Chapter Text
Today was strange. Mommy took you on errands all day today and she seemed upset, slightly more upset than she had been for the past week. You tried to think of some way to help her feel better, because singing songs didn't work — not how they did for you, at least.
All of the errands were at boring places. No colours, no candy, no toys.
Mommy had dark circles under her eyes.
She released her gentle hold on your hand to use a man's pen. You looked around for anything more exciting to pay attention to, but it was only an ocean of hustle and bustle. One man stood still from far away. He was tall and had a pretty suit on with a black tie and he had short black curls. The man stood out to you as emotionless… uncannily so… Like a robot pretending to be man.
Your gaze immediately moved on when an ice cream truck drove by. The music, the colours, the pictures, the sugar… It was sunshine in truck form. You needed to stop it. Not just for you, but for mommy.
You wandered off to chase it down. Mommy's favourite flavour was all three together. Chocolate, vanilla, strawberry. She also liked rainbow popsicles.
The ice cream tuck was getting away.
"Hey! Hey!" You yelled at the truck. "Stop please!"
It stopped at the red light and it gave you time to catch up... at least, until the light went green again and the truck turned right.
You turned right with it, moving past the people. It soon picked up speed and zoomed straight down the street. You slowed and hopelessly watched it leave your sight. It suddenly dawned on you that you had no idea where you were.
"Mommy?"
People walked around you and some bumped you out of the way. "Out of the way, kid."
You were almost frozen, but you backed up by the alley so you could be out of the way. Mommy always told you to stay where you were when you got lost. Your eyes scanned every face, but nobody looked familiar.
A man stepped into view... It was the same man with the robot eyes.
He only stared at you. He didn’t express joy or anger in finding you alone.
You maintained eye contact... and the longer you did, you began to cry.
He took one menacing step closer and it was enough for you to book it in the opposite direction. His footsteps slowly paced behind, but he was much taller and faster.
You ran away into a big crowd, hoping to lose the man, but truthfully, you were only digging yourself deeper into danger. You backed into another alleyway, trying your hardest to see if you could recognize any of the people walking by.
"Mommy..." You sniffled. "He's chasing me..."
Out of nowhere, you hear a heavy clunk from behind. You saw a set of bright blue eyes peering at you from inside the sewers and the manhole cover was ajar. You hurried in and closed it, quietly climbing down to land in stinky sewage. You covered your mouth and nose so the man couldn't hear you.
It was then you heard a little noise coming from further into the tunnel. Little whispers and shuffling of feet echoed against the walls, but it sounded more human than that freak.
When you got further down the tunnel, you whispered. "Hello? Can someone help me? I lost my mommy and someone's trying to get me."
The little whispers could be heard around the corner, none directed at you.
"Please... I'm scared."
"If I come out, you'll scream," one voice said, sounding like they were about your age.
"Please, I promise not to scream. I'll be nice." You wiped your teary eyes.
"No, don't!" Another young voice said as footsteps approached.
The footsteps got closer and the person came into the light of a flood drain. It was not a person but a child — a turtle-person-child. They had bright blue eyes; the very same ones you saw before, now with prominent green freckles. The child waved at you with three fingered hands.
"Hi. I'm Mikey-angelo. What's your name?"
"My name's (Y/n).” You glanced over at his person. “You're a turtle."
The child looked down at his toes and wiggled them. "Yeah, I am. Are you scared of me?"
"No, I'm scared of ‘robot man.’ I lost my mommy and he started chasing me..." you began crying as the memory came up. "Then I got lost and I don't want him to get me!"
Mikey-angelo looked at you with empathy and opened his arms, offering comfort in the only way he knew. "You want a hug?"
You nodded and wrapped your arms around his shell, holding him tightly. "I don't know what to do."
"I can find my Papa! I think he can help you."
"Yes p'ease." You replied nasally.
He turned around and called out to the shadows. "Hey! Come out. We have to get Papa!"
You looked at where he was looking and three more turtle kids came out of the shadows. One had green eyes and a chip in the front of their shell, another had brown eyes, and the last had dark blue eyes.
"Daddy's gonna be mad if he knowed we went to the tunnels by ourself," the blue eyed one said, stepping into the light.
"She needs help. Papa will know what to do. He always knows. Come on."
Mikey-angelo held your hand and began marching with you down the tunnel. He had already made up his mind. The other children followed.
"I'm Donnie-tello. I like your name." The one with brown eyes caught up with you. It was close enough to notice he had a gap between his teeth.
"My name's Leonaddo. I'm four." the blue eyed one cooed and then pointed at the turtle child with the bright green eyes. "That's Raphie-el. He doesn't talk lots."
You looked at the green eyed turtle child and he immediately looked down, avoiding eye contact. The turtles all took a few turns along the way, based on chalk drawings on the wall.
"Is your daddy a turtle too?" you asked.
"He's a rat. You'll see. Papa's soft and has a beard," Mikey-angelo answered, turning again and into a big tunnel with train tracks. "Just down here."
"Do you think Sensei knows we left?" Donnie-tello asked, nervously fiddling with his hands.
Suddenly, a panicked voice echoed through the tunnel. "Leonardo! Raphael! Donatello! Michelangelo! My sons, where are you?!"
Raphie-el took a breath and nodded. "I think he knows."
"Papa! Over here!" Mikey-angelo brought you up into what looked like an abandoned train stop. "Look!"
The others followed behind and your eyes met the gaze of a giant rat. His eyes widened and he knelt down to hug every turtle child. "I'm so glad you're safe. You are not allowed to leave the lair without my permission! I thought you got hurt! Do you all understand?"
Everyone nodded and looked down with guilt.
"I'm sorry, father. It was my idea," Leonaddo admitted. "But Mikey found someone that needs help."
You shyly waved at the rat and he looked down at you with compassion. "You're from the surface, aren't you...? What's your name, little one?" He stayed on his knee to meet you at your level, although he was still much taller.
"My name's (Y/n) and I'm four," you said, holding four fingers up. "I lost my mommy."
The rat sighed and reached his hand out to you, his palm up as a sign of offering peace. "Do you know her phone number, little one? Do you know where you live?"
"I live in New York," you responded as you took his large rat hand, feeling comforted by the warmth. "I don't know mommy's phone number."
With a big sigh, the rat man took his hand away. "My name is Splinter. I assume you've already met my four sons: Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael, and Michelangelo. Why did you come down here?" His voice was low and firm, but incredibly soothing to your ears.
"A man chased me and I hid down here, and then I got scared," you sniffled and wiped your nose. "He was looking at me like a robot."
Splinter picked you up and brought you to another room. "Well, let's get you comfortable so we can figure out how to get you home, okay, (Y/n)? Let's dry out those shoes."
He took you into a big room floored with pretty red carpets and a big tree. You sat on the floor, took your soaked socks and shoes off while the other turtles joined you. The rat walked over to a standing picture frame of a daddy, a mommy, and a baby. Splinter gently placed his hand over it.
"Oh, Tang Shen... what am I to do?" he mumbled to himself.
He came back and hung your socks up in the tree. You calmed down in the midst of your new friends, sharing your favourite colours and whatnot. Splinter sat down on his knees across from you and watched you playfully interact with his sons.
"Little one, do you have a father?"
You shook your head. "Mommy said I don't anymore."
The rat man nodded, not wanting to force you to elaborate. "Aunts, uncles, grandparents?"
"Mommy's big sister lives in Vermont."
Splinter stroked his beard, trying to come up with a plan. He couldn't risk leaving his children alone too long during the day to find a payphone on the surface… especially when he had no money for it. After hearing about the man that chased you, he couldn't leave you up there by yourself and trust you to find a phone without getting kidnapped. He also couldn't bring all of his children to the surface with the risk of losing one. If he was seen with a human child… he could be shot and killed on the spot. That would mean nobody would be left to raise the turtles. Splinter dug himself deeper into this spiral.
"Sp'inter,"
"Yes, little one?"
"Can I have a hug?"
Splinter looked at your sweet (e/c) eyes, almost as if he didn't hear the question. Part of him was scared — you could tell. He couldn't take in another child, especially one with a human life already on the surface. You already had a home and a family and friends that would miss you. He couldn't afford to be a scavenger again, always leaving home to find your next meal in trash cans and dumpsters when you could be eating fresh food from your mother's kitchen.
He looked over at the photo again. This time, at the mother's eyes and then at the baby.
"Sp'inter, are you scared? It's okay, I'm scared too," you assured as you crawled over to him and wrapped your arms around his soft belly.
Surprised, he looked down at you. His worries seemed to fade away when he felt your tight hug. He wasn't scared anymore.
"We'll figure this out, (Y/n). Would it be okay with you if we gave you a place to sleep for tonight?"
As you nodded, a loud gasp echoed in the room, coming from Michelangelo. "IS (Y/N) SLEEPING OVER?!"
"For now. Just until we find her mother. I'll make a temporary bed. Everyone stay here."
He stood up and went behind a door, grabbing sheets of scrap paper, broken crayons, blankets with holes in them, and some sewing supplies. He placed the papers on the floor with the crayons to keep everyone occupied while he made makeshift bedding.
Raphael patted Splinter's shoulder to get his attention. "Dad, how come she gets her own?"
"When we find her mother, I'll make another, Raphael. Then you can all have your own. For now, this is all we can use. When I have time, I'll get more bedding."
Raph pouted and joined everyone's drawing circle while Splinter joined up some pillows for you. It took about an hour, but he finally made a warm place for you to sleep. When he looked up at all of you, he watched happily how easily you got along with his sons... except for Raphael.
Still, it reminded him of his daughter —what could have been.
"My sons," he began. "And (Y/n), I must find dinner. Please stay in my room and I'll be back soon. I have an important job for all of you."
Splinter took out more paper and a little bucket of crayons.
"Pick your favourite colour, and draw anything you can think of in that colour. When you're done, we can hang them on the fridge."
Everyone nodded and sat on the floor, taking their favourite colour crayon and drawing on their papers. Splinter quietly closed the door and left for 15 minutes and came back with some takeout boxes. By then, everyone's pages were finished and he got everyone to follow him to the kitchen. The kitchen was homey to you. Even with a neon light, empty gumball machines, and brick pizza oven, it felt like any other kitchen.
In one takeout box, there was some cold leftover chicken yakisoba and in the other, there were some steamed vegetables. He took out some assorted plates and put some of the food on everyone's plate, but a little less on his.
You finished the yakisoba with no issues, but weren't very interested in the steamed veggies. By then, it was time for bed. Splinter took the new makeshift futon into his room where there were three more. He laid it down on the floor beside the two of them.
"Is there anything I can do to help you fall asleep? Does your mother read you bedtime stories?"
"My daddy used to but mommy does now."
"Well, I don't have any story books, little one... but, I'm sure I could think of a story you'll like."
Splinter tucked his sons into bed, putting Leonardo and Raphael together in their futon, Donnie and Mikey in the other one. He opened the smaller futon for you and made sure you snuggled in nicely.
"This story is one of my favourite tales from home. It's called, The Straw Millionaire."
You curled up into the blanket and listened attentively to the story.
"Once upon a time, there lived a poor, but hardworking young man named Daietsu-no-suke. He couldn't afford food or a home, so he went to a temple to pray to Kannon, the Japanese goddess of mercy, and asked for a way to escape the poor life. As he prayed, he heard a mysterious voice speak to him. It told him to leave the temple and take care of the first thing he touched, then it told him to go west."
"Was it Kannon?" you asked, getting comfortable.
"Yes, I believe so. Daietsu-no-suke left the temple as the voice said, but tripped onto a single stalk of straw. He thought it was silly, but obeyed the instructions and kept it close, going west. The further he walked, a horsefly buzzed around his head, like this!"
Splinter made buzzing sounds and tickled everyone's faces. You all giggled and let him continue.
"Fed up with the buzzing, the man caught the fly and managed to tie the piece of straw around the fly... like a leash on a dog."
"Did he want a new pet?" Michelangelo asked.
"Well, no... but another child did. A mother and her son passed Daietsu. Her son wanted to have the fly to play with, so she asked for it in exchange for three sweet, juicy oranges. He agreed and was very happy, so he kept walking west and met an old woman walking in the hot sun, who was very thirsty. She was looking for water, but the boy had nothing except for those three oranges. He kindly offered the oranges to her and she ate them up, regaining her strength."
"I bet the oranges made her big and strong!" Raphael said, sitting up quickly.
"They did. She was so strong and happy that she thanked Daietsu by giving him a very expensive cut of cloth." Splinter continued, gently laying Raphael back into the futon.
"What does 'espentive' mean?" Donatello asked, raising his hand.
"It means it costs a lot of money. So that also made Daietsu very happy. He kept walking and saw a man on the side of the road, trying to get his sick horse to walk. Daietsu asked what the problem was, and the man explained that he was trying to trade his horse in the market for some fine cloth, but the horse wouldn't walk anymore. Daietsu offered the man the cloth in exchange for the sick horse, and patiently led the horse back to his home village.”
Everyone began yawning and curling up into their futons, but Leonardo kept listening to the story, trying to keep his sleepy eyes open. He wanted to hear the ending before falling asleep.
"Daietsu did everything he could to nurse the horse back to health. By morning, the horse was happy and healthy again. Daietsu proudly rode the horse west, coming across a man closing up a house next to a beautiful rice field. The stranger was preparing for a journey and saw the healthy horse. He waved and asked for the horse in exchange for his house and rice field. Daietsu was so excited, he agreed at once. The man left with the horse and Daietsu finally had a place to live and an endless amount of rice, all because of that single piece of straw."
Splinter tucked everyone in, one last time, softly kissing the tops of the turtles' heads.
"That is why they called him, The Straw Millionaire. That's the end of the story. Goodnight, young ones."
He crawled into his futon and took a relaxing breath. They all fell asleep in a matter of minutes, but you still had a bit of anxiety in you. You sat up and quietly stared at Splinter for a good three minutes while he passed out, not wanting to wake him up. He let out a soft snore and you crawled into the side of the blanket with the most space, feeling his gentle heartbeat lull you to sleep.