For those of you who don't know, this is sort of a revamp/reupload of another story I started a few years ago and never finished. My writing skills have improved a lot since then and I have a much better idea now of where this is going. Though I'm not too big into the TMNT fandom anymore, this is something that I had high hopes for, and would really like to finish. I hope you all enjoy.

PS–Sorry for the über-vague summary, I don't want to give too much away.

Warnings: Blood, violence, character death, language, mature themes and plenty of angst. Don't like, don't read.

I do not own Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles in any way, shape or form.

Prologue

I had never intended for things to happen this way.

This was only training. It was just practice. This can't be real.

I thought that. I insisted it over and over again. This couldn't happen. This can't happen. This didn't happen.

More than anything, I still wish that those words were the truth. That it had been me instead. But as a growing pool of red began to form on the cold asphalt, and stain my skin with foreign blood, I knew that it was over. Not for me, though it may as well have been.

I'm sure I must have sat there for hours. Only did I find the strength to stand when both my tears and his blood had dried, and the sun had already begun to rise.

Before that night, I had always found the dawn of a new day to be a thing of beauty and profundity. Now as the sun ascended to its throne in the sky, the sight appeared only as sickly to my tired eyes. Why was the sky so clear? It was stained blood red behind the city's smoggy glaze, but there was not a cloud to be seen. It seemed so unfair. I felt as though even the sky was mocking me.

I returned to the sewer at what was probably around 4:30 am. Burdened with twice my weight, I remember walking home on quivering legs. If there is one thing that I can tell you with certainty, it is this:

I died that night.

I hope you all liked it! I know it's really short, but I assure you, the other chapters won't be. This is just a taste. With luck, chapter one will be up before the summer is over. Please review!