Hello everyone! I'm SO PROUD of this chapter and how I got it uploaded relatively quicker than I've usually been, plus, I think it's a very good chapter based on the content as well! I've been planning out the couple final chapters of the story and they seem to be going pretty good...;)

NEWS: For any of you who don't know, I've published the playlist for this story! Get the details in the past couple of chapters or PM me! In other news, WHO ELSE IS EXCITED FOR THE NEXT EPISODE OF TMNT?! It's airing here tomorrow in the US, but I'm going to an amusement park so I'm going to miss it when it's on TV, and probably watch a livestream on the car ride home at like 1:00 at night! So excited for all the new Apritello :D

!VERY IMPORTANT MUST READ!: So as you all probably know, we are getting very close to 100 reviews for this story which makes me feel so AMAZING! Thank you to all that ever left a comment on this story, and especially those who continue to comment, it means so much. Since I love you all so much, THE 100TH REVIEWER OF THIS STORY GETS A FREE APRITELLO ONESHOT OF THEIR CHOICE! If you win, I'll message you and give you all the details! Yay!

Without further ado, here's the next chapter of The Monster!

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"Going cuckoo and cooky as Kool Kieth..."

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Chapter 14: Blood Is Just Red Paint

"Why are we going down this route?" April O'Neil asked as her noble steed turned away from the sewer passage that normally led them to their lair. Something felt unusual about the atmosphere and the girl almost regretted her decision of leaving.

"I smell something rotting down our tunnel. At first it smelled like blood, which I could tolerate, but then I smelled what seemed like other living things. Those, my dear, I can't tolerate very long without losing my cool."

"You tolerate me".

"Because I love you." Monstertello snapped back.

"Ah yes, that's why." The girl nodded.

If there was one thing April hated the most about this entire situation it was how the beast she was living with could quickly go from Prince Charming to a frightening killer in the blink of an eye. Just this morning he had admitted his love for her, and she had somewhat accepted it, but now they were both giving each other some odd form of the cold shoulder. She knew she couldn't push him very far or she may get hurt, but April wanted to push every single one of his buttons so that he could feel a splintering of the pain he had caused for her. He already had suffered much, he knew he was wrong, but April was starting to worry that Don would be stuck like this forever. Where were the rest of the guys? What were they doing? She knew better than bringing up his past, the last time that happened she was barely clinging onto air let alone life.

"Are you hungry? I haven't seen you eat much at all." April asked.

"I'm fine. I don't need to eat much." He responded with a stone cold demeanor.

The girl sighed deeply and straightened up so that she wasn't laying lazily across Monstertello's back where she was claimed a passenger. She was tired of him acting like this and decided to do something about it. There was no other way to try and heal him now.

"You seem miserable! How is your captive supposed to tolerate you if you so grumpy all the time?!"

"Your not a captive." The creature tensed up. "We can both clearly recall when you agreed to stay here with me and you will continue to do so."

"What happened to the sweet, smart, and loyal guy I used to know?! What happened to the one who saved me after I fell of a helicopter? Where is the boy who rescued me countless times from Karai and the almighty Kraang Prime?! Where is the boy who worked tirelessly at trying to impress everyone by creating retro-mutagens and new gadgets to aid friends and family in their times of need? What the shell happened to Donatello!" April screamed, her voice echoing and bouncing all around.

"He died." The beast replied simply.

Unable to take what was happening anymore, April O'Neil leaped off the back of the monster and faced him, an angry but damaged look in her tearing blue eyes. Don stepped back a little, a disgusted look on his face and an equally infuriated look in his blood red orbs. His growl didn't push the auburn haired girl back though, she had a point to prove. With her fists clenched, April had to think of appropriate words to describe what she was feeling.

"I want Donnie back! I don't like you like this, all you've done is hurt me and a pretty little dress can't hide what you've done or the scars you've given me!"

"I've given you so much!" He screamed back.

"PAIN!" April hollered. "So much pain and heartbreak and indescribable worry! I just can't take it anymore, my Aunt Leslie was right!"

"Your out of your mind!" Monstertello growled.

"No YOUR out of your mind!"

A mighty roar escaped the beast's lips as he stepped forward in order to intimidate the girl in front of him. She fell over with tears streaming down her face, realizing that anyone who truly loved her would never hurt her like this. It was quite clear now who he was and what she had to do in order to escape this nightmare. Standing up, her face wet, she looked the creature straight in the eyes, his pure red eyes, there was no kindness there.

"YOUR A MONSTER!" April O'Neil screamed, the turning point of her tantrum, the climax of her nightmare, and ran off down the tunnel.

Far from Monstertello, who was too shocked to even considering chasing.

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"I feel like we're getting nowhere with this, Leo." Raph sighed as he kicked an empty beer can that fell from the surface around with his feet.

"Not true, Raph. We found a place where April and Donnie obviously stayed temporarily." Leo corrected. "We even saw April's clothes."

"I kept them." Casey added from behind them.

"Eeew dude, why?" Mikey asked.

"Evidence." The boy responded bluntly, and didn't receive any further questions.

None of the boys considered the notion that the two they were searching for could possibly still be staying in the abandoned water tank, but none of them saw the new monster that was living there now either. They were lucky they had gotten out of there when they did, but little did they know that it would've done them a lot of good to stay as well. New bait would soon approach the creature that they dodged, and a savior would be a good thing to have within reach at the time. Alas, the team walked slowly and pondered their next moves.

"Sensei!" Michelangelo suddenly gasped, the other three stopping and turning to face him.

"What about him?" Raphael inquired.

"We need to visit him!" The littlest turtle cried as he threw his hands in the air.

"Mikey's right! We haven't seen Splinter in what seems like years, think of how worried he must be with all of his sons missing!" Leonardo said.

"I'm not one of his sons!" Casey cocked his head to the side.

"He meant Donnie, loser." Raph snorted. "He's only the one we've been looking for this entire time."

"Sorry man, kinda scatterbrained with Red in danger and everything."

The hotheaded turtle nodded in reassurance at his human friend and turned to Leo for further instructions, even if he didn't exactly enjoy following them.

"The lair can't be far away. When we arrive, we'll bring Master Splinter up to speed with everything we've found and done,

Madame Estelvoya and Abigail's antidote gift included. Then, if he has no further input, we'll come back here and look around since this is where Donnie apparently likes to dwell." Leonardo explained thoroughly.

"How will we know where this set of tunnels is if we leave?" Raph asked.

"We can use bread crumbs!" Mikey smiled. "Like in Hansel and Gretel! Then we can be lead to a big gingerbread house where mean witch/monster Donnie is keeping April locked up in his oven! After we hit him with the antidote and get April outta the oven, we go back to the lair and celebrate with some candy pizza and a dance party! Booyakasha!"

Silence.

"...well thanks for mapping that out Mikey..."

"Your welcome, Leo!" The littler brother said as he gave the thumbs-up sign.

"I see one flaw, Mikey." Casey announced. "We don't have any bread."

Silence.

"Any ideas, Leo?" Raph sighed, totally defeated.

"Okay, so I know it sounds a little disgusting and morbid and all that, but we can use some of the blood from April's clothes to make a line down the tunnels and then follow it back to this area." The leader suggested.

"We're in luck, there's still some relatively spreadable blood on these clothes!" Casey held up April's shirt triumphantly.

"Dude, we're tracking down a monster with blood trails, not buttering bread for toast." The red masked mutant rolled his eyes.

"It doesn't matter." Leo shook his head. "We just have to get going. The sooner we find the lair, the better."

The rest of the rescue team nodded and began to walk. Raphael lead the group from the front, Michelangelo and Casey in the middle, and Leonardo in the back so he could drag the bloody clothes behind him and mark the sewer floor with the red paint that slipped off of it. There was no sign of a monster or any kind from anywhere, and the boys began to grow suspicious of the stillness that filled up the air around them, but they continued to walk in utmost silence, wondering how Donnie could possibly squander all his scientific talents and go completely berserk. Eyes darting around in the darkness, each footstep the team took leaving a mark on their minds, they delved deeper and deeper in hopes of finding their safe haven.

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His legs had become immobilized by something he couldn't even fully understand.

It wasn't fear, little April couldn't ever touch him with his skin like leather and claws as sharp as razorblades. But maybe he was afraid he had truly lost her? Another option was sadness, he had just seen her run away from him doused in her own tears. Then there was surprise, he never saw this coming and probably never would. He became angered at himself for not putting April's feelings first. Last, but certainly not least, was realization.

Realization that no matter how hard he or April tried, a teenage girl could not ever fully adapt to living in a sewer with a monster on one giant mood swing.

All he wanted to do right now was feel her gentle arms around his slumped shoulders, hear her soothing words in his ear, savor her soft lips against his rough skin. A part of Monstertello also wanted to dig his claws into her body, do so many things that would scar and harm her young and beautiful mind, but Donatello had to fight against the chemicals warping his brain. Instead, to punish himself for wanting to hurt April, he dug his own claws into his own flesh. This was no form of self harm even if it appeared as so. Using the sticky blood that coated the daggers extending from his fingers, Don began to smear the paint all over his blank canvas of a sewer wall. Slowly he painted two words, a name.

"April O'Neil"

With this, he dropped his paintbrushes to the ground and started to walk after his escaped love. She had ran off hours ago and could probably be safe in the city with her Aunt Leslie or Mr. O'Neil by now, but a strong sense took over the beast and led him towards the place they would stay together. There was a disturbance in his home, in his lair, and he would take care of it, no matter the consequences.

A trail of bloody footprints stamped in his wake.

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"Run. Get away. He's poisonous. It doesn't matter where you go as long as it's far away from him."

April O'Neil darted through the twisted labyrinth the sewer tunnels wove, a stabbing pain in her chest, her breath had ran out awhile ago but that still hadn't stopped the redhead from getting as far away from Monstertello as she felt she possibly could. He had turned on her, and her conscience had finally convinced her that she couldn't stay with Don anymore.

"C-a...can..." The teenager collapsed on the ground. Hardened tears clung to her cheeks as she could see her chest rise and fall higher and lower than she'd ever seen it go before.

"Wha-?" April gasped as she examined her finger. Where she expected to be a large cut because of pain she had been feeling, was actually the ring that Donnie had given to her when he proposed to her asking for her to stay. A slight smile crossed her face as she sat up, and through her loud breathing she didn't notice anything else about her surroundings.

That was, until she was thrown against another wall, an arm covering her neck like Monstertello had done before.

"Pretty little ring..." A voice snarled before she had a chance to squeal.

April struggled against her newest kidnapper, kicking her feet in hopes she would find this man's groin and send him rearing back in pain. This plan seemed full-proof except for the fact that when she kicked, all she hit was shell. Her heart raced in panic, had Monstertello pursued her down the sewer tunnel? This voice didn't seem like his though. The voice that cut through her thoughts was a little more scratchy, a little more hoarse.

"I know you, April O'Neil...you've seen me in the lair many times. Not recently, but you have." The voice began. Whoever this strange and probably murderous man was leaned up to April, who was gasping and struggling wildly, and whispered in her ear.

"You hold those turtles back..."

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And I decided to end yet again with the voice of our little "mystery guest" which I'm sure some of you have figured out by now! Looks like April has gotten herself into quite the predicament there, eh? The next chapter will surely be a very intense battle scene between two certain beasts so I may put a warning in my authors notes at the top for some of my more sensitive viewers. It's just bloody so yeah, I like to look out for everyone :)

As for now, PLEASE DON'T FORGET TO REVIEW! Remember, the 100th reviewer gets a free Apritello oneshot of their choice! Love you all! ~PurpleKittyFangirl