Hey guys, it's been just over a month (sorry!) I said I would publish more but I just haven't gotten around to doing it. Yeah, not my favourite chapter. Sorry sorry sorry x1000. Um. enjoy! Thank you to all those who have been reading since the beginning, and to those who have just recently started reading it, thank you thank you thank x1000000 *hearts everywhere*! sorry for typos. I really tried to take my time editing this and I want to post this by tonight or else I'll leave it for like a whole week, but I have a bunch of tests this week and yeah SORRRYYY FOR THE RANT XOXO

hey btw, if you happen to notice any typos or mistakes, feel free to point them out so I can change them! it's one of my biggest pet peeves when I'm reading a story! When there's a typo and I catch it while I'm really into the story I just OIADJAKLSJD! but yeah.

I gawked at the person standing before me. I expected everything to happen smoothly; but this was the last thing I was expecting.

"Leanne!" the voice cried out suddenly before grabbing me and pulling me into a hug.

"Fl... Flynn?!" I squeaked out. My brother rarely showed any concern for me – or for anyone in that matter.

I never realized how tall my little brother was. He was only 13 years old, yet was the same height as me. Maybe even a little taller. His hair was a bit longer than the last time I saw it, but it wasn't crazy long. It was just long enough to cover his forehead. I couldn't remember the last time he hugged me like that. It felt weird; almost awkward. I couldn't bring myself to return the embrace.

"Where WERE you?!" He pulled away from the hug and gave me a suspicious look. "You were gone for practically the entire night!"

I stared at him, unable to say what I was thinking. Oh you know, I got hurt so I chilled with some giant turtles that helped me out. Oh yeah, and I'll be staying with them for a while. Yeah, that doesn't exactly just roll off the tongue. That's when I remembered the four giant turtles that were standing behind me. I spun around anxiously to see why they were so silent, but to my surprise – and relief – they weren't there.

"What?" Flynn asked. "What is it?"

I turned back to face him. "Oh... nothing." I gave him a tiny push deeper into the house so he wouldn't get a good view out the door. I bit my lip and looked back again quickly. "Just... y'know."

He rolled his eyes. "Okay, well. I've been really worried."

I snorted. "You? Worried about me? Since when?" I placed my hand on his forehead, then his neck. "Are you sick or something? This isn't like you."

"No. I'm fine." He pushed my arm away. "Maybe you just don't know me that well."

I thought about it for a minute. "Yeah. I guess." I pulled off my shoes, placing them on the shoe rack.

"Well?" Flynn asked again, his arms crossed.

I sighed. "Do you really want the truth about what happened?"

"Yes." There was no hesitation.

I sighed again, and stuck my head out the door. "Guys, you can come back now. We might as well just tell him the truth." I knew they were still there. Freakin' ninjas and their disappearing tricks.

All four of them showed up at once. They jumped down from... god knows where, and landed swiftly on the sidewalk just in front of my home. Seriously... Ninjas.

Their hoods were still up, so their faces weren't visible enough for my brother to see. I waved them in. "Come on in, guys."

Leo stepped in first and rubbed his feet on the doormat, as if to clean off the mud or dirt that might have gotten stuck on them. "Thank you," he said to me politely. I smiled.

Don followed, also quickly rubbing his feet on the doormat before smiling and walking inside. Raph came after and Mikey as well. One by one they awkwardly passed Flynn, not really knowing where to go or what to say to him. They kept their heads low, so their faces wouldn't be revealed just yet. Flynn stared at them before walking over to my side while I closed the door.

"Who... who are these people?" Flynn whispered to me.

I bit my lip again. "You... you'll be surprised. They're... they're not like normal guys. They're awesome though. Trust me."

I led them to the living room area with a few couches and chairs, and made sure everyone had a seat before exposing the secret. I wasn't sure how my brother was going to take it all, but I knew he would have to be sitting down and... well, ready.

I started off by telling him that I went for a walk. I told him about the purple dragons, and made a little white lie about how I fell and hurt my arm, rather than saying that I cut myself. I told him how they helped me patch up my wounds and that I kept passing out from lack of energy and from the blood loss. My brother stayed silent the entire time, until they finally revealed what they looked like. Raph sort of just ripped off his hood and complained that it was too hot in the house. I expected my brother to be quite startled, but instead he... passed out. Thank god he was on the couch. He stared at Raph with his mouth wide open before falling back and just passing out. It was awkward for a minute or two before Mikey spoke up.

"Your brother... his name," He said, "It's like that guy's name... in that movie called Tangled."

I snorted. "Yeah, ever since that movie came out people at school have teased him by calling him 'Flynn Rider'. Weird how it's spelt the same way too."

"Yeah, anyway," Don interrupted suddenly. "We really need to figure out what we're going to do here. If you're going to stay with us... what are we going to do with your younger brother? I thought it could be possible for him to stay home alone for a while, since you two barely communicate and like you said, he's quite independent. But... he was worried about you when you didn't come home." Don sighed. "I don't know how we're going to do this."

Leo thought to himself for a minute. "Maybe we coul-"

Flynn awoke suddenly, pushing himself off the couch. He glanced around at us, and caught sight of Raph who was the only one hood-less. Flynn immediately jumped up and squished himself beside me. "Oh god, they're still here. I'm hallucinating, aren't I?" He swallowed hard. "What... are they?"

"No, I swear this is real. You aren't hallucinating. They're... giant turtles. They're really nice, I promise." I insisted.

"Why are they turtles? Why do they speak... English? Why do they even speak at all?" Flynn babbled on, having so many questions.

"Actually... I was hoping they'd tell me about them as well. They haven't told me yet how they became like this and about the other humans that they know, so maybe now you and I will have our questions answered," I said.

"Right," Leo said in response. "I'll tell you everything you want to know about us and our family."

Leo talked for a while, but Flynn and I were so caught up in the way he told the story that it was over before we knew it. All our questions answered. We learned about their mutations, their almost-endless fight with a guy named the Shredder, a man named Bishop, and their good friends Casey and April whom they haven't spoken to in months since they disappeared. Mikey would sometimes add in sound effects when Leo would talk about some of their major battles, but Raph would punch him in the shoulder to shut him up.

"Any more questions?" Leo asked.

Flynn and I looked at each other for a moment, but then looked back to Leo. I shook my head, but Flynn spoke up.

"So, what do you guys want with my sister? Up until now you guys have been helping her, and that's great, but what else do you want now?"

Don's eyes met Leo's, then mine. We weren't sure what to tell him. I sure as hell wasn't ready to tell him about what I was doing to myself, but I don't think I informed any of them about that.

Leo took a breath. "Okay, well the truth is..."

"Raph's sick!" I said quickly. SICK?! I thought to myself. Idiot... how am I going to back this up? I need to think before I speak. Damn.

My brother and the four turtles all looked at me strangely. Raph gave me an odd look – his face full of confusion and anger. "The fuck? No I..."

"YES!" Don spoke loudly. Boy, did he catch on quickly. "Yes, Raph is really sick and needs... help."

Flynn tilted his head slightly while staring at Don. "Why would he need your help? Shouldn't you be able to take care of him?"

"No, you don't understand... um, Flynn. It's a psychological disease that affects his... emotions." Don explained to him nervously, "Uh, when he meets new people, he becomes extremely attached to them for a month or two... and when separated from them, he becomes mentally unstable. And I mean, really unstable. He'll throw tantrums, attack random people, and could be a real threat. It's a... side effect of the mutagen that we were exposed to when we were still babies. Yeah, I'm doing a bunch of research on it since we can't exactly get help from... people."

My brother took in everything that Don was saying. I crossed my fingers, hoping Don had convinced him of this ridiculous theory.

"...Alright then," my brother responded uncertainly. "Since he just met me as well, does that mean I have to go too?"

"Yes! Exactly, Flynn," Don smiled, and looked over at Raph. "You'd be much better with them around, wouldn't you, Raphie?"

I could see Raph moving his jaw slightly, as if he were gritting his teeth together. Mikey's hand was covering his own mouth as he tried to stifle back his laugh. Raph caught my gaze, and I gave him a look pleading for him to play along. "...Yeah," Raph said quietly before glaring his eyes at Don. "...Definitely."

Leo bit his lip, trying to stay as composed as possible. He seemed like one of the more responsible brothers, but I guess even he has to joke around with them too. Mikey tried his best to hide his face and fight back his laughter.

I smiled and looked at Flynn. He still looked unconvinced, but if he still believed in a bit of what they were telling him, then that was good enough for me.

"Right. Okay, well I guess we sh – NO! I forgot to tell you!" Flynn jumped up and stood in front of me.

"What?" I asked him as I could feel worry building up in my gut. "What? What is it?"

"It's... It's Furly." He said quietly. "Last night... I went downstairs to let him out to pee and stuff, and he... he wasn't there. I went upstairs to see if he was with you but he wasn't. You weren't there either, so I waited and waited and... you never... he never..." He muttered off helplessly. I started feeling guilty.

"Shhh, it's okay. Calm down." I reach up and put my hand on his shoulder. "Have you checked everywhere?"

He nodded. "I did. I scoped the entire house. I even checked mom and dad's room. You know, they haven't been home in days."

My eyes widened. "Days? How many days?"

"Six."

I froze. Six days? That was a bit much, even for them. Usually they came home after a day or 2 even if it was just for a few hours. "Are you sure?"

He sighed, "Of course. I always keep track of when they come home and when they leave."

I looked at him, sort-of impressed by how aware he was of everything that was going on in our home, but forced myself to focus back onto our current problem. "How long has he been gone? Last night I saw him at around 10pm."

"It's like, 2pm right now, right? 14 hours." His voice was shaking a little.

"Okay... well. It's okay, don't worry. We'll find him." I put my hand on his shoulder. I was so worried. I forced myself not to tear up. I loved Furly so much, but I had to stay strong. What good would I be if I started bawling in front of them? I stood up and turned to my turtle friends. "Looks like I won't be able to stay with you guys right now. We need to find Furly first."

Leo stood up, followed by Don and Mikey. "Don't worry, we can help. We can try and scope out the area."

I shook my head. "No, I couldn't possibly ask you guys to do that..."

"No, it's completely fine. The more of us there are, the more ground we'll cover. It'll be faster if we work together." Leo reassured me. I looked over at Don and Mikey, who were both smiling and nodding at me. Raph on the other hand was still slightly pissed off at the little white lie we told my brother, and stared at the floor pretending he wasn't listening. I'm sure he was, though.

So, we decided to split up. The area I planned to check out wasn't too far from home, so if I ever got in trouble I could just run back. It was the same for my brother too. Leo told us that if we ever did get in trouble, then we should scream and they'd come running to get us. The turtles decided to search from the roofs so they could get a better view of everything. They also said it would be much faster – and safer – for them. I assumed they just didn't want to get seen since it was the middle of the day.

After quickly changing into my own clothes and deciding on a time when we should meet up, we finally headed our separate ways (for the time being). I walked down the sidewalk quickly, looking down every alley I passed, and looking behind/under every dumpster I could find. There was nothing. It was starting to seem hopeless. If the guys had already found him we wouldn't still be searching for him. Soon, 5 minutes turned to 30 minutes. Still, nothing. I could feel myself getting more and more frustrated.

"Furly," I repeated again for the 40th time, hoping the little fur ball would hear me. "Furly baby, where are you?"

I started down this big alley that I was unfamiliar with. I was far from where my original area was, but I sure as hell wasn't going to just give up on searching for my dog.

I continued down the alley, looking around for him. "Furly... Furly, are you there? Come here!"

I didn't know what time it was without my phone, but I started to assume it was just after 3pm. I sighed, watching as my breath turn into a visible little cloud before disappearing. It was already starting to get cold. I wasn't surprised, though. It was the middle of December.

Suddenly, something caught my eye. I looked over and saw two big men walking down the same alley that I was walking in. I looked around anxiously, trying to find something to hide behind. After spotting two garbage cans, I jumped behind them and covered my mouth. I had a feeling that I've met them before.

As they approached, I made sure that I wasn't going to just jump out an attack them again. I didn't want to do anything stupid. Their voices were quite low, but I could still hear the conversation they were having.

"... So what're we gonna do? The boss is goin' ta be real mad at us again for not gettin' anythin'!"

"Don't worry about it man, we got... well, somethin'. Probably ain't gonna be useful to the boss, but I guess it could be used for experimentin' on or somethin'."

"Yeah, I guess. But what 'bout that lil' girl we were chasin' last night? We haven't found her yet either and it's been almost a whole day!"

"Well, maybe if we jus' grab a random chick and bring 'er in and pretend it's her then we'll be off the hook!" He laughed.

My eyes widened. I remembered who they were; well at least who one of them was. I was pretty sure I broke his nose. I swallowed hard. What were they talking about? What experimenting? What were they going to experiment on? I couldn't help but take a peek over the garbage cans to see what they were talking about.

Suddenly, something yanked my hair, pulling me along with it. I yelped at the sudden pain in my head as my hair continued to be ripped out. My eyes were cloudy as I looked up, seeing the two big guys that I was trying to spy on.

"Hah! It worked. Wow man, I didn't think it was gonna work but it did! But hey... this is the girl that hurt you?" one of them pulled me along by my hair. I was just barely on my toes, trying to keep my balance so I wouldn't fall and put my head in any more pain.

"Yeh', that's her." A hand came hard on my right cheek. He slapped me. I held my hair, begging them to let me go. A flavour of metal coated my tongue. Blood.

"Heh, she's so tiny. Can't believe you let 'er hurt ya," the one holding my hair smirked and tugged me around playfully by my hair.

"Please... let me go," I whimpered out.

"Shut up, asshole." The other one replied to his friend, ignoring me. "Let's jus' take her to the boss already."

The one holding my hair tugged my hair down, throwing me along with it. I could feel the palms of my hands skidding against the pavement. The burning sensation in my palms felt soothing to me compared to the way I was dangled around by my hair. I attempted to let out a scream, but they instead covered my mouth with their hands before duct taping it shut. My eyes were flowing with tears as I whimpered. I was terrified.

The guy I injured pulled me over his shoulder. I thrashed myself around, knowing it was hopeless, but still... they were stupid enough to not tie my hands and legs together. The guy seemed to effortlessly carry me along, looking as if he wasn't affected at all by how crazy I was acting. I stopped thrashing around, and pretended to pass out. I wanted to wait for my moment to escape.

"Heh, looks like she passed out." I felt him smirk.

I felt the other one looking at me. "Yeah man. She's out like a light."

"But for real man, what're we gonna do about this?" the guy shook a bag that he was holding. "Leave it? Bring it? It's kinda cute..."

The guy holding me sighed. "Don't be such a pussy. Just kill it."

"But... the little thing is so..."

"God damnit, man. Fine. I'll do it." Suddenly, I was thrown to the ground. I winced at the pain, but managed to open my eyes a crack to see what they were going to do. I continued to play on as if I were still passed out. I had a terrible feeling.

They guy holding me grabbed the bag from his friend and opened it viciously, trying to spill out the contents of the bag.

My eyes widened as I saw what I was hoping wasn't true. Furly's little body rolled out. His once white shining coat of fur was now covered in a dark shade of red.

I could feel my heart pumping loudly. Adrenaline rushed through me as soon as I saw my dog. My baby. My eyes teared up once again at the sight of his limp state. My mind started to cloud up with rage and pain.

"Is it already dead?" one of the asked.

"No, its chest is still kinda' movin'. I dunno. Let's just leave it he-" he almost finished his sentence.

I saw as my right leg flew up, kicking him square in the face. He yelled and fell to the ground, holding his already-injured face. Adrenaline was rushing through me as I reached down to grab Furly's almost life-less body, but a fist came down hard on my stomach.

I flew backwards and hit the ground, finding it very difficult to breathe. I was winded. I held my stomach, and started coughing out blood. This day could not get any worse, I thought to myself. The adrenaline finally wore out and I felt the pain in my stomach area. My vision was getting real blurry at this point, but I kept pushing myself to grab my dog and to run. I just had no energy left.

"She's over there!" A familiar voice called out. I tried to look up to see where it was coming from, but I was too exhausted to move. I lay there, useless... again. I tried to call out to them, but my mouth was still covered by the duct tape.

Strong hands came down under my head, supporting it and holding it up. He pulled off the duct tape carefully. "Leanne. Can you hear me?" Ahhh, Don... it's so great to hear your voice...

"Leanne! Raph, Mikey, go handle those two purple dragons. They couldn't have gotten far. Interrogate them about what happened. We'll stay here and take care of Leanne and Furly." Ohh Leo, you too? Mikey and Raph! Awesome, almost the whole gang is here except for-

"What happened?! What happened to her?! And Furly! Oh my god, no!" Oh awesome, Flynn too? Wow, I'd hate for him to see me like this... "Oh my god, she's covered in blood. They both are."

"Shhh, calm down Flynn, it'll be okay. We have to take them home" Leo said to him reassuringly.

"Leanne?" Don said again. I couldn't see what he was doing, but I could tell he was trying to check around me, looking for injuries.

"Wi... Wind.. winded..." I tried to say a whole sentence, but it was still difficult for me to breath. I was hoping that just saying that one word would suffice as an answer to Don.

"...Kay," Don said calmly, "Leo, Flynn... we have... Furly... home... carry... they..." Don's voice was just barely making sense as I drifted off.

LOL OH god I'm so sorry I made her pass out again ;~; SHE PASSES OUT ALOTT! poor girl. kind of brutal. Sorry it's been a long time ilu guys thanks for reading this chapter I'll be back soon maybe next week if I'm not busy? xoxo

hahah and dont you guys think it's kinda funny how when Flynn passed out, they just kinda leave him there and keep talking? aahaha i thought that was funny yeah. I'm lame. :c Poor Furly, thoughhhh. Yeah okay thanks bye guys I'll be back again!