Arriving to the lair with the eerie silence that followed, the quiet, svelte lavender masked turtle sulked to his lab. He knew he was being irrational, but he wanted to be alone. He trusted Peridot, questionably loved her, but she betrayed him and his brothers. What didn't help is that he still believed that she was a good person, someone he could forgive, and no matter what he did, she was still on his mind. His brothers who were in the living room had different thoughts.
"I can't believe we just followed Peridot to Shredder's!" Leader of his brothers who wore an azure mask was in rage, he knew that they shouldn't have trusted her from the beginning but his brother's blind faith in the girl clouded his judgement, the whole team's judgement. "I knew something was off about her. Mikey," the saying of the tangerine-clad turtle's name stopped him in the process of eating a cheesy slice of pizza, "did you have the same feeling?" Leonardo asked for his youngest brother's opinion on Peridot.
"Wha- um, yeah, sure." The tangerine masked turtle wasn't paying attention to his brother's fuming rage of the recent betrayal by Peridot, but the young turtle knew he said the right thing as the fearless leader, Leonardo continued to fume aloud.
"What about you Raph?" Leo turned to his other brother who was in the living room with him.
"Sure." Raph wasn't focused on Leo's fuming conversation, Raph was caught up paying attention to his T-phone, texting with Casey Jones about the odd behaviour of another female, April O'Neil, a girl who has known the turtles for awhile now, but has had a recent change in demeanor.
"She was definitely off." Leo fumed and sat on the couch, for a short second, Raph could have sworn he was talking about April, but by his rage he knew it was about Peridot.
"Whatever," Raph mumbled, he was more focused on his conversation with Casey than his brother.
"Peridot just reminds Leo of Karai." Mikey smiled through a mouthful of pizza, and wiggled his eyebrows at the slight tint of rose that was on the eldest's cheeks.
"She does not." The blushing Leo stated defensively, "She does not remind me of Karai," Leo repeated, "She's different. Karai isn't like the others, and I think we might be able to deflect her other to our side." He suggested, trying to hide his true feelings for the bi-colored hair girl.
Raph couldn't help but roll his chartreuse eyes at his brothers, "You just had to bring up Karai, didn't you, Mikey?"
The youngest turtle smiled widely through his mouth full of pizza and shrugged his shoulders innocently. Raph rolled his eyes playfully at his youngest brother who was known for being the comedian of the family. Raph, with his new found energy, walked over to the punching bag and landed a few solid punches on the bag.
"What about Alopex, Raph?" The leader asked his brother, Raphael could feel a slight blush burn on his cheeks.
"She's just a fox," He said, more to convince himself than his brothers, "She's trying to be sly. She's an enemy."
"He doesn't want to admit he likes her!" Mikey exclaimed with a kissy face, emphasizing his point across his brothers.
"Be quiet, Mikey!" Raph scolded his brother, "Don't you think we shouldn't be talking about girls when Donnie's in the next room? Probably crying, too."
"Why would he be crying?" Leo's question was head stupidly in his brother's ears, it was obvious to them that Donnie fell for the lime haired girl, Donnie falling hard for her.
"He clearly had a crush on her!" Raph snapped at his clueless brother, but it was true, Donnie fell in love with a girl who was incapible of loving.
"What about April? I thought he liked her?" Leo asked, clearly left in the dark of relationships with his brothers.
"April has been nothing but a jerk to him." Raph snapped, just the other day he saw April teasing Donnie, in which it was more of insulting than playing, but as it was Donnie, he couldn't tell.
"It's not like Peridot's any nicer." Leo grummbled, which was mainly the truth, and his brothers knew it. But one thing they didn't know, was that the lime haired girl waited just outside of the lair. This time, she came for a noble reason, she came to apologize. She honestly didn't know what Shredder was going to do, but now she knew. She escaped from him, but she knew it was bigger than that. He personally knew where she lived, which meant Peridot was not the only one in danger, but her mother. Her mother who risked everything for her daughter, even her life of good to protect the one she loves the most. Her mother worked with the Purple Dragons to give her daughter a good life in a bad world, the day that her mother couldn't protect her little girl anymore crushed her. Now it was Peridot's turn to risk everything for the only person who cared about her. It was Peridot's turn to work with an unlikely force to protect the one she loves, even after going against them before. Peridot had to get the turtles trust, or it might be the end for both her mother and herself.
"Donnie shouldn't be played around with like some girl's doll," Raph growled."Everytime he likes a girl, they betray him." Raph didn't know if he was talking about Peridot or April.
"Donnie just doesn't know who he should or shouldn't love." Leo admitted, first it was April who played him along, and Peridot who betrayed them all.
"They shouldn't do that, especially to Don. But the next girl he likes, I'm going to threaten." Raph growled, thinking of the times Donnie has been heartbroken.
"If. If he likes another girl again." Mikey added in.
Peridot leaned closer to the lair, wanting to know if the brothers truely cared about Donnie, and if she made the biggest mistake of her life, betraying Donatello. Her foot slipped off of the edge she stood on, the noise made her snap back into the shadows, her view of the lair conpletely gone. She froze with her back pressed against the wall, and out of view of the lair. She heard the light treads of feet approach her, her feet itched to run away, but her mind told her to stay. If she ran, she would have no one to help her, which meant her and her mother could get killed by the Shredder's hand. She forced herself to stay put, the drumming of her heart pounded in her ears. She had no idea what could happen, they could kill her, torture her, reject her, kidnap her, or send her back to the Shredder. The thought of returning to Shredder send chills down her spine, she would rather be tortured than go back to that monster. Her stone blue eyes looked towards the lair, the footsteps ceased. A blur of azure hopped infront of her, she felt a green hand grab the hem of her shirt and pull her off of the ground. The hand swung her towards the light of the lair. She then felt the presence of three sets of eyes on her, a chartreuse pair, an arctic pair, and the admiral blue eyes that belonged to the turtle who hoisted her up.
"Look who decided to show up." She was shocked by the venom in Leonardo's voice.
"I can't wait to bash your head in." Raphael's growl mixed with an icy venom made Peridot regret coming to them for help.
"We can talk this out!" Her voice came out more as a plead than an agressive shout.
"And why would we do that, huh?" Raph taunted the girl, the poison of hatrid pulsing through his veins.
"Because I-"
"Because what?" Leo barked viciously, cutting her voice off.
"Peridot?" A softer, and gentler voice questioned, all eyes landed on the lavender masked Donatello who stood just outside of his lab, "What are you doing here?"
"I came to apologize." She stated promptly, the fear leaving her body. Leo slowly lowered her to the ground, his hand lingering on her before he retracted it, but his glare still remained. A slight snicker left Rapah's mouth, him promptly covering it with his hand.
"What's so funny, Raphael?" Peridot's voice came slightly snarled.
"You really want to apologize, after everything you did to my brother?" He shouted at her, her heart was peirced by his words. He directed it to Donatello, not to all of them, only Donatello.
"I did come to apologize," She snapped at him, "Or would you rather I go to Shredder and tell him the exact location of where you live?" Peridot growled, as much as she didn't want to return to Shredder, she would if their was no other option.
"Go ahead," Raph growled. Peridot froze looking at him, if he was being honest, she would have to return to him. No one else was brave enough to rebel against Shredder, it was either with Shredder or with the turtles. The only thing Peridot could resource to was threatening them more, make them believe that they had a threat that they needed to turn to their side. Though her plan sounded ridiculous, it was her last hope.
"Hey, I was trying to turn a new leaf. If you have a problem with it, I will go back to Shredder, and personly tell him to kill you all. I have a choice, you or Shredder, and I'm leaning towards Shredder." She lied swiftly, enough that she could tell it stroke fear in Michelangelo and Donatello, breifly fazed Leonardo, but Raphael was resilient as ever.
"Go ahead." He growled, there was no pity in his eyes, only hatred towards the fearful Peridot.
"No!" Donnie pushed through towards Peridot, "Don't go. I-if you're being honest, th-that you want to apologize, stay here."
"What?" Raph snapped towards Donnie, "Forgive her? After everything she did to us? To you?" Raph questioned him with fury, only to recieve a glare from the admiral eyed leader himself.
"Yeah," Donnie said with a small smile while looking down at Peridot, "I am going to forgive her." A small smile rose to Peridot's face, causing a blush to blossom on Donnie's cheeks. "C-come on," Donnie stuttered at the girl, "I-i'll show you around." He remembered how she wasn't able to see all of the lair when she was here. They both walked side-by-side closer to the living room. A small conversation between the two, which lead them to be off track, until Peridot pulled them back towards the subject of a tour.
"Now are you going to show me around or what?" She teased with the tall turtle.
"I gave you a short one when you were here before." He commented with a remaining small smile.
"It wasn't a very good tour." She added playfully, with a small smile in her lips. Then a thought crossed Donnie's mind, if this was just another trick. His heart lurched in his chest believing the thought, and his hate spat out before he could catch up,
"That's because you were too worried about snapping our heads of getting out of here so you could place a tracker and be done with us." He hissed at her, she only stared at him before looking at the ground. A silence crossed over them, "A-anyway, um." He lead the silent girl to the dojo.
"I didn't want to do it." her voice was quiet, as soft as a whisper in a blowing wind, but Donnie managed to catch it.
"You didn't have to."
Her fists clentched and her head whipped up to glare at him, "I didn't have much of a choice!" She shouted at him both fear and hatred coursed through her shout. Her demeanor changing quickly from a small girl to one that was broken, afraid, and one that reeked of a girl who hated herself more than others hated her. She shook her head slightly and looked away from him, "I shouldn't have told you that." She mumbled.
"Peridot, I-"
"Donnie," She snapped cutting him off, "It's none of your business, okay?" Another silence settled over them. Neither of them knew what to say,
"I should go." Peridot said without looking at Donnie, "I apologized and now I should go."
"Y-you don't have to, Peridot." Donnie stuttered, not truely sure about his feelings for the conflicting girl.
"No, it's fine Donnie. Besides, it will probably be better if I left anyways."
Donnie stared at the girl, he didn't want her to leave, but he knew she wanted to leave. Her own heartbreak of a secret leaked through her voice before, but Donatello's heartbreak was one of a true love for someone.
"O-okay." He stuttered, his gut clentching and telling him not to let her leave, "I can lead you back to the surface, i-if you want."
"It's fine Donnie, I can handle myself."
He watched as the girl walk out of the dojo, he stepped out of the dojo to watch her leave the lair. Once her line colored hair disappeared into the darkness of the lair, Donnie silently walked to his lab. He knew it was the right decision to let her leave, but he also didn't want her to leave. Only a few minures passed before Mikey walked into his lab.
"So," he stated and leaned against Donnie's desk, "You and Peri?" Donnie felt the familiar burn of a blush on his cheeks as his brother suggested a relationship between the two.
"What?" Donnie questioned shocked, was his feelings for the girl so obvious?
"You clearly have a thing for her, like you did April." Donnie turned to see Mikey with a wide smile on his face, both of them truly knew that it was true,
"S-sure." Donnie stuttered, unsure if he did have feelings for the girl, but the aching in his stomach told him otherwise.
"Why else would you have forgiven her?" Mikey questioned, but the truth was, Donnie wasn't sure, he didn't want to tell himself that it was the truth,
"Reasons." Donnie wanted to believe that their were truly reasons behind him forgiving the girl, besides the familiar burn of passion in his heart.
"Like love." Mikey cooed to his brother.
"N-no!" The blush was now evident on his face.
"Then what is it?" A bickering fight broke out between the two.
"It's complicated!"
"Complicated?"
"You wouldn't understand, Mikey."
"Come on D-"
A tone echoed through the room, Donnie pulled out his T-Phone, grateful that his feelings for the girl would no longer be questioned by his younger brother,
"Yes?" He questioned the silent line.
******
The lime haired girl walked through the rain and to her small, beat up apartment. She climbed the fire escape to reach her room, throwing open the dirty window she climbed into her room with looked worst than her building. Her science equipment was slathered across her desks along with papers, many more papers which were scattered all across her room's floor, as well as equipment which were splattered across her room as if they were black bots on a large piece of white paper. She dodged her messed room and opened her door to find a silent and disgraced house.
"Mom?" She called out worried, her voice echoed through the house, her voice bouncing through the empty apartment.
"Mom?" She shouted again, fear trickling into her voice and ran through the trashed house, calling her mother's name multple times, her fear of losing her mother streaming into her voice with each call. Tears pricked the girl's eyes, fear coursing through her veins.
"Not again." She muttered and searched through the house again, not wanting the believe the nightmare she came across. No note, no mother. She darted to her room as a fearful mouse would dart into its mouse hole, she tripped over one of her microscopes and scattered equipment while she reached for her phone. After stretching to grab the phone, she dialed a fimilar number that made her heart calm only slightly,
"Pick up." She muttered repetitively, the fear that even he wouldn't pick up to help her echoed through her body.
"Yes?" The voice asked confused.
"Donnie!" She proclaimed, "I can't find her." Her voice was one of a broken girl with no hope. The possibility of the one person who truly cared about her being dead, send shivers down her spine, Peridot could only trust a few now, and those few wanted her dead. Peridot would have to work with the turtles in order to save her mother, that is, if the turtles would help her.
~End of Chapter~
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Chapter by K