Chapter 20

-Family-

Leonard stood on the sandy bank that lined Linda's Lawn, Riverside Park South along the Hudson River. It was here that April claimed to have washed ashore. Leonardo scanned the bank for clues, anything that would corroborate April's story.

He made his way toward a disturbance in the sentiment of the bank, as if someone had crawled out of the water. Next to the disturbance, buried beneath a thin layer of pebbles was a scrap of purple fabric. Leonard instantly dropped to his knees and dug Donatello's loosely knotted mask out of the ground. April was telling the truth about her escape.

She had, indeed, been swept away by an aqueduct, the most likely of which being Tunnel No. 1, which ran south from W79th street to lower Manhattan. Donatello was in the city! Leonardo teased the knot loose and soothed out wrinkled fabric with gentle fingers, a silent apology and a vow that he would not rest until Donatello was back home.

Leonardo folded his brother's mask, tucked it away and stood up once more. Turning around to face the skyline of the city, he calculated, there were hundreds of buildings that fed into the Number 1 Aqueduct. But, taking into account the four block stretch of land that made up Linda's Lawn, narrowed the search to buildings between W65th and 79th street.

It wasn't much, but at least it was a start. Then, out of the corner of his eye, Leonardo saw the largest broadcasting tower in the city and, the only one capable of brainwashing everyone in New York. Of course!

April pulled her knees up to her chest as best she could, given the restraints around her ankles; it had been a few hours since she'd revealed everything to the Turtles. Now, it was up to them to decide if she was telling the truth.

Then, Michelangelo appeared in the doorway carrying a steaming bowl of something that smelled delicious. Her stomach growled in anticipation. "I made you something to eat." He said, before placing the bowl down in front of her.

"Thanks." She said but Michelangelo didn't spare her a second look, instead he stood up and padded his way back to the door. "Mikey, wait." April said.

The orange clad turtle stopped as if he'd been slapped and spun around to meet her, his fists clenched tightly at his sides. "What?"

"You asked why I did this." She began, "it's hard to explain but I'll try, if you still want to know."

Michelangelo said nothing, instead he crept back toward April and sat down in front of her, giving her his undivided attention. "Okay, Explain."

"Since I met you guys, my life has been nothing but chaotic." Michelangelo winced, was this supposed to make him feel better?

Seeing the look on the orange-banded turtle's face, April continued. "But it's a wonderful chaos that I am lucky to be part of. Watching all of you help people made me want to do the same. When Master Splinter asked me to train too, it was like a dream come true. But, I had to work ten times as hard if I wanted to catch up, and I wanted so badly to catch up. I could see you guys leaving me behind." April lamented.

"Then something amazing happened. Suddenly, I realized the extent of my psychic powers. And for the first time, catching up wasn't an unattainable goal. But when I lost my powers to the sphere, that feeling came back but it was worse because by then I was invested in the team. The thought of going back to my normal life scared me so I tried to keep it hidden."

"I never knew you felt that way." Michelangelo stated, empathetic as ever. "Why didn't you say something?"

"Are you kidding, how was I supposed to talk about something like that? I didn't think you'd understand." She sighed. "So, I made a deal with Evixus: my power in exchange for Donnie's mind."

"How could you take that deal?" Michelangelo asked.

"I was desperate and I wasn't thinking clearly, Evixus made sure of that, he fed my anger and anxiety so much that I was ready to do anything he asked of me."

"How can I believe you now? How do I know Evixus didn't send you here to capture the rest of us?"

"You just have to have faith." April stated truthfully.

Michelangelo scoffed, the nerve! "Oh, like you had faith in us? You should have told us how you were feeling before it got this out of hand." Michelangelo stood up, "What hurts the most is that you didn't trust us to have your back." On that note, Michelangelo left April alone.

Mikey had a right be upset, after all, each turtle had confided in her in their moments of weakness. Each one giving her a precious tidbit of vulnerability out of trust. Pieces of their souls that wove her into their lives forever…

Three Years Ago

In a secret tunnel about three blocks from the lair Michelangelo wiped the tears from his eyes with the back of his bandaged hand. It had been a few days since the incident with the wasp egg but he was still being haunted by nightmares of a different outcome. Paralyzing nightmares in which he was forced to watch as his brother's became wasp food.

"Are you crying?" April dropped down next to Michelangelo, from the way his body stiffened, she could tell he wasn't expecting anyone to find him.

Luckily, it was dark enough for him to hide his swollen eyes, he pasted a fake smile on his face, a bitter emotion that twisted his features unnaturally. "Me? Of course not. Michelangelo never cries."

April decided not to press the issue and instead focus on the mossy bricks of the tunnel walls ahead. And, after a few minutes said, "I heard that you totally saved your brothers from being bug food the other day."

"Things could have easily gone the other way." He admitted, "let's face it, I'm not smart like Donnie, strong like Raph, or brave like Leo. I know that everyone thinks I'm a screw up and they're right, I just got lucky."

"You're not giving yourself enough credit." April said, "You managed to remember Donnie's instructions and finish the antibody. Then you came up with a plan to get close enough to cure your brothers. Then you took on three giant wasps, by yourself, while your brothers recovered. That's not luck, that's strength, bravery and intelligence rolled into one."

Michelangelo turned to face her, his eyes wet with happiness, no one had ever said those things to him before. "Know what, I am lucky, I'm lucky I have a you, sis." He pulled her into a signature Michelangelo hug.

Two Years Ago

Raphael ripped a vent turbine from its casing and threw it clear across the roof where it hit a wall and bounced back at his feet in an act of defiance. He wheeled his leg back and kicked the offensive object down to the alley below. Then as an added bonus, threw a shrunken at a T.V. antenna with such ferocity that it, too, fell off the roof.

Satiated, his anger melted into shame and guilt as he slummed down against the wall. He sighed, it had only been a few minutes ago and the memory was still fresh in his mind. Why couldn't his brother's see that everything he did was for a reason? He honestly wasn't trying to hurt Leo…

As if that didn't make him feel guilty enough, he'd been reprimanded by his sensei and brothers about his anger…again. He wasn't angry this time though, right? "They just don't get it." Raphael let out and exasperated breath and rested his forehead on his forearm which was draped over his knee.

The sound of shoes shuffling across the rooftop drew Raphael to unfold at the intrusion. Through the light of the moon he made out a familiar human face. "April? What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." She said, making her way over to Raphael before taking a seat next to him. "I found this after an antenna nearly beaned me." April explained as she held up a Hamato Clan shuriken, its symbol glistening in the moonlight.

Raphael plucked the projectile from her hands, "Sorry." He mumbled.

"You okay?"

"What makes you think I'm not?"

"Well, it's either that or you have a thing against people watching T.V." She said. "You wanna talk about it?"

"Ain't nothing to talk about?" He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Okay." If there was one thing April knew about Raphael, it was that he would share his feelings when he felt like it. April drew her legs up against her body and leaned her head back against the wall. She took in the purple clouds of smog left behind by a day of New York traffic. "It's a nice night."

"Ugh! It's my brothers!" Raphael interrupted. "They're always telling me how I feel. I wasn't angry. Leo turned his back to me, I saw an opening and I took it."

"Uh, Raph, I'm gonna need more to go on here." April said, turning her full attention to the red-banded turtle.

"We were training by playing a round of last-turtle-standing and I attacked Leo."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that what you're supposed to do?" she paused.

"Yes, but technically, the fight was over." Raphael admitted. "Okay, maybe I took it a little too far. I wasn't trying to hurt Leo but he lets his guard down when he thinks he's won." Raphael added. "Then, everyone started freaking out. I mean, I thought the point of training was to prepare ourselves for anything. Do you think shredder and them are gonna back down? No, they are going to keep fighting until someone is dead."

"That's true." April said. "But I think the reason Master Splinter has you fight one another is so that you can see each other's weaknesses. You know that Leo lets his guard down which will lead you to be more alert to what the enemy will do next. This brand of training forces each of you to become the stronger parts of the others. That, you guys are stronger together."

Raphael felt a small smile tug at the corner of his mouth and he draped an arm over April's shoulder, "You guys? You're in this with us, Sister."

Last Year

Leonardo landed on the roof of the farmhouse, a gentle breezed wafted through April's open window, pulling the curtains with it. Hopefully she was still awake. Before, Leonardo had a chance to announce his presence, April appeared in the window. "Leo? What are you doing out there?"

"Not watching you sleep if that makes this less awkward." He said quickly.

"Okay, I wasn't. I am now, though." April said, a gentle teasing inflection woven into her words. He wasn't amused. "What's up?"

"It's nothing. I just came to check on you, in case you lost your sight again. I can see that you haven't so I'll get going." Leonardo's stance changed slightly and April knew he was ready to jump into the darkness and disappear.

"Wait a minute." April said quickly, "I can sense that there's more to your visit than that. Do you wanna come in and talk about it?" April offered, but she could tell that he wouldn't be persuaded easily, time to up the ante. "I'll make you some hot chocolate." She added.

"With marshmallows?" Leonardo chanced.

"As many as you want." April said, stepping back from her window to give Leonardo room to enter, which he did with all the swiftness of a shadow. He stood awkwardly in the center of the room, he may be a mutant turtle but he was still a teenage boy, standing in a girl's room, in the middle of a spooky forest.

"I don't have cooties." April pointed out. "Just sit on the bed and I'll be right back. Don't leave, I really want to listen to what you have to say." Those words made Leonardo tingle with warmth, maybe it would be okay to talk about his problem after all.

April returned a few moments later and handed Leonardo a cup of cocoa filled to the brim with mini marshmallows. Leonardo thanked her and plucked one of the soft pillows from the peak before popping it into his mouth. On occasion, Leonardo loved a good three cheese, pepperoni, marshmallow pizza. Mm-mm.

"So, what's going on?" April asked, ripping Leo from his musings.

"I lost face in front of you and I'm ashamed as a hero and as your leader." He said carefully.

"Leo, is this about the Chimera?" April asked. He nodded. "Don't worry about that anymore."

"How can I not? I almost gave up on them, on you."

"The Keyword is Almost." April said, "Look, you had a moment of weakness but it doesn't reflect who you are. In the end, you did the right thing. That's what matters. But if you need forgiveness then you have it, always, no matter what."

"Really? Why?"

"Because we're family."

"That's it? It's that simple?"

"Yeah."

Now

April's Tessen cut through the air with purpose and accuracy, its sharp silvery blade reflecting what little light her makeshift prison provided. It whistled through the air in that familiar way, singing for her before cutting through her restraints.

"You're going to need that," Leonard said.

"For what? I'm not going to fight you for my life, if you don't believe me then you can just end it now."

"If I didn't believe you, I would have." He said. "Mikey, Raph, and I had a chat about this, what sort of family would we be if we didn't give you a chance at redemption." He made a statement of that fact, his brothers nodded as if to confirm.

"I won't let you down." April said, though the Turtles still looked pretty pissed. She couldn't blame them for that, she'd deal with it. Anything to get Donnie back.

"Prove it by helping us bring Donnie home." Leonardo said, a hint of mischief in his eyes.

"Does that mean, you found him?" April stood up, grabbing her Tessen on the way. "Where is he?"

"The Channel 6 Building."

"So close." Raphael said. "You jerk." He said, punching Leo in the arm, "You made us sit through a stupid team meeting and you didn't tell us you found him?"

"I didn't think you'd listen if I told you, you'd want to go guns blazing." Leonardo confessed.

"Damn straight." Raphael said. "They're gonna pay for what they did to us."

"Wait a minute Raph, we should get in touch with the Mighty Mutanimals, I have a feeling we're gonna need all the help we can get for this one."

"On it." Michelangelo said, just as eager as the others to bring Donatello back home. And perhaps in a few hours he would be, safe and sound, yelling at him to get out of his lab.

A/N: Sorry about the long break guys, I started grad school and didn't give myself enough time to write. I will be updating but they won't come as frequently as before. There are about five more chapters left of this so I hope you guys stick around. Thanks for understanding.

Episodes in order referenced:

Parasitica

The Good, the Bad, and Casey Jones

Eyes of the Chimera