Quick Author's Note: All Italics are thoughts, in this case, running through the the turtles, Splinter, and Kaylee's heads.
Kaylee woke first the next morning to nearly complete darkness. To say she was surprised to be surrounded by mutant turtles would be an understatement; however, she was not upset to find them there. If everything she saw the day before was a sneak preview on what was to come, she would want them there. She looked down the line of turtles as Raph, Mikey, and Don continued to snore. A smile could not help but appear on her face.
"Hey." Kaylee jumped as a voice spoke behind her. "It's only me." Leo whispered.
Kaylee breathed out, her minor fear disappearing. She flipped over to look at the blue masked turtle. Her face was a couple of inches from his chest and his arms still wrapped around her as they did the night before. She kept her arms wrapped around her stomach and looked up at his face. They spoke in quiet tones.
"How are you doing?" He asked the teenage female.
"Okay." The girl replied and then she questioned her surroundings. "What are you guys doing in here anyway?"
"It was Mikey's idea. You looked like you could use some company." Leo smiled and then sighed. "Splinter told us what happened."
"He did?" Her hands clenched her sides. Kaylee was more than grateful for the dark.
"Yeah. You know you can say no. Splinter may be right but it is your decision."
"I know, but I don't even remember ever seeing what I saw yesterday. What if I am missing a lot more than just meeting the Shredder once? What if these memories can tell where I'm from or where I should go? It hurts but..." Kaylee angled her head down. "I have to know."
"Okay. Then you can count on the fact that we'll be here." Leo said, his arm tightening around her. As Leo finished speaking, the bedroom door opened to reveal Splinter.
"Good morning. Are all of you ready for training?" Splinter spoke, a smile plastered on his face. The other turtles stirred.
"Five more minutes, Sensei." Mikey begged.
"I have already let you all sleep in."
"Can we have breakfast first?" Mike tried once more.
"You may eat after training. I will see you all in the dojo in five minutes." Splinter spoke, as he walked in the direction of the dojo.
Kaylee and Leo were up in seconds, but Raph, Mikey, and Don just groaned. Kaylee just decided to readjust her hair and leave the outfit as it was. Leo decided that his brothers were taking too long as he yanked the blanket off of each of them which caused the teenage girl to laugh under her breath.
"Not cool, Fearless." Raph said, as he sat up and glared at his older brother.
"Come on, Leo. Really?" Don said, as he leaned forward on his elbows. Mikey just sat up, groaning.
"Really." Leo said, walking out of the room and towards the dojo.
"Early bird gets the worm." Kaylee said, as she followed Leo.
"We're not birds! We're turtles!" Mikey shouted after her and she heard a resounding THWACK, no doubt coming from the red banded turtle's hand hitting his younger sibling's head.
After much groaning and dragging of feet, all of the turtles and the girl were filed into the dojo. The session began as it had the day before with basic katas which lead into a sparring session. Leo had taken down Raph, Don had taken down Mikey, and Leo had taken down Don, so Kaylee was facing off with Leo.
"Don't go easy on me now." Kaylee poked, removing her flannel. She may have been afraid and seemed weak in the darkness of her room but that did not mean she could not be strong and brave when it came down to it. She was more than prepared to prove it.
"Wouldn't dream of it." Leo replied, smirking.
They fought each other without giving an inch of space between each attack. Their moves were fluid. Though Leo was trained, Kaylee had picked up one thing from the day before and that was to not get too cocky. They were equal when it came down to the fighting as it had been with Raph and Casey; however, she pinned Leo down. But this time, in order to ensure victory, she set her elbows deep in the joints of his arms, wrapped her hands around his wrists and put the whole of her weight on the blue masked turtles stomach. Raph flipped her yesterday and she was not allowing a repeat. Splinter smiled and called the fight finished. At least I know she learned to hold her ground. Splinter thought.
To finish training, there was a meditation session, something Kaylee really did not want to deal with. They sat in a circle, the turtles almost as anxious as the girl, and Splinter recited the same instructions that he had the night before about releasing the spirit. All of them had entered the metaphysical plane, but just, as it had gone the day before, Kaylee's memories took hold. This time more clear. Shredder's face was not as disembodied as it appeared. The background was that of her old home. The Foot clan symbol became a photograph on a wall. The blood was still everywhere but this time it fell in gorey scenes of people losing their lives to the Shredder, of thousands of tubes being attached to arms so they could draw the sweet life force of the person who held it. The dank place picked up a noxious odor but still remained dark, as though not yet ready to be revealed. The memories spun rapidly more so than before. Her eyes snapped open and she pushed back from the circle. Shredder had been in her life for longer than she could have ever imagined and she was not aware. Her breathing grew rapid but she calmed herself before the turtles could unearth themselves from their minds. The dizziness from the spinning images lingered.
Each turtle woke one by one and turned to look at Kaylee. Their journeys to that mental plane were far different from what the girl experienced. Soon all of them were awake, including Splinter.
"Kaylee, you okay?" Mikey asked. The five that surrounded her all gave her concerned looks. She smirked and nodded.
"Did you see anything new?" Don asked.
"It was all more clear like before it was mist and now it's images." She raised her posture to be perfect as she sat on her knees. "He was there. Why I don't remember him? Well, that I cannot say but he was there in my house. Question is… why now? He could have grabbed me years ago, so what does he want with me now?"
"Could it be that you saw too much?" Raph guessed.
"No, because then I would have to remember something and, even so, I haven't seen him in years."
"Perhaps we will find out more when we try again on some other occasion." Splinter spoke. Though she hated it something, made her say what she did not wish to.
"Please sensei. Let me try once more. One more time for today and then we can stop. Please." She asked. Why am I doing this? I can do it alone. She thought.
"Alright but this time we will lend you our spirits. Perhaps this will assist you."
"Thank you, Sensei." Kaylee crawled back over to the circle. As the words were recited once more, the turtles, the girl and their Sensei were all found in the same plane and, just as the girl was being pulled away once more, the rest of the group latched unto her so they were pulled with her. This time the scene was vivid, the one of her home and how it once was. They all looked around and saw what she had seen; there was no speaking. The Foot clan symbol hung on the wall and all of a sudden the front door was flung inwards as the Shredder adorned in his armor walked through it with a group of Foot ninja. Even though it was a memory, the turtles and Splinter instinctively got closer together. in battle position. Suddenly, a man and woman walked into the room to talk with the Shredder.
"Mom, Dad." The teenage girl whispered. It took everything Kaylee had not to cry at the sight of them.
"She is right over there, sir. She is ready for the next round of experiments." spoke the memory of Damien, Kaylee's "father". The group that was not a part of the memory turned to look at a playpen with a four year old little girl bouncing inside of it. The child Kaylee smiled, completely clueless to what was going on. The turtles and Splinter kept looking between the teen version and the child version with a sense of grief.
"She has healed very well since last time." Lucy spoke. Last time?
"Excellent." The Shredder said, as he walked towards Lucy. "Tell me. Do you two recall what happened to her a few years ago when she was taken and left on your doorstep?"
"Yes, master." The two responded.
"We never did find out who did it, but some new evidence has been uncovered." The Shredder said, as he grew progressively closer to Lucy. "We, finally, discovered who did it." Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, Shredder's gauntlet was through the young woman's stomach. Lucy gasped, as did the teenage girl, and Damien looked away as a few tears streamed down his face. "It never occurred to any of us that you would take the child, after all it was a complete shock when she landed at your feet once more; however, lucky for us we were looking at where she was taken from once more and, lo and behold, there was your DNA and a closer look at the surveillance caught your movement in the corner. After all, your beautiful blue tips on your hair are quite noticeable." Lucy had tears streaming down her face as the little girl screeched at the metal man. "You were so close but yet so far from being free." With that said, Shredder slowly pulled his gauntlet up her body until it hit her heart at which point he lifted her with his blades and threw her against the wall and off his weapons. Just like that, Lucy was dead.
The Shredder turned to the Foot ninja in the door. "Take the girl. It is time for the next round of tests." The Foot ninja did as they were told and grabbed the girl and held her still as she wept. "Take this as a warning, Damien. You are expendable at best. Do not disappoint me." Shredder threatened, in an alarmingly close way. He then quickly turned to the front door as he became more aware of his "experiment" as she continued to scream. "Wipe her memory. We can not have these emotions interfering with our results."
Stop. The scene stopped and the world began to spin even faster than before. Not a word had been said between the mind travelling group and now everything began to settle. What did "experiments" mean? What did they do to her memories? Who was Kaylee? The spinning got more and more uncontrollable as Kaylee slipped to the floor of her mind. The turtles and Sensei got closer, but just as they were about to comfort her, she looked up with a tear streaked face and they were automatically pushed out of the metaphysical world.
The dojo slowly faded back into their vision and they looked around confused. Kaylee then stood up out of the circle, her head hanging and ran out of the room.
"Kaylee, wait." Don said, but was held back by Splinter. They all heard the door to exit the lair open and close.
"My sons what you have just witnessed has completely changed Ms. Kaylee's perception of herself and life. This is a time where none of us can help her, at least not now." Splinter said, sadly.
"So what are we supposed to do?" Raph asked. as the other turtles sat downtrodden.
"Follow her from a distance and make sure that she does nothing that gets herself hurt." Splinter said.
"Yes Sensei." Leo said. "Let's go, guys." The turtles ran after the girl and Splinter was left alone in the dojo once more.
"Please provide her with the comfort that only you four ever could." Splinter said, as he entered into meditation to see if he could help the girl through a mental way.
THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH FOR STILL READING THIS, IF YOU ARE! Applying to college is eating up all of my time, so I am extremely sorry for the delays in posting. Feel free to review, comment, message me, etc. What type of "experiment" do you all think Kaylee is? Would love to hear from you and I hope this chapter was worth the wait. LOTS OF LOVE AND TURTLES HUGS! 3 3 3