Unusual Safehaven CH 11

Chapter Eleven
The Six Tests part two

Shen's pov:

School has been out for a while. I am surprised the body guards my dad hired had not found me yet. I better just count my blessings and not jinx it. I sadden slightly while I thought to myself as I walked with April. It's funny how I am referring this world's version of my family as mine even though they are not. It is easier but I feel bad for doing so.

"Hey you alright? Your quitter than normal…. Are you still thinking about this morning?" I hear April ask me and I shake my head. "No…. I am just surprised that the body guards my dad hired had not located me yet. That's all.." I tell her part of what I was thinking. I see her nod as she glace around taking my hand.

"Come on. Let's go to the lair." She says with a smile as I arch my brow. "Lair?" I ask knowing fully well she is taking me to the home of her friends and I tense. Am I ready? What if Splinter does not like me? What if I do something to screw their lives up? I feel my red head friend hug me. "It's okay it is just what the guys call their home. I have a feeling that their father is going to like you. Oh, by the way their father is a mutant rat." She tells me as she leads me towards a manhole. I smile slightly relaxing a bit. "Mutant rat? Would not have guessed that.." I say as I can't help a soft giggle which caused her to smile as she moved the cover that allowed entry into the sewers.

"Hope you do not mind trudging through the sewers." She says with an apologetic expression and I shrug. "It can't be helped. I figured they either lived in the sewers someplace or out on the edge of the city. It is not like they can rent an apartment." I say with a soft smile as I looked down the hole contemplating if I should do this. I close my eyes and sigh. "Well here goes noting…" I say as I climb down followed by my guide to the lair. I walk with her looking around to try and mentally map out the area with landmarks so I can find the lair on my own if I need to come here.

"Well here we are! Um, wait here I am going to see if Donnie or one of the others told Splinter about you." She tells me and a nod watching her go. I set on the steps into the lair and sigh looking around. Well, I am here. In the lair of the teenage mutant ninja turtles. The place other fangirls would kill to just be here. Well, the more extreme ones that is. I can't help a smile as I close my eyes for a moment. I feel something nudge my foot and I look down to see Raph's pet turtle Spike. I can't help myself as I smile and reach down patting his shell gently.

"Hey there cutie. Come over to see how I was doing. That is sweet of you. Oh here have a strawberry." I say reaching into my back pulling out one of the red fruits I had saved for later putting it down in front of the little turtle. I don't care if he is supposed to get mutated further down the line. He is freaking adorable and I am going to spoil him with affection as much as I can before he gets mutated. I watch him stare at me then the berry before he decides to take a bite. I giggle as he eats it as quickly as a normal turtle can.

"What are you feeding him!?" I hear the voice of the hot headed turtle snapping my gaze up to his blazing emerald green eyes. Oh crap. "I just gave him a strawberry! I had a turtle as a pet before when I was younger so I knew it would not hurt him!" I explain with a panicked squeak my eyes widening slightly as my grip clutches onto the bag of fruit. Spike whom had finished eating the strawberry I gave him nudged my foot again looking up at me. I glance between the turtle on the ground to the one that was seething moments ago and back to the little turtle.

"Sorry little guy. Can't give you anymore unless I have his permission…" I say softly as I gently booped his snout placing my fruit back in my bag trying to remain calm. "He does belong to you right? I mean from your reaction he is your little buddy…." I say softly as I watched the red mask ninja pick up his turtle. "Yeah, and his name is Spike. Not cutie." He says narrowing his eyes at me.

Great….. he does not like me. I can feel my expression sadden slightly as I bit my lip. "Spike.. That is actual a really cool name for a turtle." I say forcing myself to brighten my mood. Of course he I not going to like me. He probably does not trust me. I am after all a stranger to him. Have to earn his trust. "I actually love turtles. I think they are pretty cool…" I say as I focus my gaze onto Spike smiling at him as he stretches out his neck a little bit.

"Oh she is here! Hi you remember me?" I hear the cheerful voice of the youngest ninja in the lair and see an orange blur come over stopping in front of me. I can't help but laugh a bit. "The one and only great and fabulous Mikey right?" I ask with a smile and watch as his features bright from what I say making me grin.

"Yes! You hear that Raph she remembered me! And you said she probably would not want anything to do with us. Come on let me show you around!" I squeak softly as he grabbed my arm dragging me away from where April told me to stay glancing back at the entrance to the lair where Raph was holding Spike with a perplexed expression on his face I could not identify. I furrow my brow slightly before looking forward at the exuberant ninja turtle who is leading me around and smile softly listening to him as he gave me a tour.

"Here is the living room. It is where we come to hang out when we are not training or doing mission or free runs. Over here is the kitchen where I cook the most delicious meals though sometime they others do not think what I make is good but I think it is awesome! Over here is the restroom. And these are the bedrooms this one is Raph's, that's mine! And across over there is Leo's and that one is Donnie's but he tends to spend more time in his lab than his room. That is the closet and over there are a couple of spare rooms. This is Donnie's lab where he makes really awesome sciency inventions. And this is the dojo! In the back there is Sensei's room." He says as he sped all across the lair barely giving me the chance to breathe. I pant slightly as he stopped in the dojo and I see April staring at me and Splinter arching his brow at his son, whom of which still has a grin on his face. I let out a shaky laugh as I rub the back of my neck with a sheepish expression, wordlessly apologizing to the red head.

"Sensei this is the girl April said she was bringing over to the lair. Shenderrah! Um is it okay if I give you a nickname? Cause since you're our friend now you get a nickname!" He says super excited and I stare at him while I am still regaining my breath. "Um… I guess.. that would be fine.." I pant out with a soft smile. "though… I need.. to relearn how to breath… first.." I tell him leaning against the wall slightly closing my eyes as I steady my breathing.

I hear the sound of Mikey yelping and I open my eyes to see Raph smacking him in the back of his head before crossing his arms. "Idiot. She is not like you able to run around like she is on an endless sugar high." He said as the orange clad rubbed the back of his head and glared at him for a moment. Splinter sighed. "My sons. I would like to speak with our guest for a moment." He says calmly catching the attention of the siblings that are in the room. They bow respectfully and leave shortly followed by April sending me a apologetic expression. 'What is she sorry for? … Oh…' I thought to myself before looking at Splinter smiling nervously.

He chuckled slightly at me reaction. "It is alright child you have no need to be nervous. Come sit with me." He says motioning to the mats over by the tree in the center of the dojo. I look at him and nod. 'To late to back out now.' I thought to myself as I went over to where he had gestured.

Raph's pov:

I sit in my spot picking up a magazine looking at it. "I hope that their talk goes well." I hear April say as she sat down and I roll my eyes. "It either does or doesn't. Either way I don't care." I say with a frown. I really did not like the way she got Spike to like her. I mean it took April a week and a half in order for him to trust her enough to let her feed him. I feel my brows knit together as I scowl. There is something up with her. It is like she is keeping a secret. I mean seriously she was not even freaked earlier when she met us. No normal person does that!

"Awe come on Raph that was mean. I am sure Sensei is going to like her I mean she is so nice and stuff. Hmm I gotta think of a good nickname for her when she comes out after talking to master Splinter…" I hear my youngest brother say from his spot on the floor. I frown at him slightly as I stood up and went to the punching dummy and start hitting it. They can let their guard down but I sure as shell am not. The moment she starts to pose a threat to my family I don't care if she is a girl or not. I will kick her butt out faster than she can blink. I growl slightly as I tune out the voices in the background. I got to find a way to confront her about it. When she is alone so I do not have to deal with the others breathing down my neck about how I handle things.

I feel something touch my back and I reflexively turn to punch it and I hear a squeak sound as I freeze my fist just before I hit the girl that is the source of my frustrations. I sweat slightly as my eyes widen feeling the stares from everyone in the area. "Raph! You almost hurt her what were you thinking!?" I flinch as I glance at the eldest and growl at him. I am not in the mood to deal with this. "I'm heading out." I snap as I whirl around and head to the entrance to the lair. I block out the image of the look of surprise in her big blue eyes as I grit my teeth heading out into the sewers. I got to find a way to blow off this steam.

April's pov:

"Shenderrah I'm sorry!" I tell her hoping that Raph's action has not made her want to leave just yet. "I-I'm fine! I probably s-should not have bothered him when he was punching the dummy…" She says attempting to smile. "It's okay. He's always moody it has nothing to do with you." I hear Leo tell her as he sets his hand on her shoulder with an apologetic smile. "Why don't you come over and take a seat? " I ask her smiling wanting her to be able to relax. I really want this to work. We have become really good friends and I know that she would be great friends for the others if she is given a chance.

She nodded reluctantly as she stared at the direction the hot head had stormed out as she came over sitting next to me. "… I think he hates me…." She says softly as she frowned a little. "He just does not know you. He'll come around after you've hung out with us more." My best friend tells her as he entered the room with a grin as he sat on the other side of me. "April do you have any homework that you may need help with? I can help you with the problems so you can get it done faster." He asks me his redish brown having lit up a bit as he offered to help making me smile. "Yeah, I'm sure Shenderrah would like some help too." I say with a nod towards her.

"Oh I got it we can call you Shen! Cause it is a shorting of your name!" Mikey stated hugging her as she was going to respond to what I had said in the area of our homework. She giggled patting his back smiling at the youngest. "I like it. Thanks Mikey." She says her expression cheering up a bit. I smile slightly. Well three out of four are okay with her. I hope it is enough to get Raph to be alight with her eventually too.

Shen's pov:

Everything this evening was a blur. I had dismissed myself after I got my homework done starting to head to the entrance to the lair. "Where you going Shen?" I hear Leo ask me with an arched brow. "Home.. I'm most likely going to get a lecture from my dad how I am not supposed to ditch the body guards he had assigned to me to make sure I am safe. I don't really think that they would be able to keep me safe from whatever had taken me two years ago.. I don't even know what happened.." I tell him and start to trail off as I think about this dimension's version of me. How am I going to find her?

".. I don't want him to think I got kidnapped again. He can be just as scary as your brother when he gets mad… though he does not hurt me he just yells. Ha ha, I guess that's probably why I was not scared as I should have been earlier when Raph started to yell me.." I ramble a bit as I rub my arm slightly. I bite my lower lip slightly as I smile at him. "Thank you for your hospitality, but I really should start heading back now if I am going to not get grounded for life." I tell him giving him a hug which surprised him.

"Um… sure no problem. You need help getting home?" He asked with a slight concerned expression. I feel warmth swell inside me that he is concerned about my wellbeing like a good friend, even though we have just started getting to know each other for two or three hours. I nod slightly. "Yeah, I would probably get lost trying to find my way back to the surface. Can you help me find a manhole close to the building my family is staying in? I am sure once I get to the surface around there I can make it back on my own." I say rubbing the back of my neck. He grins and nodded. "Come on. I will guide you." He says holding out his hand. "My you're quite the gentleman aren't you?" I say arching my brow as I take his hand, giggling when he blushes slightly. Well I won't be able to look for my doppelganger tonight but maybe after a couple of escorts I will be able to leave on my own and start searching before heading home.

Though, if I can't find her on my own I may have to tell them most of the truth. There is no way I am telling them in my dimension they are just make believe created for entertainment, it would either make me sound insane, cause Mikey to want to go there to see what it is like which could be very dangerous because there is a chance they might become toys or something, or make them feel like they are being spied upon and that I am the enemy. None of which is something I want to risk. I will just tell them I had not met their dimension versions of themselves cause I lived in the middle of the country and not in New York. "Here this should be in the alley across from the building you are living in." I look at the turtle with the blue mask blinking. "Wow I guess I am more worn out than I thought I was.. I did not even realize we were here already." I say trying not to yawn which caused him to chuckle.

"… Leo can you tell Raph I forgive him for almost punching me.. and that I am sorry for disturbing him when he was focused on hitting the dummy…" I ask him as I furrow my brow feeling aweful that he was put in that situation. "I would myself but I have a feeling he probably does not want to be around me unless he has to until he gets to know me better.." I watch his expression soften as he pulls me into a hug. "Sure. I'll tell him. You get some rest when you get back home. You look like you kind of need it." I giggle and nod before going over to the ladder. "Night." I say with a happy smile as I climb up to the surface.

"Looks like she is heading up Wath" The blue eyed and haired teen girl says to the teen guy with green hair and green eyes. "I think we can count her actions as purity towards the pet turtle and asking the brother to relay her forgiveness and apology." She tells him. He nods before sighing "Which leaves the two hardest Lafa. Loyalty and sacrifice, I hope she passes sacrifice because if she doesn't it could very well be the end of her life." Lafa nodded before her eyes glowed brightly for a moment causing her to gasp.

"I just got word that the only reason she was brought here from her dimension was not really to replace her counterpart. It was because she was the sacred shard that brought her here. Her world had been destroyed by a solar flare right at the moment the portal was opened. The council does not know the reason it had chosen to spare her, but they are guessing it has something to do with the legend. They wish for us to continue with the tests to help her be able to unlock the power of the crystal."

Wath's eyes widen in shock for a moment before he nodded. "We will test out sacrifice tomorrow evening. Loyalty will be tested when her father asks where she had been to see if she caves and tells him where she was and who she was with or if she will keep the existence of her new friends a secret."

"Where have you been young lady it is quarter to midnight!" I hear my father tell me and I tense up glancing back at him smiling nervously. "I was in a study group at a friend of April's.. One of them walked me home. Her friends have martial arts training so I knew I was going to be okay…" I says softly rubbing my arm. It is not a complete lie. I did not say they were turtles. This means I did not give out their secret. Hopefully it is enough to make dad calm down.

I watch as his anger simmers down as he sighed. "Is this one of the reasons you did not want any body guards?" I nod quickly. "Whoever took me before may expect me to have bodyguards. They may not suspect me hanging out with people who are my age group with a black belt in self-defense. If someone tries to take me again I trust the friends I made to keep me safe more than a couple of guys who are paid to watch me and loose me once my back is turned, especially if they get paid more money to turn a blind eye by someone else or agree to work with someone to try to kidnap me."

I see him nod slightly his expression showing me he understands now my reasoning behind not wanting body guards. "Very well…. As long as you return home safely I will not hire any new body guards. But the moment you become no longer sufficiently protected by your new friends you've surrounded yourself with is the moment I am going to hire more bodyguards. Deal?" I smile brightly as I hug him. "Deal! Love you dad!" I tell him kissing him on his cheek before yawning. "Now I got to go to bed. Otherwise I will be useless in school tomorrow…." I say causing my dad to chuckle. "Goodnight Shenderrah." He says kissing my forehead and I smile walking to my room and open the door.

"man what a day… Hang on other me… I will find out where you are and help you return home. You'll see… you'll see.." I say softly to myself as I go to my bed thoroughly exhausted not even bothering to change my cloths as I pass out from a long day.

Unannounced to her or the beings watching her from outside the crystal on her neck began to flicker slightly allowing a small partial of light to leave the room before returning to its original state.

I'll be waiting.