The Leader Gave Me Hope: The First Book of the Freeformers Series

Epilogue

"Wake up, love birds."

Fae stirred, her arms seemingly pinned to her sides, her side still aching, multiple points in her body pounding. But she was happier than she'd been in a long while. She was greeted by the sight of Raph glowering at her.

"Get a room, why don't cha?" he mumbled with a smug smirk, his eyes flicking to something — no, someone — next to her. She realized her arms were being pressed against a smooth plastron.

Leo blinked his eyes open, not registering Raphael above him and grinning at Fae. "Morning."

Before she could intervene, his lips were pressed against hers in a morning salutation, filling her up with enough euphoria to last a lifetime.

"Eww, gross!" another voice cried, making Leo jolt back and turn his head to scowl at Mikey. "When did they start kissing?" The youngest brother asked, wrinkling his nose like the thought of PDA was impure.

Leo had fallen asleep beside her on the laboratory cot, she remembered. She smiled faintly, glancing over at her flustered — boyfriend? Yes, boyfriend now, she supposed, her heart fluttering at the notion that they were together in a more-than-friends sense.

"Some privacy would've been nice guys," Leo grumbled, sitting up and carefully uncurling his arms from around her to arrange the pillows in a comfortable half-sitting position for her.

"Technically, you're invading my privacy," Donnie corrected, eyes flicking over one of the monitors on his desk, "This is my lab, you know."

"Yeah, dudes," Mikey chimed in with a cheeky grin, "Your smooching needs to be taken elsewhere! You think Donnie wants to see acts of love right now?"

It was meant to be a joke, but everyone in the room visibly stiffened. Donnie didn't look up, but his eyes weren't darting across the screen anymore. They were distant, unfocused... depressed.

"Thank you for that gracious reminder, Mikey," he said so deadpan one might've thought his brain had been replaced with robotic circuiting.

"Oh, dude, I didn't... I mean, I wasn't... I shouldn't have..." Michelangelo hung his head, his hands clasped behind his back now in contrition.

The silence was nearly unbearable. Donatello was the one who finally broke it. "I don't need my personal life projected out here for all of you to see. So wisecracks are unappreciated. And anyway, we have this prophecy to decipher."

'Prophecy' caught Faline's attention. She blinked over at the genius. "Come again?"

Donnie stood and walked over, a manila folder clutched in one hand, the brass cylinder from the docks in his other. He set the scroll in her lap without a second glance, more interested in the contents of the papers than the prophecy it seemed. "Care to do the honors?"

She knew she didn't need the oxygen mask any longer, but suddenly Fae was wishing she had assistance in her breaths.Her inhalations were sharp, uneven with apprehension. This prophecy that Karai had been willing to be kidnapped for, that Shredder had been willing to kill for, and that the one boy she cared the most about could've died for, was resting in its brass holder on her lap.

Lives had been risked to retrieve this. Was is possible the scroll would determine the fates of those lives? Was this prophecy going to spell out a legacy she couldn't possibly be responsible for? Faline gulped, wishing she wasn't the one the words inside had been written for. Here she was, escaping a life that had been spelled out for her as ongoing misery, as a slave to someone she should've loved. And now she was facing this prophecy, about to give her another itinerary to live by. Who was to say this wouldn't be as dreary and depressing a prediction as her previous live had been?