Ninja Turtles 1. Chapter 1

**Waste Away**

**I don't own TMNT.  
**

Summary: "What? I was hungry." "Enough to follow a stranger?" "Enough to follow a pink alien cow if I had to."

Chapter 1:

"Oh, you poor thing," the man said softly to the girl in front of him. Reaching inside his coat, he pulled out his wallet and took out all the money. The girl's eyes widened. Was he seriously going to give her everything he had? But then her hopes deflated when he took one bill from what looked like a dozen bills and handed her the one. It was a one dollar bill. The girl grabbed the dollar out of his hand with intended force and glared at him. The man's eyes widened before he turned to walk away, muttering things. She only caught the word 'ungrateful' and rolled her eyes. The girl stuffed the money in the pocket of her worn black jacket and stood up from where she was sitting on a bench. She shivered from the cold November breeze and tightened the scarf around her neck.

_Don't forget your scarf, Di. _

Diana shook her head and tried to force her older sister's voice and smile out of her head. She intended to get rid of the scarf her sister had given her (the one that she was wearing) as soon as she got enough money to buy another one. At least, that's what she tried to tell herself. She knew she wouldn't do that any time soon.

"Now…what to do with this dollar…?" Dianna asked herself. Almost as if on cue, her stomach growled.

"Food it is then," she said, ignoring the stares directed to her. Then she frowned. It was late out now. Where was she supposed to find food? Plus, she only had a dollar. This would most likely limit her chances of getting food. Then, feeling the strap of the case on her back beginning to slip, she readjusted it.

Her brow furrowed.

"This sucks," she concluded.

Incredibly enough, she found a food cart in a park after twenty minutes of searching and telling her stomach to 'shut up' whenever it growled. Dianna licked her lips as she neared the cart. She stopped when she heard a rustle. Turning around, she saw a big figure in a trench coat and hat step out from behind the trees. No, wait – make that _four_ big figures. Upon noticing the suspicious look the four were receiving from her, two of the figures smiled nervously and waved while the other two turned away and walked to a nearby bench. What confused her was that the latter didn't even sit down on the bench. They just…stood there.

Diana considered continuing to stare, but the impatient complains from her stomach told her it wasn't worth it. She headed towards the cart. Hearing footsteps behind her, she assumed the two previous figures (that were waving) had also wanted to get something to eat. When she was finally in front of the cart, the bored teenager younger than her blew a bubble from the gum he was chewing. Soon, it popped. Diana didn't care.

"Got anything for a dollar?" Diana asked.

"Hm…" He popped another bubble. "Let me check."

Sensing someone behind her, she turned around to see the two figures again. Instantly, they turned their heads away. One of them started whistling. Diana snickered and turned back to the bored employee.

"Nope. Nothing. Nada."

How nice.

A growl escaped Diana's lips, soon followed by one by her stomach. Sighing, she stalked to the nearest bench to sulk. Aware that someone was staring at her, she raised her lowered head and saw the other two figures. They looked away immediately, just as the others had. Bringing her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them, she vaguely wondered _why_ before resting her chin on her knees. Though they seemed like they were hiding something, they didn't feel dangerous. She ignored as the black case on her back slid down onto the bench from her change of position.

_Interesting…_she thought.

_Is it really?_ said another voice in her head.

"Shut up," she said verbally by accident, just as her stomach growled. She sighed as she felt the stares come back. She looked up again to see all four of them staring at her. Her eyes instantly locked on the food two of them were holding. Diana felt heat rushing to her cheeks from the embarrassment of talking out loud by accident, and from the frustration she felt from not being able to obtain any food. Without offering the strangers any explanation, she got to her feet before her stomach could growl again and started walking away, all the while dragging her case with her.

"Damn Karma…" Dianna muttered. Seriously, what had she done to deserve all this? All this _crap_ that just had to happen to her for the past month?

The two strangers who were holding food glanced at each other.

"Uh…hey, wait up girl!" one of them shouted. Surprised, she stopped and turned around to see the two holding food walk towards her, closing the distance she had previously set. When they were about 3 feet away from her, they stopped. Looking behind them, she could see that the other two were also surprised. Maybe slightly angry too. Reverting her attention back to the pair in front of her, she cocked her eyebrow in question.

"Well, you see," one of them said, "we had some extra, um, food…"

"…And…?" Diana asked, telling him to continue.

This time the other one spoke.

"We were wondering if you…wanted it."

Diana cocked her head and blinked in confusion.

He scratched his head and continued. "Because, you know, we noticed that you were hungry and…you don't have enough money, right?"

His last statement caused Diana to flush and look away in shame. Nonetheless, he held out a bag for her, which she hesitantly took. After muttering her thanks, it seemed that the nervousness all of them had felt earlier vanished. This was confirmed when both of them grinned. Diana smiled slightly.

"Hey, it's no prob-"

"AAAAHHHHHH!!!" a girly scream interrupted him. Everyone turned towards the cart and saw the previous teenager running away towards the street, narrowly dodging a car. Oh, and let's not forget the dozen of people completely covered in black and holding swords, sais, and…is that a rope?

"Oh shell…" one of the strangers muttered.

Blowing the stray strands of hair that had fell in front of her vision, Diana's grip on the case's band tightened. Her whole body was tense. She could tell that the four others were also tense.

_Onee-sama…? _Diana couldn't help but wonder. But on closer inspection, she found that they were indeed _not_ her sister's underlings. The uniform that these people wore was similar because of the black coloring. Almost everything else was different; the red fire-like symbol for example. Moreover, her sister never really liked everyone to look the same. It _confused_ her.

Diana let a small smile grace her lips as she stared at the sidewalk under her.

Of course, her sister would always say that she valued 'infidelity' as an excuse. Diana's smile turned bitter. Even when she's on the dark side, trying to kill her, she could still make Diana smile.

How ironic. Diana truly hated irony. Yet, she always found it amusing.

_Why is she smiling? _the person nearest to her thought. The smile sent chills down his spine.

Suddenly the men in black (haha) dashed at them. The four responded by pulling out their own individual weapons. While three of them sprinted towards the black new arrivals, one of them stayed behind.

"Hey! Stay here, okay?" He was talking to Diana. "Oh, but run like shell when you see an opportunity!"

Diana watched his retreating figure with a blank stare. Shell? She shook her head in disbelief. You know, the kind of disbelief you feel when you just learned your father stuck chopsticks up his nose at your aunt's wedding. Actually, Diana (and many others) had laughed at the act. Her mother was the one that shook her head in disbelief, but even she couldn't deny that there was some amusement on her face.

Each of the four trench coat clad individuals fought two black clad freaks. That meant that four of the freaks were left. Where were they? Headed straight towards Diana.

The closest one to Diana drew back his sword and jumped up, about to bring down his sword and draw blood. Reacting quickly, she pulled the case from behind her and blocked his attack. She did this with every other attempt made by them. She vaguely noted that she dropped her food. Thankfully, before Diana could get too annoyed and attack back, the group of four returned and knocked them out.

"Are you okay?"

Diana sighed. "Yeah, I'm fine. Hey, thanks for-"

Diana stared. They, with their coats and hats discarded, stared back. Diana kept staring at them. She opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out. Finally finding her voice, only one thing came to mind; excluding all the questions racing around her head.

"Turtles…"

The one with the red headband grunted.

"Turtles…with headbands," Diana said slowly. Diana, for her age, had seen and heard many things. _This_ was not part of those things.

"Um, yeah," the turtle with the purple headband said. "Aren't you…"

"Supposed to be screaming?" the turtle with the orange headband finished. "Like, y'know, how that guy working behind the cart did. Ha…that was funny."

Diana frowned. "Um…okay? I don't know…"

"Shock, perhaps?" Purple suggested.

"Highly likely," Diana replied, shrugging.

"Or maybe it's a result of-" Purple was cut off.

"Donny! That's not important right now," Blue said, narrowing his eyes at the girl in front of them. Purp – _Donny_ looked confused, but nonetheless waited for him to continue.

Blue took a step forward. "Who are you? How did you learn to block like that? Why are you so calm? What's your relationship with The Foot Clan? Answer the questions!"

Diana blinked. "Uh…I'm Diana and…I'm sorry, you were talking too fast. What?"

If possible, Blue's eyes narrowed even farther. Donny coughed. Blue opened his mouth to speak, but was pulled away before he could even say whatever it was he was going to say. All four of the turtles were huddled in a circle a few feet from the girl.

Diana rolled her eyes. Did they really think she wouldn't be able to hear them? Throughout the whole conversation, Diana was zoning in and out. So, of course, she could only hear the scraps of the discussion.

"I'm not sure…No money…The food…"

"Foot Clan…Where did she learn…You just pity…"

"Of course…Starving…"

"Self defense…Not uncommon…"

"Threat…Our family…Shredder…"

"She was smiling…"

"Freakin' Fearless Leader…"

The turtles made their decision. Thus, they turned around to talk to the girl.

Guess what?

She wasn't there anymore.


	2. Chapter 2

**Waste Away**

**I don't own TMNT.**

Summary: "What? I was hungry." "Enough to follow a stranger?" "Enough to follow a pink alien cow if I had to."

Chapter 2:

* * *

She had gotten sick of their conversation. It had made her feel ashamed. Diana had enough to be ashamed about. Besides, she had no intention of revealing them to the public. There, problem gone.

Her stomach growled.

Ok, so she still had one problem.

Finally caring about her surroundings, she found herself facing a wall. Turning around, she found a fence. Wait, how did she even get there? Diana sighed.

Ok, so two problems.

Just then, seven figures came out from the shadows and surrounded her, holding various sporting goods as weapons.

"Hand over your money, girl! We're the Orange Dragons!"

...It's official: someone up there must hate her. Maybe she did something in her past life to anger fate.

_Damn you, past me.  
_

+ WA +

"Shell!"

Raphael shouted out in frustration for the sixth time, successfully hitting the punching bag in front of him and disconnecting it from the ceiling. From the couch a few meters away, Michelangelo stared gloomily at the frayed pretzel bag in front of him. During the fight with the Foot, his food had gotten trampled, not unlike Diana's. Donatello sat next to his younger brother, wondering why he had bothered bringing even more trash into their home. Still, he couldn't help but feel nervous as his two older brothers continued on with their anger.

"How could we have let her…UGH!" Leonardo grumbled in frustration as he paced across the room. Leonardo stopped. "We have to find her!"

Donatello looked genuinely confused. "But…why? If it's because she saw us being, y'know, us, then there's not really anything to worry about."

"Yeah," Michelangelo agreed. "If she told anyone, they'd just think she was cookoo in the head." He made a gesture with one of his fingers, twirling it near his head in small circles.

"And it's not as if she knows where we live," Donatello pointed out.

+ WA +

Diana snickered at the memory of the expression on their faces when she showed them her one dollar bill. The leader of the group, a surprisingly thin character with sickly looking skin and yellow crooked teeth, had sneered at her. After a few colorful words were exchanged, the fight had begun. Their leader had ended up loosing four of his teeth.

She grabbed the strap of her violin case, which was actually a strong belt, and leaped over the fence with little effort. Walking out of the alley she didn't remember entering, she left the beat up gang still groaning behind her. She grinned at the newly acquired money she was now holding in her other hand. Then she stopped, remembering her manners.

Diana turned around and grinned at the seven people sprawled out on the alley. "Hey, thanks for the money!"

The leader, now sporting a black eye, used most of his effort to lift his head, intending to give the girl a piece of his mind. He instantly lowered his head, hurting his forehead in the process, when he saw she was gone. He groaned.

The boss was going to kill him.

But hey, as long as he didn't use that speech about how different they were from the Purple Dragons, he'd be fine. But before he blacked out, fate decided to play a trick on him, making him remember the first few lines of said speech he was doomed to hear.

_Soon the time will be upon us to seek revenge! Now, let us scoff at the Purple Dragons! What kind of men wear purple anyway? The color is orange, people. ORANGE._

+ WA +

Diana loved convenience stores that were open 24/7, she really did. Where else would you get not-really-crappy coffee and nachos at 2 A.M. in the morning? Because if there was any other place for that kind of thing, she'd go there in an instant. Food here wasn't very good…But how else was she going to stay up all night?

New York was a hard place to live in, you know; especially if you had no place to actually live in. Normally Diana would break into a car with a coat hanger and spend the night in the car, not worrying about "nightly visitors," but she had lost her coat hanger. It had probably dropped when she was fighting those "Orange Dragons." Those people were not going to go places. Except maybe jail.

_Well_, Diana thought as she sipped her coffee, _at least I've got some money._

$43, to be exact. A nice find; more than she had expected.

She took another sip of her coffee. Upon seeing something move in her peripheral, she turned her head to stare at the roof of the building to her left.

Nothing was there.

Diana frowned. _I could've sworn I saw shadows moving on the rooftops…_

Then she looked down and glared accusingly at the cheap coffee in her hands before throwing it out in a nearby trash bin.

+ WA +

"Okay," Michelangelo said, hiding behind a chimney. "That was close."

"Too close for comfort…" Donatello commented.

Leo narrowed his eyes as they followed Diana sitting down on a bench, muttering things. "…Why would someone be out so late?"

The group had _"unanimously"_ decided to go around the city for one last night patrol ("It's 2 A.M.!" Donatello proclaimed. "It's not like you're doing anything important," Leonardo said. "I was _**sleeping**_." "_Was_."). They just happened to spot Diana as she was heading out of a convienence store. Pure coincidence. Really.

When Michelangelo let out a gasp, his brothers snapped their heads in his direction.

"What is it?" Leo asked.

"She's eating those nachos without cheese!" he answered in quiet horror, pointing a shaking finger at Diana. "Who would do such a despicable thing?"

Don groaned at the same time Leo growled. Raph hit the youngest of the four on his head.

"I think there are more important things to worry about, idiot," Raph hissed, glaring.

"But she's eating them the wrong way!" he exclaimed rather loudly.

+ WA +

"Shut up!" the other three hissed as they dived back behind their respective hiding places.

"…wrong way!" Diana heard.

"Huh?"

She looked around, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Maybe the nachos were stale…not that she was going to throw those away.

She shook her head. It was probably a high teenager or something, she mused as she continued to eat her nachos. As the chips were disappearing, they were starting to taste bland. Maybe she should have bought the cheese that went along with it.

"Starting to regret something?" came a voice from behind her. Diana turned around so quickly that she dropped the last of her nachos. Dismissing them, she focused on the strange man in front of her. He wore a beaten trench coat and a matching hat. Though the large hat on his head hid his eyes, she could still make out wavy blond hair. White teeth grinned as he reached up and moved his hair behind his ear. Normally, such a small action would go by unnoticed or be labeled insignificant, and just as she was about to do just the latter, the moonlight reflected something. A silver earring. Spherical and cracked at the front on purpose. And despite the distance, the small Amethyst burried inside glinted brightly, as if the light was trying to escape through the cracks.

Diana felt her heart stop. This wasn't happening.

"Nice earing, right?" he cheerily claimed. "Your sister really is creative."

Their uncle had been a blacksmith. Diana's older sister was interested one day and demanded to be taught the trade. Weeks filled with effort (and some complaining) later, she'd made her very first piece of work. It was small and a little crude, but it was no doubt interesting. It could hold your gaze for a while. Beaming with pride, her sister had clasped it on to her favorite cat of five and proclaimed him royalty. The cat got hit by a car two weeks later. That was four years ago.

_This must be her new clan symbol or something,_ Diana thought bitterly. At least now she'll be able to recognize the people who follow her.

"Your sister's told us a lot about you," she heard the stranger say.

Diana didn't answer. She felt she couldn't move, but clutched on tightly to her case's strap.

This wasn't happening. Not now. Not so soon.

_She wasn't ready to see her sister._

Not noticing the girl's struggle, or deciding to ignore it, the stranger skipped - yes, skipped - closer to her. Circling around her in an observing manner, Diana could see from the small distance that the boy was a few years older than her. Around 19. About her sister's age.

"Hmm..." The boy nodded in approval. "You pass."

"...What?" Confusion almost overlapped Diana's apprehension.

"Come on." He started walking back into the alley. "I'll show you the way."

The way to her sister, he didn't say. He didn't need to.

"...I'm not going to follow a stranger." That was just an excuse. They both knew it.

"Then call me Roll. Nice to personally meet you, Diana. Now, come on. We don't have much time, you know? Your sister..."

Diana sighed. "Hates waiting. I know."

+ WA +

"Whoa. Who's the dude?" Michelangelo said. He leaned over the rooftop trying to get a better look, but they disappeared behind a corner too soon. The hand that had been supporting him slipped, and the mutant turtle started to plunge down, for a second; Donatello and Raphael had quickly grabbed hold of his shell and pulled him back.

"I don't know," said Leonardo with narrowed eyes, "but we're going to find out."

In the background, the youngest of the four had a hand over his rapidly beating chest. "That was too close for comfort," he gasped. Raphael rolled his eyes and turned to Donatello. Pointing to the idiot on the floor, he asked,

"Are you sure we're related to him?"

His answer was a shrug.

+ WA +

Diana was _annoyed_. Despite him having said they didn't have much time, they had been walking at a casual place. He even took the time to randomly spin like a drunk balerina every once in a while. It wasn't until just recently that Roll had stopped his _annoying_ humming.

"Are we there yet?" the _annoyed _Diana questioned. They'd been walking, taking 'shortcuts' and questionable turns for at least 20 minutes now. The fact that the strange man still held a grin only further _annoyed _her.

"Almost~!" he answered in an _annoying _sing-songy voice as he _annoyingly _continued to skip to his destination.

Diana was more _annoyed_. And just when she was considering the option of **busting his head in **with a swing of her case, he stopped, threw his hands up in the air and screamed. In shock, Diana screamed, which caused him to scream again. This continued for a little while until Diana growled and threatened to kick him.

"Why'd you stop?" she demanded.

"Because we're here," he said, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. All Diana saw was an alley with a manhole. Just where else could they possibly...

"Oh, heck no," she said once she realized what he meant.

"But don't you want to see your sister?"

"..." She narrowed her eyes dangerously. "I don't like you."

"Well, that just made part of my job easier then! Of course, that comes later. Now..." He crouched down in front of the manhole and moved the cover. "Ladies first," he beamed.

And that was how, for the first time, Diana ended up in the sewers of New York City.

* * *

- **A/N **-

It's also how Roll got a bruised arm, but that's not very important to the story. Plus, it wouldn't have sounded like a good ending.

BTW. About Roll's name...Yeah, it just popped up. I don't know. D:

Also, thank **Child of the Gypsies** for pointing something out to me in this chapter, which is basically that you might not get the whole meaning of the **earring's significance**. Basically, Diana's sister has a clan. Like the Purple Dragons, the Foot Clan, and the Shredder. They're all clans, in a way, and they all have ways to prove it. The Purple Dragons all have a purple dragon somewhere. The Foot Clan's symbol is...well, a foot. The Shredder has that special, sharp-looking armor and his trademark claws. The earring, in this case, is now Diana's sister's symbol-thingy.

Glad that's cleared up. Please, tell me if there's anything more confusing or wrong. I'll fix it.

Carry on with your awesomeness, readers. Have a nice day, and thanks for reading.


	3. Chapter 3

**Waste Away**

Chapter 3:

* * *

"Dude...they just went..." Michelangelo trailed off, his finger pointing to the manhole Diana and her acquaintance had entered.

"I know," Leonardo grunted.

"But that's, like, right next to where we..."

"I know."

Michelangelo suddenly gasped. "So she DOES know where we live!" He gasped a second time, pointing his finger accusingly at Donatello. "You LIED! You're working for her, aren't you?"

Raphael slapped him over the head, causing him to slump.

"Duuuude... will you stop hitting me after every little stupid thing?"

Donatello raised a brow. "Why don't you just stop doing stupid things? _Then _you wouldn't get hit."

Raphael snorted. "Please, Don, this is Mikey we're talking about. Why, he's the very _definition_ of stupid."

"Oh? And what are you, Raph? What's YOUR definition?" Mikey asked in mock anger. "Phlegmatic? I bet that's it, huh? HUH?"

Pause.

"...Mikey," Donatello started tentively. "Do you even know what that means?"

"I HAVE NO FLIPPIN' IDEA!" he grinned.

Two blocks south of the group, a light turned on lit up a window. Words angry and loud enough came flying at them:

"SHUT UP, YOU CRAZY TEENAGERS! IT'S LATE, DAMMIT!"

More people woke up. More words were shouted.

"SHUT UP, OLD MAN."

"SHUT UP, STRANGER!"

"SHUT UP, ALL OF YOU!"

"MOOOOOOOOO!"

Donatello let out a long, tired sigh, and said, "The Shredder, strange happenings, weird... people. Sometimes I think there's something seriously wrong with New York City, guys."

"Let's go," instructed Leonardo once he realized they were wasting time. "We're following them."

"Like we weren't already..." Mikey mumbled.

+ WA +

Diana sneezed. Not only were the sewers definitely smelly, but they were also cold this time of year. Or maybe they were as cold all year like they were as smelly. She'd never been in a sewer until now - how was she supposed to know?

It has been about 10 minutes since she'd jumped down the manhole. Diana had gotten bored a good while ago and decided to verbally list all the things she saw along the way. Possibly just hoping to annoy Roll over there. Possibly. But then Roll had to _join in_ on the little game. And honestly? Said game was making her slightly nauseous.

"Hey," Roll spoke excitedly, "There's another dead rat over there!"

"Great," Diana awknowledged tepidly. "Just great. What is this, the fifth one?"

"Nah, I think it's the seventh. Oooh, and it has rabies!"

"...I find your enthusiasm over dead animals just _a little_ concerning."

"Oh? How come? They're - They're _so cute_, though!" And then he actually _squealed. _Diana looked at him like he had just grown a giraffe's neck, but quickly shook her head and grumbled.

"Ugh, forget it."

They continued walking in the sewers, with Roll leading the way and Diana hoping to see less animal corpses. And that's when she noticed them, the tiniest glints of purple hue scattered in the darkest shadows of the sewer.

She saw them from the corner of her eyes, took a quick glance, and they were gone.

Flickering, like some of the stars she saw through the choking lights of New York City.

Following her, like the nightmares that made her afraid of sleeping.

Purple_._ Like an Amethyst. Like the one that Roll wore. Like the one that her sister made, years and years ago.

_**Following her**_.

Diana let this all sink in. And then she thought, _Oh shit_.

+ WA +

"So how long are we going to keep following this girl?" Mikey muttered to Raph and Don in a hushed tone. Leonardo was leading the group, unsurprisingly, with an almost grim determination and was a ways ahead of them. Raphael barely glanced back at his brother before he turned a corner.

"Maybe until his ego dies," Raph muttered back, still following Leonardo like the rest of them.

"So, never?"

"Pretty much."

Don decided to speak for the first time since they entered the sewers. "Come on, guys. He's not _that_ bad."

Stare.

"...What?"

**Stare**.

"...Oh, forget you people," mumbled Don defeatedly under his breath. And while Don passed them with a roll of his eyes, the two high-fived each other with grins. Their answer to winning an "argument" with no words was simple: widen your eyes so much that it's scary and beat your opponent down with the power of awkwardness. So far, to their credit, it's worked every time. Who would have thought?

+ WA +

Diana bit down on her lower lip. If her family therapist was still alive and saw that, he would have labeled it a "habitual action formed by nervousness and blah blah blah..."

Yeah. She never really listened to him when he wasn't giving her tips on how to find her opponent's emotional and mental weaknesses. Other than that, he was a pretty apathetic person. To everyone's surprise, he died while pushing a small boy out of a speeding car's way. They'd all misjudged him. The only person who didn't cry at his funeral was her father, who was too stubborn and strong to cry.

"Anything wrong?" Roll asked, his footsteps falling short. "You stopped walking. I mean, if it's to gawk at my pure awesomeness, that's completely understand - "

Diana frowned. "This is an ambush, isn't it?"

The smile that had clung to Roll's face the whole night slipped just slightly. But then the corners of this lips rose to the point that smiling looked painful. "Well, you just HAD to ruin the surprise, didn't you?" He sounded outrage, but his insane grin and the way he held his body - eyes shadowed and arms flailing around - made the anger seem fake.

Still, something made the hairs on Diana's neck stand on end, and she took a small step back.

And the people following her like predicted took a step from the shadows, coming out of their hiding spots. Thankfully, there were no more than a dozen. None of them looked like they had anything in common. Their ages and clothes seemed to vary so much that they might as well have been people who just randomly decided to explore the sewers. Except, Diana knew better. Especially when she saw that they were all adorning an Amethyst in some way - belt, necklace, brooch, ring...

God, she was really beginning to hate that color. And jewel.

"But..." Roll started, letting his arms fall to his side. "There is one more thing your sister wanted to show you. Why don't you just... play along and keep following me?"

Diana smiled. "Sure. And why don't I give you the rest of my money while I'm at it?"

Then she deadpanned and said, "What are you, an idiot? I - " She let the sentence die in her throat when a very loud, dull but also very noticable rumble shook the grounds. Diana glanced down at the yellow water near her feet and saw multiple ripples.

A second quake occured, the force doubled.

Questioningly, she looked back up at Roll. It did nothing good for her uneasiness when Roll's face turned white with some kind of horrible realization.

"Uh... You wouldn't happen to know what that was, would you?"

+ WA +

"What the shell was that?" Mikey asked after feeling the two - now three - short quakes that shook the ground. They just kept getting stronger, too, with the next one always more violent than the last.

They all heard Leonardo growl. "I knew that girl was up to no good."

Donatello sighed in exasperation. "Leo, you can't just automatically assume everything bad that happens is the girl's fault. We don't even know her!"

"Donny. From the way she dodges, it's obvious she has fighting experience. She also carries around a weird violin case, even though I haven't seen a violin, and she's up at 2 AM in the morning, meeting with someone who looks even more shady. You can't tell me she isn't suspicious!"

"Okay, so she's a _little_ suspicious, but that doesn't mean she's aiming to enslave the world or whatever! Have a little faith, Leo. Not everyone besides us is evil."

"They all wear black, though. Have you guys ever noticed that?" Mikey put in, unknowingly destroying the tense atmosphere that had been created by his brothers.

Leonardo rubbed his temples. "Alright. Let's just - "

"Guys!" Raphael grunted. "We've got company."

All four of them turned their attention up ahead, where the sewer split four ways like an intersection. And just across from them was an outline of a mob of about a dozen people, rushing straight towards them.

Raphael growled and readied his weapon, his brothers following suit. "Wanna fight, huh? Fine. Come and ge - "

"RUN FOR YOUR LIVES!" one of men shouted, running straight pass the turtles like his life depended on it.

"Every man for himself!" another excaimed. The ninja turtles watched on in confusion as every single last one of them sprinted pass them in a panic, not even wasting time to glance their way.

(Though, a few of the slower ones settled for hiding inside random pipes).

"Well, I... didn't expect _that_," Leonardo admitted, rubbing the back of his head.

"Ha! I bet we scared them so much that they just ran!" Michaelangelo laughed. "Man, how awesome are _we_?"

"Uh... guys..." Donatello said, staring with wide eyes at something behind them.

Nobody seemed to have heard him.

"_Guys_." His voice was interestingly high the second time around.

Leonardo and Raphael turned around, only to join their brother in gapping, but Mikey continued pointing at the direction the mob ran in, snickering and being an overall sore winner.

"Holy shell..." Leonardo breathed. "Mikey, shut up and turn around."

Finally, Mikey wiped a tear from the corner of his eye and turned around. Slowly, the grin plastered on his face fell as the shadow of the beast in front of them settled comfortable around their figures. Fierce, orange eyes glared daggers at them.

Mikey chuckled nervously. "Well, hello there Mr. Orange Dragon. You live in the sewers too?"

His words seemed to snap something inside the dragon, as the monster leaned back on its hind legs to let out a gruesome roar that shook the air.

"I think that's our cue to run!" Donny said. He would have already been running away, if his brothers weren't so persistant and stuborn and actually _thinking about going against an orange freaking dragon. _

"Psh. We've faced scarier and uglier things before!" Raphael declared, readying his weapons once more. "We can take him!"

"But we can't take all of _**them**_," Leonardo said, pointing behind the massive creature.

Raphael cursed. "Are those what I think they are?"

"An army of little, midget dragons?" Donny offered. "Yes. Yes, it is. Shall we run for our lives?"

They didn't need to be told twice. Er, I mean thrice. It certainly helped them that the original dragon was so large, his speed was not his current strong point. And even if the smaller dragons could move around the former with ease, they were... well... _small. _To a normal human, their attacks would have caused harm, yes. But to a group of mutant ninja turtles? Annoying at best.

Still, they ran because of the much bigger threat. Plus, the thought of being swarmed by a bunch of tiny reptiles wasn't very pleasant.

"Hey, if that's the Daddy Dragon, and those are his kids," Mikey commented through his panting, "Where's the Mommy Dragon?"

+ WA +

"You suck," Diana hissed to the person running alongside her. "What the hell were you thinking? _Mating them_? Really? _**Really**_?"

"How many times to I have to tell you? It. Is not. My fault!" Roll hissed right back. They both winced when the dragon behind them let out a piercing, enraged bellow. He furrowed his brows. "Okay, it might have been my idea."

"Damn it. Why couldn't you have ressurrected dragons from Medieval Times?"

"How would that make a difference?"

"Aren't Medival Dragons ridiculoulsy obese or something?"

Pause.

"... Wow. You're... not kidding, are you?" He shook his head in disbelief. "And even if that _was_ true - which it isn't - why would we want a fat dragon to hunt down and turn our enemies into mangled carcasses?"

"No clue. You know, we've been running and talking for a while now. I'm surprised that dragon hasn't interru - "

**"ROOOAAAAARRRRR!"**

"Nevermind."

+ WA +

"Okay, look," Leonardo started in a low voice. "We lost them, but let's be quiet."

"Well, _duh_," Mikey said.

"I think the exit is just around that corner - "

+ WA +

"By the way," Diana started. "Why are you still - "

Her words were effectively cut off when she ran into a wall. Had she had any worse footing, she probably would have fallen. Instead, she blinked at the particular wall in front of her.

It was strange.

First off, its color was not of the norm. It wasn't a brick red, or an off-white, or even a boring gray. No. It was more like a... mossy green shade with a big blot of yellow in the middle. Then, as a bonus, there was the most random strip of blue.

Secondly, though undoubtedly strong, Diana could swear she felt the wall move too when she had bumped into it. They felt like minutes, but in reality the thoughts plagued her mind for no more than two seconds.

And then, when the two seconds passed, 'the wall' did the most unbelievable thing.

It pointed at her accusingly and said in a tone dripping with utter distaste,

"It's YOU."

Suddenly, Diana had a feeling the thing she ran into wasn't a wall.

* * *

**A/N: **

Man, when was the last time I updated? Long time, I bet. Uh, sorry about that. I have no excuses.

Actually, that's a lie. I have plenty of excuses, but they won't interest you.

There are probably mistakes somewhere... I'd really appreciate anyone telling me if they've found a mistake so I can fix it (and of course I'll credit you).

Thanks for reading. :)

Ugh, I'm tired.


	4. Chapter 4

**Waste Away**

Chapter 4:

Diana wince at the wall's glare.

Or rather, at the _turtle's _glare. The very angry turtle, it seemed.

Silence.

"Oh. Uh... Hi," Diana replied lamely. Then she groaned when she realized what this meant: even _more_ involvement from outside forces. Wasn't this just supposed to be between her and her sister? Now there were who knows how many of her sister's followers, Roll included, a team of human-sized turtles of four colors, and... and, what else?

**"ROOOAAAARRR! Grr..."**

Oh, right. Dragons. Orange dragons. Can't forget _them_.

"Maybe I cursed at a nun in my past life or something..." Diana contemplated under her breath. Well, there had to be _some_ reason for her luck, or rather, lack thereof. "Or killed baby turtles..."

"What?"

"Nothing," she said a little too quickly. Before Leonardo could glare at her and comment, someone else joined the conversation.

"Whoa, giant talking turtles. Now I've seen everything," Roll said from behind Diana.

"_SHHH!" _Donny hushed. "There's a dragon, possibly very hungry, right behind us, so let's - "

"No way, you guys have a dragon chasing you too? So do we!" Mikey exclaimed almost happily, not noticing his brother's urgency in the matter.

"_And_ baby dragons," Diana observed. "Huh, you know, they're kind of cute if you exclude the whole _they-want-to-eat-us _part."

Leonardo shot her a look.

"What? Not helping? Alright." She shrugged.

Leonardo groaned. "Let's just call a truce and - "

"Wait a minute," Diana interrupted with a slight frown. "Why a truce? Were we fighting? I don't remember us fighting. Now that I think about it, why are you here anyway?"

"Is now _reall_y the right time for this little debate?" Donny asked.

"Why is it a debate? What did I do to - "

"You know what? No," Raphael said. "Those dragons? They're closer, so unless you guys want to be dinner - "

"Breakfast," Donny corrected. "I mean, it's technically... you know..." Raph glared. He shut up.

And before anyone could even open their mouths to speak, narrow their eyes into a silent glare, roll their eyes, or randomly squeal (Roll), a pillar of blue flames rushed past them, missing them all by a few inches. They all jumped back from the sheer intensity of heat, Mikey letting out a short, girlish yelp, and turned their heads to see the results of the fire hitting a wall. It wasn't a pretty sight.

They looked at the dragon - I'm sorry - _dragons_, the babies of which looked possitively giddy at the prospect of tormenting humans... and, er, giant turtles. The parents, on the other hand -

"Damn!" Mikey exclaimed. "Mom and Dad look _pissed_."

While his brothers sent him a weird look for the even weirder nicknames, Diana glared at Roll and barely held in a growl. Most of this crap was caused by _him_. "What did you do _now_?"

Roll grinned nervously. "Why, I have no idea what you mean, darling."

And then the dragons charged.

+WA+

"Okay," Diana mumbled under her breath. "So far, so good. Got rid of the dragons, Roll, and even the weird talking turtles..."

But mostly, she was glad she got rid of Roll.

"Dragons are probably chasing after them... Should I help?"

She paused, though not for long.

"No."

+WA+

"WHOA - This is - GAH - the weirdest and most insane - OOPH - thing I ever done!" Michelangelo shouted out to his brothers through intervals. Then he let out a laugh. "WOOHOO - _OW_!"

"Hold on, Mikey!" Donny shouted back as he dodged a baby dragon that flew over his head and swipped the rest back with his bo staff. "Just keep hanging on! Literally..." he added under his breath.

Raphael had to admit, he was a tad bit jealous... After all, what were the odds of someone getting the chance to ride on top of a dragon?

Above their heads, Michelangelo grinned and cackled, using one hand to grip the dragon's horn like his life depended on it, and using the other to swing his nunchuck around like he was at a rodeo. The dragon roared and stomped violently everywhere, making it necessary for the baby dragons and ninja turtles to jump out of the way every once in a while.

Raphael, who had just narrowly escaped from being squished like a bug for the 5th time, let out a low growl of his own. "I've had about enough of you..."

The tiny dragons paused, feeling the murderous intent surround him, and stepped back.

And then Raphael picked up a rock the size of a human's head and threw it at the dragon with a battle cry.

It missed - "Damn it!" - and instead fell upon a random baby dragon - "Oh... _shell_." - who let out a desperate squeal before joining its ancestors in death.

The dragon, who had been in the process of trying to ram its head against the wall in hopes of crushing the annoyingly loud turtle that clung to him, stopped dead. The action caused Michelangelo to lose his grip and he propelled through the air.

"I'm a turtle-dove!" he shouted as he passed his brothers, his arms spread out like wings and his voice echoing and fading within the sewers. Raphael facepalmed. Or, he would have, if it wasn't for the way the largest dragon stared at him. It was as if she was staring into his soul... in order to find and strangle it with its soulful intestines.

There was utter silence.

And then the large dragon let out a pained cry that sent shivers down their spines.

+WA+

Diana glanced back for just a second. It was enough time for someone to grab her elbow and pull her into a dark pipe, large enough to fit a few people. Turning around, she hissed in a quiet voice at the face she saw. "You again?"

Roll narrowed his eyes right back. "Shut up! That dragon has the ears of a demon dog."

"Let go," Diana said, though her voice was much lower. She ripped her arm back from his grip for a second before he latched his hand back on agian.

"Oh, come on!" Roll said, his hold tightening. "I'm a weak, weak human. Help a guy out, won't you?"

Diana stared at him. Then, she deadpanned, whispering so quietly that Roll wouldn't have heard the mocking "Ha..." if he wasn't so close to her.

"You _are_ one of the good guys, right?" he persisted. "Aren't you people supposed to have a... what do you call it?" He actually had to pause to find the word he was looking for. "A conscious... or whatever?"

This caused a small snort. "The only difference between the good guys and the bad guys is that the good guys are smart enough to know not to try and take over the world." _And we apparently know bigger words_.

"Wha..." He looked genuinely surprised. "Seriously?"

In one swift movement, Diana used her weight to swing him around her and push him out of the pipe. Roll landed in the middle of the sewer lane in a small _splash_. Out in the open, he stared up at her, eyes stunned and filled with something else she couldn't decipher.

"Yeah," she said, flashing him an unreadable smile. "Seriously."

And when she heard the dragon's roar, too close for comfort, she turned and ran deep into the pipe, leaving Roll to fend for himself, not at all minding the shadows as they engulfed her being.

+WA+

There was no transformation that took place, no new powers that the mother dragon suddenly discovered. All there was, simply, was the loss of one of her children, and with it, the loss of her self-control as it was replaced with a blinding rage.

Led by that rage, she thrashed wildly, sending pillars of fire at anything that so much as moved. Even her other children sensed their mother's change and gathered in a safe corner behind her, sending up high cries that fell of deaf ears.

"Look, I'm - "

Dodge fire.

"Really - "

Dodge tail.

"Sor - LET ME TALK, DAMN IT!" Raphael barked at the dragon as he was once again interrupted, this time by the dragon trying to rip out his entrails with her sharp claws.

"Forget it, Raph!" Donny shouted to his brother. "She's being blinded by rage; even her children are keeping a safe distance. We have to get out of here!"

Raphael cursed, but followed his brothers.

+WA+

Diana's breath caught in her thoat. She had just, by pure chance, stumbled through a pipe that oh so conveniently led her to a nest of her sister's followers. And all the way across the room, disappearing behind a corner was a person. Diana saw the end of long, glossy black hair before it completely left her vision and,

That was her sister.

She didn't know how she knew, but she knew. That was her sister.

That was her sister, leaving again.

Without hesitation, she stepped forward, fully intent on following her sister. However, her action captured the attention of dozens and dozens of her sister's followers, all of whom looked at her with recognition and an eagerness to attack. So, when she took that first step forward, so did they.

"Your sister doesn't want to see you," someone in the group said.

Diana groaned at the unyielding mass that stood between her and her sister, and she instantly knew that she had to get passed these people first, _while her sister was leaving_.

"You've got to be kidding me."

+WA+

Due to being mutant ninja turtles, the brothers had witnessed unusual and often dangerous things in the course of lives. That is to say, by this point, they should have been used to such things. One could even go further and say that by now, they should have _expected _such things.

By now, they should have _prepared _for them. Or, at the very least, know better than to follow strangers into sewers in the middle of the night.

"Getting chased by freaking orange dragons - Thanks a LOT, Leo!" Raphael shouted to his brother.

"Hey, YOU were the one who killed one of her baby dragons!" Leonardo shot back.

"It was an ACCIDENT!"

"Calm down, guys, shouting at each other isn't going to help." Donny said.

"Yeah," Mikey said, "Look on the bright side: at least the sewers are holding up. I mean, after all the fights we've been through down here, you'd think - "

Mikey paused as a beam of orange blazing flames shot over their heads and hit the already crumbling walls surrounding them. Everything went still for a second, before an ominous creaking sounded. Then, one by one, the structure started falling apart. Everyone realized what was happening: the sewers were collapsing.

"DAMN IT MIKEY!" Raph roared. "You jinxed us!"

Donny simply facepalmed and cursed his luck under his breath. "Son of a..."

+WA+

"Bitch!" the man snarled at her. Growling under her breath, Diana dodged yet another punch and swung her case at his head, where it connected with a sickening crack. The man went down like a motionless doll, joining a few others already on the ground.

Panting under her breath, she swung the case over her shoulder and ran through the rest of the crowd that surrounded her. Diana sidestepped the ones who tried to tackle her, kicked the ones that tried to harm her via sharp weapon, and punched those who got too close.

These people were wasting her _time_. Her sister would get away at this point.

At first, she had tried to assuage their bloodlust ("How about this? I'll pay you. I have about, what, 30 dollars with me? And there are about, what, a couple of dozen of you? So that's like... Oh screw it, I hate math"), but it hadn't worked very well. Granted, she didn't really plan it out, but she was pretty much winging everything from the beginning anyway. She _kind of_ regretted it, because maybe if she had actually prepared herself, these miserable events wouldn't be coming at her one after another.

And that's when the room started to collapse onto itself.

"OH COME ON!"

So, moral: always be prepared.

For now, however, Diana let out a scream of frustration and turned her anger on the unfortunate guy that was to her immediate right (who received a broken nose). People put away their weapons and started to retreat in favor of _not _getting crushed under rubble, and before long Diana was following them, tripping a few of them because she was feeling slightly vindictive.

Just as well - it didn't matter - because even Diana knew that her sister was long gone by now.

Screw the sewers. Screw her sister's followers. Screw New York City. They could all collapse and get engulfed by a hellish fire, for all she cared.

* * *

**A/N:**

You know what? This story sucks. You know why? Because I have no motivation for this anymore, to be honest. And that, within itself, also sucks. I struggled so much, just to get this one (sucky) chapter out. I apologize for you all who have been waiting.

During December, a few of you left me reviews, and that motivated me a lot. So, I started working on it... and then suddenly, all my teachers decided that I needed a massive amount of homework over the winter break. Of course, that's just my excuse. Once again, I'm sorry.

I'll continue the story, simply because if I don't, I'll probably hate myself.

Sorry for all the negatives. On the bright side, it finally snowed over here! Haha. And, as always, if you see any mistakes, please tell me.

I hope you all had wonderful holidays. :)


	5. Chapter 5

**Waste Away**

Chapter 5:

Diana's eyes are narrowed, focused.

Once she has her target locked, her jogging pace sped up into a sprint. Her final victim, finally noticing her, let out a futile scream; she's already in the air, flying towards him when the bottom of her boot met the man's face.

There's an audible crunch - his nose is broken. The contact lasts only for a second, after which the man is shooting through the air before smacking hard against the shaking sewer walls.

Diana lands on her feet easily.

"That was for wasting my time!" she told him, words falling onto unconscious ears. A slight grin found its way to her lips.

Vengeance felt good, she decided. No matter how petty, and especially after her fifth victim.

Chuckling, she didn't notice the structure of the sewers becoming even more unstable, didn't notice as the walls shook even harder. Didn't notice the rocks above her falling down until it was almost too late.

She curses and manages to dodge once, twice.

Not a third time.

She threw herself forward like a batter trying to steal first base and landed roughly on her stomach, grunting. The smaller pebbles falling around her and on her head are annoying, but the sudden sharp pain around her left ankle makes her forget it.

Hissing, she looks over her shoulder from where she's laying to see pieces of concrete the size of a small animal, looking quite comfortable where they rested around her ankle.

She's trapped.

Before she can curse her luck and the very Gods themselves, the sound of something undoubtedly breaking loose keeps her silent, and Diana looks up to see a sizable chunk of the ceiling fall.

It is falling straight toward her.

"... Oh, you've got to be - "

THUD.

Her vision swam. And then darkness engulfed her.

+WA+

With a little luck and a whole lot of knowledge of the sewer system, the mutant turtles had escaped the whole collapsing sewer ordeal practically unscathed.

At the moment, they stared down at the wreck from the sidewalk they had jumped to. The road in front of them had caved in, leaving nothing but its ruin. The sound of sewer water running under the rocks could be heard.

"Good thing this part of the city is so desolate..." Donny muttered to his brothers. "Otherwise a lot of people could have gotten injured."

Leonardo nodded in agreement. "The question is, what happened to the people below the sewers?"

Raph scoffed. "Who cares? I say we get out of here before even more things go wrong. Seriously, what's with our luck these days?"

"No clue. But," Mikey spoke up, "I know what happened to those dragons that wanted to eat us."

His brothers turned to him, before their eyes went to where he pointed.

The two larger dragons were reunited again, it seemed. While one of them laid down on its stomach to rest and curl around its smaller children, the other sat nearby nearby to tend to its wounds. The dragon resting lifted its head to stare at the dragons, before giving them an indifferent huff and turning away again.

"So, what do we do with the, uh, orange dragons?"

"Heh. Let's just leave them," Raph said.

Donny raised a brow at that, but said nothing.

"Just glad they don't look like they want to rip your throat out anymore, huh?" Mikey snickered, elbowing his older brother. In return, Raph smacked the back of his head. The turtle was about to reply when he saw Leonardo a few meters away.

"Hey, Leo! Find something?"

"The bane of my existance for the past few hours, actually," he replied.

The three brothers threw each other confused looks before going over to see what he meant.

"Oh," Donny said.

In front of them, partially burried under debris, was a person. Only, knocked out. A girl around April's age. Dark, short hair now specked with dirt. The black jacket she wore, which had seen slightly old before, was now filled with holes and tears, but yes, this was the person they had tailed not hours ago.

"What do we do with... _her_?" Raph asked.

"Leave her," Leo answered tersely.

"We can't just leave her, Leo," Donny said, trying to keep the exaggeration he felt from leaking out of his vioce.

"Hey, in my opinion, she's lucky we don't turn her in to the police. The only reason I'm not considering it is because I'm afraid even _more_ bad luck will follow us with her around."

"Well, we didn't have to have _any _bad luck if we could have all just stayed _asleep_."

"All right, let's just decide with Rock, Papers, Scissors," Raph grunted.

Donny stared at his brother incredulously. Was he seriously considering deciding a person's fate with a simple game of Rock, Paper, Scissors?

Relief filled him when Leo seemed to open his mouth to say something. However, that relief died when all his brother had to complain about was:

"Hey, isn't that a little unfair? It's three against one!"

Donny face-palmed, but knew it was useless to try stopping them now.

"What's going on?" Mikey suddenly asked. Donny blinked, having just realized his brother had gone off somewhere. By the violin case on his back, he assumed the younger turtle had went to retrieve it and intended to give it back to the girl when she woke up.

Donny explained the situation to him while Leo glanced at the case warily.

"Okay... Rock, Paper - !"

Four seconds later, the result of the game was one that left Leonardo glaring holes in the back of his brothers' heads.

+WA+

April stared with worried eyes. Just an hour ago, she had dropped in to visit her friends in the sewers only to find them gone. Master Splinter had been likewise confused, but had told her not to worry and made them both tea.

Then, about twenty minutes later, her friends returned with an unmoving body. If April hadn't been used to such strange events, she probably would have had a heart attack.

Instead, she offered to take the girl while Leonardo and Donny tried to explain what had happened to their father. Raph had went out to buy them all breakfast. Mikey had run off somewhere with a violin case, popped up without it later, and had told her he had hid it so that Leo wouldn't go searching through it. She had raised a brow, but decided to ask for explanations later.

April had taken the time during these events to clean the girl up as best as she could without removing any of her clothes and invading her privacy, tending to the small wounds she could see, and finally waited for her to wake up.

When a sound alerted her and the unconscious girl started to struggle, she frowned. Then, realization hit as her eyes widened.

April quickly jumped up and ran to the door, yelling out, "Master Splinter! I think she's hyperventilating!"

She was back by the girl's side in a second, and by instinct she reached out to the squirming girl gasping for breath to try to help her.

Diana's eyes shot open, and she grabbed April's wrist before it got too close. She rose up quickly, her other hand around April's throat before the poor girl even knew what happened. Diana pushed the girl to the floor before letting go of her wrist, but her grip on her throat was tight enough that April was starting to wheeze. Her eyes rolled up, but she saw Diana's other hand disappear around her back. It reappeared quickly, this time with a metal blade that gleamed dangerously.

"Stop," April tried to say, but the only thing that came out was something that sounded like a choking cough and more wheezing. She was losing air. Things were starting to lose their focus, but she still managed to make out the sword lunging towards her throat. She didn't even have the strength to close her now teary eyes.

But just as abruptly as the girl had woken up and grabbed her, she was suddenly thown off as Leonardo tackled the girl with all his strength and rage. April gasped for breath, hand on her sore neck, and scrambled away from the two as they fought for an upper hand. The girl, still hyperventilating, lost quickly. Either the ninja turtle didn't care or didn't notice, because he shoved her face against the floor harshly and secured her arms behind her back with his other hand.

April heard footsteps coming up from behind her, and turned to see Raph rush in.

"What the shell is going on?" he asked. He didn't wait for an answer, though. He dropped the take-out bags he had in his hands and went to stop his brother.

April stared at the struggle in front of her, her hands gingerly touching her sore neck.

"I... I don't know," she answered honestly.

* * *

**A/N:**

You can probably tell, but the writing styles are different because I wrote the sections at different times.


End file.

Ninja Turtles