Destiny can almost taste the freedom that flying will bring. If only it wasn't so difficult to get her stupid wings to join her in the endeavour.

"Alright, so from what I've researched about baby birds, we should start slow," Leonardo says, scrolling through notes on his t-phone. Destiny tugs her sweater closer to her body with a huff and he turns to her. "Which means we're going to do some branching."

She nods and reaches to brush her hair from her face. "And how do we do that?"

"Simple!"

He jogs off to the edge of the roof and Destiny can't help but smile a little as she trails after him. He's spent so much time fretting over Shredder that seeing him getting some fresh air is refreshing. She'd rather see him like this than surly and stressed. That's her job, after all.

"We're going to jump the gaps between buildings, but I want you to use your wings to help you get across. You'll strengthen them and you'll learn how to stick the landing," he says. She eyes the gap and his smile fades. "Des? That sound good?"

She shakes her head as if to kickstart her brain, then perks up. "Yeah, I just...uh..." She eyes her wings as she stretches them out. They're still patchy with bits of down and they ache like nothing she's ever felt before; aside from the monthly visit from Mother Nature. She bows her head and grips her wrist. "I don't trust them," she whispers.

He moves closer to her, reaching out to rest his hand on her hand. She dares a peek at his face and he immediately gives her a soft, encouraging smile. He holds up his hand as if to say "wait" and moves around to her back. Before she can ask him what he's doing, she feels his hands on the stalks of her wings and a soothing heat spreads through her feathers as he starts to massage. She feels him spread her wings and stretch them, her eyes fluttering shut as a gentle sigh leaves her lips.

"Okay, so you don't trust the wings," he says. "But...do you trust me?"

"That's a stupid question."

"Do you?"

"Of course."

"Then trust that I will catch you if the wings aren't working."

She takes a deep breath. "Okay."

He releases her wings and heads for the edge again, glancing over his shoulder with yet another charming smile on his face. "Let's go!"

He leaps off into the night, soaring effortlessly to the next rooftop, and Destiny envies him. He waves to her from the other side and starts motioning for her to join him. She backs up, taking more deep breaths, and stretches her wings to their full length.

She races to the edge of the roof and flaps hard. She shoots into the air and she lets out a scream as the wind rushes past her face, her body going weightless and her legs dangling. The wind billows beneath her wings for a second, filling her with hope, and she dares to flap again. It would have worked if it weren't for the fact that she flapped each wing at a different time, knocking her off balance and throwing her entire jump.

"Leo!" she screams as she plummets for the roof, her eyes screwing shut as she waits for impact.

It comes, but not in gravel and asphalt, but a solid and familiar body. She exhales, breathing raggedly as Leonardo steadies her back on her feet and steps back. He's laughing.

"First time flying, milady?" he teases.

"You're a jerk," she retorts with a huff, raking her claws through her curls.

His hands go up in mock surrender. "Okay, okay, no need to bite my head off." When she says nothing more, he eyes the sky. "Uh...how was it?"

Destiny stills herself. She relives the moment. She thinks of the powerful beat that sent her skyward and how even gravity couldn't hold her down as she soared through the air. Yes, her body wasn't held straight up and her wings were more of a glider than anything else, but she was there. She was closer to the moon. She was free.

Her marred features light up and she laughs, flinging her arms to her sides and tilting her head back. "Amazing. It was amazing," she says. Another peal of laughter. "I was...I was flying! For, like, a second! I was freaking flying!"

"Does that mean you're ready to try again?"

She races to his side and raises her hand for a high-three, tail wagging a mile a minute. "Shell yeah," she says with a happy growl. He smacks her hand and she whoops. "Onwards!"

The pair takes off for the next rooftop.

----------

Destiny and Leonardo practice for as long as they can, spending hours leaping gaps and sticking landings, and he sticks to his word and catches her whenever the need arises. She starts to feel more and more confident. Her wings don't feel like a heavy backpack that's stuck to her anymore and finally feel like a tool, like a part of her body that could be as natural as her tail or her fangs.

They get to a particularly long jump, one that Leonardo has to use his grappling hook to cross. He waits for Destiny on the other side as per usual. Her eyes are so wide that he can see them at his distance.

"This far?" she calls, cupping a hand near her mouth. "Are you sure?"

"Positive!" he replies. "You've got this!"

She backs up yet again, giving a test flap and swallowing. She digs the heel of her sneakers into the ground before sprinting full speed ahead. The ledge nears and her muscles work like springs as she shoves against it and flaps her wings, once again lifting into the air. There's an encouraging cheer and she spreads her arms out, light as a snowflake.

She gets halfway across the gap when something whizzes past her face, slicing the tip off one of her curls. She lets out a startled yelp and wobbles, wings going completely limp against her back.

She drops from the air like a stone. She hears Leonardo shout and she tries to scream, but everything is frozen. She can't even hear her own heartbeat as the ground gets closer and closer. Will this fall kill me? she wonders.

She's knocked sideways as Leonardo catches her and they go rolling across the pavement, only stopping once they hit the nearest building. They separate on impact, him rolling left and her bouncing to the right. Destiny grunts and struggles to her knees, head spinning, and immediately latches her gaze on Leonardo.

"Leo!" she says in a near cry, crawling to him. He groans as she gets him into a sitting position, allowing him to lean against her. "Leo, what was that?"

His gaze hardens as he looks to the rooftops, his hand already moving to his katana. "Foot," he growls.

Her ears perk and she catches a familiar scent. The two of them get to their feet and go back to back as Tiger Claw appears around the bend, flanked by Foot bots. Emery comes around the other side with Bebop and Rocksteady. More Foot bots appear at every remaining angle, archers and fighters alike.

Destiny growls low in her throat and tucks her wings as hard as she can against her back as she reaches for the uchigatana strapped to her hip. She feels Leonardo tense up.

"Evening," Emery greets with a purring laugh. "Long time no see, Destiny. I like the new wings. As if you weren't enough of a freak."

"Look who's talking, you overgrown throw rug," Destiny snaps. As Emery releases a somewhat threatening meow, Destiny whispers, "Leo, do you see an exit?"

"No, they've got us surrounded," he replies.

"End of the line, turtle," Tiger Claw rumbles. There's the sound of his gun booting up and Destiny can clearly imagine his smirk. "Taking you two out will help our chances."

Rocksteady laughs and nudges Bebop. "Patrol gets us enemies! Is a good day after alls!"

"Aw, yeah son! We gonna kick it!" squeals Bebop.

Destiny searches desperately for a way out past their enemies, but there isn't a manhole cover in sight, nor is there a fire escape. Foot bots block anywhere that Shredder's goons aren't. They are truly cornered.

"Get them!"

Leonardo lets out a battle cry as he blocks the blasts from Tiger Claw's gun. Destiny slices apart Foot bots as they rush her, trying to keep herself near Leonardo's back. She knows that he's already doing the same for her.

She doesn't want this fight to last long. She's already sore enough from flight training that she doubts she can rustle up the energy to pull this off. She tries to formulate some kind of plan through the muscle memory movements of her blade, but only one comes to light and it's absolutely crazy.

"Des, we need to retreat," Leonardo says.

She turns to him after kicking the head off a bot. "I've got something."

Sapphire eyes meet emerald. "Can you pull it off?"

"I sure hope so." The ground shakes as Rocksteady rushes towards her and she looks between the rhino and her ally swiftly. "Trust me?"

"You bet," he says.

"Then get ready to jump."

Rocksteady barrels at them, horn down, a roar rattling their bones, and both of them leap up and over him. Destiny focuses intensely on her every move and the world seems to slow down. Leonardo is still twisting over her as she braces her feet against the rhino's head, spreads her wings, and launches upwards. She snatches Leonardo's hand in hers as they shoot up and over Emery's line of Foot, Bebop's mohawk lasers whizzing past.

The momentum carries them away from the Foot but does little else. The added weight knocks Destiny off balance and she starts to fall again, heart pounding, wings flapping erratically. Leonardo acts fast, pulling her close to him and turning his shell towards the earth just before they land. Yet again, they hit the ground and roll away, Leonardo's natural armour shielding them from worse injury. From far off, Destiny can hear the Foot mutants shouting.

They're on their feet and racing for the nearest manhole cover in a blink, disappearing into the sewers swiftly and silently. Only once they are safely inside do they allow themselves to breathe.

"That...was...insane," Leonardo pants.

"I can't...believe...that worked," Destiny agrees.

They steady their breathing, meeting one another's eyes again. They're both a little bruised and sweaty, but he's smiling nonetheless. She mirrors him, reaching up to fiddle with the piece of hair that got chopped.

"I sort of flew," she whispers as if she still can't believe it.

"You did," he agrees.

"I'm sorry for falling so much," she adds, leaning her shoulder onto the tunnel wall as she briefly closes her eyes. "More work for you."

"Falling is what motivates baby birds to get their wings to work," he retorts, closing the distance between them and brushing his fingers against her arm. She takes his hand and he squeezes it. "Every time they try, even if they fall, they get a little closer to actually flying, and it motivates them to keep going."

She smirks a little. "I wouldn't be doing so well if you weren't there, you know?"

He bows his head. "It's my sworn duty to help any lady in need, after all."

"Oh, shush, you absolute dork," she says with a light punch to his plastron.

They head for home, hands intertwined between them and many hours of flying lessons left to go before everything changes.