Sorry for not posting sooner, I wanted to try 3 chapters in one day but evidently I couldn't even complete one due to school duties. This chapter may be a lot less thrilling compared to the action-packed Chapter 7, but it still plays an important part of Belonging/ A Place to Belong and I hope you will read it. Chapter 8 will be the second last chapter, though my updates may be slower as school has reopened now. Please please please read and review , and welcome to Chapter 8~

Rain. It was raining. The orange haired teenager lay on the ground, her eyes staring- curiously blank and death-like, at the spread of dark blue and dull grey- like a picture completed by a messy yet unimaginative child.. Occasionally, a blinding flash of lightning would brighten up the dark background, then, a large blade of thunder would ripple across- tearing the sky in half. The teenage girl continued staring at the raindrops falling- so much like heaven's tears. Cold water fell on to her sore and bruised face.

Why wasn't she dead? But that didn't really matter. Even if she failed to die from the fall, she would easily be killed by her injuries, which had worsened considerably from the deathly plunge she had experienced earlier. Ren exhaled, and mentally winced (doing it physically hurt her) as she felt her broken ribs digging into her flesh. The kick must have done her in, she registered grimly. But she couldn't stay here, like a frail and sick patient awaiting death. It was an insult to her parent's morals- to never give up, to fight for your life when dark times came. They did a pretty good job combatting against their own deaths, though had ultimately fallen to The Shredder's dangerous gauntlet.

The gauntlet. Ren tried to raise her head to look at her wound, but it hurt too much. She closed her eyes. Technically, she didn't quite need to see it to be aware of her most fatal injury; she felt it quite clearly. Sharp and stabbing pain around her midriff. Blood was still pouring from the wound- her black hoodie was already completely drenched, save for part of its sleeves. Was this going to be the end of her?

Ren's emerald eyes strayed about, taking in her surroundings (it was difficult to do so with your head on the ground, unable to move. But she pretty much gathered that wherever she was. it was someplace wet). Her eyes fell on the silver bracelet splayed across her wrist- which lay at a somewhat awkward angle, twisted, beside her head.

"Raph…" Ren murmured, staring at the charm. He had given it to her- a silver bracelet with two sai charms dangling across the chain. It had been part of a pair, one for him, another for her. It was a connection.

She couldn't die now. She had to be strong. She had to get back to the turtles; she owed them an explanation. She had to see her family again, she had to see Raph again. The thoughts gave her strength. Taking a deep breath, Ren sat up, trying to drown out the screaming pain in her abdomen. She remembered- a suddenly distant memory, of herself, in a similar position lying on a couch, propping herself up to test the depth of her injuries in the turtles' lair. They had panicked over her unconscious state after receiving the blow from a bomb, but it seemed something greatly minute in comparison to now. Ren checked her wound. There was a lot of blood. Summoning her remaining strength, she ripped out a sleeve of her hoodie and wrapped it around the wound, securing it with a clumsy knot as her trembling fingers tried to tie the remaining bits of black (and slightly bloody) fabric together.

Ren looked around slowly, now in a comfortable enough position to register her current location. Apparently, she had strayed a little away from the Foot Headquarters, having landed in some curious shifty-looking alleyway. That was good, no one would notice her. Ren scavenged around the area (once again in a slow and painful motion) and found a dented metal pole. Just long enough to suit her height, she gingerly tested it by leaning her weight onto the pole, finally stopping when it held against her satisfactorily. Her right foot- where The Shredder had smashed an ironed kick into, felt limp and broken. Slowly, Ren placed one foot across the ground and dragged her right foot along, clutching onto the metal pole and stumbling even in her slowness. She couldn't climb roofs in such a state, her best bet would be to disappear into the nearest sewers and track her way to the turtles' from there. Ren took a deep breath and gripped the metal pole tightly, fixing a firm stare at the road- waiting for the split moment that it would empty and cars would cease to cross.

Ensuring that no cars were in sight, Ren leapt onto the road- immediately wishing she had not when she felt her chest throbbing painfully and her leg almost giving way. Fumbling with the manhole cover, she pried it open and disappeared into the sewers, landing in a pool of slimy water. The easy part was over; now was the hard part. She had to make her way to the turtles' lair alive.

She would make it through this. She had to.

"Hah.. Hah…" Ren panted weakly as she advanced, placing her left foot forward, then dragging her right foot along, ploughing on with the metal pole she held in her hands. She had lost all sense of time; it was hard to interpret how much time had passed when you were stuck in the sewers with a bruised and battered face, broken ribs, an injured foot and having just survived a deathly fall from one of the tallest buildings in New York City. She had taken (more than she liked to admit) a few wrong turns, wending her way even deeper into the complex tunnel of sewers and ending up walking in circles several times. Navigating to the turtles' lair was harder than she thought. Before, she usually had someone bring her there (mostly Raph) and, from a faraway manhole, the current task seemed to loom over her; an impossible and uphill mission, especially with her head throbbing and her vision blurring with every step.

Blood was starting to leak out from her wound, dying the sewer waters red. She stared at her make-shift bandage and felt it slowly. It was already completely drenched with blood. Ren ripped out the other sleeve, but she felt her strength seeping away. She couldn't rest… She had to keep going… But even as those thoughts echoed in her head, her steps started faltering and her vision clouded.

Ren's body caved from her injuries as she collapsed in the sewers, blood steadily oozing out of her wound now, dousing a large patch of the waters crimson. Her last thoughts reverberated dimly around her head, wondering whether the turtles would find her, whether Raph would find her, before the world turned black and she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

"I'm telling you! I saw her, well, I think I saw her. But that's not the point! She was falling from a tall building…" Raph rambled on, attempting (and failing spectacularly), once again, to relate the vision of Ren's death to his brothers. However, the three other turtles had dismissed it as a sign of Raph worrying too much, pointing out that if a body were to be thrown down more than a 50 feet building, people were bound to notice and call the police. Thus, since there was no news reporting of a death of a teenager after plunging down from a skyscraper, none of his brothers, took on his stories too seriously.

"Come of it, Raph! You're thinking too much!" Don chided as he raised his head from a stack of notes he was reading.

"He can't help it, Donnie, he's in love," Mikey teased, stressing uncharacteristically much on the last word. Raph, his temper rising, ignored the unusually accurate jibe from Mikey and promptly lunged himself on the latter, venting his frustration and sense of helplessness against his unsuspecting brother. They continued wrestling with each other, with Leo and Don attempting to separate them, until Master Splinter, stern and strict as ever, came to survey the commotion.

"Enough! What is all this noise?" He shouted, though his calm demeanor did not break,

"Raph's been saying he dreamt ("I did not dream-" Raph protested, though he was quickly silenced by a stern glare from Master Splinter,) of Ren falling off a building last night, and insists that it's true. But there hasn't been any news of any deaths, and such a big fiasco would be on the news immediately," Leo pointed out, having been more serious and considerably less dismissive of Raph's account of events. The leader of the turtles was rather well aware of the special bond Raph and Ren held- even more reinforced by the paired chain bracelets they wore. It had been obvious that Raph had feelings for Ren from the very start (except, maybe, to Ren herself), but Leo wasn't quite aware of just how much Ren reciprocated his brother's feelings. She seemed trustworthy enough, as well as honest and brave, from what he observed, but Leo had also worried that she might hurt Raph, albeit unintentionally. Yet after a brief chat with her before they headed to the empty warehouse days ago (Cut short when Raph appeared and rather forcefully urged them to go downstairs to "prepare") and during the time they spent riding in their sports gear, Leo decided, Ren was definitely no harm nor threat. Yet know, Raph was fully convinced that something awful had befallen her...

"I didn't dream it!" Raph repeated, annoyed, "I saw it! Sort of," He added in a quieter tone. His brothers exchanged exasperated looks, but Master Splinter, on the other hand, looked thoughtful.

"Hm… That is certainly a curious vision to have, Raphael… Raphael?" Master Splinter repeated his son's name when the latter failed to reply. But Raph's face was blank, or more so, his eyes. He seemed to be in a trance of sorts, staring almost owlishly into the air.

"She's here." He whispered. Everyone stared for a second, before Raph shook his head for a while, then instantly turn and ran.

"Raph, where are you going?!" Leo demanded as the turtle in red sped away in the direction of the deeper sewer chambers, disappearing within seconds. Immediately, Leo took off after him and Don and Mikey followed his lead, leaving Master Splinter to shake his head and sigh at his son's reckless ways.

The sound of splashing footsteps echoed around the sewers as four turtles ran- three in pursuit of one. It continued for sometime before Leo put on an extra burst of speed and fell in step with Raph, who was being a lot faster than normal- spurred on by the vision he saw.

"Raph, where are you going?!" Leo demanded in between breaths.

"Ren. I saw her." Raph's voice came out in a hoarse whisper. For the first time, he turned to look at Leo, and as their eyes met- Leo's bemused ones with Raph's; worried and urgent, Leo somehow knew that his words were true, that Ren was in danger.

"Well? What are we waiting for then?" Leo bellowed at Mikey and Don, who were starting to lag behind, and gritted his teeth. "RUN!"

She looked even worse from when he had seen her in his vision. For one thing, she was lying, her head resting on her right hand, left hand clutching a metal pole, face first in water dyed the color of crimson. Blood. His stomach gave a sickening lurch. Squatting down, Raph gently flipped Ren's body over- and almost wished he had not as he received a close full view of her injuries. Her face was bruised and slightly bloody, and, as Raph and Leo lifted her up, the former moved her to a piggyback position- and immediately had part of his shell coated with blood, soon realising that the black bandage (which was actually one of her sleeves) around her midriff was not soaked with water but blood. He fought the urge to throw up (Mikey, however, turned a delicate shade of puce, spun around, and continued a series of retching sounds punctuated frequently by gruesome splattering noises) and, instead, carried her in his arms. They had raced back to the lair as quickly as possible, though he was careful not to worsen her injuries and tried his best to tone down the jerky movements of running.

In their frenzied pace, the lair soon came into sight and the turtles burst in, wheezing and panting from exertion.

"My sons! What-"

"Sorry Master Splinter, not now. April, I need your help!" Don interrupted Master Splinter, throwing him an apologetic look before beckoning to the redhead seated with Casey and carefully carrying Ren from Raph, laying her out on the sofa. They set to work.

"Leo and Raph, bring me bandages! Lots' of it!" It soon became apparent that April was in full commando mode. The two turtles followed her command and ran to retrieve the bandages. "Mikey, bring me the first aid kit in Donnie's room!" Mikey heeded her words and sped towards the designated location. "Casey-" April paused.

"Yea?" Casey asked, an almost covetous look on his face.

"Er, stay by my side!" Leo, Raph and Mikey soon hurried back with the needed supplies and dumped them on the table, which was moved near to the sofa. Don and April set into action, bandaging her injuries and wounds as best as possible, keeping their wincing to the minimum as they surveyed how bad a state Ren was in. Leo, Raph, Mikey, Master Splinter and Casey looked on apprehensively from around the sofa, though they made sure to distance themselves slightly from the furiously working duo

"This one seems the most serious- Ugh!"April caught sight of Ren's most serious wound, which, even with a bandage on, still drew a look of mingled revulsion and fear from the redhead. She, too, turned a pale green, but resolutely continued working (here, Mikey had the grace to look ashamed) along with Don. Slowly, April removed the badly bloodied makeshift bandage with a look of disgust, and the seven of them stared in some form of transfixed horror at the chasmal wound in her abdomen. Or two gaping wounds, to be exact.

Then it all fell into place, all of a sudden.

Two gaping wounds.

A gauntlet.

A Japanese man.

The Shredder.

Raph felt his blood run cold at the realization. Oroku Saki, The Shredder, was Ren's adopted father and master. He had known about her adopted guardian being of Japanese descent with a palatial home, and it took this for him to figure out it was The Shredder? How many rich, Japanese man lived in New York City?! Feeling too sick with nerves and guilt, as well as his own sheer stupidity, Raph left the scene silently and retreated into his room, hugging his knees close to himself and laying his head on them, radiating a rather depressing aura. He heard footsteps.

"Raph? You okay?" It was Leo. Raph sighed.

"Worried." There was a pause.

"It-" Leo hesitated. He wanted to say that it was okay, that everything was alright, that Ren would be fine, but the words died in his throat. Would she really, with such serious injuries?

"You like her, don't you?" He changed the subject. It sounded more like a statement than a question.

Another pause. "Yea," Raph grunted dispiritedly, finding no reason to deny it anymore. More silence.

"I should have known! She… She said some stuff bout her father, and I should have known it was The Shredder! I should have stopped her or something, I should have-" Raph's voice broke and his sudden outburst ended limply as he blinked back tears.

"She obviously wanted to hide it. It isn't your fault, Raph. She gave us snippets of information about her father too. All of us dismissed it." Leo comforted. Raph still looked miserable. A tear rolled down his cheek. Even more silen-

"Guys! Come quick!" Don's voice sounded frantic. In a flash, Raph was up on his feet, any previous traces of crying vanishing mysteriously, neck to neck with Leo as they ran and somersaulted down to meet everyone. Mikey, Master Splinter and Casey were standing around Don, April and Ren.

"I…I-" Don gulped. April cut in, seeing his deeply unsettled state.

"She won't make it."

He had never believed that silence could be this loud.

Time seemed to stop. Sound ceased to exist. Raph stared disbelievingly at his scientific brother. It wasn't possible. Ren couldn't leave them. He was joking. He had to be. They haven't tried every possible way of healing her. They were lying. Ren couldn't- just couldn't die.

"I think we s-should say some words to her before-" Don broke off, and the unsaid words "before she dies" hung uneasily in the air. April, once again, stepped in. Gesturing to Casey, both of them knelt down beside the sofa, where Ren lay. Despite the bruises and cuts, Ren's face had taken on the smooth appearance of blissful unconsciousness. She could have been sleeping.

"Ren… I never thought we'd have another human with us. It didn't matter that you were a half-mutant, it never mattered what you were. You were one of us, part of out family. Thank you." April whispered, though loud enough for everyone to hear. Casey, who had never been good with words, opened his mouth, but seemed to think better of it and shut it again, nodding vigorously to show his assent before ending, too, with a heartfelt "Thanks" in his thick Brooklyn accent. They moved out of the way for Master Splinter.

"My child, you were a daughter I never had. You were an outcast, like me and my sons, and yet, despite being raised in different conditions set apart from us, you still retained great traits of honor and bravery, great characteristics of a ninja. I was always happiest and deeply enjoyed time I spent with my sons, Casey and April, my family. I never thought it was possible, but with you around, the time I spent with all of you became even more enjoyable. Even if you do leave us physically, I believe, you will still stay with us spiritually. You will always be part of us, Ren." Master Splinter said in a heavy voice, turning away sadly as his sons' turn came. Raising his head, he realised Raph had not joined his brothers. He merely stood there, seemingly uncomprehending and silent.

"Ren, you were like another older sister," Mikey started. "A cool, strong and butt-kicking older sister!" He added brightly. Then he sobered down. "I… You didn't laugh at me when I didn't know things, didn't mock me when I'm slow. Which was"- Mikey raised his head and did some calculations-" A lot of times. You just passed all of this off and told me to keep at it and work hard. You… Thanks. For- for everything." Mikey ended uncertainly.

"Ren, you never laughed at me or called me boring when you talked to be about my science experiments and inventions, even when you didn't understand what I was saying. You were just truly curious to know what I was doing, and that proved to be a great deal of motivation many times. Thank you." Don croaked, guilty about his inability to save the orange-haired teenager.

"Ren, you are our sister. We love you, no matter who or what you are. You'll always be with us," Leo said simply, and all three closed their eyes- a moment of silence to honor Ren before standing up. Only Raph was left.

Raph walked numbly towards Ren, not knowing what he was doing nor what he was going to say. He stood beside her unmoving for a while until Leo eased him into a kneeling-down position, before leading everyone away- to give the duo some privacy. Raph was barely aware of them leaving, though his mind vaguely registered that he could talk to Ren with no restrictions now.

"Remember the first time we met? You kicked my butt and stole my sais that day," Raph's eyes seemed to soften. He was saying whatever came into his mind first. "Then on the second day, I hunted you down again and we battled one more time. You actually won, come to think of it, but you got bored with winning and we kinda settled on a compromise. We sat down and talked. I learnt a lot bout you that day. Then after that, it just seemed… normal to be with you, talking to you, laughing and chatting with you without a care in the world. Those days… I really treasure them. We were so alike, headstrong, stubborn, rash, impulsive, sai-lover…" Raph trailed off for a bit, realising what he said were not all quite ideal traits, with the exception of, maybe, the last one. "Oh yea, and you were kinder to Don and Mikey."

"I like you." The words were out before he knew it, and all of his feelings- of guilt, sadness, helplessness seemed to pour out. "I'm sorry, sorry I never admitted all this to you when I had the chance, sorry I never realised… even though it was so obvious that your adopted dad was a dangerous bucket head psychopath! I'm sorry, sorry I never tried to stop this, sorry it took all this"- he waved his hands around in a slight sweeping motion- "For me to realise I really like you. A lot." He stared down now as something seemed to hitch itself in his throat, unable to speak anymore nor continue looking at Ren. His words of parting seemed to have made her death definite- irreversible, true, real.

"Took you long enough, Raph."

Raph looked up and stared.

Ren's eyes flickered open and she grinned, showing off her pointed teeth again. Her cheek muscles ached a little- both because of the punches she received and due to having not smiled for a considerable amount of time. Raph's eyes widened and he gulped.

"I… You… Aren't you… Why… Donnie said you were dead!" Raph blustered, highly disconcerted by Ren's apparent "Back from the dead" act.

"I think he said won't make it or something. Couldn't hear too well, just a few words here and there before I woke," Ren answered, frowning.

"When did you wake then?"

"Around after when Leo finished. I heard a few words and some murmurs from them. Left some sort of warm feeling in me, even though I can't listen to everything." She was now fighting to keep a straight face.

She had heard every single word he said.

But she was alive.

Suddenly, Ren made some sort of movement- Raph thought to check how bad her injuries were again and made to stop her, but Ren, instead, leaned forward to him. Their faces were inches away from each other again.

"I kinda like you too," And she kissed him. Raph felt his eyelids close for some reason. "Gut feeling" again, he supposed. Suddenly, Ren broke away from him and lay herself heavily on the sofa, wincing in pain as she did. Footsteps told Raph that she had made it in time as almost a second later, Leo, Mikey, Don, Master Splinter, April and Casey appeared in the room, having heard the unusually familiar voice of the companion they thought dead, and Raph felt great relief. This time; it would be even harder to stop Mikey, Don, Leo and Casey's teasing. Especially Mikey's.

As everyone crowded around her, surprised but happy and chattering animatedly, Ren suddenly remembered The Shredder, and his ominous grudge towards the turtles and Master Splinter.

"I just remembered-" She winced again, though the pain had dulled slightly. "What is your relationship with Oroku Saki, The Shredder? He seemed so intent on killing-" She stopped when the air seemed to take a darker turn.

"We go a long way back with bucket head," Raph started, and within minutes, Splinter's backstory was shared. Having only learnt the backstory of the turtles', Master Splinter's past was a surprise to Ren and she listened intently to the story of how the seeds of enmity bloomed between the two parties. At the end of the story, Ren was silent for a while.

"The Shredder thinks I'm dead. He won't be expecting it for me to bring the fight to him," Ren snarled viciously, shattering the silence. "He killed my parents! Killed my parents... tried to blame their deaths on you... went to- went as far as to use the antidote to my mutation as a prize if I kill all of you..." Her hatred was rendering her almost incapable of speech, but she forced the bits of information out either way. Though for the turtles, Master Splinter, April and Casey, it was suddenly a lot to take in.

"Excuse me? He tried to get you to kill us by offering you a antidote to turn you back to human as a reward? You didn't take up that offer, d-did you?" Mikey squeaked. "Ow!" He whined as Raph answered with a slap to the youngest brother's head.

"'Course not! Though," A thoughtful look crossed Ren's face. "I did think, wonder a bit, I mean, about how it would be if I did follow his orders and turn back to normal with the antidote. But then I realised, I already have everything I wanted now- a family. There's no need to turn back to a normal human, and I couldn't have been any happier elsewhere," Ren smiled softly, a sharp change from her venomous display of hatred towards The Shredder before. Raph felt relieved, though he hid it behind an impassive mask.

"But either way," Her demeanor hardened. "I'm still going to avenge my parents. No matter what."

"You cannot do so now! You have injuries to tend to! Act impatiently and it will be the end of you! You have to wait for your injuries to subside and be sensible!" Master Splinter cut in sharply, though his worry for Ren was evident in his eyes. Ren hesitated, evidently having planned to storm the Foot Headquarters as soon as possible. She sighed and took a deep breath.

"One month," Ren declared as she looked into Master Splinter's eyes determinedly. "One month, I will train and heal, and then I will kill him."

"One month? It's not possible for your injur-" Don remonstrated with a look of horror, but Master Splinter waved him off and voiced his answer.

"One month." He agreed. "One month, and all of us will bring The Shredder down. Together."