"Maybe I could."
He was right, she needed space.
She needed time.
She doesn't wanna risk getting her heart broken.
Not now.
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Carmen opens the window to her bedroom and slides right in with ease, and closes the window behind her. She lands right on her bed. The lamp in her room flicks on, the light illuminating her figure. The smell of her room gives her a nostalgic feeling. It feels warm, cozy, as if a blanket is wrapped around her shoulders. It truly feels like home.
She smiles and shifts her position to the edge of the bed, sitting on it comfortably. Her eyes look down to her legs as she swings them back and forth in a gentle motion, taking in the moment.
Knock, knock, knock.
Her head jerks up at the sound of someone's knuckles tapping against her door. 'It must be mom and dad!' She quickly boosts herself up and reaches for the doorknob, but is beaten to it as the door swings open, revealing both of Carmen's parents. Carmen's face lights up in joy, running up to them and wrapping her arms around them. She embraces them tightly.
"Mom, dad! I missed you guys," She sniffles, "so much." tears start to well in her eyes, streaming down her cheeks as she closes them shut.
"I tried- I tried so hard to go back home! But I couldn't..." Her words start to turn into murmurs as she lets it all out, unable to hold it all in.
"I wanted to see you guys so bad." Her voice wavered as she sobbed quietly into their arms.
They both tilt their heads down at her in a robotic manner. They felt so stiff.
"Where have you been?"
Her dad spoke out in a deep, deadpan voice. Carmen's heart sank as she heard her dad's cold and distant voice. It was not the warm, loving voice she had expected. She pulled away slightly from the embrace, her tears still streaming down her cheeks. Her parents' faces remained stoic, lacking any sign of emotion or concern.
"I-I was... I was... fighting," Carmen stammered, trying to find the right words to explain her disappearance. "I was forced to fight... monsters... for entertainment. It was horrible, and I couldn't get out... until now."
Her mom's expression remained unchanged, her eyes fixed on Carmen with an unsettling intensity. "Fighting monsters? For entertainment?" she repeated, her voice devoid of any empathy or understanding.
Carmen nodded, her throat tightening with emotion. "Yes! But I'm out now, and I don't want to go back- I want to be with you both again!"
Her dad's response was cold and stern, "We should have thought about the consequences before getting you involved in such nonsense. We had high hopes for you, Carmen. We supported your dream of becoming a fighter, but this...
... this is beyond disappointing."
Carmen's heart shattered with every word her father spoke. The disappointment in their eyes pierced her soul, making her feel like a failure. She tried to explain further, to make them understand the pain and torment she endured, but her words fell on deaf ears.
Her mom finally spoke, her voice sounding static and intense. "Look at you! You're injured, how could you do this to yourself?" They grew taller, and taller, the shadows beginning to surround them. Suddenly, the warmth of the atmosphere is replaced with nothing. Nothing but darkness, and a loud ringing noise. Static, everywhere.
Her eyebrows pull together in confusion and she quickly darts her eyes down to her body, her shirt being replaced with blood-stained bandages, wrapped around her chest and abdominal area. Her breathing becomes erratic, urgent. She takes a step back and puts her hands all over herself, feeling every single scar from the battles she fought in. It all comes back to her again.
"No, no, no, no, no! No!- Please, no!"
She absolutely hates it. She feels the urge to rip her skin off. She doesn't want to experience this. Not again.
Her parents' faces shift drastically to one Carmen doesn't even recognize anymore. They get taller, and taller, to the point they're towering over her. Their words echo in her ear, blaming her for everything, making her feel like a failure. Both as a fighter, and their daughter.
She closes her eyes shut tightly and drops down to her knees, her tears overflowing non-stop. Make it stop. Make it stop. Make it stop.
She lets out an audible gasp as she sits up quickly from her bed, her chest rising and falling as she breathes heavily. She feels something damp on her cheeks, must be her tears. Carmen brings her hand up to her face, wiping her tears away using the back of her hand.
She takes slow steady breaths, rubbing her eyes to try and wake up from her sleepiness. "It was just a nightmare..." She yawned.
Today's the start of day one; Carmen living in the turtles' Lair, temporarily.
Carmen was a bit hesitant at first about it, of course, but they seemed like nice people. They did just help her escape the Grand Nexus Hotel, and they were cool about letting her stay. Since they didn't have any spare rooms, what was left was the Med Bay in the garage (shown in the Lair Games episode). It has a small hospital bed, a lamp, and some medkits lying around. The exit is an automatic sliding door, which is transparent and has a tint of green, but it works.
Based on their first impressions, this is what Carmen has gathered so far:
Leonardo is a smug and cocky guy who has a massive ego, flirty and affectionate at times. Also says the corniest one-liners ever.
Raphael's their leader, most probably their older brother. He's caring, kind, and protective. Giant teddy bear, question mark?
Michelangelo is the sweetest, and the cutest. She likes him the most. Very outgoing, too.
Donatello's the funny one, as well as the brains of the group... probably. Just guessing from his tech-bo and his massive forehead.
(All Carmen's words, not mine.)
She stays in the room for a while, spacing out. Recalling the events from last night and processing that nightmare she just had. She sits there, tapping her thumbs together in silence.
She notices that her weapon is gone, her scissors. They were leaning against the wall before she slept. 'Huh, where'd she go?' Carmen thought, referring to her scissors.
It's not long before the moment is interrupted by some sort of... thud noise.
"Ouh- ow!" He winced. Her head jerks up and she slightly jumps from her bed. Who the hell was that?
Carmen squints her eyes and slowly gets off of the bed. She steadily approaches the sliding doors with caution, as if she's walking on eggshells. The closer she gets, the closer the figure gets as well. It's hard to tell who it is because of the green tint on the doors.
She finally reaches the sliding doors, standing in front of it. It senses her and the figure and it automatically opens. Ah, it's just Leo.
Her eyebrows slightly rise as she looks up at him with a blank expression. His eyes go wide and he flinches, a bit startled by her sudden appearance at the door. "Oh! You're up early." He chuckled, "How was your beauty sleep, raspberry?"
'I swear, it's like that smug look on his face is permanent.' She thought to herself, "It was... fine, I guess." she glances to the side for a split second then fixes her eyes on him. "What are you doing here?" Carmen sounds skeptical.
Leo places his hands on his hips and leans forward with a smirk, "I just thought that I should check up on you, doll."
"Please don't call me that." She furrowed her eyebrows and glared at him. "What? Doll?" He cocks his head and slyly grins.
Carmen rolls her eyes and shoves his face aside, "Whatever. Anyway, what's for breakfast?" She starts walking. He stumbles back a bit as he's shoved, but quickly recovers and walks alongside her. "Oh, you're gonna love breakfast!" He says in a cheery tone and a wide smile.
The pair make their way to the kitchen. Leo taking occasional glances at her. He hasn't stopped thinking about her ever since they met. He originally planned to ask her out as a joke and then bond over having a passion for fighting, but it seems he's starting to... think twice about it. 'I guess she's still putting up the aloof act.' He thought to himself.
'... Maybe I should give it a shot.' He opens his mouth to say something but quickly stops,
'No, it has to be perfect! I gotta wait this one out.'
"Ahem, so..." Carmen suddenly speaks up. Leo snaps his head to look at her. "... I gotta ask." She continued, staring at Leo, waiting for his reaction.
"What's up?" He answers, raising a non-existent eyebrow.
"Doll? Seriously?- And raspberry?" She speaks in a rather flustered tone. He chuckles and nudges her using his elbow. "What? Do you like 'em?"
"Pfft, no!" She scoffs, shaking her head. "Well, too bad." He winks at her once again, causing an annoyed groan slip out of her lips.
After a few, Carmen and Leo finally arrive at the kitchen, the other two are already there eating breakfast. And they're eating... pizza?
The two are gathered around the counter, leaning against it. Raph is devouring each bite of his pizza, while Mikey made a very long cheese string from his own slice. "Huh, pizza..." She has a puzzled look on her face. "You guys eat... pizza for breakfast?" She side-glances Leo with her eyebrows pulled together.
"We eat it all the time. Pretty cool, eh?" He wiggles his eyebrows.
"Pretty unhealthy." Carmen replied. Leo shakes his head and snorts, and then makes his way over to the counter along with his brothers. Carmen follows right behind.
Mikey immediately notices Carmen approaching the counter and flashes her a big, bright grin, talking to her in a happy tone. "G'Morning, Carmy!"
"Mikey! My guy!" She quickly shoves Leo aside and makes her way over to Mikey. Leo scoffs in disbelief and dramatically puts his hand over his heart, "After everything..." he mumbled, sniffing and pouting.
Carmen giggles mischievously as she sticks her tongue out at Leo, enjoying his misery. "So, Carmen, how're ya holdin' up?" Raph asked with slight concern in his tone, who still seems to be worried after what happened yesterday.
"Oh, me?" She responds with a full mouth, chowing down on her slice of pizza. "I'm pretty good, I think."
"Are you sure? We're always here." Raph smiles, giving her a sympathetic look.
She shakes her head and laughs a bit, "No no, really! It's fine! I'm okay, Raph. Thank you." She swallowed her piece.
"See, now that's what a girl who never backs down sounds like!" Leo puts his arm around her shoulders and grins cockily, then whispers into her ear.
"... Except for the fact that she backed down just for me~"
To be fair, he's right. But she only backed down because she knew it was wrong to drill her blade into his thick, hollow skull. So why on earth is he rubbing it all over her face now?
"I'm sorry," She chuckles, "what?"
"You heard me." Leo smirks, "Let me remind you of the girl who refused to let little ol' me lose the duel-"
Carmen's face scrunches up in an annoyed manner, and then elbows him right in the stomach.
Leo doubles over and coughs, wrapping his arms around his stomach tightly as he gasps sharply. Mikey and Raph's jaws drop for a moment, then they burst out into a fit of laughter, almost tearing up. "Oh my god! She got you good, Leo!" Raph laughed out as he pointed at Leo, who's in pain.
"Kidding! I was just-" He slowly straightens his posture, "I was just kidding! Joking!" He extends his hand towards her, offering a handshake.
"Truce? I totally won't say that again." Her eyes narrow down at his hand then shift back up to his eyes.
"Pull shit like that again and I'll hit you somewhere lower." Her hand extends to shake his hand.
Again, Leo decides to mess with her once more. He swiftly retracts his hand and snickers, "Too slow." he speeds out of the kitchen.
Carmen's eyes widen then her face shifts to a scowl as she realizes. "Hey! Get back here you little-" She starts chasing him, all over the lair.
Meanwhile with Raph and Mikey, they both watch the pair run out of the kitchen. They look back at each other and nod. "They'll get along eventually." "Positive."
Back to the two, she doesn't seem to back down nor stop chasing him, wanting to torture him. Leo keeps letting out giggles everytime he looks back and sees Carmen rapidly approaching him.
'Fuck this guy! Do I seriously have to deal with this everyday now?' She grumbles and lets out a frustrated sigh. "Ohohoho! You should see the look on your face right now!" He snickered as he pointed his finger at her.
"You are so dead, Leonardo!" A small flame appears on top of her head. She's stomping on the ground, little flames coming out of her heel at this point.
He takes sharp turns, jumping on furniture and the walls to boost himself. They've passed by the arcade, TV room, the Atrium, everything.
Until something catches Carmen's attention, something twinkling. It causes her to stop in her tracks and back pedal back to where she saw it.
"What the?..." Her eyebrows pull together as she slowly walks into the room, which seems to be a lab.
"Haha!- Guh? Carmen?" Leo stops in his tracks as well the second he senses her presence is elsewhere. He turns around and sees that Carmen is nowhere in sight.
"Carmen? Caarrmmyyy?" He scratches his temple and sighs. "Did she get lost again?" He murmured, now walking around the Lair looking for her.
Carmen doesn't hear Leo calling out to her, too distracted by all the inventions and devices scattered all around the lab. Carmen herself is a geek, thanks to her dad. She slides her hand down on one of the inventions, feeling every screw and wire. It brings a small smile to her face.
Then, she finally spots it. Her baby, lying on the desk.
(It's her scissors.)
"My sweet!" She cried. "Oh my banana pancakes!" Donnie yelped once he's disturbed, turning his stool around and locking his gaze on Carmen. Uh oh, busted.
He was very interested in Carmen's weapon, her scissors. He was fascinated by how it functioned in the battle arena. He needed to take a closer look, he couldn't help it.
She takes a moment to process what she's looking at, then eventually snaps. "Hey!- You- I- What are you-" She stammered, trying to find the right words to question Donnie with while slowly walking up to him with her fingers curled.
"Woah, woah, woah! Easy! I'm juuust taking a little looksie." The smart one quickly explained himself as he put his hands up in surrender. "Without my permission?" She says through gritted teeth.
He swallows, sweat beads forming on his temple. "I promise you I didn't tinker with it or anything!"
Carmen cocks an eyebrow and looks between the mutant and her scissors, then drifts to one of his inventions that seem to be in progress. "Ohoho, I see. You were going to take her apart piece-by-piece and use it for your own use! Smaaaart."
The way her tone sounds more and more annoyed is worrying Donnie. "W-Wha!?- God, no! And please stop calling it a her!" He sighs and stands up from his stool, "My apologies, I won't do it again."
"Swear?" Carmen squints her eyes at him. He lets out another sigh, "I swear-"
"On your soul?" She adds.
"Yes, I swear on my so-"
"Cross your heart?" She adds on again.
Donnie groans and clicks his tongue, "Cross my heart, hope to die. Now can we please-"
"Great. Now say all of that again with your hand up." The corner of her lips form a cocky smirk.
He scoffs and shakes his fist angrily, but puts his hand up anyway and closes his eyes. "I, Donatello, swear on my soul and cross my heart, hope to- what are you doing?" He peeked out of his eyelid.
While Donnie was saying his apology, Carmen made her way to one of the unfinished inventions and inspects it. As she looks at it, she rubs her chin and nods in approval, analysing each piece.
"Fascinating... You're working on this?" She compliments Donnie's work, staring at him with her cocky smirk still on display.
Donnie walks to her side and laughs pridefully, "Why, yes! Who else? You impressed?" He clears his throat and 'jazzes his hands' towards the device. "Presenting, the all new Donnie gadget!"
"That's just a laptop." "It's not just a computer, Carmen. No, no. It's a-" The laptop suddenly floats, growing jetpacks. "-flying laptop!"
He grins widely, feeling very proud of his work. Carmen chuckles, shaking her head then taking the device in hand. "A flying laptop? Huh, I guess that's something."
Donnie's eyes snap open in horror, "Ah-hey! Don't touch it! Hand it over!" He tries to get his laptop back from her.
Carmen leans back and lifts the laptop away from his reach, "What? No way! This is only fair; you tinker with my scissors, I tinker with your beloved laptop."
"I didn't tinker with your scissors! I swore!- even crossed my heart, for crying out loud!" He keeps on attempting to grab his device back, but to no avail. She's too fast, and smug. "C'mon, I said I was sorry!"
"Nyyope." She spins around and sits on his stool, then places the laptop on the desk. "Let's see what we have over hereee..." And with that, she grabs the soldering tool from the side, and starts continuing the remaining unfinished work.
He yelps and peeks over Carmen's shoulder, beginning to bite on his nails anxiously while he watches her work.
Donnie looks down at her hands in concern, very very, that's two very's- worried. Her fingers' grip on the tool is firm, just right. Her hands are steady yet swift, as well.
Carmen is actually... doing amazing.
His body slowly relaxes as Carmen works professionally, watching her finish his work up so quickly.
Wait, his work?!
He coughs into his fist and yanks the laptop away, "Alright-o! That's... that's enough." He checks on the wires and the circuitry work. It's almost similar to his! Donnie's eyes widen in surprise at the sight, amused, and even impressed.
Carmen leans against the desk and props her elbows up on the edge. "How did you.." Donnie looks up from the laptop in awe.
"You're not the only genius here, genius." She sticks her tongue out at him and giggles after.
"Huh." He turns his attention back to the laptop and proceeds inspecting Carmen's circuitry work. His eyebrows furrow, and he starts thinking, having an idea that could change everything.
It's been a little... lonely in the lab. Of course, Donnie likes it that way since he'd rather work alone. But he needs someone, anyone who'd want to listen to him rant about his inventions and such. Someone who has the same intellect. Sure, the Purple Dragons exist, but they're his rivals. April's amazing, but she's got school! (P.S. Sorry if this sounded mean, I love April. -Creator)
There's only one choice left...
Carmen clears her throat, pats herself down and rolls her shoulders. "I should get going, I've got an idiot to catch." She makes her way to the exit of the lab, but is stopped once Donnie calls out her name.
He walks up to her and waves his hands in circular motion, mustering up what he's gonna say. He reluctantly speaks to her, "Ahem, I must admit that your skills in tech are... impressive."
"I could, uh, maybe use you here." He shrugs and lets out an awkward chuckle.
Her eyes light up and her ears perk up, a slight flame piping out the top of her head. "Wait, forrealsies? You're- you're asking me to be-"
"Yes, I'm asking you to be my assistant. A co-worker, if you will." He extends his hand towards her,
"Whaddya say?"
They lock eyes for a moment, just for a moment. Carmen ponders about Donnie's offer.
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She gives him a half-smile and grabs his hand, finally accepting it. "I know full well that it took you a lot of balls to say that."
He dramatically clutches his plastron, "Oh god, yeah. I think I need to go lie down."