Life has a funny way of collapsing around you at the least convenient moments.

Right when you think something good is about to happen or an amazing opportunity comes your way, the universe has a habit of ripping that all away when you least expect it. At this particular time in history, the beginning of the downfall started when someone forgot to get Cheetos for the most important weekend of their lives...

"April, you had one job!" The high schooler spun the dial on her locker and the blue metal door swung open. "I can't believe you forgot them!"

"Don't panic, Echo," The red-headed girl attempted to soothe her friend as she opened the locker next to hers and stuffed her books inside. "I can hit the store after school and pick the food up then. We've got the whole weekend to do whatever we want; its not like we're under a time crunch."

'Echo' wasn't written on her birth certificate. April's best friend had an actual name, though they rarely ever used it anymore. She earned it after a mishap in their chemistry class that nearly blew up the school, creating an enormous BOOM! sound that people say echoed down the nearby streets.

They were lucky to still have their hearing after that and the incident almost got both girls expelled, despite everything being an honest accident. It wasn't like she'd tried to knock the alcohol burner over, and if anything, it was their teacher's fault for letting them use highly explosive chemicals in the lab unsupervised. Mr.Delver had been sleeping in the teacher's lounge during the whole event.

Echo placed her geometry book in her locker, next to her history book and Spanish homework.

"You're right," She pushed her glasses up and ran a hand over her long blonde braid before shutting her locker and taking another deep breath. "You're right, I'm sorry. I just..." A moment of silence passed between the two, both knowing exactly what she meant. April placed her hand on her shoulder and gave her a small smile, the kind that looked like a normal grin to everyone else but her best friend could tell she was trying not to cry.

This was going to be their last weekend together, the weekend they'd been planning for over the past two months.

Ever since Echo's mother dropped the 'We're moving' bomb several weeks prior, the two teenage girls had saved up every allowance, every paycheck, all the loose change they could find, and put the cash in their 'End of An Era' fund. So far, they'd managed to collect nearly four-hundred dollars and they were prepared to spend it all in the short time-span of forty-eight hours. With Echo's mother being out of town, looking for a place to live where ever the hell she was dragging them to, that left the two best friends (under the watch of April's father) to do whatever they pleased.

Their 'End of An Era' schedule started with going to April's apartment after school and building the biggest pillow-fort they'd ever created, ordering pizza and stuffing themselves full, then making their way to the theater with April's father to catch the newest Space Heroes movie. April wasn't as much of a crazy fan of the franchise as Echo was, but the redhead still looked forward to one last excitement-filled hurrah. From then on, they'd play games, tell scary stories, and do whatever they could not to think about their time running out.

"This'll be great, I promise," April attempted to smile reassuringly, despite the fact that Echo had been able to tell the difference between a real smile and a 'I'm doing my best not to burst into tears right on the spot' smile since they were ten years old. Regardless, Echo just nodded her head in reply and the two made their way towards the cafeteria.

"Are you sure you can't hang around here 'til the year is over?" The red-head questioned after the two got their trays of pizza from the lunch-lady and found seats at their usual spot- a table in the farthest corner of the room where they could talk in peace and quiet. "It's not like you don't practically live with me already," April took a bite from her slice of food. "You own half my closet."

"And your TV," Echo didn't hesitate to remind her smugly. "And your Sebastian Stan poster, your hair straightener, and your entire Marvel movie collection." April just smiled and rolled her eyes. She'd learned the hard way not to gamble against her best friend. Neither one of them knew why or how, but Echo was always on the lucky side whenever they got competitive against each other. Whether it be playing ping-pong, video games, betting on which sports team would win the super bowl or even guessing what color their teacher's shirt would be when they walked into the room, Echo somehow always ended up winning. It was like a sixth sense or something.

"But honestly, I don't think my mom would go for it," Echo took a bite as well, then unceremoniously dropped her pizza back on her tray. "You know how weird she is about being away from me for long periods of time." April picked up her fork and stabbed a too-soft chunk of pear, wrinkled her nose at the sight, and put it in her mouth.

"Then you guys should just stay 'til the year's over." She spoke through a mouthful of fruit, then swallowed. "We're already half way to Christmas break, so what's the point in picking up everything and starting over somewhere else?"

"Tell that to my overly-stressed and exhausted, hormonal mom." Though Echo's tone was mischievous and she laughed a bit after her statement, April still got the hint that bringing up the subject to her best friend's mother would not end up well. But as the girls continued their meal, an idea popped into April's mind.

"Do you remember that time in elementary school..." She began, her eyes staring lazily at her food, stirring the prongs of her fork in a small mountain of mashed potatoes. "Around Father's Day, when-"

"No, we're not trying to make them fall in love again. That never works twice." April sighed, knowing she was right.

"It was worth a shot."

**********

Beneath the glowing, bustling city of New York as hundreds of workers made their way home from exhausting hours of work and schools of students were returning from another boring day of classes, a network of sewers claimed the city's underworld where rats and bugs traveled through garbage and rivers of feces undisturbed. In a separate pocket of the dark and disgusting catacombs, nestled in the safety of seclusion was a lair, a home to an unlikely family of teenage boys and their father.

One thing that separated them from normal families wasn't the fact that they were home-schooled by their smartest sibling, that they'd never been in the city above them, or that there had never been a mother figure in their lives. No, the difference between the people outside and this cluster of hidden individuals was that they weren't, in fact, people at all. Despite their teenage attitudes, their interests, and their skills, the four fifteen-year-old boys weren't human, and neither was their father.

They were mutants, mutations of turtles with human qualities that kept them separated at an extent from both the human world and the animal kingdom; though they had the emotional and intellectual capabilities of any homosapien, their appearances kept them from disappearing in the masses and left them with no choice but to hide in the shadows.

This is where their story begins.

"Happy Mutation day, dudes!" Michelangelo, the youngest of the four brothers who loved his orange mask, shouted as he slammed each bedroom door open with a grin on his face and a skip in his step. Over the years, the other three had gotten used to the "mutation day scream", making it a sort of weird tradition that began the celebratory day. Regardless, that didn't stop Raphael, the red-masked hot-head of the bunch, from leaping from his bed and growling at his younger brother.

"Mikey!" He shouted as he jumped up, knocking his pillow and blanket to the floor before sprinting for the doorway. "For the love of all that is good in the world, would you stop doing that?"  The orange-masked turtle screamed in fright just as Raph reached for the back of his shell, his grasp swiping -and missing- its edge by less than an inch.

"Ah," Donatello, the purple-clad brainiac and tallest of the four, sighed happily. He leaned his shoulder against the door-frame of his bedroom and smiled. "I love the sound of Mikey's fear in the morning. Really gets ya going."

"Couldn't agree more," Leonardo, the oldest turtle who favored blue, chuckled at his brother from across the hall and walked with Donnie to the kitchen, where Mikey was running around their table with Raph close at his heels. Sitting directly at the center of said table was a bowl full of green goop. Algae. "Ugh, well, I guess that won't be changing anytime soon."

"What? Mikey running from Raph or the algae?"

"The algae; Raph chasing Mikey is just too entertaining to let go."

The duo continued to watch the crazy antics taking place before them, continued to listen to Mikey wail in fear and Raph insult the younger turtle before Mikey finally decided to take the chase elsewhere, leading the red-masked deity of fury toward the lounging area of the room and leaping over the small pool of water only a few feet away. Though Michelangelo had enough intelligence to jump over the pool at the last second, Raphael hadn't seen the switch of events coming and ended up falling straight into the water with a cry of shock.

"Y'know," Donnie began, amused with the image of an angry Raphael hauling himself out of the watery pit and Mikey doing a little victory dance, "I've been thinking lately... Now that we're fifteen, do you think we could ask Splinter about maybe going up to the surface for once?" Leo was silent. "I mean, we've been hiding down here for fifteen years now. Don't you think at some point we need to see the world for ourselves?"

"The world might be a bit of a stretch," Leo couldn't fight the small smirk on his lips when Raph snagged Mikey by the arm and flipped his little brother into the pool, giving him a taste of his own medicine. "But you're right, this's been a long time coming. It wouldn't hurt to ask, or even just bring up the idea."

"Boys!"

All four turtles immediately tensed up at the sound of their sensei shouting and didn't hesitate to start sprinting for the dojo where another day of training would take place.

"We'll mention it after training."