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Just a little longer and Raph would be able to reach Leo. Donnie could feel himself grab his staff tighter wringing his hands a bit. Just a little further. A little more. There! Raph had a hold of Leos hand, now all they had to do was pull him out and this nightmare would be over. That was when the Krang showed up out of nowhere.
Donnie barely managed to notice the light from its haunting cyclops eye before the ugly face of the metal body appeared. It reached out towards Leo and it was closing the distant fast. Thinking quick Donnie made his giant, mystic drill and shot it towards the Krang.
It missed. He missed? How could he have missed!? The Krang reached Leo and engulfed him in its metal claw. With the forward momentum it had, and the momentary shock they were all in, it barreled trough the portal that Mikey had made, knocking them all on their shells.
Donnie quickly got to his feet. Mikey and Raph had disappeared somewhere, but that wasn’t important, the Krang had Leo. Had the Krang gotten bigger?
An evil chuckle came from its slimy mouth as it began to squeeze Leo. Donnie tried to help Leo by making mystic missiles, torpedoes, rockets anything. But his mystic powers just wouldn’t activate, why wouldn’t it activate!? All he could do was watch his twin scream as he slowly got crushed. He tried to move forward to maybe distract the Krang so much that it would drop his brother, but it was like his feet had sunken into the cement. Leo was screaming, he had to get to him.
There was a loud crunch sound as Leos already weakened shell gave out from the pressure. As soon as the crunch sounded Leo stopped screaming and his head lolled forward. Blood started violently dripping from the Krangs hand. He laughed as he dropped Leo, who fell lifeless to the ground with a wet thump. No. Donnie couldn’t breathe, this couldn’t be happening. No! The Krangs laugh surrounded him as he stared at his brother, his twin, his best friend lay on the ground in an ever increasing pool of his own blood. NO! Dead. NO!
Donnie sat up looking franticly at his surroundings. Where had the Krang gone? Where was his brother? Why couldn’t he breathe? His chest felt too small for his lungs. Where was he?
The ground under him was soft, and very not concrete texture. There was a small pressure in his lap, it was the Jupiter Jim figurine his brothers had gotten him. That’s weird, when had that gotten on the battlefield, he always left it in his bed for fear of damaging it. Did one of his brothers take it? No, no, no (that’s three no’s) they all knew how dear the figurine was to him, so how did it end up on Staten Island? Unless.
This time Donnie actually looked at his surroundings and found himself on his bed in his bedroom. He took a deep breath, felling his chest finally making room for his lungs. It was just a nightmare. They got Leo out. He’s home and safe. Right?
They got him out, right?
But that nightmare felt so real, what if it was a memory? No, that couldn’t be, he remember the group hug they had right after they rescued Leo! But what if that was a false memory? What if they hadn’t gotten him back? What if alle the memories he thought he had were made up? Something his brain had conjured to protect his psyche. No, no, no, no, no (that’s five no’s) he was just down the road in the medical wing. Right? Right!? Before he even realized he was moving, he was sprinting towards the medical wing.
The medical wing was just one of the abandoned train cars that they had filled with all the medical equipment they would need and could ethically source.
He slid in front of the car door and slammed it open, not thinking about the noise he made, to lock eyes with a very startled and confused Leo. His phone was lighting up some of his face, he had probably been doom scrolling before Donnies dramatic entrance, Leo tended to do that when he couldn’t sleep, but more importantly he was okay. Even though he was covered in bandages, he was here, he was alive.
Now, it wasn’t that Donatello was touch aversive, it’s just that he doesn’t need as much physical contact compared to his brothers, but right know all he wanted was a long, long hug from his twin and it couldn’t come fast enough.
“Hey Tello, you okay? You look a lit-uff”
Donnie clung as tight as he could while still being mindful of Leo’s still healing carapace, but he just needed his brother close, needed to know that his twin was okay, that his best friend was here.
He could feel vibrations from Leo’s plastron. The pattern told Donnie that Leo was probably talking. Who was he talking to? The only ones in the room was Leo himself and Do-ooh. He was most likely talking to Donnie. Taking a deep breath through the nose Donnie tuned back into the world around him.
“You with me Tello?”
Donnie nodded.
“Good, can you talk at the moment?”
A shake.
“Do you wanna use the tap code?”
Two taps.
“Can I hug you back?”
Two taps.
Leo wraps his arms around Donnie in a firm but not constrictive hold, just how Donnie likes it.
“Can I ask about why you came running in?”
One tap
“Do you want me to call Raph and Mikey?”
One tap.
“Okay, do you wanna stay with me for the night?”
Two taps.
“Do you wanna be under the covers too?”
Two taps.
“Okay, then you gotta scoot a little Don, or else I can’t get it free from under you.”
It was a little difficult, but eventually they got the blanket over both of them, even though Donnie at no point relinquished the gentle death grip he had on his twin. Donnie could feel how his nerves slowly relaxed now that he had physical confirmation that his brother was on the right side of the portal.
“Night Don see you in the morning”
Leo put his head on top of Donnie’s and fell asleep almost immediately. Donnie wasn’t far behind, with the comforting weight on his head and his shell, he took one last deep breath and fell asleep to the sound of a strong and steady heartbeat.