|| ᴄʜᴇʀʀʏ ʙʟᴏꜱꜱᴏᴍꜱ ɪɴ ᴀ ᴅɪꜰꜰᴇʀᴇɴᴛ ᴅɪᴍᴇɴꜱɪᴏɴ || ᴘᴀʀᴛ ᴇɪɢʜᴛᴇᴇɴ ||
a/n: lol this somehow reached 2.3k hits on ao3, I will never know how. I'm so tired it's 4am and this is a very very lengthy chapter xo pls enjoy I'm gonna go crash now who even needs Grammarly anyway I AM the Grammarly
“You’re a princess?”
“I mean, technically? I don’t really like to talk about it much.”
“But how did Casey know?”
Y/n hesitates. “I…Don’t know. I don’t think I’ve told anyone besides you.” She admits softly, her eyes trained on her nails as they pick away at her cuticles.
It’s silent for a while, and she glances up nervously to check on Leo’s stunned figure. His lips are pursed, exhaling steadily with eyes of acceptance. “Huh.” He says after a while, leaning against the wall next to her.
He looks back up with a small smile. “And I’m the first one you told?”
She nods.
“Hey, lovebirds! We could really use some help over here!” Raph yells across the room at the two. She starts slightly, accidentally making eye contact with Leo before ducking her head, feeling a gentle heat on her cheeks.
“Coming!” She walks off, Leo following suit. He can’t stop the smile that’s stuck to his lips.
She told him first. He’s the first one to know more about her.
The thought makes him euphoric, helping y/n pick up scattered comic books on the floor, the pages drenched from her earlier actions. “So, how does it work where you’re from? Y’know, the whole princess thing?”
Y/n looks up in surprise, not expecting him to ask more about her background. She pauses, trying to explain it as best she can. “I’m the niece of the Northern Water Tribe’s chief. I’m just a princess in name, though. It wasn’t made official.”
“Why not?”
She stiffens, looking away from him. “Some stuff….happened. I mean, it’s not that important since I ended up going with Aang, Sokka, and Katara.” She brushes over it, though the slight tinge of sorrow in her voice only serves to pique his curiosity.
He hums. “In that case, do we have to refer to you by your title now, princess?” He jokes, but his teasing smile falters when she looks up at him with wide eyes and a beautiful flush on her cheeks, making part of him want to tease her more if only to see that same expression again.
“I-I mean, you don’t have to. It’s just a formality thing.” Her voice fades into an almost shy whisper, averting her gaze and focusing on arranging the wet comic books on the floor. His cheeks blossom with a soft pink matching hers, mirroring her actions. His hand brushes against hers, both flinching and drawing their hands to their chests as if they had been burnt.
“What’s going on here?”
She clears her throat, standing back up with a quick shake of her head. Raph watches them both with a playful smile, his hands crossed and ignoring Leo’s flustered glare. Neither responds to Raph, y/n focusing on bending all the water out of the pages and leaving them dry again.
Mikey whoops happily, scooping them up into his arms with a gleeful grin. “Thanks!!” He scurries back into his room with comic books in tow, ready to stash them away in fear of another incident like earlier happening.
“Anyway,” her attention is back on Raph, who regards them both with a skeptical gaze, “don’t you gotta go home for school tomorrow, Pipsqueak?”
We’re on nickname terms now?
This makes her grin, glad that she’s been acknowledged by him. The reminder makes her pause, looking around the more or less dry lair. “What about April and Casey?”
“I’ll walk her-”
“I’ll walk her back.”
Donnie interrupts Casey with a hostile glare, making the boy quirk a brow at the turtle’s odd behaviour. “Sure… See you tomorrow then, Red. Princess.” Casey shrugs, turning to head out the way he followed Raph.
“Oh, would you look at that! It seems that y/n doesn’t have anyone to walk her home. I gotta do…stuff, and so does Mikey.” Raph rubs the back of his neck with probably the worst acting y/n’s ever seen, though she does chuckle at the effort.
“We do?” Mikey shuts up when Raph glares at him, pouting at how mean his brother is. “I guess we do.”
“But April and I live together-”
“Actually, I have something to discuss with Master Splinter. You go on ahead first, y/n.” April grins mischievously, patting y/n’s shoulder with an encouraging nod.
“I’d be glad to accompany you.” Leo offers with a roll of his eyes at how obvious everyone is being, taking the hint. She nods with a warm smile, walking past the turnstiles with him.
“Shall we, princess?” He asks, holding his hand out to her with a charming grin. She’s about to take it, but a hot flash of pain rips through her head, the familiar line making her wince.
“Shall we, princess?” Jet holds out his hand to her with a teasing grin, undeterred by the hostile scowl sent his way by the very girl he’s called out to.
“Jet. Nice to see you again.” Her eyes are narrowed into a glare, hands clenching into fists. Just in case, though, she bends a stream of water out of the buckets beside her, steadying herself in case he attacked. After what happened, she couldn’t trust him. Not anymore.
“Calm down,” He chuckles, hands lifted up in surrender. “I’m here to talk.”
“Does that talk include trying to drown another innocent village?” She scoffs, the hairs on her neck bristling when he takes a step forward. “Don’t,” She warns, the water bubbling as it begins to heat up from the rapidly growing anger in her heart.
“I’m here to help. For real this time, I promise.”
“We both know what your ‘promises’ are worth.”
“Not this time. Please. Just hear me out. It’s about your parents.”
Her breath hitches in her chest, eyes widening before she swallows a bitter lump in her throat. “What do you mean?”
“I promise it’ll be worth your time. I don’t have the gang with me anymore; all I want to do is talk.” She eyes his outstretched hand with doubt, but her curiosity ultimately wins. She lets the water drop to her feet, splashing onto the dry floor without soaking her dress in the slightest.
“Fine. I’ll hear you out. But one wrong move, and you’ll be frozen for the next five years before you know it.”
She expects him to flinch. Instead, his lips curve into a playful grin, reminiscent of the day they met. Heat crept across her cheeks, tinging the tips of her ears with a rosy pink before looking away with a huff and crossed arms. Damn, those good looks of his.
He holds out his hand, waiting for her to take it. “It’s good to see you again, princess. I missed you.”
“You can leave now!” Raph calls out from a short distance, and she’s instantly brought back to the present. She looks up at Leo’s eyes filled with nothing but warmth and kindness for her. Her stomach turns, her hand about to brush his before she snatches it back. She swallows, unable to bring herself to look him in the eyes.
“Yeah, let’s go.” She mumbles, brushing past him in a hurry. He hesitates, eyes filled with mild hurt at the cold way she rejects his hand. He follows suit, missing the wince on April’s face as she watches them leave.
“Should I tell her that tomorrow’s Saturday?”
— — — —
Y/n runs across the rooftops, the cold breeze whistling past her ears soothing her somewhat. Her heart is heavy, but the sensation of practically flying across the rooftops is freeing.
She barely registers Leo following along, having slowed his usual pace for her. She appreciates the thought, her steps slowing so they walk side by side. His curious gaze unnerves her slightly, still unable to bring herself to meet his innocent eyes that hold so much worry, and so many questions.
“So, how’s school life going for you?”
“It’s going good, I suppose. I introduced the history of the avatar and the war to my classmates.”
“You what?”
“I know, April told me not to do it again. Not even about the frog talk too.” She replies grumpily, crossing her arms with a huff.
Leo’s bemused by her words, every single sentence of hers still catching him off guard. Just when he thought it couldn’t get any more baffling, she always managed to surprise him.
His gaze softens, watching her kick a stray pebble. She’s so endearing, he thinks with a chuckle.
“About earlier,” He sees her stiffen slightly, probably thinking about how he’d address her rejecting his hand. “What’s it like being a princess?”
“It was…” She pauses, looking out at the city. He stands beside her, waiting patiently for her reply. “Isolating.” She finally says after a few moments, lips pursed. The silence from Leo spurs her to continue, his reassuring presence encouraging her to speak more freely.
“When I was little, my parents left me with my uncle. He was the chief of our tribe, and it was one last favour he did for my parents before they left. That’s where I met Yue.” She recalls peeking out from behind her father’s legs with a timid smile, meeting her cousin for the first time.
“Yue and I were close growing up. We played dolls together and studied together. We were like sisters. But as we grew up, it became more and more apparent that she was of higher status. She’s the direct daughter of the chief, while I’m just his niece. I wasn’t mistreated, just less…included.”
“What about your royal duties? Did you knight any knights? Dance at balls? Have a coronation?”
“What are knights?”
“Y’know, like, warriors who wear armour and wield swords? They’re loyal to their kingdom and their kingdom alone? You have to knight them with a sword? They swear all loyalty to the princess?”
“I don’t think we have those,” Her eyes shine with humour, smiling at his amusing reply. At first, she thought he was describing himself, what with the swords and all. He had mimicked a ‘knight’s’ actions, dramatically holding out his katanas. She had to hide a giggle at that.
“That’s a shame. I think being a knight would’ve been pretty cool. Why’d you choose to follow them, though?”
His question makes her hesitate, glancing up at him. “There was no more reason to stay.” If she had, Yue’s betrothed would’ve only gone to her. She’d forever be a replacement for her cousin.
But no one could ever replace Yue.
It’s silent for a while, both settling into comfortable silence.
“I’m tired of losing people.”
The loaded statement that slips past her lips is weary, with pure exhaustion laced in every single word. She’s too tired to realize how it sounds, her true feelings bubbling to the surface.
“It must’ve been hard.”
His single reply comes instantly, his words nothing but heartfelt. She doesn’t realize that her eyes have already started tearing up until her vision becomes blurry. She blinks, the tears sliding down her cheeks. She feels something soft brush against her skin, slowly registering a green finger brushing off her tears with a gentle smile.
“It’ll be okay.” Leo promises. “We’ll get you home.”
She sniffles, allowing herself to melt into his touch with a tiny sigh. “Thank you.”
“For now, though, let’s get you home.” Leo chuckles, letting his hand drop to his side after her tears stop flowing. She manages a nod, the both of them starting a slow jog with a shared smile.
Something’s off.
She glances around; brows furrowed in confusion, when she doesn’t spot anyone else. She could’ve sworn they were being watched. The prickling sensation that ruffles her nerves isn’t easing; her gut twists and tugs slightly in a particular direction.
“Something wrong?” Leo asks, curious as to why she’s suddenly on high alert. He didn’t sense anything. But then again, y/n had slightly keener instincts than any of them did.
“Just…felt like we were being watched,” She murmurs uneasily, rubbing her arm in discomfort. She didn’t like the sensation, reminding her too much of the days when they were busy being hunted down by Zuko.
“I don’t see anyone around. Maybe you’re a little tired from earlier.” Leo suggests, the skin above his eyes creasing in worry. “You should get some rest.”
“Maybe,” she still can’t brush it off but continues to jog back to the apartment building. The feeling fades after a while, the tension leaving her body. She unlocks the window, sliding it up. Leo watches from the fire escape, the close proximity making her stiffen slightly.
“Well, goodnight.”
“Goodnight, princess.” He says, the nickname filled with fondness. A breathy laugh falls from her lips, still flustered when he calls her with such affection. She climbs into the room, pausing before gesturing for him to come closer.
His eyes widen slightly in intrigue, taking a step and leaning in. She gestures for him to come closer still, as if she’s about to tell him a secret.
“Thanks for keeping me safe, my knight.” She whispers, brushing her lips gently against his cheek.
He’s frozen.
She leans back with a heavy blush on her cheeks, her neck hot. She slides the window shut, clearing her throat. She watches him take a step back, climbing back up the fire escape with jerky movements and a blush that matches hers.
“Wow.”
Y/n yelps at the sudden voice, stumbling back and almost falling onto the ground. She grabs onto the chair nearby in time, looking up wide-eyed to see both April and Donnie in the doorway, stunned into silence.
“I mean…wow.” Donnie can’t help but be impressed by y/n’s boldness, April lifting her hands to clap slowly, eyes filled with awe. ”Wow,” She agrees.
“Y-you saw that?”
What was she even asking? Of course, they saw it based on their reactions. She groans, holding her head in her hands. She could never recover from this.
“That’s it. I’m banishing myself from all interactions.” She mutters, brushing past them both and into the kitchen to make some tea to calm herself down. April doesn’t stop the slow claps, sharing a mischievous grin with Donnie.
“We’re so gonna bring it up around them, right?”
“Without a doubt.”
— — — —
She can’t sleep. Y/n turns and shifts in her spot on the shared bed, freezing when she hears April mumble a sound of protest. She sits up with a sigh, moving to exit through the window and heading up the fire escape to the rooftop.
She’s barefooted, standing on the cold, dirty ground that no one bothers to clean. She takes a moment to sit on the ledge, looking up at the night sky. Her heart is heavy, recalling just moments ago when she had so daringly pressed a soft kiss against Leo’s cheek.
Her heart hammers in her chest like a hummingbird’s melodious thrums, except she’s sure that hers is faster and much louder. How had she been so bold?
Did she even deserve to have the right to feel this way again? After what happened with Jet, it's hard to believe so.
A weary sigh leaves her lips, looking down at her calloused hands with regret starting to fill the emptiness that makes itself known. The silence is deafening, almost too much for her to bear.
Jet.
She hadn’t remembered that name in a while. After everything she’s been through in this dimension, it’s easy to let the name of one’s first love slip their mind. With fighting aliens, discovering mutagen, and befriending a girl with psychic powers, it’s hard to believe that she isn’t just in a fever dream.
Who knows, though? Maybe it really is, and she’d wake up to Katara nagging at her to wake up for another of Aang’s pranks that she’d been a victim of. Sokka would snort at her, and she’d bend a stream of water to soak him in response.
She pinches her hand, wincing at the sharp pain. She huffs out a sad laugh. What had she expected?
It’s not a dream.
“So princess, you gonna come with me or what?”
“Shut it, Jet. I don’t trust you.” Y/n huffs, following Jet with a cautious gaze.
“I really have changed, y’know.” Jet turns to face her with a sorrowful smile she almost falls for, her eyes softening before the reminder of what he did to the innocent village makes her sober up.
“People don’t change so easily.”
“I’ll prove it to you, princess. I promise.”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Why?” He sounds genuinely surprised, and y/n crosses her arms defensively. The both of them are in an alleyway, with no one else around. She glances behind her, wondering if she should just make a run for it and forget this all ever happened.
“Because you don’t have the right to. Not anymore. Not after what you did to me. To us.”
What had they been, anyway? A couple of teenagers with a mutual crush on each other? That’s all they were. And safe to say, hers had burned out as soon as he endangered her friends.
“Y/n…” He hesitates, his hand falling to his side. “I’m sorry.”
It’s sincere, but she can barely bring herself to look him in the eyes. “I’ll believe it when I see it.”
He nods resignedly, continuing to trek forward. “Where are we going, anyway?” She asks, staying a wary distance from him.
“Your parents are here. In Ba Sing Se.”
“What?”
It’s as if the breath is knocked out of her with that statement alone, disbelief tinging her voice. “That can’t be.”
“It’s true, princess.”
“Don’t lie to me!”
“I’m not, princess. They’re only a few houses down. Please.” Jet holds his hand out to her, but she’s hesitant to take it. It couldn’t be. Everything she’s built up to protect herself from her parents abandoning her is crumbling in her hands. She can’t let herself believe it. It’s easier for her to think that they’re dead.
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because,” She hesitates, the painful lump in her throat and tightness in her chest scaring her more than anything she’s faced so far, “I’ll know for sure that they really abandoned me.”
Once the words leave her lips, she feels herself crumble to pieces, dropping to her knees as her eyes sting with tears. She feels his warm arm wrap around her back, holding her against his chest. The warmth brings her painful comfort, allowing the tears to spill over. They wet his shirt, but his hold around her only tightens. She clutches his shirt, crumpling the fabric in her hands as she hiccups through her sobs.
It’s as if she’s back in the throne room again, waving goodbye to her parents with an uneasiness in her gut that she brushes off as a mere stomachache. That was the last time she ever saw them. The warm kiss her mother pressed against her forehead and her father’s affectionate ruffle of her hair. Those were the last forms of affection she’d ever receive from them.
She calms down after a while, having held onto Jet for dear life. She’s about to move away from him, her shaky breaths not doing much to convince him that she’s okay. She yelps, Jet picking her up in a bridal carry and walking back the way they came.
“Put me down!”
“Calm down, princess. You’re tired.”
She narrows her eyes into a glare, though it’s less hostile than before. Her eyes drop to his neck, stubbornly refusing to look into his eyes. She tries to move her feet but finds that she’s lost all feeling in them after having sat on them for as long as she did.
“Any more glaring, and you’re gonna burn a hole through my shirt, princess.”
“Good,” She grumbles with a huff.
His chest shakes with a deep chuckle, her own heart warming at the sound. “Let’s get you something to eat.” She hesitates. Was this really a good idea? Maybe Aang, Katara, Toph, and Sokka would be worried she’d get back so late. Maybe he was actually taking her to be captured again.
Maybe he had something else up his sleeve.
“Fine.”
The first few drops of rain snap her out of her memory, before the rest come down in full force. The rain pelts her body, droplets sliding off her hair and streaming down her face. Her entire body is soaked, and the shirt and shorts provident little protection.
She cups her hands, the rainwater quickly gathering in a small pool. Her body feels heavy and tired, her heart filled with all sorts of emotions that crash against each other like raging waves in a vast ocean that she’ll never be able to calm.
She stands up. She takes a deep breath, bringing her arms up into a circle and suspending the raindrops in midair when her hands meet above her head, moving to sweep her left foot in a semi-arc.
The movement guides the water to surround her in streams, mimicking the image of a hurricane she had seen in passing during geography class. Her movements are slow and controlled, but as thoughts start to cloud her mind, they become more erratic and more emotional.
She thrusts her right arm out to the sky, a jagged spike of ice following suit. The edge is as sharp as the hot flash of anger in her heart, anger at herself for being so helpless and pitiful in this state, anger at her parents for abandoning her, and anger directed at herself for being unable to control anything around her.
She shifts her arm back, leaving the large spike of ice as is and allowing herself to feel the next emotion: Despair. How could she even think about falling in love in a dimension that isn’t even hers? She had to leave sometime. Whatever she felt for Leo would be over before it even began.
She despairs for a life lost, for the various that she’s seen leaving the plane of mortality in the blink of an eye. Despair for her parents. Despair for Yue. Despair for Jet.
Despair for all the lives lost in the war.
Despair for a love that once was.
The water around her seems to adapt to her feelings, shifting and surrounding her in a flurry of churning, rapidly moving stream that she almost lets go of.
Then, Fear takes hold. Her body is simply flowing along with the water, allowing herself to become one with its motions. She’s scared. She’s scared to lose the people around her. She’s scared she’ll never make it back to her home.
She’s scared that once she takes the first step forward to confirm what she and Leo have, she’ll lose it.
She’s scared that she’ll lose him.
The water bubbles, drawing back and coating her body in a protective shield, leaving her face unguarded.
All her guarded emotions finally rise to the surface. She raises her hands again, bending every drop around her to form a huge orb of water above the apartment building.
Then in a single movement, she bends the water to become mist, letting it — and her emotions, dissipate into the morning of New York City, surrounding the buildings with heavy fog.
She sighs softly. It’s as if a huge burden has been lifted off her shoulders. She walks back down the fire escape, slipping back into April’s room and under the covers, not noticing the dirt that covers the soles of her feet and staining the white bedspreads.
She falls asleep as soon as her head hits the pillow, lip curved upwards into a soft smile.
Maybe she should do that more often.
— — — —
“I never understood how turtles — could be so fast!” April says between pants, breathless from the amount of running they’ve just done. Y/n nods in agreement from beside her. She could run, just not for two hours straight.
“C’mon, April! This is just the warmup,” Mikey encourages, all four turtles completely unfazed. “I’m sorry — the warmup?” Y/n echoes in disbelief, holding a finger up as she catches her breath from beside a tired April, “For two hours??”
“That’s what ninjas do. Training sometimes lasts for four–five hours at a time. Awesome, right?”
“Awesome?” April’s baffled by how normal this is for them. “Are you kidding me? I’m gonna puke.”
“I second that motion.” Y/n raises her hand from beside her, already leaning against Donnie, who supports her with a worried smile. Her stomach turns, all her stamina spent. Her legs have zero feeling in them, barely managing to hold herself upright.
“What about a real mission?”
“It took fifteen years of training before Master Splinter let us go on a ‘real mission’. You got a long way to go, sister.” Raph scoffs, sassily dismissing April’s request.
“Not that long. A decade or two will fly by like that!” Donnie snaps his fingers to prove his point, but it only serves to heighten April’s dismay.
“For a turtle!”
Y/n groans softly, the familiar unnerving sensation back again with full force. It had been plaguing her for the past couple of days, and she wanted to tell the rest but didn’t know how to — especially after that night when Donnie and April had both caught her kissing Leo’s cheek.
She constantly felt like she was being followed, but every time she glanced around to try and narrow it down, the feeling disappeared, as if whoever was doing so had fled. It’s back again, though - and growing more intense by the minute.
Everyone’s voices fade into white noise. She closes her eyes, trying to focus on what exactly her instincts are trying to tell her. Her gut twists and turns as if it’s wringing itself out to dry. However, it’s tugging in a particular direction, and she opens her eyes to see April pointing in the same direction as well.
A masked figure is hidden in the shadows, but the brightness of a neon sign reflects onto the signboard they’re hiding behind, revealing their location. They flinch at being caught, grabbing their things and running away.
Great. More running.
She staggers to her feet with a groan, beginning to give chase. If it’s one thing she’s learnt about being watched, it’s that it never leads to a good outcome.
Case in point: Sparky Sparky Boom Man.
As they run to catch up to the mysterious stranger, y/n gets a better look at them now that they’re more exposed to the light. She stops at the edge of the building they’re on but pauses once she bends the water out of the water bag on her hip. She judges the distance between the two buildings, unsure if the amount of water is enough to create a bridge over.
However, she’s hastily scooped up and pressed against a strong plastron, instinctively wrapping her arms around Leo’s neck as his own circle her waist protectively. He jumps off the building after securing a grappling hook to the next, pushing himself off the ledge and landing safely on the rooftop.
He sets her down gently, y/n whispering her thanks softly as their gazes lock. “Make goo-goo eyes at each other later; we got a guy to catch!” Raph rolls his eyes, the both of them flustered at suddenly being called out.
They resume their run, though the distance between them is a bit closer than before. She reaches the edge once more, kneeling down to get a better look at the man who slips into an apartment in the opposite building.
She allows herself to get carried over by Leo, the gesture almost second nature now. She lets go of his neck once they land on the fire escape, hands reaching out to open the window. She’s stopped, however, when Leo shakes his head, his hands holding hers and gently pushing them down.
He produces a tool from behind his back, y/n stepping aside in understanding as he jimmies the lock open before slowly sliding it up. She’s already prepared a shield of ice in case any arrows come flying, holding it in front of them both.
Luckily, no projectiles come flying at them. She breathes a sigh of relief but still keeps her shield up as they enter the apartment. It’s comparatively devoid of decorative furniture, a potted plant in the corner drawing her attention.
She walks over, noting how its leaves are somewhat wilted. She bends a small stream of water to soak into the soil around it, smiling when the plant looks a little livelier than before. She bends the rest of her shield back into liquid form, guiding it back into her water bag.
She hears a gasp, everyone having gathered around a board in the middle of the room. She walks over, curious as to what they’ve found, but her words fall short as soon as her eyes land on pictures of the turtles and April.
“Uh, Y/n? You should see this.”
She turns to Raph with raised brows, walking over to see what he’s looking at with such wide eyes. He passes her his flashlight, and she shines it onto a board that’s separate from the rest.
“Tui’s gills….”
Pictures.
So many pictures of her litter the board, pinned up with metal thumbtacks in a crazed organization system. Red thread connects them all haphazardly, words scribbled in red onto each.
There’s a picture of her healing Baxter Stockman, and another of her on the rooftop with Leo. Another is of her healing people during the Kraang Invasion, while one captures her mid-laugh, eyes gleaming with happiness and her nose scrunched at a joke someone says.
There’s also another of her slumped on the ground in the alleyway, moments away from having blood-bended. Her eyes are dark, her expression blank as blood trickles down the side of her head. Her hand is outstretched to Raph, who’s not captured in the photo, lips parted as if she’s talking to another.
Then there’s another of her with angry tears in her eyes, the close-up shot sending chills down her spine. It captured every emotion she had felt from that night — anger, helplessness, fear…
It’s unsettling. Her hands grip her arms, shuddering at the thought of someone taking all these photos of her without her knowledge. She shines the torch on the hastily scrawled words, beginning to read them.
‘Power over water?’
‘Not of this earth.’
‘Kraang mutant?’
‘The blue one.’
The sentence is scribbled next to a photo of her and Leo looking at each other with gentle smiles as if they’re in their own little bubble. His hand is brushed against hers, and the memory brings a strong heat to her entire face. She sneaks a look around, Raph having walked over to the other board where more photos of their existence are.
She reaches up, quietly removing the thumbtack and stuffing the photo into her pocket. It’s not like she isn’t creeped out by the photo — It is incredibly weird and unsettling after all.
But she kinda liked that one.
She shines her torch on the left side of the board, catching a few messily written words on another piece of paper. She moves the torch to shine on it, her breath hitching in her chest when she reads it.
‘Possible affinity with blood?’
Sudden light-headedness strikes through her head like a shard of pain, her breathing stuttering in her chest. She takes a step back. The red ink starts to bleed, dripping down the pictures of her with a crimson red that both draws her in and terrifies her to her core.
A loud slam draws her attention to Raph, who holds the stranger that followed them to the wall in an aggressive chokehold, his sai pressed to his throat with the intention to intimidate. She shakes her head and blinks rapidly, her racing heart doing nothing to calm how rattled she is.
“Don’t hurt me, I’m a friend!”
“Stalker’s more like it.” Raph scoffs.
“After all these months, finally face to face with the talking ninja turtles and April O’Neil herself. Even the Water Whisperer, Y/n.” He takes a step toward Y/n with his hands outstretched to grab her shoulders. Leo instantly moves to protect her, drawing his katana and pointing it at the man, who takes a step back, hands raised in surrender.
“You better start talking, pal. What’s with the photos? Who are you?” Leo’s aggressiveness seems to make the man start talking, eyeing his sword nervously.
“The name’s Kurtzman. I was a journalist on the case of the missing scientist last year. Then I discovered something much bigger.”
He moves to turn on the light, using his arm to sweep off scattered papers and the mug on his desk. He faces them with a book, placing it down on the desk with a thud. “The Kraang.”
He begins to explain, opening the book and showing the research and pictures inside. “The alien infiltration is long-lived. Ancient, in fact. The Kraang have been trying to use the mutagen to terra-form our planet for thousands of years. But they couldn’t use the mutagen in our universe without a specific chain of human DNA. They spent millennia capturing people. Shaping humankind’s genetic code until finally….”
He lifts up a picture of a baby, and April inhales sharply when she sees it. “That’s me.”
“Your mother was taken by The Kraang before you were born. Then, she was experimented on.” He flips to a family picture of April and her parents. April’s eyes are filled with pure shock, discovering new information about her family for the first time.
“My mom was experimented on?”
“That’s why you’re so special, April. Your DNA can perfect the mutagen in this dimension.” Kurtzman reveals.
“I-I think I need to sit down.” April slumps against a chest of drawers, holding her head as she processes everything he’s said. Y/n, on the other hand, has questions. She takes a step towards the man who’s been spying on them.
“What do you mean when you called me ‘Water Whisperer’?” She questions, her arms crossed defensively across her chest.
“Because you can control water! I couldn’t believe it at first, but once I saw those bridges made of ice, and the streams of water you surround yourself with, I knew at once you had some sort of power over it. There’s something I’ve been dying to ask, though.”
“What is it?”
“Well, it’s a fact that the human body consists of up to sixty percent water, with over ninety percent of it making up blood. So theoretically, wouldn’t it be possible that-”
He’s cut off with a single flick of her wrist, a small stream of water instantly covering his mouth and y/n freezing it in a split second. He’s effectively silenced, all four turning to look at her in shock. Her eyes are cold, her outstretched fist that’s aimed at Kurtzman a silent threat.
“If you complete that sentence, your mouth isn’t going to be the only thing frozen.”
The promise rings through the quiet room, and she unclenches her fist, bending the water back into its liquid state and back to her side, though the threat reminds everyone exactly how capable she is.
Leo’s about to say something – to check if she’s okay, when the door is slammed open by three disguised Kraang bots. They enter the room with their blasters, armed and ready to fire.
“They found me,” Kurtzman says, his voice filled with fear, “I don’t know how, but they found me.”
“Kraang, the human known as ‘Kurtzman’ has allied himself with the ones called the ‘turtles’, who are turtles.” The bot on the left says.
“Observe, Kraang. Disintegrate first, capture for interrogation later.” The bot on the right says.
All three start firing, beginning to spread out. Y/n’s lips curve up into an empty grin. “You came just in time. I have a few frustrations to take care of.” She jumps out of the way from a blast that’s aimed at her, letting out a cry as she moves her arms in a small arc, bending the water out of her water bag and crafting a spear of ice in an instant.
She sends it flying at the Kraang bot that’s firing at both her and Mikey, the latter throwing two ninja stars that embed itselves into the gun and its eye, while her spear pierces its abdomen. She hears a sharp squeal of pain that goes quiet after, the bot no longer moving to get up.
She waves her arm dismissively, bending the water back into its liquid state and reusing it. It’s tinged pink now, having pierced through the Kraang’s very being. She regards it with nonchalance, levitating it above her hand with her fingers around it.
“Y/n, watch out!”
Leo’s about to make a move to stab the bot that’s moving behind her but falters in his steps once she turns at his cry and sends the spear through the Kraang in the middle. It leaves a gaping hole through the pink flesh, the bot falling to her feet.
“Retreat!” Raph cries out as more of the Kraang begin to enter the apartment. They escape through the window, y/n groaning in annoyance when Kurtzman doesn’t make his exit. He flounders, trying to get to his notebook. The Kraang refuse to allow him to get near it, firing away at him.
She’s so close to just leaving him there. But she sighs, grabbing the back of his collar and pulling him back with as much force as she can muster, falling out the window.
She’s miscalculated his weight, and they both hurtle toward the ground at a terrifying rate. She doesn’t scream, the sound caught in her chest and only a choked exhale escaping. Was this how she would die? Saving an idiot?
She vaguely feels something circle around her leg, and it tightens when they’re inches away from meeting the pavement. They dangle upside down, and she looks down to see Mikey above them, holding on with all his strength using his nunchucks to secure both her and Kurtzman.
He slowly lowers them to the ground, and she collapses onto the ground, releasing Kurtzman’s collar. She stands back up with a grunt, dusting off the dirt on her clothes and ignoring the man’s pained cries. The creep could take care of himself.
“This way, move!” Leo orders after giving y/n a quick glance over to check if she’s injured. He looks away as soon as he confirms that she isn’t, his eyes hardening. His main priority is to get all of them out, unharmed.
They’re about to leave, but a van screeches to a halt, blocking their means of escape. The doors open, and the Kraang step out in spider-like robots. The clawed ends clatter against the pavement, the sound sending a chill down her spine.
A large blaster is revealed when the front panel moves aside, and they start to fire at everyone around. “This way!” Y/n cries out, gesturing for everyone to leave through the other side of the alleyway. Donnie ushers them into the secret entrance installed that leads to the garage, all of them piling into the ShellRaiser before Leo starts the engine up and drives it to the surface.
“Everyone, brace yourselves!” Leo calls out a single warning, y/n grabbing the closest thing to her, which is a handle attached to the wall of the van.
“Here’s the plan. We’ll infiltrate T.C.R.I. Then, we’ll wipe out all the ingo the Kraang have on April and her DNA.” Kurtzman suggests.
“T.C.R.I? I thought you guys blew that place up.” April points out. Donnie stiffens slightly at the reminder, glancing at y/n who doesn’t notice.
Leo drives to a safer area, everyone getting out and staring at the large building a short distance away in disbelief. “They rebuilt T.C.R.I? Raph mutters.
“We break in, erase April’s DNA codes, and get out. Infiltration only.” Leo orders in a hushed whisper.
“Le’s do this,” April clenches her hands into fists, ready to take action.
“Great. You and Kurtzman stay outside on lookout.”
“Stay outside? On lookout?” April’s incredibly offended, her hands on her hips.
“No problem. Take this,” Kurtzman rifles through his pockets, taking out a card and handing it to Leo. “It’s a key card I stole from one of their vans. It’ll get you into T.C.R.I.”
“I can be lookout.” Y/n volunteers, giving her friend a half grin. She shrugs at Leo’s baffled expression. “Hey, give her a chance. It’s the least you can do after you left me behind that night.”
Leo’s wounded expression makes her inhale sharply. She couldn’t help being salty over it still, having felt hurt that they excluded her. “Be careful out there, April.” She cautions her friend.
“Fine,” Leo caves in easily, unable to fight back against her. “Thanks Mr Kurtzman. Look after her.” He says sternly, casting one last worried glance over his shoulder as he leaves with April and the rest.
Y/n raises a brow. Just who was protecting who, here?
She’s left alone with Kurtzman, who she can see in her peripheral, is just itching to ask her questions. His eager eyes make her sigh, caving in. “What is it?”
“I just have a few questions. How did you receive your powers? Do you communicate with water? What exactly are your limits? How many phase changes can you make? Do you ever get dehydrated?”
She feels as if she’s a blueprint being studied by Sokka.
“I was born with waterbending. I don’t communicate with water, no. I feel the flow and simply guide it to the results I wish to produce.” She demonstrates using a simple stream of water from her water bag to wrap around her arm in a spiral, Kurtzman watching in fascination and awe.
“I can change it to be mist or even ice. And yes, I do get dehydrated if I don’t drink enough water. There was a time when I was in the desert and was really tempted to drink cactus juice.”
“Oh,” He sounds genuinely surprised at the last answer. He hesitates. “About my question from earlier….”
Y/n tenses, shooting him a glare that tells him to stop. But he pushes on, determined to find an answer. “Doesn’t this mean you can control people’s bodies?”
He waits for an answer, wishing he had a piece of paper to jot everything down. She takes a shaky breath, trying to steel herself. “Mr. Kurtzman. I do not know why you want to know this information, and nor do I plan to reveal it to you. Consider yourself lucky that none of them are around right now, or I would have frozen your entire being right here for speaking of such things.”
“Is that a yes?”
Her gaze darkens. This man is treading very, very thin ice. “It is a taboo power. A dark one I wish I never knew. Some things, Mr. Kurtzman, are better left unanswered.”
A moment of silence passes, y/n leaning against the wall and mulling over her own thoughts when Mr. Kurtzman speaks up again. “Maybe we should secure a van for their escape.” He suggests.
She moves to stand flat on her feet, nodding in agreement. “How about that one?” He points out a van a few feet away. They make their way over, Kurtzman jimmying the lock smoothly with ease.
She regards him with a mildly impressed nod. He rubs the back of his neck with a sheepish grin. “Had to secure a few getaway cars myself when investigating the Kraang.”
She sits in the passenger seat, Kurtzman sitting behind the wheel and hotwiring the engine. It starts with a purr, and he sits back up with a satisfied smile. She hears the sound of doors being smashed open, looking at T.C.R.I. to see the four running away from a crowd of Kraang that are chasing after them.
Kurtzman holds down the gas pedal, y/n yelping as the van suddenly moves. They screech to a stop in front of the five making their escape, y/n opening the door. “Get in!” She urges. They pile into the vehicle, Leo shutting the door behind them as Kurtzman drives off.
“What happened? Why is April dressed like that?” She has so many questions, but none get answered as the driver laughs loudly, gleeful at escaping the Kraang.
“Thanks for the save, Mr. Kurtzman.” She had to hand it to him; Leo was anything if not polite.
“I owed you one! So, did you wipe out the Kraang computers?”
“We did, by the skin of our noses.” Donnie shrugs.
“The only reason we survived was because of April. Whatever you did back there saved us all.”
“I have no clue what I did,” April sighs, clinging to her friend’s arm for emotional support. Y/n pats the top of her head softly, offering comfort in whatever way she can. “I was freaking out and then zap. The Kraang were toast.”
The van slows to a stop, and Leo opens the door for everyone to exit. “Well, I’m off. Somebody’s gotta keep an eye on the Kraang. Let me know if you need my expertise again, you know where to find me.” He hands Leo his card.
“And uh, blue one.” Leo’s about to walk off with the rest, April filling y/n in as they walk back to their apartment. Kurtzman gestures for him to come close, and he obediently leans in. He sees Kurtzman hesitate, looking at y/n in case she overhears.
“Here’s a piece of advice. Watch out for the Water Whisperer. Remember the question I wanted to ask earlier? Remind your brainiac brother about it if you want to stay safe.
You have no idea what she’s capable of.”
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