Soulbound (TMNT '16) ❪✓❫

Griz's Past

The raindrops covered Donnie's glasses instantly to where he needed them removed until he found shelter to place them back on. He sighed shoving the pair of eyewear into his pocket and dropping that hand to his side as he listened to the thunder above him.

His ears caught the light thumps Griz was creating while stepping through the muddy trail. He loved this bear's spirit and playful personality when she splashes in the water trying to catch fish. Don wanted to know more behind those dark eyes. So he cleared his throat before saying,

"Love of a bear, huh?"

Griz said nothing but looks up at him.

"You never loved?" Donnie adds in. The bear shook her head.

"No. I just turned on my loved ones and did the unthinkable from someone like me..."

When Griz blinked and placed a memory in front of her, she could hear the yells of a girl. They echoed on and on inside her head until the flashback fully became clear.

****

Griz's Flashback...

Before my nasty ways, I had a dark brown pixie cut, glasses, dark eyes, spoke Spanglish in the house, and enjoyed talking with my friends. I lived in Kalispell, Montana for a few years with my brothers, sister, and mother.

Every day and I mean every day I told my mom that I loved her before I went through the doors of my school. Kissed my siblings on their heads too. Smiled all the time, but I guess it all stopped one day when my friends that adored me just... Stopped talking to me. There were days I thought they would be there forever, I was wrong. I felt unloved.

I kicked with all my power, clawed like an angry cat, and struck this girl for being... I don't know. Herself. A group of people was in it with me. People actually did compare me to a bear that mauls everything in its path.

I took all my anger out on people who did nothing to me; hurting them, name calling, laughing every time I saw them. Almost every few weeks, I would be in a fight at a park by my school, beating what I could out of my opponent to prove a point that meant nothing. There were times where my victim ended up in the hospital and had stitches on their wound the next day. Or a black eye.

Whenever I came home from school, my siblings would greet me when I walk through the door and I'd never do it back. They were growing kind of sad and confused because their sister never said hello to them after a long day. Small minds are so used to that and felt incomplete when I never looked at them.

Later on, my mother took everything away from me to see if it'll correct my awful behavior. It just did the opposite. A hole was placed into my wall, broken window, ripped blankets up with scissors and was soon in handcuffs because I scared my younger siblings. Mom, too.

Yeah...I went to spend the night at the police station until the next day so I can think about what I have done.

And when I went home the next day, my room was still the way I left it. Destroyed. My siblings were so, so scared of me that they did not come near me at all. Whispering to each other, holding stuffed animals for comfort, gasping whenever I walked by. I got myself in hot water and I am responsible for it.

Well... The second I went to sleep in...rags with tears in my eyes is the second I woke up by thick bushes and trees keeping me safe from the rain. Two dark eyes see what my hands have turned into, a strong sense of smell, for a second I thought I was kidnapped. I'm not abducted from my house by a total stranger.

But... My gosh... I've never been so terrified because I didn't know where I was or why I was here. Growling in sorrow. No animals called back. Cowering from the shadows. Nothing comforted me. Calling for my mom. She never came.

A grown-up cub wanting her human mother never answered.

No tears escaped my eyes, just cries from a misbehaved bear. For days I wandered the woods for a friend, a human, or something.

And the male voice in my head told me what to do numerous times and still ignored him for almost a year. I had a ticket out of here, but I never tried to get it punched because I thought I can do this all by myself. To be human again without any help. It must have been magic that transformed me this way. Turns out it was just Running River and his Soulbound to teach me a lesson that I deserved.

I deserve every piece of this lesson. If Running River never brought me here, I probably would still be doing what I did before. I'm scared that I won't be able to stop myself if I repeated it.

Now I'm waiting to fall in love, get out of this body and see my mama again. I want to tell her how sorry I am and I'm sure she's worried about me.

That's... Me.

****

Donatello just couldn't see it. The girl who used to enjoy her life felt unloved and turned on the ones she loved. Now the girl that was once dangerous is right in front of him. But she's inside a bear body.

He wanted to make her feel loved. "Griz, you're always loved by the ones you meet."

"But my friends. They just stopped talking to me." The bear replied sadly, remembering the moments of her companions hardly speaking to her face.

Donnie smirks a bit. The bear didn't quite understand. "Maybe they had more important stuff to do. No matter what, they'll love you as their friend."

Griz felt relieved. "So maybe...for no reason I went off like a bomb?"

"Basically..." He breathed and took in a new breath to think over his next sentence. It was hard to put the words in order and come out in the right tone. He didn't want his expressed feelings to come out the wrong way. "You're special. So are Hawk, Kri, and Shado. Very special."

His bear friend listened.

"I promise that you'll see your family again and have a life where you're loved. Forever."

"You really mean it, Donnie?" Her growls were beginning to fill up with joy than sadness.

"Of course I mean it. Forever and ever, little bear."

Griz puffed air roughly as a big grizzly laugh to let her tall turtle friend realize he had made her feel happy again. And obviously loved in all the right aways.