Annalise's Minecraft home is a simple place. It fits best into the description of a mansion, albeit a small one, and the varying colours of wood planks and glass give it a cottage-y feel. There are varying animal pens dotting the fields around the house, some holding sheep, others with pigs, cows, chickens, and horses. The sheep are dyed different colours. There are manmade pools in each pen and Michelangelo finds himself smiling at the sight of multiple blocky chickens splashing about in one of them.

"Well...home sweet home," Annalise says with a slight blush, gesturing down to the house.

She descends easily and comes to rest outside the door, the others following suit. Inside, there's an open space with a fire-pit in the centre and a few benches underneath the many windows. A staircase leads up to the second floor. When Raphael and Donatello investigate, they find a shower, a few bedrooms, and a balcony.

They decide that for the sake of safety, they're going to stay downstairs and sleep in the same area. Annalise makes the extra beds on her crafting table and sets them out around the fire-pit in a comfortable circle, one teen to a bed. They take off their cyberverse outfits and set them off to the side.

Destiny picks her bed and falls asleep in record time, curling her wings and tail around herself, her scarred face aimed at the warmth of the flickering flames. The others sit in a staggered circle around the pit, leaning against their chosen beds—Leonardo, Destiny, Casey, Donatello, Annalise, Michelangelo, Raphael. Conversation is at a standstill, most mouths focused on eating the chicken, pork, and beef that Annalise kept stored in her home. Casey becomes bored enough to start poking at the fire with a stick.

There's a soft, panicked barking sound and they look up. Destiny's ears flatten against her curls, her tail spiking up as her eyes screw shut even tighter than before as her claws unsheathe and dig into the bed. It takes less than a second for Leonardo to get up and move to her side. He kneels down next to the bed and rests his hand on her hair, fingers caressing her wolf ears as he starts to murmur under his breath to her. He gets close enough that the beak of his nose brushes hers.

Little by little, she stops whimpering and relaxes back into sleep. As soon as her breathing has steadied, Leonardo sighs and rests his forehead against hers, eyes closing. The moment feels so tender and intimate that Annalise feels awkward for witnessing it.

"That...that was like magic," she says.

"Not magic," Leonardo corrects, his voice low as he turns and settles back in the circle. He tosses a chicken bone into the fire. "Just...knowing what to do and how to do it."

Annalise looks to the other boys, bringing her knees to her chest. None of them seem as impressed by Leonardo's actions as she is, if at all. She chews her bottom lip and fiddles with fraying knees of her jeans.

"So..." she starts, earning a few fleeting gazes. She scrambles for something to talk about. "You know her pretty well then, Leo?"

Raphael smirks. "You could say that."

Leonardo glares at him briefly, then fastens his gaze on Annalise again. He dons the smallest of smiles. "I'd like to think that I do," he says. "Even though, when I think about it...it's only been two years."

Donatello looks up from his food. "It feels like longer," he admits.

"Makes sense though," Casey says, nudging the turtle with his elbow. "You and Sarina have only been a thing for a year, right?"

"Yeah, about." Donatello smiles a little, fondness making his russet eyes sparkle. He looks up at the ceiling, letting out a breath. "How time flies..."

Annalise shifts in place, trying to find a more comfortable position as her face brightens with curiosity. As much time as she's spent with Michelangelo, she knows very little about them as a whole, and the idea of learning it is exciting to her.

"How'd you guys meet Destiny and Sarina and Diaval and, well," she says with a gesture to Casey, "you and April too, I guess."

"That's a lot of stories at once, shrimp," Raphael says as he crosses his arms loosely over his plastron and kicks one leg over the other. "You want the fast version or the long version?"

She touches one finger to her chin. "How about you do the fast version, then I ask to elaborate on the interesting stuff?" she suggests. "Best of both worlds!"

"Ooh, playing the system," Michelangelo hoots. "I like it!" She laughs as he winks at her.

Raphael smirks too. "Alright." He clears his throat. "April and her dad were kidnapped by Kraang. Mikey destroyed Destiny's house, then she got attacked by Diaval and we helped her later. Sarina was a Kraang experiment and Donnie and Destiny broke her out of TCRI. Diaval was a Foot Clan soldier and we hated him—"

"And I," Casey proclaims, "thought that the turtles were enemies but found out that Red was friends with them after I followed her to the lair."

Annalise blinks a few times. "Woah..." She shakes her head. "Wait, Destiny got attacked by Diaval? I thought they were friends."

"They are," Leonardo says. He rolls his eyes just the tiniest bit, then stops halfway and shakes his head. "Uh, but...Diaval used to be Foot Clan. Shredder sent him out with some goons to capture her, but she fought them off." Annalise stares at him and he laughs. "Right...you don't know what Foot Clan is."

"Or Shredder. Unless you mean a paper shredder," she says.

"I wish it was just a paper shredder," Michelangelo says, shoving a piece of beef into his face. "But—" He swallows and shakes his head. "Nope."

"Shredder's a man, a bad man, and the Foot Clan is a group of ninjas that he leads," Raphael says. "He hated Splinter more than anything and he was determined to destroy him and us until we defeated him first. That was a year ago."

"Okay," Annalise says. "So why did he want Destiny? And why did Diaval work for him?"

"That involves a lot of stuff about mind control and...torture...stuff," Leonardo says, averting his gaze. Annalise catches the shudder that rolls through him before he looks back up at her, his sapphire eyes suddenly piercing. "Des went through a lot. Shredder used Diaval and her as a means to an end, but..."

He swallows hard, but even when he opens his mouth again, nothing comes out. Casey pipes up instead, looking past Donatello at her.

"She has this wolf form. Like, wolfie can turn into a literal giant wolf," he says, making Annalise's eyes widen. "Shredder, the bad guy, forced Diaval to force her to hurt us. That screwed her up a ton and t-b-h, it didn't do much good for Wiz-Kid either." He taps his head, then his dark eyes spark with remembrance and he reaches to lift up his shirt. "I got a scar out of it. See? Pretty...boss, right?"

The description is forced and when Annalise sees the three scratches curving around his waist, she feels her stomach twist. She looks to the others, but nobody looks back at her. They're all too focused on staring into the flames. Raphael keeps one hand on his bicep, rubbing a large crescent-shaped mark, and when she looks at Leonardo, she notices that he has eight matching marks on his arms, four on each bicep, like something dug its claws into his flesh. Michelangelo and Donatello, however visibly unmarked, look far too distant to have gone unscathed.

She feels a wave of nausea overtake her as her grey-blue eyes flicker back to the wolf-raven sleeping so soundly near them. Michelangelo had mentioned Destiny's wolf form before, but now she can imagine clearly the carnage she caused while in it. Annalise's heart starts to pound and she can't look at her any longer. The sight of the scars on her arms and face suddenly bear so much more weight and the terror settling in her chest is suffocating.

She cares for the turtles and Casey and everyone she's met, but she can't help but question how on Earth they could have allowed Destiny to continue to be a part of their lives after such events. Yes, mind control, but they saw what she's capable of. Are they crazy or is there some unbelievable amount of forgiveness at play?

"You can imagine why she has nightmares, then," Leonardo says, startling Annalise back to the present. He looks at her as if reading the fear off her face. "I wish you could have met her before that. For a little while, between the adjustment to living with us and the pain, she was..."

He looks at her and Annalise is smacked in the face with the amount of love in his eyes. Annalise has never felt the emotion that she sees in him, but she's witnessed it in many; in her parents, in her grandparents, in one of her friends after she got her first girlfriend. She suddenly longs to know what it's like to feel that for someone and she looks at Michelangelo for a brief moment.

"She was happy," Leonardo finishes, clearing his throat as he looks at his family. "I can see pieces of who she was more and more nowadays. It reminds me that she's getting better and that...that's good."

Annalise's myriad of emotions hits a plateau, giving her a moment to breathe as she rests her chin on her knees. "My dad was like that, or...at least, my mom tells me that he was. His PTSD came from his time in Afghanistan, so in a way, he never left the battlefield." Donatello turns to look at her, shock painting his features, and the other boys mirror him. She keeps her eyes on the flame, chest tight. "I did a project in biology a year or two ago on PTSD, so I asked mom about him and she said that he learned to manage it early on—with therapists and stuff. She said the only night she saw him sleep soundly was the night I was born."

She stops, the torrent of words clogging as her voice dies out. Michelangelo reaches out to brush her arm and she leans against him, pursing her lips tightly and taking a short breath.

"Sorry, I...I just thought I'd share something about myself since you guys just did," she mumbles. Leonardo and Casey smirk.

"A soldier's daughter, huh?" Raphael asks, a small smile softening his features. "Wouldn't peg you as that type, but...I can see it."

Pride swells in Annalise's chest. "My dad was a medic," she says, a little brighter, a little happier. "He wanted to serve his country, but he wanted to save people rather than kill them. He wasn't afraid to go on the front lines and rush out to retrieve the wounded. I...I think that's what killed him in the end, but..." She grips her fingers, tugging at them as she sucks in another breath. "Mom said he was like that even when they were in high school, always willing to help people." She looks to each of them with a tiny smile. "You guys have the same ideals he did, saving people without killing. I think that's why I respect y'all so much."

Leonardo rests one hand on his chest, his face softening as his mouth wobbles a little. Casey flashes a proud grin and hooks his hands behind his head while Raphael coughs into his hand and looks away, cheeks dusted with a rosy blush. Michelangelo sits up a little straighter.

"Thank you," Donatello whispers. He sniffs and reaches up to wipe his eyes.

Annalise frowns a little. "Are...are you guys okay?"

"We don't hear stuff like that from people, dudette," Michelangelo says. "Remember? Nobody knows what we do, so...hearing something like that..."

"It's really kind of you," Leonardo says. He props his arm up on his knee. "That's all."

The others nod in agreement. Annalise smiles a little before a yawn stretches her face. Michelangelo shifts at her side and yawns too, starting off a chain reaction that spreads to each of them. Leonardo laughs softly and stands up, stretching towards the roof with a drawn-out groan.

"I think that means it's bedtime," he says.

"I agree," Donatello says, raising his hand as he too gets to his feet. He flops onto the bed at his back with a sigh. "Goodnight..."

There's echoed responses from the others as they settle into sleep.

----------

Annalise finds herself running through a Minecraft forest. Ahead of her is a man in a soldier's uniform, a medical cross emblazoned on his shoulder. His blonde curls seem to flash in and out of focus with the spots of moonlight that hit him as he passes.

"Dad?" Annalise calls, picking up the pace. He doesn't turn around and she feels her heart pound faster. "Dad! Why are you running?"

He looks over his shoulder for a brief second, his blue eyes alight with terror. He looks exactly like the pictures Annalise sees of him—a strong, square jaw, stubble, a slender nose and cupid's bow lips. He whirls back around without stopping, his boot catching on a loose root, and he goes tumbling to the ground.

Annalise races to his side and tries to help him up, his shoulders heaving, his skin pale and slick with sweat. He grips Annalise's shoulders and stares right into her eyes.

"Promise me you'll run," he utters. "If you stop, she'll get you."

"Who?"

In the distance, a wolf howls, and Annalise is suddenly far too aware of the snapping twigs coming at them from all sides. Thomas leaps to his feet and takes off, Annalise's hand in his.

"Dad, this doesn't make sense!" she cries, branches whipping her in the face.

"Annalise, listen to me," Thomas says. "You need to tell them about Circa, and I mean everything. If they're truly your friends, they will understand."

Her stomach twists. "I...I can't. It's crazy! They'll never believe me."

"Mutant turtles? Sentient viruses? Sweetie, your reality itself is crazy." He stops in place and Annalise smacks against his chest, hitting her in the face with his leather-scented musk, and she clings to him. He keeps his gaze on the horizon. "Rainbow was real, is...real. She kept watching you even after you thought you got rid of her."

She doesn't release him, tears building against her eyelashes. "Dad..."

"If you don't tell them, Sarina could be in danger. She already is, but...you could help her understand."

"I'll do it, dad. I promise."

There are a few harsh snarls from behind her and Annalise turns around against her common sense to see a pack of jet black wolves emerging from the trees, eyes glowing a poisonous green, jowls dripping. Annalise screams and tries to hug her dad again, but his strong warmth has disappeared.

Annalise looks up to find Circa's cold, soulless eyes latched on her, all smiles. Goosebumps erupt along her skin and the virus' eyes glow red and her nails come flying at Annalise's eyes with a cackle.

She awakens with a strangled gasp. For a moment, she's suspended in limbo between being asleep and awake, unable to hear anything but the pounding of her heart before steadily, the sounds of the others sleeping returns; Donatello is whistling through the gap in his teeth, Raphael takes deep inhales and long exhales, Casey keeps shifting, and Michelangelo mumbles.

She rolls over to see Leonardo and Destiny's beds across the empty fire-pit. Leonardo's hand dangles off the front of his bed and Destiny's mirrors him, their fingers brushing together. It's a cute moment, yet Annalise thinks of the nightmare wolves' eyes and Circa's laugh and her entire body seizes up.

She climbs out of bed and sits on the edge for a second, running her hands over her face. There are too many thoughts, too many worries and fears that will stop her from going back to sleep.

She stands up and shuffles over to Michelangelo's bed, right next to hers. She watches him for a second before reaching over and poking his shoulder. He snorts and his eyelids flutter open, hazy with sleep.

"Lisey?" he mumbles. His voice is raspy and deeper with the effect of just waking up. "You okay?"

She rubs her arm. "I'm...thinking too much. I had this nightmare and now...I'm sorry."

He laughs a little and scoots over, patting the bed next to him. "Okay, spill it, girly. I'm here to—" He yawns. "—listen."

She lies down at his side, facing him, and his eyes sparkle with warmth as he gazes down at her. "It's silly of me," she mumbles. "My dad was there. He was running from wolves that looked like Destiny and Circa appeared. It..." She sniffs hard. "Destiny...really freaks me out, and after hearing what she did..."

He shifts and brings her closer to him, her head resting against his plastron, allowing her to hear his rapid heartbeat. "Desti-bear was forced to hurt us. She's a protector, the thing that chases away the bad things, so maybe it's a good thing that she's scary."

"You think she's scary?"

"I'm used to her, but one time she found me in the kitchen at three in the morning when I was getting a snack and she scared me so bad I nearly wet my shell," he admits. She stifles a laugh against his chest and he smirks. "Yeah, I know. I stood up from the fridge and boom, dark shadow in the doorway. I thought I was gonna die."

"Was she mad?"

"Nah, we made tea and stayed up until she felt tired enough to try and sleep again."

"Aw..."

He takes a long breath as she snuggles against him. "So...your dream, it was just your dad and some wolves?"

Her breath hitches and the voice of her dad, a spokesperson for her inner thoughts, replay through her head. Tell them, they urge. Tell them about Rainbow.

"Mikey, there's...there's something that I need to tell all of you, about Circa," she whispers. His eye-ridges arch and she presses her shaking hands against his chest. "I..."

"Lisey?"

Tears roll down her cheeks. "I...Circa, Circa is..."

She stills as he brings her into a hug, hand rubbing up and down her back. "It's okay. Whatever it is, tell us later, okay?" he whispers. "Don't stress yourself out."

"Mikey..."

"I won't be mad. I'm sure it can wait. For now, you just need to sleep."

She squeezes her eyes shut. "Can I stay here?"

"Sure thing, dudette."

As they drift back to sleep, Michelangelo wonders whether it's normal to feel this deliriously happy over one person. This feeling in his chest is like nothing else that he has ever felt, not when eating pizza or playing video games or even with Renet.

He decides, just as he gets to the brink of sleep, that he's falling in love with her.