「ABSENCE」 TMNT 2012

15; Hello

    "Do we really have time for this?" Leonardo stood at the very edge of the rooftop, arms crossed, staring blankly out at the city.

    Donnie's eyes were on his phone as his thumbs tapped and scrolled tirelessly. "Hard to say." He reached up to stroke his chin. "I think it'd be rude not to at least say hi, though."

    "It's just more wasted time we could be using to save Casey."

    Raph wandered across the roof, shuffling his feet on the concrete slabs. "Casey's handled himself these past two years," he called from the other side. "We can spare a few minutes."

"Don't be so negative, bro! April said all Elly wants to do is say thank you, and then we can leave. Besides, Donnie isn't making much progress with the tracking signal anyway. We'd just be sitting around back at home," Mikey reminded like the little optimist he was.

Leo wasn't buying it. Any of it. If he were at the Lair, he wouldn't be sitting around doing nothing. He would be honing his martial arts skills; making sure he was always on top of his training. But instead they were waiting for April. Wasting precious time. Time that could be well spent doing something that would be useful to them in the long run.

"You know, I've always wondered how wind is made." Mikey licked his index finger and held it up in front of him as the breeze picked up again, whipping his bandana tails violently. He squinted against the harsh force, trying with all his brain power to understand how on earth it was so strong atop the skyscraper.

    Don looked at Raph, shaking his head disappointedly. "Should I tell him?"

    Rolling his eyes, Raph muttered, "yeah."

Donnie shoved his phone away went to stand beside Michaelangelo. He placed a hand on the youngest brother's shoulder, leaned near his ear, and explained in hushed tones, "Mikey, wind is the result of the snores of the sun and moon."

Mikey looked up at the sky in awe, shading his eyes from the evening sunset. "Really?"

"Yes. When the moon rises, the sun sleeps, and when it's time for the sun to shed it's light on the world, the moon rests." He glanced over at Leo, who stared back, unamused.

    "Wow!" A frown suddenly crossed Mikey's youthful features. "Wait. Didn't we study this in school?"

    Donnie hummed in thought. "Did we?"

    Now confused, Mikey became silent as he attempted to fit this new information in with what he'd already heard before. Donatello and Raphael chuckled amongst themselves and high-fived.

The doorknob on the roof entrance squeaked and all four turtles turned their attention to it. It twisted, and opened slowly. April stepped out, smiled, and moved aside. Behind her, Elly followed.

    Curiously, the brothers watched her. Curiously, she watched them. She didn't take her eyes away as she shuffled closer to April uncertainly. They were larger up close than she remembered. She didn't want to express fear and hurt their feelings. But they were terribly frightening.

Gently, April nudged Elly's arm, prompting her forward. She cleared her throat, mouth turning dry. "H-Hello," she whispered, shakily lifting her hand in an awkward wave.

"Hey."

"Hi."

"Hola!"

"Greetings and salutations. Ow!" Donnie reached down to rub his shin where Leo had kicked him.

    Raph stepped forward. Slowly, so as not to scare the girl away. He extended his hand. "Elly, right? I'm Raphael."

    She took the offered hand, drawing in a breath at the contact. Raph shook her arm slowly. Gently. He locked eyes with her. His lips turned up in a small, welcoming smile. Hesitantly, she returned it. He wasn't going to hurt her.

    Elly bit down on her lip nervously, trying to word her memories carefully. "You're the one who carried me the other night, aren't you?" Raph, surprised by this quiet observation, only nodded. He returned to where he'd been standing.

    Mikey quickly took Raph's place in front of her. His handshake was much stronger. "I'm Michaelangelo, but everyone calls me Mikey. I like my nickname better because it sounds more hip. Do you have any nicknames?"

Elly blinked, unprepared for Michaelangelo's bubbly personality and outgoing nature. "Um . . . I'm not sure?"

He shrugged. "I'll probably think of one soon."

"We could call her Freckles," suggested Raph.

"Raph!" Leo glared.

    "That's mean. Apologize," Mikey demanded.

Raph held his hands up defensively. "I was only pointing out one of her most prominent features. Geez. That's one of the ways to pick a nickname, ain't it?"

Chuckling, Elly looked up at Mikey. "It's okay. I like my freckles."

"He's called April Freckles before," Don pointed out.

"But that's different," argued Mikey. "April's a close friend."

"I'm Donatello, by the way." Donnie stepped forward to introduce himself. The two shook hands. "While we're talking about nicknames, mine is Donnie. Or Don, if you prefer something even shorter."

"Which do you like better?" She asked him.

"Hm . . ." Donnie rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I guess I've never really thought about it before. Probably Don, since my brothers always shriek the other one when they're mad at me or when they need assistance."

Elly laughed. "Okay. Don it is, then."

"And I'm Leonardo. I'm sure you can already guess my nickname." He reached out to shake her hand.

She smiled. "Leo. I know. You're the negative one," she said as they shook.

    He frowned confusedly while his brothers snickered. "The negative one?"

    "When you guys ran through the prison that night, someone called you Leo and told you to stop being so negative. I can't remember who."

    "That was me." Raph raised his hand, smirking at his brother.

    Leo, unwilling to show any sign of annoyance toward his siblings, rubbed the back of his neck, ignoring the taunting behind him. "It was a rough night."

"It was actually a pretty nice night," April recalled. "No problems, nothing–"

"I meant for me."

    Raph snorted. "Oh yeah, because you have it so bad."

    Leaning down, Leo mumbled to Elly, "don't listen to a word they say. Ever."

    Knowing she was missing something, an inside joke, or maybe a secret only shared between this group of people, she simply nodded. It felt like a verbal war was taking place before her, and she was caught in the middle. It was too early to pick a side, so she watched it play out, confused as an inexperienced Elly could be.