The turtles were excused from their training after Carrie retold her experience. They left frightened and disturbed. That story surely hadn't helped with their impression of her. 

     It was just Carrie and Master Splinter who was left. Carrie quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks and breathed deeply.

     "It's not uncommon for those truly entranced in their meditations to witness visions, of sorts." Master Splinter strokes his beard. "Have you experienced this before?"

     Carrie shakes her head. "I've never meditated before."

     Master Splinter closes his eyes and nods. "I have experienced many transitions into the spiritual plane of existence during my meditation. But never have I encountered such a realm, as the one you visited."

     "I don't understand," Carrie whispers. "This is too much."

     "The man you saw." Splinter narrows his eyes. "His name is Oroku Saki. He is Master Shredder of the Foot Clan."

     Carrie lowers her head.

     "My father slew Saki's father and destroyed the Foot Clan. Although my father tried to raise us as brothers, Saki only grew more relentless of the Hamato Clan and our family. His resentfulness of my family grew to hatred when Tang Shen chose me, over him."

     "Tang Shen?"

     Splinter smiles and nods. "My beautiful wife. Oroku Saki attacked me, burning our dojo in the process. Shen sacrificed her life to save mine when Saki attempted to strike me down. He left me for dead."

     "How did you escape?"

     Splinter shrugs. "I do not know. When Tang Shen fell into my arms and Saki fled, I had prepared for my life to end with hers. Burning wood planks fell on both of us. Everything went dark. I remember opening my eyes to the burning dojo. Without Tang Shen and without my daughter."

     "So.. does that mean the turtles were once human too?"

     "I had moved to New York City quickly after the incident. I bought four tiny turtles from the pet store to keep me company." Master Splinter strokes his beard. "Strange men bumped into me as I left the store. I followed, out of curiosity. When they noticed my presence in their exchange in an alleyway, they attacked. I fought back, but as I did I knocked a strange canister from their hands. It fell and broke on top of me. The green ooze it contained transformed me and the little turtles."

     "So they're not actually your sons?"

     "They are. They are my family. I raised them as my sons. I raised them as brothers."

     Carrie frowns. "I still don't understand... how all this is possible."

     "You will, in time. Now that the Master Shredder knows that you and your father traveled here, I fear you are in terrible danger."

     "But why? Why my dad?"

     "I do not know enough about what your father did to anger Saki back in Japan. Noah worked closely with Saki. Although, I do not know many of the details."

     Carrie sighs. "He's dead, isn't he?"

     "Saki needs your father. He would not have killed him. Noah is a brave man. He has been transported to Japan to aid Saki in finishing their work."

     "Their work?"

     "I'm not too familiar with what Noah was after. I only know that it became extremely dangerous. Once your father found out about Saki's true intentions with his breakthroughs, he fled. My sons will be able to determine what exactly the Shredder is planning."

     Carrie stands. She turns away and exits the dojo. "I hope," she mutters. 

     There wasn't much hope inside Carrie, actually. Her life had completely fallen apart and so suddenly too.

     The turtles were waiting outside of the dojo. They all glanced up at Carrie before quickly shuffling behind her into the dojo to continue their training.

     April smiles at Carrie. "We kind of heard everything."

     Carrie sighs. "They all hate me."

     April scrunches her nose and shakes her head. "They're just confused."

     "Me too."

     "Don't worry. They'll be able to figure all of this out."

     Carrie hates to admit it, but the turtles were her only option. "I hope."

     The rest of the day consisted of the turtles training and Carrie and April hanging around the lair. They floated from room to room, April guiding her friend on an elaborate tour. She had even set up a guest room for Carrie. They both knew Carrie wasn't leaving any time soon.

     The team had ordered pizza, as per usual. It was a quiet dinner. Partially awkward. Leonardo, Raphael, and Donatello were eager to patrol Shredder's lair. Raph wished to go for the fighting. He couldn't stand waiting to fight his enemies. Donatello wished to learn what Shredder was planning. He hoped whatever it was, he could study it in his lab. Leo wished to go because he felt it was his duty. He felt tremendous guilt for Carrie's situation and with the Foot Clan being on the down-low for so long, he knew something was up. As for Michelangelo, the only thing on his mind was the pizza and the pizza he would soon eat.

     Leonardo decided that tonight would be a training night. The turtles had few of these nights. No one liked them except Leo (although these nights did interrupt his meditation, which upset him). Groans escaped the mouths of the younger turtle brothers when he announced that they would be training late over dinner. Leo considered this sort of training more of the cleansing type before a dangerous mission. No one knew what they would be walking into. The leader wanted them to be prepared for tomorrow night when their mission would begin.

     The turtles retired to their dojo, three of them groaning and complaining along the way. April escorted Carrie to her room, making sure her friend was okay. Carrie insisted that she would be fine.

     This was not true. She was terrified.

     But April couldn't convince Carrie to confess her fears. She grudgingly left Carrie in her room for the night.

     Carrie had gotten herself ready for the evening, yet she stood in silence for a while near the door. The room was bare. No decorations hung on the walls and nothing cluttered the floor or the shelves. She figured, at the very least, she should be able to decorate the room to how she pleased. It was the only thought that excited her.

     She lay in her bed for countless hours. That is what it felt like to her, but she wasn't awake for more than one. She feared the dark. She feared closing her eyes after what she experienced. She feared experiencing her vision again - or anything of the sort. It at least comforted her that the turtles were still awake, although she hated to admit that. Their muffled and quieted grunts and groans from their training helped guide her to sleep, for she knew she wasn't alone. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't escape them. This mutant family were now her only friends and her only protectors; they became her only family within these past days.

     When Carrie awoke, she awoke suddenly and abruptly. She no longer heard the turtles. She figured it must've been very early in the morning, but she had no clock to tell.

     Carrie was relieved that her room remained the same. No dark planes of existence shrouded her.

     Rubbing her eyes, she got up from the bed and wobbled over to the door. She took a couple of steps forward but stopped to rub her eyes. Carrie noticed that everything around her was different. She realized that she was, in fact, outside. Confused, she turned around, but the bedroom door was no longer there. The only sight was an endless purple sky and the tops of New York City's buildings, decorated with city lights.

     Beyond, on the opposite side of the roof Carrie stood on, inaudible noises could be heard. Silhouettes could be seen where the noises came from. There were two, and they appeared to be in distress.

     Curious, Carrie approached the two. Perhaps they knew what was going on. As she got closer, however, she realized the two were fighting each other, brutally. She yelled at them to stop as she approached but soon she was faced with a shocking reality. It was Leonardo. What was even more horrifying was who he was fighting: Carrie. Another clone.

     This Carrie was dressed in dark clothes with silver armor accents. A dark maroon sash around her waist was marked with a foot symbol.

     "Stop this!" Leonardo screams, blocking the onslaught of attacks. "This isn't you!"

     The clone frowns. "You know nothing about me."

     Frustrated, Leonardo forces Carrie's blade away and grabs her shoulders. His eyes narrow and his voice drops to a low tone, almost low enough to be a whisper. "I can't fight you."

     "Then don't." Carrie pushes him away. "Join me."

     "I won't."

     "Then you're my enemy. Simple as that."

     Leonardo throws his Katanas onto the ground, shaking his head. "I won't fight you. I can't."

     "That makes my life so much easier."

     The clone returned to attacking the, now weapon-less, turtle. He dodged her stabs at him, but he was running out of options. She was fast. More importantly, she had a sharp weapon, and Leo didn't.

     Instead of taking another jab at Leonardo, the clone sticks her leg out, tripping him. Leo hadn't anticipated this, as he was too worried about being stabbed.

     Leo falls on his back, groaning as he hits the ground, and his head. Carrie presses her foot on top of his plastron. Leonardo stares up at her. Pleading transforms his countenance, although hints of despair, guilt, and rage cloud his eyes.

     "Stop," Leonardo growls.

     Carrie holds her chin high. She positions the end of her blade at the mutant's chin. She tilts her head, examining him. Her face, once neutral, turns into a frown of disappointment.

     "You defy..." Carrie narrows her eyes. A sharp blackness shimmers in her eyes, covering the whites of her eyes, "...the will of my Master."

     In one swift motion, the clone raises her blade from the turtle's chin and forces the weapon through his shell until the rooftop prevents her from pushing any farther. Leonardo had tried to stop it, pleading with her in his final moments, but failed.

     Carrie, who had been brought into this nightmare, screams as she witnesses the murder — the second murder — of the ninja turtle. She reaches her hand out to the lifeless mutant and attempts to run to him. However, Carrie's clone turns her head, offering a malicious grin.

     As soon as the two eyes lock, Carrie jolts from her bed, screaming, holding the covers to her face. She couldn't stop seeing everything she witnessed. It all just brought back everything she had seen before. But this time, it was herself who had been inflicted the pain and death.