Chapter Text
"Hey Mikey, where're you goin'?" Raph curiously followed after his little brother, who was in the middle of adjusting the two empty tote bags on his shoulder and heading to the Lair's exit.
"I saw a place in the Hidden City that was kinda like Repo Mantis' scrapyard," Mikey didn't stop walking, but he was proudly grinning. He could still hear the footsteps behind him — maybe he could get Raph to join?
The thing is, Donnie has been busy the past few days in his lab; going on about everything he wants to upgrade and needs to repair every time he steps outside to spend time with his brothers. Recently, he mentioned off-hand about needing to find more spare parts and metal, and it sparked an idea in Mikey. He can help with that!
So that's what he told Raph, just as Leo peeks around the corner to hear too.
"Ooh, can I come? Sounds better than being cooped up here all day." Leo hurried over to Mikey, who smiles.
"Sure! The more hands, the better — who knows what we might find. I'll lead the way." Mikey motions for the two to follow, and all three exit the Lair. Raph mumbles something about coming along so neither get in trouble, which Leo makes a teasing remark about "we'll be fiiine" and Raph shakes his head.
It's not too long before they make it to the new scrapyard, both Raph and Leo ogling at all the random and cool trash. Mikey sports another proud smirk after Leo rounds to ask, "How'd you find this place, Mikey?"
"Oh, just happened upon it while I was out helping one of the nearby residents with getting their purse back." Mikey shrugs like it's no big deal. He still remembers the robber regretting underestimating him, and he had stuck his tongue out as the criminal was hauled off into a police car-thing.
"Alone?" Came Raph, frowning with his worry-stink. "Mikey-"
"I'm not a baby, Raph, I told you this already!" He cuts his brother off, crossing his arms. "I'm fourteen, I'm a big kid. I can handle myself." He frowns back.
Leo pats Raph on the arm, smiling. "Don't worry so much, big bro! He's proved himself plenty of times before, we can trust him."
Raph sighs. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry," he rubs the back of his neck. "Can't help worrying about you guys. I trust you."
This earned a bright smile from Mikey, and Raph's shoulders sag in relief. He hugs his big brother while Leo saunters off to investigate a random pile.
They all soon fall into a casual search of the piles, Mikey having given Leo one of the totes while Raph and Mikey share the other one.
Leo is slightly hidden away from the others when he spots something strangely shiny, appearing almost untouched compared to the mild dinginess of practically every other piece of junk surrounding them. Curious, he moved aside the things burying it, surprised to see it's a rather intricately crafted, small box of some kind. He reaches out to grab it and get a closer look, but...
As soon as he touches the box, a strange feeling clamps down on him like a sudden weighted blanket. He feels a pull to bring it closer, inspecting the broken latch on the front and flipping it open.
. . .
Leo blinks. What was he doing? He felt like he's been standing around staring into this empty box for almost a full minute. He glances around, feeling a little embarrassed. The box does look nice, though.
It's small, a little dusty, and the latch is busted — a tiny prick of deja vu in his chest — but otherwise it's in pretty good condition for something tossed out and forgotten. There's a few scrapes here and there but it only looks to be caused by being buried amid other stuff.
Leo opens his hip pocket and stashes it, smiling just a little to himself. He doesn't think about why.
The other two don't have much luck finding anything particularly useful, aside from some metal scraps and a cool looking purple action figure. Regardless, the three still had a fun time messing with all the cool random trash they found. Raph tried at first to be stern, telling them to be careful since it's Hidden City trash and not the more familiar New York trash, but it's not long before he too starts playing with things he finds. Overall it was a pleasantly chill trip, and the three go home with semi-full totes smiling away as they talk about their findings.
"I really hope Donnie finds this stuff useful," Mikey wrings the strap of the bag he's carrying. Raph holds the second one, and has been denied several times on the trip back from relieving Mikey of his. Leo seems happy enough hanging back a bit, giving a reassuring smile every time Raph glances behind him.
"I'm sure he will, hermano," Leo says, a small bounce in his step. "He loves metal and purple stuff. We got this in the bag!" Leo shakes his little brother's tote for emphasis.
Raph and Mikey groan at the pun, only serving to make Leo's grin bigger. He laughs off the bad reception.
By the time they get back to the Lair, they all agree to surprise Donnie in the morning. They say their goodnights, heading off to their separate rooms to conk out for the 'night.'
Leo makes it to his room, sitting down on his bed and getting ready to either sleep or pass out binging comics. He pauses, though, not yet taking off his sash belt.
He re-opens the hip pocket.
Leo gingerly takes out the little ornate box, staring at all the details again. He doesn't realize his heart's pounding until he takes in a shaky breath he didn't even know he was holding.
He swears he can hear something from it. Faint. Musical. Pulling him in again. He dares to open it once more, not really sure why.
. . .
He gingerly stores the box back into his pocket, and puts all his gear back on again. There's a tug of a smile once more, hardly felt.
He exits his room.
Raph yawns, rubbing the crust out of his eyes as he makes his way over to the kitchen. Mikey is already in there, chatting with Donnie who still looks half-asleep. Mikey's just about done making waffles with the press that Donnie had repaired recently — one he found a few weeks ago at Repo Mantis'. They both greet Raph.
The big guy takes a seat and lets Mike serve them, but pauses after plating the fourth. "You guys seen Leo yet?" Mikey asks. "Should probably be here by now." It's true. He tends to mimic that cartoon thing where they follow the foodsmell trail, which Raph will never get over how funny it looks.
"I can go check," Raph devoured his serving in a few bites, already standing up and heading out. Donnie mentions something about going back to his lab after he finishes eating, Raph barely catching it before he's out in the walkway.
He checks Leo's room first, frowning when he finds it empty. Maybe they passed by each other? No, that doesn't make sense.
He steps out and tries the arcade, finding that empty too. Maybe —
Raph stops in his tracks as he passes the training-room-AKA-dojo, catching wind of muffled exertion and the punching bag being knocked around. He steps in.
"Leo?"
The turtle in question freezes, perking up to the sound as he nearly whips his head over to Raph. His slightly blank expression immediately turns into a bigger grin.
"Raph, hey! Good to see you." He says, still panting and sweating kind of a lot. His grin doesn't drop or change, and he's standing a little stiffly. It sends a small alarm to Raph's big brother senses.
"Hey, you good? How long have you been in here? Mikey made breakfast," he steps over to Leo, but pauses when Leo takes a step back and laughs nervously.
"Haha, ah, don't worry about it. I was just about to leave... Actually-" Leo levels Raph more seriously, a sudden glint in his eye paired with the smile. "Wanna have a quick spar before we head back?"
Raph is really starting to get some bad vibes.
"Ahh, actually I think I'll pass, big man. Raph's not really feeling up to training right after he just atEWOAH-" Raph quickly sidesteps Leo, who had drawn his katanas out and just tried to- "Leo, did you just try to slash me?!"
Leo just looks up at him with a sly grin, his eyes crinkling a bit with it. Raph starts to sweat.
"Leo, listen to me. I don't know what's goin' on in that head of yours, but you nee-Eek!" Raph dodges once again from a stab, eyes widening. "You need to cut it out!" He scowls. "You're gonna seriously hurt someone!"
Leo wasn't listening. He flashes a toothy smile as he advances to Raph once more, but Raph was quicker and grabs Leo's wrists. He pries the katanas out of his brother's hands, letting them drop to the floor.
"Leo! What is up with you today?!" No response. "Leo??"
Fear washes over him as he looks into his brother's eyes, something about how soulless it felt just scaring him badly.
Leo yanked back hard enough to hurt himself if it weren't for Raph instinctively letting go. "Wait!"
Leo picks up his katanas and runs deeper into the dojo past Raph, making him spin to keep his eyes on his little brother. "Leo, talk to me, this really isn't the time t–" he blanches when Leo goes through a portal, and almost doesn't move away in time when he feels the other end open behind him.
Raph moves aside and catches Leo on his way out, wincing when one of the katanas cuts a little into his arm. He holds fast as Leo writhes in his grip, legs flailing and both arms pinned awkwardly. He nervously eyes the blades still glued to his brother's fists, frantically wiggling around with the rest of him. "Leo, seriously! What's gotten into you??" Nothing again, just him trying and trying to escape Raph's iron hold. As if everything else wasn't worrying enough, he's now adding "unresponsive" to the list.
Raph yelps when Leo suddenly bites his brother's arm, clamping down as hard as he can. Apparently the surprise was enough for him to successfully wiggle out of Raph's hold, just barely escaping before he could be caught again. Raph calls after his brother, hot on his heels until the little shit portals away.
Panting, Raph lets out an exasperated groan that pitches up at the end from the sudden frustration. He only then notices the red dripping down his arm, a longer cut than he swore he felt it to be, and sighs. He should probably patch that up. At least the bite didn't do any damage, not even being enough to bruise. Still, he was a little shocked that it even happened — Leo must really be out of it.
"Raph?"
His eyes lock onto Mikey, who was frowning with his hands close to his chest. His little brother rushes over.
"Hey, Mike- listen, something's wrong with Leo, we need to go catch him before he hurts someone or himself –"
"What happened to your arm, first?"
"Ah, yeah, we should probably patch that up real quick," he amends, but quickly adds on: "Seriously though, Leo just ran off and portaled to who-knows-where. We need to find him!" Raph follows Mikey to the kitchen as he talks, letting him wash off the blood and pull some bandaging out from a cupboard. "He didn't..." Mikey hesitates his question, but both of them know what he's mentioning. "...did he?"
Raph grimaces, and doesn't need to say anything about it to give Mikey an answer. Still, he adds on: "Don't get mad at him until we figure out what's goin' on."
Mikey sighs.
"Okay, we can go look," Mikey quickly wraps the cut. "But we gotta let Donnie know first."
Raph nods, letting him finish patching him up before they both head up to the lab.
Donatello was minding his business, drafting up a blueprint at the lamplit table for a new battle shell upgrade. He was thinking about making the extension interchangeable, something he can easily plug in to his current versions.
A katana flew by, embedding itself into the wall by his desk and splintering the plywood propped up there. His eyes widen and he spins around in his chair. Leo was leaning against his other sword, smirking where he stands in the doorway.
"You have my attention, Nardo."
"Care for some late-night training, Dee?" It was technically morning for the turtles... but also technically speaking, it was, in fact, dark outside of their sewer home. Most humans would be at home or asleep by now. Donnie pulls the katana out of the plywood.
"Well, 'kicking Leo's butt' wasn't exactly on my schedule," he throws the sword to Leo, who catches it. Leo's smirk remains, probably smug about catching it so casually. "Buut," Donnie stands up from his seat, and he twirls his tech bo out from its spot on his current battle shell to theatrically point it one-handed at Leo.
"I can probably fit you in."
Leo advances to Donnie, who hesitates. "Wait–" he moves his bo back to a defensive stance, "Here in my lab??"
Leo's swords hit the bo, and Don flinches. His brother is still casually smirking; what's he so smug about? Donnie was asking a serious question, and even aside from that Leo is usually always mindful not to roughhouse too much in the lab since there were often chemicals and delicate works-in-progress lying around. Guess he should remind Leo of this. He tries not to feel agitated about it.
"There's kind of some fragile stuff in here," he glances back, anxious, "I thought we were just gonna head to the training room– AHH!"
Leo swings back, and Donnie winces as the sudden attack knocks him across the room. He catches himself after a bounce, quickly getting back up with a frown. "Alright, what's the big idea?"
Leo doesn't respond, advancing again. Donnie blinks, and —
Oh, wow. That would have cut his head right off if it weren't for him instinctively tilting backwards.
It took a split second to process.
Okay. Don is pissed.
He tilts, striking Leo in his midsection with his bo before he could get any further. Leo smacks into the wall, and finally the smirk breaks for a moment as the wind seems to be knocked out of him. The katanas fall to the ground in front of him.
Donnie spares no time for recuperation, two mechanical arms flying out and pinning Leo's wrists to the wall.
Don is pissed.
"What," He hisses, "are you doing?" Donnie scowls at his brother. What has gotten into Leo? Why the hell is he smirking again? Something isn't right–
Leo glances to his left, grabbing the mech arms — "Hang on a minute–!" Donnie's eyes widen, but he has no time to react when Leo leverages and flings his brother shell-first to the floor.
A bit disoriented, Donnie groans out an "eughh..." He feels like it really shouldn't have hurt as much as it did. Maybe he knocked his head in a bad spot when he hit the ground...
He doesn't hear the heavy footsteps until Raph is already at the doorway.
"Donnie!!" Raph looks around, panicked. "Something's wrong with Leo-" He cuts himself off when he spots the two, brow ridges raising.
"Oh really?!" Don shouts, pissed off and unable to get up while Leo has his foot pinning him to the ground by the plastron. What might be even more irking is that Leo was still. Smiling. Even as he, too, was watching Raph. "Whatever drew you to that conclusion?!"
"Are you okay??" Raph took a step closer, but stops when Leo's expression darkens and he pushes more of his weight onto Donnie. His twin winced.
"Well seeing as I am currently pinned on the floor after being unceremoniously attacked, no I am not okay." Donnie attempts to shift, but Leo swings one of his katanas right up to Don's neck — he realizes Leo must've picked them back up while he was knocked down. His breath hitches a little, shallow.
When did his brother get this scary?
The three appeared at a standstill, neither of them daring to move in case it might set off Leo.
That is, until Mikey came skidding in. He nearly faceplants right into Raph, but nonetheless the movement caused Leo to blink in surprise — Donnie used the minute distraction to grab the wrist holding the blade to his neck, push, and leverage the rest of the weight off using his other hand and his legs. He rolled to pin Leo on the ground instead, this time with the mech arms more centered down the forearms while his actual arms use the weight to keep him down.
It was barely a five second action. Raph was just running over to help by the time it was done.
Good thing, too, because Leo is strong. Donnie's only able to hold him down for a few seconds before he nearly gets launched again. Leo pushes his twin off, sitting up, but Raph takes over behind Leo like a giant clamp and pins his arms to his sides, holding him close to himself. Leo once again writhes like a beached fish, and Donnie takes a moment to catch his breath.
Mikey just crosses the doorway when Donnie calls to him, "Close the doors!" He does as he's told.
"What happened to him?" Mikey asks, rushing over to help Donnie stand up.
"I don't know — I need the – we need to restrain him until he calms down," Donnie pants, unsure if it's from the exertion or from the adrenaline running through his veins from the several close calls. "He- he nearly took my head off."
"He what?!" Raph's eyes widen, and he jolts his head back before Leo could headbutt him.
"Just-!!" Donnie makes a strangled, exasperated noise, looking around his lab frantically. "Aha!" He picks up the tranquilizer gun, moving closer to the still struggling Leo. At least he wasn't still smiling, though he's actually not sure if that's better or worse. "Mikey, hold down his legs for a moment." He orders, though it comes off a tiny bit shaky.
Mikey only hesitates for a second before complying, squeezing his eyes closed as he tightly hugs Leo's calves. Donnie levels the tranq gun to point at a thigh, and the dart hits its target. Leo's thrashing quickly subsides, and he soon passes out.
Donnie nearly drops the gun in pure relief. Even Raph relaxes, Mikey letting go only to cling to Raph's arm. "Is he gonna be okay??" Mikey watches Leo, passed out and open-mouthed breathing. He'd probably be snoring if he were lying on his back.
"He'll be fine, Angelo. But we-" Donnie turns, glancing down at the tranq gun, then to Leo. "We need to get him on the medbay bed. I need to go check if I threw out my medical restraints," Don mumbled the last sentence to himself, already back to searching his lab after setting the weapon down, but Raph heard.
"Medical restraints?? Donnie, why would you even have those?"
Don huffed a sigh, irritated. "Because they can sometimes be necessary on the off chance I need to test something but I only have myself and Shelldon. I haven't used them since I found them, though, so stop freaking out."
"But still! You shouldn't use yourself as a test subject!"
"Raph. We will discuss this later. Right now, we have a brother out of his mind attacking us, so please set aside your qualms until I figure out how to fix this??" He frowns, noticing his subtle shaking only after he finishes talking. Raph's mouth presses to a thin line, but he doesn't say anything back as he cradles Leo.
Donnie turns his head and continues searching. "Could you two please take Leo over to the medbay? Mikey, take the tranquilizer gun in case he wakes up again, please; though I doubt he will for another two hours."
The two eventually leave him, and Don nearly exclaims joy when he finally digs up the unused, padded restraints. Thank past Donatello for having that tiny thought in his brain to not throw it out just in case of anything.
He soon joins his brothers in the medbay, where Leo snores on the med-bed (dubbed by Mikey). Raph is close enough to grab him on the off-chance he suddenly gets back up, and Mikey is backed off holding the tranquilizer with a rattled expression.
Donnie gets to work properly strapping Leo down, feeling both uncomfortable and a little queasy throughout the entire process. It doesn't go away even when he finishes. He doesn't doubt the other two feel similarly.
"Okay, I just need to.. figure out what caused this..." Donnie says out loud to himself, pacing back and forth around the cold floor.
"Um, I don't know if it's related, but we went to the Hidden City yesterday night and Leo was with us," Mikey pipes up, hesitant, glancing to Raph to see if he should continue. They still haven't given him the surprise yet, but is it really more important than what's going on now?
Raph nods, and adds on. "We were at a scrapyard Mikey found some time ago, and there was all kinds of weird and cool junk there. Maybe he touched or took something?"
Donnie's brain lit up. "You just might be onto something, Raph," he advances back to Leo, flicking his goggles down. And just as Raph suspected, Don's goggles confirmed. Leo's hip pouch had something glowing with mystic energy in it, and it was kind of nauseating to look at for too long. It doesn't look gross, but there was just something that it was giving off that made Donnie want to hurl a little.
Flicking the goggles back up, expression stony and serious, he pulls out some of his custom-made medical gloves from one of the cabinets and puts on a pair. He opens the pouch, dumping the contents and catching the mystic object before it could fall too far to the floor. Ninja stars, bandaids, a tiny plastic bottle of rubbing alcohol, and a small roll of gauze, however, were left to tumble out and onto the tile, completely ignored. Donnie quickly set the box on the floor and backs up a few steps, already kind of panicked when he felt a slightly muted, indescribable pull to the thing.
"Don't touch it."
None of them moved closer, but they both eyed the box with just as much cautious curiosity.
Mikey is hugging the tranq gun sort of sideways – a little closer to his plastron – and looking rather distressed as he watches.
"Is that what's makin' Leo all crazy?"
"Possibly." Donnie wasn't really all that sure, but he could guess it might just be the cause. The only thing now, though, is if Leo will be back to normal once it's off his person — or, alternatively, if they need to look into other ways to get him back.
He refuses to think about a third possibility, for the sake of his well-being.
"I need to see if he's fine once he wakes up. Until then, I'm going to go study this... thing. Raph, you remember how to set up the heart monitor, right?" Raph nods. "Good. I'll be back soon."
Carefully picking up the box again — this time with his mechanical arms — Donnie leaves the medbay, and Raph gets to work setting up the monitor. Mikey takes a seat on the floor, leaning his shell to the wall.
Raph soon goes to Mikey and sets the gun off to the side, helping his little brother to relax on his lap instead as he sits down cross-legged. Mikey quickly clings to him like a koala, burying his face into Raph's uninjured arm. Raph just hugs him back, letting the steady beep of the heart monitor and Leo's snoring fill the silence.
In his lab, Donatello has the box set down on a metal table; one he usually drags out from a corner for testing. Mechanical arms out, goggles down, and thicker gloves on with a protective mask just to cover all his bases, he starts his tests. He even has his fun scientist coat on! ...It doesn't make him feel better.
Trying not to touch it too much, he inspects the broken latch and turns the box around various angles with the mech arms. He writes down notes with his regular hands.
...He's tempted to open it.
The thought makes him swallow, nervous.
What was the trigger for Leo? Did he open it? Was it just from being on his person? Was it the initial unprotected touch? Maybe some mix of any of these?
Too many possibilities. It makes Donnie's head swim. Or maybe that was just from looking at this thing for so long through his goggles.
Letting out a shaky sigh, he decides against opening it for the time being. He's not sure if it might be some kind of airborne thing trapped inside, but he's not going to take his chances.
A lightbulb appears, remembering something.
He can open it. If he can just find...
Donnie returns to the box, carrying the sanitizing isolation chamber he once used fruitlessly on the now ruined Jupiter Jim collectible comic. Upon rediscovering the chamber, he had taken a short moment to once again mourn such a tragic loss.
Back on track, though. Donnie sets the chamber down and places the box inside, sealing the container back off. He lets out a breath. Okay.
He temporarily leaves once more to grab and set up a few cameras and microphones to monitor various wavelengths up close, adjusting the tripods to point them at good angles. He checks the feed coming in through his computer, just to make sure everything is working. Satisfied, Donnie refocuses on the offending contained object with a critical eye, standing in front of the little isolation chamber.
Putting his hands into the glove compartments, he hesitantly reaches out to the box.
Moving a gloved hand to the latch...
Lifting.....
The box opens, and Donnie braces to observe whatever might come out.
.....Nothing?
Donnie frowns, opening it all the way and tilting the box to better look inside. Physically, there's nothing there. His goggles only pick up on a mild increase of the aura it was already emitting, and the readings from all the cameras don't pick up anything particularly unusual, aside from a mild uptick in the production of Hertz — however it was just a little below his own hearing range. He's thankful at least that he doesn't feel any pull that he did before, even if that moment was faint. But still...
Donnie hates to admit it, especially with something of a mystic nature, but... He's stumped.
Once again, Mystic Nonsense earns a tick to the win board. It makes his blood simmer.
Closing the lid and gingerly setting the box down, Donnie pulls away his hands and flicks up his goggles. He removes the mask and lab coat, setting them down nearby in a sanitary area.
He opens the lab door, begrudgingly making his way back to the medbay.
Raph stuck around the entire time Donnie was gone, not wanting to let Leo out of his sight for too long. Mikey had left a while ago to make lunch, mentioning something about putting a little extra into it either to lift spirits or just make himself feel better.
Currently, he was sitting on one of the bigger bean bags brought in by Mikey before he left again for the kitchen. He was scrolling through his phone, and occasionally glancing back up at Leo just to check in.
He was still asleep.
Raph knows it's been about two hours by now, having checked the time on his phone, so he's getting increasingly more nervous about being the only one around if Leo wakes up.
Not that he's scared, it's just...
Okay, he's a little scared. But not scared of Leo! Just... Scared for him.
Thankfully, Donnie re-enters, but he looks kind of mad. Not a good sign.
"Didn't work out?" He tries, gently.
Donnie shook his head. "No. It didn't. I barely know any more than I started with." Raph patted the bean bag next to him, sympathetic, and his brother plops down into it with a sigh. "I just don't get it. There's nothing in the box, so it must have something to do with unprotected contact to it. Opening it amplifies the aura slightly-"
"You opened it?" Raph asks, a little panicked.
"Yes, Raph, I opened it. I used the isolation chamber and extra lab protection. Nothing happened to me."
"Nothing happened to Leo until about two to nine hours later." Raph mutters.
"If anything happens to me then, Raph, call Draxum. That's what I was thinking about doing anyway." Donnie grumbles, crossing his arms.
"You think he knows what it is?"
"I don't know. But he's our best bet at anything mystic, it's not exactly like we have many other contacts who would think about helping us out while vulnerable."
"I guess we can thank Mikey for that." Raph nods, solemn.
"Thank me for what?"
Mikey walks in with a big tray, carrying a lot of steaming stuffed quesadillas on it. He tilts his head.
Donnie sighs dramatically. "We need to call Draxum to help us."
"Ohh! You're right, I bet he knows how to fix this!!" Mikey quickly set the tray down between the two and dials up Draxum on speaker, a hopeful smile and a slightly impatient bounce in his step.
He picks up on the fourth ring. "What is it, Michelangelo? It's a school night and I've been looking forward to making Thursday's special." He grumbles, clearly still half-asleep.
"Drax! We need your help with the mystic stuff stat!!" Mikey practically shouts at the phone, and Donnie doesn't doubt the yokai probably winced or pulled the device away from his ear. Maybe even both.
"What kind? How urgent?"
"Bad!! And very urgent!!"
A pause, and Mikey frowns deeper as he starts moving more anxiously. The speaker sighs.
"Alright, I'll be there shortly. Where are you?"
"The Lair! And thank you!" The call ended, Draxum hanging up first after humming affirmation.
A short silence blanketed the three, the beeping of the monitor being the only thing really making any noise. Mikey breaks the quiet first, already uncomfortable with the tense energy.
"You guys better not let my cooking go cold!" He pouts, and Raph chuckles as he picks up his portion.
"'Course not, Mikey."
Draxum arrived at possibly the best and worst time.
Leo had just woken up, and immediately the heart monitor rose a few bpm before keeping steady at the new rate. He'd taken one look over to his brothers, and the same unnerving, close-lipped smile was back.
Donnie and Raph watched, cautious, as Leo tried to get up, then tested the now-limited mobility of his arms and legs. He leveled Donnie with a cold stare. Grinning.
"Heyy, Donnie, Don-Tron, Tello. Why am I strapped to a table, dearest twin o'mine?"
Donnie grimaced. "First off, it's not a table. It's the medbay bed. Secondly, you attacked both me and Raphael a little under three hours ago. Ringing a bell?"
"...Ah. So I did." His words were toned almost remorsefully, but his expression didn't change at all. Donnie made a note of that on the clipboarded paper, frowning. "What are you writing?"
"I'm keeping record of whatever has gotten you like this, as well as how you're reacting." He answered simply, finishing and looking back at Leo with an unamused glare. "I can tell you're still not yourself." It was intended to be intimidating, but it came out a bit despondent.
"What? I'll have you know that I'm in perfect shape; so if you'll so kindly let me go-"
"Not happening."
Leo's eye and the same side of the corner of his mouth twitched at that, and he goes back to thrashing at the restraints with renewed vigor. Both Donnie and Raph's eyes widen, Donnie going for the tranq gun while Raph keeps his stance open in case Leo either breaks out or hurts himself trying.
"Leo, hey– calm down bud-" Raph tries, speaking quickly as he flows out more placating attempts. A few moments pass, Leo stills. Donnie pauses, laser-focused on his twin. Raph, surprised that it worked, shuts up.
"Your Raph chasm has gotten bigger." Leo sneers, staring holes into Raph's skull.
Raph blinks at that. Then frowns. "My what?"
"The wrinkles in your forehead." He explains simply.
Raph frowns deeper and places a hand over his forehead, taking offense. "I wouldn't have those if you guys would stop doing things like touching random cursed boxes—"
"It's probably best if you ignore him," Donnie interrupts, walking closer with the tranq gun still in hand. "I have a feeling he's going to either try and sweet talk his way out or provoke one of us to fight him."
Leo's cold eyes widen a bit upon seeing the weapon, but his mouth is still stuck on a faltering smile. He tests the arm restraints again, fruitlessly.
"Draxum's here!" Mikey calls from the atrium, and all three turn to the sound. Leo's heartbeat, however, speeds up almost dangerously. Donnie glances from the monitor to Leo, who's smile wavered more and actually dropped a little. His breathing had picked up irregularly.
"Oh, no– no no, Leo, hey, look at me," Donnie snaps his fingers, catching his brother's attention. "He's going to help you. Take some breaths with me, okay? He's here to help." He takes a quick glance behind. "Raph, go delay them for a minute."
Raph backs off, unsure. "Shout if you need me."
"Will do."
Raph leaves. Donnie prioritizes trying to manually calm Leo down with the breathing guidance, not really wanting to tranq him again if he doesn't need to.
Thankfully it works after a couple minutes, and the monitor goes back to the slightly elevated bpm it had before. Donnie relaxes. "Okay. Good. Please stay like that." Leo has gone quiet a while ago, so he doesn't really expect an answer.
"He's fine now," Donnie calls out to the door. Raph, Mikey, and Draxum soon enter.
Miraculously Leo's heart rate does not increase again, however he is glaring at Draxum something fierce despite the smile. If anything, it just makes it more sinister.
Draxum does not greet Leo. In fact, he still looks like he'd rather be asleep than anywhere near here, if his mildly annoyed scowl has anything to say about it.
"How much have you been filled in on so far?" Donnie tries, subconsciously acting as a physical barrier between him and his twin.
"The blue one has-"
"Leo, Draxum," Mikey butts in, crossing his arms. "I know it's late but you can't drop the basic level of respect."
Draxum sighs deeply, though it's more from exhaustion rather than annoyance. "Leo has gotten ahold of some mystic box and he has attacked you and your eldest. There appears to have been a delay of this behavior until you were all asleep."
"Do you know what it might be?" Donnie raised a brow.
"No. I only have a vague idea of what it could be, but I'll need to see both your brother's current condition and the mystic object first." A short beat, and he adds, "I would like you all to know that I'm an alchemist, not a wizard, by the way."
Don squints, but steps aside enough for Drax to look at Leo's face — who's still glaring daggers at the yokai, and occasionally pulling at the restraints.
"How long has he been holding this expression?"
Don looks anywhere but at his brother.
"Since it started, and since he woke back up."
"He was asleep?"
"Yeah, we had to sedate him three hours ago because he injured Raph and nearly took my head off with his swords. He was out for two hours, and woke up trying to convince us he was fine."
"I see." Draxum hums in thought, then turns to Donnie. "Show me the mystic box."
Don groans petulantly at Drax's demand, but leads the way anyway. He mutters under his breath, "-could at least say please," but otherwise the two make their way to his lab in relative silence.
He shows the scientist the isolation chamber, still holding the box.
"Hmm. You were smart for containing it, at least," Draxum mutters, having zero reservations immediately approaching the table and sticking his hands into the gloves. He quickly inspects various parts, holding focus on both the ornate top of the lid and the broken latch. He sets it down and removes his hands from the chamber.
"I don't know the reversal spell for something like this, but I do know how to find it. Leo will be fine while I'm gone, as the spell currently affecting him is not likely to change or develop. You can still sedate him if he starts to be a threat again."
Donnie's eye twitches a little at the disregard. "You really suck right now."
"I'm running on three hours of sleep from a rudely interrupted REM cycle. I believe it's justified," He grumbles, already heading out the door. "His condition isn't dire, so I'm going back to sleep–"
"No the hell you are not," Donnie interjects, jogging in front of the yokai. "You're going to help us solve this ASAP, understand? Not just go back to bed and forget about it in the morning."
Draxum stares down at the turtle, unamused.
"I'm getting two more hours of sleep, then I'll be searching for the book to help fix your brother. I will not be arguing with a child on this." Draxum steps around Donatello, walking out.
Donnie doesn't bother with him after that, simply watching the alchemist leave the Lair. "Scoff," he complains out loud, dramatically rolling his eyes — which was really just him looking up and then to the side. Guess it can't be helped.
He returns to his brothers in the medbay, and notices Leo snoring again. "What happened?"
Raph looks sheepish. Mikey grimaces, but speaks up. "He started pulling too hard on the... um, his arms, and Raph got really worried he'd hurt himself so he tried to stop Leo–"
Donnie notices Raph pressing a wrapped ice pack on his finger, spotting a forming bruise peeking out when he adjusts the positioning. "Okay." He says, softly, almost like he was sorry he asked. Mikey averted his eyes to anywhere else.
"We need to find a better way to keep him calm. Draxum just said he knows there's a book on how to fix it, but he'll be gone likely more than four hours." Donnie frowns, glancing at Leo. "We shouldn't keep sedating him with those darts. I didn't exactly design that thing for regular use on a single person."
"What would we use, though?" Raph spoke up, tilting his head.
Don rubs his face and eyes with a hand, tiredly pinching between his nose. He keeps his eyes closed for a moment while he brainstorms. "I don't know. We could try doxylamine or diphenhydramine, or just something with melatonin in it, but I doubt the third will do much in his state." He's not even sure if they still have any left of the first two. Leo typically keeps a pack of whatever sleep medicine they get in his room; he'd usually take it when the insomnia starts getting bad but he really doesn't feel like staying up. Maybe there might be some in his room if he can't find anything here.
Donnie searches the cabinets and drawers for a while. He's not completely memorized the layout because Leo tends to just put the medications wherever half the time, and it really annoys Don. He swears part of the reason Leo does it is to piss him off.
"Aha!" Twelfth attempted drawer, Donnie emerges victorious with a box of ZzzQuil Ultra, holding it up to show off to his brothers with a toothy grin. "Apparently he didn't nab this one to hide away in his room."
"Nice, Donnie!" Mikey cheers, though it's rather dampened due to the current situation. Still, a win is a win, and they're just happy to find the silver linings.
"Okay, we can probably get him to take a tablet with some water if he decides to cooperate, but it'll still take about a half an hour before there's any effects." Donnie sets the box on the counter. "It should only be a plan B or C anyway; one of these would probably keep him asleep for at least four hours, maybe even a full eight or nine."
He only knows because Leo would always talk about it to him when he first started occasionally taking them. Even Donnie had a night or few where he would take one, either to forcibly make him stop fixating endlessly on his work or because of some other thing spiking his anxiety.
"Is plan A keeping him awake and cool?" Mikey asks after a moment.
"Yep." Don nods, sinking down into one of the bean bags. "The best course of action I can think of is just trying to convince him to relax until Draxum comes back with a solution."
"And there's nothing else we can do until he does?"
Donnie thinks about it.
"I mean, maybe, but we don't know the first thing about any of this — Draxum does. I could try looking things up while we wait, though." He tapped away on his wrist tech.
Mikey watched his purple brother surf the webs, still leaning against Raph who adjusted so that Mikey could have the other bean bag.
Unsurprisingly, searching the human internet for something Yokai-related was unsuccessful. Donnie didn't have access to whatever the Hidden City's interwebs were, but it still passed the time. He leans further into the bean bag, letting his hand rub some soothing pressure on the back of his neck.
Honestly, he actually found something weirdly similar to what Leo was going through. However... it was a fictional tabletop game mechanic, and thus also had a similarly fictional solution — completely unhelpful. Still, though, Donnie finds a hint of amusement thinking about the possibilities of D&D sharing pretend spells with mystic spells — not that he sees much of a difference anyway. What a world.
Leo, unfortunately, had another episode an hour previous and had broke one of the cuffs, spraining his wrist in the process. He undid the ankles before running out of the medbay; Mikey wasn't able to hold him back completely, instead earning a few bruises, some scratches, and a minor impact headache from hitting the floor. Leo had, according to Mikey, kicked his butt, and then ran off once Mike hid away in his shell after recieving the head trauma.
He had been cut off in the atrium by Raph, who was just on his way back from the kitchen with a tray of snacks. Leo avoided being grabbed several times, kicked the tray into Raph's face, then gracelessly sprinted off to Donnie's lab. Apparently he was looking for his katanas, as they were last dropped there.
Raph had given close chase, jumping down the skate ramp after him — catching up to Leo halfway to the lab and snatching his brother by the wrist. Unfortunately it had been the sprained one, because Leo had cried out and reeled back to wrench his arm out of the grip. Raph, panicked, had again instinctively loosened his hold, but quickly recorrected by reaching out for the other arm's elbow.
Leo clawed and struggled and punched, but Raph soon successfully hug-trapped Leo; he brought the furious brother back to the medbay, where Donnie was treating Mikey as the youngest explained what happened.
The two were immediately relieved, helping Raph put Leo back on the bed. Donnie had to fix up the torn fabric around the opening points later, but if he was being honest with himself he'd rather get rid of the set and never have to use it again. Raph elected to just hold down Leo's arms himself while the other two attempted to calm him down.
Donnie gave up after the fifteen minute mark seeing zero progress, opting to grab one of the ZzzQuil tablets and encouraging Leo to take it. Leo had nearly bit his fingers off snapping at Donnie, but it still worked regardless as Leo swallowed – likely without thinking. He had a smug grin at Donnie's exhausted frown, who was holding his hand close to his chest.
"Well, at least he took it. He should be out in about thirty minutes, hopefully. You alright with holding him down until he falls asleep?" Donnie was looking to Raph with the question, who nodded.
"I'll.. try to fix this cuff real quick. I'll be right back." Donnie speedwalked out of the medbay, holding the restraint like he had a personal grudge against it.
Thankfully, Leo was asleep by the time Donnie came back. He treated the sprained wrist first, and adjusted the cuff further up the forearm with some extra padding to reduce chance of further injury. He made sure to check the other three as well, also adding a bit to reduce possible breakage and chafing. He sighed, falling into one of the bean bags near where Raph was dozing and closed his eyes to rest for a while. He really hopes Draxum comes back with a solution soon, if at all.
He's not exactly excited at the prospect of having to fix this all by himself.
...Just once, he wants someone else to fix it.
Draxum eventually returned after the fifth hour, and Donatello gives him credit where it's due. Even if he doesn't like the guy, he does hold his word with relative accuracy and efficiency.
Also, more importantly, he returns with a large book.
"Barry!" Mikey announced his arrival throughout the Lair, the happy shout echoing from the atrium all the way to the medbay — where Raph was keeping watch — and past the open doors of Donnie's lab on the other side, where the teen was working on one of his blueprints for upgrading S.H.E.L.L.D.O.N. Said drone was helping him out, actually!
Both of them paused and whirled to face the open door at the name, then exchanged glances before Donatello speedwalks out the lab. He catches sight of Raph, who was standing at the doorway of the medbay and watching the commotion in the atrium a floor down. Draxum just manages to pry Mikey's arms away from hugging him when Donnie rushes over, already about to ask:
"Did y-"
"Yes, I have found your solution." The alchemist lifts up the old book casually to show; an unamused expression remaining on his face. Donnie barely fights back a scowl at being interrupted by this guy; he focuses more on the item.
"Care for any further elaboration?" He tries, walking up further to the two and stares — if a bit judgementally and impatient — up at the yokai. Draxum ignores this in the stead of flipping the tome open to a certain page. Mikey gives Don a "be nice" glare.
"Leo's likely cause of ailment could be the working of a spell transfer, particularly a malevolent one." Drax points to a page, turning the book for Donnie to see. "After studying that box last night, I have deduced it's a weak spell and therefore can be easily removed. You simply must recreate this-" He points to a semi-complex drawing, "-on a flat surface that can be placed either on top of or within sixty centimeters of the affected one— in your case, that'd be Leonardo. The next step would be to focus your mind with at least one of your brothers, and metaphorically push the spell off of your affected brother and recontain it in a nearby object. Focusing with three of you instead of two will make it easier to remove." He lets Donnie take the book for further inspection. "I will be there for the last step as well. It would be best to return it back to the box it came from, and then either destroy it or put it back where you found it–"
"We're not putting it back! Are you crazy?!" Mikey butted in, fuming a little. "What if someone else ends up getting the same thing Leo has, huh?"
"Then that is their fault," Draxum shrugs.
"No, then it'd be our fault because we left it out for the cycle to repeat. Duh!" Mikey corrected.
"Why did it have to be like D&D?" Donnie grouses to himself, raising a brow from Draxum.
"D&D?"
Donnie scowls, still scanning the page. "Dungeons and Dragons, it's a tabletop roleplaying game and I'm mad because it's starting to have an unfair amount of similarities to yokai spells I've been researching for the past four hours! Seriously, what is up with that! This one's like Remove Curse, the causer is like Suggestion – I guess – or Curse applied to a box, even your weird vine thing is similar to Grasping Vine, and-" Donatello rambles on for a short while more, which both Draxum and Mikey tune out of.
"Dungeons and Dra..?" Draxum shook his head, seeing as he is not being listened to. He turns to Mikey. "That is not important. Just compete those steps and Leo will return to normal, understood?"
"Roger that, Draxibald!" Mikey grins, running off to probably grab his art materials.
Donnie had eventually stopped ranting during that short conversation, having at some point moved on to something about "Mazes & Mutants" and "strange off-shoot" before noticing nobody was listening and giving up.
He takes a deep breath and nods. "Anyway. Although this solution is almost infuriatingly simple, I thank you for the help." Under his breath, then, "I guess."
Draxum just waved him off. "It's no big deal. The thing was hardly difficult to find."
Huh. What? "Wait, what do you mean? You've been gone five hours, and two of those were supposedly taken sleeping. Haven't you been searching for three hours straight?" He raised a brow.
"If you wish to think of it that way." What!
"What!"
Draxum smiles, smug. "I still have contacts, despite being wanted. They did much of the work for me while I sorted through the findings."
Donnie swears he feels his veins itch just a little. Deep breath, deep breath...
"Okay," he says, exhaling slowly. "Whatever. You can leave as soon as that curse is recontained."
"I plan on it." Absolute, still with a hint of smug. Donnie decides to be the bigger guy by turning around and walking to the lab to grab the box.
Mikey handled the drawing step pretty much entirely, coming back about thirty minutes later with an impressive copy of the one from the book. Donnie and Raph told him as such and he beamed brightly, big enough that it closed his eyes with it.
"Alright! Leo, get ready to be uncursed!!" Mikey gently places the drawing on Leo's plastron, who was pretty chill at the moment; you know, due to still being dead asleep. He was even snoring like usual.
"Maybe let's not shout right next to him, possibly waking him up and making things more difficult, dear Angelo??" Donnie says, a bit stressed and through gritted teeth near the end. Mikey manages to look a little apologetic about it over his excitement.
Raph takes a glance at the book, then to Draxum on the other side of the bed. The yokai had the box on a pop-up table next to him, having been removed from the isolation chamber and placed with mechanical arms there. Even Draxum was wearing some kind of strange, special-looking thick gloves. They just assume Draxum knows what he's doing.
"So, how exactly do we go about doing that second step? It seems pretty vague," Raph casts his gaze now to Donnie, but returns to look at Draxum when his brother shakes his head with a slight shrug. "Drax?"
"It's one of those things where you must simply feel for it. You've proven to be one of the most empathetic of your brothers, so it should be easiest for you. Supposedly." Draxum shrugs, nonchalant. "Maybe with Michelangelo's higher sensitivity to mysticism and similar empathy level, he might be able to better lead you both. Don't ask me."
"I think we can do it! We just gotta believe in ourselves!" Mikey pulls his brothers into side hugs by the necks, all three heads bonking each other. Donnie is quicker to remove himself from Mikey's arm, but only by a second.
A moment passes; after sharing looks and nodding, the three decide to take gentle hold of Leo's hand, forearm, and elbow respectively before closing their eyes. Even if physical touch wasn't a requirement in the book, nothing warned against it; besides, they all felt it would help make the focusing easier. Perhaps it actually did.
From the outside perspective of Draxum, the medbay was silent and unchanging. The heart monitor still beeped regularly. The blue one was fast asleep.
Once it hit the minute mark, however, it began picking up. His eyes scanned the three other turtles; they were noticably concentrated, but they all had varying levels of stressed expressions. Raph was the most scrunched up, much to the alchemist's surprise, closely followed by Mikey. He at least assumed the orange one would have an easier time due to his closer attunement with mysticism — or perhaps his willpower is just pushing him to try harder.
Draxum fights to bottle the feeling he very well knows would be classified as "fatherly pride"; he'll deal with that daunting and embarrassing concept later.
It was at the minute fourty mark where Leo began to stir. His heartbeat escalated only a few more bpm, but remained in a safe enough range that it wasn't a cause for concern. He watches as the blue one moves in small increments, fingers and face twitching. He began to bear a similar expression of stress, the eyebridges scrunching together and his beak screwing up slightly into a frown. Draxum prepares himself to catch the curse.
There!
He snatches the thing before it could barely take a form, quickly shoving it onto the box and holding it down for a moment until the object stops rattling. He only lets go once it settles.
The heart monitor returned to a relaxed pace, he notes.
The three brothers open their eyes after the commotion, only glancing to the alchemist before Leo grunts and they whip their heads to him instead.
"Uugh, five more minutes..." Leo grumbles, probably without even realizing. The brothers bear hopeful smiles.
"Leo? You with us buddy?" Raph tries, giving his hand two squeezes. He gets one back, along with a tired sigh.
"Sleepy," Leo mumbles.
"That's likely because of the doxylamine still in your system from that ZzzQuil Ultra tablet. You can go back to sleep after you tell me something." Donnie's hand pats Leo's elbow reassuringly.
"Hmmn?"
"Do you feel like sparring?"
"...Wha? No, I'm tired Don. 'm not gonna spar right now. G'night," Leo, eyes still closed, frowns like Donnie just made a ridiculous request. Relief washes over the room.
...Except for Draxum. He holds his uncaring façade and looks away.
Leo attempts to turn on his side, but makes a confused noise when it doesn't work. "There a weighted blanket or somethin'?" He mumbles.
The brothers were lightning quick to quit reveling in their relief, removing the restraints while Donnie replies with "Don't worry about it, just finish your nap Leo." Leo hums acknowledgement before successfully turning on his side this time, falling further back to sleep. Donnie also takes off the heart monitor.
The four soon move out to the lab, where the box is set back on that metal table.
"Congratulations." Draxum tosses in dryly.
"Alright, all we gotta do now is smash that thing, right?" Raph motions the action with his hands.
Donnie shakes his head. "I don't know if just smashing it will have the intended effect."
"Then how will we get rid of it?" Mikey looks from Donnie to the box and then to Draxum. "Wouldn't the curse fly out or something and attach somewhere else if we don't do it right?"
"Careful, you might give the purple one a run for his money," Draxum teases, sporting his usual amused-but-mostly-serious-sounding tone. He grins slightly at Donnie's offended scoff. "Yes, there is a way to properly dispose of it."
"Aand you know what it is?" Raph tries again, shoulders relaxing a bit when the yokai nods.
"I do. However, this will be a bit more difficult. Donatello, you and I may work on disposing of it together; if you can handle me staying around any longer." Back to his smugness. Donnie groans, agitated, but gives in.
"Fine! But don't touch anything of mine without my permission, and don't leave my sight while you're in here. Got it?"
"Sure," he grins.
"Best of luck!" Mikey waves to the two. Him and Raph leave, Mikey going back to the medbay while Raph heads to his room to conk out.
By the time Leo wakes up, Donnie was tinkering with something facing away from him. It was pleasantly quiet, aside from clinks and clacks of metal and plastic. Leo closes his eyes again, letting out a tired sigh.
Donnie immediately sets down the tweezers, standing up from a stool and walking over to the bed. "Finally awake yet, Leo?" It came out a bit strange. Positive, but a twinge rushed.
Don got an annoyed grumble in response, then an arm covering Leo's eyes. "...Yeah. Can you turn down the lights or something?" He made a face. "Euck, dry mouth."
Donnie huffs, smiling. "I'll get water, just don't go spilling it all over yourself," he teases. Despite it, though, he does dim the lights to half and fill up a glass of water. Don helps him sit up just a little before handing it over. "Here."
Leo accepts the glass easily, pretty much blindly vacuuming the entire thing in seconds flat. "Thanks, Dee. Also, why am I in the medbay?" The smell of clean was enough of a giveaway, Donnie guesses.
A pause. Leo cracks an eye open.
"You don't remember?" Donnie frowns lightly. Leo shakes his head, failing for more than a few moments to keep his heavy eyes open.
"Not really, no. Last thing I clearly recall is going to that scrapyard, then coming home. I was pretty tired. What time is it?" Leo shifts to sit all the way up. His shell leans against the wall, and he eyes his brother for answers.
"I think the better question would be the day. You were out of it for maybe five to thirteen hours, not counting how long you've been asleep after we removed that curse. That'd push it to about twenty two."
"Twen-? Wait wait wait, hold on, curse?"
"Yep."
Leo groans. "I really got cursed, huh. Maybe I should add 'magnet for trouble' to my resume."
"It was added a long time ago, but you're free to put an emphasizing underline on it if you want." Donnie shrugs, amused. Leo chuckles.
"Yeah, maybe I should." Leo shook his head. "But really, what's all this about a curse? What happened?"
"You want the long story or the summary?"
"Long, obviously. Gimme the details."
Donnie pulls over the stool to the bed, taking a seat. He lets out a soft exhale before squaring his shoulders.
"The first part until I come in will be from what I got from Raph and Mikey, since I wasn't there." Leo nods once. "Once you three got home, nobody suspected anything was off. Apparently you acted normal enough, and you just said you remembered that fine..." Donnie puts his hand to his chin. "Actually, could you tell me what happened then? What was the very last thing you remembered after you all split off?"
Leo glances off. "I just went to my room and chilled out, I dunno."
"Nardo, I know you're lying. You're making a face."
Leo's expression scrunches a bit, but he finally sighs and looks to his lap. "Okay, so I took home this cool-looking box. But I didn't really do anything with it, so I don't know how-" he cuts himself off. Blinks. "Wait, no, I sort of remember. I... think I wanted to open it, but I'm not sure if I ever did? It all gets fuzzy after that, but whatever I do recall just feels like tiny pieces of a weird dream."
"Can you tell me the pieces?" Donnie asks, softly.
"Just something about fighting a thing or, maybe an enemy, I'm not sure — I think I hurt them. Whatever else is just flashes of me running around or fighting the void, since I can't remember what dream-me was attacking."
Donnie's face both falls and looks relieved, which only confuses Leo. "Why-"
"When you woke up, you were in the training room for a while. Raph went to get you for breakfast but you attacked him after asking to spar, which he denied." Don looks at the bed. "He almost caught you, but you nicked his arm and ran off. Mikey came in to see what was happening, patched Raph up, and the two chased after you."
Leo was silent, an unreadable expression weighing heavy on him.
"You ended up at my lab door, asking me for a spar too. I accepted, but was surprised when you immediately went to attack rather than wait for us to head to the dojo; it was a back-and-forth battle. Raph came in and helped me pacify you, then Mikey came and after some struggling we hit you with the sedating dart gun." Donnie was leaving out certain details on purpose. Leo probably doesn't remember almost taking his twin's head off twice. He doesn't need to feel guilty over the details of him unwillingly hurting his brothers.
"Yeesh, you make me sound more like a rabid racoon than myself." Leo winces.
"It wasn't really you in control anyway." Don assures, waving him off. "It's not your fault for fighting us."
Before Leo could say anything dumb as a counterpoint, Donnie continues. "We had to basically tie you to the med-bed so that you wouldn't run off or hurt someone. It took a while, but Draxum helped us find a book to uncurse your sorry ass, you're welcome. So don't go touching or taking random items like that again." Donnie crosses his arms.
"I feel like you skipped a lot near the end there," his twin points out, suspicious.
"Because most of it was either mind-numbingly boring or not as important," he supplied. "All that happened was us trying to keep you calm. You broke out once and sprained your wrist, but you didn't exactly get far." Donnie was avoiding Leo's gaze. The slider's eyes squinted.
"Donnie."
Don's eyebrow twitches. He focuses somewhere far to the side.
"Donnie."
"What?"
Leo sighs. "Thanks for letting me know. Even if it was probably highly abridged."
"Didn't know you knew that word." Donnie smirks.
"What, abridged? It's not that big a word! It shows up in dumb show dubbing videos all the time," Leo huffs, but he's smiling too. "Seriously though, thanks. And, uh... Ugh," he makes a sour face. "Sorry, for hurting you guys. I didn't know."
Don rolls his eyes dramatically. "I think you should save that for Raph, not me. He's not too happy, you know." Donnie takes a bit of amusement to his brother's reaction, getting up and scooting his stool back to where it was earlier. "I'll let him know you're awake and normal again."
"No no no wait!"
"I can't hear you!!" Donnie grins, already striding out the door.