Author's Note: Okay, kiddies, this is it. Hope you enjoy it! Thanks for reading and your encouragement along the way! If you liked this story, be sure to check out the sequel, Donatello's Demise. Also, if you like my writing style, go to my profile for a link to my blog, where you can learn about my non-fanfiction works, including my published original novel.

"All right! This calls for pizza!" shouted Leonardo.

"What do you mean?" snapped Raphael. "I lost!"

"Why do you think it calls for pizza?" Donatello said.

"Oh, I am gonna…"

"Chill out, Raph, it's Twofer Tuesday at Antonio's," Leo said. "I was gonna order some anyway."

As the three turtles boisterously left the dojo, Atsuko wished that Donatello and Leonardo wouldn't tease Raphael so mercilessly for his defeat in their 'sai-off.' After all, he had performed admirably—and she even suspected that perhaps he had been reluctant to accidentally hurt her. Shaking her head, she followed after her nephews with a smile on her face.

She hadn't smiled as much in sixteen years as she had in these past three days.

"Atsuko…a moment?"

Wiping the sweat off of her forehead, Atsuko turned around to face Splinter. He was standing under the tree, his hands folded and resting on top of his jade colored staff. She nodded. "I'll join you in a minute, boys!" she shouted over her shoulder. However, she suspected that they didn't hear her. With a chuckle she walked over to Splinter's side. "Of course. What can I do for you, brother?"

"I have a question for you. April had said to me that you have not faced Sojobo's Tengu. Is this true?"

With a bow, Atsuko nodded. "I suspect it has something to do with my lack of a sensei." She was fully aware that the Tengu was no more than one's teacher in a mask—one of the reasons that bushis were tested at a relatively young age was so that they would not have the time required to figure this out.

Splinter grinned slyly. "Perhaps we must remedy this," he said. "However, I fear I have little to teach you. Your skills are great indeed."

Atsuko felt a rush of emotion. It was no minor thing for a sensei to take a student under his wing. She found herself wondering how she could have allowed herself to despise Hamato Yoshi's memory all these years, how she could resent the man who had brought her sister so much joy. "You've already taught me much," Atsuko said.

"Have I, sister?"

"Yes. You've taught me how to trust again."

Splinter bowed deeply to her. When he rose, a tear clung to his furry nose. "Then I am still in your debt."

Holding back her own tears, Atsuko laughed. "How so?"

"You've taught me to forgive myself."

They heard Leonardo shouting from the other room. "Sensei! Obasan! What toppings do you want?"

With a smile, Splinter offered his arm to Atsuko. "Shall we?"

Atsuko bowed. "Of course."

Arm in arm, they walked out of the dojo and into their future as a family reunited.

Feeling gloomy and broken, April lay flopped on the bed in her makeshift room in the lair.

She hadn't stayed after training to watch Raph and Atsuko have their 'sai-off.' Instead, she'd gone to check on Mikey, who was peacefully asleep on the now well-cushioned exam table in the lair. Just weeks ago, it had been her father who lay there; but unlike her father, Mikey would be himself again as soon as his injuries were healed.

After that, she had gone to see her father. He was perfectly content in his manufactured cave; Donnie had even rigged lights to turn on so that her dad could establish the normal sleeping patterns of a bat. Donnie had even taken it upon himself to make sure that her dad had all of the proper nutrition he needed.

She sat there with her dad for several minutes. He had put his wing-arm around her while she snuggled up to his shoulder. She talked to him about what had happened, about school, and how Casey had broken up with her last night. She wasn't sure if he understood any of it, but she thought that maybe he had given her an extra squeeze when she told him about Casey.

"I miss you, Dad," she said as she left.

He had responded by pouncing on one of the moths that Donnie had set loose in the cave earlier.

Her gloom completed by her father's mental absence, April had then traipsed her way back to her room and locked herself in. She didn't even turn on the light. She sprawled on her bed face down, miserably resolving never to move again.

Maybe if I just lie here not eating and not sleeping, I'll eventually die, she thought. She didn't know why she didn't want to eat, only that since Saturday night, food had simply tasted like ash in her mouth. Since Casey had dumped her, she found that she couldn't put food in her mouth without wanting to vomit. At least she understood why she didn't want to sleep, but that didn't make it any easier. She'd started having nightmares reliving her capture.

In the dreams, however, no one came to save her. She could hardly sleep for ten minutes together because of it. But last night had been the worst yet. After Casey had broke up with her, the dream now had Casey appearing—laughing at her while she was naked, telling her he never cared about her in the first place. He told her that after what Shredder had done, no one would ever want her or love her again. In one of the dreams, Donnie appeared but said he wouldn't save her, since she had chosen Casey.

The fact that she was behaving like a petulant child upset her even more. She knew that she was more mature than this—she'd heard her dad talk enough about psychology that she could name almost every one of the symptoms she was experiencing. She knew that it was an illusion, a trick being played on her by her mind. She also knew it would only be a matter of time before the nightmares—made worse by her subconscious—would start to leach into her everyday perception of things.

She was aware she needed professional help—but how could she heal without being completely honest with her counselor? And what doctor, after hearing her story, would not prescribe antipsychotic drugs if not simply hospitalize her?

Her dad would be the only one who could help her, and he was gone—maybe forever, if Donnie couldn't find a retro-mutagen. Even if he did, how could she be sure her father's mind would come back along with his human form?

When she heard a soft knock on the door, she didn't even bother moving. She hoped that if she didn't answer, whoever it was would just go away.

The knocking, however, persisted. "April? We're ordering pizza. Leo wants to know what toppings you want."

It was Donnie. The sound of his voice made April think of her dream-version of him, scowling at her coldly, saying, "Why should I help you? You made your choice, April. And you chose him—let him help you."

But the dream-Casey just laughed at her as she became Shredder's victim.

The knocking intensified. "April? April?" The door handle started rattling.

Go away, April thought, being grateful she had locked the door. Just let me die.

But with a crash, the door opened as Donnie kicked it in. "April?" He switched on the light.

"Don't look at me," April moaned, not even lifting her head. She felt so exposed, so vulnerable. She didn't want anyone ever to look at her again.

Nevertheless, Donnie was immediately at her side. "Are you okay?"

"Just go away," she said, hearing her own voice muffled by the blanket she had buried her face in.

She felt Donnie's strong hands take her by the shoulders. Gently, he turned her onto her side so that he could see her face.

When she opened her eyes, she saw his face less than a foot away from hers. "I just want to die, Donnie," she said. It was the only thing she could say. It was the only thing she could think.

She recoiled when she saw Donnie's face. His eyes went wide with fear. "A—April," he stammered. "Don't say that. It's going to be okay."

"It's never going to be okay," she muttered. "I can't eat. I can't sleep. I can't even think."

"It's probably PTSD," Donnie said, as if explaining it would make it better. "I've been worried that this would happen. But people heal from it every day, April. I know you can, too."

"Why bother? It's not like Casey cares about me." She didn't care that she was talking to Donnie about Casey.

"I care about you!" Donnie protested. "All of us do!"

"But Casey didn't want me." She cursed herself for being so immature. She could see the illogic of her statements, and hated herself for it. But the feelings were so intense.

Donnie hesitated. "Yes, April. He did. But he's sick. I wasn't supposed to tell you—but you deserve the truth. When Casey called you on Saturday night, he was being held by the Foot Clan. He's sick, April. He's an addict. He's been fighting it for a long time—but he couldn't anymore when he was having alcohol shoved into his mouth."

April's head spun. For the first time in hours, she became aware of the world outside her own mind. "What are you saying? How do you know?"

"Leo told me. The Foot coerced Casey to give them your location. I think he was too ashamed to tell you about it himself. But my guess is that he would still have broken up with you even if he told you and you forgave him for it. He cares enough about you to make sure you were safe. I think he knew that as long as he had his problem, he would be vulnerable—and a threat to your safety. It wasn't that he didn't want you. But he wanted your safety more."

April didn't even know what to think. She didn't know what to feel, what to say.

"That's how you know someone cares about you," Donnie said, rubbing her shoulder gently. "They care more about you than they do themselves. And that's how I know that—even though he broke up with you—Casey really did care about you."

April sat up. "Thanks for telling me," she said, wiping a tear from her eye.

Donnie handed her a tissue. "Do you need to talk?"

April blew her nose. "I keep having nightmares. They're worse than what actually happened. I remember my dad talking about the progression of PTSD, once. It's like I can see it happening to me, and even though I understand it, I can't fight it. And the worst part is, there isn't a single psychologist who would believe me except my dad, and he's…a giant bat."

Donnie sighed, and tears pooled in his eyes. "I wish—April, I wish I could fix him right now. Sometimes I even wonder if this retro-mutagen is just a crazy fantasy that I'll never attain. But I will never—and I mean never—stop trying. For you, April. I can't stand to see you hurting like this. I can't stand knowing that if it weren't for our stupid screw-up, your dad wouldn't have gotten mutated in the first place. I want to just rush as fast as I can to find the cure—but I know without patience I'll just screw it up. And there is nothing that matters more to me than this—I promise you."

Somewhere inside her soul, April heard Atsuko's lilting voice speaking—or singing—or breathing:

"It is to be all made of sighs and tears…

It is to be all made of faith and service…

It is to be all made of fantasy,

All made of passion and all made of wishes,

All adoration, duty, and observance,

All humbleness, all patience and impatience,

All purity, all trial, all observance…

Then, before she could stop herself, the truth that she had been hiding from herself for so long escaped through her lips. "I love you, Donatello."

Donnie jumped. His whole face turned red. "You—you what?"

"Geez, April must be writing an essay about her pizza toppings," Raphael grumbled.

Everyone but April and Donatello were in the kitchen, working on the list of pizzas that they wanted to order. Atsuko rolled her eyes at Raphael's impatience. "They're probably talking—April's been really down today. He's probably trying to cheer her up." In fact, Atsuko felt a pang of guilt for not having gone to check on April yet today. She had started to see in April's face the markers of intense trauma, markers she knew all too well from her own reflection.

"Well he should be trying to make her tell him what she wants on her pizza."

"I'll go make sure that everything is all right," Atsuko said.

As she walked through the lair, she realized that she had been afraid to talk to April; afraid that talking about it would bring up Atsuko's past demons to haunt her. But she was done with fear of the past. She and April would be able to work toward healing together.

With the hope for her future now brighter than ever, she walked down the tunnel that lead to April's room and saw that the door was open. However, she didn't hear any voices coming from inside. Curious, she pushed the door open a little more and looked inside.

April and Donatello were sitting on the bed kissing each other, completely unaware of the world around them.

Shaking her head and smiling, Atsuko turned around and headed back to the kitchen, planning to tell Leonardo that April wanted pepperoni, since that seemed to be what April generally got the most.

But as she went, the image of the young couple kissing took her back to her own past. When she entered the kitchen, she had ceased to be Satou Atsuko.

Because, during a fond memory of a moment when Kenshin was courting her, Kobayashi Tang Mei found the part of herself that she thought had died.

Tang Mei was alive.

Fin