Live, Love, and Laugh

The Heartbreaking Backstory

💙LEO'S POV:

After talking with Sensei about Rocco, I went off to chill in my room. Just as I was passing Faline's room, I heard laughter from inside. I heard laughter from inside. The curtains were opened a crack, so I peered inside. Faline and Rocco were sitting on her bed, and they were talking. Rocco had his jacket off and folded it on the end of the bed.

"Luckily, it all ended happily," Faline said. "Now people don't think I'm just some small scrawny girl who has a love for art and Vern's known as "The Falcon" to the people of the city.

"That's pretty cool," Rocco said, amazed. "But don't you think your boyfriend and his brothers should be the ones celebrated for saving New York? I mean, they are the ones who stopped the Shredder."

I knew he had a point about that. My brother wanted to be seen as heroes, and deep down, I wanted to. But I knew we couldn't reveal ourselves to the public. I listened closely and stayed quiet.

"I know, but they're different, and people don't like things that are different," she said.

I knew that point of hers was true. My girlfriend was always true.

"Then how come you, April, Vern, Casey, and now me like them?" he wondered aloud.

"I don't know," she returned simply. "I like them."

"Turtles are your favourite animals?" he guessed.

"It's not just that. They avenged Mum and Dad. That's why I care about them," she said with a small smile.

It was Rocco's turn for his face to fall sad. "The Foot murmured them. I know."

She turned to him, surprised, and he explained fully while I learned closer to listen. "I met them three years ago when I was wandering around the city one night. When they saw me, they immediately knew it was me."

"How?" she wondered.

He went a little embarrassed. "You were probably too young to remember, but when I was born, my hair was dark brown like our dad's, and my eyes were green like our mum's. So they knew it was me because I was the image of Dad. Just like you're the absolute spit of Mum."

"You didn't tell them you got mutated, right?" she asked in worry.

He shook his head. "No, because Dad asked me if I'd dyed my hair and got blue contacts, and I just went along with it. Then Mum said, "Wait till your sister sees you. She'll be so happy". But then the Foot turned up. Dad and Mum ordered me to run while they held off the soldiers. I did, and once I turned a corner, I changed into wolf form so they wouldn't know it was me. From up on the rooftops, I watched as the Foot murmured Mum and Dad. It was terrible."

He faced the floor sadly. I felt somewhat bad for him, only just reuniting with his parents one minute and then losing them the next. I watched Faline as she moved closer and wrapped him in a small hug.

"I'm so sorry that happened to you," she said softly.

He smiled a little. "But I'm lucky. I'm here. And I got you back."

Then I saw her eyes light up, meaning she got a great idea. "Hey, why don't we play The Crying Game?"

"Let me guess? You try to cry?" Rocco guessed with a smirk.

"We try not to cry," Faline answered.

Oh boy, I thought as I kept watching. They sat facing each other, and Faline began telling Rocco the sad things that she tried to make us cry the year before.

"Butterfly, windshield wipers, half a butterfly."

Rocco's eyes went big and cute as his bottom lip trembled.

"An old man on his deathbed remembers the summer he fell in love. She was out of his league, and he was young and scared. He let her go, thinking surely summer would come again. It never did."

Now Rocco became teary-eyed.

"I tried to smile.
I tried to laugh.
I tried to ignore
The things that bother me.
I tried not to overthink.
I tried to escape
From the cell of
Sadness and loneliness.
But no matter
How hard I tried,
I just couldn't get out of it.
I was locked in.
Maybe this is truly
My fate-to live,
Fight, and die alone.
No-I'm not alone.
I'm with my best friend.
Her name is Sadness."

And that immediately sent Rocco into tears. "Wah!" he wailed.

I had to cover my mouth with my hand to muffle a giggle. He was quite a crybaby like Mikey. I watched him dry his eyes on his sleeve and stop crying.

"Now you try and make me cry," Faline said, with her arms crossed over her chest while smirking.

"Okay," Rocco took a deep breath and hesitantly began. "Faline...when you were five months old and I was three years old, we went to New York for a holiday with our parents. We visited the Natural History museum. I remember pushing you around in your pram, making you giggle. Then there was the smell of smoke, and an alarm sounded. A fire had broken out in the museum. I was terrified and ran toward the nearest exit."

I thought about the night when my brothers and I were babies. A fire had broken out as well. I saw Faline's face was becoming sad as her bottom lip quivered.

"I waited for you and our parents to come out, but you never did," Rocco continued. "Then an explosion happened, and I thought the three of you had perished. You know the rest."

Faline broke down into tears, and she moved closer to Rocco, hugging him while he returned the hug. I felt myself crying as well. I sniffed and walked away, wiping my tears away.

💜FALINE'S POV:

After playing The Crying Game, I decided to take Rocco on a hangout to the cinema. I had seen this movie trailer "The Founder" and thought it was really good. I had shown Rocco the trailer, and he, too, thought it was really good.

The both of us exited the room and headed to entrance when Splinter stopped us. "Oh, Sensei/Rat man," Rocco and I said at the same time nervously.

"Are you two going somewhere?" Splinter asked.

"We're just gonna go see a movie together," I explained.

"Yeah, what she said," Rocco added.

Splinter gave us a smile. "Very well then. Make sure to be back before dark and do not turn to wolf form."

"We won't," Rocco promised.

I quickly looked for Leo and found him in his bedroom sitting on his bed. "Hey, Babe, Rocco, and I are just going on a movie hangout."

He gave a small smile. "Okay, have fun."

I quickly gave him a kiss, said, "See you later" and waved to his brothers as Rocco left the lair.