Chapter Text
After you settled from your roommates finding out the lovely little mess you were in, the next few days sped by. They were all a blur of sleep, and testing. And interviewing. And planning. And walking.
So much walking.
Luckily, your foot and ankle were at full strength. You still did the exercises for them, but you could now walk with ease. Which you were grateful for, otherwise your attempts to get stuff ready for your contingency plan would have been marginally more difficult. You have delegated out the main roles to the ones you trusted the most, and had in the wings more people to bring on in case you were… unable to take back up your mantle.
The testing part of the days were pleasant, both for the data collection, and because one of your side hypotheses you had was seemingly moving towards being proven correct. Your favourite one- the one you hoped was going to be true, in fact.
All very exciting, and exhilarating.
Less so was the interviewing and walking.
Too many people to pick through, many ending up a disappointment due to their lack of actual drive or qualifications. It was a bit agonizing having to go into an interview with what looked like a promising individual, just to find out they had very low scores in their latest organic chemistry class. Or-as one candidate was- completely against the mystic part of your research. That had both you and Draxum, who was sitting in on that interview, absolutely baffled. Even after the candidate left, the two of you sat in silence trying to understand what and why that had just happened.
So, when Sunday finally rolled around, you were still fairly exhausted. So much so, that by the time you were supposed to be getting ready, you were instead woken up in your lab by the ringing of your phone.
A dramatic pop song blared out in the relative quiet of the lab, echoing. Startling awake, you nearly swat your phone off the desk. You jump to catch it, and in the process almost knock into your centrifuge that you had just been napping in front of.
“This is ___, how may I assist?” you answered the phone breathlessly.
“WHERE ARE YOU?!” April caused the speakers in your phone to squeak. You hold it away in pain, which allows you to see the time.
17:48.
You swore, hastily packing up. “Sorry! I must’ve fallen asleep waiting on my samples to finish!” Gathering said samples and placing them in their proper locations, you made a mental note to have one of the other students analyze them.
She groaned from the other side of the phone. “Man, you’re in your lab? There’s no way you can make it back here in time to go with us to the lair.”
Silence briefly fell between the two of you, and you paused. How were you going to do this?
“Wait!” April apparently knew, “I got it! Just stay right there and be ready.”
Before you could ask for clarification, she hung up and you were left staring at your lock screen.
“…Ready for what?”
You took a moment... before you just shook your head, ridding any leftover sleep as you rubbed your eyes and finished packing up. You rest your lab coat on the back of your chair, and gather up your belongings to place in your bag.
Just in time for the floor beneath you to simply vanish.
Clutching tightly to your bag, you swore again as gravity went sideways. You were deposited in a heap on your living room floor as the portal that kidnapped you dissipated into thin air.
Which was incidentally the perfect spot to land to view Leo’s self-pleased grin.
“Wow, I didn’t know it was that easy to get you falling for me. Should’ve done this sooner,” his voice was practically dripping with smug energy.
You sat up slowly, getting your bearings as you quipped back, “Man, you must get quite the workout lugging that ego around all day. Careful, if it gets any bigger you’ll pull something.”
He just laughed, falling on your couch and kicking his feet up while shrugging, “Hey, I got you here didn't I? Now you hurry up if you want to make good time on wooing the DonTron.”
Horrified, you whipped your head over to fully face, “What… How?” you squeaked.
His face split back into the same grin again, “Oh c’mon, Casey couldn’t keep anything from Ol’ Sensei here. And honestly, I’m hurt you didn’t come clean when I was at your lab… but I guess I can understand… you didn’t want to break my poor little heart.” He said with mock offense, eyes closed and a hand thrown over his forehead for added effect.
He held the pose for a time, then relaxed. He leaned back into the couch and looked at you with one eye open, “But in all seriousness, you don’t have anything to worry about. Trust me, it’ll all be okay. Donald has a hard exterior but a soft gooey side underneath. Like those Cadbury crème eggs you’re both obsessed with.”
You groaned, “I know he is. That’s one of the reasons I’m in this mess to begin with. That’s kinda my type.”
He cocked his head, “And how do you know a nerdy butt-kicking sass master isn’t his?” There was something odd in the way he spoke that had you confused, but you couldn’t place exactly why.
“Because he told me it wasn’t.” you replied plainly.
He sighed, rolling his head back to rest on the couch and stare at the ceiling. “You also know he doesn’t do well with the unknown. Maybe trying again will break him out of it?”
You narrowed your eyes, growing more suspicious. “Why are you so insistent on this?”
He kept his gaze on the ceiling, avoiding your look. “Hey- maybe I just think you two would be good for each other, since you both are weirdo nerds that could spend all day talking about one boring topic. Maybe I think it’d be cool if my best friend and my twin got together…” he flicked his eyes now down to you, “or maybe I just really like the drama. Who cares? Whatever my reasons are, you still have to get ready. You smell of chemicals and burnt something or another.”
He made a face after sniffing the air, just to prove his point.
...
Even without his superior sense of smell, you knew he was right. Grimacing, you left to do just as he suggested.
-----
Emerging after a shower in a casual outfit topped with a weighted hoodie, you became aware neither April nor Casey were with Leo. You asked him about it.
"Oh, they left when they called me to get you. Some people actually run on time, you know? My dear padawan could teach you a thing or two about punctuality."
Ignoring the quip, you felt your insides twist with a spike of anxiety. You were hoping for some kind of moral support as you made your way to the lair. Maybe brainstorm a bit, and actually plan out how you were going to have this conversation. Donatello is going to be like a well-guarded citadel, you needed a proper plan of attack.
"Anyways, if you are ready then the Leon Express Portal service is ready to depart!" he said as he stood, flourishing his blades with finesse.
Rolling your eyes, you poorly fought off a tickle in your throat and straightened your hoodie. "Let's just get this over with, I've got a surgery to prep for."
Leonardo's face flashed with pain, before that vanished and was replaced with firm determination as he split open the air.
"We'll see about that." he murmured before unceremoniously shoving you through.
"LEO-" you cried as you tumbled and hit the ground on the other side with what could barely be considered a roll.
He landed beside you with a twirl, resting both swords on his shoulder. "Really, you should consider training on portal travel. This is the third time in a row you've completely botched the landing. I'm getting second hand embarrassment over here."
Smug bastard.
A voice that overrode your previous attempt to not cough responded. "Not everyone can predict which direction you decide to drop them in, Nardo." Donnie was in his chair facing away from the pair of you, not moving to look at either of you. "Also, why are you in here? Don't you have a movie marathon or something?"
“Ah yes, my dearest of twins. I must have forgotten the location of the living room. Allow me to take my leave.”
Before you could protest, Leo opened another portal beneath him. He winked as he fell, and the swirl faded the second he went through.
Bastard!
If you didn’t die, you were going to stab him with his own swords. If you did die, you were taking him out with you. You rolled your neck and coughed into your elbow, the sudden nature of the events taking a bit of a toll.
“Ah. Sick and trespassing. Lovely. Now, please leave.” Donnie’s back was still to you, hunched over whatever he was soldering.
Now or never.
You wished never was an option.
“I would love to, but we need to talk. Unfortunate, I’m well aware.” You already hated this. Unlike your previous confession, where the atmosphere had been calm and comfortable- this time around it felt as though you’d been set on fire and then dipped in liquid nitrogen.
Your skin crawled, it was too stiff in here.
“We really don’t.” came his clipped reply. You’d heard that tone enough times to know he was trying to stay seemingly neutral and unbothered.
You huffed, and sat up in a more airway friendly position, “Dee, just hear me out for a moment-“
He cut you off by whirling around in his chair and flipping up his goggles to glare at you. This is the first time you’d seen him since your falling out. It had been months, and you slightly recoiled at what you saw.
He looked… awful .
Dark circles were visible under his slightly askew mask, and his skin had taken on an unnatural pallor. He was stuck in an awful posture, the same posture he gets when he is stressed and picks a long project to keep him awake for days.
What happened to him?
He must’ve noticed your concern because his brows furrowed, “I don’t want to hear it!” He pointed at you before you could say anything. “You look like you care, but do you really? You seem eager to throw yourself unnecessarily in harm's way, after all.”
This was so far from how you thought the conversation would start. You just sat and stared at his aggrieved expression from your spot on the floor. Having difficulty processing, you ended up blinking rapidly and trying not to take too much offense, “How could you say that? Just because of one time-“
He shot to his feet, looming over you, “ One ? One time?!” He cackled, “Oh that is rich.”
You huffed as your breath caught for a second, this time starting again from the beginning. “Donnie, I really do care about you-“
“How?” he started, cutting you off again.
You stood up, frustrated, and matched his stance. “Just let me finish!”
The quick movement and elevated emotional state had your chest constrict, making it hard to fully breathe in.
Which left him open to charge on.
“You know what? Even if the feelings were mutual, I can’t stand by someone like you so- so fundamentally flawed. Do you know how worried everyone was after your fight with Elephante? And if this was just the first time you’d struck out it’d just be a marginal error. An outlier. But it’s not, is it? Do you even think about what that’d do to anyone if anything permanent were to happen? Do you think of what that’d do to me?”
Your brows furrow in confusion, completely caught off guard. “Do… to you ?”
He dragged his hands over his face, before shaking them out. He then stood to one side, one hand on his hip and he gestured with the other while he spoke, “Let’s see… Where to start? Maybe last year when you got hit broadside with an axe? The only reason you didn’t get cut in half was because you tripped just in time? Hmm? Ring a bell?”
Your heart dropped a bit, realizing where he was going, “But-“
“Or how about when you almost drowned after getting thrown overboard and then knocked out by the Foot, on a boat they stole because the rudder had a piece of the Dark Armor? If Mikey hadn’t been looking right at you when you went over, no one would have known you were in the water to go save you!”
He was closer now, words quieter yet just as abrasive, “Or when you took a hit for Leo for some reason, even though it would have just grazed him? Or when you thought your shields could hold up against the Shredder when all of his focus was on you, all because you were playing bait so Raph and April could get in a better position? I could go on, really all day, but each and every time I was the one to keep you from dying with help from Leo. I had to watch and wonder each time if this is when your luck would finally run out.”
He seemed to cool after this, a bit deflated.
You wanted to put a hand on his shoulder, but knew better. Instead you started to speak again, more cautiously this time. “Donnie, that’s our job as heroes. Sometimes we take hits that might not make sense out of context. That doesn’t mean I don’t care about you, though.”
He slowly stood straighter, rolling his head to look up at the ceiling. He took a deep breath, huffing out the exhale as he rolled his neck to look back down at you. His face was remarkably blank.
You knew from experience this was forced.
He cleared his throat. “You are clearly stuck in your ways, and I cannot stand by you and watch you continue to unnecessarily throw your life away. We already went through this with Leo, and if you didn’t take anything away from that… then there is nothing further for me to say. Please leave.” He said, seemingly more tired now than when you first fell into his lab.
Terror gripped you, seeing the determination in his posture. He wanted you out.
You choked.
“No…Wait…I-” you tried, but couldn't form words as panic rose up.
Static overtook you, and whatever he was going to retort with faded into background noise. The breath that had caught earlier stuck again. Your chest was constricting tighter to the point where pain radiated outward, and a ringing noise was rising up in your ears. He was still speaking, but you could only watch as a wave of nausea rolled over you.
“Ah…shit.” you choked out as you fell to your knees, clutching your chest as it seized. On the way down, you caught Donatello’s expression morph from disinterest to concern and…fear?
“What’s wrong?” came his unsure voice from over your hacking attempts to breathe.
You didn’t respond, instead falling the rest of the way to the ground and curling in- both hands clawing at your throat and chest. You couldn’t breathe at all, not even a cough. Your vision swam.
“____!” he called, to no avail. When no response came he crouched beside you, hands hovering in…worry? You would have put thought to that if you weren’t feeling like you were about to die.
The burning sensation was more intense than any episode before, a stabbing pain chasing whatever was working its way up your system. Tears were streaming, and you fitfully shook. Right before you squeezed your eyes shut, you saw his own ripe with anguish as they flitted over you.
This did it, and you finally expelled what was on its way up.
You felt the thorns before you saw them. They cut into the roof of your mouth and dragged along the side of your tongue. The bed of snapdragons that landed on the lab floor held in it the usual carnation, but with thorny stems of the roses wrapped around some of the clearly smaller and softer stems. You gagged out one last petal that had separated itself from the rest of the rose. Your breath was ragged and came in heaving gasps, the cool air hitting your open wounds in your mouth. Your hands were fists on the ground, one of them up against the flowers.
Donnie was silent, still crouched around you and now staring at the flowers with dread. “What…” he couldn’t form words, clearly in some stage of shock. His hands shook almost as badly as yours, eyes wide with confusion and laced with abject horror. This was easily in the top most distressed you’d ever seen him.
You almost felt guilty, but all you could think of was the hopelessness of your situation. This was it, there was no easy solution now.
You shuddered at this thought, and he finally snapped out of it.
“Shit, here- sit up if you can. Cot’s in the corner. I can help you over if you sit up.” He was tripping over his words, but you paid it no mind as you were reeling over the episode.
If he hadn't been guiding you closely, you’d have fallen back over as you rose to your feet. Even still, he had to rely on his robotic arms from his battle shell to assist due to your straight-up inability to walk.
When you were close enough to the cot, you forced yourself out of his grip and gracelessly fell onto the sheets. Squeezing your eyes shut again, you curled up and tried to ride out the pain. Desperation shot through your veins and you shivered.
You needed to be coherent. You had to be.
This was your last chance.
But when the bed dipped in front of you, you instead flinched and curled in tighter. You knew you needed to finish talking to him-something about his side of the conversation in combination with how Leonardo and April were acting had you almost thinking… But the swimming feeling in your head had the thoughts floating away as soon as they came in. You think you might’ve reinjured your arm in the fall, judging by the white hot lancing pain that was making itself suddenly known and threatening to take you under.
“_____,” Donnie’s voice was soft. In reaction you could immediately feel another tickle in your lungs, which had your heart thudding with anticipation. Time was already up, there was no denying it.
Without opening your eyes, you signed out with difficulty and gasps of pain, [“Help. You get help.”]
“I…Okay! I’ll be right back, just-just stay here!” he said quickly.
You felt the bed shift again, and heard desperate footfalls as he ran out of the lab. Tears continued as you hiccupped and hissed. You had to leave your mouth partially open, the fresh cuts being aggravated by your tongue and teeth. Making things worse was the growing discomfort in your stomach as blood rolled into it. You didn’t want to swallow at all, as just from breathing you could feel the cuts all the way down your throat. You felt like you were drowning, and you hugged your bad arm to your chest as you trembled.
You didn’t have to wait long before footsteps could be heard clambering back. From the clicking accompanying, one had to be Draxum. This was confirmed when you felt a large hand on the back of your head and a comforting voice speaking from somewhere above.
“My child, I will have to pick you up now.”
You nodded, unable to keep a whimper from escaping you as he did so- cradling you in his arms all the way up to his chest in order to be mindful of your injury. He wasted no time as he started walking; you heard Leo with him as the two of them started quickly discussing what you would need next.
Donnie must have been about to follow, because you heard Draxum command him to stay in the lab.
“But I can help!” Donnie protested, voice cracking.
You coughed almost in response, and shuddered.
“You can help the most by staying here. You must not get any closer than you already have.” Draxum’s voice was firm and left no room for argument.
There was a silence, and then you felt him start to move from the lab once more. The air temperature changed as he carried you out of the lab and to the stairs. He and Leo kept talking, Draxum’s voice rumbling pleasantly in your head as you rested against him.
As you were carried through the main thoroughfare, several voices greeted the pair before dissolving into shouts as you were spotted. Raph was the loudest, with Mikey speaking quickly in an attempt to calm him. April and Casey’s voices joined the fray afterwards. You couldn’t hear anything specifically, as Draxum was holding your head and covering your ears. Thankfully, because you didn’t think you could handle hearing any of it. Hopefully they’d all go back to the movie, as you heard the gentle timbre of Splinter’s voice calming everyone. Donnie then joined in from the sounds of it, just as your merry band of three slipped into the med bay.
Leo hastily prepped the nearest bed, and Draxum gently laid you in it. You curled in again, clutching your arm to your chest and trying not to cry out. You were delicately situated under the blankets, after one of them removed your shoes.
“Here, drink this. It will speed up the healing process for now. Afterwards you will sleep, and upon waking we can discuss your options moving forward.” Draxum held out a tonic.
You cracked open your eyes, taking it from him with your good arm. With some difficulty, you downed it.
It must’ve had a numbing agent, because a cool calm swept over your throat and mouth. It also makes you sleepy. Leo took the empty jar from you as you laid back down. Draxum pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed.
“Rest well. We will be here when you are ready.” He said as he tucked your good arm back under the sheets.
Drowsily, you nodded and patted his hand as he withdrew it. With a yawn, you tried and failed to keep your eyes open as you started to immediately drift off.
You felt Leo take your injured arm, and the potion was clearly effective through your whole body as there was no pain as he redressed it.
When you were almost out you heard Mikey enter into the room. “Hey, Dad. How is ____?”
Dang, movie night was a bust.
That was the last thought you had, as any other notes, protests- anything at all- faded with your consciousness.
A dreamless sleep welcomed you into its sweet embrace.
-----
Press [-] to continue?:
Route [A] -"If I Don't Sleep, I'll Never Dream" coming October 2025
Route [B] -"Take So Long To Say Goodnight" COMING SOON (late September) 2025
Route [C] . -"I Want Your Mercy"