don't think I would have done such a good job on whatever I wanted to work on at the moment; my anger was slightly clouding my sight. I blinked harder, trying to clear it, but the haziness of my fury wasn't going anywhere.

I took a deep breath and- almost on autopilot it seemed- walked into the holo-dojo and started up a training program. I had never been one to train or punch things to get my anger out of my system- that had always been Raph's or Leo's thing- but it was all I could think of.

A warbly childhood memory surfaced of me watching, concerned, from the sidelines as six-year-old Raph took out all of his rage on a practice dummy, and it wouldn't stop circling in my mind. His guttural cries, the sounds of sloppy but violent punches and kicks… He was always closest to peace when he could beat it out of something else.

I could be like that, couldn't I? Nothing else would free me from this anger, it wasn't like trying it would hurt anything. Perhaps Raph and I were more similar than I'd ever imagined.

Besides, it's not like I could get enough training at the moment, right? I mean, if I was gonna go up against aliens more than twice my size, I would need all the skill and practice I could get.

The program loaded up and Zog appeared in front of me. He had a massive gun in his hands and narrowed his eyes at me when he saw me, aiming straight at my face. I whipped my staff off my shell and jumped right into it. Zog started to blast at me, leaving me only able to dodge and jump to try and not get hit, barely getting time to breathe.

I jumped back into a corner, crouched down and took a quick second to analyze his stance and what my best course of action should be. Obviously getting him to drop the weapon was priority, but I would have to come up with a distraction to get him to loosen his grip on that blaster before I could make him drop it.

One thing Traximus had taught me from all our sparring together was that most Triceratons were rather inflexible and, though very firm and hard to move, possible to beat so long as you were quick on your feet and remained flexible in your fighting styles. In other words, be unpredictable and have more than one style- something I was not very good at.

But I was determined to win and keep improving myself no matter what- especially if I was bad at it. So I threw myself into the fight and tried to channel my inner butterfly, staying light on my feet and never remaining in one spot for more than a few seconds. I felt the shots fly by me like swarms of flies, the ones I didn't manage to dodge grazing over my skin, leaving a few angry red marks. One managed to hit me in the thigh and another got me on the shoulder; it burned like fire and I got down on one knee, raising an arm to protect my face, before getting my crap together and surging back to my feet.

I gripped my staff tightly with both hands and ran forward, limping slightly. The pain wasn't easy to ignore- the wound on my thigh was screaming at me to sit down- but I sprinted towards Zog, dodging and deflecting the bullets by twirling my staff or batting them back at his face (though my shoulder was really not appreciating the movements and it ached profoundly to make sure that I knew it).

In that moment while he got his own shots thrown back in his face, I got closer and hit him in the knees, like Traximus had taught me to, and then in the eyes. He screeched in pain and covered his eyes with one hand, leaving the grip on his gun a tad weaker. So I took my chance.

I gripped the staff tighter, swung it in a well-calculated movement, and knocked the gun clean out of Zog's hand. He stared down in surprise, blinking dumbly at his now empty hand. But he didn't act, so I moved in; I had a new move that I wanted to try.

I had seen Jhanna pull it one or two times, but I had never tried it myself. I wanted to see if I could just for fun, really.

Plus, it looked freaking cool.

This was the perfect opportunity.

Zog threw a punch at me; I dodged, grabbed his wrist and pressed on the pressure point I knew was there. And while it didn't cause the same painful reaction (more discomfort than pain really) it did make jerk slightly and bend forward.

Now, the next move was supposed to be me flipping my body around and jumping so I got onto his shoulders, wrapping my legs and thighs around his neck, and trying to choke him- not sure how well that would have gone over, what with the hard armor that covered the Triceratons' bodies, but hey you gotta try- and unbalance him with my added weight and sudden inability to breathe, making him fall forward to the ground, making me the winner.

That, however, was not what happened.

As I tried to jump up and flip, I didn't make the jump, so I managed to wrap my legs around his throat but ended up falling to the floor instead. And while my brain immediately deduced that I should try to twist my hips to make him fall to the ground anyway, my legs were nowhere near strong enough to force an 8-foot-tall, 500-pound Triceraton to the ground, making it very futile attempt.

Also didn't help that Zog recovered very quickly from the shock and grabbed me tightly around the waist, lifted me up into the air and threw me to the floor, knocking the breath clean out of me. My head smacked hard against the floor, leaving me with stars dancing across my eyes and such a painful pounding in my head that I honestly worried I'd gotten a concussion.

I don't know how long I was lying there, but when the pain and dizziness finally ebbed enough so I wouldn't have to worry about vomiting, I sat up and found that Zog was gone and the room was empty again. I groaned as I got to my feet, clutching my still aching head and limping out of the holo-dojo to get an ice pack for my head and some bandages for my worst wounds.

I sighed and plopped into a seat, holding the ice pack against the base of my skull. "Maybe it's time for a little break... I'm gonna need some time to figure this out..." Then it occurred to me that the others were still in the other room, talking. I hobbled over to the door and placed my ear against the cold metal, but when The Professor had said that the walls and doors were soundproof he had evidently meant it, 'cause I couldn't hear a thing.

I felt the resentment and anger bubble up again and decided to distract myself before I could get that angry again, taking a seat and leaning back. When I started to dig around in my brain for another distraction, my thoughts came back to Moriah.

I didn't really know what to think of Moriah. I had no real connection to her or the Federation like the others did. I didn't have years of knowing her (or resenting her) like Jhanna and Starlee did. I hadn't grown up fearing the Federation like Mona did, hadn't known them as my enemies or fought against them for years like Traximus or the Professor. I was the outsider here; looking at her like any other villain I had ever fought. Really, I saw her more like I saw Karai back on Earth; a threat, sure, but not our number one threat. That was more the Shredder or the Kraang.

Moriah was a threat, that much was clear. She was determined, ferocious, and well-trained. That was all I really knew, and it hardly scratched the surface of what I'm sure was a really crappy iceberg hiding beneath the waves. If things had been just a little different, I probably would have been right there with the others, wanting to get the information that we could out of her and then dump her with the proper authorities without feeling too bad about it. I had bigger things to worry about than some petty feud between the Federation and the Triceratons; I needed to save my planet.

But she had saved my life. When I had my back against the wall and the Wendigo had me practically at his feet- her? It? Ugh, whatever- she had turned around to get me out of there. She had stated that she wanted me gone, made it perfectly clear that she blamed me for how her sisters had turned against her, and, if my hunch was correct, her father had probably ordered her to kill me and even if he hadn't, she would probably want to anyway.

And yet she had saved my life. Why?

On the one hand, I really shouldn't care about that. Yeah, she saved my life, but she also dumped a bucket full of blood on my head! That's not something you should forgive that quickly, if at all. And that wasn't even taking her motives into consideration. Also, considering how I'd been chased around the galaxy like an animal, I should have been more than happy to be rid of one of my enemies, right? Like, great- one less threat to worry about.

But, unfortunately, I had always been a very curious person, as well as a very stubborn one. I knew that if I didn't try to figure this out and just left her with the space cops (or whatever they're called, I don't really care), I would drive myself crazy trying to understand.

It wouldn't be pretty.

So I got up from my seat and started to head towards the cells. Before I walked through the door to see her, I took a deep breath, straightened my back, squared my shoulders and lifted my chin, trying my hardest to look the part of Captain and Leader. I took another breath and then walked in.

Moriah sat in the corner of her cell, legs drawn up to her chin and arms wrapped around them. She was sitting fairly still, but I knew she had noticed me. Her body got tenser, her grip on her legs tightened and she twitched ever so slightly.

I stopped in front of her cell, only a foot or so away from the door, and looked down at her, fighting the urge to fold my arms over my chest. I had to show I was the one in control, and doing that would give off the notion that I was insecure. Instead I placed my hands on my hips, reminded myself to keep my chin up and my back straight. 'You need to show you're the leader. You are in control here. You are in control.' I repeated this mantra a couple of times in my head before clearing my throat, making her look up at me.

She didn't look particularly surprised to see me, smirking wickedly as her posture relaxed a little. She let go of her legs, but rested her arms on her knees. "Well, look who's come to visit me in my solitude. If it isn't the freak of the week. What a treat."

I mentally groaned to myself.

"Well, I figured you had things you might want to say to me."

She rolled her eyes but still refused to look at me. "Get lost, freak! I'm not talking to some reptile freak about anything!"

I clenched my teeth and once again forced myself not to react to her words and fought hard to keep being stoic. 'You are in charge here. You have the control here.'

Also… 'Is that the only insult she knows?'

I spoke evenly. "Big talk, Princess, considering you're the one in a cell and one mistake away from being given to the proper authorities. You really might want to dial back that attitude of yours."

She finally looked up at me with so much disgust in her eyes that it was rather impressive.

"Oh, my attitude? My attitude is bothering you? I'm so sorry that I'm bothering you! You've only stolen every chance I've had to impress General Blanque, kept the Fugitoid from me and also stolen my sisters and turned them against me! But sure, I'll dial back my attitude for you."

I stared at her for a minute, allowing myself to show a little surprise on my face, and then reigned it in and raised a brow. "'General Blanque'? Is that the hip new term for 'dad' now?"

Her glare softened ever so slightly and she unexpectedly looked away, brushing her hand over her face. It looked natural enough, like she was just pushing her hair away or scratching an itch, but I had been around tough guys who refused to show emotion long enough to see when they were desperately trying not to show they were upset.

It was the response I had hoped for, but not what I'd thought I'd receive. Her father was her weak spot, obviously, but… that was too easy.

Maybe the crazed assassin was more touchy than she seemed.

My brows drew together and I softened my stance slightly. She then glared up at me again, though this time there was a vulnerability that she hadn't quite managed to cover entirely.

"Don't talk about things you don't understand, freak." Ah yes, I had been starting to miss that word. What was that, a whole thirty seconds without it? Such travesty. I almost patted myself on the shoulder for not rolling my eyes with as much attitude as I possessed in this mortal body. Seriously, words do tend to lose their impact after you've heard them a thousand times. At this rate, by this time tomorrow my fictional beloved granny could call me that word with complete hatred, looking me right in the eyes, and I wouldn't feel a thing.

I got so distracted by Moriah's immaturity that I had to remind myself why I was here to begin with and forced my attention back to the situation at hand, studying her carefully and trying to find even a single sign of sincerity (besides sincere loathing) or, god forbid, kindness. She stared right back, seemingly daring me to say anything else.

We had a staring contest for at least a full minute before I broke and sighed. "I just don't understand it."

She bared her teeth. "Oh, what a shock! A reptile that doesn't understand something, how surprising!" she crowed.

I clenched my jaw, closed my eyes and silently counted to ten before I opened them again. I kept my voice level, though it was starting to become harder. "There it is again. You keep spewing acid at me, but I can also see that you love your sisters and you want what's best for them. And you want them to care for you the same way, and you're hurt that they don't. You're a whirlwind of random signals that I can't, for the life of me, sort out. Also you saved my life back on Zerij when you'd already made it quite clear that you hate my guts. Why?"

She pursed her lips and wrapped her arms around her legs again. I waited for a minute or so and when she didn't, I sighed and made to turn around, stopping when I heard her voice again.

"My sisters may not think so, but everything that I've ever done, I've done for them. The fact that my father puts all of his attention on me is because I make sure he does." So he leaves them alone was left unsaid. "That's all it's ever been and that's all you need to know."

My heart unwillingly thawed a little, but I kept at it. "And what about me? Why did you save me from the Wendigo? Only minutes earlier you were going on and on about how you would kill me, and then and there you had the chance to be rid of me. So why didn't you?"

She bit her lip and dug her nails into her arms until they almost broke the skin. She growled lowly and then let her head dropped forward and rest against her knees.

"I don't know. I guess it just… didn't feel right, or something," she muttered before looking back up at me with her glare back on her face. "Why ask about any of this? What does it matter to you?!" Once again I let her anger wash over me and looked her right in the eyes, waited for her to calm down, and then sat down on the floor to get down on her level, folding my legs beneath me as I often did as a child while listening to Master Splinter.

"When I was a child, my brothers and I were told a story. Once upon a time, a scorpion needed to cross a stream, so he asked a frog to carry him over." At her confused look I assumed that scorpions and frogs were also races of alien creatures (that probably wouldn't have a problem crossing a stream on their own), so I briefly explained how Earth's animals differed from the creatures she knew before continuing. "The frog asked, 'How do I know you won't sting me?' and the scorpion assured the frog that he would never do such a thing. So the frog agreed to carry him, but halfway there the frog felt a sting in his back. The scorpion had stung him. As they started to sink, the frog asked, 'Why did you do that? Now we will both die.' The scorpion answered, 'I did it because it's in my nature'."

Moriah looked a little taken aback, but her expression was asking, 'What's your point with this?' I tried to look gentle, to lower her defenses a little.

"I'd like to believe that there is something good inside all of us, and that when most people are given the chance to become the best they can be, they take it. I can see that there is goodness in you, even if it's small and hidden away. The fact that you care about your sisters and love them enough to come this far to get them, and that you feel hurt when they reject you, shows me that you have a heart in there somewhere. And I want to know just how much you're willing to do for them."

Moriah narrowed her eyes at me and moved to sit on her knees in front of me so we were finally eye to eye without her having to turn her head. "Do not question my loyalties to my sisters! Have I not gone after them for several light years across the galaxy? Did I not land on planet and risk facing the Wendigo to get them back? Or team up with a Triceraton to save them?"

I listened impassively, not changing my expression at all. This wasn't about me, this was about her. When I answered, I stated evenly, "No, you have. And I don't deny that you may have very good intentions at heart- I want take that goodness inside of you and help you bring it out."

Her glare went away instantly and she stared at me, completely gobsmacked. Then after a minute or so, she snapped herself out of it and went back to looking suspicious.

"Why?"

I smiled a very small but gentle smile.

"Because I don't think you're as bad you're trying to be. If you were, you wouldn't care as much about your sisters as you do. Or save me. You may have made mistakes in your past, but most people can change for the better if they only get the chance."

Moriah scrunched her nose and drew back a little from the door. "And why do you think I deserve that chance? Or even want that chance? I'm your enemy."

I shrugged and pursed my lips slightly. "Well, you saved my life, and in doing so you helped all of us. I can see you care for them. And I saw how hurt you looked when they turned their backs on you earlier." Moriah looked away, probably not wanting me to see her as vulnerable. Even so, I tried to look as sincere as possible.

"If you want them to respect and to love you the way I think you do, maybe it's time to become a good older sister for them. If not for yourself, do it for them. Tomorrow I'll give you the choice: be handed over to the authorities for assault and attempted murder, or stay here with us, safe."

Moriah looked up and frowned, still suspicious but waveringly so. "And why would I want to do that?" I stood up and assumed my Leader pose, looking down at her with my head held high and back straight, hoping to make the words more impactful.

"To find out if you're a scorpion or a true sister."

I turned and left.

A/N: And it's finally, finally done! And now I really hope to keep writing this thing. Now, I know I say that every time I publish a new chapter, but now that I'm on medication and I'm finally starting to put myself together, I might have more motivation and find the fun in writing again. Because I am not quitting this story! It's been my project and baby for almost four years, and I'm not stopping when I've gotten this far. Even if there's no one left to read it.

Anyway, thank you for reading, I hope you liked this chapter and please review, favorite and follow! G'night everybody!