Mikey gave her the first sign that something wasn't right.

April learned early on that Michelangelo's moods and emotions were explosive and unpredictable. The orange masked ninja was the baby of the family and loved to act like one. He survived his family by sheer cuteness, and what that cuteness could gain him. A perfectly executed bout of fake tears could get his brothers punished for no reason at all, and a well placed pout could get him anything he wanted.

Usually Mikey was in a constant hyper state, as if sugar ran through his veins. He was happy and loud and excitable, tackling her in a hug every time she walked through the door and cuddling her like a puppy.

But one day she was preoccupied, and she was a little slow in returning his squeeze- just a little- and the change in him was immediate. The laughter bled out of his baby blue eyes, leaving them cold and wet. His sunny smile disintegrated into a wash of loud sobbing.

"H-h-how c-c-come y-y-you won't HUG ME, APRIL?!"

"N-no, no, Mikey, I'm sorry, I -I was just-"

"YOU DON'T LOVE ME ANYMORE, HUH?! IS THAT IT?!"

"No! N-no, Mikey, come on-"

"WELL FINE, YOU...YOU STUPID HUMAN, I DON'T LOVE YOU ANYMORE EITHER! HOW'S THAT, HUH APRIL, HUH?!" Before she could gather her stunned thoughts to respond, he had stomped away, wailing about mean humans all the way to his room. For an hour and a half, whenever she passed his door, she could hear him alternate between laughing and crying, and mumbling to himself.

She almost peed on herself when he suddenly flopped down next to her on the couch two hours later, as bubbly and hyper as ever. "Aaaa-pril!" he sang, playing with a strand of her red hair and shaking her shoulder. "Can we play Super Metroid?"

"I...I...I thought, you...huh?" April stammered, confused by his apparent 180. "I thought...I thought you were upset..."

"Oh, about earlier? Nah." Mikey giggled. "Not really. Not much. So, Super Metroid?"

"B-but...but you were crying..."

His grin faded slightly, and an expression crossed his face that made ice form in her stomach. "April. I. Want to play. Super Metroid." And all she could do was nod, which put the smile back in place. "Yay! I'll be the blue ship!"

When she passed his room to go to the bathroom, she almost threw up at the sight of a rat carcass just inside the threshold of his door. The poor thing had been tortured, squished into the ground like a pancake, fur and organs scattered on the concrete around it, beady black eyes popped out of the sockets, ears methodically separated from its skull.

Later, at home, confused and concerned, she felt compelled to ask Google what the hell had happened and why, and Google told her promptly- Bipolar Disorder. Get professional help, ASAP.

After that rude awakening, April started to see a much darker layer underneath Mikey's sweet facade. His moods changed at the blink of an eye, at the drop of a hat. No warning. No notice. No inkling of what was to come.

It was Russian Roulette.

"Donnie! Play with me!"

"Go away."

"YOU'RE THE WORST BROTHER EVER!"

"Play with your toys."

"B-b-b-but they're all DEAD!"

"Find some more!"

"...Fine."

Minutes later, April saw him carrying a box that shifted and squeaked in his arms, and that night, Donatello found three rat carcasses in his bed.