Chapter 1: Cryptic Message
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“Raph!”
Don’s voice sounded borderline frantic as soon as the communication cut off. But it was also smothered by an undertone of something Raph couldn’t identify. There were definitely at least two other people that had gotten roped into their mess via mistaken identity. Which meant something else rather obvious yet critically important. “I know genius. More mutant turtles,” Raph responded, already trying to figure out how to get all of them back, not just their brother.
“No-” Don corrected, then broke off partially to correct himself. “I mean yes, they are, but- nevermind. Raph, they’re kids.” Don’s emphasis was accompanied by raised hands as though he wanted to shake Raph, who was mildly surprised at what had actually caught his science nerd brother’s attention this time
“........... Okay normally I’m the one getting attached to kids on first sight,” Raph teased with a slight grin. “Don’t worry, I definitely noticed that too. We’ll get them back. But first let’s make sure Mikey didn’t get snatched as well. Why don’t you start tracking Augustine down while I call him?”
“Got it,” Don nodded, rushing off to half leap into his well cushioned chair by the computer.
Chapter 2: Plan on the Move
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Fishing his cell phone from its pocket wedged under his shell, Raphael hit the speed dial for Mikey. The easiest way to check on him was just to call him after all. Especially since they had two additional bases now that he and Leo were taking turns manning for this rotation. That explained why Leo had been caught since the other three weren’t with him. But it didn’t explain why their alarms hadn’t been tripped. Unless Leo had been outside the base on patrol, like he sometimes did when he was restless.
Okay Mikey that’s five rings, pick up the phone-
“You’re speaking to the greatest turtle of all time, hero of the realms, Nexus Champion, Michael Angelo Spliterson.”
For once Mikey’s voice was a welcomed relief instead of a complete annoyance, and Raphael found himself smirking instead of wanting to throttle him. “I’m gonna beat you for that, bozo,” Raphael responded, more on reflex than an actual threat.
“Awww, but Raphy buddy, you’d actually have to win against me for once to do that,” Mikey shot back. Harmless banter at this point. Despite the hundreds of sparring matches they’d gotten into, Raphael still hadn’t managed to win against Mikey even once. But they had saved each other's lives often enough it no longer truly mattered.
“Well get over here then.”
“Uh, I’ll pass,” Mikey declined quickly. “Got the ole second base to watch over y’know. Can’t leave her on her own. What would Don say if I just abandon-”
“I mean it Mikey. Get over here, Leo’s been caught by Augustine,” Raphael interrupted, tone growing completely serious now.
“HUH-?!” Mikey’s outburst cracked over the speaker and made Raphael pull the phone away from his ear. “Whadda you-?? Start with that you-! I’ll be right there!”
The call ended with a beep before Raphael could give a retort, but he just sighed and lowered the phone to tap a different speed dial. They would need their usual backup for this one, and he also had some words to get out. Thankfully this time his call was answered on the second ring.
“Yo Raph, what’s up? Miss me that much?”
Casey. The one that had been with Leo on base sitting duty that night. “Say goodbye to your son, then get back to home base asap. I’m gonna kill you for losing my brother,” Raphael growled simply, then took his turn to end the call without a goodbye. It would be better to talk to both Mikey and Casey at the same time, in person.
Once both people were contacted Raphael slipped his phone back into its place and approached Don, raising a brow as he was mildly impressed once again by how fast his genius of a brother was manipulating his precious computer. Touch screens and a custom keyboard really sped up his process, as did state of the art equipment. Coming to stand at his shoulder, Raphael remained quiet, knowing Don would speak when he formulated his thoughts enough around what he’d found.
Sure enough, it was only minutes of watching screens flashing by incomprehensibly that Don started his report. “Interesting. I ran an analysis for interdimensional breeches, and there’s a significant outlier from the usual comings and goings of people like the Daimyo and the others we’re used to visiting.”
“So…….,” Raphael started, a request for Don to pause and let him catch up with his own thoughts. “Augustine succeeded in creating an interdimensional machine despite us having stolen what she needed for it?”
“Yes…. and no,” Don confirmed and denied. “It wasn’t stable. The bridge between dimensions was quick, and horribly uncalculated. Like a misfire from trying to modify a weapon. I think she was trying something else, and got more than she bargained for.”
“An accident,” Raphael reworded simply, then sighed. “Great. And we still don’t have enough evidence to get her locked up?”
“Not yet. But this might be a tipping point once we get it solved,” Don responded with a mirthless chuckle. If only it were that simple. Augustine was eccentric, and unstable, but apparently still too valuable for the EPF to be willing to let her go. “I’ve got a good guess where she’s hiding out now. Three of the signatures converge at one point, including the one that matches the readings I’ve remotely pulled from our third outpost. And the location is part of our list of potentials.”
“...Texas? Really?” Raphael complained, raising a brow when the location was singled out on the display.
“Yep. Texas.” Don nodded, then caught sight of an entry register on another screen and turned to meet the one who’d arrived.
“Guys! You gotta help me- I think Leo’s gone missing! You gotta help me find him.” Casey’s arrival to the home lair was announced via a stomping run as he shouted his distress, one of Leo’s swords in his hands. “He went off to do a patrol like he does, but then he didn’t come back, and then I went looking for him to come back here, but all I found was his sword thing, and he never leaves that laying around. I think he got snatched! Do you have a tracker or something on him?”
As Casey started to explain his side of the story, Raphael could only fold his arms as both he and Don stared blankly at their friend. It may have seemed like a weird ploy with ulterior motives, but after having spent so many years with the man they both knew that Casey wasn’t faking anything. He just apparently didn’t have two dots connected in his mind just yet.
“....Did you figure that all out before or after I called you?” Raphael asked simply, continuing to give Casey a dry look.
“What? Uhhhhh…… After-.... Ohhhhh,” Casey seemed confused at the apparent unrelated question. But Don and Raphael could swear they could see the dots in Casey’s mind clicking together as he remembered what Raphael had called about in the first place. “You guys already know. Heheh. Uhm….. So where we going?”
Don could only chuckle as Casey sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. Before he could answer Casey the room gained another body as Mikey came dashing in. “I’m here! Let’s go! Bags are packed! Are we flying or driving?” Mikey rushed, stopping to jog in place once he reached the landing the rest were on.
“Hold on, bro. We haven’t even gone over a plan yet,” Raphael chastised, though he couldn’t hold the amusement from his tone.
“You can debrief me on the plane. Or truck. Whichever. Time’s a wasting,” Mikey continued, still jogging in place. “Did you get to talk to him? Or get a picture? Bad guys love sending kidnapping pictures. Does he look- Oh!”
At the mention of a picture Don clicked a few keystrokes to change the view of the monitors back to the video they had received. Catching sight of it, Mikey abruptly stopped moving, turning to gape at the picture. “Woah….. Ohhhh no, the crazy lady grabbed some other poor mutant ninja turtles inste- wait- is that ME? Mini me? He’s so small. But the orange headband is my thing- ohhhhh we didn’t stop her, did we.”
Raph had to snort at Mikey’s reaction to seeing the other two mutant turtles that had been kidnapped along with their brother. Only then did he start moving to comply with Mikey’s earlier prompting to get going. “Accidental cross dimension kidnapping. Is what it looks like anyway. We won’t know for sure until we ask their names once we rescue them.”
“Alriiiight. Time to finally bash this lady’s head!” Casey cheered, rotating his arm with a fist and moving to follow Raph.
“Ah ah. Not you. People with kids under the age of ten are strictly on backup duty, remember? You stay here and keep an eye on April… and Master Splinter since I’m assuming he’ll be on babysitting duty again. Keep them and Junior out of trouble, alright?” Raphael countered, whipping around to poke Casey in the chest and push him back.
“Awwwww maaann. Really? That applies even for rescue missions?” Casey whined, though he didn’t seem too upset about it. He did get to stay with April and their son after all.
“It applies for all missions. Especially breaking into government bases,” Don confirmed, slinging his prepacked backpack over his shoulders. “I’ve already messaged April, she and Leatherhead will meet you here and infiltrate their systems to give us support. Make sure Master Splinter gets to bed on time too, will you?”
“Guhhhhh, finnnee. Just punch someone good for me, alright?” Casey relented, making a show of throwing his head back in a pout. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of your dad too. Just don’t take too long.”
“We’ll be back before you know it,” Raphael assured. “You better not eat all the nachos,” he added as a warning, pointing a finger at Casey as he and the others left the raised terrace.
“Stealth plane Mikey. We’re headed to Texas,” Don directed, taking the lead to their underground hangar.
“Texas?” Mikey repeated, pausing verbally to consider a thought. “You think we can grab any kolaches while we're there?”
Chapter 3: The Wrong Donatello (bloody mouth)
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Opening his eyes brought a scene of sterile grey walls and blistering white light that had Donnie squinting after the darkness they had been sucked into. After a few grimaced blinks he simultaneously realized his wrists and ankles were restrained, and Lil Mikey was missing. No matter, he could break these chains with a bit of mystic tech. The magic came easily to him, bringing him comfort in his tech always being with him despite the physically crafted devices having been stripped from him. But this time his effortless attempts were sliced away from him by a wave of nullifying energy that also drilled into his head with a stabbing wave. A light noise of irritation escaped a sneered nose as the energy within him flickered out along with the lights on his markings. Anti mystic tech. Great. They apparently knew who they were dealing with.
But who were they?
A question that was answered sooner than expected when a near invisible door slid to the side, a group of people behind it. “Well,” the woman at the front started. “I’m glad Agent Bishop’s records included a small note about the possibility of you four having gained mystic abilities. I have to admit I’m not completely familiar with the concepts, but I did coerce some help in crafting the proper precautions, just to be safe.” She spoke with an even, familiar tone that didn’t match the situation as far as Donnie was concerned. Her path took her towards him before she stopped and sat in a metal chair that was brought to her from behind. A good signifier to Donnie that she was the one in charge. After a moment of staring at him, earning nothing but a silent glare back, the woman adjusted her glasses and held her hand up, her assistant placing a tablet in her hand. “I have to say, you’ve really let yourself go. Losing nearly a third of your weight. You really ought to take better care of yourself, Donatello Splinterson.”
That caused Donnie to blink, questions rising in his mind that he could mostly start to form answers to. That wasn’t his second name. Mistaken identity? With a mutant turtle? Not likely. But with a yokai? He didn’t know of any yokai turtles by the name of Donatello. She had data about whoever she thought he was though, and he had nothing on her. “Then I presume you’re….?” he trailed off, giving her the chance to fill in the information he was lacking.
“That’s correct. Agent Jane Augustine. John Bishop’s successor, and the one you and your brothers have persisted to be an annoyance to,” Augustine supplied, adjusting her glasses again before rising to her feet once more. “I have to commend you for the setbacks you’ve given me. No one else has managed to break into government security as often as you-...”
Augustine’s speech broke off when she noticed something, her head twitching to get a different angle. She was silent for a moment, then voiced the subject of her derailed thoughts. “Your eyes are the wrong color.”
Oh. Well that was easy. Apparently this other Donatello didn’t have delectably golden eyes like him. “Maybe your sources are just colorblind,” Donnie sassed back.
“And you have an attitude…,” Augustine noted, eyes narrowing slightly. Donnie knew the signs of a brilliant mind churning through possibilities when he saw it. And sure enough a bud of excitement was starting to rise in her frame. “...Where are you from?”
“Earth,” Donnie answered automatically, giving the vaguest response as possible just to be a pain.
Augustine didn’t seem perturbed, instead gripping his chin for a moment. “Which Earth?” she asked.
Donnie realized what was going on the moment Augustine’s thoughts were confirmed by his raising brows. Drawing a breath to smother back her breakthrough, Augustine released him before turning to the others hanging back at the entrance of the room. “Get me a full blood, fluid, and tissue sample immediately. From this one, and the one that was with him. Documented currently under the name Michaelangelo-”
She started to direct her workers, but as soon as Donnie heard enough evidence they had Lil Mikey as well he snapped. “If you even scratch my brother I will blow up this entire establishment. With or without people in it.”
Augustine looked surprised to be interrupted, but politely let him finish before she laughed. “And how will you do that? You’re my ward now. And I have you in chains, and your mystic abilities effectively nullified.”
As her assistants moved to comply with her orders Augustine stepped back, a smile growing on her lips as she watched her new toy squirm and try to pull back from the prying hands. The restraint holding his left arm was transferred to a separate device that allowed them to keep it taught as they lowered it to where they could more easily access it. Donnie struggled fruitlessly against all of the chains, yanking until he could feel the metal biting into his hands and feet, especially when one of them circled wordlessly around behind him. It immediately made him feel isolated, and claustrophobic. His scarred shell was exposed to their invasive hands, the contact delicate but still earning a warning hiss from him. Another set of hands was reaching towards his face, and Donnie pulled back for just a moment before lurching forward without fully thinking.
The monotonous emptiness with which the assistant had been working shattered with shriek from the one Donnie currently had his teeth sank into. It didn’t matter that they had a surgical gown covering their forearm, it was already shredded through. Donnie was aiming for blood, and he got it. The other assistants scattered with various startled noises as Donnie’s victim punched him in the nose, as if they could get him to let go like some rabid dog. They drew their own blood from him, but he refused to release them, even as they yanked against him.
“Doctor, please,” Augustine spoke up calmly, raising her hand to still the commotion as soon as a fist had been used. “I prefer to have my wards physically unharmed as much as possible,” she chastised, striding forward and moving her raised hand to the side of Donnie’s jaw. “There are much more efficient ways to open a mouth…”
Donnie yelped as her finger wedged into his joint, pressing against a nerve and making him snap his jaw open and pull away from the source of the pain. As soon as they were free the assistant scurried back to the others and Augustine calmly withdrew her hand. She paused for a moment to let Donnie spit the blood from his mouth before reaching forward again to snatch his chin in her hand once more.
Forcing him to look in her direction, Augustine gave him a slight smile. “Behave yourself, Donatello. I might be a forgiving woman, but many of my employees are not. Especially when you’ve damaged them as such,” she cautioned, reaching her free hand up to smudge away the blood dripping from his nose, but ignoring the lines running down his chin.
Donnie just gave a snarled hiss in response. “Try it again and we’ll see if they lose a finger or two next.”
The response earned a single syllable, mirthless chuckle from Augustine. Pausing for a moment, as if daring him to try biting her, she eventually released him again. Turning for the door, she casually grabbed a damp wipe from one of the carts that had been pulled in to clean her hands. “Evangeline, you’re excused to wash up. But please take samples from the wound for me if you will,” she directed on her path to the exit. “The rest of you finish up here, then meet me in the other rooms. Drop him to the floor if you must.”
Apparently the fear of being bitten was overridden by whatever hold Augustine had over them, for the assistants returned to their assigned task with just a bit more caution than before. At first Donnie thought he was going to be knocked unconscious, but instead the other restraint on his arm was moved like the other one. And this time, instead of just being stretched across a clothesline, mechanical arms with mildly padded poles at the ends curled out from the walls. A breath half left Donnie’s lungs as the poles collided with the back of his shoulders and legs, pushing him forward as the chains kept him taught, lowering him forward until he was pressed against the floor. It made the inside of his elbow harder to reach, but they didn’t seem to care, a clasp slipping over his hand to keep him from twisting his arm as they brought a needle towards it. Donnie snarled, and hissed, and forced his body against the abundance of fetters binding him in place to no avail. It was too much. The wrong kind of weight against his exposed skin. Cold, unforgiving pressure on his scarred back, squeezing air from his lungs. Sharp edges digging into his limbs while they stretched his muscles just barely below the point of damage. Drawing the largest breath he could manage, Donnie released his irritation in the form of a long, headache inducing bellow.
Chapter 4: Another Mikey
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“Pss… Hey…. Wake up…”
Lil Mikey could hear an unfamiliar, slightly rough voice close to him, but he wasn’t sure if they were talking to him, or someone else. Partially because it felt like he wasn’t fully there, and partly because wave after wave of noxious energy that scrambled his mystic energy was pounding into his head. It earned a low groan, his brain gradually returning to his aching body and making him aware of the strain on his stretched arms. Something was messing with something on his wrist too, shifting his arm around gently. And when he forced his eyes open through flutters he was met with a blur of red and green that quickly got shoved out of the way for orange and green.
“Hey lil guy. How you doing? What’s your name?”
The voice was hushed, but full of mirth and anticipation. Lil Mikey had to blink slowly while the questions processed, and eventually gave a slightly mumbled answer. “...Mikey…”
“Haha! I knew it. Look guys, it’s alternate dimension mini me,” Mikey laughed, and Lil Mikey could feel gentle hands on his cheeks that he leaned into.
“Yeah yeah, we guessed as much,” Raphael huffed, though the concern was leaking through more than irritation. “..... Don, can’t you get those off faster? He doesn’t look good. Like something other than the normal ‘I just woke up in a weird place’ grogginess.”
“Unfortunately no,” Don commented back, and Lil Mikey looked to his left to see there was a third mutant turtle wedging thin tools into the chained cuff on his wrist. “They’re bugged. If I don’t disable the alarm on them we’ll blow our cover too soon.”
Fighting to ignore the rhythmic pounding on his head, Lil Mikey squinted at the restraints he was in. They were rescuing him? He vaguely remembered being snatched up by a disgusting black void. So he’d been kidnapped. “...Can I just cut the chains for now?” he asked, flexing his hand a little to test his mobility.
Don paused for a moment, trying to think of just how Lil Mikey was going to be able to cut through solid metal while being restrained by said metal. “Uh…. sure, if you can manage it. The wiring is only in the cuff parts- Oh!”
As soon as Don said it would be fine, Lil Mikey tried to summon his own chains, a slow inhale turning into a sharp gasp as his markings flickered with a glow that was shredded to a faint haze before he let it go. “Khh-.... Something is messing with my magic hands. Can you turn it off? ‘S like a speaker right next to my head.”
Taking another moment of thought, Don reached up to enable the mic in his headset while Raph mouthed ‘mystic hands?’ to Mikey. “April? Can you see if you can turn off any devices that are giving out a consistent energy output reading?” He wasn’t sure what was being used, or how. But if it was a continuous effect then he figured they should be able to pick up on something giving a continuous feed.
“Sure thing Don. It might tip them off that I’m here though. Is that okay?” Mom April responded, and the three adult turtles could hear the faint tap of a keyboard through their earpieces.
“... Yeah. Try to release the restraints on all of them as well. Leo should be able to handle himself if he’s free, and we’re close enough to the second one,” Don confirmed, giving a wary look at the camera in the room. It would only be moments before the security team realized there was a loop anyway.
The group waited in silence for Mom April’s update, and Lil Mikey took the moment to look over his rescuers. Red, purple, and orange. Orange was his color though. But they did look older than them. “... Heheh, are you guys copycats? Color coded ninja turtles is our thing…,” he giggled through a slight mumble.
Mikey just grinned while Raphael raised a brow. “We’ll explain later, little guy. Right now let’s just focus on getting out of here,” Mikey consoled, making the rare choice to stay focused.
“Don, it looks like it can’t be shut down remotely. But I can overload it to a burn out…” Mom April spoke up again.
“Do it,” Don agreed. Burning out the machine that was causing trouble would be better in the long run anyway. Especially if it was what was causing Lil Mikey to not be fully alert.
“Alright. Overload in three, two, one…”
The pressure Don had been feeling consistently in his head, that he’d thought was just a tension headache, gradually intensified for a minute before abruptly fizzling out. Which made him realize it had been something affecting him, and potentially his brothers as well, and not just their dimensional guests. Just too a lesser severity it seemed.
“Woah… There goes the salt headache…,” Raph commented, confirming Don’s unspoken question if the others had been feeling it too.
Any responses broke off momentarily as red lights flared on, and a muffled announcement could be heard outside the room. “All employees execute Protocol Pesticide immediately. This is not a drill.”
“Aaaaand there goes our cover,” Mikey chuckled.
“Good. I’ve been itching to break things,” Raphael grinned, hooking his sai from his belt with a finger and giving a twirl. “Since we don’t need to be subtle now…,” he started, raising his hand with the intention to break the cuffs off Lil Mikey with his sai. His actions stopped when bright orange chains ghosted into view, a lazy curl around Lil Mikey as the spot markings on his body glowed steadily. In a blink the chains snapped towards Lil Mikey’s restraints, curiously slicing through the metal easily. Raphael reflexively reached his hands out to catch Lil Mikey, assuming he’d fall now that he wasn’t supported. But to his surprise the smaller turtle stayed floating gently in the air for but a moment before gently lowering his feet to the ground.
“.... Oookay…,” Raphael voiced, raising a brow again.
“Cooooool,” Mikey chimed in.
“Interesting…,” Don breathed, a whirl of questions bubbling into his mind.
Blinking a few times to clear the residual haze from his mind, Lil Mikey looked up with a brief grin. “Thanks! That feels a lot better. Do you know where Donnie is? I’m pretty sure we were together. He grabbed me when the black ink monster was all groaaarr bleehhh. Is he who you were talking about-”
Raphael’s brow raised more, if possible, but he couldn’t help but grin. It seemed the kid was feeling a lot better now. But they couldn’t continue chatting, for a soft beep and shift of sliding metal alerted them of something happening in the room. Flinching, the four crouched while the three with weapons drew them, gathering in a circle back to back. A slight hissing noise caused them to look up, catching sight of a thick purple gas leaking through vents near the ceiling.
“Don’t breathe that!” Don hissed, quickly shrugging the backpack off one shoulder so he could dig the portable gas masks from it. Slipping one over his own nose and mouth, he let Raphael and Mikey take care of themselves in favor of helping Lil Mikey put one on as well.
“What is it?” Lil Mikey asked, obediently holding the mask to his face while Don tried to secure it.
“Cellular corrosion gas,” Don answered, spending unusually long on trying to get the mask fitting properly before he gave out a slight noise of distress. “...too big,” he muttered. “Keep your head low, and the mask pressed against your face as much as possible, okay? We’ll get you out and taken care of.”
Lil Mikey nodded despite the anxiety bubbling in his chest. The mask was too big? But he just had to stay low and keep it close? That was easy. He was pretty small already. “...Is this place a bad guy base?” he asked suddenly, wanting confirmation it was okay to destroy things further.
Raphael paused for a moment, looking back, but Mikey was the one that answered. “Oh yeah! A really nasty lady owns the place. We’ve been fighting her for weeks- no months now I think! She kidnapped you and your brother, and our other brother. We're just waiting for her to leave where he is before we get him too.”
“That’s all I need to know,” Lil Mikey responded, giving a devilish smile that squished his cheeks before turning to charge towards the sealed door, hands holding the gas mask pressed against his face. Giving a whooping cheer, he leapt forward into a rolling bodyslam, curling his limbs in tight, but not pulling into his shell since he wanted to be slightly bigger. “WRECKING BALL!” he cheered, more of the orange chains curling around him in a shield that sliced into the door before his illogically heavy impact smashed through the remains.
The other three stared for a moment before Mikey let out his own whoop. “OH YEAH! Little me has super powers! Awesome!” he cheered, pumping his hands in the air and charging forward with his brothers to follow the small teen. “Let’s go!”
Chapter 5: The Right Leo
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“Leonardo.”
A female voice that Leo had heard before in recordings addressed him with a single word greeting. She sounded pleased. Unusual considering the past circumstances. “Augustine,” Leo responded casually, willing the rest of the fog to leave his brain. He had a lot of questions, but none that he wanted to ask her. Other than something to further annoy her. “To what do I owe the pleasure?”
Augustine’s eye twitched, and she crossed her arms despite her smile never falling. “You speak as though this is your home, and I’m the visitor,” she pointed out.
Leo could only grin slightly, having achieved his goal. “Well, it’s just been so easy for me to come and go as I please.”
Now the smile fell into a frown. But just for a moment before she forced it back. “And yet you’ve never once stopped for a proper chat.”
“You know how it is. I’d hate to pull you away from your work. I’m sure it’s been taking up a lot of your time,” Leo jabbed again, his head clear now and mind already examining where he was. Simple restraints, they had taken his weapons, and bags, but nothing else. He could probably get out of this.
“...You’re a daring creature to continue to antagonize me despite your current position…” The smile had faded again, and Leo could tell Augustine was tired of playing the game of banter they had been engaged in. Eventually she shrugged it off, memory of recent revelations lifting her mood. “No matter. Despite your attempts to prevent my work from progressing I relish to inform you that it has all been in vain.” Her phone was slipped from her lab coat pocket, and after a few taps she held the screen up for Leo to see. “I’m not nearly proud enough to conceal the fact it was an accident. I was merely attempting to capture you four by targeting mutant turtle signatures with a mystic influence. And while I caught one, these other two gems decided to… do me the favor of proving my hypothesis true.”
The first video Augustine showed him caused Leo so suck in a hissed breath, a much too small mutant turtle trapped on the floor and crowded by people in surgical coats. Needles and blades in their hands, smaller than what he’d seen in person with Bishop, but no less infuriating. And then she swiped her screen across to switch to a different, even smaller mutant turtle that was blessedly still asleep in his fetters. “Augustine…,” Leo growled, a warning tone saturating his voice and his brows furrowed.
“Oh don’t get so worked up. I don’t plan on killing them. I need them alive to track how they adjust to this dimension. How else am I supposed to confirm it’s safe? You and your brothers refuse to answer my questions afterall,” Augustine chided, chuckling in bubbling excitement. She was pleased to see that the first subject seemed to be calming down. Either because he realized the futility of his struggle, or because her employees had sedated him she wasn’t sure. But she’d rather not have another incident like with Evangeline. “And you, of course, are my constant for comparison. I anticipate their biological structure is much more similar to you than to humans. Obviously. So as a native of this dimension I’ll be keeping you for my tests as well. But as for your brothers…”
She was gloating. And Leo knew she was, but he was still curious when she trailed off, her phone vibrating in a silent call distracting her and earning a slight frown before she answered it, turning away from her captive. “Yes?” She sounded irritated, listening to the quick response and narrowing her eyes as she was informed of their intruders. “Tch…. Gas them,” she spoke after a moment to consider her decision. “Yes, I’m sure. Once they fall unconscious we can capture them and revitalize them, to a point. But if they ended up dying then it is no loss. I still have the others. Make sure the frontlines have the portable nullifiers as well.”
Leo had to keep from smiling when it sounded like his brothers were already there to rescue them all. They had acted fast. That was good. And it sounded like they were further in the building than Augustine had expected. But her response was definitely concerning, and only motivated Leo’s resolve to escape on his own. When she ended the call and half turned back to him he decidedly kept his expression neutral.
“Well, it seems your brothers have skittered their way inside sooner than expected. So you’ll have to excuse me while I deal with them elsewhere. Be good and stay silent, or I may have to sedate you,” she ordered, turning to leave the room without waiting for a response.
A raised brow was all Augustine got from Leo as he waited for the door to hiss closed. Then after a count of ten, or actually eight, he started twisting his hands, testing the tightness of the restraints on him. They hadn’t even bothered to take his tactical sleeves off. If he could just slide his hand through and slip one of them off, then getting the other off would be easy. Just squish his thumb in close to his palm, shift his weight as much as he could to let gravity help, nevermind the sharp pain building in his joint.
A series of soft clicks abruptly released all tension in Leo’s limbs, dropping him to the floor where he caught himself on the balls of his feet and fingertips.
That was odd. Leo didn’t think he’d triggered anything that would disengage the restraints. And it was increasingly suspicious when the same door Augustine had left hissed open once more. Suspicious, until the protocol announcement coming through the intercom in the hallway was overridden by a familiar code.
“Flight 182, this is ground control, you are clear for landing.”
April. Leo thought, breaking into a wide smile as the redirected airplane chatter fizzled out. So this definitely wasn’t something Augustine was doing to manipulate him, or the others. Running out of the room, Leo gave one of the cameras a wave and a smile, just in case Mom April could see him, and continued his escape down the hallway bathed in red and white lights.
Chapter 6: Escape
Chapter Text
After too many attempts to use his ninpo to escape, only to have it shredded as soon as it left him, Donnie’s captives had switched their nullification machine to be on continuously. The horrid external drum of constant pressure against his skull only added to the internal throbbing his brain was doing trying to escape the stimulus it was getting. Every brush of gloved fingertips against his skin became scraping abhorrences against his thoughts. To the point he couldn’t distinguish the hands from the blades carving out tiny samples of his body. He barely bled from their cuts, but they were still quick to clean the wound with stinging alcohol before placing a bandaid over it. Augustine hadn’t been lying about keeping him as physically unharmed as possible, but that did little for his mental state. The only welcomed attention was the quiet employee with an irrigation bottle full of saline water trying to rinse his mouth out so they could get a clean saliva sample. Getting rid of the bloody taste did little to cure the nausea he felt, but at least it was from a different source. How much blood did they take? No, he didn’t want to think about it. Enough to make him dizzy, and therefore too much.
For now he kept his eyes closed to try and keep his mind isolated from the world around. It was all he could do to keep from continuing to scream at them for invading his personal space, stealing what didn’t belong to them. He didn’t need to exhaust himself with useless actions. They had Lil Mikey. He needed to focus on how to get them out of there. But it was so hard to think of anything other than wanting to sink into a black oblivion of stifling silence and soft blankets.
That was, until the drumming anti mystic pressure swelled to a nigh unbearable force against his body before abruptly declining into nothing. Sweet, blessed calm amidst the chaos of soft chatter and clinking tools. It almost felt like a heavy snow had fallen over the room with how much frozen peace the absence of the machine’s nullifying energy brought.
Donnie’s fingers twitched, and a ripple of purple energy traveled down his arm, from shoulder to palm, without getting torn apart by external interference. With the barest hint of a smirk, Donnie pulled his eyes back open, nevermind the stabbing light invading his unfocused pupils. Another ripple of energy was released with purpose this time, snaring the machines keeping him pinned and breaking their hold on him with shuddering creaks as the shackles snapped open. His overriding ninpo disabling the locks, and ordering the beams pressed against his back and legs to raise.
The employees naturally cut off all conversation, all five bodies gasping and backing up, unsure if this was part of a plan by their employer or not. They remained uncertain as Donnie pushed himself to his knees, keeping his gaze on the floor. He wanted to be cordial. Or eloquent. Or at the very least capable of crafting a full sentence from the language that used to come so easily to his mind. But instead only a single word escaped his lips in a hissed half whisper.
“Leave.”
They didn’t quite obey as quickly as he would have liked. Not until his own machines started piecing together in the air around him. “I SAID LEAVE!” he shouted. The crack in his voice smothered by the clinking of his fabricated machines. Harmless constructs, but it was enough to earn a yelp from the women before they frantically escaped his presence, one of their hands slapping against the keypad and opening the door.
Breathing a steadying sigh once the bodies had vacated, Donnie let his constructs fade before they were completed, reveling in the additional step towards complete silence.
And then the announcement blared into the room from the hallway speakers.
Donnie barely heard what the grating voice stabbing into his coveted silence said over the intercom. His eyes snapped back open under furrowed brows, glaring at the offending atrocity. At least he could shut it up now. Curse this forsaken hell hole into silence. Every whirr and hum, crackle and clink from the electric machines operating the damn woman’s base. Gathering up a specific charge into his hands, Donnie let a pulse of curated ninpo crash down his arms into a rolling wave across the floor, up the walls and into every crevice the building had. The energy made short work of the establishment’s power, robbing it of life as it greedily ate through the framework until the main generator swelled into an overloaded crash, halting the systems and bathing the base in temporary darkness.
Blessed darkness and silence.
It would take a moment for the backup generator to bring everything to life again. In that time Donnie reached his ninpo out just enough to locate where they had stashed his equipment. He wanted something on his back immediately. It was taking a lot of will to not rip off the sticky bandage stuck over the fresh cut there. On his back, legs, arms, the coban wrapped around his elbow. He deliberately kept his hands from being in contact with anything. Fingers twitching in the air as he brought himself to his feet, swaying slightly. Basic steps. Simple commands. One foot in front of the other. Get his tech, and find his brother. He could do this.
Donnie dragged his feet towards the exit as the backup generator brought the base humming back to minimal life. The red lights bringing false color to his pale cheeks. Break down his actions into basic steps. Simple thoughts. Ignore everything else. Everything was going to be fine.
Or else.
Chapter 7: Demolition Team
Chapter Text
The first thing Raphael learned about the new Mikey was that he was way more chaotic than their own Mikey. If he hadn’t seen the little guy bulldoze through a meta wall on his own, Raphael would have even called him foolhardy. But having seen Lil Mikey’s skill first hand meant that when he took off running down the hall after a purple EMP wave knocked out the entire base and their own communications, Raphael only followed. Which caused his two brothers to do the same, Don rebooting his tech on the way.
“Uhhhhhh, what was that??” Mikey demanded, speeding up to keep pace with Lil Mikey.
“DONNIE!” Lil Mikey called out once more, both in response to his counterpart, and to try and locate his missing brother.
“That answers absolutely nothing,” Mikey protested.
“Relax Mikey. It was just an EMP pulse. The other Donatello probably doesn’t know we’re here, so wouldn’t see the harm in setting one off,” Don calmed, brightening when his headset crackled back to life. “April?”
“Don?” Mom April’s voice came back laced with relief. “Thank goodness. I thought you’d been captured. I was suddenly kicked from the system.”
“EMP pulse. We’re back online though, and the backup generator just booted up. Can you tell us where Leo and the other Donatello are from us?” Don explained, cutting to the important details since they were already moving.
“I was able to release Leo from here, but it looks like he took a wrong turn while I was disconnected. I’ll try to lead him to join you since he’s familiar with our tactics,” Mom April explained, being able to relocate Leo in the cameras and place him on the map along with the other four. “The other one is no longer captured either, the containment room is empty, but I can’t get a location on him. There’s a deadzone of broken cameras in the area around where he was imprisoned. My guess is he’s taking them out- Don, look out! They rebooted the mechs in the room in front of you!”
To Mom April’s credit, she did try to warn them. But to their credit, they had one more team member than usual. As the sliding doors creaked open slowly because of the minimal energy provided to them the group emerged on a modest sized combat team made from a combination of Bishop’s soldiers enhanced with alien tech from the Shredder. There were four piloted mechanoids, and about ten ground soldiers with blasters, all trained at the door the brothers were coming through.
To the enemy’s benefit of the doubt, Lil Mikey wasn’t from their dimension. As soon as he noticed the weapons trained at them Lil Mikey’s first thought was to get cover for them. And since there wasn’t any readily available he created his own. Golden orange chains crashed from his arms into the ground below and ripped the metal flooring up like a peeled banana, effectively blocking the blaster fire.
That was all he was able to get done before a powered up whine sent a pulse of headache inducing energy into the room, causing Lil Mikey to yelp and clutch his head.
“MAN! That is SO unfair!” Lil Mikey whimpered.
“Don’t worry, we’ll get them,” Don consoled, already pulling a mirror from his bag of supplies to use to locate the devices without risking poking their heads out. It didn’t take long to find the upright duffle bag sized machine whirring away near a mechanoid’s foot. “Raph-”
“On it,” Raphael responded, having been looking over Don’s shoulder. Popping over the barrier they had Raphael threw bladed stars at the device before covering his head with his arms, just in case, and dropping back down. There was a satisfying clang, pop, and fizzle as the device was damaged enough to shut down. Yet along with it came the fizz of more gas canisters being broken open and tossed.
“Hey! No peeking!” Mikey chastised when a ground soldier coasted around the side, trying to sneak up on them. A stunt earned them a metal nunchuck to the shielded face, and a quick kick to the side to send them away again.
“Thanks!” Lil Mikey chimed once again, shaking his head clear before bringing his chains to life once more. While several of them whipped into the soldiers, either bashing them to the side or stealing their guns, Lil Mikey stepped out from behind the barrier. The chains from his arms came once more, thrashing forward to wrap around one of the mechanoids moments before Lil Mikey whip cracked it into a different one.
With the blaster fire having been minimized, Don and Raph darted out from either side of the barrier as well, tiny electric mines in their hands. It was almost child’s play to dodge they’re way in and out of the remaining soldiers, snaking in a quick punch or kick on their way. The mines were attached to the remaining mechanoids, electricity bursting upon contact and crackling up the machines to fry the circuits.
Raphael would have given them full points for that fight, except after a moment Lil Mikey let out a series of soft coughs and put his hands back to the oversized gas mask on his face.
“Try not to breathe in the gas if you can. It might be good for you to stay back if there’s any,” Don immediately switched more to medic mode, resting a hand on Lil Mikey’s back and leading him to the exit while trying to fan the gas away with his other hand.
“Dude, that was INSANE! How are you able to just throw a giant machine like nothing? Can I learn to do that?” Mikey cheered, rushing to catch up to the rest after having given the remaining conscious soldier a kick to the head.
“Probably because we’re made to be super soldiers,” Lil Mikey commented offhandedly, giving a few more soft coughs before taking a deeper breath once they escaped the gas cloud.
The words didn’t quite register correctly in the others’ minds, their bodies moving on autopilot for a moment while their minds caught up.
“....What?” Raphael voiced shortly, not quite sure he understood that correctly.
“....Oh…,” was all Don could think to comment, filing that fact away for later analysis.
Mikey blinked as the construct in his mind quickly rearranged itself into an explanation that made more sense. If they were super soldiers, then they weren’t super heroes, right? “Khhk. Captain America, I’ve come to destroy you,” Mikey quoted, mimicking the static from a radio, then quickly dodging Raphael’s swatting hand.
Chapter 8: Bullet Hell
Chapter Text
Their course, guided by Mom April, had taken them through another set of soldiers. But they had been easy to deal with since there was no mechanoid with them this time. And then a few more rooms on their route took them to a more open room, where one more mechanoid and ground soldier group greeted them. Before they had reached the room Mom April had told them it was designated for maintenance for the huge machines, so they rushed in with weapons drawn. Both groups of enemies had had more of the toxic gas, and mystic nullifiers. And by this point after the most recent group was taken out to unconsciousness it was easy to tell that Lil Mikey was starting to get worn out from everything. Both Raph and Don had been hovering over him, making sure he stayed between them while they traveled. So when he started coughing hard enough to pause in progression, hands raising to his mouth to pull the gas mask off to try and get more air, Raphael was there to place a supporting hand on his back.
“After this next corner you’ll reach the dead zone. I won’t be able to keep track of you through the cameras,” Mom April cautioned through their headsets while they took a breather.
“It’s alright April. You said Leo was just a few rooms back from us. Is the other Donatello close by too? The dead zones are progressing towards us, aren't they?” Don asked, partially watching their surroundings while partially monitoring Raphael addressing Lil Mikey.
“Yeah, Leo should reach you in the next few minutes. But the most recent deadzone is on the other side of the wall with no door. You’ll have to loop around to reach it,” Mom April answered. “...Is everything alright?”
The emotion from Mom April was palpable through the speaker, and Don pursed his lips for a moment. Maybe it was just because Raphael and Mikey were also radiating concern for their new charge. “...We just need to either hurry up, or pull Lil Mikey out early,” Don responded eventually.
“Hey big guy, you doing okay?” Raphael asked, crouched with one hand resting on his knee and the other hand rubbing Lil Mikey’s back while he forced down deep breaths. He could only manage to give a few nods, and that wasn’t reassuring at all. “Maybe one of us should escort you out while the other two collect our brother and your’s…”
“N’no-,” Lil Mikey protested, shaking his head emphatically, and giving one more cough.
“You’re breathing like an asthmatic running a marathon,” Raphael stressed, brow furrowing as he could hear wheezing without leaning any closer.
Lil Mikey just shook his head again. “D’Dee doesn’t do well with strangers-,” he continued to protest.
Don was half a breath away from offering to carry the smaller lad since the final stretch seemed close. But the words were never able to leave his mind before they had another enemy to deal with. A series of gunshots snapping through the air caused them to scatter before they could see where they had come from. Raphael herded Lil Mikey along with a careful hand, noting him stumbling slightly but not stopping, and therefore Raphael continued to guide them both to cover. Lil Mikey had kept moving along Raphael’s guidance, allowing himself to be directed behind the large console tables while Raphael twisted to catch sight of the lone soldier behind them. He’d thought they had both avoided the gunfire easily enough, darting behind a console desk and resting a hand on Lil Mikey’s head while keeping an eye on the soldier, and catching sight of his own brothers diving behind the other console desk. Lil Mikey giving a few, softer, shakier coughs was concerning, but at least it wasn’t as bad as before.
“You doing alright kid? Take a sec to catch your breath, okay?” Raphael asked, keeping his gaze on the soldier that had slipped in behind them. When he didn’t get a verbal response back, and the coughs from Lil Mikey became mixed with anxious whimpers under a shaking frame, Raphael’s eyes snapped down to him. Where he expected to see an increasingly familiar sight of green, orange and black, his gaze ended up locking onto a steadily growing stream of red down Lil Mikey’s arm, his small hand gingerly hovering near it.
“Aw shell!” Raphael cussed, both hands moving, one reaching around to pull Lil Mikey close while the other clamped a vice grip around the back of Lil Mikey’s upper arm. He felt bad for the barely smothered cry that escaped from the small teen at the contact, but knew that he had to get some sort of pressure on the wound before worrying about anything else.
“Raph? Bro? My dude. You can’t just curse and not elaborate when we can’t see you.” his own Mikey’s voice came from the other barricade he and Don had scrambled behind, the not quite actual swear alerting him that something was worse than before.
Instead of answering Mikey, Raphael called out to his other brother. The one that would be way more useful in this situation. “Don, get over here! Lil Mikey got hit! He’s bleeding, bad!” Raphael shouted back, shifting his weight so he could pull Little Mikey to sag over his thigh for support. He couldn’t blame the kid for panicking, despite doing an amazing job at not completely breaking down. Gunshot wounds were always alarming, the floor was already getting a small puddle of blood where Lil Mikey’s hand was resting.
“Oh, shell!” Don repeated, reflexively moving to run towards them, but having to halt his action when another gunshot crashed into the table near his head. “Get pressure on it!” Don called back, shrinking far behind the barricade he was behind and wordlessly looking to Mikey.
“I know, I know!” Raphael spat, looking around frantically for anything to help. Rule number one was always stop the bleeding. But after that he couldn’t remember anything else. He wasn’t the medic, that was Don’s job. He just broke things. Lil Mikey’s breathless whimpers as he tried to shove Raphael’s hand away from causing more pain caused Raphael to lock his attention on him again. “I know, kid, I know. It hurts, but I have to do this. Trust me. You’re gonna be alright,” he assured, partly for Lil Mikey and partly to excuse his own actions causing the child more pain. Thankfully Lil Mikey tried to be obedient to his semi request to stop by gripping Raphael’s knee instead. Lifting his head to shout to Don again, Raphael’s voice never made it out since a series of different sounds distracted his thoughts. Someone getting punched, kicked, or otherwise beaten. Several times. He felt a flutter of anxiety for his brothers before Mikey’s voice came from behind him instead of to the right.
“That’s for shooting a child you asshole!”
Raphael couldn’t help the slight grin he got, hearing Mikey cuss worse than either he or Don had, and giving the soldier another kick despite them already being disarmed and down. And with the immediate threat taken care of Don was already crowding into the space next to them, swinging the backpack off his shoulders. “Sssss, okay, keep him supported,” Don directed, digging through his bag for an emergency tourniquet. “Is there an exit wound?”
Raphael thought for a moment, twisting to see the other side of Lil Mikey’s arm where his fingers were. “No,” he answered. No wonder the kid hated him pushing on his arm.
Don pressed his lips together, but seemed to be a bit less tense while he looped the tourniquet around Lil Mikey’s shoulder. “Try to focus on taking slow, deep breaths Lil Mike,” Don directed, threading the tourniquet strap through the clasp. His softer voice was hopefully more soothing to Lil Mikey than the other two shouting. The poor kid’s gaze was largely unfocused, but he at least started to consciously slow his breathing down.
“You or me?” Raphael asked as Don cinched the band to an uncomfortable tightness. He could hear something big, and metal clomping its way towards them. Which meant they couldn’t stay where they were much longer. Even with Mikey keeping a tense guard.
“We have incoming…” Mikey warned around the whir of his nunchucks. Small guards he could handle. Big automated machines were a little more difficult.
Don’s eyes just flicked to Raphael for a moment before going back to his medical supplies. “For what?”
“Getting the kid out. I’m not keeping him around here any longer. Is he stable enough for me to watch over him while you and Mikey deal with his brother?” Raphael explained.
As Don opened his mouth to respond, Lil Mikey snapped out of his daze enough to beat him to it, shoving away from Raphael slightly. “N-no,” he protested with a slight cough. “You can’t-... Donnie doesn’t… do good with… strangers…” he repeated.
Raphael felt his expression soften a little, and he just firmly but carefully held Lil Mikey close. “That’s why I want to send Mr. Softie here to talk to him. He’s got a lot more patience than I do, and is way less annoying than Mikey. But not at your expense.”
Raphael’s reasoning made sense, but Lil Mikey was reluctant to leave before Donnie was safe. Before he’d even laid eyes on his brother. So he shook his head again in conscious belligerence.
As Don was peeling open a gauze pack, Raphael opened his mouth to respond, but an abrupt, shuddering shatter of screeching metal peeling away from impact further in the room caused him to cut off before he started. “What was THAT?” Raphael voiced their collective thoughts as he and Don looked over the barrier once more. The wall next to the deadzone Mom April had pointed out was no longer without a connecting entrance. An ugly hole had been smashed through the metal, gasping in an ugly gape near the ceiling and spewing a mixture of gas and smoke as another, smaller figure stepped onto the ridge.
Chapter 9: Fabricated Arsenal
Chapter Text
“Uhhhh, we got more company,” Mikey announced unnecessarily, gaping up to try and figure out if this was a friend or foe. It only took only a moment for the smoke to clear enough for them to see green among the black, signifying it wasn’t one of Augustine’s soldiers. After that the first thing Raphael and Don noticed from the newcomer was the purple themed bandana and attire, then an unusual amount of bandaids on his limbs, and the rather familiar bo staff in his hand as his gaze swept the room. The next thing Raphael noticed was the quickly mounting rage behind the yellow eyes that locked onto their huddled group. Raphael had always known his brother Don was a soft soul, and probably couldn’t intimidate anyone to save his life. But his counterpart apparently had just absorbed all the venom, and Raphael felt Don tense beside him when the other Donnie’s gaze met his. A prickle of danger stinging the backs of their necks as the younger figure took in the situation, eyes rapidly flicking from them, to Lil Mikey held close to Raphael, to the blood on Lil Mikey’s arm, and the gauze in Don’s hands.
For a moment Raphael thought they were going to have to do some lightning fast explaining before getting a rage filled brother trying to bash their heads in. But instead a mostly transparent barrier began constructing itself over the huddled group even as the bay doors behind them began creaking open. The sturdy purple shapes reminded Raphael of the back of an armored vehicle, possibly even a tank, and it pulled his gaze for a stretch.
“Help him, or else.” The voice of the second mutant turtle that Raphael and Don had seen in the transmission sounded surprisingly fragile, and came as a hiss, but it still sent shivers unwillingly through Raphael’s form. Definitely Don’s evil twin.
“Oh yeah? And what are you going to do to help?!” Mikey shouted, cutting off in a yelp and ducking low behind the previously felled machine as more mechanoids clomped into the room and sprayed additional bullet fire. The bullets failed to come even close to the group huddled behind Donnie’s barrier though, bouncing off the newly formed shield and clattering against the wall and floor harmlessly.
“Fascinating. It’s like a shield constructed from ballista glass, yet it doesn’t seem to have the exact properties-”
“Don! Focus here,” Raphael snapped. He did not like the way Little Mikey’s movements were getting more erratic and sluggish, half cries of his brother’s name being whimpered.
“Right- Right,” Don twitched back, resuming his task of pressing the clean gauze onto Lil Mikey’s wound.
With Don back on track Raphael’s focus switched to the new Donnie, wanting to check on his physical well being as well as make sure he wasn’t going to get shot as well. There were new mechanoids in the room after all. He’d heard clattering behind him continuously from moments after Donnie had spoken, but he’d thought it was just some different machines than before being sent to kill them.
He was apparently wrong.
“I WARNED YOU AUGUSTINE!!” The younger Donnie’s crackly loud voice was followed by a familiar hiss of missiles that Raphael knew all too well from the spats they’d had with Hun and the Purple Dragons over the years. But even though Raphael braced himself for their barricade to be blasted to bits, the impact never came. Not to his back anyway. The shudder of the floor was dampened by distance, and the secondary familiar noise of a reactive combustion from machines being destroyed greeted his ears instead. Giving another glance to Don to make sure he was still focused, Raphael stole another peek over the barricade and the sight made his eyes widen in mild disbelief. Six more missiles the same hue as the barricade encompassing them constructed themselves in the air before blasting into the mechanoids coming into the room. Along with them various forms of blast canons pieced themselves together and thumped heavily on the ground, firing pulses of lasers into their enemies. And in the center of all the return fire Donnie’s form floated, suspended by whirling turbines jutting from his back.
Okay, the little Mikey had magic chains, and the little Donnie apparently had a magic arsenal. Wonderful. “.... Holy shell…,” Raphael muttered involuntarily, taking a moment to let that fact settle in his mind. This kid was demolishing a military arsenal on his own, with nothing physically on him but a fancy stick and backpack. At least they didn’t have to worry about mechanoids stepping on them. Now they just had to worry about accidental friendly fire. And the hiss of gas spraying from canisters clanging into the room was also a problem.
“More poison,” Raphael hissed, raising his hand to his mouth automatically and looking for the gas mask he’d discarded.
“It looks like the barrier will keep it out, but we can’t let Lil Mikey get exposed to any more of it,” Don responded, hands working fast to wrap a tight bandage around Lil Mikey’s shoulder so they could stabilize him until they got back home.
“Yeah, I think the other Don has that taken care of,” Mikey commented from where he was pressed low against his hiding place, eyes wide and holding the floor like a lifeline. While he was all for making their escape, they were still missing one brother, and he didn’t think they would be getting any words in to Donnie around the explosions. At least the young lad didn’t seem keen on leaving this room.
And at least it didn’t seem like Augustine’s army was endless. After one more barrage of missiles the mechanoids were reduced to smoking heaps on the floor, Donnie’s figure descended to the floor amidst the destruction. The settling silence allowed Mikey to breathe a sigh of relief, and Raphael drew a tense breath as he prepared to talk to the new Donnie. The lad still looked pissed, but also strangely detached from the situation as he landed lightly on his feet and turned to brokenly start walking towards them. What Raphael was going to say was cut off by Don catching sight of a small figure in the clearing smoke.
“Watch out!” Don shouted, having finished giving Lil Mikey first aid and lurching forward to his feet. Donnie’s eyes semi focused on him before he turned to look over his shoulder, a soft click and whir being his only heads up for the oncoming pain. The same mystic nullification energy from the previous machines blanketed the room through a rippling pulse originating from Augustine’s hand as she delicately stepped over the rubble. But this time it seemed the energy was either less refined, or higher in concentration. Donnie let out a strangled yell and flung his hands to his head, barely keeping from crumpling to his knees as his remaining constructs were ripped to particles, while Lil Mikey whimpered and pressed his head into Raphael. Augustine could only watch with barely contained disgust, a blaster gun sliding out from the only undamaged panel in the wall on her command.
“And I warned you to behave yourself,” Augustine almost hissed, anger seething under a maintained exterior.
Chapter 10: A Drop of Peace
Chapter Text
“Augustine-,” Don called in a mix of fear and warning as the blaster took aim, picking up his bo and reflexively rushing forward to at the very least act as a bodily shield if it came to it. But he wasn’t faster than the pulse of energy crashing into the back of Donnie’s shoulder, shattering the turbine and knocking him forward to the ground. Being almost directly under the source of the anti mystic energy now, Donnie could only give a strangled half scream that cut off and curled around himself, trying to smother his pounding head to get away from the crippling migraine. He didn’t even notice Augustine coming to stand near him, holding a small handgun pointed at him with her free hand.
“... Not going to elaborate on that, Donatello?” Augustine asked, watching as Don stopped where he was as soon as the gun was drawn, daring him to continue his warning. “You’ve continued to harass me, and caused irreparable damage to not only my research, but also my facility, and my employees. For weeks. I think it’s only fair that for once I get to claim what I’m after. I’m the one who brought these two to this dimension. Therefore they’re mine to contro-”
The monologue of twistedly justified complaints and demands from Augustine was cut off by an armored leg colliding with the side of her head, the handgun clattering to the floor along with her unconscious body. “Surprise, bitch!” Leo belted in a moment of uncharacteristic language acting as an outlet for his myriad of conflicting emotions. He had just escaped being captive, ran through too many rooms of people pulling guns on him with only blinking lights to guide him, and then came into a room with a lunatic holding a gun at a collapsed teenager. Mikey could only respond to the abrupt swing in the situation by belting out a short laugh, flopping onto his back once again, but this time in relief. Raphael just grinned with a mild snort, scooping Lil Mikey up into a cradle and finally leaving his hiding spot. The three brothers had all seen Leo sprinting through the smoke, but hadn’t reacted so they wouldn’t give Augustine any hints that he was there. The choice of words from their frazzled brother had caught them all off guard though.
The unusual behavior didn’t last long. When Don rushed over to the mystic nullifier to disable it, Leo dropped to his knees next to Donnie, hands hovering towards him. “Hey… can you hear me?” he asked softly, not wanting to cause the kid any more throbbing in his apparently already miserable brain. He almost breathed a sigh of relief when Donnie cracked his eyes open to look up at him after the abhorrent machine was turned off. But the breath caught in his lungs and he had to quickly lean away when Donnie’s hand flung up towards his face, an aggressive, snarling hiss escaping the smaller form. “Woah- that’s new,” Leo muttered, momentarily surprised at the sound. He couldn’t blame Donnie for reacting that way, especially after getting a better look at his pale face, shaking form, and hearing his ragged breaths. “I’m here to help. It’s okay-” Leo assured, reaching out again after shaking his head slightly to Don to keep him from approaching and potentially making the teen feel trapped.
Donnie had shoved himself upright, but hissed again when he noticed Leo’s hands moving towards him, pulling away. “Don’t….-kng touch me,” he half slurred, voice failing and apparently forcing an enormous amount of effort into talking, swinging a hand to awkwardly try and swat Leo away again.
Leo’s brows furrowed, unsure of how to react. His first thought was to just pull the kid close and comfort him, but he didn’t seem to want any contact at all. Was he hurting? He looked more dizzy and exhausted than in pain. Leo wasn’t sure what use repeating himself would be in this situation. And he also wasn’t used to kids refusing help when they were in such a state. He could see the budding tears in the teens eyes, so Leo knew he was at his limit. Yet he was also refusing to back down. As though he didn’t think there was actually anyone there to help him.
Pursing his lips, Leo rapidly considered ideas and discarded them, feeling they would get the wrong response. After swatting him away Donnie’s hands had remained awkwardly in the air. But he was also swaying unsteadily, his gaze at nothing as he was apparently trying to collect himself enough to move. Or do something. It was a complete guess, but Leo took a gander and very gently moved his hands to loop his knuckles underneath Donnie’s shaking fingers. He didn’t grip Donnie’s hands in any manner, nor tried to move them. Just gave him somewhere to rest his limbs, and hopefully give him comforting physical contact and some sort of support that he had control over.
The touch caused Donnie to gasp, and flinch away slightly. But to Leo’s relief he didn’t pull away completely, or lash out. Just sat, staring at the hands his fingers were resting on in non comprehending confusion. His half focused eyes blinked at odd intervals, and fingers flexed experimentally while Leo remained in his chosen position, face an open book of worry.
After an uncomfortable stretch of motionless silence between them, Leo took another risk to speak up again. “...Can I take you to your brother?”
When Donnie’s gaze lifted to him with a squinted, unfocused stare, Leo slowly moved his head to look where Raphael was standing with Lil Mikey cradled carefully in his arms. Donnie’s gaze followed his, and when he saw Lil Mikey he drew a shuddering breath, leaning forward so far Leo thought he was going to fall over. But he dared not move yet, even as Donnie’s hand left his to weakly reach out towards Lil Mikey, the younger brother’s name a bare mumble of broken sounds.
“It’s okay Dee. They’re safe,” Mikey spoke softly, his concern for Donnie making it a little easier to ignore his throbbing arm and burning lungs.
Donnie didn’t seem to outwardly respond, but his gaze grew heavy as his eyes started to flutter, and form started to sag. Leo was afraid to startle him again, so forced himself to remain motionless until Donnie obviously collapsed. Only then did Leo reach his hands up to catch him, gently pulling him close to rest against his chest. “... I’m going to pick you up and take you to your brother now, okay?” he asked, even though he wasn’t sure if Donnie was still conscious, but he figured it was better to continue telling him what he was doing.
When he didn’t get a reaction, Leo just adjusted his grip on Donnie, scooping his arms under Donnie’s legs and easily hefting him up off the floor. As he rose to his feet Don took that as clearance to rush over, resting a palm on Donnie’s cheek before touching fingertips to his neck. “Slight fever, weak pulse…,” Don muttered, then pressed a finger against his headset while following Leo over to the rest of the group. “April, everyone is accounted for. Can you lead us out, and look up the video feed for the other Dontatello and send it to my phone? I need to see what they did…”
It wasn’t a comforting thing to hear from the ones that had rescued them, and as soon as Donnie was brought close enough Lil Mikey reached out his uninjured hand to quickly grab Donnie’s limp hand. At first he was worried he wouldn’t get a response, memories of Donnie’s motionless hand and unresponsive sleep coming to his mind. But after feeling Donnie’s fingers curl weakly around his, Lil Mikey gave a hesitant smile, giving Donnie’s hand a small squeeze back while allowing his cheek to rest against Raphael’s shoulder.
Watching the small exchange, Raphael was tempted to slap Augustine awake so he could give her a screaming lecture. But instead he motioned for Don to take the lead, making sure Mikey was still near him as well. “... Let’s get out of here,” Raphael directed, adjusting his position to be next to Leo. He didn’t want to force the two teens to have to let go of each other’s hands if he could help it. But then again that was only part of the reason to stick to his newly rescued brother’s side. Leo could only offer him a quick smile, and soft thanks before the worry returned to his features.
Chapter 11: The Other Siblings
Chapter Text
Leon barely registered the entirety of his surroundings with the cacophony of sounds assaulting his ears, his hearing turned half deaf by his head swirling. A crash from something heavy hitting something metal. The pouring rain drumming on the pavement, brick, wood, more metal. His head hurt, he probably smacked it hard on the ground when he’d fell. It didn’t help the dizziness, or the building nausea. A stirring pot of sludge bubbling up into his ribcage. Into his throat.
A groan cut off as Leon rolled to his elbows and retched, bile pressing into his nostrils as well as his teeth and splattering the asphalt. There went dinner. Unfortunate. But at least his stomach felt mildly better, and the whirling pinwheel of an environment was starting to settle. At least enough that he could start to register the voices around him, and what they were saying.
“...sounds like drunk hooligans……call the police…..”
“HRRR-GHkk…. GuAAhhhh.”
“-eo!......LEO!.... C’mon Leo! Answer me. Raph needs help!”
That last voice. Leon didn’t recognize the first one, but the pained growling of the second one sounded like Raph. And the one calling to him was… “April?” Leon slurred slightly, dragging his head up more so he could look around. The last few minutes were spotty in his mind. He remembered something tearing through the space between inside their lair. Some sort of portals, but so different from any he’d seen before. Toxic black ooze whipping out of pits to wrap around his brothers. Donnie had grabbed Lil Mikey, and Raph had snatched up April and grabbed Leon’s wrist to pull him close as well. There was the brief thought of Donnie’s wrist computer, the old version, before Leon’s gaze had met his twin’s milliseconds before that same device came hurtling at his face. Use it to track the others. Whoever got separated, use the computer to follow the trackers on everyone. He wasn’t sure who’s idea it was, but he was glad they’d shared it. The wrist computer was held in a death grip in one hand. But right now he needed to address April’s wants. Raph was hurt. Leon could vaguely remember a sickening crunching sound while they had been in the oily blackness.
Coughing and wiping his mouth, Leon curled his legs underneath himself and forced them to work. Note to self, portal snatching from within strange gateways was not a recommended form of escape. April was saying something again, but raising his head to a level far above the ground as he stood up had caused his ears to ring. “...‘M com’ng…H’ng on…” he mumbled, using the wall as support to make his way towards where he could register April was with Raph. Green. Yellow. Red. April who was strangely cradling Raph’s head in her arms as he had his own arms wrapped around her in a tense comfort hold. A different shade of red where it shouldn’t be. Red, and a sliver of white.
“Shit.” Leon wrangled his brain back to the present regardless of how it felt like dragging through tar. White and red among the black wrapped green of Raph’s leg.
Compound open fracture.
Leon didn’t notice his stream of repeated curses muttered into the air, focusing instead on what he’d researched. Nothing was clean with this rain. They were in an alley. They needed to move. Not yet. Stop the bleeding, first rule. His own headband was ripped off his head, fingers strangely steady as he pinched the knot apart. The sturdy fabric was then hurriedly wrapped around Raph’s leg, just below the knee, and cinched tight.
“Sorry-” Leon’s cussing halted with an apology as Raph yelped. “April, give me your jacket.” A hissed order, and while April fumbled to comply Leon stole Raph’s headband as well to tie around his ankle. He broke away from his family for just long enough to give a damp pallet nearby a splintering kick to break off pieces of wood. Wood that was then wrapped in two sides of April’s jacket to act as a barrier between it and Raph’s leg.
“We have to move. Get out of the rain,” Leon explains shortly, the strap of his swords slipped off as well and used to secure the makeshift splint in place. Someone had called the police. They needed to leave. Now.
To where?
Something didn’t feel right about where they were. They had grown up in New York, running the rooftops and alleyways. Not sticking to any particular neighborhood. Some trips took them hours away from home.
But he didn’t recognize this place.
“....I’m taking you to the roof,” Leon announced quietly, slipping Donnie’s wrist computer onto his own arm before positioning himself to help carry Raph.
“What? Why?” April asked, wanting answers but not pausing to help move Raph. Every whimper and hiss he gave at the movement made her lungs fail to breathe.
“I don’t know where we are. I want to get my bearings first, and then we can move to a safe place. But we have to get out of sight first,” Leon hushed, his form starting to shake, but not from the cold. A quick portal flashing open, and hobble dragging Raph through with April had them on the roof of one of the buildings next to them. Blessedly empty and near abandoned.
As soon as he got them settled under the half staircase Leon opened another portal. “I’ll be right back, I’m going to get help.”
Before April could respond Leon had disappeared, and she had to swallow the lump of anxiety building in her chest back down, pulling Raph close and pursing her lips. “We’ll be okay Raphie. You’re gonna be fine. Leo will be right back,” she assured, both for Raph’s sake and her own. Raph wasn’t talking. But that wasn’t too surprising. He didn’t trust himself to speak at the moment. And April couldn’t blame him. She couldn’t bring herself to even look at his leg at the moment. She didn’t know how Leon did it. Just patching everyone up so easily. Watching all the bloody, messy surgeries on the internet just so he could have some idea how to help his brothers if he ever needed to. They were surprisingly sturdy, and it was remarkable that nothing like this had happened yet. She wished her mom was there.
Wait.
Drawing a quick gasp, April stretched to dig in her jacket pocket for her phone, decidedly ignoring the patch of blood that was now on it. A quick swipe and input of her password had her quickly tapping to her favorite contacts. And one more tap brought up her mom’s image as the call was sent. She started to breathe a sigh of relief.
Only for it to catch in her throat.
‘I’m sorry. The number you’re trying to reach is not available.’
Her phone mocked her attempts to find comfort. It was only after its jeers pierced her mind that she looked at her signal. Gone. She had no signal. Drawing a shuddering breath to calm herself deliberately, April set the phone aside. “It’s okay. That’s why Leo left instead of calling. He’ll be back,” she muttered, more to herself this time. She still appreciated Raph giving her a light squeeze in reassurance.
It was the longest six minutes of stress she could remember being through since the Krang had invaded.
The familiar blue portal swirling into sight again had April looking up in hope. Only to have it smothered back to where it was when Leon stumbled through. “Hueso’s is gone,” Leon stammered, his lightly trembling frame from before now visibly shuddering as he tripped to his knees next to them. “It’s gone. The Hidden City is gone. Our lair is still in service. Like it was never abandoned in the first place. Like we were never there. Nothing is there-”
“Leo!” April spoke up quickly, a little louder than usual to catch his spiraling thoughts before they went too far. Amidst his rambled words she had noticed something else. The computer on his wrist had the vitals screen displayed for all of them who had trackers.
Only Leon’s, Raph’s, and April’s were displaying vitals.
That definitely hadn’t helped Leon’s state of mind right then. Did he have a concussion too?
“It’s okay,” April assured, forcing her voice to remain steady. “It’s gonna be okay. Talk me through it. Let’s talk through it and figure things out. First priority is we need to find a place to stay, yeah? Somewhere clean. And then we need to get supplies to take care of Raph. All of our usual safe spots aren’t here, so that means….”
Leon fell silent, latching onto her words even as his gaze bored unfocused holes in the space before him. What April said helped build a track for his train of thought to follow, and he continued on even after she trailed off. “...This isn’t our New York.” That answered so many of the questions he’d had. This New York didn’t have yokai. That’s why so many of their familiar places were gone.
“Okay, so if it isn’t our home, then…,” April prodded, having not expected that for an answer, but willing to take it.
“I’ll have to scout out to find a place for us to stay. And then get supplies from a pharmacy. Then we can stabilize Raph while I look f’for the… oth..- khh,” he broke off, clenching his teeth and raising a wrist to squinted eyes. Don’t cry. They weren’t dead. There had to be an explanation. Donnie’s tech was wrong. It was old. He just hadn’t calibrated it or something. There was no way the others didn’t have vitals.
He couldn’t keep the tears back. His breathing started to catch before it could properly exit his lungs, and the headache from before was returning to throb behind his eyes.
“...Wha-?” Raph croaked out, forcing himself to speak, and hissing when a stab of pain shot through his body from his leg. “What- ghh, do you mean.. No vitals?”
Oh. He’d spoken out loud?
“It’s just like you said, Leo. Something is wrong with the trackers. They’re alright,” April rambled quickly to reassure them. “Donnie- You know Donnie’s okay. Right Leo? He’s still there?”
That was right. Leon didn’t have to rely on technology to know if his brother, his twin, was alright. He just had to focus a little. He shouldn’t have to focus, but this time he did.
Drawing a shuddering breath to try and calm his rattled brain, Leon closed his eyes to try and drown out the rain. It was so subtle. Again. Worse than before. Like Donnie was so far away. But he was still there. Now that Leon was paying attention he realized the connection he had to Donnie was still there. But he wasn’t responding. It wasn’t the same as when he was shutting him out before. Just still, and quiet. “I’i….. He’s okay,” Leon confirmed, letting out a shuddering breath. “H’he’s not responding to me though. I’i think he’s unconscious…”
He heard Raph let out a shaky breath as well, and April half sighed. “Is he stable?”
“What?” Leon asked, having been too focused to fully register what April asked.
“Is Donnie stable? You said he’s not responding, but does he feel stable?”
“Y’yes…. Yeah, he’s stable.” Leon confirmed after giving it a moment to confirm for himself. HIs brother was stable, not dead. Just unconscious. Maybe asleep. It was fine.
“Good. Let’s get step one taken care of then. Once Raph is stable too, we’ll focus on figuring out how to look for them. I saw Donnie grab Mikey, so they’re probably together. So if Donnie is okay then Mikey is just fine too,” April prodded, feeling herself relaxing more now that her brother’s were pulling out of their own spiral.
“Right… Okay,” Leon nodded, his mind branching to consider where might be the safest place for them that he would still know about in this new dimension. Donnie had played with the idea of alternate dimensions before, but had never explained much to them. Leon was starting to wish he’d listened to his twin’s ramblings. Underground was too different, and not clean enough. They needed somewhere above ground, but that they knew was abandoned, and not to be demolished any time soon.
An idea from an article Leon had seen before flashed across his mind, causing him to pull out his phone for a quick internet search. If this was a different dimension, then he should be able to connect to their internet, if his phone was capable. Which, while it looked like the network they hijacked off of didn’t exist, the wifi still worked fine. And with a shaky grin Leon held his phone out for April to see. “How’s this?”
The image April saw caused her to snort, but she nevertheless gave him a mischievous smile in return. “Bayley Seton? Good thing we’re not dragging Mikey there with us.”
What better place to temporarily hide an injured brother than an abandoned hospital that was supposedly haunted?
Chapter 12: On the Way Home
Chapter Text
With Mom April’s guidance through the headsets the group was able to quickly make their way through the winding halls towards the exit. Mikey had taken point, with Don in the back, and the other four in the middle. There weren’t many soldiers left to oppose them, and those who were in their route were quickly taken out by Mikey alone. He may have been the least serious of them, but they all still knew he was the most skilled out of all of them. Which was easy to see from the way he would sprint forward before the others knew an enemy was there, leaping into the soldiers and taking at least two out before they realized he was on them. “You alright?” Raphael asked, looking to Leo after Mikey bounced lightly on his feet, four more soldiers on the ground. Despite carrying someone, Raphael knew Leo was still breathing heavier than he normally would have been in that situation.
Looking over to Raphel in very mild surprise, Leo eventually just nodded. “I’ll be fine,” he assured. It wasn’t a lie, and that was enough for Raphael. For now at least.
“We should be coming up on the exit on the next turn,” Don announced, ushering them on from their momentary pause.
It was the last stretch, and while they remained tense in anticipation they could feel the bubble of relief starting to build. At least until a flicker of purple light caught Raphael’s eyes, drawing his attention to Donnie’s hand as the teen willed it over to the side to hang limply from Leo’s hold. A small cube of transparent energy dropped from his hand to the floor, crashing into a puddle that rippled energy through the structure, much like it had earlier when the EMP charge had been set off. But the lights remained on this time, which caused them to paused warily.
Looking around, Leo didn’t immediately notice anything different. “...What did you-”
[S’self des- stru- stuct seq-q-q-q- ence initiiiiiiiated. You have f-f-f-f-ive minutes to evvvvvvvacuate.]
The warning announcement blared over the intercom, accompanied by more intense red lights flashing instead of holding a consistent glow.
“SH- WHAT?” Raphael hissed, taking half a breath before shifting to nudge his shoulder into Leo’s back and start shoving him along. “MOVE IT!”
“I didn’t know blowing the place up was part of the plan!” Mikey protested, waiting just a moment to make sure the rest could keep up with him before he turned to start running.
“Not our plan!” Don confirmed, hands reaching forward to rest on Leo’s and Raphael’s backs both so they would know he was there and to help support them if they fell back. “The other Donatello apparently decided to add it.”
“WHY?” Mikey blurted, raising his hands in exasperation. “Now we have to run like crazy men.”
“That’s nothing new for you,” Raphael quipped, grinning when Mikey squawked a protesting noise in return.
“The plane is over that hill. Mikey, you pilot this time,” Don directed, keeping them on track despite the mutual bullying. He was too used to it by now, it didn’t matter.
“Righto!” Mikey chirped, rushing forward and pausing for only a moment to jog in place until the stairs Don had remotely triggered extended enough for him to reach. Swinging onto them, Mikey skipped stairs on the way to the door, leaving it open as he dashed to the pilot’s chair and began flipping switches. “Boys and Gents, this is your captain speaking. Please make sure to buckle in and store any loose items in the compartments provided. This may be a bumpy take off.”
Taking the stairs two at a time to get in and out of the way, Raphael noticed Lil Mikey had been roused from his mild daze by the commotion. Or at least enough to be semi responsive. Looking up with a slow gaze, registering where they were, Lil Mikey gave a soft giggle. “You have a plane? That’s so cool…. I’ve never been on a plane before.”
Raphael could only chuckle at the semi slurred comment from the small teen, hoping he was just exhausted and not actually in that bad of a state. “Thanks to Don,” he responded, allowing the mentioned brother to squeeze past him to start pulling the backs of seats down and snapping latches into place to create beds they could get the two teens secured into. They were all reluctant to separate them, but it would be better to have everyone belted in when the plane took off.
“It’s good to see you’re hanging in there. Let me know if you need anything. I’ll give you some first aid once we’re in the air,” Don spoke white kneeling down between the two beds, half distracted pulling the seatbelt across Lil Mikey’s hips after Raphael set him carefully on the bed. After Lil Mikey nodded, Don twisted to get Donnie secured in, shooing Leo to take his seat across from Raphael.
“Ready for take off?” Mikey called back
“Go for it, I’ll hold on,” Don called back, figuring his place wedged down between the two occupied beds was secure enough, and glaring back at Leo when he made a point to gesture to the fact both he and Raphael were buckled properly into their own seats at the head of each bed. “Not now, Leo,” Don snapped lightly, turning back to check on Donnie as the plane lurched forward to begin lift off. Donnie hadn’t responded at all to being set down and otherwise jostled around, so Don rested a hand against his cheek and checked his pulse once more. There wasn’t any perceptible change from earlier, so Don breathed a small sigh of gratitude. “Looks like he just passed out. Must be exhausted…” he commented softly, knowing that at least Leo was listening closely. There wasn’t a lot he could do for either of the brothers with what supplies he had on the plane, but he could at least get everyone’s lungs fairing better and detoxed from the poison gas. Twisting back to face Lil Mikey, who was also starting to look incredibly sleepy, Don kept his voice low while addressing him again. “Can you tell me how you feel?”
Having been carefully watching Donnie, it took Lil Mikey a moment to bring himself to answer. “I’m……….. Ow,” he responded honestly, giving a pathetic chuckle. It wasn’t the worst thing he’d ever felt, but his arm burned and throbbed horribly, and his lungs felt like a wire brush had been taken to them. “Cold,” he also admitted, realizing ‘ow’ wasn’t that helpful. “Lungs burn. I can feel my heartbeat in my arm.”
“I’ll get you a blanket,” Raphael spoke up abruptly, latching on to the part of conversation that he could do something about and reaching over his own head to the compartment above to pull out one of their blessedly soft, thick, and warm blankets. If Lil Mikey was cold, Raphael guessed it would probably be good to get Donnie covered as well, so tossed the first blanket over to Leo’s lap. “Better get the other kid covered too. I dunno if he’s supposed to be that color, but he looks pale to me,” Raphael huffed, gesturing his head towards Donnie before pulling another blanket from overhead and awkwardly trying to toss it over Lil Mikey. Thankfully Don helped pull the blanket over Lil Mikey, tucking it around the small forms as best he could. When Lil Mikey gave a happy hum at the added warmth Raphael and Don grinned. After that Don was on his feet, popping open other compartments to gather supplies.
“Is there anything I can help with?” Leo asked, unbuckling his seatbelt so he could stand up and be of assistance.They were at a steady altitude now, and while they were on their way home it would still be at least two hours before they got there. He needed something to keep occupied.
“You can stay in your seat and take it easy,” Don commanded bluntly, not looking at Leo while he dug through their supplies, lightly dropping certain items onto the bed next to Lil Mikey.
“Don, you have two patients, I can-” Leo started to try again, but cut off when Don whipped around to look pointedly at him.
“I’m sorry- two patients?” Don repeated, raising a brow and tilting his head. “Just two, Leo? I’m pretty sure I actually have three patients, and two questions. I’m not dumb Leo. Question one: how many soldiers did you fight through on your way to us? And question two: did you happen to have run across your own gas mask specially customized for your turtle face, or did Augustine’s lackeys just happen to not have her favorite cellular corrosion gas on your end?” he half ranted, raising a finger for each question. “Do you want to answer those? Or should I?” They were rhetorical questions, and Leo knew that. Which effectively clamped his mouth shut as he inevitably relented and carefully lowered himself back into his seat. “That’s what I thought,” Don huffed, unimpressed, and Raphael’s shoulders shook in silent laughter for a moment. “How much?”
“..... About four minutes total, I guess,” Leo half mumbled.
Don sighed lightly, thankful Leo was cooperating now, and held a tiny plastic vial out to him. “One of these should do then. Do you remember how to use a nebulizer?” When Leo confirmed he remembered, Don passed him one of the travel sized devices before crouching next to Lil Mikey again.
“....You two argue like Donnie and Leo do sometimes,” Lil Mikey snickered, smiling sleepily at Don.
“He goes by Donnie?” Don asked, smiling softly and admiring how Lil Mikey was still able to laugh at the moment. When Lil Mikey hummed and nodded in confirmation Don made a note in his mind that they could at least have some sort of differentiation between them that wasn’t a full name. “That’s good to know. I’m going to give you an antidote for the gas you breathed in. It’ll help your lungs feel better. Have you ever had inhaled medicine before?” he explained, cracking open three of the same vials he’d given to Leo and emptying them into another nebulizer container. When Lil Mikey shook his head, brows furrowed in confusion at the device Don had, Don just smiled reassuringly. “It’s okay. It doesn’t hurt, but it might smell a little weird. This device is just going to turn the antidote into a mist, and all you have to do is keep the mask on over your nose and mouth, and breathe as normally as you can. Okay? Like Leo is doing.”
Don pointed to parts of the device while he explained, and then also pointed to Leo for an example. Leo just smiled and gave a small wave, this not being the first time any of them had had the same antidote before. Lil Mikey had to crane his head a little to see, but was content with the explanation and visual. “Okay,” he agreed, letting Don get the mask situated on him before turning on the machine. “Donnie too? Is he okay? Leo is usually the one that checks up on us. I don’t know as much as he does…”
“Yeah, Donnie will get some too. I just have to give him partial doses gradually since I don’t know exactly how much he was exposed to,” Don assured, grabbing the next item for Lil Mikey. “I can’t take care of your arm until we get back home. And it looks like you’re really sleepy too. Can I put this on your finger to keep track of your heart rate while you get some rest?”
“Oh- Yeah, I know what that is,” Lil Mikey confirmed, obediently raising his hand to sway in the air. He really was very tired. The headache he had because of the anti mystic machines hadn’t left either. But at least he would have someone watching over them for Leon. He hoped his other brothers were okay. And April. And their dads, and Casey. The soft hum of the plane engine and darkened sky outside was lulling him to sleep. And when Don turned back to work with Donnie, Lil Mikey found it hard to resist letting his eyes close and not open again.
Chapter 13: Vitality
Chapter Text
The heavy drum of rain cascading down the windows several rooms over was a hard lullaby to ignore for most people. But with it barely even being the hour creeping on midnight Leon found it easy to keep his eyes open. A myriad of stolen items were the newest objects in the abandoned room. A mat spread out on a recently mopped area of the floor, a battery powered space heater closeby. A pile of common medical supplies, disinfectant, bandaging, antibiotic spray, painkillers, anti inflammatories, anything that Leon could find that might be useful. A proper tourniquet had replaced his headband on Raph’s leg, the blue fabric back across his own eyes, surprisingly not bloodied. April’s jacket hadn’t been as lucky, but it was currently scrubbed with hydrogen peroxide and propped up on the other side of the heater from where they were huddled together. Thick blankets over their forms, Raph’s head once more in April’s lap while they both dozed on each other, exhausted. It had been an ordeal to change out the makeshift covers on Raph’s leg for clean gauze and bandaging, but it still wasn’t completely fixed. Leon needed more than painkillers and antibiotics to fix that injury. A scalpel for one thing. And a very detailed series of videos for another. Plus a sterile site. Which, while they were currently in a hospital the amount of dust and dirt was enough to make them all sneeze repeatedly over the hours they had been there. It had been enough to motivate Leon into making another trip to mostly empty stores to grab cleaning supplies as well shortly after they had arrived.
One day.
They had discussed their options, and come to the agreement that they wouldn’t try anything risky with Raph for one day. Leon had mixed feelings about it. He knew it was a horrible idea to leave a wound like that unattended for that long. His brain was screaming at him that it was a bad decision. But he would be lying if he said he wasn’t terrified of trying to surgically straighten the bone without Donnie there to help him. Sure, Donnie hated blood and squishy things. But when it mattered he was the best assistant Leon had ever had. And the only assistant really. Without Donnie and Mikey there with them Leon was feeling horribly alone. It was enough to motivate him to keep his swords materialized and held against his chest while he leaned against April, the blades consciously dulled to prevent injury. He wasn’t planning on sleeping, but the slow rise and fall of their forms brought him comfort. One side of his brain justified his defiance by telling him someone needed to keep watch. Or that he shouldn’t sleep because he had a head injury. But really it had been long enough that it wasn’t serious. Sleep should be fine.
He was just scared.
He hadn’t mentioned it to April, but just two hours earlier he’d felt something different from Donnie. Before it had been a quiet pool of eerie silence, like what Leon usually felt when Donnie was in a dreamless sleep, but stretched into a faint uncertainty like he was behind an ocean of water. But while he had been away from the others he’d had to take a moment to recollect himself as other things had bled through. Fear, anger, distress, protectiveness, rage, then a jumbled pool of scrambled thoughts and feelings that Leon knew usually led Donnie to screaming in a desperate attempt to get rid of some of it. Even just a little. Leon had had to force himself to keep moving to help Raph and April at the time, but it had been hard to hide the fact he knew Donnie was in trouble. At least, he had been. There was something odd almost an hour and a half ago. A hesitant release, followed by a stretch of tense stillness. Then one moment of semi uncertain comfort before the dreamless sleep returned. Leon was clinging to the hope that that last sensation meant that Donnie, and Lil Mikey were okay now. But doubts plagued his mind and kept him easily, stubbornly awake.
And for once he was grateful they did.
The dim light on his arm displayed a screen that had only part of it changing regularly. Three sections of vitals making it easy for Leon to keep track of his own physical state as well as that of Raph’s and April’s physical well being. The rest had no feed. At first Leon had thought there was none to give, but now he was clinging to the hope that it was a technical malfunction. And it seemed they had been right about that. It took him a moment to notice the change, the device screen only within his peripheral sight. But after a confused blink he looked down at it, only to gasp and sit up.
Donnie and Lil Mikey’s vitals had flickered back to being displayed.
“April!” Leon hissed, turning to start patting his big sister’s shoulder rapidly. “April, wake up. They’re okay! April they’re okay!”
April returned to the land of consciousness with a startled snort, but was quick to chase the sleep haze from her mind. “What? Who’s okay? What?” she asked rapidly, finding her glasses to put back on so she could see what Leon was looking at after he squished into her, a hand grabbing his own arm and showing it to her. She immediately noticed the difference. “Heartbeats… They’re okay,” she breathed, relief flooding into her form. It was one thing to hope, but another thing to have that hope confirmed into truth.
“It was out of range. That had to be it. They were just out of range,” Leon rambled, starting to tap at the device to switch to a different screen. The map Donnie had installed didn’t completely match what was actually there, but it still managed to pull up everyone’s general locations. Just like how they’d wanted. “Donnie used the satellite to increase the range of this thing back home. But if our phones aren’t working then the satellite that he piggybacks off of doesn’t exist. Of course! I’m so stupid to have not realized that.”
“Leo, it’s okay. We haven’t had to rely on that for tracking for months now,” April assured, but it was hard to get Leon’s full attention. Donnie and Lil Mikey’s signal was coming towards them from the southeast, and completely out of state.
“Wow, that’s fast. They must be in a vehicle of some sort,” Leon detoured, reaching out with his other hand to grab his swords. “I’m going to go get them.”
“What? Leo, not on your own,” April tensed, leaning forward and curling her hands around Raph a little more. Her poor brother was so tired that he was still asleep, but he was starting to stir.
“It’ll be fine, April. I’m just going to wait for them to stop, pop in, grab them, and pop out,” Leon assured, getting to his feet and backing up.
“Leo…,” April protested, not able to put her wants into words. There was just so much that could go wrong, and then she had no way to find any of them. “What if you can’t come back?”
That was enough to get him to pause, and he thought for a moment before coming back to her. “Give me your phone,” he directed, tapping the screen on Donnie’s arm computer again. With a few taps he triggered a prompt for an additional device, then grabbed April’s phone and hand to pull it gently against the computer. After a moment an icon flashed steady, and a mirror of the screen appeared on April’s phone.
“Give me until noon tomorrow, then come get me,” Leon directed, changing the screen back to the tracking map and swinging in to give April a quick, but tight hug. “I promise I’ll see you before then. Make sure you and Raph stay hydrated.” He didn’t give her much of a chance to protest after that. A familiar blue portal appeared behind him for him to drop backwards into, a smile and a wink being the last April saw of his face.
Pursing her lips, April looked down to Raph and started soothingly rubbing the back of his head. “Sorry Raphie. I just got startled by the rain. Go back to sleep,” she lied. She didn’t want to cause him more stress, and he was inevitably too worn out to resist.
Chapter 14: Another Big Brother
Chapter Text
“Welcome home guys,” Mom April was there to greet them when they pulled into their hanger, concern held at bay in her hands clasped together in front of her, Casey and Leatherhead right next to her with mixed levels of outward happiness expressed. “Are the others okay?” She didn’t want to overwhelm them, but she couldn’t keep from asking.
“Thanks April. They’ll be fine. Later please,” Don greeted, the first to rush down the stairs after checking to make sure Raphael and Leo would take care of carrying their two guests. He wasn’t trying to brush Mom April off, he was just incredibly distracted by running through what they needed to take care of their guests for the thousandth time in his mind. “Leatherhead, I need help. Mikey has a bullet in his arm, but I also need to get an IV in Donnie, and check his injuries. Do you think you can take care of Mikey?”
“Of course, my friend,” Leatherhead agreed, refraining from commenting about not being sure who exactly Don was talking about. He was just relieved to see them all returned home in relatively good health. With a request to fulfill, he quickly left to follow Don to the infirmary to prepare it.
“Again?!” Mom April sputtered, hearing Don’s comments and placing her hands on her hips while looking from Don back up to the plane’s doorway.
“Not me! The little Mikey,” Mikey squawked, pausing to catch the blanket that had slipped off Lil Mikey as Raphael came towards the exit and folding it in his hands when Raphael rushed by. Lil Mikey had fallen asleep for a short while on the trip, but once they’d started to land he’d began stirring awake, and was now looking sleepily around as Raphael carried him.
“Hey Raph, you got kids you never told us about?” Casey teased, trying to keep the mood lighter while watching his friend carry the smaller form quickly down the stairs. “Cept he doesn’t look anything like you. Other than being a turtle.”
“Har har Casey. This is Mikey, now move so I can get him to the infirmary,” Raphael responded, barely pausing and ignoring Casey’s protests as he brushed by them to follow Don. He could hear Mom April greeting Leo and Mikey, and knew they would get held up for a moment getting dragged into a quick hug of relief from her. She was at least careful to not squish Donnie, who hadn’t stirred an inch since he’d fallen asleep. It was probably what had Don so on edge to properly check on him. And after having seen the video feed, Raphael couldn’t blame him. But he was semi distracted by Lil Mikey’s openly confused gaze lingering on Casey as they passed, a few dots connecting in his mind.
“Wait… how old are you???” he suddenly gaped, looking at Raphael.
Raising a brow, Raphael briefly wondered why Lil Mikey was asking, but couldn’t figure it out himself. “Something like 32. Why?”
Raphael didn’t expect Lil Mikey’s expression to turn from confusion to open shock, his nose crinkled slightly. “Oh mi gosh your oooooold,” he blurted.
“Hey! Don’t make me drop you. You seem to be feeling much better to be making jabs like that,” Raphael protested, but only mildly offended. He wasn’t that old. Kids just had no sense of time. But he was glad to see some of the spunk had returned to the kid.
“I thought you were Raph’s or April’s age. But you’re like twice as old as me,” Lil Mikey persisted, ignoring Raphael’s comments about dropping him.
“...You’re 16?” Raphael asked, the heavy realization causing his steps to pause a moment. He knew they were kids, but for some reason having a number blatantly placed on their age made what had happened that much darker for him. Strange how his perspective had changed over the years.
“15,” Lil Mikey answered, not bothered by that fact at all. He did notice Raphael’s steps pause for a moment, and glanced to see if something got in his way before looking back to him. “Is that wrong?”
Hearing the concern, Raphael shook his head quickly. “No. Not wrong. I was just thinking I wish I’d gotten a chance to kick Augustine too.”
They had reached the infirmary now, and Don was quick to call Raphael over to where he and Leatherhead were preparing one of their thinly cushioned surgical tables. As soon as Lil Mikey caught sight of it, and realized Raphael was taking him to it, he tensed, cutting off his comments and pressing into him. “Hey, I know it looks scary, but I promise nothing bad is going to happen to you. I’ll stay with you the whole time, okay? Leatherhead is just going to take that bullet out of your arm, and get you stitched up. It won’t take too long, and he’s very gentle. You won’t hurt a bit,” he quickly assured, coming to stop in front of the table but not moving to put Lil Mikey down yet. Instead he wrapped him up a little tighter in his arms, just to reassure him until he felt ready.
“We unfortunately can’t put you to sleep, I don’t like risking using complete anesthesia. But your arm will be totally numb, and Raph can stay with you and talk to you the whole time to keep you distracted,” Don started to explain as he bustled around, noticing Lil Mikey’s rising discomfort. “Depending on how much damage there is, it’ll only take around 40 minutes. You’ll just have to lay on your stomach the whole time. Leatherhead is only going to remove the bullet, and clean up the injury, nothing more, I promise. None of us have any interest in your insides for any reason other than to help you.”
“Did you have to say that last part?” Raphael asked, wrinkling his nose and squinting at Don. He knew surgical tables were usually not a nice sight for people like them, but he didn’t think it was a good idea to put the darker reason out in the open like that.
“What? It’s true, and you know that’s what he’s thinking,” Don huffed, squinting back at Raphael before rushing to a cupboard nearby to grab a sterile pillow.
Lil Mikey couldn’t help the tiny snicker that escaped at the exchange, which was enough to get Raphael to not quip back as his brother. Instead he pulled a stool over with his foot and sat down on it, keeping Lil Mikey held close. “I’ll keep you close until you’re ready. The bleeding stopped while you were asleep, it’s just a lot more comfortable in the long run to not have a bullet in you. Plus we want to make sure it doesn’t get infected.”
Lil Mikey knew that they only wanted to help him, but while Leon watched a lot of surgery videos all the time, none of them had ever needed anything more than what could be taken care of completely externally. It was scary to think about someone cutting into his arm. Even without it being for nefarious reasons. “Have…you guys done this before?” Lil Mikey eventually asked, keeping his cheek pressed against Raphael while he thought things through. What about it was scaring him? If he could just get that addressed then he figured he would be okay.
“Me? I’ve had some removed before, but never been the one doing the removing. That’s always been Don and Leatherhead. They’ve gotten so good that the wounds don’t even scar much anymore,” Raphael assured. He would have shown him the places he’d been shot before, but he didn’t fully remember where he’d been hit anymore, and the scars were long gone.
Lil Mikey gave another soft snort. “I don’t think that’s a good thing.”
“Why not? It means it heals really well,” Raphael returned, genuinely confused why it wouldn’t be a good thing that Don and Leahterhead were good at dressing gunshot wounds.
“...But it means you guys have been shot a lot,” Lil Mikey clarified, falling quiet while that sank in, then looking up to Raphael when he didn’t answer immediately.
“...Yeah,” Raphael admitted, resting his cheek on Lil Mikey’s head, having never really thought about it. “I don’t mind though. It usually happens because we’re protecting someone else. So it’s worth it.”
The response was simple, but it ended up showing a lot of Raphael’s personality to Lil Mikey. Enough that he felt the rest of his concerns almost completely fade. It was just like his own big brother. Being so protective of other people. He’s also realized most of his fear was stemming from having never willingly let someone cut into him before. It happened all the time in shows and stories, especially the medical based ones that he sometimes watched with Leon. But there had been a minimally vocalized conditioning with them to never let anyone try that with them. It was strange to have someone other than Leon taking care of him, but Lil Mikey found that once he realized why he was afraid most of the fear melted away. “...Okay. I think I can do it then…” he spoke up hesitantly,
“Really?” Raphael spoke, mildly surprised it hadn’t taken that long to calm the teen down about the procedure. “I’ll move you to the table then. If you start feeling uncomfortable again just let me know.”
Standing back up, Raphael carefully set Lil Mikey down on the surgical table and helped him lay on his belly, briefly leaving his side to grab a sterile blanket to put over his legs. As he was doing so Leatherhead approached with a tray of utensils, properly scrubbed up and covered, and with a non threatening smile.
“Hello little one. I promise I won’t hurt you,” Leatherhead greeted, making sure to stop where Lil Mikey could see him.
As soon as he caught sight of who Leatherhead actually was, Lil Mikey’s eyes grew wide in awe as his mouth dropped. “Ohhhhhhhhh…giant alligator…,” he whispered, completely enthralled by the new person.
Raphael had to snicker, having not expected that reaction from the kid, but not finding it a bad one. “Crocodile, actually. But still pretty cool, huh,” he corrected, giving Leatherhead a smirk. He would have nudged their friend, but that would have meant he’d have to go get washed and changed again.
“Uh huh,” Lil Mikey nodded, obediently lowering his head onto the pillow.
“You flatter me,” Leatherhead sheepishly chuckled, pleasantly surprised by the reaction. “I’ll have to strap your arm and torso in place so you don’t accidentally hurt yourself by moving around. And I’ll put a curtain across your shoulder so you can’t see what I’m doing. Is that okay?”
“...Yeah…,” Lil Mikey nodded again, watching Leatherhead move to the otherside of him until he was out of sight. His attention then snapped back to Raphael, the excited shine still in his eyes. “He’s so cool! Is he a yokai?”
Raphael could only chuckle again, and shake his head. “Don’t think so. What’s a yokai?”
He had been promised to stay with Lil Mikey to talk to him and distract him, so talk they did. First about the yokai, and then the Hidden City, which led to Raphael telling Lil Mikey about their version of the Battle Nexus, that had Lil Mikey excitedly commenting about how they had the same thing, only to find out the rules behind them were completely different. It was easy to talk to the kid, which made it easy for Leatherhead to do his job. Even if 40 minutes actually ended up being an hour, neither of them noticed.
Chapter 15: Softshell
Chapter Text
Don had been quick to rush out of the plane to get the infirmary ready, but Leo found it was hard for him to put too much urgency into his movements. Twice now Donnie had reacted better to slow, careful motions than abrupt ones. So Leo found he was continuing to be a lot more gentle and careful than strictly necessary when picking him up. He was completely limp, even after having had two and a half hours of sleep. But at least a little bit of color had returned to his skin now. At least Leo thought he looked a little less pale. When both teens were asleep Don had shown Raphael and Leo the video of what Augustine had ordered to be done, and through it they had learned the assistants had taken nearly a liter of blood from Donnie, along with cutting tissue samples from him. It had been enough to get Raphael rapidly walking the length of the plane several times to calm down, and gave Don more of an idea on how to take care of Donnie. Leo just understood a little more why Donnie had reacted defensively towards him, and hoped the teen didn’t wake up in the middle of them treating him.
“Thank April,” Leo found himself saying distractedly to Mom April as she welcomed them home. It was always nice to get a hug from her, but Leo found he was too anxious to stick around and fully catch them up on everything. “I’m okay, can we talk later? Maybe over dinner? You guys might be able to meet the kids then too.”
“...Sure thing, Leo,” Mom April relented, noting how absent he seemed and not wanting to stress him out more. He always had been the one to worry a lot. Even when they were kids.
Leaving them with Mikey, Leo moved quickly to the infirmary to find Raphael sitting near the surgery table with Lil Mikey in his lap, and Don scurrying around the room to gather the supplies he needed. “Over there, Leo,” Don directed, pointing to one of the beds he’d already started gathering items next to. Obediently following the directions, Leo gingerly lowered Donnie to the soft mattress, silently praying that he didn’t wake up just yet. At least they were all breathing better after each getting at least one dose of the antidote. Leo could only wait patiently for Don to finally stop at the bedside, slipping his tactical sleeves off in the meantime, and by then Raphael had managed to convince Lil Mikey to accept treatment and was casually chatting away with him.
“Okay, I think I got everything. Can you support him so his back is to me? I need to figure out how to get that device off,” Don directed, sounding just slightly breathless. Wordlessly doing as he was directed once again, Leo pulled Donnie upright to lean forward against him, looking over the metal backpack from his angle as well to try and help Don figure out how to safely remove it.
“Hey!” Lil Mikey’s voice suddenly grabbed their attention while Don was running his fingers over the cool metal. “Don’t take that off! He needs it!”
The scolding caused Don to flinch, and turn to look over at the other table. “...Needs it as in it’s physically attached to him and offering some sort of life supporting function?” he asked, wanting clarification on what exactly Lil Mikey meant so he could judge if he actually needed to obey his demand, or explain that it was necessary to remove it. He didn’t want to ignore Lil Mikey’s concerns, but he wasn’t sure if they would hinder treatment for Donnie despite being in good will.
“N-no… Nothing like that. It’s just… it’s not safe for him to have it off. Especially when away from home,” Lil Mikey faltered, having not thought his choice of words would make the others think Donnie was some sort of cyborg.
“...Mikey, it’s okay. You’re both safe here,” Raphael assured, reaching out to rest his palm on Lil Mikey’s shoulder.
“Even if it’s a prosthetic, it’s not safe to wear one while sleeping. And I need to check him for injuries. We saw evidence that Augustine’s people may have done something to his back…,” Don explained gently, understanding that Lil Mikey was still wary despite everything that had happened. He couldn’t expect the teens to trust them fully just yet.
It seemed that mentioning that something may have happened to Donnie’s back was enough to get Lil Mikey to completely flip his stance, sucking in a tense breath and wiggling his feet as he considered. “...There’s a button on the inside of the right shoulder,” he relented, frowning miserably. “Just make sure to be super extra careful, okay?”
“We’ll be extremely careful. Don’t worry,” Don assured, grateful for the tip on where to find the trigger to release the device. Once he knew where to look Don quickly found the button and pressed it, marveling as the shoulder pieces flexed outward with a slight hiss, and the belt went slack. “Fascinating…” he breathed, earning a chuckle from Leo as he hefted the metal aside, distracted by trying to get a quick analysis of it while he moved it away..
As Don took the equipment a short ways away, Leo adjusted his grip to keep Donnie supported against him, resting his hands on the teen’s back. But what he felt caused him to stiffen in shock, suddenly afraid to move. His fingers were able to push into what should have been a hard keratin shell, and when his gaze snapped down he saw a significantly flatter shell with four jagged marks across the surface. “....Donnie get back here now,” Leo blurted rapidly, flexing his fingers just slightly to make sure he wasn’t imagining things.
“What is it- Oh!” Don rushed, semi dropping the backpack device the rest of the way to the floor and rushing back over to them. What he saw caused him to freeze as well, but then he gingerly reached out his fingers to brush against Donnie’s back. “...Oh wow…”
“It’s soft right? What does that mean? Is that bad? Shells aren’t supposed to be soft,” Leo rambled, his concern overflowing and pushing his bubbling thoughts to words before he could fully consider them. What had Augustine’s people done? Was it shell rot? Was it some crazy experimental garbage Augustine had infected him with?
“He’s a softshell you idiots. Stop manhandling him!” Lil Mikey blurted irritably, offended on behalf of his brother for the other two curiously running their hands all over his back. “So rude,” he huffed, creating small chains to wrap around Don’s wrists and pull them away.
“Sorry!” Don gasped, snatching his hands back as the orange chains broke him from his stupor, and not minding Lil Mikey scolding him. “Sorry- Let me just… do some quick research- I thought you were both box turtles like us…,” he rambled, pulling his phone out to access the internet.
“Ohmigosh- He’s not an alien. Just treat him like me, but be extra careful, and make sure you clean your hands and everything you use. Leo- my brother says he’s prone to infections. He’s always using antibiotic stuff on him and making sure he gets washed up properly for even small cuts. Otherwise he does everything else pretty much the same,” Lil Mikey huffed again, rolling his eyes in exasperation.
The interaction caused Raphael to snicker despite the situation. He didn’t want to admit he was curious to head over and take a peek for himself, but he figured Lil Mikey would probably throw him across the room with his chains if he did. So he decidedly remained where he was and continued to be amused from afar.
Don listened to what Mikey said, but also sped read through a few sites and different search parameters before he grew more relaxed and sure of his thoughts. “Infection… right, that would explain the fever,” he spoke, mostly to himself, then nodded firmly. “Okay. I got this. Leo, go ahead and lay him back down, then get some water and antibacterial soap. They both need to be cleaned up, and I’ll check the incision sites…”
Leo wasn’t quite as sure of himself as Don was, but at least he had directions now. What Don said made sense to him. If Donnie got infections easily then getting him cleaned up from the grim on him was a priority. Resting him back on the bed, Leo darted off to fetch a soft rag, soap, and water so he could wash off the debris from Augustine’s facility. Don had returned to his focused state after he started peeling the bandaids off, carefully inspecting each injury as he did so. He could at least count it a small blessing that Augustine had apparently ordered only the smallest possible samples be taken. The cuts were only 15 millimeters wide, and less than a millimeter thick. But it looked like they were pretty deep, and Don gingerly cleaned each wound again before rubbing antibiotic ointment on them and getting them covered again.
It didn’t take long before Don had finished addressing the injuries, started an IV with a small amount of antibiotics added to it, and strapped a heart monitor to Donnie’s finger just in case. When he began pulling a blanket over Donnie and tucking him in, Leo knew the treatment was done for now, and asked what he’d been wondering for a while now. “Is he going to be okay?”
Don paused for a second to think, but nevertheless nodded. “I think so. Aside from the bloodloss there isn’t anything incredibly concerning. I think he’s just incredibly exhausted, and that’s why he hasn’t woken up yet. We’ll need to keep an eye on him of course, but at this point I think it’s safe to just let him sleep. The IV fluids will help until his body restores the blood he lost, and we’ll need to get him a good meal when he’s up. But he’ll be fine.”
The explanation, and plans for what to do later, earned a sigh of relief from Leo. It could have been much, much worse. He was glad that, aside from Lil Mikey’s gunshot wound, nothing seemed to be critically serious. “I’ll go check what Mikey is cooking then. And let Master Splinter know we’re all home safe, in case he’s still up.”
“You know he is,” Don gave a small grin, and slight shake of his head.
Leo just laughed quietly, rising to his feet to head to the exit. “Yeah, I know.”
Chapter 16: Intruder
Chapter Text
“There, you’re all taken care of little one,” Leatherhead’s announcement came with him unhooking the small curtain that had been hiding Lil Mikey’s arm from them.
“Heeyyy, you did it. Good job,” Raphael complimented, breaking off their conversation and getting up from the stool he was sitting on.
“Oh…,” Lil Mikey blinked, having lost track of time and not realizing Leatherhead might be done soon. It really hadn’t been that bad. He knew Leatherhead was doing something with his arm, but just like they had promised he hadn’t felt any pain after the few needle pricks. And when he lifted his head to look the other direction he saw only thick, soft white bandaging neatly wound around his upper arm and shoulder. As Raphael and Leatherhead undid the two medical restraints on him, Lil Mikey tried to push himself up, but only managed to jerk his arm awkwardly. “Ahhhhh I can’t move properly-” he wheezed, not sure if he wanted to laugh or give in to his growing anxiety.
Raphael made the choice for him, giving a soft chuckle. “Yeah, it’ll be numb for a few hours still. We’ll get you a sling. C’mere,” he explained, letting Leatherhead take care of locating a sling small enough while he helped Lil Mikey sit up. His mirth faded significantly when Lil Mikey was upright, and Raphael gently lifted the numb arm to relocate it to rest on Lil Mikey’s own lap. Leatherhead had taken off the black sleeve, and now Raphael’s thumb brushed lightly over the cracked network of scars running up the limb. “...These are some pretty nasty scars you and your brother have…”
Shifting to get comfortable while he waited, Lil Mikey was mildly surprised when Raphael brought attention to the scarring both of the teens had. “Hm?.... Yeah, I guess,” he shrugged, and Raphael could instantly tell he was trying to make light of it.
“...Is it too much to ask how you got them?” Raphael’s question left him before he could fully consider if he should ask it or not. He’d already learned that none of these other dimension brothers had been part of Battle Nexus fights, so he wasn’t sure where they could have gotten something so serious. All Lil Mikey had talked about so far were the Hidden City adventures they had had, which honestly hadn’t sounded all that dangerous to Raphael.
Lil Mikey looked to the ground in silent consideration, mentally questioning how much detail he wanted to give, if any at all. Eventually he looked up again with a tiny smile. “The one’s on Donnie’s back, yeah?” he asked, absently rubbing his hand up and down his arm. When Raphael nodded, Lil Mikey sighed slightly. “It was Shredder. This mystic demon possessed armor with a bad attitude. He clawed through Donnie’s battle shell, and Leo wasn’t around to treat it, and we still had to keep fighting. So even though Raph and April and I got it to stop bleeding, it ended up getting super infected,” he explained sullenly, still having residual remorse over it. “He says it doesn’t really bother him anymore. They’re a couple years old. But sometimes he can get sore, and hogs the heat pads with Leo.”
Even though the full explanation was appreciated, the first three words of what had caused Donnie’s scars was enough for Raphael to understand. That was right. They had dealt with Shredder when they were teenagers too. And he had been brutal, almost killing them a few times. “...So you had to deal with the Shredder too? Is he still around?”
“Oh? You have a Shredder here too? That’s funny,” Lil Mikey forced a chuckle, and started kicking his legs to ward off the discomfort, mildly distracted as well by Leatherhead bringing the sling over to help him into. “Ours isn’t around anymore, thankfully. Gram gram helped us take care of him-”
The conversation halted when one of the cautionary notification alarms echoed through the lair, a yellow light flickering on after the sound. Yet where Raphael expected an announcement to be made for what had triggered their alarm, the protocol abruptly shut off before doing so, returning the lair to the usual quiet state. Furrowing his brows, Raphael wondered if it was a false alarm, but didn’t comment yet since a glance at Don showed a similar reaction of confusion.
“...What was that?” Lil Mikey asked nervously, form slightly drawn in.
“A general notification for something we should be cautious about,” Raphael answered easily. “Usually it’s for if someone has gotten close to the lair, but not within the critical area around it. Or if one of our utilities is malfunctioning. Or someone almost discovered our network. That kind of stuff. Just things that aren’t urgent, but that we should still know about. Normally we get an explanation for why it triggered though-”
He cut off as the same alarm rang once more, repeating the same sequence of starting, but cutting off before making any announcement. This time Don was up and moving. “Let me check the systems. I wonder if the dimensional warps corrupted some of our data, or otherwise damaged our security.”
As Raphael watched Don leave he noted Leo returning to the infirmary with Splinter following along with him, hand resting in Leo’s elbow as usual. But he was more concerned about their security system than anything else, so looked back to Lil Mikey. “I’m going to go with Don. Is it okay if you stay with Leo and Master Splinter?” It was probably nothing, just a bug like Don mentioned. But he had a bad feeling gnawing at his gut that he didn’t want to ignore.
“Oh-.... Oh…. Yeah… Okay,” Lil Mikey voiced, blinking in surprise before realizing he shouldn’t be. Of course there would be another Splinter here. Just like there was one of each of his brothers, April, Casey… Why wouldn’t his dad also have another version of him there?
Giving Lil Mikey a pat on the head, Raphael stood and hurried to catch up with Don.
—-----
An hour into his search and Leon was smothering down the urge to frantically call out to his brothers vocally. He was in the area that the tracker said his brothers were, but having the wrong map made it unexpectedly difficult to figure out exactly where they were. For one thing it seemed the elevation for this New York was slightly different, for it was placing Leo as being several hundred meters above ground level despite him being on the street level. So having Donnie and Lil Mikey’s icons being below his own wasn’t helping. His search was supplemented by his portals, but he’d already startled quite a few people by popping into their home unexpectedly. Apartments, rooftops, alleyways, small shops, Leon was scouring them all within a nine kilometer radius around the location his tracker was telling him his brothers were, just in case the horizontal coordinates were slightly off as well. They had stopped moving, but he hadn’t seen anything out of the apparent ordinary in this city. Yet it was also hard to properly search while staying out of sight.
Moments away from yelling at the next human he saw to just go to bed so he could openly search the area, Leo froze as he realized there was an entire section he was missing. He’d been looking everywhere above ground, even popping into the sky in a few places just in case they were somewhere floating or something.
But he hadn’t looked below ground yet.
With renewed motivation, Leon darted to the nearest manhole, teleporting inside and catching the ladder rungs. It had been a while since his own family had lived in the sewers instead of the subway, but it could have been a liable place to hide if needed. He wasn’t going to drop his guard just yet though. Remaining in the shadows and not staying in the same place for more than a few seconds, Leon flitted through the winding tunnels at a blinding pace, looking for anything that was different from what was this dimension’s usual. For the first part of his current search Leon only found what he would expect from the sewers of a large city. Filthy water, small rats, trash, rain debris, and loads of pipes. But about a kilometer from returning to the point where his location would overlap with Donnie’s and Lil Mikey’s his eye caught sight of something out of place.
Ducking quickly into the deeper shadows with a slight gasp, Leon took a moment to analyze what had caught his sight. Anyone else wouldn’t have noticed it, but he was more than used to looking out for hidden cameras in the sewers. Donnie had many of them, and all of the siblings periodically helped him maintain them. And there was definitely one there, barely looking the other way from where he was.
Someone was down here.
Pressing his lips together, Leon tried to ignore the anticipation rising as he continued his course, heading towards his brother’s location once more, but randomizing his path. If they had cameras, who knew what else they had. So instead of taking a direct path he kept teleporting to an adjacent one, zigzagging his course in an apparently haphazard course around the end goal.
And eventually he reached a room that was obviously inhabited.
A bed in one corner, posters of wrestling on the walls, weights, armor, books. It looked like someone’s bedroom. Leon may have been curious any other time, but all he cared about now was that his brothers weren’t there. He knew he was close though. The facts he knew as well as the feeling of Donnie being nearby. So he moved to the next room. And then the next. And the next. Sticking to the shadows and rafters, remaining out of sight. This place was huge, but by the fourth change of location Leon had found someone, causing him to freeze where he was in the ceiling pipes for a moment to stare.
Below him was another humanoid turtle, but he didn’t recognize anything about them. They were big. Not as big as Raph, but still bigger than the rest of them. Their shell and skin were also barren of any patterns, other than what was probably scars. And yet they still had an orange bandana tied over their head and eyes.
For a brief moment Leon wondered if the tracker he had was locating some other turtle beings that weren't actually his brothers. Tracking some other, dimensionally distorted version of them. But then he remembered the tracker wasn’t based on DNA, but a connection to an actual piece of technology each of them had implanted in them. Seeing this other turtle being felt like someone was pulling a trick, which only added to Leon’s scrambled, stressed emotions. He was not going to let this lead be a dead end. He needed to find his brothers and bring them back to everyone else. He didn’t think he could handle them not being here.
And then the other turtle looked up, and deep blue eyes locked onto his own.
Chapter 17: Desperation
Chapter Text
By the time Raphael reached Don at the main computer the alarm had already glitched out several more times. To the point that Don had disabled the sound aspect and just had the reports populating on screen. He’d barely started pulling up various live camera feeds when Raphael leaned on the back of his chair. “So what’s the noise about?”
Giving a huff of amusement, Don tapped through the points that were triggered. “You know I’m not that fast, Raph,” he chastised, still analyzing what he was looking into.
“My bad. I meant, ‘what have you found so far’?” Raphael snorted, having forgotten Don could be slightly too literal sometimes. “Do Leo and I need to go on a patrol?”
“Leo’s not going anywhere for at least another five hours,” Don declined quickly. “Just because he got an antidote doesn’t mean his lungs are miraculously healed. Same with the other two.”
Raphael gave a small snort at the eye roll Don gave to emphasize his point, but reigned his words in for a moment. He wanted something to act on, and it was hard when there wasn’t anything yet. “Fair enough.”
Giving a moment of silence to see if Raphael wanted to say anything else, Don started vocalizing what he was finding. “Something is triggering our perimeter alarms. But there’s nothing showing on the camera feeds, and the points being tripped are…. Inconsistent,” he explained, touching a few parts of the screen to bring up a map of which perimeter locations had been notified. It was something Raphael could understand easily enough when it came to reading it. But what he saw definitely explained Don’s confusion. The map almost looked like someone had just thrown a bunch of red dots on it randomly. Or, near randomly. Looking at the timestamps and locations of the alarms, Raphael frowned. “... Is it just me, or is it getting closer?”
Don didn’t vocally answer, but he didn’t have to. Not when the alarm message displayed on the screen changed from ‘perimeter breach’ to ‘intruder detected’, flagging Raphael’s room first. With only a glance at each other, two more messages popping up for different rooms in their lair, Don and Raphael grabbed their weapons.
—----
The bubbling of broth in the pot Mikey currently had on the stove was accompanied by him humming random songs. Leo had already checked in on him, so he was content to know that all of the medical treatment was at least almost complete. Now he just needed to finish cooking so they could have a warm meal to unwind with. It was a habit he’d picked up years ago. He wasn’t much help with medical knowledge, so after getting sick of being the one stuck doing nothing he’d started cooking for everyone after missions. Provided he wasn’t the one that was injured of course. Today’s choice was a thick chicken stew, with plenty of beans and other vegetables. Leo had mentioned the new Donnie’s main ailment was blood loss, so Don wanted something high in iron, with orange juice as a drink. They weren’t sure when Donnie would wake up, so it was best to have it ready, even if they had to warm it up later.
His current task was the reason Mikey hadn’t moved from the kitchen even after the broken alarms had gone off. They had only been cautionary alarms, so he had deemed it acceptable to focus on finishing the food. And yet it seemed someone wanted to stare at him without announcing themselves. That slight prickle at the back of his neck that caused Mikey to pause, turning to look up where he thought the new presence was. The fact they were in the ceiling, and the quick sight of blue made Mikey briefly think it was Leo pulling a weird prank on him under the guide of training. But the eyes were distinctly not warm chocolate brown, and were also accented by curved red markings. Mikey knew they both knew each other knew they were both there, but he didn’t have anything to say before Don’s voice came over their intercom.
“We might have an intruder. Location unknown. Keep a lookout.”
“...Huh,” Mikey voiced, continuing to stare at the newcomer. He barely had time to connect the dots between them being there, and Don’s announcement before his instincts caused him to dodge towards the door with a yelp, silver blades swiping through the air where he’d been. Looks like the intruder decided to give up hiding. “Hey guys, I found the intru-EYAH!!” Mikey started to call out, cutting off with a startled shriek and darting into the main room when the figure came at him again.
“MIKEY!” Raphael’s responding yell was louder than usual in reaction to Mikey’s panicked scream. Darting towards the kitchen, Raphael caught sight of Mikey attempting to use the ladle he had to block an incoming attack, only to have the utensil sliced in half.
“HEY! That was my favorite- EEP!” Mikey protested, ducking his head while covering it with his hands, then swinging a lazy kick towards the intruder. His attack was definitely half hearted, but that didn’t prevent him from being shocked when he hit nothing but air. The intruder had just been in front of him as Raphael reached them, but in a blink he was gone in a haze of blue energy that fizzled out in less than a second. It was only after Raphael let out a startled noise, and the clang of blade hitting sai resounded that Mikey realized what happened. “Guys I know how he got in!” Mikey blurted, half keeping an eye on the others and half looking for a proper weapon.
“He teleports!?” Raphael sputtered, his own attack whisking through completely vacant air. Chasing his surroundings with his eyes, Raphael opened his mouth to warn Mikey as he caught sight of the intruder apparating behind him. It was too late, but at least Mikey was able to turn and block the kick with his forearms instead of taking it to his shell. He still got knocked back slightly, and the intruder vanished once more.
“That explains the glitching security,” Don realized, taking his own turn to block a series of slashes from dual swords. This newcomer was fast, but with Don’s skill level he was able to keep up with the exchange, the blades thumping into the reinforced wood. It should have been easy for Don, but there was something unrefined about the newcomer’s fighting style that added a strain of unpredictability to his moves. Especially when a flicker of blue light came from underneath Don, and his feet immediately lost the ground they were on to sink into the newly appeared blue disc.
“DON!” Raphael sprang forward on instinct, crashing into Don midair and sending them tumbling for a moment before they both twisted to their feet.
The intruder was once again in a different location, back to Mikey. “Don’t get caught by those! I don’t know where they lead to.” Don warned, extremely grateful Raphael had saved him from a first hand experience to find out.
“This is- SO COOL- but also- AHH!” Mikey sputtered between blocking more blows. An upward swipe smacking the hand holding the sword off course, foot sliding back as he turned slightly to get in the way of the intruder getting behind him, stepping forward and raising a hand to block an incoming kick towards his head before the intruder disappeared again and an abrupt slash came towards Mikey’s skull.
A lunge forward from Raphael to try and grab the intruder only earned him empty air, and a swift kick to the back, causing him to stumble forward into Mikey. Giving a slight growl, Raphael whirled around, fists ready. “Rrrgh! Enough tricks! Come fight me face to face!” he belted, sick of the popping in and out of sight the newcomer was doing.
Don wasn’t sure what in the last few seconds had triggered the change, but the next attack towards him was notably different. A faltering course forced into a last second adjustment, and backed up by a sudden increase in force. It was alarming, but also concerning in a different way. There wasn’t venom behind the attacks. Just…fear? It was hard to get any words out around the new barrage of borderline frantic attacks. Was the kid panicking? The shifts in location had increased in frequency to all of them, to the point none of them could get any words out around their focus on reacting to the attacks. It felt like a stalemate, but only because the three of them were holding back. They didn’t think this was an actual enemy. More just a misunderstanding. But it was hard to get a good look at the newcomer when they were always moving.
The battle ended up shifting when Leo joined them, launching from the infirmary stairs and almost crashing into the intruder if it weren’t for them disappearing milliseconds before. “You picked the wrong home!” Leo shouted, skidding on the tile in a crouch next to Mikey.
Unexpectedly, the response to Leo was a sudden stretch of silence in place of where they had come to expect the intruder showing up in someone’s blindspot. After a brief consideration that the intruder was elsewhere in the lair, a ring of blue swirled into a diagonal disc above them. But instead of a figure appearing from it Don’s eyes snapped wide as a familiar chemical storage cabinet came hurtling towards them.
“MOVE!” Don snapped, hurling himself towards Mikey to get them both out of the way, being relieved to see his brothers also fling themselves to the side, and covering his and Mikey’s heads with a hand. Only now did he remember that one of the recorded breach points was their chemical storage room. A fact that was emphasized by the crashing containers inside the large cabinet causing materials to mix violently with each other, crackling into a small explosion that made their ears ring. All Don could think was ‘What a waste of materials’ as well as ‘That cabinet had been bolted to the wall with five centimeter thick screws!’ as he waited for the reactions to stop.
“Anyone hurt?” Leo called out as soon as the deafening silence that followed explosions fell over them.
“Mikey and I are fine,” Don called back, removing his hand from Mikey’s head so they could both push themselves to their feet.
“...Where’s the other guy?” Mikey voiced, flinching and flicking his eyes all over to see if he could see where the intruder went.
“Raph?” Leo’s call came after a second of not hearing from their remaining brother.
Raphael would have responded, but he’d ended up in a minor situation. As soon as he’d tried to get back to his feet after the danger had passed his own sai was being stabbed through the soft section of the tactical armor on his calf, wedged expertly into the ground to secure his leg. Then the opposite arm was yanked behind him and hooked behind the intruder’s knee as they leaned their body weight into him, attempting to pin him. They honestly didn’t weigh much, and it would have taken little effort for Raphael to shove them off. But the cold sting of metal tapping against his throat caused him to freeze, more from curiosity than fear. Huh. This was an interesting move. At least the kid had stopped jumping through the air.
When the others didn’t get a response from him Raphael saw them skurry around the pile of fresh debris to the side he was on, only to skid to a stop when they realized why he hadn’t answered them. A small gasp escaped Don as he froze where he was, and Leo gave a small snarl as he shifted to a defensive stance.
“Dude! Not cool!” Mikey guaffed, quickly checking his options.
“...Let him go…,” Leo hissed, his entire form tense, sliding his foot forward slightly in warning.
Chapter 18: Partial Reunion
Chapter Text
Now that Leon had stopped moving, it was the first time the others could get a good look at him. Twin swords, blue headband, scrawny teenager limbs, black sleeves and leg wraps just like Lil Mikey had. Don wasn’t sure what was causing Leon to choose this course of action, but his gaze ended up sliding from him to Raphael. A silent question was expressed in Don’s lack of aggressive stance, pursed lips and brows furrowed in cautious concern, gaze flicking to Leon once he had Raphael’s attention.
Meeting Don’s gaze, Raphael raised a brow, but decidedly kept quiet, even as the kid holding him tensed in response to Leo’s unvoiced threat. He may have been in a precarious position, but Raphael felt no reason to be concerned at the moment. First, he remembered the kid’s course having taken him to many different rooms in their lair. But it seemed until Mikey had noticed him, the kid hadn’t really done anything. Was he looking for something? And second, while the kid seemed to be an expert at masking his emotions, there was still a slight tremble in his frame, and his slowed breathing was definitely a conscious effort. The kid was obviously distressed. And while he was making stupid decisions, Raphael found he couldn’t blame him at all for them. He had his reasons, they just didn’t know what they were yet. Raphael was sure of it.
After a stretch of silence that almost snapped, the intruder finally spoke. “...Where are my brothers?” A simple question, but it was quiet, and Raphael wasn’t sure the others could hear it, let alone the waver in the kid’s voice.
“Uhhhh, what now?” Mikey asked, and Don glanced at him, not sure if he was playing dumb or just couldn’t hear well after that blast. He had barely heard the question himself.
The intruder’s hand shifted, catching their attention with the blade held close to Raphael’s throat. “Don’t mess with me. I’m not in the mood,” he warned, bouncing the blade slightly in apparent agitation, but more likely nervous anxiety. “I know they’re here. Dee’s tracker told me. I just don’t know which room. And if you hurt them…”
Raphael didn’t have to see the kid’s face to know he’d narrowed his eyes, quickly reaching the end of his rope, a slight hiss in his tone. Raphael could see Don drawing a breath to speak up and hopefully dispel the tense atmosphere, and he had half the mind to speak up as well to try and calm the kid down. Yet before either of them could speak, a quiet voice drew the attention of the ones below.
“Your brothers are safe, young one.” Master Splinter’s tone was surprisingly calm despite the view below him. Raphael couldn’t see him, but he knew he was most likely at the infirmary door. He was even more certain after the blade threatening to cut him dropped significantly as the new kid twisted to see who had spoken. With the freedom to turn his head now, Raphael craned to look over, catching sight of Master Splinter standing with the others. Lil Mikey was hesitantly moving to the front from behind Master Splinter, his arm held by the sling they had helped him into while the other held onto Donnie's IV pole. Next to him was Leatherhead, cradling a still unconscious Donnie in his arms, carefully bundled in a soft blanket.
“...Leo?” Lil Mikey asked, confusion over what he was seeing, or if he was actually seeing his brother. It didn’t take long for him to be convinced it was Leon though, and with an excited breath he started heading towards the stairs. “LEO!”
“MIKEY!” Leon cried, his carefully smothered emotions breaking through with a slight crack in his voice. The blades in his hands disappeared into wisps of energy that faded along with him as he shoved away from Raphael, flitting towards the other group. Reappearing directly in front of Lil Mikey before he’d taken more than two steps, Leon threw his arms around his little brother and scooped him off the ground for only a moment. Falling to his knees and dragging Lil Mikey down with him, Leon was unwilling to let go even as he reached a hand to clutch at Donnie, trying to pull him into his protective grip as well. “Donnie! You’re here. You’re both here-”
“It’s okay Leo. We’re okay,” Lil Mikey consoled, already willing to catch the little pieces of Leon that were spilling from his cracking barrier. Something was horribly wrong, but Lil Mikey knew Leon didn’t feel safe enough to address it yet. So he just held on as best he could to try and provide comfort, wrapping his legs around Leon’s waist and uninjured arm around his shoulders.
“Easy, little one. Your brothers have been injured, but they will be alright,” Leatherhead cautioned, lowering to his knees so he could oblige Leon’s unspoken desire to have both of his brothers close.
Master Splinter adjusted his stance to watch quietly as the bandages on Lil Mikey and Donnie drew Leon’s attention, and Master Splinter had to note the analytical spark that reached the lad’s eyes as he expertly examined them along with gathering his brothers’ vitals. Hands pressing against their cheeks to check temperature, fingers finding pulses, palms resting on their chest and back, noting their damaged breathing. Even the bandages and IV site was carefully inspected for proper execution, making Master Splinter realize Leon was just as knowledgeable as his Donatello when it came to medical care.
“What happened? I thought-... I was looking everywhere! Donnie’s tracker- the map wasn’t correct. Everything is different in this stupid place- A'and you guys were out of range- Your vitals were gone-,” Leon rambled amidst his exams, voice faltering at various points, and an inability to vocalize certain thoughts causing him to change his words.
“We’re okay Leo. We got in a bit of a mess, but these guys all helped save us, and are taking care of us. It’s okay,” Lil Mikey was quick to explain what was really important, squeezing Leon tight and rubbing his cheek on him. After a moment, unaddressed concern caused him to pull his head back to look at his brother’s face. Leon’s breathing was erratic, and he was making quite the effort to keep himself occupied with things around him. After getting a good look at his expression Lil Mikey realized what had happened. “... Leo, are you okay? Are you here?” he asked, keeping his voice quieter both to not startle Leon, and to hopefully keep the conversation a little more private.
Leon still flinched at the question, having not wanted attention brought to his current state. But after flicking his eyes over to meet Lil Mikey’s, he gave a tense nod. “Yeah. I’m here,” he answered. It didn’t sound like he was completely convinced of that yet, so he ended up leaning forward to squish his nose against Lil Mikey’s shoulder. “I’m here. I’m here,” he repeated, taking a deep breath to surround himself with familiar smells, and focusing on the contact he had with both his brothers. The colors in his vision were gradually becoming less blurred, and the other voice of the past that had also yelled about tricks faded to the depths of his mind once more.
After feeling Leon’s form starting to relax significantly more, Mikey tried to see if the burning question in his mind was acceptable to ask now. “Where’s Raph? He was with you, yeah? I saw him grab you. And April. We can’t leave him alone…”
“He’s with April, don’t worry,” Leon assured quickly, silently thankful Mikey was sticking so close to him, then lowered his voice even more. “His leg is broken, I couldn’t bring them with. I was planning on just grabbing you two and taking us all back to them.”
“Ohhhhh, so if I pretended not to notice you, would you have not kicked our shells and destroyed Don’s lab cupboard?” Mikey spoke up suddenly from where the four had quietly gathered near Master Splinter, behind Leon.
The foreign voice caused Leon to flinch, anxiety levels shooting up as he was made painfully aware of the strangers with their names still being there. Gripping Lil Mikey even closer, Leon shifted to press against Donnie, shielding his brothers with his own body as he peered warily over his shoulder. It was tempting to escape now, but it would have been hard with Donnie still being held by Leatherhead, and attached to an IV. But if he were being aware of the finite details of his emotions, the way Leatherhead held Donnie so carefully, and the well practiced medical care both he and Lil Mikey had been given, was making Leon hesitate.
“Give him a break Mikey. He’s got a lot going on,” Raphael chided, folding his arms with a pointed look at Mikey even as Don hissed a soft command to be quiet.
Leo ended up twitching at that response, looking at Raphael incredulously. “Oh, so we’re just going to ignore the fact he held a sword to your throat?” he demanded, the protectiveness from before having not subsided in the least.
The comment caused Leon to shrink away from them even more, anticipating some kind of negative reaction from the group of strangers. Any sudden move toward him or his brothers and he’d just pull the entire group around him away. He could drop the other two back after getting them separated from his brothers.
But instead of scolding Leon, Raphael just huffed. “Yeah. We are. Look, he just got yanked from his home dimension, thought his brothers were dead for who knows how long, and then probably ran all over the city looking for them,” he relayed, causing Lil Mikey to gain a small smile. “He’s just a kid. And you and I both know we’ve all done stupid things for the sake of keeping each other safe. So don’t go getting all judgmental for a rough start. The other one about punched you in the face when we first met him, and you’re already cuddling him like a teddy bear.”
“WH- That’s completely different!” Leo sputtered, flustered at being called out. He didn’t think he was being all that cuddly. “Donnie was obviously scared, and overwhelmed, and we were complete stran… gers…,” Leo’s protests trailed off as he started to piece together everything Raphael had already figured out. At least Raphael only gestured to Leon instead of vocally harassing Leo about his oversight. “Don’t,” Leo grumbled, resting his face in his hand even as Don chuckled, nudging Mikey who also seemed to have just made the connection.
“Ohhhhhh. Wow, they really are brothers, huh,” Mikey voiced.
Leon still wasn’t convinced they didn’t have any ill will towards him, so remained defensively shielding his brothers while watching the strangers in wary confusion. Yet Raphael wasn’t put off at all about how defensive Leon was being towards them. They were strangers to him. Strangers who were crowding around his injured brothers, who he probably felt responsible for. And to be fair, he and Don had run at Leon with their weapons drawn. It wasn’t like they were all blameless for starting a fight.
Right. He should probably apologize for that.
Chapter 19: Show Me
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Striding forward a few steps, Raphael wasn’t bothered at all when Leon scrambled to detach Lil Mikey from himself and herd him near Donnie so he could turn to face Raphael with his hands held in a defensive barrier between his brothers and Raphael. Crouching before the three, Raphael raised a hand in offer, noting Loen eyeing it, then him, warily.
“Hey. Sorry for scaring you. I don’t want to fight anymore, okay?” Raphael apologized simply, keeping his hand out for a handshake. Leon could only look at him suspiciously, blinking at the offered hand, and then squinting suspiciously at Raphael. Was he trying to trick him somehow? When was the last time someone other than his family had apologized to him for scaring him?
While Leon was considering his options, and Raphael’s motivations, Raphael decided to change tactics, carefully raising his hand towards Leon. The kid’s eyes widened for a moment, and he looked about ready to dart. But thankfully he stayed relatively in place. It could have been because Lil Mkey had whispered to him that it was okay, but Raphael liked to think that Leon was taking a leap of faith that Raphael didn’t mean any harm. None of them had meant him harm in the first place, it was just a habit for them to be ready to fight when there was an intruder. But after realizing they were probably dealing with another cross dimension sibling they’d just wanted to get him to sit in one place long enough to talk, while not getting hurt themselves.
As Raphael’s hand got close to him Leon’s eyes snapped shut and he turned his head away with a soft hiss, as though he expected to get smacked. Raphael couldn’t blame him for reacting that way, and instead just motivated to be even more careful than he had already planned. There was a bandage on Leon’s head that hadn’t gone unnoticed, and Raphael was careful to avoid it as he tenderly rested his hand on the kid’s crown, gently rubbing back and forth. “It’s okay kid. I’m not mad,” Raphael assured, giving a rare, soft smile. “And I’m not going to hurt you, or any of your brothers. Okay? You’re safe here. We just want to help.”
He wasn’t sure how many more times they’d have to repeat it before Leon started to believe them, but he just kept gently petting the kid’s head. And when Leon opened his eyes again to peek at him, Raphael just smiled a bit bigger. “There you are. See? All good.”
The comment barely calmed Leon’s nerves, having fully expected to get scolded in some manner. But his shoulders did droop somewhat, and he finally turned more towards Lil Mikey to nuzzle his nose against Lil Mikey’s head in silent comfort. “...What happened? Why are you hurt?” Leon asked quietly, wrapping one arm around Lil Mikey to hold him close once more while the other arm did his best to do the same with Donnie.
“A nasty witch kidnapped you guys from another dimension,” Mikey chimed in, bouncing behind Raphael and causing Leon to flinch. “We went in to rescue them, but they ended up getting hurt while we were there. Don’t worry though. My awesome brother and best friend are patching them up just fine.” Don had to give a mildly embarrassed snicker at the compliment, and Leatherhead could only give Mikey a small smile.
Leon’s expression scrunched in a grimace of confusion and borderline offense at that response. Did Mikey think he was four? “Hurt how? What did you do to take care of it?” Leon persisted, brow furrowing in frustration. What kind of report was that? He didn’t even mention what injuries they had at all. He wasn’t a child that needed everything glossed over in such a vague manner.
“Uhhhhh….,” Mikey faltered, having not expected Leon to ask for details. He wasn’t even sure what all of the details were.
Luckily Don took that as his queue to step forward and kneel next to Raphael, concern saturating his form but his hands decidedly held back in his lap. “A government agent that we’ve been monitoring to keep her from achieving inter dimensional travel accidentally triggered a reaction that brought you and your family here from your dimension. It also grabbed our Leo, and they sent Raph a message to try and get him to return what we’ve stolen. We broke into her base since there was no way we were going to let her keep any of us, our brother or yours. But your Mikey got caught in the crossfire, and ended up getting shot in the back of his arm,” he explained quickly, partially to be open with their guest but also to see if his inference about Leon was correct.
With the sucked in hiss, and quick, analytical, and repeated visual examination of Lil Mikey’s bandages that Leon did, Don had his answer and gained a small smile. Leon was gathering medical data for his own mental documentation, and Don was happy to provide. “I had Leatherhead surgically remove the bullet, clean the wound, and stitch him back up. Both Leatherhead and I have done the procedure many times before. Right now he’s probably still numb from local anesthesia, but we’ll be sure to get him on painkillers once that starts to wear off. He and Lil Donnie were also both also exposed to an airborne toxin that breaks down cells when inhaled. We’ve dealt with it personally many times before, so we had an antidote ready that we’ve already given them. It’ll just take some time to heal what was already damaged, but there should be no further degradation.”
Leon was mostly quiet as Don, and sometimes Leatherhead, continued to give a detailed explanation that had Raphael raising a brow at him. It was more of an explanation than Raphael was used to getting, other than when Don was rambling in a distracted daze, and he briefly wondered if it was pointless or not. But when he looked at Leon he had to marvel at how the kid seemed to be understanding everything. The kid was even asking questions like what the toxin was, and what antidote was used and how it was given, what antiseptics were being used and if they used any antibiotic salve on Donnie. The responses Don gave earned satisfied nodding for the most part, and Raphael could only grin in amusement as he shifted his weight back to somewhat pull out of the conversation, the others settling around Master Splinter behind him. Looked like Leon was the medic of the other group. It was an interesting difference, and Raphael was wondering what had caused it. But the conversation was way over Raphael’s head, so he ended up tuning them out for a moment. It wasn’t until Raphael heard Don’s words fill with reluctance to be voiced that Raphael started paying attention again.
“...He hasn’t woken up since we left the base. I’m not sure if that’s normal for him, so it has me concerned…” Don was apparently talking about Donnie, who was still unresponsive to external stimuli. Raphael and the others had to agree with the voiced concern since Lil Mikey had been quick to wake up again once they’d landed, but it almost seemed like Donnie was sedated.
“It’s okay. He does that sometimes.” Leon responded easily. “We started calling them reboot naps.”
“...Reboot naps?” Raphael repeated, raising a brow. Why did that sound like something that would be done with a computer and not a person.
“Yeah. You know how sometimes a computer gets overloaded and starts to overheat and stop functioning properly? And the best thing to do is just turn it off so it can stop running programs and cool down?” Leon explained, sounding like it was one that had been used at least once before. After the others gave somewhat confused nods that they understood so far Leon continued. “That’s kind of what it’s like, I guess. His big brain just works overtime all the time and sometimes everything becomes too much, so he takes a huge nap to recover. He’ll wake up eventually.”
“...Hm… I guess that makes sense,” Don responded, voicing the thought all of them had. The analogy made sense, they just hadn’t dealt with anyone that did this before. Not without serious physical injury to go with it. “How long does he usually sleep for?”
“I dunno. Depends on how stressed out he got before. This time will probably be a longer one though,” Leon responded, shrugging.
Raphael had to furrow his brow in confusion at that combination of comments. He knew Donnie had probably been incredibly stressed out from everything, but none of them had mentioned anything to Leon about what had happened other than the injuries. “How do you know that?” Raphael asked, not able to keep his voice from being incredulous.
“I just do,” Leon huffed, shrinking back slightly in a physical show of avoidance. He was quick to change the subject as well, so Raphael knew his reason was something he didn’t want them to know. “Anyway, where’s his battle shell? I’m surprised he’s not wearing it.”
“Uhhh…” Don faltered, glancing at his brothers. He didn’t remember then having a truck with them. So that probably wasn’t what Leon meant. ”...Battle shell?” Don repeated in question. Luckily Little Mikey spoke up for them from where he was sagging into Leon’s lap, mumbling slightly in his increasing sleepiness. “It’s in the other room. Where we were before,” he explained, forcing back a yawn while trying to not completely fall over. “Told them not to take it off. But he insisted he shouldn’t wear it while sleeping. And needed to check his back.”
That was enough to que Don in on what they were talking about, giving a small gasp and dropping a fist lightly into an open palm. “Oh! The device he was wearing on his back. Yes, it’s back in the infirmary. I haven’t done anything with it other than take it off. Augustine’s employees took samples from Donnie’s back too, so I had to make sure those were clean as-”
“They did what ?” Leon suddenly hissed, gaze becoming borderline furious as he latched onto only one thing Don said. “Where is it? Where is that base?” he demanded, moving to get to his feet. Don had only mentioned that Donnie had been cut before, not that he’d been some science lab pet.
“Woah, hey, relax kid. There’s nothing left of the base, your brother made sure of it. He set off the self-destruct as we were leaving,” Raphael spoke quickly, raising his hands to halt Leon’s movement without actually grabbing him. “We’re going to make double sure of course, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Augustine herself ended up with brain damage after how hard fearless over there kicked her in the head,” he added, jerking a thumb over at Leo, whose eyes widened slightly in surprise at being called out so suddenly.
“It wasn’t THAT h-... Okay maybe it was- She had a gun pointed at Donnie. What was I supposed to do?” Leo sputtered, gesturing awkwardly.
Don winced at the mention of the gun, and quickly looked over to Leon to see his reaction while Mikey hissed and clamped his hands over Leo’s mouth. He wasn’t surprised to see the lad shift protectively towards Donnie again, a glower shadowing his gaze. “....Show me what happened…” Leon demanded, his tone not leaving any room for debate. “All of it.”
“Show you?” Leatherhead prompted for further clarification. Did Leon really want to see everything that had happened?
“Are you saying you don’t have a database of every video feed from the government agent you’ve been monitoring?” Leon shot back, missing the real reason Leatherhead was questioning him and thinking they were trying to avoid showing it to them.
Don was stunned into silence for a stretch, surprised Leon had made that connection. While they had only found Augustine’s main base recently, downloading all of her data was one of the first things he and Mom April had done. “Huh…” Don voiced, the only hint to his pleasant surprise. Then again, this was just an alternate dimension version of all of them. Donnie probably had similar habits. “Let me get a tablet,” he requested, getting to his feet to hurry to the main computer. “Also Mikey don’t forget you’re cooking,” he reminded on his way passed.
“My stew!” Mikey squawked, jumping to his feet and leaping over the edge of the upper level to run back to the kitchen.
Notes:
I rewrote this part so many times, and fussed with the image so much/was so slow on it and it still doesn't feel right. But I'm to the point I don't hate it so it's good enough and I'm gonna throw it out here. =v=;;
Edit: There's a fan comic for this chapter!! https://www.tumblr.com/leisi-lilacdreams/731032928948289536/edit-whelp-tumblr-killed-the-quality-and-i-dont?
Chapter 20: Trust is Earned
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Don was quick to return with a modest sized tablet, tapping in several different passwords as he opened folders and applications to pull up each video feed that was relevant on screen. Only then did he pass the device over to Leon, who took it with a half voiced thanks before leaning back against Leatherhead and Donnie. Lil Mikey was then pulled fully into his lap with a follow up pat before Leon silently skimmed through the videos. There was hours worth of data, but at least it was easy for Leon to speed up the feed to get through it quicker. A convenient toggle on screen pulled back and forth to fast forward or rewind.
Leon honestly didn’t care how the others had broken into the base, and it seemed it wasn’t on record anyway since the beginning of the heist was masked by looped video. It was strangely easier to see the torment Donnie went through without having the emotions to go with it, but Leon still clenched his jaw in residual anger. A slight smirk briefly interrupted the mood when he watched the Donnie in the video chomp down on someone’s arm. Served them right. Everything that he saw in the video ended up lining up with what Don had explained to him, and where Donnie was currently bandaged. Though Leon’s eyes did furrow watching them place two bags of his brother’s blood on their cart. If he hadn’t already been told Donnie had destroyed the entire base, Leon would have added draining the same amount of blood from them to the list.
At the point of Donnie breaking free Leon switched over to the video with Lil Mikey. There was no sound with the visuals, he didn’t want Lil Mikey to get overly curious about what he was seeing. But while he couldn’t hear what they were saying Leon still noted the way the others, the adults, treated his little brother. Their hands were careful, their patience long, and actions willing to help. It was… strange. Their group was the first on the move, so Leon had to switch through several video feeds to follow them, smiling in pride for a moment as Lil Mikey definitely stole the highest knockout count by a long shot. But it was obvious after a while that the mask Don had given him wasn’t as efficient. The pessimist in Leon’s mind accused them of faulty gear. But it was easy to quickly confirm that Lil Mikey’s head was just too small.
Then, once again, these new mutants took care of Lil Mikey almost as if he were one of their own brothers. Leon easily followed the bullet hitting his brother, and watched curiously as Raphael pulled Lil Mikey close and most likely called for help once they were behind a barricade. And Leon had to raise a brow and give a soft huff of amusement at Mikey taking down the one responsible. The first three hits were more than enough. The next five hits to the unconscious soldier calmed the rage that had been budding in Leon’s heart.
Moments later Leon watched Donnie break through the wall, causing him to pause on that video and go back to the others to track Donnie’s course. There wasn’t much to follow, once Donnie reached the rooms the feed tended to go black moments after. But seeing the rooms beforehand, one had been where their stolen equipment had been stored, and another had been where the employees had taken the samples from Donnie. A separate video feed from outside that room showed a vibrating camera, and smoke trailing out of the room soon after. Apparently Donnie had annihilated everything in that room long before blowing the base up as well. Of course he would make sure nothing of them remained in Augustine’s hands. That was one of the main responsibilities he’d adopted from an early age. To make sure no one found them, physically or digitally.
Going back to the video where everyone else was, Leon only watched for a moment more before he relatively sped through the end. Donnie had protected them. He had trusted the others to take care of Lil Mikey, and protected them as well. Both Lil Mikey, and Donnie, had faith in their counterparts.
It was enough.
Skimming through Leo kicking Augustine, then addressing Donnie with the same tenderness as the rest of his brothers. Leon eventually let out a sigh and tilted his head back. He felt exhausted after having a large source of stress massaged out of his mind. He was still wary, but only because that was how he always was. Looking up to Leatherhead, who had just patiently been staying still for the near half an hour Leon had been researching, Leon gave him a regular smile.
Seeing the change in demeanor, Leatherhead rumbled a soft chuckle. “I take it you’ve found the answers you sought?” he asked, returning Leon’s smile with one of his own.
“...Most of them,” Leon responded, pushing away the necessary emotions starting to bud. There was no need for sheepishness, or indignancy, or any of those other hindrances right then. Sitting up again, Leon fondly rubbed Lil Mikey’s back, noting that Lil Mikey had fallen fully asleep now. Good. He needed it. Pulling his gaze up to the others, who were also patiently sitting where they had been, Leon eventually held the tablet back out to Don, his gaze sliding to the air off to the side as he pouted slightly. “...Thanks.” He spoke more clearly this time, expressing actual gratitude for what he’d seen, as well as what they had done with him. Then, remembering recent events, he shrank in on himself slightly. “...And sorry… For kicking your ass…”
“Hey!” Raphael blurted, though his retort broke off in a laugh as he shook his head. That wasn’t a fully proper apology according to someone else’s book, but Raphael didn’t care. It was an apology in words Leon chose, and that was better.
Don and Master Splinter also chuckled quietly, which made Leo unable to hold back a smile as well. When Leon wasn’t being aggressively defensive, he actually wasn’t that threatening at all.
“Are you feeling a little better?” Don asked, eyes flicking to the bandage on Leon’s head, as well as giving him a visual once over once again. Raphael ended up rubbing his nose to hide a smile, knowing Don was holding back from jumping forward and giving Leon a full exam.
“...Yeah,” Leon admitted, feeling a little subdued. “I still have some questions, but… Let’s get these two back to proper beds first…”
Let’s. Raphael noted the all inclusive term and had to grin. It seemed the kid was willing to start trusting them now. “Sure thing. Want some help with the lil guy?” he agreed, gesturing to Lil Mikey.
“No, I got him. Just…. Show me where you want him to stay for now,” Leon requested, still finding it hard to fully relent to being taken care of and directed around by them.
“Back in the infirmary would probably be best. Just in case,” Don directed, getting to his feet and gesturing to the room next to them that was obscured by patterned drapes.
Scooping Lil Mikey up in a well practiced motion, Leon looked back to make sure Leatherhead was going to follow them as Don led them beyond the drapes. It was only once he crossed the barrier that Leon got to absorb just how much they had. Equipment Leon had only seen in media. Dozens of cabinets of supplies. Eight beds easily filling only part of the room. A surgical area in the back. Leon helplessly let out a coo of awe as his mouth dropped open, scanning the room with wide eyes and completely missing Raphael snickering at the reaction. Turning to Don, all the other questions Leon had had fled his mind to be replaced by the single one he blurted. “Can I borrow your infirmary?”
Notes:
I totally crashed and slept like 45 hours straight other than pee breaks and water X'DD Then aside from that I've been working on a behemoth Fate collab, so I didn't get to this one until today.
Chapter 21: A Moment's Respite
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
“Uhm… Yes?...Why?” Don responded, taken a little off guard by the question. They were already borrowing the infirmary weren’t they? Donnie and Lil Mikey were going to stay the rest of the night at least. Leatherhead was already settling Donnie back into the bed he’d been in before, and Raphael was trying to lead Leon over to the other bed for Lil Mikey to sleep on.
But Leon was apparently distracted by something else, leaning away from Raphael halfway and slow to respond. “You have intravenous antibiotics, yeah?” he asked, a mix of feeling rushed and excited making his speech faster as he eventually obeyed Raphael's mildly frustrated coaxing and carefully rested Lil Mikey on the mattress. “And two metal plates, about this big, and screws?” Leon followed up, holding his hands up a short distance apart and then a certain thickness.
The questions immediately caused Don’s mind to start listing possible uses in the context he was given. Injuries that would warrant metal plates, screws and antibiotics filtering into his head as he narrowed his eyes just slightly. “Yes, of course. Why? ” Don confirmed and repeated his own question with a little more emphasis, restraining himself from grabbing Leon to check him over. It couldn’t be any of them that were currently there that were injured. The only thing Don could think of was a severe fracture, and if that was the case he didn’t think Leon would be moving as easily as he was.
But luckily Leon answered the question of who without the need of further interrogation.
“My brother has an open compound fractured tibia and fibula. Let me go get him, I’ll be right back.” Leon’s answer came as a rush of syllables accentuated by one of the swirling blue discs opening up next to him. Don flinched back slightly at the revelation, and Raphael was more caught off guard by the portal. The kid hadn’t even moved for that to appear. It was a little disconcerting since they still weren’t quite sure what they did exactly. Before the others could fully register what was going on Leon had slipped through the portal, mask tails nearly being caught by the closing gateway.
Being left in silence, Raphael mentally repeated in his mind what Leon had said. He understood most of it, but he wasn’t familiar enough with the names of bones to know which ones the tibia and fibula were. Something in the leg? Or was it the arm? They sounded familiar enough for him to think they were in one of the more external limbs. Looking over to Don for clarification and possible direction, Raphael let out a smothered snort of amusement. Don’s hands had remained frozen in the air where he’d reached out on reflex, and his expression betrayed his disbelief in what he’d just been told. The revelation caused stress to build to the point it bubbled over in the form of a higher pitched whine slowly escaping his form while his fingers flexed.
“Easy there Doctor Don. We don’t want to scare the kid off now that he’s finally started to trust us,” Raphael cautioned with a mild chuckle, recognizing Don’s mental restraint barely keeping him from chasing Leon down. Speaking up only caused Don to redirect his stress at him though.
“Hhhhhhhhh Raph you can not tell me to take it easy after being told the last one of them has a bone sticking out of his leg ! if they’re not back in four hours I’m tracking them and getting them myself, and I make no promises on the four hours,” Don rambled, grabbing Raphael’s shoulders and lightly shaking him in distress.
Raphael could only chuckle, reaching up to still Don’s hands and keep him from shaking his brains up too much as Leo and Master Splinter moved closer. “Then I guess you should keep yourself busy getting the supplies you’ll need?” he suggested. Anything to keep his brother occupied and not giving someone a headache.
“...Duh,” Don huffed, giving Rahael an incredulous squint before breaking away to scurry towards the cabinets. The least he could do was make sure they had everything where Leon and he could easily get to it.
“What’s going on?” Leo asked, having heard pieces of the conversation but not actively followed it. He had a relatively clear guess on what the problem was with Don, but he preferred getting clarification before causing issues out of ignorant guesses.
“Remember when your bone was sticking outta your arm?” Raphael asked, raising his own arm and pointing at it.
“...Yeah?” Leo confirmed, reflexively glancing at the scar running down the length of his arm in memory.
“The kid Leo says his brother has the same thing, and went to get him. Obviously that got Don all worked up,” Raphael explained, jerking a thumb at their brother pilling medical supplies on the rolling surgical tray near the table.
Leo’s brows raised in mild surprise before furrowing in concern. He had been quite distracted when his own arm had been broken, for obvious reasons. But he still remembered Don being just as frantic. Paranoid about bone infection, or being able to properly stabilize it without doing further damage, or preventing it from healing properly. Honestly Leo still thought Don had done an amazing job with it, as always, considering he didn’t notice it anymore. And yet the memories just added yet another thing to the list to explain why Leon had been so upset earlier. “..Did he say anything about needing transport?” Leo asked, tone a little more sullen than before. He was starting to regret the way he’d reacted towards Leon’s actions. They were the wrong actions to take, but Leo was starting to find it hard to hold anything against Leon now.
“Nah. I think he can teleport just fine. Like he was doing when he got here,” Raphael admitted with a shrug. “Don gave him four hours, but I bet he’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Then let’s make sure we’re ready for them,” Leo directed firmly, moving around Raphael to head towards Don to see if he could help with anything.
Raphael watched Leo go and could only huff in amusement as he folded his arms. “Took him long enough,” he mused, lowering his gaze down to Master Splinter as he stepped next to him.
“Leonardo has always had difficulty thinking clearly when the safety of his family is in question. A trait he has come to manage as he’s gotten older, but also one that I have never faulted him for,” Master Splinter mused with a smile, looking fondly after his boys. Then his gaze shifted, a knowing smile as he looked up to meet Raphael’s eyes. “It would seem this young, other dimension version of my son has the same trait. And you, my son, have gotten much better at recognizing the motivations behind others’ actions.”
Raphael had to snort in mild embarrassment at the compliment, shifting his weight and shrugging his shoulders uncomfortably. “Wasn’t hard. It was written all over his face. Don saw it too,” he brushed off despite forcing down the grin tugging his mouth.
Master Splinter could only chuckle softly, but was unable to add more to the conversation as yet another blue portal swirled into the room in practically the same spot as before. Raphael stepped back to fully face it, and had to chuckle in mild triumph. “See? Just a few minutes.”
—---
As time crept on at an agonizing pace in the still darkness, April was finding she hated that she’d agreed to wait until noon to look for Leon. It wasn’t only that she was worried about him, but she missed having him there for company in this empty place. Of course having Raph in her lap brought some comfort, for she wasn’t truly alone. But her back was bare other than a light blanket, and she trusted Leon’s medical expertise way more than her own. She wanted her brother’s weight on her back, and his encyclopedia brain ready to address their needs. But she also wanted all four of her brothers there too. Which was the only thing that kept her where she was, staring at the map on her phone as it showed Leon chasing around the city, trying to find their little brothers. Part of April wanted to help look, but she didn’t know how she could. Leon was definitely able to move around way faster than she ever could. And she knew the best help she could give was to stay there and look after Raph. He didn’t handle being alone in a foreign place well at all even when he was healthy. So she had to be there to keep him calm. But his current state wasn’t doing much in the way of keeping her calm.
Thirty minutes after Leon had left Raph had woken up again, asking almost immediately where Leon had gone. Noting how disoriented Raph seemed to be, April had made up the excuse that Leon had gone to the bathroom. Partly because she didn’t want Raph to try and get up, but also because she didn’t want to add any more stress to her biggest little brother even if he behaved and remained laying down. She just knew he would start imagining all the wrong scenarios in his overprotective mind. Probably start talking aloud that everything was fine to reassure himself. Get fidgety, want to check outside, and otherwise just not relax and rest like he needed to. He needed all the rest and care he could get.
When they had settled down in this room Raph had looked relatively okay despite the pain from his broken bones. Just a clenched jaw and furrowed brow behind his bright red mask. But now those rich green cheeks were flushed red, and his forehead was damp from sweat instead of the rain. April knew the signs of fever in all of her brothers, and even without a thermometer she could tell Raph’s temperature was creeping up. Leon had anticipated it, and had already given him a fever reducer that he’d had stolen while gathering supplies. But they weren’t exactly in the best circumstances. The tarp on the floor wasn’t that comfortable. The blankets weren’t that thick. And their sanitized bubble of space wasn’t impenetrable. They needed antibiotics, and a proper bed at the very least. As soon as Raph had shivered once April had wiggled out from under him to crank up their space heater. Then her own blanket was tossed over him before she slipped his bandana off so his face didn’t overheat.
Two hours after Leon had left April couldn’t bring herself to make up another excuse when Raph opened his eyes again amidst her absently rubbing his head. His right eye was always slightly unfocused after the damage it’d sustained from the Krang, but now even his left eye was finding it difficult to register where April was in the dark. Yet despite that it didn’t take much effort at all for him to notice Leon still wasn’t there.
“... Wh’rs Leo now?” Raph asked, slightly mumbled from exhaustion and fever haze. He sounded a little grumpy, but April knew it was just his worry creeping up into his sleepy mumbles.
“...He went to get Donnie and Mikey,” April relented this time, not willing to lie to Raph a third time and shifting her phone so that he could see the screen as well. Leon’s icon had come to a stop with the other two, and April kept telling herself it was because he’d finally located them, and was just taking care of them or something. Checking their physical and mental wellbeing. Catching them up on what had happened. Making sure no one saw them. The usual. His vitals had had a spike in heart rate at one point, but it was calm now. As were Donnie’s and Lil Mikey’s. So they had to be fine. Right?
“...What?” Raph almost wheezed, shifting to sit up and grinding his teeth when even twitching his leg sent stabbing waves of pain up it.
“Easy there, big guy,” April protested, placing a hand gently on Raph’s chest, pressing lightly to direct him to lay back down.
After halting his movements and giving a slight hiss, Raph looked back to April with a slight squint. “Why didn’t he wake Raph? I should be helping him get the others-”
“You know you’re not in any condition to be moving around,” April interrupted quietly, but firmly. “Don’t make me lecture you. We agreed after the Krang that no one would be doing anymore self sacrifice bull crap, remember? That includes forcing yourself to do what you physically or mentally shouldn’t when there isn’t immediate danger.” Her scolding felt shallow, but the conviction was still there under the sleep worn exterior. No more hiding injuries. No more getting seriously hurt to save others. They were to include themselves when it came to protecting who needed it most.
At first Raph wanted to be belligerent towards April. It was his job to look after his brothers. He was the oldest. It had always been that way. Especially if they were in an unfamiliar place like they were now. If he’d heard Leon correctly, they were apparently in an alternate dimension. And while Raph was probably the least scientifically inclined of them, he’d seen enough sci-fi stories to know what that meant. This was probably the most unfamiliar place they could get. He wanted to be there for his brothers. Not only to rescue Donnie and Lil Mikey, but also to be there to support Leon. But hearing April remind him of their agreement deflated his stubbornness almost instantaneously. He knew he could move on his own if he had to. His ninpo apparition would make it easier to not use his leg. But he didn’t need to move right then. As far as they knew, he was the most injured. So it was his job to behave and not worry the others. And he’d be lying if he said he didn’t also just want to curl up and cry whenever he did move his leg. It was worse than when his shell had been broken.
Seeing Raph almost deflate into obedience, April let out a breath in a tired sigh and returned to rubbing his head. “There you go,” she complimented, grateful for his choice. “He said to wait until noon, and if he wasn’t back here by then to come looking for him,” she added, just so Raph knew they had a plan other than sit and wait endlessly.
She sounded so tired. And that, combined with everything else caused Raph to let out a small whimper as he shifted to wrap his arms around back around April. “...Okay… Raph will wait,” he agreed quietly, silently wondering what he could do for April in turn. He couldn’t imagine she was comfortable waiting in the dark on her own. So this time Raph stubbornly didn’t let himself fall back to sleep, staying curled around April as they gave each other comfort in the dark. It was hard to pass the time in silence, and unfortunately Raph’s brain felt a little more fuzzy than usual. He didn’t think talking about the others would help either, he knew it wouldn’t help him stay calm. So he ended up pulling himself to other, way less important thoughts. “....Do you think they have Jupiter Jim in this dimension?”
April couldn’t help snorting at the seemingly random question. But she found the topic was actually incredibly calming. “If they don’t I’m gonna be extremely disappointed,” shifting her attention to her phone with the thought to search for it on the internet. Seeing the tracking screen again though, she paused before looking back to Raph. “Do you have your phone? I’m not sure how to get back into this screen if I exit,” she admitted with a slight grimace.
“Yeah, I still have it,” Raph nodded, moving his hand from his hug just long enough to get his phone from his shell and pass it to April after unlocking it.
Quietly tapping the franchise name into a search engine, April ended up scoffing. “Whaaat? Nothing came up? Okay this dimension officially sucks now. What about your dad, are there any of his movies?” she huffed, immediately switching to the next curiosity.
Raph had to snort at her choice of search, and furrowed his brow. “... I dunno. We’re kind of an oddity…” he mused. He and his brothers were decidedly created by someone, not just a common species. He wasn’t sure how that would factor into consistencies between dimensions if something like Jupiter Jim wasn’t there.
“Euh, you’re right. Nothing came up for his movies either. Laaaaame,” April groaned, rolling her eyes.
Raph could feel the tension slipping out of her frame as she excitedly began looking up other things that were familiar to them. The Nexus Hotel wasn’t there, but surprisingly there was still a pizza chain called Lou Mike Tony’s Pizzeria. The two ended up excitedly making a note to try and get some once everything calmed down so they could compare. It made the next hour much more bearable, and they ended up slightly startled when a familiar blue portal whisked into view near them, momentarily illuminating the room as Leon slipped through before it closed.
“April!- Raph!” Leon blurted when he saw them, including Raph when he saw his big brother was awake this time and had jerked his head to look at him.
“Leo!- GAhhkk” Raph called, his attempt to sit up and greet his brother interrupted by another fierce pain firing up his leg.
“Woah there. Take it easy,” Leon cautioned, rushing over to crouch next to Raph and offer support. Even in the dark it only took him seconds to notice Raph’s flushed cheeks, and a brief expression of worry flashed over Leon’s features as he reached up a hand to Raph’s forehead. “Sss… okay, bit higher than expected…,” Leon hissed more to himself, eyes flicking down to Donnie’s wrist computer on his own arm and swiping the screen over to the vitals. 38.7 degrees celsius for Raph. Not horrible, but not good either. Leon knew they wouldn’t be able to avoid a fever, but he’d been hoping he’d have more time than this. At least he had a good place to take Raph and April too now though.
“Did you find Donnie and Mikey?!” April rushed while Leon checked the wrist screen, wedging next to Raph’s side to act as a prop to hold him if needed and handing his phone back to him. She could see Leon checking all of their vitals, so she knew she didn’t have to tell him about changes in Raph’s condition.
“Yeah!” Leon chirped, a bright smile returning to his features as he looked up to them. “They’re okay- Well, they’re a little banged up, but they’re already taken care of and sleeping. These really great guys from this dimension that are probably pretty much us already found them and took care of them,” he rambled, unable to sit still in his eagerness to get back. “They’re also gonna let me borrow their hella cool infirmary to fix up Raph! April you should see it! It’s like a whole hospital crammed into one room! They even have an MRI machine! At least I think that’s what it was….”
April listened to Leon in mild disbelief, what she was hearing conflicting with what she and Raph had thought more than half an hour ago. “Hold up-,” she paused, raising her hand, palm open. “They have the best ninja turtles ever in this dimension too, but no Lou Jitsu?”
“They don’t have Lou Jitsu here?” Leon repeated, looking borderline offended. “Wow, that sucks. Though I guess it makes sense. Their dad is kinda…. Weird. So quiet and…regal? I dunno. I feel like he’s one of those old dudes that just sits and drinks tea all day,” he mused, scrunching his nose slightly. He didn’t think he’d like not being able to roughhouse with and tease his dad. But that was a topic for later, and he pushed it aside in his mind as he addressed Raph again, leaving April to try and configure an image in her mind of this other version of their dad.
“We’re going to have to move you again Raph. Think you can handle it? I’ll try to make the distance as short as possible,” Leon informed apologetically, shifting around to crouch and wiggle underneath Raph’s arm on the opposite side of April.
“Are we going where Dee and Mikey are?” Raph asked, unable to resist giving Leon a little squeeze hug once he was squished under his arm.
“Yup! They’ll be in the same room. But we’re going to fix your leg before letting you join them, okay?” Leon confirmed after giving a small wheeze squeak and laugh at being squished.
Seeing Leon in such a good mood compared to the last time he saw him, Raph realized wherever they were going it was apparently safe enough for Leon to want to be there. And that was enough to reassure Raph that all of them would probably be alright. “Okay, let’s get going then,” Raph nodded, realizing they needed to get moving before the relief Leon brought washed away all resistance he had to the desire to lay back down.
Shifting to help Leon and April lift him to his feet, Raph bit back almost all of his whimpers as the trio heaved the group up as carefully as they could. “Easy. Gently. Sorry,” Leon chattered uneasily, pushing back the heartache bubbling up in his chest. “Don’t put any weight on your leg at all okay?” Leon ordered just in case Raph forgot or wasn’t thinking about it, and adjusted his own position to try and take all of Raph’s weight off his broken leg. He wished he had a better way to move them, but portal dropping him onto the surgery table was risky as well as too jarring. So he just had to keep his heart in his chest, forcing himself to be steady as every noise from Raph made him want to stop moving completely, and gradually help them make their way through the new portal he opened.
Notes:
Iiiiii struggled so freaking hard with this one ;v; Not only because I just couldn't get words to work to give this part the attention I wanted (it's barely acceptable now), but I've been working on a massive collab image, and then also got super distracted by a game's story |DDD oops.
you for your patience <3 Hope you enjoy the Raph snuggles =7=
Chapter 22: Carry Me
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The portal breaking into view pulled Don’s attention from gathering supplies, pausing to look over before quickly setting what he had down to free his hands. He anticipated that Leon would need help carrying his brother to the table, since he was assuming the remaining brother would be about the same size as Leon, Lil Mikey, or somewhere in between. Even though Leon could carry Lil Mikey easily, it still wasn’t likely that they’d be the exact same size. Don was proven quite wrong in his hypothesis though as forms started to come through the portal, one shaky, ginger step at a time. “Oh…,” Don gawked for just a moment as he recalibrated his brain. It seemed that instead of being about the same size as the others, Leon’s fourth brother was practically twice as big as them. With his arm slung over Leon’s shoulders it looked like Leon should have been knocked over by the weight, especially with how far he was leaning to the side. And the third figure that Don hadn’t expected at all was smothered practically out of view other than poofy hair buns on Raph’s other side. It wasn’t even that Raph was that much taller than his brothers. He was just remarkably well built for a teenager. As Raphael shook himself out of his own surprised, cautious, and wary stupor and rushed forward to help, Don started to follow his lead. But a hand quickly snaked out to snatch his arm, pulling him back to protectively hold him in place.
“Leo- What the shell?” Don hissed, incredulous bafflement in his gaze as he turned to look back at the one who’d grabbed him. This wasn’t the time to carelessly react in any manner that might make Leon wary of them again. And hinting that they might not want to help his brother now that they could see him was high on a list of possible reasons that could betray Leon’s newly given trust. Yet Don’s annoyance was placated somewhat when he saw Leo’s expression. The tense set of his jaw, and slightly widened eyes as he stared at Raph, even as there was a mild tremble smothered down in his grip. He was scared? But why?
Leo had already realized that Leon’s portals were probably just gates that breached longer distances than his hopscotch location shifting during their scuffle, so there was no shock there. Especially after Leon so casually left through one on his own instead of only using it as a weapon against others. But just because he was ready for more than just Leon to come back through that gateway didn’t mean he was ready for exactly what they looked like. The smaller, younger version of himself returned with his brother dwarfing him in size. Leo was definitely certain Raph was broader than Mikey, and only fairly certain that he was taller as well. Which wouldn’t have been alarming if it weren’t for the fact Raph was a teenager and Mikey was a full grown adult. The difference in expected size, spiked appearance, and sickly complexion brought Leo’s mind to a different explanation than common illness and injury. A memory that was still fresh in their minds despite the decade of age, and he hadn’t been able to keep himself from protectively latching onto Don to keep him nearby. He couldn’t blame Don for looking at him in borderline irritation in response. They hadn’t told him much about that event more than ten years ago, but the scar on Don’s leg was a constant reminder of it. “....Secondary mutation…,” was all Leo could bring himself to quietly breathe out in a whisper.
“Wh-....,” Don started, cutting off when the dots rapidly connected in his mind. Ever since he’d gotten ‘sick’ situations had popped up like this. Excessive protectiveness of Don in particular. The other three sharing looks and leaving him in the dark repeatedly. It was almost annoying if it wasn’t so sweet how protective his brothers had gotten towards him. Always looking out for him and taking more care when he got so much as a sniffle. But for some reason Leon’s brother was making Leo think of that incident? Was it because of the way he looked? It was the same leg, but not the same kind of injury by a long shot. So something else? Don knew that the secondary mutation in him had caused him to grow bigger than Leatherhead at the time. And Mikey had let slip once that he’d looked mean before Raphael had viciously silenced him before glancing in borderline panic at Don. They were always telling Don not to worry about it, and after some time he’d gotten tired of asking. He’d realized it was more for their sake than his that he was kept in the dark, and that no one openly talked about it. So after some time he’d just accepted being in the unknown.
Just like he’d accept Leo’s action to hold him back there with him right then. “...Okay. I understand,” Don assured, resting a hand over Leo’s grip and not making any move to pull away anymore. Leo’s expression softened into one of apologetic gratefulness before he shifted his gaze over to Raphael. He knew his second in command had had the same thought as him, so why was he so readily putting himself in harm’s way by trying to wiggle under Raph’s arm on the other side of Leon?
“Hey! Watch where you’re shoving your shell!”
An unexpected voice brought Leo’s attention to focus more closely on where Raphael was. What he originally thought was possibly just some part of an attire was actually another person, and she apparently had loud opinions about Raphael trying to push her out of the way. “Woh- My bad. Didn’t see you there little lady,” Raphael excused himself, halting his action and getting slightly out of April’s way as Leon laughed a little.
“Yeah I bet you didn’t,” April huffed, wariness over this unfamiliar lair full of strangers, and frustration about not being able to fully contribute to helping Raph making her snappy. She was doing her best to help Leon move Raph, but it was hard in the first place considering how much higher his shoulder was compared to her’s. And yet now Leon was making it worse by trying to take all the weight himself. “Leo stop trying to carry him on your own and let me help before you flare up your knee.”
“It’ll be fine. Raph needs the support more right now,” Leon retorted back.
But Raphael could see the way the kid’s steps with his left leg didn’t seem to be as stable as the ones with his right. He did have a scar running down the outside of it. The stubbornness in both of the teens made Raphael’s mouth twitch into a smile. They were so alike. And the poor charge they were fighting over seemed too distracted by pain to break them up and save them from their own ignorance.
So Raphael moved forward again to give them a different solution. “Here, let me take him,” Raphael directed, raising his hands to follow up on the offer but not try to steal Raph away from the others.
“It’s fine, I got it,” Leon huffed stubbornly, expertly shifting his weight to his right leg before his left buckled for a half a second.
The offer also broke Raph out of his pain filled haze to give a verbal response. “N- no, Raph doesn’t want to squish you,” he declined around gritted teeth and pain filled grunts. Raphael wasn’t even that much taller than Leon, and he was a stranger that Raph didn’t want to impose his family’s troubles onto more than they had to.
“Look, I can lift 140 kilos, and you’re more likely to squish these two than me. So get on, or I’m throwing you over my shoulders in a fireman carry. Got it?” Raphael responded bluntly, shifting a half step forward to show he meant it.
Raph ended up pausing his movements to stare in muddled surprise at Raphael, Leon and April following suit as though they didn’t believe what he’d said. If he actually could lift that much then it would be a better idea to let him carry Raph. But then again they didn’t know anyone that could do that other than Lil Mikey, so it was hard to take him up on his offer so quickly. Their internal debate ended up being too long for Raphael though, and he shifted forward to follow through on his warning.
“Wait be careful with his leg!” Leon blurted in a rush as Raphael hooked a hand under Raph’s arm and rolled his back into Raph’s torso while pulling him carefully but firmly forward. On reflex Raph let go of April and Leon, flinging his arms around Raphael’s shoulders and letting out a startled, wavering half yell as Raphael scooped him up onto his back effortlessly.
“YOOOO! Raph! You’re actually getting picked up!” Leon cheered in disbelief, skipping sideways around them to get a better look as Raphael secured his hold around Raph’s thighs and started walking forward. The kid’s grip around Raphael’s shoulders was tight, and borderline choking, but other than giving a mild grunt Raphael ignored it. It seemed that Raph just wasn’t used to being picked up anymore.
“Dude! I thought you were just bluffing to look good,” April admitted, adding her own laugh to Leon’s and pulling her phone out to snap a photo. “How does it feel to finally be the one carried big guy?”
Despite being in a secure grip as far as he could tell, Raph just let out an uneasy whimper, remaining completely stiff aside from his broken leg. Raphael could only grunt once again in response to Leon and April’s comments, covering the remaining distance to the surgery table quickly now that Raph was completely off the ground. “He’s not heavy. Just big,” Raphael huffed after a moment, carefully turning to scoot Raph onto the surgical table once he reached it and giving Raph’s uninjured leg a pat to let him know it was safe to let go.
Chuckling softly at the other’s antics, and briefly catching sight of Leon’s questioning look at them, Don gave Leo’s hand a pat of his own before he leaned away to attempt to address the others once again. He was pleasantly surprised when Leo let him go, albeit somewhat reluctantly. Instead he forced himself to try to be at least somewhat useful and started to tug Raph’s arms away from Raphael so he could get free and step away.
Skirting around the others, Don stopped next to Leon. “Hey Leo, what kind of turtle are you two?” he asked casually, pulling his phone out once more to look them up.
“Huh? Uh… red eared slider and alligator snapper. Why?” Leon answered, raising a brow in confusion at the seemingly random question.
“Just want to make sure there aren’t any unknowns that I miss. Lil Mike was the one who helped us with Donnie, but I like to do a little research on my own as well. I’m only used to treating box turtles before you guys,” Don answered, searching the two named species in his phone quickly. At least that part was true, and a question he would have asked regardless of how the others felt. This time the information just helped answer two question topics instead of just one. Yet when the images of the alligator snapper turtles pulled up he couldn’t help raise his brow slightly in surprise. And just to help reassure Leo, he nudged his brother and held the phone for him to see, getting a similar surprised reaction. “Well, that explains his size and your red markings,” Don commented with a mild chuckle. It was interesting that there was a suggestion that Leo’s mutation had moved his markings from his ears to his eyes.
“Pretty cool, huh?” Leon asked, raising his chin proudly and resting a flattened hand under it as though displaying a prize. The motion earned a snicker from both Raph and April, the former being a little more able to respond now that sharp pain wasn’t constantly shooting up his leg.
“Yeah,” Don chuckled as well, happy to see that Leo apparently liked the way he looked. “Has he always been this big?” he asked, nodding a head towards Raph and skimming through articles for alligator snappers like he did before for softshells.
“Pff, well no, of course not. He fit in a tea cup when he was a baby, just like the rest of us. Though out of the four of us he has always been the biggest,” Leon answered with a snort and slight eye roll. The mirth faded slightly as a thought crossed his mind, and he turned his gaze to watch Don more closely. “...Why?” It was odd. Leon didn’t know what Raph’s size had to do with anything about taking care of his leg and fever, and the questions were starting to feel like Don was digging for a specific answer. It was enough of a growing thought in Leon’s mind that he ended up folding his arms, eyes narrowing slightly after Don looked up to meet his gaze, doing his own visual analysis.
Seeing the slight hint that Leo was becoming suspicious of him, Don figured he could be blunt this time. “Leo and Raph were concerned that your Raph was infected with a secondary mutagen that would turn him into a monstrous form of himself. I was just asking to reassure them that wasn’t the case, but I wasn’t sure how you’d react if I just asked that aloud right from the start,” Don admitted with a slight shrug, slipping his phone away once more as he completed his research and turning to start checking Raph over visually first.
“Say what now?” April blurted, unimpressed as her eyes slid over to Leo, and then Raph.
Leon just raised a tight grip to his upper arms, randomly pressing his fingers into his skin to keep him from falling back into his own uncomfortable memories. The disgusting pink flesh curling around Raph’s form, distorting his appearance. Lil Mikey’s cry of ‘what did you do to my brother?’ ringing in his head along with the other voice being quick to follow. He ended up shaking the sound from his thoughts to replace it with Leo's response.
“We were just being cautious. I’m sorry. It’s an incident that brings up a lot of bad memories for us, and I didn’t want you guys to get caught off guard like we were,” Leo apologized quickly, waving his hands slightly before averting his gaze sheepishly and rubbing the back of his head. They hadn’t been prepared at all back then, which resulted in some desperate moves being made and people getting hurt. But if they could catch it early then the others wouldn’t have had to go through the same stress. Though that was also just logic to back up Leo’s reaction primarily being driven by not wanting to see Don get infected again somehow.
“He sure doesn’t seem worried,” April pointed out, jerking her thumb towards Don as he was very gently touching the white bandages covering Raph’s leg. Even now Don seemed to be the only one of the three that wasn’t wary in the least bit.
“That’s because I was the one mutated, so I don’t remember any of it,” Don explained, once again lacking any filter on his words. The response caused April to still considerably, concern pinching her brow as she uncomfortably shifted her gaze to Leon. She hadn’t been thinking that it had been one of the new set of brothers that had been mutated. She and her brothers had dealt with so many mutated humans after all.
After guessing as well as he could about how much damage there was without removing the wrappings Don turned to Leon, breaking off the previous topic for one that was more important. “Do you want to go get washed up? Leo can show you where the sink and soap are. I’ll join you after talking with everyone else about what will probably happen.”
“Oh- uh… sure?” Leon nodded brokenly, the question and comments helping to pull him away from spiraling again. There was a lot to unpack with the partial bombshell Don half dropped so casually. On both sides. It left an uncomfortable taint in the air that caused Raph to reach over and rest a hand on April’s shoulder in reassurance. Don was right though, the questions on both sides could be addressed later, or never depending on who was asked. But right now they had to take care of Raph, so Leon turned to head towards where he was directed. As his mind was redirected back to taking care of Raph his hands started fidgeting on his arms in anxious excitement rather than grounding.
“...It’s this way,” Leo directed, holding a hand out to Leon and resting it on Leon’s back after he passed to gently lead him towards the sinks. He was still feeling a little sullen, but forcing himself to focus on the task at hand was helping. And he ended up giving a soft huff of amusement as he looked to Leon. “Don must be impressed with your medical knowledge. He never lets the rest of us other than Leatherhead help directly with this kind of stuff.”
The comment caught Leon slightly off guard. And while initially he flourished under the praise, his worries put his pride in check. Glancing over his shoulder to see if the others were paying attention to them, Leon let out a weak chuckle before looking back. “Heheh. I’m probably not as good as he thinks I am. I’ve never done anything like this before. What if I screw it up?” He hadn’t meant to ask that question, especially not to an almost stranger. But it slipped out while he was practically rambling.
“You’ll be fine,” Leo assured quickly, also surprised that Leon seemed to be confiding in him a little. He’d thought Leon wouldn’t like him much considering how he’d acted towards him so far. “You might not have done this before, but Don has. And I think he did a great job, I forget it even happened most of the time,” he continued, raising his arm so Leon could see the scar running down the outer length of it.
Looking at Leo’s arm, it took Leon a second to realize what he was trying to say with the gesture. Squinting slightly, Leon gave a small huff in hesitant understanding. “Dude, you popped your bone out of your arm? I can’t even tell. It looks like you just got a big scratch that scarred over.”
“Well I didn’t do it, but yeah it was a good break,” Leo corrected, not wanting it to seem like he’d been doing something recklessly stupid to get his arm broken. “Don fixed me up really well, even though he was apparently just as anxious as you are now. So I’m sure you’ll do fine, kid. That’s why you brought him here, yeah? For help?”
The questions cause Leon to pause, considering what Leo said and why it struck him as not being a lie. When he’d gone to fetch Raph he’d had the thought of fixing his leg on his own, just with better equipment. But, maybe after talking with Don about the care his other two brothers had gotten he sort of hoped that he would get help. Somewhere in the back of his mind he relished the idea of having a mentor of sorts. If he even dared call Don that. Don was definitely older and therefore more experienced. But that didn’t necessarily mean he had a license. Not like either of them could get a nursing license anyway.
“Well…,” Leon started, pushing himself back to answer the questions. “You guys did help my other brothers. And didn’t hurt me even though I tried to hurt you. So… I guess… yeah,” he broke off pathetically, not quite comfortable enough with the others to be any more open than he’d already been. He did appreciate their help already. But it was weird. Having adults that were capable and didn’t want to hurt, use, or manipulate them. Hueso was the only one Leon could think of at the moment who never wanted to harm them, but he only ever fed them or scolded them fondly like an exasperated uncle.
Watching Leon start to close off from him, the slight hunch of his shoulders and absent gaze, Leo’s brows furrowed for a moment before he huffed a small laugh. “Sure kid. I get it,” he assured, reaching up to pat Leon on the head. He knew what it was like to not be able to trust others. To have to figure everything out between just five people. At one point only one adult and four children. He couldn’t blame Leon for being scared, and defensive. But he could show him that they could rely on him and his brothers while they were there. So that’s what he was going to do. “Just so you know, feel free to ask us for anything you’re comfortable with. We understand what it’s like to be alone,” Leo assured quietly before he directed Leon’s attention towards the sink. “This is the soap Don uses to clean up before doing any open surgery. You’ll have to scrub for a few minutes, and Don will be by after he’s finished with the others to explain everything in more detail.”
Notes:
hello from the other siiiiide~ /smacked 8'D I'm currently in another country for vacation and squeezed this out during down time. Which also means I'm drawing in a completely different way than I'm used to and some stuff might be wonky in both art and writing |D
Thanks for you patience and understanding X'D
Chapter 23: A Fellow Connoisseur
Chapter Text
After Leo took Leon to where the sink was, Don turned his attention fully to Raph and April. “Hey, Raphie. How are you feeling?” he asked, resting his hands on Raph’s knees and ignoring the way Raphael’s nose wrinkled and head pulled back at the nickname.
“Uhhh… okay,” Raph responded, nervous and semi distracted from looking around the room. Leon had said Donnie and Lil Mikey would be in the same room they were going to, so he wanted to see them for himself. They were a little distance away, but not far. Two of the beds on the opposite side of the room cradled their sleeping forms, and while they looked a little banged up their slumber still looked peaceful. Glancing down he saw that April had noticed them too, but still chose to stay by his side. Having scooted up onto the table next to Raph, April protectively wrapped her arms around his forearm to offer comfort for both of them.
“Considering your leg is broken and you look like you have a fever, that’s a really nice answer to hear,” Don chuckled, not minding April’s presence at all. “Aside from your leg hurting, can you tell me how you feel? Does anything else hurt? Are you cold? Was that a shiver?”
The questions came quickly, and Raph felt his brain break off into clouded static as they continued to be thrown at him. Watching Raph’s expression blank out, Raphael had to chuckle before resting a hand on Don’s shoulder to remind him to slow down. Thankfully Don obediently snapped his mouth shut to give Raph a chance to respond. “Yeah… a little cold. Head hurts a little too, but not bad. Mostly just my leg.”
“Okay, that’s not too bad then. It sounds like you probably have an infection, so if Leo doesn’t already have you on antibiotics we’ll add some to the saline IV once we get that started on you,” Don spoke gently, keeping his hands on Raph’s knees and rubbing slightly. “I’ll also have Raph - my brother- fetch a heated blanket for when we’re done. It shouldn’t take too long, but unfortunately it’ll still be longer than taking care of Mikey’s shoulder. About three to four hours. Are you going to be okay to lay still for that long? My brothers and father can keep you company.”
It was a little disorienting, hearing what Leon usually told him coming from someone else. And the mention of Lil Mikey having needed surgery before too was alarming. But Raph tried to keep that in the back for now. His job was to behave, and let people take care of him. He had to remind himself of that as he nodded at the question. “Yeah, I can do that…. Can April stay with me?” He didn’t want to be alone. Leon would be there, but he would be busy, and Raph wanted someone he could hug if he needed to.
“You bet I’m staying, big guy. They couldn’t force me to leave even if they wanted to,” April spoke up, her tone leaving no room for discussion.
Raphael had to snicker as one side of his suspicions for who April was were confirmed. He couldn’t figure out if she were the other dimension’s April, or Angel, her mannerisms being so fiery compared to Mom April. And being a kid herself, she obviously didn’t have kids of her own, so that was another difference from their dimension’s April. He hadn’t been expecting their version of April to be close to the same age as the brothers, but he was glad to see that she seemed just as emotionally close to them. If not more. He didn’t think Mom April had ever called them brothers. She was usually joking with Master Splinter about them being her kids.
Don could only snicker at the response too, and nod in agreement. “Sure, April can stay. And if either of your other brothers wake up and want to come over before we’re done they can stay too.”
It was calming to hear that, and Raph’s nerve stilled slightly at the reassurance.
When Don saw that Raph didn’t have additional questions, he continued to explain what would happen. “Your brother Leo will be helping fix you up, so you can ask him anything you want during the surgery. We’ll just be behind a curtain so you don’t have to see anything scary, and your whole leg below your knee will be numbed up. We’ll get your bones straightened back out, and secured in place with some titanium plates that we can remove later if you want. Then we’ll get the wound all cleaned and stitched up, and move you to the other beds to get some rest. Does that sound okay?”
It sounded simple enough, and Raph was grateful Don didn’t give him any more details than that. He didn’t need to know how they were going to set his bones back into place. Just that they were. “Yeah, I’ll be okay,” Raph nodded, trying not to be too nervous. Four hours was a long time to have someone messing with the inside of his leg, but with the others there he tried to be confident it would pass quickly.
“Great!” Don chimed, giving Raph another pat. “I’m going to follow Leo to get washed up then. We’ll be back soon. And Raph will stay here with you.” he informed, waiting for another nod from Raph and April before he headed to the sinks.
Once Don was away, April looked directly at Raphael. “What happened to my other brothers?” she demanded, keeping her voice level but firm.
Raphael had his brows raise in brief surprise, but then gave a slight grin folding his arms slightly. “...How old are you?” he asked instead, aiming to cater his answer based on how well he thought she could handle the information.
“Eighteen,” April answered quickly.
“A highschooler?” Raphael asked for clarification.
“College,” April corrected.
“Oh, congrats,” Raphael responded easily, taking a seat on the nearby stool once more and resting his hands on his knees. “They’re doing alright, just worn out. We had a little run in with a crazy scientist that roughed them up and poisoned them, but they’ve already been given the antidote several hours ago. Lil Mike also got caught in some crossfire, so Don and Leatherhead took the bullet out of his arm when we got back. And Lil Donnie is recovering from a bit of blood loss, but Lil Leo seems to think he’ll be fine after his ‘reboot nap’,” he explained, repeating the term Leon had used.
“Mikey got shot?!” Raph blurted, his level of concern immediately maxing out as he shifted anxiously. If he hadn’t already resigned himself to stay put before now he would have been on his feet and off to check on his littlest brother.
But Raphael was quick to raise his hands to reinforce keeping him where he was. “Yes, but it’s already taken care of. Other than keeping the bandages clean and letting him sleep there’s nothing more any of us can do,” he assured.
“Want me to go check on them?” April asked, a little quieter as she looked up to Raph. She personally wanted to check on them, but she also didn’t want to leave Raph alone if that ended up making him feel worse. He did ask for her to stay there earlier, but at her question he gave a worried nod. “Okay, I’ll be right back,” April assured, giving Raph’s arm a pat before wiggling off the table to head towards Lil Mikey. Leon had laid Lil Mikey on his back when he’d tucked him in, but Lil Mikey had already rolled over on his belly, face squished into the pillow he was hugging with one arm. His injured arm was limp next to him, and when April reached over to slowly rub his back a few times he drew a deep sigh of content as he smiled softly in his sleep.
Grinning slightly, April huffed a quiet laugh before she reluctantly pulled her hand away and quietly headed over to Donnie. She didn’t want to wake them, but it was hard not to touch them after everything. When she reached Donnie she noticed he seemed only slightly less peaceful than Lil Mikey, but also wasn’t a fitful rest. Resting a hand on his cheek earned a tiny noise from him as he wiggled his fingers barely far enough out of the blanket to grab onto her arm, and rolled into her hand. April chuckled again, grateful that the stress seemed to smooth a little more from Donnie’s features from the contact. She stayed where she was just a little longer so she didn’t wake him by moving too much in too short of time, but then reluctantly pulled away to be able to report back to Raph.
Clambering back up to Raph’s side, April confidently hugged his arm again. “They’re okay. But I’m sure they’ll love a snuggle buddy once you and Leo are done,” she assured once she was comfortable again. She didn’t have to say much more than that for Raph to know how his brother’s were doing. They were safe, but they probably still had some emotional distress they needed to get rid of.
They weren’t able to get any more conversation off before the other three returned, Leon and Don having sterile gowns on and gloves, and Leo keeping his distance from them. “Eyyyy Raphie, I heard Donasaurus gave you the rundown. You up for laying down and getting fixed up now? We’re ready when you are,” Leon chimed, his light steps and finger guns towards Raph betraying his bubbling excitement.
The new nickname for Don from Leon caused Raphael to snort and choke on his breath, letting out a mix between a laugh and a short series of coughs. “W-what?” he laughed, looking over to Don, who could only give a soft sigh.
“He found out I really like dinosaurs,” Don offered as an explanation, both embarrassed and mildly amused, letting Raphael suffer in his smothered laughter.
Raph gave a small chuckle at Leon’s enthusiasm, and tried to keep his anxiety from bubbling up again. “You seem excited,” he commented, trying to divert the attention away from himself.
“Course I’m excited. This has got to be the coolest thing I’ve done in my life so far. I’m sure something will top it eventually, but for now I’m going to revel in the experience,” Leon admitted lightly, coming to stand in front of Raph. “Plus I get to help my big brother feel better. How could I not be excited?”
The comment earned varying types of chuckles from the others, and Raph’s shoulders relaxed a little more once again. “Okay. Raph’s ready,” he agreed with a nod.
With some shuffling around they were able to get Raph laying on his back on the surgery table, having to adjust it to fit him better. April scooted to sit at his head, her lap acting as an extra pillow for now, until she got tired from sitting in one place and needed to move. And as the curtain was pinned up to obscure Raph’s lower half, Raphael scooted the stool over and leaned on his elbows, finally asking the question that had been in his mind for a while now. “So kid… you like wrestling?”
The way Raph’s eyes lit up at the mention of the performance sport, a deep gasp pausing his answer, caused Raphael’s mouth to spread into a huge smile. Oh yeah. Finally someone with taste. “Have you heard of Ghostbear?” Raph asked, almost in awe having someone ask him about wrestling.
“Nope. But tell me aaaaall about him,” Raphael admitted with a chuckle, making himself comfortable for the retellings Raph would get into. April could only give a grateful laugh, mildly surprised that it would be that easy to keep Raph distracted and watching him babble on with fondness. What started as enthusiastic retellings of their favorite wrestling matches ended up becoming show and tell as Raph remembered he had a few videos downloaded to his phone. They couldn’t look up anything he didn’t have, but it was still enough to get Raphael cheering along with him, wincing at some of the moves, and laughing at the hype. The videos from Raph just motivated them looking up more videos online, which made the hours pass easily. Eventually April had to wiggle out from under the pillow, but she still remained next to Raph as he and Raphael continued to gush about their favorite sport.
Chapter 24: Breakfast Stew
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Working on Raph’s leg with Don was a fascination that left Leon grinning constantly behind his surgical mask. He’d seen so many videos, but those didn’t compare to the real thing. And with Don there almost all of the stress of the procedure was gone. Pushing back the muscle, clamping it in place, using saline to clean the wound and critically inspect it for residual debris. All the while Don was calmly talking him through the steps, letting Leon learn at the same time. It took hours to get the injury clean, stabilized, packed with antibiotics, and wrapped up, but Leon hardly noticed. Even the enthusiastic chatter beyond the curtain couldn’t distract him from Don’s directions.
“Aaaand we’re done,” Don’s concluding comment came as soon as Leon secured the final bandage wrapping in place. It was such a stark contrast from before to have the clean, beige colored bindings around Raph’s now straight leg, but Leon was mostly feeling like they hadn’t spent nearly enough time to fix that mess.
“Wait- really?” Leon asked, gaze snapping up to look at Don.
Don could only chuckle, having been incredibly impressed by Leon’s single minded focus the entire time. He was hardly surprised at the question now. “Yes- But! Let’s clean up everything else before we pull the curtain down. Okay?” he confirmed, reaching out a hand to block Leon from snatching the curtain excitedly, then gesturing to the bloodied mess of tools around them.
“O’oh… Right,” Leon laughed weakly, the mess fully registering in his mind now as he looked around. It could have been a lot worse, but it would probably still be alarming for others to see. At least it didn’t take too long to clean up the area. The tools and other bloodied items were placed in a bin to take back to the sinks to be washed and sterilized. Then the areas that couldn’t be moved easily were wiped down with antiseptic soaked cloths, and their surgical coverings taken off. Only then did Don give Leon the go ahead to pull the curtain back.
Beaming with an excited smile, Leon poked his head around to look at the others. “Hey Raphie,” he beckoned, noting how April was dozing like a cat curled up around Raph’s head as he and Raphael were a little more quietly watching movies on a tablet Leo had fetched for them.
“Yeah?” Raph asked immediately, shifting his gaze over to Leon. He was exhausted, it was easy to tell. But Leon was expecting that considering none of them had really had proper sleep in the past day and more.
Flinging the curtain aside with a dramatic flair, keeping it held out of the way, Leon beamed proudly. “All done!” he chimed.
Raph took a moment to fully register what Leon was showing him, but then twitched into a half sit up with a small gasp. “Ohmigosh, Raph’s okay!” Raph hushed, sitting up fully and awkwardly jerking his still numb leg towards himself. “I hardly noticed. That’s amazing Leo!”
The movement roused April fully out of her dose, and she quickly oriented herself with a glance around before focusing on the bandages as well. “Woah! Heeeyy lookit that big guy!” April added to the cheers, wrapping her arms around Raph’s bicep and shaking him a little.
“Heheee,” Leon chuckled, rubbing his nose and basking in the praise. “Just be careful still. You still shouldn’t walk on it, so we’ll have to find some crutches for you. How are you feeling?”
“...Mostly just hungry now,” Raph admitted, giving a sheepish smile. His leg didn’t hurt, he couldn’t even feel it. And the medicine and IV fluids helped the fever and rest of his aches. Now he just needed to fill his empty stomach. And probably get some sleep. “And sleepy,” he added, ending up causing himself to yawn after voicing the feeling.
“That’s good. We’ll see about getting you to a bed, and get some food for you,” Leon chuckled, ignoring his own stomach protesting its gaping emptiness.
“Allow me to be of assistance with that.”
The new voice caused the three newest visitors to whip their heads towards the entrance of the infirmary where Leatherhead and Mikey were entering with trays full of food in various dishes. Leatherhead had been the one to speak, and definitely caught the teens’ attention.
“WOAH!” April blurted.
“Ohmigosh you’re STILL SO COOL!” Leon gushed, being kept in place only by politeness and his irritated knee. He remembered Leatherhead from when he first got there, but he hadn’t been able to appropriately address him then.
“Ohhhhh…. You’re bigger than Raph is,” Raph noted, a coo very similar to Lil Mikey’s leaving his mouth as his eyes also shined with awe.
Leatherhead could only chuckle in mildly confused embarrassment, not used to people being drawn to him favorably in any manner. Normally people were either scared of him, or aggressive towards him. It was a lovely change, even if he wasn’t sure how to handle it.
“Sounds like we have perfect timing. Who’s ready for… well I guess it’s breakfast now, huh?” Mikey chimed in, laughing at the kids’ antics towards their friend. They must not be used to seeing a crocodile mutant. “I was starting to get worried all my work was gonna go to waste. I had to warm it back up,” Mikey chuckled, pausing at an unmarked distance away from the surgery area. He’d been scolded too many times by Don for bringing food where surgery was done.
“You wanna get the kid this time, Leatherhead? I can take the food,” Raphael offered, getting to his feet to take the tray. He could easily lift Raph, but he still understood it would probably be more comfortable for him if someone the same size or bigger than him picked him up.
“It would be my pleasure,” Leatherhead agreed, letting Raphael take the tray before approaching the others and kneeling in front of them. “My apologies for not introducing myself sooner. Normally I assist Donatello with surgery, but as the role was already sufficiently fulfilled I didn’t want to crowd. My name is Leatherhead. Am I correct in assuming you two are also known as Raphael and Leonardo?”
“Pff- yeah, but, Leo is fine,” Leon huffed with a smile, mildly uncomfortable with the use of his full name. “Or Nardo as Donnie likes to say. Leon. Face man. Anything but my full name. I feel like I’m in trouble.”
The response ended up earning a snicker from Raphael, giving Leo a nudge as he brought up the rear with another tray of food. “There’s a welcome change,” he teased, earning a slight glare from Leo.
“Wait- did I hear that right? Face man?” Mikey asked, excitement bubbling under the surface.
“Well yeah. Who else would you put in the front but the one with the best looks,” Leon confirmed, framing his face with his hands and raising his chin with a dashing smile.
The flaunting earned snickers from April, and a fond smile from Raph. But Raphael let out a loud honk laugh as Leo’s expression scrunched in disoriented confusion. “Oh my gosh, it’s like Leo and I got spliced!” Mikey laughed, beaming from ear to ear. “I like this Leo. I like him a lot.”
As the others messed around a little, Leatherhead looked back to April to finish introductions before he moved Raph. “May I ask your name, little miss?”
Giving a chuckle at how polite Leatherhead was, April nodded, reaching her hand out for a handshake. “Sure. April O’Neil. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Leatherhead.”
The response was mildly surprising, and Leatherhead chuckled as he gently took her hand. “The pleasure is all mine, Miss O’Neil.”
“You’re remarkably well adjusted to… all of this,” Leo admitted, rolling his head at everything since his hands were full.
“Well yeah, it’s pretty much normal for me,” April answered. “I’ve known these guys since I was eight, we grew up together. And things just kept getting crazier and crazier as we got older. Dimension hopping is probably up there with finding out we had a whole hidden city under New York. It’s just another place to go.” She gave a shrug, scooting out of the way as Leatherhead scooped Raph up after getting permission to do so from him while she had been talking to Leo.
“Oh… I see,” Leo blinked, having so many answers to unasked questions in his head given. That explained a lot about all of their behavior. “Do they… walk around on the surface then? Among people?”
“Uhhh no… Not really. We still stick to non populated areas just in case. But if we do get caught we just pretend we’re going to a science convention and they’re all dressed up in cosplay,” April explained, trying to converse with Leo but inevitably getting distracted again. “Hang on, I gotta get pics of this too,” she excused, digging her phone out of her dress pocket and scooting off the table.
Unlike the last time he’d been picked up Raph had no fear of squishing the one carrying him, and therefore was much less tense. Leatherhead had scooped him up under his knees and back, and Raph could only tuck his hands close to his chest as a big smile squished his cheeks. It was a foreign feeling, but it was actually kind of nice. Just being slung around so gently. Moving somewhere without having to go there himself. It was bringing back faint memories of Splinter carrying him to bed a very long time ago, and he felt he could understand now why his little brothers loved to climb on him so much.
“Gosh, picked up twice in one day. You’re gonna get spoiled here Raph,” Leon laughed, squeezing in next to Raph to beam a smile at the camera as April took a picture of them. Looking down at the short she got, April had to coo a little at the adorable smile and tiny wave Raph had given her. He really was enjoying himself. “You can put him with Mikey,” Leon directed, guiding Leatherhead over to where Lil Mikey was drooling on the pillow.
Notes:
I rushed a lil on the last bits of the pic so I could get it up today X'D So excuse if there are missing details |D
This was my first time drawing a crocodile face, and Leatherhead ended up looking like a nice grandpa to me X'DD oh well, I wanted him to look softer.
Chapter 25: The Last Patient
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
“Did you get hurt at all?” Don asked, coming up next to April while keeping an eye on Leon as they got Raph situated and passed him a bowl of the chicken stew Mikey had made.
“No, Raph kept me protected while we were getting flung around. I got a little nauseous from the trip, but that went away a long time ago,” April assured, thanking Mikey when he pressed a bowl of stew into her hands as well. It smelled amazing to her empty stomach influenced nose, and she eagerly stuffed a spoonful in her mouth.
“That’s good. Take it easy now, and feel free to ask if you need anything,” Don breathed a small sigh of relief, glad to hear that there weren’t going to be any more injury surprises. That just left one last patient, which caused Don to hold up a hand to refuse the bowl Mikey was pushing his way. “Not now Mikey, I need to check on Le-”
“Hey did you take Donnie’s contacts out?” Leon suddenly blurted around a mouthful of stew, his form leaning against the bed Lil Mikey and Raph were both on now, left leg crossed over the right to remove all weight from it.
Don flinched in surprise at the sudden question, but also mild annoyance at the distraction. It was like Leon knew he was going to address him now, and it looked like Leon was going to take a lot more convincing to pull him out of taking care of everyone else first. But… he did have a point. The battle shell wasn’t a good thing to wear while sleeping, but neither were contacts. “Uhh…. no. I didn’t know he had them, and didn’t think to check,” Don admitted with a semi relenting sigh.
“No problem, I got it,” Leon shrugged, setting the bowl down and teleporting over to Donnie in a flit of ninpo, ignoring Don’s eyes narrowing slightly. As Leon delicately crouched next to Donnie’s battle shell that had been left by the foot of the bed, Don watched in very mild fascination as he expertly manipulated it to open a small compartment. A small click, and shift of one of the panels. It was one of the upper compartments though, so despite being free from its latch the door still got caught on a mildly damaged part, not open enough to fit any fingers in. But it ended up being easy to remedy as Leon just gave it a good smack with his fist to get it to pop open completely. A bottle of contact solution and glasses case were removed from the device, and a smaller case for the contacts was pulled from the belt before he stood and scooted onto the bed. Leaning over Donnie, Leon lifted his brother’s eyelids with one finger and plucked the contacts out with ease that betrayed familiarity in the action. The contacts were then dropped into their case filled with cleaning solution before being put on the nightstand nearby. And then the glasses case was set next to Donnie’s head as he squirmed in his sleep to get comfortable again after getting poked at, with Leon sitting back in content.
“There we go,” Leon hummed, pushing himself back to his feet in satisfaction, ready to return to the other bed to finish his food.
Yet before he could move Don’s forearm was pushing against his chest, firmly shoving him back onto the bed and holding him there as Don’s other hand latched onto his shoulder.
“Wha- Hey!” Leon protested, reaching up to push back against Don while also bodily leaning forward. “What’s the big ide-”
“Is there anything else critically life threatening with your brothers?” Don interrupted, leaning forward slightly to use his weight to counter Leon’s and keep Leon in place.
“What? No! At least… I don’t think so,” Leon sputtered, confusion flashing across his features that quickly became uneasy. “Are you implying-”
But Don cut off that train of thought quickly as well, resorting to rude insistence to break Leon’s current mentality focusing on everyone but himself. “Then it’s your turn.”
The words caused Leon to flinch, reflexively turning his head slightly to hide the bandage on the back of it from Don’s view, his gaze shifting away. “What are you talking about? I’m fi-” he huffed, an automatic reaction spilling from his mouth before he could fully consider it.
“No. It’s. Your. Turn. Leon,” Don insisted, giving Leon a little nudge with his arm to reinforce the punctuated statement and ignoring Mikey’s snickered comment about how strange it was to see Don on the lecturing end of that situation.
Leon’s expression towards him was irritated at first, but after a moment of letting the facts sink in, and for Leon to start to accept what Don was saying, his expression started to soften. Along with it his body stopped pushing against Don’s arm, his form very slowly relaxing as the cool down part of his medic mind started to kick in. His brothers were safe. Their wounds were dressed, their needs taken care of. April was fine too. No one else needed his help. It was his turn now to have his injuries addressed. He was now at the top of the list of the ones that needed care. He knew that earlier, he just wasn’t used to someone else being there. He’d been so easily hardwired into thinking he had to wait for Donnie to wake up to help him. Normally Donnie was the backup, and the one to give a second opinion and make sure Leon didn’t ignore what was inconvenient or scary. He wasn’t used to there being a third medic.
“I-...” Leon gaped, words failing him as he tried to somehow respond. Half formed mental lectures of disappointment from his family filling his mind. Lectures that he ended up half responding to. “Sorry. I’m not… This is…” His voice trailed, unsure of how to put the situation into words since it was so far outside his expectations.
“...You’re not used to having someone look after you?” Don pointed out, chuckling slightly when Leon blinked, then gave a small nod. “It’s okay. I get it,” Don assured, familiar with the feeling. Before Leatherhead had started helping it had only been him after all. Just his own hands and the internet to try and fix whatever disasters his brothers managed to bring on themselves. He felt fairly certain Leon was in the same position. “I got you. Just take it easy now.”
It was strange to hear. Having someone tell him they would take care of him in this situation. Not asking for him to walk them through it. Expecting him to be the doctor and patient. It was strange, but also strangely nice. The words were becoming a soothing balm on Leon’s mind as they repeated in his head. He could just be taken care of this time. He’d seen what Don could do firsthand. And heard what he knew and did for his brothers. It would be okay. Leon could feel the pushed back exhaustion starting to roll into him again, and his knee and head throbbed with painful awareness as he sagged into the mattress, reluctantly relenting to his role as patient. “.... Yeah…. Okay,” he agreed, a little quietly.
Grateful that Leon was cooperating now, albeit awkwardly, Don just gave him a smile that was quickly growing in fondness as he dragged the nearby stool over to sit in front of him. He already had a small flashlight in his belt pouch, having been intending to check Leon over since they had finished with Raph, and raised it now to pass over Leon’s eyes. “Concussion?” he asked, watching Leon’s pupils as the lad blinked and squinted slightly.
“....Yeah,” Leon admitted, a little reluctantly. “Just a small one… I think.” He wasn’t sure how muddled his banged brain actually was, so just expressed what he thought the answer was. Don sounded like he’d known that for a while now, and was just asking Leon because he knew Leon had the medical knowledge to understand the symptoms. Leon was grateful Don hadn’t shoved him on bedrest immediately, and still let him help with Raph. But it also explained why Don had seemed to be keeping an eye on him as well during the procedure. The care and expressed trust was enough to motivate Leon to offer a little more about what he knew of his condition without having to be asked. “April disinfected the head scrape. But it could probably use a bandage change now. And…” he paused, pursing his lips for a moment before willing himself to admit what he’d been denying and brushing off earlier. “My knee really hurts.”
Don’s smile was quick to show his gratitude for Leon’s cooperation, appreciating the information Leon provided that confirmed his earlier suspicions. And he could only give a soft, sympathetic chuckle at Leon’s comment about his knee, moving a hand to momentarily rest on his cheek in comfort. “Old injury flaring up?” he asked quietly.
Giving a slightly hesitant nod, Leon absently rubbed the offending joint. “I have a brace at home that helps. But I… couldn’t really grab it,” Leon admitted, puffing his cheek slightly in irritability. He hated having to have a brace in the first place. It was such an annoyance. At least if he lost his glasses he could still function relatively well without them. But his stupid knee liked to throw a tantrum when it was ignored, or the weather changed, or he walked too much. He hated it.
Yet Don didn’t seem to think any less of him for needing the support. “I see. Mikey has ankle braces too for that reason. And I have a brace for my whole arm,” he admitted, giving a wide grin, reassuring Leon that he wasn’t the only one that had to deal with old joint injuries. “We usually use heat therapy with Mikey, does that work with you?” he asked, just to be sure. He wasn’t surprised Leon’s knee was hurting that much, he’d noticed it was getting worse in the middle of fixing Raph’s leg but had only filed it away in his mind to keep an eye on him. It was easy to tell Leon had been favoring not using his left leg even then, and the fact he teleported to Donnie just now made it obvious the pain had gotten bad.
The way Don talked about recurring pain from old injuries as though it were no different than brushing teeth was surprising, but it also helped Leon feel less self conscious about it. He and his brothers all had to deal with some part of their bodies having chronic pain now, but they had always kept it fairly quiet. Not really talking about it other than to ask for help getting the remedy. It was as though discussing the results of the events that caused the injuries would crack open the well of emotions none of them were ready to deal with again just yet. But there Don was, casually chatting about them as though they were common dinner table topics. It caused a small smile to return as Leon nodded, giving a small, hesitant chuckle. “Yeah… Donnie and I have a bunch of heat packs around the lair, and it kind of sucks when it snows. It feels like we never have enough, and then dad yells at us for having the heater on too high until he realizes why,” he laughed lightly, feeling like old wounds in his heart were healing somewhat with the words. It gave him a mild rush of relief that caused him to keep talking a little more. “Mikey ends up stealing all the ice packs instead, the heat just makes his arms feel worse when they’re flaring up. And Raph switches between the two.”
It was a little concerning to hear that all of these kids had some sort of chronic pain they were apparently dealing with, but Don was grateful for the openness and glad to see the subtle change in Leon’s demeanor. It was easy to sit quietly and listen to the mild ramble, and Don had to chuckle when Leon mentioned their dad complaining about the heater being on too high. He was pretty sure Master Splinter would scold them too if they tried that. Being covered in fur definitely changed someone’s heat tolerance.
It didn’t seem like there were any other injuries that Leon hadn’t noticed on himself, so Don shifted to stand up again. “We’ll collect the electric heat pads that we have to make sure you guys have access to them too then. The ice packs will have to stay in the freezer though,” he assured with a chuckle, reaching out to give Leon a small head pat and rub as he stood up fully. “I’ll get you some tylenol, one of the heat pads, a compression brace for later, and change the bandage on your head. Just stay here and take it easy now, okay?”
“Okay,” Leon chimed in response, kicking his non achy leg in content and finding it easy to comply now. When Don left to get the items, April took her chance to bring Leon’s bowl of stew back to him, passing it over with a grin as she plopped onto the bed next to him and leaned against his side. She had been there for Raph while he was getting taken care of, so she felt her role as big sister was needed once more for her other brother. And he seemed pleased with the decision too, his feet bobbing happily as they wordlessly stuffed more food in their mouths. It wasn’t like what Lil Mikey cooked at all, missing some subtle flavors. But it was still tasty, and they had to chuckle when Mikey assured Raph that he could have seconds, thirds and fourths if he wanted.
The atmosphere of the infirmary was starting to feel lighter as the teens staved off their exhaustion just a little longer. The quiet calmness was making it harder to stay awake, and Leon found that Don sounded just a little louder than expected when he came back with the items. The electric heat pad was plugged into the nearby outlet and clicked onto a medium heat before Don passed Leon the medicine and a bottle of water. “Drink the whole bottle please. I’d rather not have to stick you with an IV too,” he requested, with a slight joke. As Leon obediently popped the pill in his mouth and chugged the water, Don sat back on the stool and gently lifted his leg to rest his lap before he wrapped the heating pad around Leon’s knee. Holding it in place with his hands and pressing the heat into the joint, Don had to chuckle as Leon let out a hum of relief. Keeping still for a few minutes to let the heat soothe Leon’s knee a little more, Don eventually shifted to move Leon's leg to rest on the stool so he could stand and change the bandage on Leon’s head. It thankfully didn’t look infected at all, and was a fairly shallow scrape. So Don just put some ointment on it before he covered it with a clean bandage while Leon quietly ate the rest of the stew he had. By the time Don was done Leon was starting to lean while his eyes fluttered, the soothing heat on his leg lulling him to sleep as well. Even April gave a huge yawn as Mikey almost stealthily slipped the empty bowls away from them.
“Their Raph has already fallen asleep by mini Mikey. We should just tuck these guys in here, they seem used to sharing beds,” Mikey whispered, more to Don than the others. The comment caused Don to glance over to the other bed, happy to see Raph curled up around his youngest brother like Lil Mikey was a teddy bear. They both looked peaceful, and just having the other two sitting next to him seemed to have smoothed the furrow in Donnie’s brow completely.
Giving another chuckle, Don nodded in agreement before he gently hovered his hands towards the remaining two teens to coax them to lay down as well. It took a bit of shuffling, but luckily they didn’t protest. April’s glasses were slipped off and placed next to Donnie’s case, and Leon crawled over to the other side of him before putting his own case on that side of the bed as well. It took the last of Leon’s effort to take his own contacts out, using a portal to drop the case on the nightstand, before he gave in to his exhaustion and flopped over.
“Sleep well. Call us if you need anything,” Don hushed, pulling spare blankets over them as the three teens shifted to get comfortable around each other.
Notes:
Everyone is taken care of now, yeeey time for a good nap XD
Chapter 26: Family Gossip
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Letting the drape over the infirmary entrance drop closed to muffle some of the external noises, Don made his way to the kitchen to finally oblige Mikey’s demand to feed everyone. It was normal to have a commotion coming from the room, so he wasn’t surprised at the noise of boisterous chatter filtering out from the entrance. Especially since it looked like Casey and Mom April were there early, already seated at the table and asking questions.
“Actually, the Donnie is the feisty one.”
Don reached the kitchen entrance as Raphael responded to Casey’s comment, Raphael’s voice saturated with amusement at the fact. Don hadn’t caught what Casey said before, but it was easy to hear him now.
“What? You gotta be kidding. Don is the hot head in their family?” Casey gawked, looking over at Don in disbelief.
“Not a hot head, just aggressive. Kid totally bit through someone’s arm and broke the bone. It was awesome, if not for the fact it was some scientist treating him like a lab experiment,” Raphael corrected, folding his arms. If it weren’t for the situation Donnie and Lil Mikey had been in many of their feats would have been subject of quite the boastful conversation.
“You’re kidding!” Casey gawked again.
“Not even. We saw it on camera. He was completely restrained and then just chomped down on some lady’s arm and didn’t let go even though she punched him in the nose. It was impressive,” Mikey chimed in, semi miming some of the actions. “They’re both crazy strong. AND the Leo. He showed up a little while ago, and get this, the kid can teleport.”
“Okay I don’t believe that. They’re not superheroes Mikey,” Casey retorted, wrinkling his nose a little. Teleporting mutant turtles? That sounded like something that would be from the Justice Force, not the sewers of another world.
“‘Course they aren’t. Lil me said they’re actually super soldiers. Like Cap’n America and Winter Soldier. Sick, right? The lil guy can totally fling those giant mechas around like they’re baseballs,” Mikey countered, hopping up to lean across the table with a huge grin.
“Are they alright?” Mom April asked yet again as Casey took Mikey’s taunting bait and jumped up to tackle him. She was looking up from where she was helping Junior with some mash Mikey always had on hand these days, and seemed more concerned about the visiting groups’ health than their abilities.
Giving a bit of a sigh that was a mix between amused and exasperated, Raphael looked over to Don, gesturing a hand at him to answer. Maybe if the doctor of the house answered she would finally be reassured that the kids were going to be fine. “They’re alright,” Don assured confidently. “They’re all sleeping now, I don’t think they got much lately. But their wounds have been taken care of, and they seem comfortable. All four of them are here, and they even have their version of you with them too.”
“Me?” Mom April sputtered slightly, having not thought about the possibility. She was definitely more assured of their state now that Don gave her an answer along with the others, making room as he took a seat on the other side of Junior as her.
“Yeah, she’s nothing like you either,” Raphael laughed, rocking back on two chair legs after Leo chased Mikey and Casey out of the kitchen before they broke something.. “She’s a spunky lil gal. Fresh out of highschool it seems, and could probably crack my skull if she wanted to. I almost thought she was an alternate Angel instead.”
“It seems to run in the group. They’re all a lot more… brazen than I would expect. They don’t seem to have much discipline,” Leo commented, noting that many of the comments so far about their guests had been about how rambunctious they were.
“What makes you say that?” Mom April asked. She knew Leo had always been the one of the brothers that was more strict about discipline, following Master Splinter’s teachings the closest. But over the years he’d become less prone to associate an abundance of energy with lack of discipline.
“We fought their Leo a bit when he first came here – there was a misunderstanding that got cleared up – but his movements aren’t refined. It’s almost as though he was self taught,” Leo pointed out, having to quickly reassure Mom April that there hadn’t been too bad of a skirmish.
“You noticed it too, huh,” Don voiced his agreement. “We all had Master Splinter training us since we were kids, but Leon seems to only recently be getting some sort of structured tutelage for his martial arts.”
“He fights like he learned from watching movies,” Raphael huffed, amused at the thought. “It’s surprising he’s figured out how to make it work.”
“He does seem to learn fast though. I wonder what he would have done if you had actually shoved him off,” Don added, his mind wandering off to consider the possibilities.
“You let him catch you?” Leo’s incredulous voice snapped as he rounded on Raphael, a scolding lecture quickly rising.
“Duh,” Raphael snorted, narrowing his eyes at Leo and leaning away from him. “The kid’s a toothpick. You really think he could keep me pinned like that?”
The retort only served to rile Leo up more though, and he smacked his hands on the table to lean over Raph. “Oh, that’s great. So what was your plan if he actually slit your throa-”
The words were interrupted by a piece of chicken from Mikey’s stew smacking him in the side of the head. As both Raphael and Leo blinked in surprise they broke off their conversation to look towards the source of the launched food only to see Don giving them a pointed stare. He didn’t have to say anything. They’d had this lecture from him many times before. Walking them through their word choice barrier that only caused fights instead of helped. It caused Leo to shrink down in his usual embarrassed retreat as he forced himself to reanalyze his distress and word it in a way that Raphael would understand better.
“.............. You scared me,” Leo finally muttered, keeping his gaze elsewhere. “I thought…. I didn’t want to see you gushing blood from your neck.”
Oh. So that’s what it was. Like always Raphael didn’t see how the previous lecture connected to what Leo admitted, but he still understood by now that this was just the way Leo reacted. Blinking as the dots connected in his own brain, it was Raphael’s turn to shrink in mild sheepishness as he fully realized what could have happened. Sure, Don could have taken care of the injury if it had happened. But was it worth the mental and emotional distress he would have caused the others? “...My b-.... Sorry,” he responded, equally muttering and switching for words he knew Leo took to heart better. “I guess I was just more focused on getting the kid to stop moving and calm down.”
It made sense, and Leo let out a sigh as the tension from that fight finally eased away into his normal pool of anxiety over possibilities and not actualities. Letting himself droop forward a bit, Leo awkwardly knocked his forehead against Raphael’s shoulder to let him know he accepted the apology and reasoning. As Raphael raised a hand to roughly pat the back of Leo’s head, Don exchanged a soft chuckle with Mom April over the interaction while Master Splinter hid a smile with his teacup. With the bubbling argument abated, Don pulled them back to thoughts that had returned to his mind after one of Raphael’s comments
“Speaking of getting Leon calmed down,” Don spoke up, grabbing their attention. “I think Leon suffers from traumatic flashbacks.”
The sudden shift into a more sensitive topic caused the others in the room to still, and Leo quietly pulled a seat over to settle in. Raphael shifted uneasily, making an uncertain connection that he had to clarify. “...Like the waking dreams Leo sometimes had after Shredder’s men put him in a coma?” he asked, feeling a little bad for mentioning it when Leo fidgeted.
“Yes, but I think they’re worse,” Don answered, forgetting his half eaten meal in front of him for now as he started to explain his reasoning. “When he was attacking us it was calculated at first, but I noticed at some point something happened and he got… frantic. His attacks had more force behind them and were less structured. Almost like a panicked fight response to keep from freezing up. I thought it was weird at the time, but it wasn’t until he was with Lil Mikey that I had the thought he may have had a flashback. It was quiet, but I heard Lil Mikey asked Leon ‘are you here?’ And when I mentioned everyone’s concern about a secondary mutation I noticed he was using a grounding technique while April answered. Pressing his fingers into his arm to distract himself.”
The revelation caused an uncomfortable silence to fall over the room. But Don remained quiet as well to give them time with their thoughts. There was no rush anyway, they had time.
“....... So… what? We can’t exactly ship him off to the Ancient One like we did with Leo,” Raphael was the first to speak up, having already run through his own thoughts and not finding an answer to why Don was bringing this all up.
Don had to give a bittersweet chuckle at the thought, and shook his head. “Nothing serious. I just wanted you guys to be aware of it. I know we don’t know them very well, so it’ll be a little hard to tell if he’s not acting like himself. But, if he suddenly gets violent again for no apparent reason I just want you to realize he probably doesn’t recognize it’s you.”
“.... Fair enough,” Leo agreed, still trying to figure out how he felt about the whole topic. He didn’t think the same ‘fix’ for his own issues would work with Leon. But he also didn’t think it was appropriate for them to ask why he was having flashbacks either. There was a question that bubbled up in his mind that he ended up asking though. “...Are any of the others affected as well?”
Don seemed mildly surprised at the question, and had to pause when Raphael voiced his own thoughts that had sprung up with the question. “Mikey said the scars on Donnie’s back were also from their version of Shredder. You don’t think it was caused by the same dude, do ya?”
It was an unexpected fact to hear, but Don just switched his surprised expression for a soft smile. “Not unless Shredder has been harassing them until just recently,” he admitted. “The scars on Donnie’s back are a few years old already. But the ones on the other three; the scars on Leon’s legs, the crack in Leon’s shell, the piece missing from Raph’s shell, his scarred eye, and the… rather odd burn scars on Lil Mikey’s arms are all only a few months old. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were from the same event… And I also wouldn’t be surprised if the others were similarly affected in their mentality. We’re already seen how protective they are of each other.”
Hearing that the scars the teens had were almost all fairly recent gave Raphael a bitter taste in his mouth. While one part of his mind argued that they had seen similar injuries when they were teens, the other part of his mind argued that it didn’t matter, they were still way too young to have to go through something like that. “...The little guy did deliberately avoid talking about his arms when I asked,” he commented, not sure if that was support for or against the possibility of Lil Mikey having trauma like Leon. And he ended up giving a frustrated sigh and rubbed his head. “Man, I feel like I’m gonna have to walk on eggshells around them now. So what? Am I not allowed to ask anything to them now?”
This time Master Splinter was the one who answered, setting his empty cup down and rising to walk over and place a hand on Raphael’s shoulder. “You have always been instinctually aware of the nuances of childrens’ emotions. Trust your instincts, don’t overthink it, and I’m sure you’ll be fine. And remember, an uncomfortable emotion is not necessarily one to be avoided,” he assured, giving Raphael a pat when Raphael’s shoulders relaxed and he gave Master Splinter a reassured smile.
Then Master Splinter turned to Leo, resting a hand on his shoulder as well. “And my advice for you is to have patience. Continue to allow them to come to you instead of you running to and chasing them, as you described to me before.” And then his gaze shifted to Don. “Donatello, be careful with your vast, and wonderful knowledge. Remember that the mind cannot often be treated overnight. Try not to overwhelm them.” Don hadn’t been expecting to be given his own warning. But after Master Splinter mentioned it, he realized that he very easily could have ended up stressing the kids out by unloading too much information on them to try to help. As he sheepishly scratched his cheek Master Splinter looked to Mom April as well. “For our dear April, I suggest giving them their space when they need it. Affection can sometimes be the perfect medicine, but from a stranger sometimes it can only serve to cause distress instead of comfort.”
“...Thanks Master Splinter,” Mom April responded, also appreciating the caution she hadn’t even considered she’d needed.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me I’m going to make sure those two hooligans haven’t destroyed any furniture or bones. There has been enough surgery for one night,” Master Splinter sighed slightly, giving Leo another pat before he shuffled out of the room, walking stick thumping against the tile.
The three sons chimed in with their own vocal gratitude and well wishes, and after Master Splinter was out of sight Raphael heaved a sigh and flopped onto the table. “Man. Thirty years and he still somehow has the best advice.”
“You said it,” Leo agreed, feeling a mix of relief and also chagrined by what felt like having his flaw called out before he’d even made a mistake.
“Mhmm,” Don chimed with a hum and a nod, returning to the rest of his dinner turned breakfast. “...Do we still have orange juice?”
Notes:
Huuuuaaaaagh why does time pass so freaking fast sometimes =<= I totally got caught up in 2 new projects |D that's why the longer delay this time. Wys got me into trying to make a doll of my OCs, and then I started designing a cosplay outfit to try out.....
Anyway 8'D enjoy a little 03 fam only section. Baby Jones having red hair was picked by Wys not knowing what she was choosing between red or black for X'D He's also wearing a dinosaur onsie, compliments of Don.
Chapter 27: Mornings are Better in the Afteroon
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Several hours into the afternoon, borderline evening, and the infirmary was blessedly quiet. Aside from the hum of machinery. But that never bothered Donnie considering he often fell asleep to the hummed lullaby of his computers. The difference this time was that instead of being tucked into bed on his own he could distinctly tell there were two warm bodies snuggled up with him. With the two sizes, and unique ways they were positioned, Donnie quickly figured out who they were without having to open his eyes. April’s poofed hair tickled his back slightly as she curled around him like a koala from behind, keeping his bare back safe. And Leon’s cheek smashed against his head with his arm and leg thrown over the top of them both. It was very comfortable, and if it weren’t for his regular bodily needs that had been ignored for the past stretch of time Donnie would have been content to stay where he was. Fortunately fourteen hours, as he would soon learn, seemed to have been long enough for his brain to stop feeling like a pressure cooker ready to pop.Though with the faint dizziness he felt Donnie also wondered if it had been a day or more. He’d faded in and out of semi consciousness a while ago with all the noise, but the lack of a sense of danger had made his mind refuse to fully wake up until now. And with his stomach protesting with hungry pain and nausea he was questioning his sense of time immensely.
Drawing a deep breath, Donnie reluctantly pulled his eyes open only to start patting around his head on the mattress after he was greeted with blurred colors. Whether it was sleepy sluggishness, or a lack of his glasses being there at all the empty air earned a slightly frustrated breath from him. “Hmmmmm… Nardo, where are my glasses?” Donnie mumbled, still slowly patting around the mattress near the pillow, switching sides when he didn’t feel anything and earning complaining grumbles from both his siblings.
“Mmmhhh, on the left,” Leon responded almost automatically, shifting to snuggle down deeper in protest at being disturbed.
Donnie’s hand found a case as Leon answered, but the soft texture quickly told him they were Leon’s glasses and not his own. Which led him to reaching back to the otherside, as Leon directed, stretching further and having to roll slightly to be able to do so. Which led to April letting out another irritated noise as she was slightly squished. It was enough movement that the other two gave in and started to stir as well, just as Donnie found a pair of glasses to pull to his face.
Nope. Those were April’s.
With a bit of a sigh Donnie passed the glasses into April’s searching hand as she sat up with a yawn. Then with her movement he caught sight of a purple blob uncovered from her hair and flopped his hand on it. There they were, that felt familiar. Popping the case open, Donnie slipped his own lenses finally over his nose bridge and let out a content breath. Now he just had to disentangle himself from his clingy brother.
“...Leo, if you don’t let me go I’m gonna pee on you,” Donnie commented bluntly.
Leon’s protest was immediate as he let out a disgruntled noise and started squirming, kicking and pushing Donnie away from him as Donnie and April snickered at the reaction. That always worked.
The silliness was interrupted however when Leon’s flailing ended up with his foot lightly kicking Donnie’s thigh, specifically where the bandage was covering the muscle deep cut. It caused Donnie to squeak a noise of both mild discomfort as well as surprise, which was enough to cause Leon to shoot upright in mild panic.
“Sorry!” Leon blurted, the rapidly shifting current in what he felt from Donnie causing his own anxiety to start bubbling up. He was afraid to say anything more, the excuse catching in his throat as he just watched his twin. Donnie had sat up as well, pushing himself upright as fingers gingerly touching the small bandage on the offended leg, the other bandaids catching his attention as well. His fingers moved to hover near his shoulder as the realization fully sank in that no, he hadn’t dreamed the whole event. This wasn’t home. This wasn’t even close to being home. A strange place full of strange people, who blessedly weren’t in sight at the moment.
Drawing a slightly shuddering breath as the reminder brought back a stone of heavy emotions, Donnie gradually returned his hand to his leg as he decidedly shoved everything internally aside to be dealt with later. Much, much later it would seem. “...I’m okay,” Donnie forced out quietly, ignoring the way Leon had flinched the moment he had closed down. He was physically feeling a lot better than before, but that didn’t mean all of the stress was just miraculously gone. They didn’t need to deal with him having a breakdown in the middle of everything though, so he returned his attention to his original pressing matter. “Where’s the….?” he voiced, looking up to scan the room they were in.
It was extremely well equipped, and Donnie realized with a mild strain of amusement that Leon must have gushed over it when he’d arrived. His gaze was stolen from the machines by April pointing nearby. “It’s that door,” she directed, noting how Donnie seemed reluctant to leave the bed once the bathroom had been pointed out. “I have to go too. C’mon,” she directed, offering him an excuse to not be alone at least for the short walk there. They were much too old to share the bathroom anymore, but she still ended up feeling like she was nine again when Donnie slipped his hand into her’s and followed her off the mattress. It was like they were kids all over again, and she was leading her little brother to the toilet in the middle of the night because he was too scared to go alone.
Leon just gave a brief grin as they waddled off, thankful April was there with him to help. He didn’t need to feel Donnie’s irritable stomach second hand to know Donnie needed food soon. It was the first thing on his mind for what to address next with his brother, but it was apparent that having their hosts attend to their needs wasn’t the best plan of action right then. Which meant Leon was slipping through a portal to the kitchen instead of using the entrance.
He wasn’t expecting the room to already be occupied. By a human nonetheless.
“OH SHOOT-!,” Mom April flinched with a startled yelp as Leon popped up near her, the mug she’d been picking up clunking back to the countertop as Leon froze. “You really can teleport,” Mom April laughed weakly, trying to settle her frazzled nerves. “Did you sleep well? Are you looking for some food?”
The interaction was not what Leon had been expecting at all, causing him to freeze in place. He didn’t know there would be any humans there. She didn’t seem out of place. In fact she seemed extremely comfortable there. So was she an ally? She seemed to know who he was. And she guessed right about the food, earning a hesitant nod from Leon as his still sleep hazed brain was whirring through explanations for all of this.
“Mikey still has some leftover stew in the fridge. But if you want something else I don’t mind making it,” Mom April directed, pointing to the rather large appliance and shifting out of the way. Master Splinter had warned her not to smother the newcomers, so she was trying her best not to crowd him.
Luckily for Leon he didn’t have to deal with being left alone with Mom April for long because a familiar figure came stumbling through the entrance as a huge yawn escaped him. “G’morning April- Oh- Hey Leon,” Don greeted, breaking off when he noticed Leon standing there like a skittish kitten ready to run. “It’s okay. This is our dimension’s April. She’s a long time family friend, just like your April,” Don explained quickly, hoping to reassure Leon and settle his nerves. “Did Donnie wake up yet? I was going to check on you three after…”
“Please don’t,” Leon blurted quickly, then mentally reeled himself back in. “Donnie doesn’t want to deal with strangers right now. I just came to get him something to eat, but I don’t know if I’ll get him to do so if someone unfamiliar is there.” At least it was enough to break him out of his motionless retreat into his mind, twitching forward towards the fridge where Mom April had said the stew was. It really would be perfect for Donnie, if Leon could get him to eat it. He’d just have to warm it up just enough that it wasn’t too hot or still cold in the middle.
Thankfully Don just chuckled softly, letting Leon fetch the stew on his own and switching sides to brew some coffee. “Yeah, your Mikey mentioned he didn’t do well with strangers. I’ll keep everyone out of the infirmary for a little while.”
“...Thanks,” Leon responded, a little delayed because of his surprise at Don being willing to not crowd Donnie. It really was surprising to see how much space the others were giving them despite being in their home. And honestly it was reassuring, and making Leon reluctantly like them more. Cracking open the container of stew, Leon noted the presence of carrots and remembered how they had been rather soft when he’d eaten them, causing him to frown.
“...Is something the matter?” Mom April asked, noting how Leon seemed displeased with the container of stew.
The question caused Leon to flinch slightly, a little reluctant to voice his concerns to strangers, but also because he wasn’t sure if there would be a problem or not. But then he realized he could just ask Donnie if it would be okay this time, and took a half a second to do so. A simple sensation of remembering the soft carrots in his mouth sent over their link, and an immediate response of revulsion being given made Leon mentally chuckle before answering Mom April. “Donnie isn’t going to eat this. Sometimes certain textures in food make him gag, and the carrots are too mushy for now,” he admitted, pressing the lid back on the container with a series of clicks.
“Oh… That’s interesting,” Don commented, ending up rather perplexed by the idea. He wasn’t used to dealing with anyone with a fussy eating preference, considering he and his family ate a lot of things that Mom April ended up wrinkling her nose at. And she wasn’t a picky eater at all, the boys just ended up combining foods in an unconventional way.
“Mikey is still asleep on the couch, but I don’t think he’ll mind if we cook something else. Do you know what he’d like?” Mom April offered, setting her mug of tea down. She already knew that it had been more than a day since Donnie had eaten something, considering when Raphael and Don had been sent the message from Augustine. It wasn’t like they could wait for him to feel like eating.
“Not really. He doesn’t tend to like what I cook. Where’s Mikey? My Mikey. He’s usually good at getting Donnie to eat something,” Leon declined, not wanting to waste food by trying to tell Mom April how to cook something for someone when neither of them really knew exactly what Donnie would be willing to eat.
“He and Raph are playing with Pepperjack in the living room. They both woke up a few hours ago and got bored,” Don responded, taking a sip of the fresh coffee.
“Pepperjack?” Leon repeated, immediately thinking of the cheese and wondering why on earth his brothers would be playing with the food in the living room.
“Mikey’s cat,” Don clarified with a grin. “She was hiding when you guys first got here, but apparently she’s gotten used to you while you were asleep. Onion Ring should be somewhere around here too, but she’s a lot more shy than Pep.”
The explanation earned a snicker from Leon considering the cat names. It made sense, they had a lot of cats that wandered around their home as well. Splinter just wouldn’t let them keep any pets, so the only way they could get away with keeping them around was to not name them. “Okay, I’ll go get him. Thanks,” Leon chuckled, slipping out the door this time so he didn’t startle anyone else. He’d already been caught up and around anyway, so there was no reason to remain stealthy.
Notes:
Have a lil sibling squish fluff and slightly janky writing as I'm too unfocused lately to fix it up properly |D
Chapter 28: Pepperjack
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The living room was fairly easy to locate, especially since Leon could hear his brothers’ hushed voices along the jangle of a small bell. The back of Raph’s head above the couch was the first part of his brothers that Leon saw, then he quickly caught sight of Lil Mikey swishing a feathered toy through the air between them. Leon was a little surprised to then see a mostly white cat scramble across the floor before leaping after the toy, reaching Lil Mikey’s shoulders easily and earning a series of muffled cheers and coos from the two boys.
“Hey Mikey- woh-,” Leon started as he reached the edge of the couch, breaking off when he noticed there was another figure with them, and said body was fast asleep on the couch next to Raph. “...How is he sleeping through this?” Leon asked, squinting in confusion down as Mikey just snored softly, seemingly oblivious to the playing around him.
“I dunno, but Raphael said we shouldn’t have to worry about waking him,” Raph responded before getting immediately distracted by Lil Mikey leading Pepperjack to jump onto Raph’s lap. Both of his legs were propped up on a square cushioned stool, so it was easy for the cat to perch on his thighs and swat at the feather Lil Mikey was swinging. Leon was pretty sure Raph would start crying with the way his eyes were shining over having the cat perched on him so readily.
“Are you here to play with Pepperjack too? Isn’t she cute? It’s the best name, isn’t it?” Lil Mikey asked in rapid succession, the arm that wasn’t caught in a sling swirling random patterns with the stick.
“Well I am curious why she’s named that, but I’m actually here for you,” Leon admitted with a chuckle, pleased to see Raph and Lil Mikey both doing a lot better than when he’d first found this lair. And Raph was even getting ridiculously spoiled with someone carrying him around and a pet not being afraid of him.
“Me? What’s up?” Lil Mikey asked, pausing in play for only a moment before realizing it probably wasn’t urgent and therefore he didn’t have to stop immediately. Leon was being rather relaxed, so it was probably just a casual request.
“Yeah, Donnie is awake, but he’s in his ‘I hate food’ phase,” Leon explained, wiggling his fingers in quotes and imitating his brother despite not having heard Donnie say that before. “But he also has to eat something considering it’s been like fourteen hours since he fell asleep and he has blood loss to deal with,” Leon rambled, rolling his eyes slightly as flopped his raised hands out into a shrug. “The stew from last night makes him wanna puke. Can you figure something out for him? Preferably with a lot of iron?”
“O’oh… Yeah, let me see what I can do… Or what I can boss you around to do,” Lil Mikey stammered slightly, wiggling the fingers of his injured arm with a mild gesture to it. He wasn’t going to be cooking on his own anytime soon, and he could understand Donnie being in one of his selective moods. He could still remember the rage that had saturated Donnie’s ninpo as he’d mutilated Augustine’s machines. Even under the protective barrier he'd created, the energy had prickled Lil Mikey’s skin. And the way Donnie had spoken to them made it obvious to Lil Mikey that he had been borderline to breaking down screaming. Honestly Lil Mikey was surprised Donnie was even talking at the moment. “What’s got iron in it?” he asked, pushing the memories from his mind for now and passing the feathered toy to Raph before following Leon on the way back to the kitchen.
“Beef. Red meat, spinach…. Uhhhh, “ Leon was quick to answer at first, but then trailed off before fishing his phone out to search the internet for a reminder. “Eggs, shrimp, sweet potatoes, strawberries, beans….”
“Hmmm… that should be easy enough then- Hey Don,” Lil Mikey hummed, thinking over the options pretty quickly, then greeting Don when he saw him at the table.
“Hey Mikey,” Don returned with a slightly sleepy hum around the mug held close to his mouth. Just sitting there smelling the rich scent of coffee was so relaxing. “How are you feeling? Does anything hurt?”
“I’m good! My arm isn’t numb anymore, but it also doesn’t hurt,” Lil Mikey chimed, swinging his arm slightly then wincing as the movement earned a twinge of pain in his upper arm. “Unless I move it too much, heheh,” he corrected sheepishly.
Don could only smile thankfully at the response, knowing that Lil Mikey would still be sore if he moved too much and just glad his arm didn’t hurt when it was still. He also knew he couldn’t expect a teenager to keep an injured limb still for long. “Let me know if anything feels unusual,” Don prompted automatically, then glanced at Leon in a sheepish flinch before apologetically adding. “Sorry, habit. You can still go to your brother if you’re more comfortable that way,” he assured, not wanting Leon to feel inferior or replaced in any way, and addressing him next. “Let me know if you can’t find anything you need in the infirmary.”
“...Sure,” Leon responded simply before focusing more on Lil Mikey.
It was a bit of a surprising response, but after a bit of consideration Don realized it was probably just because Leon was concerned about something. Either that or he wasn’t in need of help that only they could offer so was back to being wary of them. Or perhaps it was something else? Don ended up lost in thought about the sudden shift in behavior as Leon opened the fridge again to follow Lil Mikey’s directions.
“I think he might eat some steak if we cut it thin enough and keep it plain. Looks like they have spinach too, so we can just make sure that’s washed well,” Lil Mikey mused, looking over what ingredients they had in the fridge and latching onto some of the foods Leon had listed.
“Really? Just bland boring steak and raw veggies?” Leon voiced his doubt despite still grabbing the containers Lil Mikey selected.
“Yeah. It’s still hard to predict what won’t bother him. Usually I just default to his flavorless juice, but since he needs more than that I think keeping it simple and something that’s completely within what he would expect would work,” Lil Mikey hummed, doing his best to help with one hand and snatching the bag of carrots before Leon closed the door.
“What if that doesn’t work?” Leon asked, following Lil Mikey’s direction to snap open the package of beef and start cutting it up. He’d never had to help with this issue before, so hadn’t really paid attention. Lil Mikey cooked for them a lot, but other than that they usually tended to feed themselves. And the last time Lil Mikey had been unable to cook for them both Leon and Donnie had been unable to help either.
“Lock him in the kitchen and he’ll eventually piece on enough things to feed himself,” Lil Mikey responded bluntly, earning a snort from Don that caused Leon to glance over at him after giving his own snort.
“Well that explains a lot,” Leon snickered, letting Lil Mikey locate the frying pan and click on the stove.
It was a simple enough meal that it didn’t take long at all to cook, even with Lil Mikey having only one hand available. Watching the two interact and make easy comments to each other earned a fond gaze from Don as it reminded him of several moments he’d had with his own brothers.
“Are you sure that’s cooked enough?” Leon ended up asking when Lil Mikey told him to take the beef strips off the frying pan.
“We’re making steak, not shoe leather,” Lil Mikey shot back, swatting Leon’s hand away and grabbing the tongs to pull the beef off himself. It really was a very plain meal, but Don wasn’t about to comment on it. They knew their brother way better than he did, so he’d just have to trust them to get Donnie fed.
___
After each taking a turn in the small bathroom, April and Donnie had shuffled back to the bed they had woken up on. Donnie’s wary eyes were constantly flicking around the unfamiliar room, and when he had even the slightest suspicion something might touch him he was all for flinching away from it. Especially anything that hinted it might touch his exposed back. It was obvious he wasn’t comfortable there, but it wasn’t like he could leave and go somewhere to decompress. Which meant he had both hands gripping April’s hand like a lifeline, his form keeping close to her as she tried to match his pace back to the only established safe spot. Sleeping on a bed for fourteen hours was enough to have it categorized as probably safe in his mind. Safe enough that he was quick to scuttle back onto it and shuffle the blanket up around his shoulders to give some sort of cover to his back. And only after a moment of April sitting on the bed in front of him did he register that she was unnecessarily exposed as well. Which prompted him to wordlessly extend one arm, offering her the option to share the minuscule ward that was the blanket.
April could only snicker slightly at the offer, but nevertheless scooted over to tuck in next to Donnie again. She’d honestly thought Donnie would have been ecstatic about being in another dimension. But something was obviously wrong, and he obviously didn’t want to talk about it. April didn’t know what exactly had happened, but the minimal information she had gathered from both Raphael and her own observations made it easy for her to jump to undesired conclusions. There was always a fear of what would happen if certain people got a hold of her brothers. And with Raphael saying they had a run in with a scientist, and Donnie was suffering from blood loss yet had no visibly major wounds, April was fairly confident in her thoughts. As much as she hated to think them.
Feeling a little sullen now, April wrapped her arms around Donnie’s upper arm while she leaned against him. They were quiet as they waited for Leon to return, listening to the quiet hum of the infirmary machines. She could be patient. Her brothers were all together in the same home now. There was nothing immediate to worry about.
Apparently Donnie wasn’t as patient though, for after at most ten minutes he shifted uncomfortably. “...Raph is in the living room,” he announced quietly, somewhat abruptly and without explanation for why it was important.
It caught April off guard for only half a second, but she was somewhat used to this kind of behavior from Donnie and hesitantly proposed an action in response to the comment. “Wanna go join him so he isn’t alone?” Donnie hadn’t mentioned anyone else with Raph, so she could only assume Raph was alone, and that might be bothering Donnie at the moment.
It seemed her assumption was correct enough, for Donnie nodded once and gave her a moment to respond, or at least register the response from him, before he started squirming off the bed again.
Snickering slightly once more, April complied and scooted off the bed as well. Donnie insisted on clinging to her and keeping the blanket over them both though, so they ended up shuffling out of the room in an awkward waddle.
The new lair was unexpectedly quiet as they made their way down the walkways, half remotely directed somewhat by Leon, and half just able to see the living room and Raph once they reached the railing. Donnie wordlessly nudged them along, falling a little more quiet as the room they were in was now more open and had more potential for other people to be there. He seemed determined to join Raph though, almost single mindedly pattering towards his big brother. The closer he got the more a small strain of comfort threaded into his tense form.
Until someone new abruptly threw their arm around his shoulders.
Notes:
Well that took freaking forever |D Major holidays are a pain =<= But I guess cutting off all caffeine to try and fix insomnia issues, and then stopping a mood med because I found out it reacts with the stomach meds probably didn't help either.
Anyway X'D I'm really glad you guys like Pepperjack and Onion Ring. It took me like 5 days to think of their names X'D Hopefully Pepper looks okay, drawing animals is always an effort for me, I'm so inexperienced |'D
I can't remember anything else I may have wanted to ramble, so enjoy =3=
Chapter 29: Silence is Demanded
Notes:
Please note the tag for Rise Leo and Donnie being twins. It'll be a more prominent aspect in this and the next chapter or so.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Hey lil guy! Glad to see you’re up!”
The disconnect between them being in a lair, and having the new figure distinctly not match who they were used to being in such a setting caused April to question if someone was actually there when she thought she felt a presence behind them. And Donnie had been so focused on Raph that the form had been ignored. Everyone knew not to suddenly grab him when he was like this. Other than Lil Mikey, but he had special privileges. And Leon as well, to a point, in very specific circumstances.
But this loud, rough, obnoxious, horrible brute certainly did not have such privileges. Therefore the contact and noise earned a startled hiss that quickly turned furious as Donnie recoiled from the touch, shoving the arm off his shoulders as though it were poison and retaliating violently with his fist. The man’s apology was interrupted by Donnie’s knuckles colliding with his nose and mouth, effectively knocking him away as Donnie hunched protectively over April and ushered them a few steps in the opposite direction.
“Donnie!”
“Mya-AH!”
Raph’s voice was a painful stab to Donnie’s mind, but he accepted it since it was Raph. But Mikey’s startled yelp as he woke from the commotion was a stab to the mental barrier Donnie was scrambling to create, cracking the form before it could even begin to complete. With the obviously distressed noise from his little brother Raph had formed his ninpo avatar around himself to allow him to move on his own, scrambling up from the couch and practically falling over the top of Donnie and April as his arms and ninpo protectively enveloped them. With the physical barrier now guarding him, Donnie released April in favor of wrapping his arms around Raph’s forearm, feeling a minor sense of peace as Raph’s other hand smothered half of his back in comfort even as he sagged to his knees.
“Dang it Casey! What did I tell you about him? Do you want to lose a finger?!” Raphael’s voice joined the noise this time, drawn from his previous location from the uncommon sound of Donnie hissing, and the impact of flesh and fist.
“I was just being friendly,” Casey protested, voice muffled by his hand covering his bleeding nose.
“Yeah, well not everyone likes to be manhandle- SHELL!” Raphael’s response broke off with a startled half curse as a blue static of energy brought Leon into the commotion, a drawn sword for the long distance portal fading to flecks when he noticed there wasn’t an actual brawl. Yet.
“What did you do to him?!” Leon demanded after a short glance over to locate Donnie and make sure he didn’t have any additional injuries.
Where Mikey would normally feel comfortable interjecting to try and diffuse the situation, he hadn’t actually seen what happened and therefore remained where he was peeking over the back of the couch. Maybe Leon’s anger was justified? If it was, Mikey didn’t want to scold Leon for being protective of his brother. He seemed a little distressed along with the anger though, which was definitely concerning. Did he think they would actually intentionally hurt them?
“Relax, kid. It was just a-” Raphael started to consol, cutting off with a slight flinch back when Leon lashed out at him almost immediately.
“Don’t tell me to relax!” Leon snapped, rounding on Raphael even as April wiggled out from the barrier of Raph’s ninpo encased arms to stand between the two groups just in case. “I asked you not to bother him-”
This time Raphael’s eye twitched. “Hey, I heard nothing of the sort,” he snapped, shifting his weight towards Leon.
“He and the girl were already here when I got here,” Casey added in a half complained attempted rebuttal as Don and Mikey reached the group from the kitchen, as well as Leo from the meditation room.
“We didn’t get the chance to tell the others yet,” Don explained, currently the quietest voice of the group. A strange blessing considering everyone else was yelling.
Leon made a slight hiss of his own in response, but didn’t seem to have an immediate verbal response this time as he was forcing himself to pause to take a moment to question his previous reactions. It made sense, Don hadn’t even left the kitchen after Leon told him Donnie wanted to be left alone. The quieter tone was also nice, and didn’t grate on his nerves. And for half a heartbeat he wasn’t sure why he was so upset? Or if it was even his nerves that were getting scraped.
“...April, I think Leo’s-” Lil Mikey whisper, shuffling closer to April after rapidly analyzing the people in the area.
“Is everything- WhAT HAPPENED?!” Mom April was the newest addition to the commotion now, taking one look at Casey’s dripping nose and having her anxiety spike. The shrill outburst earned a distressed noise from Donnie as he clamped his hands over his ears, trying to keep ahold of Raph at the same time. Mom April didn’t notice though, reaching towards Casery to check how bad it was. “Why are you bleed-”
“Would you shut up?!” Leon abruptly snapped, a snarl pulling his lip up as he whirled on Mom April, her voice feeling like nails driven into his brain. His brain?
“HEY! Don’t yell at my wife!” Casey thundered in retaliation, shifting his broad form to get between Mom April and Leon.
“Casey, hold on,” Leo interrupted, rushing forward to place a hand on their old friend’s shoulder to push him back. Even considering the fight they’d got into before, Leon was strangely antagonistic now. Was this a flashback like Don had mentioned might happen? It was so different from before when Leon had been lashing out from fear. Now he just seemed angry and horribly disoriented, raising his hands to his own head as though he wasn’t sure it hurt or not.
“You shut the hell up too! You’re all so damn loud!” Leon snapped at Casey, relayed venom lacing his words as he returned Casey’s step, refusing to back down.
“ALL OF YOU SHUT IT!” April’s voice unexpectedly snapped through the group, causing various levels of startlement, especially when she almost stomped forward to slap both hands on Leon’s cheeks and yank his head to bring his gaze to her. Raphael’s retort caught in his mouth as it snapped closed, and both brows rose as he looked to April. And when Leon tried to protest April just shook his head slightly and squished her hands harder. “That includes you. You’re spiraling off Donnie,” she chided, lowering her voice for a moment before opting for complete silence and pressing her own mouth shut. While she took control of Leon, Lil Mikey was taking care of addressing the others, giving a slightly pained and pleading smile as he pressed his palms together in a silent request for them to listen to April’s demand.
The blunt revelation and command from April caused Leon to suck in a short hissed breath, effectively silenced and decidedly shifting his attention to her. Her bellow had hurt, but her comment afterwards made it painfully aware why. It wasn’t his pain. It was Donnie’s. He’d just been lashing out as a projection of Donnie’s responses combined with his own desire to help.
Pursing his lips together, Leon gave April a single nod to show he understood, drawing a shaky breath and raising his hands when she let him go. And then, to the elder inhabitants’ surprise, Leon started making deliberate motions in front of him. A quick point at Donnie, still smothered in Raph’s tense form. Upturned palms with fingers snapping to grip at the air. One hand raising almost like he was catching something next to his head. Then pointer fingers curled with the thumbs and second fingers spread as he dropped them slightly.
April’s expression became saturated with worry even as she pursed her own lips. After a moment of hesitation she raised two fingers and shifted her hand side to side twice.
At that point Don drew in a slow gasp of realization. “Wha-?” Raphael started to ask before Don clamped a hand over his brother’s mouth, holding a finger in front of his own lips. Gesturing at Raphael to hold on, Don took a moment to turn to Mom April and gesture for her to take Casey to the infirmary to address his bleeding nose. She didn’t seem happy, but considering Don looked like he knew what was going on she didn’t protest. After she ushered Casey away quietly, Don motioned for his brothers to come closer to him as he pulled out his phone and opened the notes app.
| It’s sign language. | Don typed where his brothers could see, even as Lil Mikey moved closer to Leon and April and was trying to make one handed signs back. | They all know sign language. |
His excitement was obvious to see, something between the two groups that was so drastically different. But Raphael didn’t find the merit in knowing that particular detail, giving Don a confused and blatantly questioning expression.
| Considering April told us to be quiet, noise must be a problem somehow. | Don typed back.
That was enough motivation for Leo to start working on fixing the problem rather than debating about it. Especially when he glanced at their guests again and noticed silent tears slipping from both Donnie’s and Leon’s eyes. Pulling his own phone out and typing in a note, Leo approached the group of three and held it out to them. | What’s wrong? How do we help? |
Leon ended up flinching back in confused surprise, but April’s expression brightened slightly while Lil Mikey looked ecstatic. When Leon started to repeat some of the motions he had done before, Lil Mikey being unable to explain, Leo shook his head and pushed the phone towards him.
Giving a slightly annoyed huff, Leon took the phone and rapidly typed out a response after rubbing the tears in one eye again.
| D is overwhelmed. He needs somewhere quiet, but there isn’t one. |
Watching carefully as Leon typed, Leo accepted the phone when Leon shoved it back and added his own response. | Anywhere quiet? |
That earned a confused look from the three, but after a moment Leon gave a hesitant nod. The ideal situation would be somewhere that was familiar. But that wasn’t going to happen, so the basic requirement was just to have somewhere with as little sound as possible.
It was enough for Leo to work with, and he started to head towards Raph and Donnie. His course was halted though when Leon immediately latched onto his wrist, grip almost strangling the limb. But Leo just turned back to meet his gaze, raising his other hand to rest softly on Leon’s grip and giving him a reassuring smile. He remembered what it had been like when everything was just too much. Every comment his family made only made him angry despite how much they wanted to help. How even the drop of water in a leaky faucet would grate on his nerves. How his siblings whispering made him want to lash out at them. After a stretch of time just watching Leon’s expression shift subtly, Leo silently mouthed ‘Trust me?’ to him.
And after a few flexes in Leon’s grip strength he eventually, almost reluctantly let Leo go.
The action earned a thankful smile from Leo, and he gave Leon a soft nod before turning back to his original task. It seemed he’d have to gain the trust of more than one brother though, for when he knelt down in front of Raph he could hear a soft growl of wary warning from the huge form. It admittedly sent a slight chill down Leo’s back, but he knew Raph was just being protective. And so Leo was careful to raise his hands in an inoffensive motion as he sat on his feet, remaining still until the rumbles from Raph stopped. Then he carefully tapped on his phone before showing it to Raph. | I just want to see if he wants to go to the meditation room. It’s sound proofed. |
The message caused Raph to blink in mild surprise, but Leo could see his form significantly relax. His hand moving away from Donnie slightly while Leo set his phone down was enough to prompt Donnie to open his eyes to check the surroundings for what was changing. And when he saw Leo so close he also let out a quiet hiss of warning.
Leo almost chuckled at the reaction, for it had lost so much of the venom Donnie had had before. It felt more like a sleep irritable kid weakly shoving away the hand trying to wake them up. Something about missing his battle shell and wearing such large glasses made him less intimidating in appearance. But Leo wasn’t sure if even the soft noise of a chuckle would bother him, so just gave a small smile as he raised a finger in front of it. No need to be loud. He understood the need for quiet now. And he held his other hand out in offer for Donnie to take, nodding his head in the direction of their meditation room when Donnie squinted at him suspiciously.
Neither of them moved for long enough for Lil Mikey to start shifting in anxiousness, raising a foot to rub against the back of his leg and glancing at Leon. Who then in turn gave Lil Mikey a slight glare before averting his gaze completely and folding his arms with a slight huff. Donnie’s gaze flicked to Leon for a moment, then slid back to Leo’s offered hand as he frowned slightly. Leo thought for a moment that Donnie would decline his offer then, but to his pleasant surprise Donnie’s hand released it’s grip on Raph’s arm to move halfway to Leo’s fingers. Then after a slight pause Donnie gingerly rested his fingertips on Leo’s palm, glaring up at him in a slight pout as if daring him to prank him.
Leo couldn’t help being guiltily amused at the response, and just shook his head with a worried smile as he looped his hand underneath Donnie’s, just like he’d done once before. It was a motion that caused Donnie to blink and inhale slightly in surprise, but Leo could see some of the wariness practically melt from him because of it. He could take it slow, and wait for Donnie to follow when he was ready. He’d already shown that once before, and apparently it was enough for Donnie to trust him once again. So when Leo shifted to stand up it didn’t take much for Donnie to follow. Just a slight pause in anxiousness and having to detangle his feet from the blanket and Raph’s limbs. The blanket stayed with him though. Haphazardly gripped around him and over only one shoulder with his other hand as the one was being used by Leo to guide him to another room.
The meditation room was blessedly dimmer than the rest of the lair. Soft candle lights that barely shifted in their steady flame instead of the blaring LEDs. There wasn’t much of anything else in the room either. Just mat floors with several soft, well worn cushions. The most important part though was the foam sheets glued to the walls and ceiling, effectively muffling the outside world, especially when Leo mostly closed the door behind them. Seeing Donnie’s shoulders droop, and his expression relax halfway, Leo felt he could risk letting him go now. Letting his hand slip from his loose grasp, Leo moved back to the cushion he’d been sitting on just moments before and folded his legs under him. Then he offered Donnie another smile, and patted the other cushion next to him a few times before closing his eyes. He wanted to make sure Donnie knew he hadn’t dragged him in there to talk at him. Just give him somewhere peaceful to relax and collect his thoughts if he needed.
It took a minute before Leo heard any movement, but it was only seconds before he could feel a warmth nearby. And after a few moments of shuffling sounds the room stilled to a quiet calmness broken only by two sets of lungs. One calm, and one just a little shaky from sniffles. Cracking an eye open just a peek to check on Donnie, Leo almost let out a soft laugh when he saw the teen had chosen to flop on the floor and smash half his face into the cushion while hiding the rest of himself by being curled up in a tight ball under the blanket. Leo half raised a hand to reach out and gently pat his form, but then decided against it and let it lower back to his knee. Apparently having someone sling their arm around him had been the cause of the issue in the first place. So it would probably be better to just leave him alone now, and let him recover in peace.
_________________________________________
Here's an extra doodle related to the comments on the previous chapter:
Notes:
I already had this part written when I posted the previous one |D that's why the fast update. I just don't like to spam more than around 1 - 2k words per post. Also I really like drawing pushed expressions so there was easy motivation to draw this next X'D
kudos to sokda-lal-ashes on tumblr, and lighthawke and Fangirling101B on AO3 for guessing right that it was good ole dumbass Casey being a brute X'D
And then mild concern for the rest of you jumping to biting. ô_ó My gosh the kid just woke up and hasn't eaten in half a day and you're all thinking he's gonna want to put filthy human in him mouth again.
And then a few of you went straight to murder and that's a bit higher in concern. 8 |
I did enjoy every comment though X'DDD it was a riot.
Fun fact I had 鹳之心弦 by Vanguard Sound playing on repeat while writing this whole thing. X'D
Chapter 30: Pride
Notes:
Please note the tag for Rise Leo and Donnie being twins. It'll be a more prominent aspect in this and the next chapter or so.
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
After Leo left with Donnie, Leon strode over to Raph with a displeased expression. He wasn’t sure if Donnie was out of earshot enough yet, so just made a series of rapid gestures at Raph as Raph shifted to be seated instead of kneeling. Raph ended up looking sheepish, but also tried giving an excuse for it being okay. Leon didn’t seem convinced, crouching down near Raph’s wrapped leg and tenderly poking at it to inspect it.
Glancing over to make sure the other two were out of sight, Raphael stepped over to his counterpart. “Need me to move him?” he asked, keeping his voice quiet just in case. Leon flinched at the sound, but it seemed to just be because of reflex and not because it was actually a problem.
“Raph can do it-” Raph assured, starting to move before Leon shoved a hand in his face.
“No, Raph can’t. Just because you can create a shell around your limbs doesn’t mean they aren’t being used,” Leon huffed, earning a snicker from Don as he shifted closer as well, just in case.
Raph ended up giving Leon a halfway convincing pout, but ended up relenting since Leon had a point. The movement hadn’t been completely painless. He’d just not wanted to leave Donnie and April on their own.
“Don’t worry about it kid. Once you get better I’ll let you pick me up too,” Raphael consoled, thinking that Raph just didn’t like feeling helpless.
“Really?” Raph asked, expression brightening.
“Sure,” Raphael shrugged, crouching down so that Raph could sling his arms around his shoulders to allow him to heft him onto his back. “Just don’t blame me if I turn it into a wrestling match instead.”
Raph just laughed, not minding at all if that ended up happening either. “It’s been fun to get picked up for once. So of course I can return the favor,” he agreed, being a little more relaxed this time since he knew Raphael didn’t have any issues carrying him.
The response caused Raphael to raise a brow in surprise, but he ended up just huffing in amusement as he started the trip back to the couch.
“Hey April?” Don started, moving closer to April to start addressing his question that had come up because of the mild skirmish.
“Yeah?” April voiced, sticking next to Lil Mikey but still turning to face him.
“What did you mean by Leon spiraling off of Donnie?” Don asked, partially repeating what she’d said, the words not making sense to him.
“Oh. Ever since the-... a few months ago it’s been hard for Leo to tell if he’s feeling his emotions or Donnie’s,” April answered, cutting herself off at first so she didn’t prod at any nerves that may be recently irritated. “So if Donnie gets upset Leo will get upset too, and then they both get protective, which makes them-”
“April,” Leon interrupted once he noticed what she was talking about after making sure Raph was back to a comfortable place. The sharpness of his tone caused Don to blink in surprise, wondering if he’d asked about something he shouldn’t.
“What? It’s not a big deal, and if they know then they’re less likely to make it worse,” April protested, placing her hands on her hips.
“It’s none of their business,” Leon countered, eyes narrowing defensively.
“Is this related to the- umm. You know what, nevermind,” Mikey started, cutting himself off when he realized they hadn’t actually told any of their guests that they had figured out Leon had traumatic flashbacks.
“Related to what?” Lil Mikey persisted, leaning to the side slightly in his curiosity.
“Nothin,” Mikey responded quickly, avoiding the topic while averting his gaze to the ceiling. It only caused Lil Mikey and April to narrow their eyes in suspicion, but he was luckily spared from their scrutiny when Don took over.
“Mikey, it’s fine. It’s better they know anyway,” Don assured, his voice growing more soft, especially when their guests looked at him in wary confusion. “I told the others that I was pretty sure Leon has flashbacks from trauma. I know it’s a little personal, but I didn’t want them getting upset with him if he ended up lashing out at them,” he explained gently, noting how Leon’s folded arms became hands tightly gripping his upper arms as his eyes widened.
“Oh! No, it’s not that- not really. Leo and Donnie are just twins,” Lil Mikey clarified easily, not thinking it was a big deal.
“MIKEY!” Leon snapped, rounding on his little brother and just barely keeping from swatting him.
“What?!” Lil Mikey shot back. “It’s not like it’s a secret with how you laud it over everyone.”
“Well maybe I didn’t want them to know this time!” Leon shouted, a hand flinging out to gesture at Don and the others.
This caused April and Lil Mikey to scrunch their brows in confusion, Lil Mikey pulling his head back slightly. “Since when did you-?”
Lil Mikey started to argue, but April reached out to rest a hand on his shoulder. They didn't need to be antagonizing Leon again, especially when he was already double stressed from this whole situation and Donnie’s mood. “Leo…You were always so proud of it before. Why don’t you want them to know?”
Leon ended up drawing a stressed breath that he let out through his teeth, raising his hands to helplessly try and smack words from the air to give an excuse before giving up and blurting the reason. “Because I'm tired of being a hindrance!”
“Leo. It’s okay-” Lil Mikey started, quick to reassure Leon that he wasn’t a hassle, and they really didn’t mind helping him.
“No it’s not!” Leon shouted, arms punching down at his sides. “You guys already have to deal with all of us freaking out all the time over stupid things. You don’t need to deal with my other problems- Donnie stop it!”
Don had to admit he wasn’t fully following exactly what Leon was saying other than picking up that a lot of pent up emotions were spilling from a bubble that had just popped. But when Leon suddenly cut himself off, addressing Donnie who wasn’t even there anymore, Don quickly knocked his brain from trying to apply what he already knew to the situation to mentally throwing all options out and starting from a blank page. Which ended up making it extremely hard for him to react since he had switched completely into observation mode.
“Don’t give me- It IS my fault! You don’t know what I- What do you mean so what? You’ve done worse? I doubt that- Just stop- I’m in the middle of a crowd of people ” Leon’s words sounded like he was talking to, and continually being interrupted by someone who wasn’t there. Raphael ended up watching for a bit before looking at Don and jerking his thumb at the kid in question. To which Don could only semi hesitantly shake his head. He didn’t think it was a flashback, especially since Lil Mikey and April were both just standing there with mildly confused by otherwise content expressions.
“...Dangit Donnie… That’s not fair,” Leon’s voice significantly changed after a short stretch of silence when he shifted from being stubbornly avoidant, to curling in on himself before not being able to hold back fat tears around a shaky smile. At this point April and Lil Mikey broke their stationary state and moved forward to bump against Leon, wrapping their arms around him quietly.
“... I think it’s time for both of you to take a break,” April said quietly, rubbing Leon’s back as he quietly hiccuped. “I’ll take over. Let’s go,” she beckoned, nudging him over towards the couches where Raph and Raphael were.
Giving a slight nod, Leon allowed April to usher him over to the couches, rubbing his eyes and staying hunched. He still had a faint smile that helped the others not be too concerned. But when they got close enough to where he was standing Raphael couldn’t help react to a subconscious idea, abruptly stepping forward and snatching Leon into an air stealing hug. It earned a wheezed huff from Leon, who then blinked in surprise before eventually looking up for a possible explanation. Unfortunately Raphael didn’t have a good one. “...You’re a great kid,” he half muttered pathetically, not sure why he chose those words.
It earned a snort from Leon, though he didn’t seem completely opposed to the compliment. “What are you, my mom?” he asked, the sarcasm not quite there as Don silently noticed the unusual choice of using mom instead of dad.
It was Raphael’s turn to snort softly now, and he responded without thinking too much. “I wish.” He wasn’t sure why he said that, he’d never wanted kids before. But it was surprising enough to get Leon’s head to snap up so he could look at Raphael better. “I know I’d be real proud of all of you if I were your dad. You’re pretty impressive kids. Even without all the mumbo jumbo mystic stuff.” What had Master Splinter said? Just rely on his instinct and don’t overthink it? Leon seemed rendered speechless by the comments, and Raph and Lil Mikey also looked rather surprised. It was like they weren’t used to hearing someone tell them they were proud of them.
Notes:
I'm too tired to give this a third read through |D
I sat down yesterday ready to struggle to write even 100 words for this, but ended up finding the perfect song to just throw on repeat and ended up writing 3300 words X'DD so here's the first half since I don't like posting more than around 1500 per post unless it's a really bad break point.
This section and the next one are learning heavy into the Rise Leo and Donnie have a twin thing headcanon.
also none of this or the next section was planned. I just sat and wrote self indulgence as it came to mind |D enjoy if you will
Chapter 31: A Twin Thing
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
As Don nudged Mikey to tell him to bring the food Lil Mikey and Leon had made to Donnie, Raphael cleared his throat and brought Leon over to Raph. “C’mon kid. Lets have you sit with your brother now. You need some time to relax.”
Leon didn’t quite seem to want to rely on Raph at the moment, considering Raph was still way more injured than he was. But he at least took a seat next to Raph and let April squish up next to him. And when Lil Mikey shamelessly clambered up on Raph’s lap to be wrapped in a hug, Don took a seat carefully on the foot cushion Raph’s leg was propped up on.
“...I’m sorry if this is really uncomfortable for me to ask. But could you tell me what just happened? I want to know what’s normal for you guys so I don’t have to worry about if there’s something medically wrong,” Don prompted, trying to be delicate but having his curiosity way outweigh his respect for privacy.
After a quick glance at the others, and seeing Leon just avert his gaze to the floor, Lil Mikey looked over with a slight smile. “He was talking to Donnie.”
“...Through a communicator?” Don asked, not quite sure how the two boys were able to speak without yelling between the rooms.
“In their brains,” Lil Mikey corrected with a bright grin, using his left hand to point at his own head. “Though I’m not sure if it was the ninja mind meld this time or just the twin thing.”
The words Lil Mikey said made no sense to the other two, and Raphael drew a slight sigh as he looked to Don, ready for him to explain. But it seemed Don was also failing to comprehend what Lil Mikey was saying, for he had his fingers pressed together while pursing his lips.
“Oh, here we go,” Leon muttered when Don finally drew a breath to speak.
“I’m sorry, what do you mean by ‘twin thing’?” Don asked first. “You mentioned earlier that they’re twins, but I’m not sure I follow considering they’re-”
“Different species? Yeah, Donnie argued that a lot in the beginning too,” Leon filled in, rolling his eyes slightly.
“...Yeah…,” Don agreed, now even more confused since they actually did seem to be talking about the two boys being biological twins and not just using the term incorrectly.
“We used to think it was just a thing Leo liked to say to feel close to Donnie, but Dadxum told us recently that it’s actually a legit thing,” Lil Mikey explained, voice full of mirth and excitement when talking about Draxum. “He said that since Leo and Donnie were probably born around the same time, and now share 50% of the same DNA, they became twins when they were mutated. And now they’re always in each other’s heads. Well- Sort of? They just always know how each other is feeling and stuff.”
There was a lot to unpack from what Lil Mikey said, but luckily Don had seen enough mystic happening to not immediately discredit it. And the more he thought about it the more he understood, and it explained things that had been a little odd before. April saying that Leo and Donnie caused each other to spiral off each other. Leon reacting to everyone being loud when apparently it was actually just Donnie that was bothered by it. Leon being so certain that Donnie wouldn’t eat the stew, and would be asleep for awhile. And the fact that he wasn’t worried about Donnie being asleep in the first place.
“You saying Lil Leo and Donnie have some constant psychic connection with each other or something?” Raphael piped in now, sort of following with what Lil Mikey was saying. At first he thought he was being pranked, especially when Lil Mikey nodded so happily. But the way Leon almost looked embarrassed, and April rubbed his back made Raphael doubt his initial thought.
“We can all do the ninja mind meld, where we can talk in each others’ heads super fast. But Leo says with him and Donnie it’s all emotions and not words,” Raph supplied, pointing to his own head with a grin, then looking down to Leon to make sure he was explaining it right. “We always just thought he just knew Donnie really well and was good at guessing what was wrong. But after-” Raph spoke happily for the most part, but then abruptly cut off as he almost breached the subject none of them liked talking about. As Leon hunched up more, Raph reached over to pull him close, tucking him onto his lap with Lil Mikey and looking more sullen. Even April scooted over to get close again and leaned over to lay against Leon, almost like she was afraid he’d vanish if she wasn’t in contact with him. Clearing his throat, Raph shifted subjects back. “Anyway. He used to drive Donnie crazy sometimes, telling people they were twins and all. But now he’s gotten a little more closed up about it.”
This time Leon spoke up before the others, getting tired of being in an uncomfortable topic. “Yeah, well… before it didn't mean that much,” he half huffed trying to play it off as not a big deal even though it was obvious to his family it was something that really bothered him. “Before it was just something for me to have in common with Donnie that you guys didn't. We happened to be the same age, so why not tease you guys and say we were closer than you guys could ever be? But now?... Now…,” the slight sharpness to his words faded with them, being replaced by a slight shudder instead as fresh tears welled in his eyes. “Now it hurts. Now it’s a lot more than what it was before. And if this is what Dee felt like all the time back then now I know why he'd always shut me out. Sometimes it's… sometimes it's just a lot and it's too much.”
Don and Raphael were quiet when Leon explained his side. It made sense then why Leon hadn’t wanted to talk about it. And why he seemed so frustrated and upset. “So… something changed? And you haven’t gotten used to it yet?” Don summarized what he understood so far, and also prodded for further response.
It seemed he wouldn’t get an answer from Leon this time, for he just squeezed his eyes closed and pressed his cheek against Raph, needing a moment to recollect himself. His brothers didn’t seem to want to answer either, so April sat up slightly to take over. “...We almost lost Leo a few months ago,” she explained as softly as she could. It caused Don’s heart to skip a beat, his own unwanted memories flashing briefly through his mind as Raphael sucked a slight hiss. “He was… he…,” April tried to continue, but found she couldn’t say it fully and skipped ahead. “Donnie says it was like having a piece of his heart ripped out. He said he’d always felt something more than others before, but he’d just assumed that it was his own difficulty in recognizing his own emotions. But… when Leo was gone for a moment… It took losing him for Donnie to realize that extra stuff was from Leo and not himself. And after that he said he stopped trying to push it away.”
“.... How did that make things different?” Don asked before he remembered what Leon had said and made his own hypothesis. “It’s more intense for you now?”
“...Yeah…,” Leon admitted, motivated by hearing the thoughts Donnie had expressed a while ago included in the discussion instead of just focusing on him. “Before it was like feeling something from a long distance away. Like it was a faint feeling in the back of my mind. But now… it’s like two people sharing the same body. If that makes sense.”
“Yeah, it makes sense,” Raphael finally commented, a hand rubbing the back of his head to try and dispel the awkwardness he felt about being able to understand something like this. “You said he’d always shut you out before? Why don’t you do the same now?” It was a blunt question, but it was the first thought he had. If something was so hard to deal with, why not just make it take a step back?
It was a fair question, and probably would make sense to just turn off the faucet if he couldn’t handle it. Any smart person would. But Leon found he just couldn’t do that. “...Because he doesn't anymore,” he admitted quietly. “He just accepts everything from me now, even if it’s too much for him and makes him hurt. And I can't just turn it off now that he's so open. Now that it's like how I always wanted it before. It’s just… Sometimes it's just hard… I’m sorry.”
“No, don’t be sorry,” Don was quick to reassure, reaching a hand out to rest on Leon’s knee once again. “I’m sorry for prying into something so personal. But… I have to admit it’s actually really cool.”
The blunt admittance of finding Leon and Donnie’s connection to be a merit earned a snort from Raphael, and broke Lil Mikey out of his sullen silence. “That’s what I said! They share a brain twenty four seven, and don’t even have to talk to know how each other’s feeling. It’s like the ultimate Dr Feelings technique,” he gawked, sounding both in awe and extremely disappointed.
“Doctor what now?” Raphael coughed in surprised mirth.
“Mikey’s persona when he’s playing family therapist,” April answered quickly. “He finds it’s easier to let the others know what he expects and what to expect from him when he gives them names.”
“Oh…. I guess that makes sense,” Raphael admitted, then rubbed the back of his head again as he thought back to the other topic. “Well… while Don thinks it’s cool - and it is cool, I guess - …… I think it just goes to show how impressive you guys are. I had a hard enough time dealing with my own emotions as a teenager. To deal with someone else’s on top of it? …. Let’s just say I can’t blame you if you end up murdering something.”
The last line earned a choked snort from Don as he looked over with a wry grin. “Raph,” he chided lightly, shaking his head. “Let’s keep murder off the table for at least another twenty years.”
The comment caused the rest of the people in the room to silently stare at Don with wide eyes. Raphael having not expected Don to include a timeline, and the others having not expected jokes about murder from the one that seemed to be the most gentle person they’d met so far.
“... Oh, you and Donnie really are a lot more alike than I thought…,” April commented, mentally filing that fact away for later if necessary and earning a barked laugh from Leon.
Notes:
Aaaand here's the other half of that spurt of writing X'D The song I had on repeat was mostly responsible for this section and only slightly the one before. It was [Fate/stay night Heaven's Feel III spring song OST - In early Spring -you were always brilliant-] if anyone is curious.
Took way too long doing the drawing though, and at this point I don't care if there are mistakes. |D
Also if anyone is super confused about the headcanon stuff I don't blame you since it's hard to explain things while keeping people in chara as best I can. But I basically have the division that
Ninja mind meld = conscious mental communication
The Twin Thing = subconscious emotional connection
Mind meld they can hear each others' thoughts like a crazy fast phone call, but don't get emotions or anything else along with it.
Twin thing it's purely emotional and the words they get are from personal interpretation of what the other is feeling. If they want to actually talk they do the mind meld on top of it.
Mind meld is a conscious effort and can be turned on and off
Twin thing is a subconscious constant that can be suppressed but not completely blocked.
Timeline wise Leon and Donnie grew up with the connection being heavily suppressed most of the time on Donnie's end because emotions suck and he didn't understand that it actually was Leon, while Leon was an open book. Kind of like Donnie was behind a closed door and they were just sliding letters underneath it. Then Leon almost died, and Donnie realized that the extra emotions was actually from Leon, and now has flung the door wide open and keeps it open.
..... yeh * finger guns awkwardly *
Chapter 32: Fondness
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Leo thanked any spirits that may have helped that it only took a few minutes of silence before Donnie’s breathing evened out. Soft, smooth breaths in and out as he took time to himself in the quiet. If Leo focused he could still hear the others outside, but it was easy to ignore. Or at least he thought it was. It wasn’t long before Donnie was pushing himself upright again, his gaze drawn towards where they had left the others. Were they still there? Was it still too loud? Leo shifted slightly to see if Donnie was still bothered by the sounds, but was surprised to see the lad didn’t look irritated at all this time. Instead he seemed more concerned.
This time, being in an isolated room with nothing to bother him, Donnie knew the irritated feeling was from Leon and not him. Something about feeling exposed? Had someone said something he didn’t want them to? Oh, there it was. That sinking into a black hole feeling Leon got sometimes. The times when he was strangely in the others’ space, asking how they were doing, expressing strange interest in their hobbies masked by jokes because he couldn’t make it seem like he cared too much. But this time he seemed to be reacting differently. The black hole was bigger than usual and laced with stinging burns. He felt useless, didn’t he. Or that he was somehow causing trouble for others and feeling self conscious about it. Donnie ended up gaining a soft smile as he responded in silence. Pulling up memories of his brother in his mind that ended up pooling feelings of warmth in him that he willingly pushed Leon’s way. Fondness, comfort, affection, familial love. All the dum, overwhelming emotions that normally got Donnie sputtering awkwardly in denial when addressed in any other manner than them responding to the newest present he’d given them. All focused on Leon, and all bundled up in a soft package and shoved into Leon’s metaphorical arms. He felt Leon push back, but he didn’t mind and just kept nudging the feelings his way. The second rejection was weaker, and then on the third time Donnie felt Leon crumble under the blanket of care and accept it, earning a tinge of smug pride to Donnie's smile.
Leo had no idea what was happening, but he didn’t feel the need to comment. Watching the concern in Donnie’s expression morph into a warm, fond smile instead was enough for Leo to pull back into a proper meditative pose and close his eyes again. He wasn’t there to interfere. Just make sure Donnie didn’t feel abandoned. He heard Donnie give the tiniest chuckle Leo had ever heard, and ended up cracking a small smile in response. It seemed he was feeling a lot better for some reason. Especially since shortly after Mikey swung the door open, slipping in with a tray of dishes, and Donnie only looked at him warily instead of hissing again.
“Tadaa~,” Mikey chimed in the lowest whisper he could manage. “You brothers were in the middle of making you food when they had to stop to help. They’re all on the couch now, but Don wanted to make sure you got something to eat.”
Leo had initially been afraid that Mikey’s talking would annoy Donnie more. But to his surprise Donnie just pulled his knees close to his chest in a sign not to touch him, but otherwise didn’t respond negatively. Just watched Mikey kneel a short ways in front of him and place the tray on the ground. Leo had to admit the food looked incredibly boring, but to his surprise Donnie wasn’t immediately put off by it. Shifting to lean forward to get closer, Donnie poked and nudged the food a few times, finding the texture acceptable before picking up a piece of the steak to sniff. He didn’t smell anything unusual on it either, so hesitantly nibbled on the edge of it. It was just cooked meat. No seasoning, not even grilled in oil or butter. And it was perfect. A few more nibbles that gradually became full bites eventually grew into Donnie stuffing entire slices of the meat into his mouth. With a brief look at Mikey, Donnie raised a hand to tap both fingers under his own chin before moving them out, then reached for the crisp spinach leaves and carrot slices.
“I have no idea what that means, but I’m guessing you like it,” Mikey whispered, amusement in his voice as he watched the obviously hungry teenager eventually end up gobbling the food up. “...Is there anything else you want?”
Donnie paused with a cheek full of food being chewed, looking up in thought before he eventually made a gripping motion near his mouth before moving it away, raising a pinky and twisting his hand.
“Uhhhhhh…,” Mikey gaped, raising a finger to scratch his tilted head. “... Milk?”
Donnie snorted, and rolled his eyes slightly while reaching for a pocket that wasn’t there. His hand patted where his belt usually was, and then rested on his shoulder before he stilled with mild sullenness. Right, he didn’t have his battleshell, which was where he usually kept his phone. To his surprise though a different phone was slid into his view on the floor. The notes app was already open with a simple |Use this| typed on the page. When Donnie looked up in mild confusion why Leo would willingly give Donnie his phone, Leo just gave a warm smile.
Giving a mildly amused huff, Donnie picked up the phone and used one hand to type out what he’d signed before, another spinach leaf being brought to his mouth with the other. He decided to behave himself and not snoop though, so after a second he was sliding the phone back to them.
|Orange juice.|
“Ohhh,” Mikey hummed quietly, leaning over the phone. “Close enough.”
“Not even,” Leo whispered back, one eye scrunching at the thought. Just having those two drinks mentioned in place of each other had given him the thought of them being mixed, and it made him grimace.
“Sure they are. Don has both of them for breakfast every morning,” Mikey whispered back, but nevertheless shifted to stand up.
“Because they’re different,” Leo hissed, raising his hands to grab at the air as if he could snatch the point and throw it at Mikey. “Otherwise he’d just have one or the other.”
Donnie would have given more than a huff of amusement, but they were starting to get too loud again, and that made him focus on a different item. Reaching out to brush his fingers on Mikey’s arm, holding just long enough to get him to wait, Donnie snatched Leo’s phone again and typed another request.
|Can you bring my headphones too?|
Pausing to read the phone, Mikey grinned and gave a thumbs up, noticing how Donnie’s other hand was twitching to raise and cover one of his own ears again. He’d have to ask Don where the headphones had been stored, but it was an easy enough request to fulfill.
Watching Mikey leave, Leo looked back at Donnie, noting how he was looking more sullen again. Of all the younger brothers Donnie seemed to be the one that was having the hardest time pulling out of the stressed state they had all been in. Even though Leon had fallen back into a more aggressive state earlier, it had seemed to have been because of protectiveness towards Donnie. Something Leo could relate to, both for his own brothers, and admittedly for their counterparts. With concern furrowing his brows, Leo reached over to pick up his phone, typing his own question on it before setting it next to Donnie.
|How are you feeling? Aside from the noise?|
Donnie was quick to look down at the phone, but his curious expression quickly fell to a frown and tense brow when he read the questions. He wasn’t quite sure how to answer them. Not because he didn’t have at least some idea how he felt. But more that it was the wrong person asking. He was uncomfortable, and stressed, and scared, and didn’t feel completely safe in this foreign place. But he also had the thought to lie and tell Leo he was fine, even though it was obvious he wasn’t. But he just didn’t want to talk to Leo about it. It made his stomach and shoulders tense from the thought.
Leo was expecting an answer though, so Donnie gave a small huff and scooped up the phone to type a response. Even if it wasn’t one Leo would want to hear, lightly thumping the phone back down to him.
|You’re not my brothers.|
Reading the response as Donnie turned his gaze away from him, Leo grimaced. Fair enough. He was still a stranger as far as more serious conversations were concerned. But he wouldn’t push. He’d already learned that stressing Donnie too much only caused him to get violent. So even though he couldn’t hold back a small, helpless sigh, Leo turned the screen of his phone down on the matted floor to wordlessly show he’d accept that response and not pry anymore. At least he could still stay there while Donnie nibbled on more of the food.
Notes:
Drawing soft Donnie was so fun X'D
First part has Donnie's side of what Leon was arguing with him about.
Chapter 33: Onion Ring and Games
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Shortly after Mikey had left, Leo was surprised to see a different being enter the room, squeezing through the cracked doorway and padding onto the matted floor. An adult orange cat silently coming to no doubt take up residence on Leo’s lap. But then she froze in place when she spotted another, unfamiliar person there, eyeing Donnie with wary curiosity. “Onion Ring?” Leo spoke quietly, addressing the cat as well as giving Donnie a name as a way to let him know the little furry creature belonged to them.
Donnie had already finished all the food that had been brought in, and was just sitting with his arms around curled knees when the new cat caught his attention. And after Onion Ring unfroze and hesitantly started to approach them while sniffing the air Donnie reached his curled fingers out towards her. Onion Ring stretched her head towards the limb, bobbing with each inhale as her whiskers twitched. Then, to Leo’s surprise, Onion Ring curled her head forward to bump and rub against Donnie’s hand repeatedly, a soft purr rumbling from her.
“That’s surprising. She took forever to even be in the same room as April,” Leo commented quietly, pleased to see the tiny smile Donnie got. Apparently cats were acceptable to him right now.
“Not that surprising,” Mikey commented, slipping back into the room with a glass of orange juice and Donnie’s headphones. “He probably smells a lot more like her daddy than humans do. I caught her sleeping on the three of them a few hours ago. She probably got used to them already. Huh? My precious lil baby girl.” Mikey’s voice pooled into smothering gushing as he reached out to pet Onion Ring with both hands, having passed the other items over to Donnie as soon as he could.
Once the headphones were within reach Donnie quickly grabbed at them and pulled them carefully back onto his head. At first Leo thought the small device was just a form of comfort for Donnie to have, something familiar in an unfamiliar place. But after watching Donnie rapidly tap several subtle buttons on the side he realized they were something else. Was it music? Did that mean he was okay with having them talking, as long as they weren’t yelling? Donnie still wasn’t speaking vocally, but he seemed to be in a better mood once the headphones were in place. His expression relaxed a little more, and as one hand picked up the orange juice to sip the other reached out to pet Onion Ring some more. At least he wasn’t shying away from being in contact with everything. But Leo did notice he would still flinch when he accidentally touched Mikey’s hands, so made a note to still keep his distance for now.
It didn’t take long for Donnie to finish the glass of juice, and after it was gone and Onion Ring wandered off to another corner of the room Leo noticed Donnie seemed to be getting restless. Feet shuffling from one being over the top of the other, to switching and the opposite foot being on top. Adjusting the blanket multiple times. Many glances towards the door, and around the room without actually looking at anything in particular. Eventually Mikey reached out to scoop Onion Ring up when she came back to rub against him, rising to his feet and looking at Donnie. “Hey, why don’t we go back to the living room with the rest of your family? Lil Mikey and Raphy were playing with my other cat earlier. We can see if they can get both Pepper and Onion going,” he offered, giving a bright smile.
Donnie’s gaze locked on Mikey when he started talking, and to Leo’s relief he nodded in response to the offer. Pulling the blanket close, Donnie shifted to stand up as well, semi hesitantly following Mikey out of the room. He was deliberate in keeping well out of range of accidentally bumping into anyone as he silently walked behind, betraying his informal training in silencing his movements. Mikey didn’t mind though, more focused on keeping Onion Ring calm while he brought her to a crowd of unfamiliar, and rather noisy, people. It seemed that Raphael had goaded Don, Leon and April into playing video games with him, and the four were easily reaching decibels that Leo may have been concerned about if they were anywhere other than home.
“HA! Eat dirtbike losers!” April’s triumphant cheer caused Leo to check if Donnie was alright with the volume, eyes moving to him from behind. He didn’t seem to react to it at all though, which made Leo wonder once again what the headphones were doing.
“Oh dang, that was a good one,” Raphael praised as Don let out a frustrated noise.
“April what the hell? I thought we were friends!” Leon’s anguished cry followed along with the rapid clicking of the controller.
“Ohhh, got them playing Junkyard Brawl, huh?” Mikey commented, looking at the game on the screens and coming to stand near the couches. It was a little hard to see with the four players crowding in front, but it looked like they had tried to play it fair by splitting the teams in a way there was one guest and one host. Don and Leon against April and Raphael. And it looked like April and Raphael were barely in the lead.
Raph and Lil Mikey were still snuggled down together on the couch, bothing grinning hugely, and looking over when Mikey’s comment alerted them of his presence. And from that they spotted Donnie following close behind, their smiles growing bigger and eyes brightening.
“Donnie!” Both brothers chimed as Lil Mikey sat up a little straighter and Raph opened an arm to make room for Donnie to silently slide in next to them.
“Feeling a little better?” Raph asked, causing Donnie to look directly at him before Lil Mikey caught his attention. A point at Donnie, then finger almost hooking into his own ear, then an open palm near his chin before being brought down. It was a little hard to be limited to one hand, but Donnie seemed to understand well enough. A single nod was given to both of his brothers as Donnie wiggled to get comfortable in the space tucked in next to Raph.
Strangely enough, having all five of their guests in the same room, most of them so closely snuggled with each other, and otherwise just having fun and relaxing, caused Leo to breathe a heavy sigh of relief as he came to stop a short ways behind the couch. With Onion Ring squirming too much, Mikey let her down to scurry away and hide as he had to chuckle in response to Leo, shifting up next to his brother.
“I know that sigh,” Mikey commented quietly. “Mission finally accomplished, eh?”
The comment earned a soft snicker from Leo, and he loosely folded his arms, a little embarrassed about being so easily read. “Yeah. They’re all safe now. We’ll take a breather before we start to tackle how to get them home.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Mikey agreed, giving Leo a thumbs up. “I’ll go check up on Casey and April, and see about trying to introduce them again.” Thankfully even after getting his nose to stop bleeding Mom April was able to keep Casey from immediately trying to talk to their guests again. Despite them being used to April, they still seemed quite skittish around Casey and Mom April. Leo and Mikey weren’t sure why, but they figured it would still be better to take it slow next time. Maybe Mikey would have to tell Casey to treat their guests like cats instead of turtles, and to keep his distance until they came to him.
As Mikey left to check on the others, Leo rested his arms on the back of the couch, giving the three brothers a smile when they looked at him briefly. As usual, Raphael was trying to handicap Don by shoving into his space but not actively blocking him. They’d already been banned from standing in front of each other while playing competitive games since they always ended up too close to the screen. Master Splinter was concerned not only for their health, but also for the equipment. But to Leo’s surprise even April and Leon were just as rambunctious. Somehow April had gotten Leon on the floor, and was sitting on his chest to keep him semi pinned. But Leon didn’t seem all that bothered and was continuing to play the game upside down. It must have been a common experience for him since none of his other brothers were reacting to it either.
“We should play this in Repo’s junkyard,” Lil Mikey commented, watching the others beating each other up in the game.
“I don’t think Ms. Nubbins would let us,” Raphael responded, the rumbling of his voice causing Donnie to glance up to make sure he wasn’t being addressed.
Leo wasn’t sure who Repo or Ms Nubbins were, but it sounded like these four were just as much of a handful as he and his brothers had been. Giving a soft chuckle, Leo shifted his gaze when Master Splinter came to stand next to him.
“Perhaps a request for dinner might be in order,” Master Splinter commented to Leo, calmly watching the others with fondness.
“Sure,” Leo agreed easily, taking out his phone again. Donnie had just eaten, but it would still be good to make sure everyone else would be well fed as well. “How about Thai food?”
His question had been to Master Splinter, but Lil Mikey keyed in on the choice and spoke up. “Ohhh Thai food is terrible to order. Too many peanut dishes.”
“...You don’t like peanuts?” Leo asked, paying attention to them now too.
“Raph’s allergic,” Raph answered simply, still watching the TV for a bit before looking over. “We usually don’t order any Asian, Indian, African, or Mexican food because of it. But If you guys want Thai then I can always have something else.”
Leo’s eyes widened slightly as he immediately grew anxious over the revelation, securely filing that fact away in his mind to never forget. “N’no, it’s fine. We can adjust,” he assured, running through the list of foods Raph said to avoid again. “...What about Italian?”
“Ooo, risotto and mozzarella mezzalune both sound good,” Lil Mikey agreed.
“Hey, you think they have that really cool salmon thing here we got once?” Leon chimed in, apparently paying attention now that food was being discussed.
“Oh, maybe that one pasta stuffed with meat?” Raph added.
“Uhhh, I have to admit I’m not sure what any of those are, but here’s the menu,” Leo responded, leaning over the couch so Raph and Lil Mikey could look at his phone with him.
“Oh! They have seafood risotto, how about that Leo?” Lil Mikey asked, looking over to Leon.
“Sounds awesome. Can we get garlic bread and cheese sticks too?” Leon asked, still stuck under April. “What about you April?”
“You mean after I keep kicking your butt?” April teased, grinning as Leon squawked after her character hit his with a mattress. “Honestly I’m good with anything. Lasagne or spaghetti or whatever.”
“Oh oh, this one for me,” Raph spoke up, pointing at a picture on the phone.
Leo was momentarily taken back when Leon requested three things, but then had to shake his head. Right. Teenagers. This would be quite the bill if he wanted to make sure they were all fed well. “And Donnie?” he asked, noting that Donnie was still watching the TV without reacting to the order being made.
Luckily Lil Mikey offered his help by waving his hand where Donnie could see, getting him to look up and watch him make three motions. And as Donnie took a moment to think, Lil Mikey noticed Leo’s brow furrow and gave him a quick explanation. “He’s not ignoring you. He probably just has his headphones silencing everything so he can’t hear us right now.”
As Leo made a soundless O in understanding and gave a slow nod, Lil Mikey watched the motions Donnie made before looking back to Leo. “Anything with scallops and noodles?”
“Uhhh,” Leo hummed to fill the pause, “Scallop alfredo?” he offered, letting Lil Mikey converse with Donnie again.
“Perfect,” Lil Mikey grinned, giving a thumbs up.
Adding the dish to the order, Leo scrolled through the menu to find what he wanted and called to his own brothers. “Don and Raph, is the usual okay for you guys?”
“Yeah, just make sure they don’t forget the onions this time,” Raphael accepted.
“Do the sea bass one this time, please,” Don requested, getting tired of shoving back against Raphael and casually stepping out of the way to make him stumble. It earned a chuckle from some of the others at first, until Leon took the opening while Raphael was semi distracted and knocked his player out of bounds.
“Oi!” Raphael protested as Lil Mikey, Raph and April gave a chorus of impressed and slightly mocking ‘Oo’s.
“Looks like we have an opportunistic leader on their side,” Don commented, just a hint of smugness in his planned opening being easily utilized.
Leon’s brow ended up furrowing a bit at the comment, and instead of gloating he just quickly responded with, “Actually Raph’s our leader.”
He hadn’t expected such a simple comment to distract Don enough to allow April the chance to take his player out of the game as well, ending with just her and Leon dueling. But after a stretch of consideration, Don just voiced a single thought about it. “Huh.”
Raphael on the other hand had more to say. “... Say what now?”
“Well, I guess we trade off every now and then, now. But growing up it was just Raph,” Leon clarified. “And now sometimes April takes over too. It just depends on who’s the most capable at the time.”
It was a thought that Raphael and Don hadn’t considered before, and inevitably caused them to fall quiet in thought. Leo had always been their leader, and to have anything different had always felt like a permanent overthrow to them. Unless it was situations like the recent adventure where Leo was simply not there to lead them. But to trade off? To just temporarily change leadership? It was a novel idea, and Raphael and Don both looked at each other before they ended up looking silently at Leo.
“Oh, don’t even,” Leo shot back, having finished the order and put away his phone just in time to see them stare at him. “We all know what happens when the rest of you try to lead. And it’s not like it was ever my decision in the first place,” he defended, looking to Master Splinter for support and causing the others to follow his gaze.
Master Splinter was quiet, a hand held near his chin in thought until he saw his sons looking to him for direction. “Hmm. It has been some time since we’ve explored the option. Perhaps there would be some merit in considering it once more,” he admitted.
“HA!” Raphael burst, turning to slap Don’s raised hands with his own. It seemed Don was more excited for Raphael after the comments than for himself, but he was still grinning.
Leo on the other hand had a dropped jaw before he picked it up to protest. “Master Splinter! You can’t be serious- they’re not ready!” he scrambled, only able to fall back on the complaints from his childhood since it had been that long ago when the topic was last addressed.
To everyone’s surprise though, it wasn’t Master Splinter that responded.
“No one is,” Raph spoke up with a tone somewhere between amused and incredulous. It caused the others to fall silent and turn to stare at him, prompting him to repeat himself and elaborate. “No one is ever ready to be a leader. Sometimes you just have to, and sometimes you get to learn from others and have backup. But no one is just born a leader. They become one.”
The comments were enough to earn complete silence from everyone in the room now, April’s achievement of securing victory against Leon going uncelebrated as they ended up looking to Raph along with their hosts. And this time Master Splinter remained quiet, allowing someone else to speak reason for once.
It was enough motivation for Raph to continue again, looking over to Leo with a slight grin. “You and I were leaders because we had to be. We’re the big brothers, and we gotta keep the others safe. But I bet you weren’t ready for it either.”
Leo found he couldn’t answer immediately. A rare moment, especially since even Raphael didn’t have a snarky comment or jab. But eventually he let out a slow breath and rested his arms on the back of the couch once more. “....Yeah…. You’re right,” he admitted with a bit of reluctance. He had been the most capable and responsible of the four of them, but that hadn’t meant he was ready to be a good leader. And he’d already had many times where he’d berated himself for his own mistakes in the role.
Raph just grinned, proud to have guessed right. “It’s scary at first to let someone else lead. But it’s actually kind of nice to sit on the sidelines sometimes, and see all the cool stuff your lil brothers can do. Like saving the world from aliens and stuff.”
The comments earned a little more stillness from Leo, marveling at how hearing it from someone else who had apparently been in a very similar situation to him was happy about the change. He followed Raph’s gaze to Leon when he mentioned saving the world from aliens, and as Leon gave a rather embarrassed smile and shrug back Leo could only think of Don and the Triceratons. Mikey and Kluh. And Raphael being there for all of them during everything. He didn’t have a response, but the quiet was long enough for Don to make a correcting comment to dispel his discomfort with the quiet.
“...We’re actually all the same age,” Don pointed out in a mild hush, earning a snicker from Raphael. Of course Don would have to make sure the correct facts were known. But what they didn’t expect was for Lil Mikey to respond after a few connections were made in his own mind because of that fact.
“You guys are quadruplets and can’t even ninja mind meld?!”
Notes:
Hhhhhh please excuse any clunkiness int eh writing. I had thoughts but stringing them together this time was hard. Which also resulted in this being twice as long as I usually do
Chapter 34: Hint
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
Shortly after the two families had snarfed down an ungodly amount of food for dinner Don and Leon had ushered Lil Mikey back to the infirmary to check on his injuries. They would get to Raph after, but they figured it would be easier on everyone to disentangle Lil Mikey from the group first. Even throughout dinner Donnie had remained with his back stubbornly squished against Raph’s side, keeping wrapped up in the blanket and eating the scallop alfredo from a bowl held close to his chin. He seemed to be slowly doing better though, so Don made sure the others didn’t make a fuss over it, reminding them that their guests had all been through extremely stressful events recently. Something that had Leon understandably eager to get the bandages off Lil Mikey’s arm so he could see and assess the damage for himself.
“So Leatherhead was the one that took care of you? Not Don?” Leon asked, glancing over at Don as the latter patiently allowed Leon to take the lead once more.
“Yeah, Don and Leo took care of Donnie – wow that’s weird to say – while Leatherhead and Big Raph took care of me,” Lil Mikey confirmed, wincing slightly when Leon jostled his arm in a way that caused the damaged muscle to protest. He was used to Leon’s hands winding and unwinding bandaging on him, but the injury was still a new experience that made him a little anxious. Enough that the foot he had hanging off the edge of the table swayed slightly.
“Okay,” Leon accepted, figuring Raphael had done the same for Lil Mikey as he’d done for Raph and acted like a distraction. When he carefully peeled the gauze back from the wound Leon ended up giving a small gasp. “Ohmigosh, it’s tiny! I thought it would be a lot bigger. How big was the bullet?” he blurted, brushing his fingers over the stitches before looking at Don.
Don could only chuckle, feeling a little bad for the slight startle Lil Mikey had gotten from Leon’s gasp, and leaned closer for a moment to see for himself. “It was only a nine millimeter one. We were lucky and even though there wasn’t an exit wound he didn’t seem to have gotten too much damage. Leatherhead said it was pretty easy to remove the bullet, it was just the cleanup and disinfection that took the longest.”
Listening to the explanation, Leon’s expression lit in a way only his would when discussing this matter. Looking back at the injury, Leon could only grin. “Gosh, I don’t even think it’ll scar that much. You guys are amazing,” he gushed, taking a few more seconds to admire the work before he started to apply some more ointment and clean gauze.
“Yeah, Big Raph mentioned they got a lot of practice,” Lil Mikey recalled, swinging his foot slightly once again. “I’m glad the people we end up fighting don’t tend to use guns. This really hurt,” he admitted, trying to keep his voice light.
It was subtle for others, but obvious for Leon that Lil Mikey wasn’t completely okay from the event. The slightly tense strain in Lil Mikey’s tone was enough to get Leon to pause, looking up at Lil Mikey’s face. “...Does it still hurt a lot?” he asked, just to make sure Lil Mikey wasn’t trying to be tougher than he needed to.
“No!” Lil Mikey assured quickly. “No, it’s good. It doesn’t even hurt that much, especially with the meds.” He wasn’t lying. He still didn’t really notice the injury until he tried to move his arm too much. But he knew he needed to give a little more so that Leon didn’t think he was pushing it off. “I guess… I’m just still a little scared when I think about it.”
Admittedly it was a fair emotion to have towards being shot, but Leon ended up giving a small snort. “You open a portal to another dimension and completely wreck both your arms for months, but brush that off like it’s nothing. And then getting shot and having a tiny little stitched up wound scares you?” he asked, a little incredulously.
Lil Mikey’s eyes went a little wider at the comparison, having not thought about it before. “...Huh. I guess the fact that I was saving you instead of getting saved by others made a big difference. Every time I got worried about the portal scars I just had to remember that you were still home with us, and it was gonna be okay.”
The response from Lil Mikey caused Leon’s teasing smile to falter, threatening to fade completely but instead settling into one of concerned fondness. He wasn’t sure what to respond, and consequently ended up reacting to Don’s movement instead.
As soon as Leon mentioned Lil Mikey opening a portal to another dimension Don tried to subtly but quickly pull out his phone to text Raphael. Unfortunately for him it didn’t go unnoticed, and he reflexively gripped his phone harder and tried to pull away when Leon’s hand smacked over the top of it. Leon had been intending to take the phone away from Don, but after feeling his fingers clenching the device in an iron grip Leon changed tactics, meeting Don’s gaze with a now steely smile. “...Who ya texting, Old Don?” Leon asked, his voice venomously sweet.
Don realized his mistake immediately, and had to keep himself from groaning at his own stupidity. Of course the teens would be wary of them having possible outside communication. So while he didn’t exactly want Leon to see what he’d been typing, he relented and opened his palm to give up his phone. “See for yourself,” he accepted, hoping Leon didn’t take too much offense to his unfiltered phrasing.
The phone being so easily relinquished caught Leon slightly off guard, the smile faltering halfway as he studied Don for a moment, looking for anything to hint that he was trying to pull a fast one on him as soon as he looked away. He couldn’t find anything though, and eventually looked down at the phone screen. The recipient was labeled as Raphael, with a more candid picture of the elder turtle in the bubble. And the most recent message sent sooner than Don had intended read ‘Did you know Little Mikey got his scars from opening an interesting’.
Leon realized his hand probably caused an autofill for the last word before sending the message, but it didn’t stop him from frowning. As Raphael’s message came back, asking for clarification, Leon tossed the phone back to Don. “You’re all really annoying, you know that? Why do you keep butting in our business?”
“Leo,” Lil Mikey chided immediately, his voice lowered and slightly hissed. That wasn’t an appropriate tone to take with someone who had been more than helpful for them in his mind.
Don held his tongue for a moment, not able to blame Leon at all for his reaction and only feeling upset with himself for not considering his action might be taken wrong. He’d thought Leon was a little more comfortable with him than he apparently was. “... I’m sorry. We’re just curious, and want to help. But don’t want to push you guys too hard, so we’re trying to figure things out on our own so you don’t have to tell us about it,” Don admitted, a little hesitant but hoping honesty would help instead of causing more problems in this case.
“You ever think I don’t want to tell you about my life?” Leon snapped back.
“You don’t want to? Or you can’t?” Don asked, his voice gentle yet blunt as he noted Leon’s response coming from distress instead of anger. And as Don suspected, the call out to Leon’s smothered discord caused him to freeze for a moment, eyes widening slightly and losing focus as he reflexively shut down in avoidance. Making a stilling motion to Lil Mikey as the lad quickly started to respond, Don waved his hand gently in Leon’s vision to get his attention without touching him. Once Leon’s eyes flicked back to him, Don carefully gripped Leon’s palm with one hand while the other cupped against Leon’s jaw. “I know you’re probably a little scared right now, but can you just focus on my hands for a moment? Let me know if they’re too warm, or if I’m holding you too hard. Also we used a different ointment this time for Lil Mikey. Can you smell the difference? This one smells more herbal than synthetic, yeah?”
Leon didn’t verbally respond, but Don could see his mind quickly shifting to focus on what was requested of him. Eyes flicking down to their hands as his cheek pressed into Don’s other palm slightly. A deep breath as he tried to smell what Don was pointing out, let out in a shaky exhalation before another was drawn. All the while Lil Mikey watched in surprise, marveling at how easily Don addressed Leon.
A few more slow breaths in and out, and Leon sullenly looked up at Don, the annoyance from before having faded into sheepishness. “...How did you do that so easily?” he ended up asking, voice quiet.
Don could only give Leon a bittersweet smile, lowering his hand to Leon’s shoulder and giving the other a squeeze when he saw Leon wasn’t quite ready to be without physical comfort yet. “My Leo…,” Don started, then caught himself and reorganized his thoughts to explain better. “When we were teenagers, Leo got in a fight that almost cost his life. And while protecting him the rest of us almost got caught in a gas leak explosion. He ended up a little different for awhile because of it, and we had to get some help from Master Splinter’s old friend because none of us knew how to address the trauma he held. And as we got older we eventually learned what had happened, and how to help. It’s come in handy for all of us, even to this day.” The explanation was gentle, and Don tried to be as open as he could about it. And at the end he released his grip and lifted his heavily scarred arm slightly to draw attention to it, trying to ignore how the infirmary had gained two newcomers by now.
Having felt Leon’s distress, Donnie had hurriedly disentangled himself from the couch to make his way to the infirmary with the others. The blanket was still held around his shoulders, and he studied the room with a slight glare before he begrudgingly considered that Leon wasn’t being intentionally antagonized. Leon even seemed effectively distracted, and curiously engaged with the conversation now too, so Donnie held his own questions back with narrowed eyes as he approached. After side eyeing Don to make sure he wouldn’t suddenly try to grab him or something, Donnie leaned against Leon’s back just enough to tuck his head down against Leon’s skull, offering his own form of comfort.
The other newcomer was Raphael. Having not gotten a response from Don quick enough he’d decided to come find his brother in person. But with the scene he’d walked into he decidedly remained at the doorway, folding his arms and pursing his lips warily. He didn’t like where the conversation was going, but he also realized this wasn’t about him and kept quiet.
“...What happened to your arm?” Leon asked, taking the bait Don laid and looking down Don’s arm. Seeing how many scars there were and noting how his grip was definitely weaker than his other hand. The muscles in that arm seemed slightly smaller too.
“...I had my arm in a generator, trying to remove the crystal core, when it got turned back on,” Don answered, giving up his own personal grief story in exchange for having learned something similar about Lil Mikey. “Fifteen fractures along my entire arm, along with deep gashes wherever you see a scar. It scared Raphael pretty good, and Leatherhead still blames himself for not being able to do better fixing it up. It’s one of the many events that motivated us to get such a nicely stocked infirmary.”
Leon was quiet as he processed what Don had told him. Trying to guess exactly how much damage had been done to Don’s arm, and what it had taken to get it back to the state it was in now instead of amputating it. And then he slowly began to fully realize what Don had told him. Their infirmary was top of the line because they needed it to be. Because they hadn’t had just one close call. Don had just told Leon that all of them had almost died when they were teenagers. And then told him there was one more time where Don had personally, probably almost died again after that. And yet they were all still there, smiling and laughing and not breaking down at everything that even slightly reminded them of the events. The next breath from Leon shook slightly, and he reached up to bother Donnie into giving him an arm to hold. “...How are you guys not… How are you still functioning like normal?”
It was a question that Don noticed had as much pain as it had hope in it, and Don could only smile in pained warmth. “Emotional wounds, and mental wounds can heal just like physical ones. As long as they’re taken care of properly,” he assured, returning his hand to Leon’s to give it another squeeze. “I’m asking all the questions I am because I don’t want to just help you guys with your physical injuries. I want to help with everything else too, because when we get you guys back home I want you to be able to feel safe and sound there…. Okay?”
Leon’s gaze fell, but this time it was because of thought instead of wanting to avoid Don. It was too hard to respond with trust just yet. He couldn’t say it was okay, or that he was willing to talk. He couldn’t even say he couldn’t talk about it yet either. So instead he just looked away and relented with a form of direction. “...Ask April about it… She and Mikey are the only ones that can manage to talk about it so far.” The admittance caused him to tighten his grip around Donnie’s arm, afraid he’d just made a mistake by giving Don information he hadn’t had before. It didn’t help that Donnie shared his unease, his eyes moving to stare in mild warning at Don without moving his head. It was a rare moment of them being vulnerable, and Donnie was promising hell to pay if Don used it against them.
By this point Don was starting to get used to the twins’ wariness and bristled emotions, and could only withdraw his own hands as a physical motion to show he wasn’t going to try to pry any more from Leon. “Thank you. For trusting me a little,” he responded first, wanting Leon to know he appreciated his openness. “How about I finish getting Mikey’s arm dressed again, and you can go back to the living room with Donnie to relax more?”
Leaving the situation he was in felt tempting, but Leon also didn’t want to leave Lil Mikey half cared for. He was the one who was supposed to take care of them in this situation after all. He’d needed help with Raph, but something as simple as changing a bandage wasn’t hard. And yet he couldn’t find the motivation to want to complete the job. “..You sure?” Leon asked, half giving in to his reluctant lethargy.
“Sure. You can take it easy. And if I’m too rough then I give Mikey full permission to throw me out the door,” Don persisted brightly. It was a mild joke, but Leon understood why Don had said it. He didn’t mind if the boys got rough with him to protect themselves. He didn’t mind if they were baring their teeth in wary defensiveness. It was nice to hear, and Leon’s nerves stilled a little more as he shifted to stand up, keeping a hold of Donnie’s arm and pulling him with him.
“Alright. Let…,” Leon relented fully, starting to say his usual line of giving them permission to get him if they needed anything. But this time, he didn’t actually want to be bothered. So the words were changed as he started again. “I’ll let you take care of it. And I’ll send April in to help Mikey back when you’re done.”
It was a bit surprising, hearing Leon give Don an easy way to get April and Lil Mikey together to be able to ask them what had happened. But Don could only smile warmly, taking the response to mean he had done well in responding to Leon’s concerns. “Alright. Take it easy, and we’ll come get Raph when we’re ready,” Don bid, letting the two boys shuffle out of the room.
Notes:
laughing weakly as I post this at ungodly hours of the night just because I wanted to actually get one up and was worried I wouldn't be able to come back to it tomorrow X'D
sorry for the delay this time. I had a brain crisis like a month ago or something I dunno keeping track of time has been hard especially with having double duty at work and not sleeping the greatest because of leg aches all the time now |D I used to be able to do Rizen and CDK at the same time, but now just 1 project it a bit difficult to work on. I haven't given up on any of my projects, they're just taking a way long time to update now
Fun note though, when I was doing the final before post read through on this Better Days by Arman Cekin and Faydee came on my playlist and I thought it was cute for the latter scenes.
Chapter 35: Relay
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
“So… Leo sent me to give you guys the scoop, huh.” April’s comment came from the doorway where she had taken temporary residence, leaning against the frame with her arms crossed much like Raphael had been shortly before. The comparison caused Don to smile internally, but he thankfully remembered to keep it off his face this time.
Don thought about joining April in making light of the situation, but eventually settled against it. “He said you and Mikey were the only ones able to talk about it.”
April hadn’t been expecting any of their hosts to take them seriously on the matter, so the response caught her off guard for a moment. But she fell into the mood easily, and dropped her arms to slouch over to the table Lil Mikey was on, scooting up next to him. “Well… he’s not wrong,” she agreed, not looking all that excited to be discussing the matter. “Everyone already knows the bulk of what happened, so it’s not like we really have to talk to understand…. Sometimes I wonder if that makes it worse though. We never had to figure out how to put what we felt into words.”
As Raphael pulled up another stool to sit on, Don prodded April to continue, being able to understand her concerns. “...Can you tell me what happened? What Leon’s flashbacks are over. All the injuries.”
The spunk April usually had was hard to muster up. And after a moment of trying she ended up giving in with a huff. “Sure. I guess,” she relented before drawing a breath to give the long story. “About six months ago New York - our New York- got invaded by three aliens from another dimension called the Krang. They used to be from space, but ended up sealed in something called the Prison Dimension by mystic warriors some hundreds or thousands of years ago. And then the Foot clan from our dimension found the key and let them out. As far as the city knows some mysterious heroes just showed up and blew up their mother ship before disappearing. But… well, it’s a different story for those heroes.” The look April gave Lil Mikey was full of fondness, pride, as well as heartache and concern even as Lil Mikey gave her a brief toothy smile in return.
“...Judging by all the fresh scars almost all of you have, I’m guessing no one got out of that uninjured,” Don commented, showing that he was following well and understood it hadn’t been one of those lighthearted children’s stories for them.
“...Yeah. Casey, Splints and I took care of Lady Brainface on the ground. But the boys had to deal with their leader in the sky. And this was after they took Raph hostage and mind controlled him. That’s what got his eye all messed up, from ripping the parasite out I hear,” April continued, gesturing at her own right eye when talking about Raph’s eye. “We couldn’t really beat them, y’know? So we had this plan to just send them back to the Prison Dimension by Donnie piloting their spaceship back through the portal, and then everyone escaping before we closed it. Except…” She had to pause, swallowing around the lump that had formed in her throat. “Except the stupid freak of nature wouldn’t stay put, so Leo got the stupid idea to hold him back in the Prison Dimension himself and have Casey close the portal on both of them. If Mikey hadn’t have… If…. Well, let’s just say Mikey is the reason Leo’s still with us.”
So that was it. This group of teenagers had fought against something they shouldn’t have had to, and had barely survived through a clever plan that almost involved self sacrifice. No wonder they were all so affected.
“Well, I just brought him home. It’s thanks to Barry and Dad and Mom that we’re all okay now,” Lil Mikey chimed in, giving his best attempt at a smile while swinging his feet slightly.
Three people. Don noted the name of three people helping them, and also the omittance of Leon being mentioned as part of the team of medics. “...How bad was the damage? What injuries did everyone have?” Don was almost reluctant to ask, especially after Lil Mikey’s smile fell so quickly.
“... A lot,” Lil Mikey admitted, looking to the ground. “Of the four of us I was the best. Just some throat bruising from being choked, and then all these burns that ended up scarring from opening the portal to save Leo. The others… my brothers kept protecting me.” The last line was almost a whisper as Lil Mikey blinked a tear from his eye and quickly raised a hand to brush it from his cheek.
“All of the scars you see on Leo and Raph are from it. Leo was bedridden for a while. Cracked shell, broken ribs, broken knee, cracked eye bones, and a bunch of bruises and smaller fractures all over the place. Raph ended up with that gash on his shoulder and missing a piece of his shell from protecting Leo before he got caught. And then it also ended up dislocated later, and his eye took forever to get the infection out of. And then Donnie…,” April paused, giving a slight huff and shake of her head. “The Krang ship required biological integration or something like that to pilot. So Donnie ended up in a coma for six days, along with wounds wherever the ship was connected to him. Then also both his arms got broken, and some minor internal bleeding. Mikey says those last two were from him protecting him from the Krang leader punching them off the ship.”
By the time April finished explaining Raphael was resting his head in his hands, and Don was staring down at his own hands. There were a lot of events in their own lives that they could use to easily relate to what April and Lil Mikey had told them. They had made it through their own troubles, Raphael could still remember being stuck to a bed when his ribs were broken. And their own brother Mikey had ended up with chronic leg and ankle injuries ever since both his legs had been broken in the same event. Heck, even Leo had ended up in a coma for a time, but it hadn’t been for six days. There were so many similarities, but for some reason it was hard to accept that all of this had happened at once to this group of teenagers.
“... Mikey,” Raphael spoke up finally, not yet looking up.
“Y’yeah?” Lil Mikey asked, startled about being addressed now.
“....Is it alright if I hug you?” Raphael then asked, feeling a little embarrassed now that the words were in the open, but not willing to take them back in the slightest.
It helped that after a moment of stunned silence Lil Mikey sputtered a soft laugh. “Sure you can. Hugs are great,” he accepted, raising his hand.
It was enough for Raphael to finally pull his head away from his hands, standing up to walk over and scoop Lil Mikey off the table and into a bear hug. It earned another surprised laugh from Lil Mikey, but he ended up just giving a content hum. Hugs always made him feel a little better.
“...You didn’t do this because you felt you had to, yeah? It wasn’t because someone made you do it. No super soldier requirement duty kind of bullcrap, right?” Raphael suddenly asked, remembering a few days before when Lil Mikey had mentioned that someone had created him and his brothers to be super soldiers.
“Huh?” Lil Mikey voiced, momentarily confused. “No, of course not. We did it because we wanted to help people, and because we were the best ones for it. Sure we got hurt, but if regular humans tried to deal with them, or the yokai, I think there would have been a lot more deaths. It’s … Yeah, it’s scary, and I’m still scared sometimes. But I’m still glad we could help everyone.”
They did it to help. They were all of some kind of protective type of personalities it seemed. And after a moment’s thought about how they interacted with each other that became even more obvious. The way Leon shielded Lil Mikey when he thought Raphael might hurt them in retaliation for holding a blade to his throat. The way Donnie’s first move had been to order them to help Lil Mikey and then create a shield around them. The way Lil Mikey refused to let them see Donnie’s back until they told him he might be injured, and even after being so critical of the way they handled him. And the way Raph ignored his brokenleg for the sake of hiding Donnie underneath himself when Donnie had been distressed over Casey’s antics.
It took some time for Raphael to respond, just holding Lil Mikey in a protective hold of his own, before he drew a deep breath and slowly released it. “...Let’s get you back to your brothers… Both of you,” he suggested, including April in the group of siblings since it was obvious now that she had an almost life long connection with them beyond just friends.
“I’ll bring the supplies out to the living room to take care of changing the bandages on Lil Raph’s leg. Then we can bring you guys to an actual bedroom to sleep for the night. Hopefully it’ll be more comfortable than being stuck in the infirmary for more time than you’d probably like,” Don spoke up now, adding support to the suggestion. These kids had probably seen enough of infirmaries for a while, and being back in one probably wasn’t helping them feel comfortable enough to fully relax.
April ended up watching Raphael start to leave with Lil Mikey with slightly wide eyes, and slightly turned back to Don, delaying her own departure. “I thought I would have to say a lot more,” she admitted, having expected a way longer conversation than that.
The comment earned a brief smile from Don, understanding her thoughts after they were said. “We can fill in the blanks well enough. It’s actually worse to keep asking questions before the affected person is ready to talk about it. I just wanted enough to have an idea on what I, what we, need to be careful about so we don’t end up causing more harm than good,” he explained, moving to follow her from the room since he’d already gathered all the items he needed to tend to Raph.
“Huh,” April grunted, still semi surprised that that was all they needed, but also still grateful for it. It only took her a few steps before she voiced a new thought that came to her mind. “How much shit have you guys gotten into?”
The question caught Don slightly off guard, but only because of the phrasing, and he ended up huffing a short laugh. “A lot,” he responded with a slanted grin.
Notes:
This one was easier to get soon 'cause it was mostly just retelling stuff that already happened X'D Lot's of post movie headcanons in this one
Chapter 36: Nightmares
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
After having gotten the kids off to sleep in the same room, wrapped up in a mass of blankets and pillows, the adults were only half surprised when a roar came from their room a few hours after midnight. Mikey was the one who was closest, and therefore the first to burst into the room. There was only one of two options that could have caused what they soon learned was Raph bellowing; either an intruder had gotten past their alarms, or a nightmare. And it was pretty easy to tell once Mikey was in the room that it was the latter.
Lil Mikey had Leon bodily shoved off the mattresses, his small frame joined by April in shielding Leon on the floor. And still on the two mattresses slid together on the floor were Donnie and Raph, the larger brother still waking from an obvious nightmare while his hand was clasped firmly at Donnie’s throat. Not quite choking, but his fingers curled around to press roughly against Donnie’s shell while his thumb was wedged into his collar bone. Yet despite the position Donnie just shot Mikey a quick shake of his head before he went back to speaking quietly to Raph, trying to coax him around his heaved breathing.
“It’s okay Raphie. Take deep breaths. You're safe. We’re all safe. No one is going to hurt you, or any of us.” Donnie’s voice was quiet, and gentle. A stark difference from what Mikey had heard from him before. And despite the position he was in Mikey was surprised to see Donnie wasn’t struggling. Gentle hands simply rested comfortingly on Raph’s arm, sometimes rubbing up and down to coax him to focus on the real sensation rather than whatever he’d seen in his dreams.
“D’Donnie?” Lil Mikey asked, wanting to check on his other brother while slipping his fingers into Leon’s hand to keep it away from his own neck.
“I’m alright Mikey. Just focus on Leo, I’ll get Raph,” Donnie’s reassurance came with the same calmness that made Mikey believe this had happened before.
“C’mon Leo, you too. Big slow breaths,” April directed, starting to rub Leo’s back to give him something to focus on too.
As Leo closed his eyes to comply, drawing slow yet shuddering breaths to try and calm his racing heart, Mikey blocked and shushed the rest of his own family from interfering. It looked like Raph was breaking out of the dream now, and Mikey didn’t think it would be good to crowd in on them.
“...D’Dee?” Raph’s start of recognition came in the form of his brother’s name questioned in budding anguish. The hand that was holding Donnie instantly flexed open once Raph realized where it was, and he tried to yank it back as though it were poison to his brother. Yet Donnie stubbornly held onto it, getting pulled forward slightly before Raph stopped, holding up his other hand to catch him if needed. “I’I’m so sorry. I’m sorry Dee, I didn’t mean-”
Raph’s heartbroken apologies were cut off as Donnie shushed him, deliberately leaning into his brother’s grip despite him being so afraid to touch him. “Shhh. I’m not hurt. It’s okay,” Donnie assured, gaining a small smile when his refusal to let Raph let him go was enough to convince him to change tactics, his huge hands moving instead to wrap around Donnie in a tender hold. “...Tell me where we are, big guy. Let’s get you awake,” Donnie directed next, bringing Raph’s focus to their environment.
At that point Don and Leon started wordlessly shoving the rest of the bystanders away. Don and Raphael had already filled them in on what April had said, but they didn’t think they would have been any help in this situation. Not just yet anyway.
“Mikey- Where are you going?” Raphael hissed when Mikey broke off from the group to head for the kitchen.
“To get them some water and tea. Like we usually do,” Mikey hushed back, making a drinking motion with one hand.
“Try the lavender,” Leo directed as Don gave an agreeing nod. They didn’t all need to crowd in, but it should still be fine to let the kids know the rest of them weren’t oblivious, and were there to help if they needed. Plus staying hydrated was always a good thing.
“Let us know if we’re needed,” Don requested, shuffling away with his other two brothers while also trying not to trample over Master Splinter. He didn’t move as fast as they did these days, so they made sure to fill him in on what was going on.
“Little Raph had a nightmare. They seem to be handling it on their own, but Mikey is going to bring them some drinks,” Leo explained.
Master Splinter gave an understanding nod, then looked to Mikey since he was still waiting at the door. “Bring them some of the candied fruits as well. Growing boys always need snacks,” he directed with another nod. And then instead of returning to his room he headed for the cushions in the living room, aiming to take up residence there just in case.
It was a good idea, and the other three boys followed suit, huddling into the couches or other cushions while they let Mikey take point this time. The tea didn’t take long to make with the electric kettle they had. Most of the commonly used teas were kept right next to it as well, so while the water boiled Mikey just gathered the candied fruits together in various small bowls. Then when the tea was added to a metal container and rested in the ceramic teapot Mikey gathered it, the food, and plenty of cups onto a tray to carry to their guest’s current room.
It had only been a few minutes, but all of them were gathered back on the mattresses when Mikey returned, Raph gently holding both Leon and Donnie now while April and Lil Mikey did their best to hug him. Since his hands were full Mikey just gave a small whistle to announce he was there, feeling just a little bad when most of them snapped their gazes to him in mild startle.
“I brought snacks,” Mikey explained as an apology, gesturing with the tray and stepping over to the group of teenagers. They seemed wary, but not unwelcoming. And while Leon keyed in on the smell of the tea, the others seemed more taken in by the fruits. Master Splinter had made a good assumption, especially since right as Mikey set the tray down two hands reached out to snatch pieces of fruit to nibble on.
“Thanks….” Leon’s voice was husky both from rough sleep as well as just not speaking loud. “I’m surprised you guys didn’t hear that…” he commented, half regretting saying anything once he did. He didn’t really want to talk about it if the others actually weren’t aware and just had impeccable timing.
“Pff, everyone heard that,” Mikey dismissed, pouring a cup of tea and holding it up to Raph first. “But we didn’t want to crowd. So it’s just me, with our usual. Gotta make sure everyone stays hydrated after all,” he explained with a wink.
It was so casual. Like Raph had only dreamed about something silly like bugs crawling on him. Yet he didn’t feel belittled. Far from it. Mikey was so relaxed with all of this not because he wasn’t taking it seriously, but because he was used to it. This wasn’t the first time someone in his home had woken up screaming from night terrors caused by memories.
“...S’someone here has nightmares too?” Raph asked, his voice still a little shaky, and he used both hands to take the teacup because of it.
“All of us do,” Mikey answered, the smile never faltering as he handed out more cups of tea. “It’s just been long enough since the latest crisis that we’re not currently making noise everyone else can hear. - Well, actually Don never makes noise that loud, unless he accidentally blew something up in his lab. So for him we usually end up taking turns checking in on him.”
The way Mikey spoke, as if it were any other topic like the plot of a movie or something, ended up earning snickers from the others and a few glances at Donnie when Mikey mentioned lab explosions.
“What was the most recent- Wait I shouldn’t ask that, nevermind,” Leon started, then realized what he was saying and corrected himself before lowering his head to his tea.
“Nah, it’s fine. That’s the main reason I stuck around. To talk about whatever you guys wanted,” Mikey admitted, not bothered by the question at all. “I think it was…. Hmm, hang on. They all blur together. I sometimes forget what happened when,” he hummed, putting a curled finger to his chin.
“Honestly I’m not really good about remembering the events as much as the fun stuff that happens after, you know?” Mikey eventually relented, giving up on trying to figure out their own history. “Like, there was one time we had to scare off some goons that were after Casey’s cousin. But Raph had some broken ribs, so we shoved him in a closet to keep him quiet and away from trouble.”
At least three of the kids ended up sputtering on their drinks, which Mikey counted as the second win of the night.
“You didn’t seriously?” Leon gaped, aghast at the treatment of someone with broken ribs.
“We did,” Mikey laughed, then caught himself and quieted down again. “We were just teenagers, and it was the first time we’d had to deal with broken bones. That same event is how my legs ended up getting all messed up forever now. Which, by the way if you guys’ old injuries start aching just go whine about them near ol Raph. He gives the best massages.”
More chuckles were earned, and more tallies were added to Mikey’s mental chart. He actually did know what the most recent scare had been for them, but he didn’t want to mention it. He wasn’t sure how much it would remind the others of their own trauma, and therefore didn’t want to even suggest anything new to them. And regardless of that, it was still better to talk about the fun stuff.
“There was the other time, after Don got really sick we ended up babying him so much we wouldn’t let him help with anything. Just forced him to stay on the couch, even while we were moving it around to set up a new lair. Oh, and then one time Leo got so sick of us hovering he booby trapped his room entrance to hit the next person that entered with a pie. It was the first time he’d ever pulled a prank like that, I was so proud.”
As Mikey continued to chatter there were more and more snickers and giggles from the teens, their forms gradually relaxing as they shifted into comfortable positions to listen while they snacked. Eventually Mikey’s stories somehow trailed into him talking about their local superhero group, which led to talking about the comics he had, and the stories they held. It was easy to keep going, and he made several promises to let the boys read the comics in the morning. But even as he spoke with animated mostions for some of the stories, Mikey eventually started talking more softly, and making smaller motions. His captive audience was starting to doze off again, and he wasn’t about to force them to stay awake. Not if they could get a few more hours in with hopefully more pleasant dreams about superheroes and space.
It was only two hours later when Mikey was stealthily gathering up the remains of the snacks, slipping out of the room after making sure all the kids were properly tucked back in. If it were any other task accomplished he would have been humming as he made his way back to the kitchen, but considering he wanted to make as little noise as possible he refrained. Instead as he passed by the living room where the rest of his family was, he just gave them a thumbs up and wink.
“Mission accomplished. All five are back to sleep,” he announced in a whisper, pleased when his brothers and Master Splinter all visibly relaxed.
As the rest of them stood to return to their own beds, Raphael moved to help Mikey clean up the dishes, giving his taller brother a soft pat on the head in praise for a job well done.
Notes:
Whew 8D slight delay because I ended up getting hyperfocused on my own story for a bit because I'm nearing the end of it. But then Five by Sleeping at Last came on a few days ago and just vibbed so well with the first part of this part in my head that I had to write it while looping the song.
Have I mentioned I freaking love drawing soft platonic fluff? It's my favorite.
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