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The city was in full bustle as the sun rose, approaching it's spot in the center of the sky. It rays illuminated the sky, the terrors of the night pushed back as the darkness was. Already most humans were up, going to work or preparing for a day of leisure. A few though, were still sleeping. Late night partiers, a few business men who had gotten in from a business trip, and turtles…both male and female.
[AN: The next part is a memory, hopefully you're know whose it is and what the event is...but I believe that you will! Enjoy!]
She was watching the stars.
Ignoring the others around her, she watched the starry sky. The mission had gone well, exactly to plan, and now she and her sisters were resting. Well she was in till...
"Tori?"
Taking her amber eyes from the black night, she looked to see Simone waiting for her to respond. She stretched in the armchair she was lounging in and replied "Yes?"
The word was both a question and a answer. It told that yes, she was listening but what do you want?
"Go get Jasmine" said the gray bandanna
She raised an eye ridge, why? she thought. Although she wasn't lazy, she just really didn't feel like going to get the dark haired female.
Seeing her reaction, her sister was about to respond when Alice butted in.
"We need her to play!"
She groaned, "Game night?"
Both the younger terrapins nodded and then left her to the task of collecting their leader. Stretching once more, she stood from her place and started walking towards their rooms. Silently she passed the resting scientists, when happened to catch her eye. Staring the young man down, she kept on her way. She chuckled when he darted his eyes down breaking their contact. Still the humans feared them, even though they were their guinea pigs for all kinds of experiments.
She exited the room, walking down the long hallway. Finally she reached her destination, the four doors. Each had their names was colored to their liking, hers was red. Her name was written rough, a scrawl. Most wondered why she didn't do brown to match her bandanna, it was because she liked the color red. It was fiery and fierce like her, plus it was the the same color as her hair. Looking past the doors, she found the one she was looking for. Past the gray and pink ones of her sisters, she looked to the place where a blue door usually stood. The cursive name of her sister was gone, replaced by a dark entrance to her room.
Must be resting, she thought, moving the red hair from her eyes.
The proper thing to do would be to creep in there quietly silently and shake her awake, but ...on the other had she wasn't the proper type.
"JAS!" She yelled, flipping on the lights as she walked in
"What the heck?" Her elder asked, as she approached the bed
The blue comforter stood out against the white walls and their green skin. The walls were the only thing they couldn't do anything to, they couldn't paint them. So they remained white, everything else done in their favorite colors. While the younger two had stayed true to their bandannas, she and Jasmine had gone more with their favorite colors. Hers had been red, which explained her door, while her sister had gone with blue. When asked why, all the black haired female said was that it reminded her of the sky and the stars in it.
"What the heck?" She asked, finding it funny that her sister hadn't cussed her out...but Jasmine was to much of a goody too shoes to do that
"Sorry let me translate that..." Her sister paused "What the hell do you want?"
That was the Jasmine she knew, the one who she could easily get along with.
"Get your ass outta bed" She said, purposely not answering her sister's question
"Why?" Jasmine said, more like groaned
She recognized that tone, it was the "I'm not going to do anything unless I have to" tone that her sister rarely used.
Hey I don't like it either, she though, really not wanting to play a game.
"Alice wants to play a game" She said, crossing her arms in a "you are getting up" way
"I'm tired" The elder shot back
Join the club, she thought, before responding "Yeah whateva...get up"
"No"
The answer made her sigh, as she watch her sister about to turn over and forget her in the land of sleep. If I have to play a game with them, so do you. With this thought she delivered a sure fire way to get her sister up.
"I'll get the water then"
She watched the other turtle register this threat, a evil smile coming to her face.
"Fine" Jasmine said, slowly getting to her feet
"Finally" She said, grabbing her hand and dragging her towards down the hallway
She listened as her sister said "You're evil"
"Good, I'm doing my job then Invi" She replied
It was perfect, Invi, they had called her that since she had earned it. Since she had become in a sense…
Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard as Jasmine said not to call that under her breath.
Then they entered the room she had been in before. Making their way around the humans, they walked to the table where they would be sitting for a very long time. There was Simone, her beak buried in the instructions as usual, and Alice spreading the game out on the dark wooden table. Their Sensei was also there, sipping the coffee that she needed late at night to be able to stand the four of them at the same time.
Noticing their arrival, the orange cat said "It's good that you have joined us"
"We are almost ready to start" Simone said, still reading the instructions even although she probably had them memorized by heart
"What are we playing?" Jasmine asked
They took their seats; she sat next to Jasmine who sat next to their mother.
"Sorry" Alice said, the game pieces almost ready for use
"As long as it isn't Trivial Pursuit, I'm happy" She said
It wasn't like she wasn't smart, but she preferred to spend her free time pounding the heck out of a practice dummy than reading like some of her sisters. She heard Simone grumble something under her breath, something she could hear.
"Well that's because you lost last time we played it!" Alice said
"Did not!" She shot back
"Did too!" The pink bandanna smirked
"Did not!"
"Did too!"
"Shut up!"
"Never!"
Back and forth they went; many times she had fought with Alice and most of the time she had won. It was a pride issue for her; she wasn't going to lose to her younger sister even if she was wrong. She had wanted to whoop her sister's butt at the Battle Nexus, but they just had to forfeit. It was the best thing to do but it would have been cool to beat Alice in front of all those people.
"Chill, It doesn't matter" She heard Jasmine say, trying to break up their fight
She knew that her elder had a lot on her plate and that their fighting didn't help it at all, but there was no way she was losing.
"Bring it!" She roared, giving the invitation to take the fight to a physical level
"NO!" Alice yelled, her face showing that she was…
"You're scared!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Not!"
"Yes!"
Then she heard something, something that had never reached her ears before.
Pure anger, rage that was untamed.
A few times she had done this, yelled with no care of who could hear. But never had she heard never another spewed such flames.
"SHUT UP! Nobody gives a fuck who won!"
She looked to see the source of the words, she gasped.
It was her.
The turtle who never swore, who never got angry.
The cool, collected one who broke up their squabbles.
The one with the most patience, who always was there.
She was still in awe as Jasmine, her only big sister, stalked out of the room. Looking over to Simone, the two met eyes. The brown haired turtle disappeared in a cloud of smoke as she stood; their mother started talking to Alice, distracting her.
Her legs carried her running past the scared humans, rushing down the white hallway. Coming into her sight was the black hair of her sister, being blocked by Simone. Without a second thought, she grabbed her sister's arm. She glared into her sister's blue eyes as they turned to look at her. The elder yanked her hand out of her grasp, before moving past the gray bandanna towards her room.
"What was that?" She asked, looking at her sister's back
The silence was torturing; the two wondering what had caused that reaction out of their sister.
"Nothing" Jasmine spoke, turning to face them
Nothing! Her anger sparked, something was going on
"Bumping into someone, that's nothing. But what happened back there was anything but nothing" Simone said, but from her voice you could tell she was concerned
"Just forget about it" The yellow bandanna said
"I can't, you're my sister and I can't ignore that something is wrong" She growled, angry that her sister was trying to brush something off that was obviously bothering her
"There's nothing wrong" Jasmine said, going defensive
What is she doing? she thought, we are trying to help her!
"There is something wrong; you have never acted like that before" Simone said, reminding them all of her performance of rage before
The oldest didn't speak, and so she spoke the truth.
"We know you Jas, something has to be wrong"
She added the nickname, maybe then she would just spill it and they could go back to playing a ridicules game.
"Leave me alone"
The three words shocked her, her sister's voice cold as she hissed the words. What she said next was a pure reflection of her thoughts, word for word…
"Why the hell are you pushing us away!" She roared
"You won't understand, you never will!" Jasmine yelled back
What won't we understand? She wondered as Simone spoke
"Well then tell us so we can understand! You never tell us anything!" The gray bandanna hissed, her frustration showing through
"Because you would be in danger if you knew!" Their sister snarled and she fell silent
Her anger was gone, as she revived what she had just heard. We would be in danger?
"What?" Both she and Simone simultaneously said, her voice no louder than a whisper
"I don't tell you to protect you, so that you won't get hurt" Jasmine said, her voice calm as usual, no trace of anger in it
"But…" Simone began to say
A siren when off, the one that they had heard one too many times. People began to push past them, going to towards the pods…the ones only used during an attack.
"We'll talk about this later" The tallest of the three said, their leader was back
They weaved through the crowd, going back towards where their other members of their family were.
"Like hell we will" She smirked, as they put everything to the side
Coming into the common room, they began to fight the Foot. They were easy to take down, her Sais stained already with the blood of the fallen black clad ninja. Soon there were none left, as she turned to look at Alice. The youngest was fine, a smile from her confirming just that.
Jasmine and their mother were talking, right before the orange cat ran off. Wait, we are leaving her? She knew that their sensei could handle herself, but still…
Before she could complete the thought, she saw a canister roll into the room. It exploded the gas filling the room. She followed her sister's yellow bandanna tails, her sisters' right behind her, out of the room. Then it overtook them as another group of ninja fought them. She felt the white smoke fill her lungs, as she landed punch after punch. Finally they were able to move on, almost to the escape pods.
Then they found them.
The group of ninja waiting in front of their way out, their weapons dripping with blood. The floor was covered with dead scientists, the same who had feared them. Taking her eyes off the ninja, she looking into the glassy eyes of a dead man. The same one she had looked at earlier, the one who had looked away. She felt the anger rise up in her, he didn't need to die…there was no reason.
"Move or be killed" Jasmine said, her eyes leveled on them
She smirked, forgetting the men, seeing the newest members squirm under their gaze. No one attack, her sister signaled…yes mom, she thought.
"Surrender or die" Karai said, appearing with her single sword ready
She growled, she was being mocked.
She hated to be mocked…
"Says you bitch!" She roared, running towards the human female
Her Sais sliced through cloth and flesh, more and more bodies littering the floor. She smiled, at the thought of winning, defeating Karai. The two hated the other, always they fought.
But this time, she would end it once and for all.
"Look out!"
She heard a voice say in the sea of black, alerting her to the fact that something was wrong. She looked around seeing nothing wrong, throwing another punch. A cry rang in her ears, one that made her roar like a mad man. Only one person could have such a scream, Alice was in trouble. Plowing through the crowd, she found herself in front of her injured sister. Getting a glimpse of the injury, she knew that it could be worse, Simone would fix it.
"Simone?" She heard Jasmine say beside her, as she fended off more ninja
"The wound is not serious, but there is no reason her powers didn't work" She heard Simone reply
Her powers didn't work? She thought in surprise
"Can you heal her?" She said, concerned for her sister
The three of them were fiercely protective of Alice, the three of them ready to take a bullet to keep her safe. This also went for Simone with her and Jasmine, they vowed that nothing would happen to the two of them. She knew that Jasmine would rather be dead than see her hurt.
"No"
The answer almost made her stop short, but she couldn't as another ninja attacked her.
"What do you mean no?" She heard her elder sibling ask
"My powers aren't working either" Was Simone's answer, as she stood Alice up
"I'm okay" Alice said optimistically, but the others knew they needed to get out of here
"Must have been the gas" She said, remembering the white cloud that had attacked them earlier
They began to move through the crowd, trying to reach the ship that would take them away from here. Jasmine was leading, she was right behind as the two cleared a way through the ninja. She saw two swords hit the floor, no doubt that they were her sister's. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a ninja move towards her sister.
"Jas!" She yelled, trying to give her a warning...
...it came to late as the man pressed a device into her elder sibling's green skin. A moment later Jasmine collapsed and her world was thrown into chaos. She felt blows pounding her body as she was beaten by the ninja that she had been fighting. Screams reached her ears, not hers. Forcing her eyes open against the pain, she looked to see Jasmine being held down. Alice and Simone were being dragged away, she lashed out. Giving a roar that dissipated in the noise around her she threw a punch against her attackers.
"Invi!" The pink bandanna yelled in pain.
She saw Alice bleeding as she called for assistance. She needed help, the three of them needed to be there.
"NO!" Jasmine wailed, trying to get up
She struck out again, determined to get free. Again the blow rained down on her body, but she didn't notice the pain. She only fought.
"Help!" Simone screamed as she was hit again and again.
She struggled even more, her sisters needed her.
"TAKE ME!" She heard the yellow bandanna plead, as tears ran down her face
Another blow caught her jaw, sending her to the floor in pain. Roughly she felt herself be dragged and thrown. Struggling to her feet, she saw the glass door of the pod close. Rushing to the door, she punched against the glass. She saw Jasmine was still in the ship, they had been separated. No,she thought, give her back! Pink and gray bandannas joined her, as they pounded against the glass. She knew they were going to kill her and send them along without her. They needed her, they needed their leader. She watched as she was forced to stand and look at them, look into her amber eyes.
Why isn't she trying to escape? She watch her proud sister try to do just that, but she just couldn't get free. A silver sword shot against her sister's green neck. She snarled, it was Karai. Don't you dare! I will hurt you if you lay a figure on my sister, she knew this was true.
"JASMINE!" She roared, yelling the name of the person she wanted to be returned to them
She watched as Karai hissed words into her ears, as the ship started to move.
In desperation, she threw her weight against the door. No! I will not leave her, the thought was inscribed into her mind. Her sister's form got smaller, as she turned to her younger siblings. All three of them had tears streaming down their cheeks.
"It's gonna be okay" She told them, as the three held to each other
Then a fire tore the two from her arms, as she fell. Smashing into something, she felt herself black out.
The darkness swallowed her, as she was surrounded by her favorite color.
Red...
...she was surrounded by fire.
She gasped, as she jerked from the dream.
The sun had risen, blinding her as she sat up from lying on the branch. Looking down to the place where her siblings had been, she saw that they were still resting. They hadn't been disturbed by the memory like she had, the one that had haunted her during the last five years of their searching. The brown bandanna ran her three fingers through her red hair, before moving to rub her eyes. Already there were people in the park, but they were well hidden by the thick trees. She wiped the tears from her eyes, looking into the now bright sky.
She had never seen her sister alive since that night, since their mission began.
Since they had become a team of three.
She would wake them soon, but for now she let them sleep. If they found the killer, no when they found the murder, there was no telling what would happen. She could be killed, leaving them by themselves.
Life was to short, maybe they would do something fun today. Just for the heck of it, Tori smiled faintly.
Maybe just to pretend that they were four and not three.
The lair was quiet as almost all of its occupants slept soundly, the night's events miraculously not affecting their ability to rest. All seemed well at the moment, no secrets hidden that could tear the close knit family apart. One family member, a brother, rolled over, leaning precariously on the edge. A push from his neighbor didn't help the situation, as he went crashing onto stone sewer floor. Having his face buried in the hard stone woke him from his somewhat peaceful sleep, the ones around him not noticing what happened as they continued resting.
"The hell?" He sputtered, before raising himself up into a sitting position
His red bandanna was twisted around, the eye holes currently located near the back of his head. Putting it back in its place, he rubbed his eyes. Raphael then took in his surroundings, finding that he was in the living room. He found that he had just fallen off the couch, where both Mikey and Don were sleeping in a pile of green limbs. Covering his two younger brothers was a red blanket, which looked a lot like the blanket from his bed. Taking a better look around the room, he saw that Leo was passed out in the chair next to the couch. His big brother was curled into a blue blanket, no doubt the comforter from his bed.
Raph wondered why he was in the living room to begin with when he remembered...
"Be right back" Jasmine said, somewhat cheerfully, as she and Leather head walked out of the still dark lair
LH had decided to leave and the female had volunteered to walk him to his home, even though he had said that the act was unnecessary. But she insisted and the two were setting off, leaving him and his brothers to their own devices. There was little to do, the story she had told them still fresh in their minds. The tale was so horrifying to them, it seemed like it had come from a book of nightmares, not a real memory. The mood had improved after she had told them, but still he felt anger towards the fact that she had been subjected towards the torture of seeing...
…that
He wondered how she did it, how did she survive five years without them? When they met her she was happy, giving no indication of the wound in her chest where her heart had been ripped out. It wasn't like she was dependent on her sisters, but he knew that he wouldn't have been able to do what she had. Yes he beat up Mikey, made fun of Don, and had fights with Leo on a daily basis, but even if one of them…
He would go crazy, losing any of them. He was known as the muscle, the "you fuck with them, you fuck with me" brother of the family. They all were like that, but he was the one who wouldn't hesitate to hurt an punk.
Leo was the leader, who still was as protective, but had more "humane" methods than beating someone up. Mostly the blue bandanna told them to run, before he cut them with his swords, but he knew that his elder brother could be as angry as him. No one could replace him; even though he had said many times that he would make a better leader. There was no one who could even come close to mimicking fearless, the ninja master who meditates in his free time. The person who always, well 99% of the time, had a plan no matter what was going on. Romeo was his big brother, his only big brother. He knew that whatever happened, wherever he went, his brother would be watching.
Don is the only person with the medic know how, one of the younger two. The purple bandanna was collected, the one who dealt with breaking up the fights that he started with Leo. He was the one that shielded Mikey, they all knew the two youngest were as thick as thieves. All three of them, were protective of Mikey. Don knew that both Leo and himself could handle themselves, so most of his worry went towards the youngest. Whenever they were bleeding, who did they go too? Don was the one who treated them for broken bones, infections, and every thing in between. No one could replace the genius, the one who made sure that they knew what they had been poisoned with. No one could hack a computer like him, no one could disable a security system in 5.5 seconds just before the alarm went off, and no one could be as gentle and kind as the purple bandanna.
Mikey, just the name brought back memories. Thousands of pranks, ridiculous ideas, and comic books littering the house. The smile that brought them all joy, the person who also was happy even if they weren't. The youngest had a child like look on the world, not always seeing the danger in his actions. Like the time he managed to drop a paint filled water balloon on the police chief and had their identity's exposed to the world. The orange bandanna could never be replaced, like a heart could never be replaced. One can receive a new heart, but never is it the same as the old. Never could another yell "Cowabunga!" at the top of their lungs and then dig into a pizza. Never could they scream like a girl and then run from the big brother he managed to piss off. Nope, you couldn't replace the knucklehead, never could you replace him.
He looked around the room at his brother, suddenly grateful at the life he had. They had always been there, when her siblings had been killed.
"Are you crying?" He heard Mikey say
"No" He growled
"But it looks like-"
"Mikey" Leo silenced the younger turtle
"But dude!" The orange bandanna protested
"Movie?" Don suggested, holding out the remote to Mikey
"Sure!" The youngest said, snatching the remote to start flipping through the channels
He looked to see his brother's take their seats. Donnie and Mikey on the couch, Leo claiming the chair. Finally Mikey found something, before running off for popcorn. Coming back with a huge (and I mean huge) bucket of popcorn in his hand, the three took a handful and settled in for the show.
He just watched, thankful that they were all there. Never could he imagine one of their spots empty, one of them gone.
"Raph?" Leo said, as they all looked at him
"Coming" He said loud enough that they could hear, just barely
"We saved you a spot Raphie" Mikey said, patting the spot between him and Don
He cracked a smile, before taking the spot.
"What we watching anyway? I hope it ain't one of those crappy super hero movies" He said, grabbing a handful of popped corn
Mikey just gave him a look.
"Mikey!"
...then they had fallen asleep in here and then he had fallen onto the floor.
The red bandanna stood up, wondering if it would be worth the struggle of getting back on the couch for more sleep.
"Coffee?"
He turned to see Jasmine holding two mugs, steaming with what he knew was what would wake him up. Giving up on the idea of more sleep, he walked over and accepted the cup she handed him.
"Thanks" He said, following her into the kitchen
She sat, he did too and then silence came between the two. How, he wondered, do you talk to someone who once had your life and then lost it all? Before he could consider even a possible answer, she spoke.
"Sleep well?" She teased, knowing the answer
"Yes, in till I fell off the couch" He replied, she probably heard him crash into the stone
"That can wake you up" She chuckled
The silence came between the two again.
He wanted to ask and he did...
"How?"
Crap, did that really just come out of my mouth? He wondered this, before she responded
"What?" She asked, looking at him with wonder
He really wanted to know the answer, but it could upset her...
"How did you...cope?" He whispered the last word, looking for a killer reaction from her
But instead of tears she just sighed.
"I just remembered that it was in the past, that no matter how much I cried or how much pain I felt, that I couldn't bring them back." His sister replied
"I can't..." She cut him off
"...imagine them not here? Neither could I, but I could never imagine screaming their names so much that I couldn't talk for the next week"
He looked up from the dark liquid in his cup into her eyes, the blue looking at him waiting for one of them to say something. He wanted to say something, something to comfort her, but there was nothing he could say...she had already dealt with it her own way.
"Do you remember that night we talked?" Jasmine said, interrupting his thoughts
He smirked "How could I forget?"
"Well then I told you that I saved you..." He interrupted her
"...because I reminded you of Tori"
"Yes, but when I first met you I was in shock" She said, leaning back in her chair
"You were? It seemed we were the shocked ones" Raph replied, raising an eye ridge
"Well that's because I can hide my emotions" The yellow bandanna smirked
"And we can't?" He asked
"No, you looked like you all were about to lose your jaws" She replied
"That's because you showed up, we had never seen a female before, and then threw Hun into a brick wall" He leaned in to enunciate his point
"Whatever" She moved the hair out of her eyes
"We thought Leo was crazy..." Raph was cut off
"Yeah he kept going on about this female turtle that had saved him." Don cut in, accepting a cup from her before sitting down
"I said, black hair with dark blue eyes. Most beautiful thing I had ever seen" Leo added, as he came in
"We never let him live it down..." The red bandanna went on
"...which made even sweeter when they met you" Leo finished
"Well you might not have if you idiots hadn't needed saving" She stated, before handing another cup to Leo
All three of the males began to protest, when a loud crash resounded from the room over.
"AH!"
"I'll get him" Jas said, standing up
The three took another sip of coffee, listening to the conversation happening next to them.
"Mikey"
"Hmm?"
"Get up"
"No"
"Come on, time to get up"
"I don't wanna"
"Now"
"No way mother"
"Don't call me that"
"Then go away or I'll send Raph to beat you up"
"Right"
"RAPH!"
"Mik-"
"Jasmine's being mean!"
"I am not!"
"Go away then!"
"No way Mikey"
"AHHHHH!"
"Get up"
"Your crazy!"
"Yes I am"
Then Jasmine entered and grabbed her cup, taking a final drink. The three of them looked at her with curios looks.
"I raised the couch and he rolled off" She said
"Well that's one way to wake Mikey up" Leo said
"Yeah but..." Don was cut off
"You are mean!" Mikey wailed, before lazily taking a spot at the table
"Well get up next time" Jasmine smiled
"What's for breakfast?" Mikey asked, almost completely forgetting about what had happened earlier
"Cereal?" Don said, sighing
"Nope"
All four heads turned at her answer.
"Sweet ,pancakes!" Mikey said, as he heard the sizzling of his favorite morning meal
The elder three smiled, today was going to be a good day.
Karai cringed as she heard a roar fill their temporary home. They were rebuilding the tower, but it was going to take a long time. Cries to run were heard, as she ran closer to the source. She saw the ninja fighting...something.
It focused on her, it's eyes with murder held in them.
Again a roar filled her ears, before pain ran through her body.
Falling, she felt the slash marks across her chest bleed.
For her, today was a very bad day.
Wooooow, a loooong chapter!
Yes they are going to meet, next couple of chapters! HAng in there!
What is going on with Karai?
Find out next chapter!