What if Splinter found April as a little girl running from the Kraang? What if her new family did everything in their power to help restore the past she's forgotten? What if April is responsible for the destruction of all life as we know it?
Once Upon a December Night is a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) fanfic by OneLittleSpark18 and can be read on Archive of Our Own here
and Fanfiction Dot Net here.
Once Upon a December Night provides examples of:
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: While canon!Tigerclaw was genuinely loyal to the Shredder, this version sees him only sees him as a client, disapproving both of his methods and his alliance with the Kraang.
- Adaptational Early Appearance:
- While it took until the second season of the show before Ice Cream Kitty appears, here Ice Cream Kitty has been a family pet before the events of the first episode.
- In canon, Karai doesn't appear until fourteen episodes in. Here she makes her appearance right after they rescue April and fight Snakeweed for the first time.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: While canon!Tigerclaw is a loyal Foot soldier who sees Karai as nothing more than a Spoiled Brat, here he thinks Shredder is making a Deal with the Devil by siding with the Kraang and manages to win her over through patience and understanding. While Tigerclaw cared nothing for Alopex and was perfectly fine with killing her, here he still thinks of her as his sister and warns Karai about letting hate control her like with Alopex (a rather relevant lesson for her considering what the Shredder is like). When Karai learns the Awful Truth that the Shredder isn't her father, Tigerclaw assists her in escaping to the sewers.
- Adaptational Upbringing Change: In canon, April had a normal upbringing until the events of the series' first episode. Here, she was kidnapped alongside her parents when she was a toddler, and lost both of her parents while escaping (her mother that same night, her father later when the Kraang killed him via experimentation). Splinter, honoring Mrs. O'Neill's dying wish, took April in and raised her alongside the Turtles. She has a much less traditional upbringing, but she's kept safe and clearly adored by her adopted family.
- Adaptational Weapon Swap: While in canon April learned how to use a tessen (and was only moderately skilled in using it), here her weapon is a short katana and has had more training in using it.
- Adoptive Name Change: April, due to being so young when she lost her parents, doesn't remember her last name. So, when Splinter presents her with the Hamato heirloom tessen, she decides to make her full name Hamato April.
- A Minor Kidroduction: The first few chapters show April and the Turtles as little kids, and shows them growing up until the Turtles' fifteenth Mutation Day.
- Child Prodigy: Donnie, as usual. He had an IQ of 142 at age four, could understand college-level computer science before he was ten, and had been working an online tech support job before he was in his teens.
- Cool Big Sis: Mai is this to April and the Turtles, often bringing them groceries and presents for the kids. She's the one who taught Mikey how to cook (dubbing him her sous-chef), and showed Donnie everything she learned while getting her computer science degree. She even acted as Donnie and April's chaperone when they snuck into a Broadway show.
- Daddy's Girl: While Splinter loves all of his children, they often joke that April has him wrapped around her finger because she's the only girl. She has even taken to calling him "Papa" while he's still "sensei" to the boys.
- Death by Adaptation: While they kept samples of his DNA on file, here the Kraang experimented on Kirby until he died.
- Did Not Think This Through: It was when April is left emotionally vulnerable from learning that her birth-father was dead did Donnie decide to tell her his true feelings for her, leading to the two of them to avoid each other for weeks from the heated conversation that followed. In his heartfelt apology, he admits that, no matter well-intentioned he thought it was at the time, it was selfish of him to unload it onto her at the time. April then acknowledges that her response wasn't exactly leveled and accepts his apology.
- Died in Your Arms Tonight: April's mother died in Splinter's arms after she was shot by the Kraang. He promised her that he would look after April before the woman died, and felt guilt afterward for not doing more to prevent her death.
- Fake Period Excuse: After Donnie's botched confession to her, April uses this as an excuse to stay home from a mission. Since Michelangelo is familiar with her habits during her time of the month, he sees right through it.Michelangelo: It's what happens when five guys live with a girl. You pick up on those things.
- For Want Of A Nail:
- While in canon the Kraang didn't try to take April until her teen years, Kirby having been hiding her until they were found, here her entire family were captured when she was six years old. Because of this, April and her mom managed to escape, only for her mom to die the Kraang's attempts to recapture her, Splinter coming just in time to save April. This led to him taking her in at an early age, making the Turtles her adopted brothers.
- While April introduced Mr. Murikami to the Turtles in canon, here Splinter and the turtles knew him much earlier, he and his daughter Mae having known Splinter as their neighbor when he was human and acting as their Secret-Keepers after they mutated.
- April's psychic powers kick in much earlier here than they do in canon, suffering from trance-like "episodes" in her preteens that evolve into Power Incontinence that she is only able to curb with meditation.
- While in canon the Turtles where raised on horror stories of The Shredder, here Leo doesn't bat an eye when Karai tells him that she works under him, not realizing the gravity of the situation when he talks about her to his family and Splinter reacts with shock.
- Fusion Fic: While this is a 2012 TMNT fic, here the Hidden City from Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles exists too, the Hamato Clan involving themselves in Hidden City politics and alerting the yokai of the Kraang's activities.
- Genius Ditz: While Michelangelo is... well, Michelangelo, he is quick to assess April and Donatello's rocky relationship after Donnie's botched confession and is observant to know when she is using a Fake Period Excuse.Michelangelo: You guys don't give me enough credit. Yeah, I'm always bouncing off the walls, but like I said: I notice things.
- Happily Adopted: Unorthodox living situation aside, April is happy and healthy as an honorary member of the Hamato family.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Both of April's parents pulled this: Kirby stayed behind to distract the Kraang while April and her mother ran away. Then, when cornered by the Kraang, April's mother hid her daughter behind a dumpster and tried to fight the Kraang, which led to her death. April mostly blocked out the traumas she faced at the time, remembering them later in life through meditation and revelations.
- In Spite of a Nail: Despite all of the changes that occur, April still gets kidnapped by the Kraang just like in the first episode of the show.
- Kidnapped for Experimentation: What the Kraang did to the O'Neill family before the events of the fic. When April and the Turtles begin regularly going to the surface after the Turtles turn fifteen, the Kraang begin targeting her again.
- Mundane Solution : When Leo tells Karai that Splinter was Tang Shen's husband instead of the Shredder and that they had a daughter, what does she do? She goes online and looks it up. If Hamato Yoshi and Tang Shen were officially married, it would be likely (ninja or not) that the event would have been kept as a public record. Same applies to her birth certificate.
- No Periods, Period: Averted. When Splinter first adopts April, Mai promises that she and her mother will help April with "girl stuff" that will inevitably come up in life (to his relief). Later in the fic, April uses a Fake Period Excuse to get out of a mission due to her and Donnie having a falling out.
- Not Blood Siblings: While this version of April and Donatello were raised as brother and sister, both
Word of God and subtext confirm that this is a "Apritello" fic. This is later solidified at the end of Chapter 23. - Relationship Upgrade: April and Donnie officially become a thing at the end of Chapter 23.
- Shout-Out: Two chapters are dedicated to the Turtles watching The Little Mermaid for the first time. It becomes Donnie and April's "thing", with him even arranging it so that he and April can see the Broadway version for April's birthday.
- Would Hurt a Child: While April blocked most of her experiences out, it's clear that the Kraang were not gentle when they were experimenting on her at the age of six.
- You Are Number 6: Unlike in canon, the Kraang address April as "Experiment 274."
