The Genius Set Me Free: The Second Book of the Freeformers Series

Mauerbauertraurigkeit

 (n.) The inexplicable urge to push people away, even close friends who you really like.

He never looked directly at her. Never made eye contact the entire time Fae and Leo unraveled their story and Mikey interjected every so often. He remained standing (he wasn't about to make it seem like he was getting rudely comfortable) and stared down at his feet, only lifting his eyes for split seconds to catch another tiny glimpse.

Even so, Donatello was able to conclude that she had a quiet attractiveness.

She'd retracted her expressive words and faces, remaining stable and silent. It intrigued him, how fluidly she transferred from untamed exuberance to timid demureness. Vienna differed from the few other females Donnie had met before. There was no speck of adamant or rebelling nature, like what Karai possessed. Her eyes were secretive, but not conniving, unlike the smug gaze of a witch-girl gone back to Japan. Renet Tilley had enthusiasm that couldn't be reigned in, and this girl had effortlessly hidden her bubbliness away. The differences between Fae and Vienna were obvious -- they were opposites, from their hair color to the way expressed themselves. Nor was she all that similar to April -- Vienna's ability to switch demeanors was much smoother, more graceful. It would take days of enduring April's startling-yet-lovable fieriness before it subsided to tender sweetness.

He was doing it again. Retreating into his thoughts. Thoughts about April, particularly. Interrupting him with her eyes. Breaking his will with her smile.

"--and told me we needed to find you. So here we are." Donnie pulled himself out of his stupor in time to hear Fae wrap up her narrative.

"You've been through alot." Vienna's voice sounded for the first time in what had to be thirty minutes. "I'm sorry about your parents. I know my condolences won't do anything to ease your pain, but nonetheless..."

"Thank you." Fae smiled, allowing her platinum bangs to drape across her face for a moment to hide the tears twinkling in the corners of her eyes.

"So, here's what I'm getting from all of this," Vienna began to count out the facts on her fingers, "The Foot Clan is evil. Your guys' sister, Karai, is being held captive, or is dead. We need to rescue her, pronto. This Okami Yamada gal gave you directions to fine me. Oh, and she's your master's half-sister? Crazy. I have these abilities to transform into some kind of animal - an animal that, as of yet, is unknown, and hasn't surfaced. You know I'm the... for lack of better wording, 'Chosen One', because of Okami's message and my tattoo. You four brothers touched some green sludge, and now you're all trained in ninjutsu. You've spent your lives fighting alien brain blobs, galactic dinosaurs, and Foot ninjas. Shredder is the leader of this clan. And we still don't know who the other two - erm, Freeformers are. Also, Leo is completely off the market as of three months ago, due to Faline's smooth skills of flirtation."
She'd run out of fingers to count on.

"That's the gist of it," Leo affirmed, cheeks tinged with red at the last comment.

"I wouldn't say 'smooth skills of flirtation'. More like fate," Fae added.

Vienna glanced out the window, through her slightly translucent curtains at the rising moon. Her hands wandered to the ends of her hair, tugging at the strands nervously. She had lowlights, Donnie realized, as he watched her fiddle with her hair. They definitely weren't as prominent as April's saturated red locks, but he caught hints of auburn peeking out in the midst of her dark, straight, smooth—

"Don?"

"Hm?" He jolted in horror once he realized Vienna was staring back at him.

"She asked you a question," Raph snickered, though his taunting laugh was muted, for fear of another verbal lashing from the girl with the glasses.

"Oh." Donnie cleared his throat, smiling bashfully at her. "I'm sorry, please repeat that."

She allowed herself a half-grin, seeming to know exactly what he'd been contemplating (though that was impossible, how could she be privy to the fact she was comparing her hair to April's?). "I asked why you were on the roof tonight in the first place."

'I swear, it wasn't because I was stalking you, or prying into your personal pigeon-coop studio to snoop out clues. No, I was just seeking refuge from the terribly awkward situation that presented itself when the long-time girl of my dreams dropped by with her delinquent of a boyfriend,' Donnie thought.

"I was only going out to get some fresh air, and happened upon you," he said instead.

"Ah." She didn't believe that, he could see it in her eyes. For a split second, her thoughts weren't indecipherable behind the enigmatic spheres of – he still couldn't tell what color they were. Dark brown in the center, fading into a hazel, then green, then blue, then gray. He could've sworn they'd been more brown-hued when he first met her, but perhaps the light had affected his accurate perception of her irises.

"Anyway," Fae drawled, dragging out the word to make up for the gauche lull in the conversation, "We need to know if we can have your support."

"Do I have a choice?" she asked, laughing without humor, "If I don't comply, I'll at some point get these shape-shifting abilities and have no one to turn to for insight. And your clan is in danger, and so is Karai. So yeah, sure. You have my complete support. I'll join this bunch of odd outcasts and put myself in mortal danger." She sounded melancholy, until her lips split into another smile. "Sounds like a good adventure. Haven't had one of those in... well, ever."

"Sweet!" Mikey exclaimed, engulfing her in a bear hug that momentarily hid the small girl from view, "Now you can come over and eat pizza and train and play videog—"

Her hand over his mouth cut him off, sealing his lips and reminding him to stay quiet, though she whispered merrily, "I'm not much of a gamer girl, but pizza sounds great."

The youngest of the brothers hummed with happiness, pulling back with a thumbs-up and then bouncing on his haunches with a child-like beam.

Everyone in the room froze again when something on the other side of the bedroom door cried out. Donnie was back underneath the bed in an instant, feeling more and more like a knock-off Boogie Man by the second.

'Nice going, Mike,' Donnie thought in disgruntlement.

"Hey, where...?" Vienna's confused voice called for a moment, before her feet came into view, padding over to the door. He could picture her with an ear pressed against the wood, listening intently, though he couldn't see anything above her knees.

Donnie heard the door open and close softly.

"The coast is clear, guys."

"But... wasn't there someone outside the—ohmygod ohmygod ohmygod it's so cute!" came the sound of Mikey's voice.

"Michelangelo!" Leo's reprimanding voice hissed in warning, "Keep it down!"

Donnie grunted to himself, twisting and flailing as he found himself once again stuck. Damn it, why did he always choose THIS hiding spot?

"Oh no... Leo, get it away," Fae squeaked.

"Where did THAT thing come from?" Raph asked.

Donnie finally managed to poke his head out, frowning. "What's going on?"

In answer, a small fur ball pranced up to him and gave him a big, sloppy, wet kiss.

"She's so tiny!" Mikey fanboyed, kneeling and beckoning for the dog to come near, scooping her up and nuzzling her little black nose with his.

"Keep it down," Leo warned, gathering Fae up into his arms comfortingly. Her eyes were watering.