Before (Part 1)

Chapter Twenty-Four

"Daniel!" Madi shouted as she lept out of Raph's arms and began to sprint towards his voice, climbing up the fire-escape of the nearest building to meet him. Raph would've followed her, if he hadn't remembered Karai. He quickly looked around, pulling out his sais to defend himself if need be. But she was already gone. Realizing that she wasn't going to come back any time soon, he followed Madi up the fire-escape to the roof-top.

Once Madi had reached the roof, her feet killing her from the blisters she was starting to get from the intense heat on the roof of her old home, she saw him standing there. He was covered in sweat and cuts, his hair was all tangled and messed up, but to her he was just as handsome as he had been the first time they had met.

"Danny! I'm so happy you're okay!" she said as she hugged him. He hugged her back, holding her close as the four turtles watched, glaring at him while he smirked over her shoulder.

"I'm so happy that you're all right, Madi." he said to her. As Madi began to remember everything that had happened, tears began to form in her eyes.

"Jeff's dead." she murmured, teardrops falling down her cheeks and dripping into the fabric of Daniel's strange outfit that he was wearing.Everyone's eyes widened at her words. Especially Daniel's.

"What? N-....no, that....that can't be-" Daniel stuttered, but he couldn't find the right words to say. Shredder had said that no one would get hurt. He promised that this was only to scare Madi into joining them, not to kill anyone. "He....he said he wouldn't hurt anyone." Daniel muttered in pure and absolute shock.

"Who?" Madi asked Daniel as she wiped away her tears.

"I think it's time you told Madi the truth, Daniel." Leo said, his arms folded. They were all beaten and bruised from the recent fight, but at least they had sent the Foot clan running for the hills with their tails between their legs. Most of the Foot clan, at least.

Daniel was silent as he held Madi close to him, her arms around his back and his around her waist. Madi looked from Leo to Daniel, trying to understand what was going on. "Daniel? What is it?" she asked him. He let go of her, glaring at the Turtles in the process. He took a deep breath, and then looked back at Madi, taking her hands in his and looking into her eyes.

"Madi, I know that you've already been through so much tonight, and I was going to tell you sooner, it's just that-"

"Get to the point, Agent." Raph hissed, hating all of this fake 'lovey-dovey' crap he was tricking Madi with. Madi raised an eyebrow.

" 'Agent'? What does he mean by that, Daniel? What happened?" she asked him, dreading to know the answer, and yet, happy that she had something else to have her mind on than Jeff's death. Maybe it wouldn't be as bad as he was making it sound. Maybe he would just be moving to the Bronx and he needed a realestate agent, or leaving the city for a few weeks for a trip to see family because of legal reasons and they would need their agent to contact a lawyer. He held her hand tightly, looking into her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Madi. But your friends aren't who they say they are." Daniel said.

All four of the Turtles' eyes widened in shock.

"What the shell, Daniel? You know that-" Raph began to say, but was interupted by the liar.

"The reason all of this happened is because of them. A week ago, I got a call from Karai Oroku, telling me that she was your sister and that she had been searching for you for years. After talking for a while, we met up in person just so I could make sure it was real. She showed me a few pictures-"

"Madi, don't believe him. He's lying." Leo snarled, his anger and hatred towards the guy feeding lies to their friend.

"She showed me some pictures she had of you guys when you were younger and they matched the ones you showed me a few years ago. So I believed her and joined the Foot clan, becoming an agent for Shredder so that you and your family can be reunited." Daniel admitted. Madi was speechless, her mouth hanging open as she took a step away from him. Daniel continued.

"I installed a tracking device on your cell-phone so that Karai could find your apartment and meet you in person, but then she told me about how you'd need to give up your past life to start a new one with your family. I thought about it for a long time, but decided that you'd be much happier with your father and your sister than with a home that was broken anyways. The turtles didn't want you to be reunited with your father and sister because they know that you're secretly stronger than all of them combined. They never truly cared about you, they just cared about your power that you don't know you possess." Daniel finished. Raph stepped forward, grabbing Madi's arm and turning her around to face him.

"Madi, don't believe him. He's lying." Raph tried to convince her.

"Yeah, Madness." Mikey chimed in as he stood by Raph's side. "We would never do anything like that to hurt you. We do care about you. We didn't even know you had powers."

"Wow," Daniel began again. "I can't believe you have the guts to use the nickname that I gave her." There was a short silence after that. "Who are you going to believe, Madi?" Daniel asked. "Your boyfriend you've been dating the past three years, the guy you've shared most of your life with, the boy who loves you-"

"Stop lying to her like that, Daniel!" Raph shouted at him. "Don't you dare say you love her if you don't mean it!"

"And what would a monster like you know about love, huh?"

"I know more about love than you do!"

"And what makes you say that?" Daniel asked, a smirk on his lips.

"I know that you don't lie to the people you love. You don't take advantage of their emotions when they're at their weakest points. You make them stronger and let them know that you're there, not persuade them to make horrible mistakes that they're going to regret for who-knows how long!" Raph hissed at him. His brothers were surprised by how much he actually knew about the subject of the four letter word.

"And how many relationships have you had, Raph?" Daniel asked him. "How much experience?"

"None, but I don't need-"

"I rest my case here. Madi, I won't force you to do anything you don't want to. But you're gonna have to make a choice. It's either me, or them." he said to her. Madi was silent for a moment as she thought. If she said 'no' to Daniel, then it would be the end of their relationship. It would crush her, and they both knew it. They all knew it. She looked at her hands, in pain.

The turtles knew who she was going to pick. She was going to pick Daniel. He had made a good point earlier, about how she would've done anything to make him happy. She was going to choose him because he was her boyfriend, they were together, a couple. Couples stuck together like glue.

"They killed Jeff, Daniel. And they didn't feel guilty about it." Madi started, looking at her boyfriend, then back at the ground. Sirens filled the air as the fire-department finally arrived to put out the fire, even though it was a little late for that since nothing left was standing. "He was like a father to me."

"He was like a father to me, too. But you needed to let him go if you want to go back to your father and your sister-"

"I don't want to go back." Madi interupted him, catching him off guard. Her words caught Leo, Raph, Donnie, and Mikey off guard as well. Daniel just stared at her, shocked.

"What do you mean?" he asked her.

"I'm not joining you. I'm not joining Karai and I'm not joining Shredder. If you're fine with them killing the only man in the world that had cared about us at all, the man that would've walked me down the isle if we ever got married, then I don't want to be a part of that." Madi stated as she stood there, standing her ground. Daniel took a second to process that while Mikey, Leo, Donnie, and Raph all high-threed and cheered.

"I...I guess we're enemies, then." Daniel said with a huff.

"I guess we are." Madi said, then turned around to walk away.

That had been a big mistake on her part.