Chapter 4: Insider Information

A/N: Hey, everyone, here's the next chapter in this little tale. I'm having a blast writing it though I must admit it's hard to mix lighthearted fun with the seriousness of my Truth and Lies universe. However, I'm still going to continue this because I love this story and I'm thankful that others like it, too. So thanks to all of those who have read and reviewed thus far because your kind words are the reason I'm continuing this story. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well.

Disclaimer: TMNT and all related characters belong to Nickelodeon. I only own Madison and the plot.

Leo woke up in a very bad mood. He'd missed a lot of sleep because he kept tossing and turning over the reviews he'd gotten. He just couldn't get over the whole Mary Sue thing, and he was anxious to get together with Madison to learn about what it was all about and why some people felt that way about Athena. With a yawn, Leo got out of bed and made his way to the dojo. He was usually the first one up, and he wanted the chance to try and shake off his sleepiness so Splinter wouldn't yell at him. He worked on some katas until his brothers woke up and then returned to his place beside them.

"Suck up," Raph muttered.

Leo glared at him but said nothing. Raph was definitely moodier than he used to be, and Leo had a feeling it had to do with April's disappearance. They had all changed since then.

Splinter came out of his room and had his sons go through warm ups. Then he led them through some other katas before having them spar together. He paired Mikey with Leo and Raph with Donnie.

"Dude, you look tired," Mikey noted as he studied Leo's face.

"Yeah, I had a rough night," answered Leo.

"Bad dreams?"

Leo nodded. "Yep. I've been having them a lot lately."

Mikey said no more as Splinter gave the command to begin. Mikey lunged at his brother, but Leo dodged out of the way and came back with his own attack. Mikey flipped out of the way and stuck his tongue out at his brother.

"Too slow, dude!" he gloated.

Leo gritted his teeth and tried another attack, but Mikey flipped away from that one, too. He snuck up behind his blue banded brother and managed to attack him from behind. Leo's reaction time was slow, and before he could do anything, Mikey had swept his feet out from under him and pinned him with a nunchaku to his throat.

"I win this round, bro," he said.

"Yame!" Splinter called.

Mikey helped Leo up and clapped him on the shoulder. "Don't sweat it, dude. You'll beat me next time."

Leo said nothing and took his place beside Donnie to watch Raph and Mikey square off.

"I can't believe you lost," Don whispered to his brother.

"I had a bad night," Leo said. "You don't look any better though."

"I was up trying to search for April," Don said. "I just feel like there's something I'm missing."

"We've done all we could," Leo told him. "I don't think April's coming back, Donnie."

"No, Leo, she is coming back," Don insisted. "And even if she's not, we can rescue her. April's always been determined. I doubt she's the type to stay down long. Maybe she escaped and is just biding her time until she can get here."

Leo wanted to say, "Or maybe she's dead and can't get back here." But he knew Don wouldn't listen to him if he said that, so he kept his mouth shut and just shook his head.

Raph won the match, and Splinter congratulated him for it. He said a few more words before dismissing them. Leo got up, but then Splinter said, "Leonardo, I would like a word please."

Leo sighed again and followed his father into his chambers. Why was this always happening to him? Why hadn't Splinter called Donnie in, too? After all, Don looked just as bad as he did.

"Leonardo, I noticed you looked tired in your match today," Splinter noted. "Have you been sleeping well?"

"No, Sensei, I've been having nightmares," Leo answered.

"I see. And what are they about?"

"April," replied Leo. "I dream that I'm trying to get to her, but I can't reach her and something happens. I've been having this dream ever since she disappeared."

"And do you know why you may be having this dream?"

"Well, I blame myself for what happened to her," Leo told him. "If I just would have walked her home, none of this would have happened. She'd still be here with us."

Splinter put a paw on his son's shoulder. "And yet, it may still have happened otherwise," he said softy. "You must not blame yourself for what happened, Leonardo. It is not your fault that she was taken."

"I want to believe that, Sensei, but I don't," Leo replied. "I still feel like it's my fault."

"You must let go of these feelings, my son. If you do not, they will fester inside of you."

"How can I do that, Master Splinter?"

"Try to distract yourself with something else whenever these feelings arise. You can meditate, read a book, or even write to help rid yourself of these feelings."

Leo nodded. "I think I can do that. Thanks, Sensei."

"You are welcome, my son. Now please call Donatello in here as I need to speak with him as well."

"Hai, Sensei," Leo replied. A smile lit his features at the thought that Don was going to get lectured as well. He saw Don in his lab and told him of Splinter's request. Don nodded and left to do as his father asked. Leo thought about going in and seeing what Don was doing, but he figured it was private and was afraid Don would spot him. Shaking his head, Leo headed to his room. Remembering what Splinter told him, Leo got out his notebook and started work on chapter two of his story.

Chapter 2: Awkward Feelings

The next day, Athena got out of bed, wondering if what she experienced last night was a dream. She couldn't get the expression on Captain Ryan's face out of her head as he kissed her. Had he meant to do that? Why did he feel the need to kiss her? Did he like her, or was he just living out some fantasy he knew he'd never have? Deciding to answer these questions later, Athena got ready for the day and reported to the cafeteria for breakfast. She spotted Captain Ryan there and gave him a wave, but he just nodded at her. It made her feel bad, but then she realized that he had to pretend not to notice her so as not to cause undue suspicion.

Athena got her food and sat down at a table. No one joined her, and she was okay with that. She kept her eyes on Captain Ryan as he got his own food and sat down with some of his other crew members. Part of her wished he'd sit with her and talk with her. Why did he have to be her boss anyway? Why couldn't they just have a romance together?

She sighed and finished her food before reporting to the main part of the Dauntless. The other crew members came in and then Captain Ryan came in last. Athena set eyes on him, but he looked away from her and began barking out orders for Crankshaw and the others. The ship began to move as they made their way out of port and into space.

Suddenly there was a disturbance up ahead as—

POUND! POUND! POUND!

"Leo, you gotta help me!" Mikey yelled from the other side of Leo's door. "Raph's gonna kill me!"

With a sigh of frustration, Leo hid his notebook under the bed and unlocked his door. Mikey dashed inside, his blue eyes wide as he clutched something to his chest.

"What's going on, Mikey?" Leo asked in annoyance.

"I took one of Raph's WWE magazines and he's not happy about it," Mikey answered. "Can I stay in here for the next few years?"

Leo rolled his dark blue eyes. "And why did you steal one of Raph's WWE magazines?" he asked his hyperactive brother.

"Because it has an awesome poster of my British honey, Paige, of course," Mikey said as if Leo was dumb not to know of his fascination with her. "I want the poster so I can hang it in my room and look at her beautiful face before I go to sleep at night."

"Well, why didn't you just ask Raph if you could have the poster?"

"Dude, you don't just ask Raph stuff like that," Mikey said. "He'd just say no, and what's the fun in that? So I just took it."

Suddenly, they heard footsteps as Raph stopped outside Leo's door. "Leo, is Mikey in there with you?" he demanded.

Mikey shot a pleading look at his brother and mouthed, "Please say no. Please say no."

"Uh, no, I haven't seen him," Leo lied.

"Well, if you do, make sure you bring him my way," Raph said. "I have a bone to pick with the little twerp." Grumbling, the red-clad Turtle stomped down the hallway.

Mikey breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks, bro. I owe ya one."

"Yes, you do," Leo said sternly. "You better give that magazine back to Raph."

"I will," Mikey promised. He opened the magazine up until he came to the poster of Paige. Then, being very careful, he ripped the poster out and set it down. "There. Now I can give it back to him."

"I don't think he's going to be happy when he finds out the poster's not in there," Leo pointed out.

"He'll get over it," Mikey said. Then his eyes darted around the room until he spotted Leo's mattress. "Dude, why is your mattress all crooked?"

"It's not crooked," Leo insisted.

"Yeah, it is," Mikey answered. He darted over to the mattress and pulled out Leo's notebook. "Ah, that's why it's crooked."

"Mikey, give that back!" Leo yelled.

"Dude, what have you got in here?"

"None of your business. Just give it here."

Mikey didn't listen and opened it up. "Wait, you write Space Heroes fan fiction?"

"It's just something Madison got me into," Leo explained. "Now can I please have my notebook back?"

"Why? Are you ashamed of your talent?"

Leo didn't want to admit it, but then he nodded his head.

Mikey smiled. "Dude, there's nothin' to be ashamed of. I write fan fiction, too."

"You do?"

"Yeah, I write WWE fan fiction. You wanna see?"

"Sure," Leo answered. He got out his computer and booted it up then opened the Internet and went to the website. "Is this the site you use?"

"Yep, that's the one," Mikey replied. He went to the Search page and typed in his own name which was MikeyLuvsPaige and directed Leo to his own work.

"Wow! I never knew you did this. When did you start doing this?"

"I just was fooling around one day and decided to see if there were any stories about Paige," Mikey replied. "So I thought it would be cool for me to do this. You can read some if you want."

"Maybe later," Leo decided. Then his eyes lit up. "Wait a minute! Mikey, if you write fan fiction, you can help me, too."

"Why can't Madison help you?" Mikey asked him.

"She could, but she's very busy with school. But since you write it as well, maybe you could help me with some things since I'm new at it."

"Okay what do you need help with?"

"Well, some reviewers said that my OC Athena is a Mary Sue. Do you know what that means?"

Mikey laughed. "Ah, yes, I'm very familiar with the Mary Sue." He grinned.

"So, what is a Mary Sue?"

"A Mary Sue is a perfect character who has no flaws. Does Athena have flaws?"

"Well, I haven't really fleshed her out yet, but she will."

"Okay well maybe you have to establish that first."

"Does this mean I have to start over from scratch again?"

"No, you've already started the story. Just try and make her have flaws. But I think the reason people may think she's a Mary Sue is because of her name."

"But Athena's a goddess in mythology," Leo protested. "How can I change her name now?"

"You don't have to, but I'm just guessing that's why people think she's a Mary Sue," Mikey told him.

"Oh, okay," Leo said.

"I'll always be willing to help you out, bro," Mikey said. "Maybe I can even be your beta reader."

"What's a beta reader?" Leo asked him.

"That's someone who checks over your work for mistakes," Mikey explained.

"Well, I don't have any big mistakes, but if you want to check it over after I've typed it, that would be fine. I just don't want any of the others to know what's going on. I know Raph would never let me live it down if he found out I was doing this."

"Your secret's safe with me, bro," Mikey promised. "Ninja honor and all of that."

"Thanks, Mikey," Leo said. "Yours is safe with me, too. Now go give Raph his magazine back before he explodes."

"You got it," Mikey said. He saluted and left Leo's room, giving him a small wink before he was gone.

Leo sighed. He was glad Mikey at least knew the secret, but he just hoped Mikey would be able to keep his mouth shut and not tell the others about it. He put his notebook away and decided to read some of Mikey's fan fiction to see how good his brother was. He clicked on the first story and sat back, getting lost in his brother's words. He was happy that he and his brother had something in common and that they could now bond over their love of writing.

A/N: And that's the end of yet another chapter. So now Mikey knows Leo's secret, but can he keep his mouth shut and not tell the others? And what will Madison think about Mikey helping Leo with his story? Stay tuned for the next chapter. Feel free to leave a review and have a shelltastic day! And are you guys excited that new TMNT episodes start on March eighth? I know I am.